Calvin's Commentaries
1 St. Peter 1:1-9
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1.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered
throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, |
1.
Petrus, apostolus Jesu Christi, electis inquilinis qui dispersi sunt
per Ponturn, Galatiam, Cappadociam, Asiam et Bithyniam, |
|
2.
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through
sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the
blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. |
2.
Secundum precognitionem Dei Patris in sanctificatione Spiritus, in
obedientiam et aspersionem sanguinis Jesu Christi; Gratia vobis et
pax multiplicetur. |
1
Peter, an apostle What in this salutation is the same with those of
Paul, requires no new explanation. When Paul prayed for grace and
peace, the verb is left out; but Peter adds it, and says, be
multiplied; still the meaning is the same; for Paul did not wish to the
faithful the beginning of grace and peace, but the increase of them, that
is, that God would complete what he had begun.
To the elect,
or the elected.
It may be asked, how could this be found out, for the election of God is
hid, and cannot be known without the special revelation of the Spirit; and
as every one is made sure of his own election by the testimony of the
Spirit, so he can know nothing certain of others. To this I answer, that we
are not curiously to inquire about the election of our brethren, but ought
on the contrary to regard their calling, so that all who are admitted by
faith into the church, are to be counted as the elect; for God thus
separates them from the world, which is a sign of election. It is no
objection to say that many fall away, having nothing but the semblance; for
it is the judgment of charity and not of faith, when we deem all those elect
in whom appears the mark of God’s adoption. And that he does not fetch their
election from the hidden counsel of God, but gathers it from the effect, is
evident from the context; for afterwards he connects it with the
sanctification of the Spirit As far then as they proved that they were
regenerated by the Spirit of God, so far did he deem them to be the elect of
God, for God does not sanctify any but those whom he has previously elected.
However, he at the
same time reminds us whence that election flows, by which we are separated
for salvation, that we may not perish with the world; for he says,
according to the foreknowledge of God This is the fountain and the first
cause: God knew before the world was created whom he had elected for
salvation.
But we ought wisely to
consider what this precognition or foreknowledge is. For the sophists, in
order to obscure the grace of God, imagine that the merits of each are
foreseen by God, and that thus the reprobate are distinguished from the
elect, as every one proves himself worthy of this or that lot. But Scripture
everywhere sets the counsel of God, on which is founded our salvation, in
opposition to our merits. Hence, when Peter calls them elect according to
the precognition of God, he intimates that the cause of it depends on
nothing else but on God alone, for he of his own free will has chosen us.
Then the foreknowledge of God excludes every worthiness on the part of man.
We have treated this subject more at large in the first chapter of the
Epistle to the Ephesians, and in other places.
As however in our
election he assigns the first place to the gratuitous favor of God, so again
he would have us to know it by the effects, for there is nothing more
dangerous or more preposterous than to overlook our calling and to seek for
the certainty of our election in the hidden prescience of God, which is the
deepest labyrinth. Therefore to obviate this danger, Peter supplies the best
correction; for though in the first place he would have us to consider the
counsel of God, the cause of which is alone in himself; yet he invites us to
notice the effect, by which he sets forth and bears witness to our election.
That effect is the sanctification of the Spirit, even effectual calling,
when faith is added to the outward preaching of the gospel, which faith is
begotten by the inward operation of the Spirit.
To the sojourners
[Note: ;
they are those
who dwell in a hired house, tenants. The original,
παρεπιδήμοις]
They who
think that all the godly are thus called, because they are strangers in the
world, and are advancing towards the celestial country, are much mistaken,
and this mistake is evident from the word dispersion which
immediately follows; for this can apply only to the Jews, not only because
they were banished from their own country and scattered here and there, but
also because they had been driven out of that land which had been promised
to them by the Lord as a perpetual inheritance. He indeed afterwards calls
all the faithful sojourners, because they are pilgrims on the earth; but the
reason here is different. They were sojourners, because they had been
dispersed, some in Pontus, some in Galatia, and some in Bithynia. It is
nothing strange that he designed this Epistle more especially for the Jews,
for he knew that he was appointed in a particular manner their apostle, as
Paul teaches us in Galatians
2:8. In the countries he enumerates, he includes the whole of Asia Minor,
from the Euxine to Cappadocia.
[Note: ]
Unto
obedience He adds two things to
sanctification, and seems to understand newness of life by obedience,
and by the sprinkling of the blood of Christ the remission of sins.
But if these be parts or effects of sanctification, then
sanctification is to be taken here somewhat different from what it means
when used by Paul, that is, more generally. God then sanctifies us by an
effectual calling; and this is done when we are renewed to an obedience to
his righteousness, and when we are sprinkled by the blood of Christ, and
thus are cleansed from our sins. And there seems to be an implied allusion
to the ancient rite of sprinkling used under the law. For as it was not then
sufficient for the victim to be slain and the blood to be poured out, except
the people were sprinkled; so now the blood of Christ which has been shed
will avail us nothing, except our consciences are by it cleansed. There is
then to be understood here a contrast, that, as formerly under the law the
sprinkling of blood was made by the hand of the priest; so now the Holy
Spirit sprinkles our souls with the blood of Christ for the expiation of our
sins.
