1 Peter 1:3

1:1-9 This epistle is addressed to believers in general, who are strangers in every city or country where they live, and are scattered through the nations. These are to ascribe their salvation to the electing love of the Father, the redemption of the Son, and the sanctification of the Holy Ghost; and so to give glory to one God in three Persons, into whose name they had been baptized. Hope, in the world's phrase, refers only to an uncertain good, for all worldly hopes are tottering, built upon sand, and the worldling's hopes of heaven are blind and groundless conjectures. But the hope of the sons of the living God is a living hope; not only as to its object, but as to its effect also. It enlivens and comforts in all distresses, enables to meet and get over all difficulties. Mercy is the spring of all this; yea, great mercy and manifold mercy. And this well-grounded hope of salvation, is an active and living principle of obedience in the soul of the believer. The matter of a Christian's joy, is the remembrance of the happiness laid up for him. It is incorruptible, it cannot come to nothing, it is an estate that cannot be spent. Also undefiled; this signifies its purity and perfection. And it fadeth not; is not sometimes more or less pleasant, but ever the same, still like itself.

1 Peter 1:3-4 . Blessed be the God and Father, or, God even the Father, of our Lord Jesus Christ — His only-begotten and beloved Son; who, according to his abundant mercy — His compassion for us in our state of ignorance and guilt, depravity and weakness; his undeserved love and goodness, the source of all our blessings, temporal, spiritual, and eternal: hath begotten us again — Regenerated us; to a lively — Ζωσαν , living, hope — A hope which implies true spiritual life, is the consequence of repentance unto life, living faith, justification by faith, and a birth from above, by which we pass from death unto life; a hope which revives the heart, and makes the soul lively and vigorous: by the resurrection of Christ — Which not only proved him to be the Son of God, ( Romans 1:4 ,) and demonstrated the truth and importance of his doctrine, which brought life and immortality to light, but manifested the acceptableness and efficacy of the sacrifice he offered for sin, opened an intercourse between God and man, made way for our receiving the Holy Ghost, and is a pledge and earnest of our resurrection, he having risen the first-fruits of them that sleep in him.

To an inheritance — For if we are children, then are we heirs; incorruptible — Not like earthly inheritances or possessions, of whatever kind, which are both corruptible in themselves, tending in their own nature to dissolution and decay; and are possessed by that which is corruptible, even through the medium of the body, with its senses and members, all tending to decay and dissolution. But the inheritance we expect is neither corruptible in itself, nor shall we that enjoy it be corruptible, either in soul or body. Undefiled — Every thing here is therefore corruptible, because it has been defiled with the sin of man, and laid under a curse, so that vanity and misery are attached to the enjoyment of every thing; and we ourselves, having been defiled in soul and body, have all the seeds of vanity and misery sown in our frame. But the inheritance reserved for us has not been defiled by any sin, and therefore has no curse, vanity, or misery attached to it: Revelation 22:3 . And we ourselves, when admitted into that world, shall be perfectly pure, and shall have in our frame no hinderance to the most perfect enjoyment. And fadeth not away — As every thing in this world does, decaying in lustre and glory, in sweetness, or the pleasure it yields in the enjoyment, and in value to us, who can only have a life estate in any thing; whence, whatever we possess is continually decreasing in value to us, as the time approaches when we are to be dispossessed of it.

Blessed (εὐλογητὸς) εὖ, well, λόγος, a word. Well-spoken-of; praised; honored. Used in the New Testament of God only. The kindred verb is applied to human beings, as to Mary (Luke 1:28): "Blessed (εὐλογημένη) art thou." Compare the different word for blessed in Matthew 5:3, etc. (μακάριοι), and see notes there. The style of this doxological phrase is Pauline. Compare 2 Corinthians 1:3; Ephesians 1:3. Hath begotten us again (ἀναγεννήσας ἡμᾶς) The verb is used by Peter only, and by him only here and 1 Peter 1:23. It is in the aorist tense, and should be rendered, as Rev., begat; because regeneration is regarded as a definite historical act accomplished once for all, or possibly because Peter regards the historical act of Christ's resurrection as virtually effecting the regeneration. The latter sentiment would be Pauline, since Paul is wont to speak of Christians as dying and rising with Christ. Romans 7:4; Romans 6:8-11. Lively (ζῶσαν) Better, as Rev., literally rendering the participle, living: a favorite word with Peter. See 1 Peter 1:23; 1 Peter 2:4, 1 Peter 2:5, 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 4:5, 1 Peter 4:6; and compare Acts 9:41, where Peter is the prominent actor; and Acts 10:42, where he is the speaker. Hope (ἐλπίδα) Peter is fond of this word also (see 1 Peter 1:13, 1 Peter 1:21; 1 Peter 3:5, 1 Peter 3:15), which, in classical Greek, has the general signification of expectancy, relating to evil as well as to good.

1 Peter 1:3 . Εὐλογητὸς , blessed ) The sentiment is, God has regenerated us. The Mode[2] (expression of feeling) is added, that is to say, an expression of thanks.— Πατὴρ , the Father ) The whole of this Epistle closely agrees with the Lord’s prayer , and especially with its earlier clauses. Let the sentiments be compared with one another, in their proper order. [2] See Append. of Techn. Terms on SERMO MODALIS. Father; 1 Peter 1:3 ; 1 Peter 1:14 ; 1 Peter 1:17 ; 1 Peter 1:23 ; 1 Peter 2:2 . Our; 1 Peter 1:4 , at the end. In heaven; The same. Hallowed be thy name . 1 Peter 1:15-16 ; 1 Peter 3:15 . Thy kingdom come . 1 Peter 2:9 . Thy will be done . 1 Peter 2:15 ; 1 Peter 3:17 ; 1 Peter 4:2 ; 1 Peter 4:19 . Daily bread . 1 Peter 5:7 . Forgiveness of sins . 1 Peter 4:8 ; 1 Peter 4:1 . Temptation . 1 Peter 4:12 . Deliverance . 1 Peter 4:18 .

And Peter expressly makes many references to prayer itself, ch. 1 Peter 3:7 , 1 Peter 4:7 .— κατὰ ἔλεος , according to His mercy ) We had been in a wretched state: Ephesians 2:1-2 .— ἀναγεννήσας , who has regenerated us ) 1 Peter 1:23 ; 1 Peter 2:2 . [ From this place to 1 Peter 2:10 , St Peter recounts the things which GOD has done for our benefit; and from that provision for our salvation he derives most efficacious admonitions to hope , 1 Peter 1:3-13 ; to sanctification and fear in believing , 14–21; to love , 22–2:10; introducing now and then most sweetly doctrine concerning Christ .—V. g.]— εἰς , to ) A remarkable Anaphora [repetition in beginnings. Append.]: to hope, to an inheritance, to salvation .— εἰς ἐλπίδα ζῶσαν , to a living hope ) This hope is a heavenly inheritance, 1 Peter 1:4 : and it is termed living , because it springs forth and flourishes from the resurrection of Christ. Peter frequently uses the epithet living , 1 Peter 1:2-8 ; 1 Peter 2:4-5 ; and he makes mention of hope , 1 Peter 1:13 ; 1 Peter 1:21 ; 1 Peter 3:5 ; 1 Peter 3:15 . Comp. the epithets in the following verse. To hope, moreover, he joins faith and love, 1 Peter 1:8 ; 1 Peter 1:21-22 .— διʼ ἀναστάσεως , by the resurrection ) This depends upon the word living . Comp. 1 Peter 1:21 .

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; either the conjunction and is here but an explicative particle, and so we render it, 2 Corinthians 1:3 , God, even the Father, & c.; or if we take it for a copulative, as Ephesians 1:3 : God is called the God of Jesus Christ, according to Christ’s human nature, and his Father according to his Divine. Which according to his abundant mercy; this shows the fountain from whence regeneration and all other spiritual blessings flow, and excludes all merit and dignity in us, as the cause of so great benefits. Abundant mercy is the same with riches of mercy, Ephesians 2:4 . Hath begotten us again; translated us out of a state of sin and misery into a state of grace and life; and so begotten again here, is the same as sanctifying in the former verse. Unto a lively hope; either a lively hope, for hope of life; or rather, a lively hope is a true and effectual hope, such as proceeds from a lively faith, and is itself productive of peace and purity, Romans 5:2 1Jo 3:3 , in opposition to the vain hope of worldly men, which neither comes from faith nor tends to holiness. By the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead: this may be referred either: 1. To God’s begetting us again, and then it implies the resurrection of Christ to be the cause of our regeneration, we being raised to a spiritual life by the power of Christ’s resurrection, and our vivification being often ascribed to it, 1 Peter 3:21 Romans 4:25 6:4,5 : see Ephesians 2:5

. Or: 2. To the lively hope to which he begets us, which depends upon, and ariseth from, the faith of Christ’s resurrection, Romans 8:11 1 Corinthians 15:17,19 1 Thessalonians 4:13,14 . Christ’s resurrection being the cause and pledge of ours, as the certainty of ours depends upon his, so the liveliness of our hope follows upon the faith of it. Possibly the apostle may have in these words some respect to the languishing condition of the hope of him, and the other disciples, Luke 24:21 , which was then ready to expire, but was again revived by their being well assured of his resurrection, Luke 24:33,34 .

1 Peter 1:3-12 . Benediction of the Name . The mention of God is followed by the Benediction of the Name as Jewish piety prescribed; the formula the Holy One, blessed be He , being amplified by the Christian appreciation of their fuller knowledge. The Apostle surpasses the fervour of the Psalmist, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel inasmuch as the last mighty work surpasses all previous deliverances. It falls naturally into three divisions. 1 Peter 1:3-5 have as their central figure the Father, 1 Peter 1:6-9 the Son, and 1 Peter 1:10-12 the Spirit who is at last given, who inspired the prophets of old and now inspires the Christian missionaries. From the past which preceded their acceptance of God’s choice of them and its outward sign St. Peter turns to consider their present condition and to illuminate it with the light of the future glory.