Let us now state the
substance of the whole; which is, that our salvation flows from the
gratuitous election of God; but that it is to be ascertained by the
experience of faith, because he sanctifies us by his Spirit; and then that
there are two effects or ends of our calling, even renewal into obedience
and ablution by the blood of Christ; and further, that both are the work of
the Holy Spirit.
[Note: ]
We hence
conclude, that election is not to be separated from calling, nor the
gratuitous righteousness of faith from newness of life.
|
3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, |
3.
Benedictus Deus et Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui secundum
multam suam misericordiam regenuit nos in spem vivare, per
resurrectionem Jesu Christi ex mortuis, |
|
4.
To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven for you, |
4.
In haereditatem incorruptibilem et incontaminatam et immarcescibilem,
repositum in caelis erga vos, |
|
5.
Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready
to be revealed in the last time. |
5.
Qui virtute Dei custodimini per fidem in salutem, qut parata est
revelari tempore ultimo. |
3
Blessed be God We have said that the main object of this epistle is
to raise us above the world, in order that we may be prepared and encouraged
to sustain the spiritual contests of our warfare. For this end, the
knowledge of God’s benefits avails much; for, when their value appears to
us, all other things will be deemed worthless, especially when we consider
what Christ and his blessings are; for everything without him is but dross.
For this reason he highly extols the wonderful grace of God in Christ, that
is, that we may not deem it much to give up the world in order that we may
enjoy the invaluable treasure of a future life; and also that we may not be
broken down by present troubles, but patiently endure them, being satisfied
with eternal happiness.
Further, when he gives
thanks to God, he invites the faithful to spiritual joy, which can swallow
up all the opposite feelings of the flesh.
And
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
Understand the words thus, — “Blessed be God who is the Father of Jesus
Christ.” For, as formerly, by calling himself the God of Abraham, he
designed to mark the difference between him and all fictitious gods; so
after he has manifested himself in his own Son, his will is, not to be known
otherwise than in him. Hence they who form their ideas of God in his naked
majesty apart from Christ, have an idol instead of the true God, as the case
is with the Jews and the Turks. Whosoever, then, seeks really to know the
only true God, must regard him as the Father of Christ; for, whenever our
mind seeks God, except Christ be thought of, it will wander and be confused,
until it be wholly lost. Peter meant at the same time to intimate how God is
so bountiful and kind towards us; for, except Christ stood as the middle
person, his goodness could never be really known by us.
Who
hath begotten us again
He shews that supernatural life is a gift, because we are born the children
of wrath; for had we been born to the hope of life according to the flesh,
there would have been no necessity of being begotten again by God. Therefore
Peter teaches us, that we who are by nature destined to eternal death, are
restored to life by God’s mercy. And this is, as it were, our second
creation, as it is said in the first chapter of the Epistle to the
Ephesians. Lively or living hope, means the hope of life.
— to a hope of life.” The begetting again seems not to refer to
inward renovation, but to what God did by raising Christ from the dead. To
beget, sometimes means to put one in a new state or condition; as the
expression, “This day have I begotten thee,” means, that God had then
constituted his Son a king, publicly invested him, as it were, with that
office. Similar is the meaning here: God through the resurrection of Christ
restored to the hope of life his desponding followers: hence the import of
the word “again;” though Macknight thinks the reference to be to the
covenant of grace made with our first parents after the fall, and that
believers were begotten the second time to the same hope by the resurrection
of Christ. The word for “begetting again,” is only found here, and in a
passive sense in the 23d
verse, where it has a different meaning, as it evidently refers to the
renovation of the heart. — Ed.]
At the same time there
seems to be an implied contrast between the hope fixed on the incorruptible
kingdom of God, and the fading and transient hopes of man.
According to his abundant mercy
He first mentions the efficient cause, and then he points out the mediating
cause, as they say. He shews that God was induced by no merits of ours to
regenerate us unto a living hope, because he assigns this wholly to his
mercy. But that he might more completely reduce the merits of works to
nothing, he says, great (multam)
mercy. All, indeed, confess that God is the only author of our
salvation, but they afterwards invent extraneous causes, which take away so
much from his mercy. But Peter commends mercy alone; and he immediately
connects the way or manner, by the resurrection of Christ; for God
does not in any other way discover his mercy; hence Scripture ever directs
our attention to this point. And that Christ’s death is not mentioned, but
his resurrection, involves no inconsistency, for it is included; because a
thing cannot be completed without having a beginning; and he especially
brought forward the resurrection, because he was speaking of a new life.
4 To an inheritance
[Note: ]
The three words which
follow are intended to amplify God’s grace; for Peter (as I have before
said) had this object in view, to impress our minds thoroughly as to its
excellency. Moreover, these two clauses, “to an inheritance incorruptible,”
etc., and “to salvation ready to be revealed,” I deem as being in
apposition, the latter being explanatory of the former; for he expresses the
same thing in two ways.
Every word which follows is weighty.
The inheritance is said to be reserved, or preserved, that we may
know that it is beyond the reach of danger. For, were it not in God’s hand,
it might be exposed to endless dangers. If it were in this world, how could
we regard it as safe amidst so many changes? That he might then free us from
every fear, he testifies that our salvation is placed in safety beyond the
harms which Satan can do. But as the certainty of salvation can bring us but
little comfort, except each one knows that it belongs to himself, Peter
adds, for you For consciences will calmly recumb here, that is, when
the Lord cries to them from heaven, “Behold, your salvation is in my hand
and is kept for you.” But as salvation is not indiscriminately for all, he
calls our attention to faith, that all who are endued with faith, might be
distinguished from the rest, and that they might not doubt but that they are
the true and legitimate heirs of God. For, as faith penetrates into the
heavens, so also it appropriates to us the blessings which are in heaven.
5 Who are kept by the
power of God We are to notice the connection when he says, that we are
kept while in the world, and at the same time our inheritance is reserved in
heaven; otherwise this thought would immediately creep in, “What does it
avail us that our salvation is laid up in heaven, when we are tossed here
and there in this world as in a turbulent sea? What can it avail us that our
salvation is secured in a quiet harbour, when we are driven to and fro
amidst thousand shipwrecks?” The apostle, therefore, anticipates objections
of this kind, when he shews, that though we are in the world exposed to
dangers, we are yet kept by faith; and that though we are thus nigh to
death, we are yet safe under the guardianship of faith. But as faith itself,
through the infirmity of the flesh, often quails, we might be always anxious
about the morrow, were not the Lord to aid us.
[Note: ]
And, indeed, we see that under the
Papacy a diabolical opinion prevails, that we ought to doubt our final
perseverance, because we are uncertain whether we shall be tomorrow in the
same state of grace. But Peter did not thus leave us in suspense; for he
testifies that we stand by the power of God, lest any doubt arising from a
consciousness of our own infirmity, should disquiet us. How weak soever we
may then be, yet our salvation is not uncertain, because it is sustained by
God’s power. As, then, we are begotten by faith, so faith itself receives
its stability from God’s power. Hence is its security, not only for the
present, but also for the future.
Unto salvation As we are by
nature impatient of delay, and soon succumb under weariness, he therefore
reminds us that salvation is not deferred because it is not yet prepared,
but because the time of its revelation is not yet come. This doctrine is
intended to nourish and sustain our hope. Moreover, he calls the day of
judgment the last time, because the restitution of all things is not
to be previously expected, for the intervening time is still in progress.
What is elsewhere called the last time, is the whole from the coming of
Christ; it is so called from a comparison with the preceding ages. But Peter
had a regard to the end of the world.
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6.
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye
are in heaviness through manifold temptations: |
6.
In quo exultatis, paulisper nunc, si opus esti, contristati in
variis tentationibus; |
|
7.
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold
that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto
praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: |
7.
Ut probatio fidel vestrae multo pretiosior auro, quod perit et tamen
per ignem probatur, reperiatur in laudem et honorem et gloriam, quum
revelabitur Jesus Christus: |
|
8.
Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him
not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of
glory: |
8.
Quem quum non videritis, diligitis, in quem nunc credentes, quum eum
non aspicitis, exultatis gaudio inenarrabili et glorificato; |
|
9.
Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of
your souls. |
9.
Reportantes finem fidei vestrae, salutem animarum. |
6 Wherein ye greatly
rejoice, or, In which ye exult. Though the termination of the
Greek verb is doubtful, yet the meaning requires that we read, “ye exult,”
rather than “exult ye.” In which refers to the whole that is said of
the hope of salvation laid up in heaven. But he rather exhorts than praises
them; for his object was to shew what fruit was to come from the hope of
salvation, even spiritual joy, by which not only the bitterness of all evil
might be mitigated, but also all sorrow overcome. At the same time to exult
is more expressive than to rejoice.
[Note: ]
But it seems somewhat inconsistent,
when he says that the faithful, who exulted with joy, were at the same time
sorrowful, for these are contrary feelings. But the faithful know by
experience, how these things can exist together, much better than can be
expressed in words. However, to explain the matter in a few words, we may
say that the faithful are not logs of wood, nor have they so divested
themselves of human feelings, but that they are affected with sorrow, fear
danger, and feel poverty as an evil, and persecutions as hard and difficult
to be borne. Hence they experience sorrow from evils; but it is so mitigated
by faith, that they cease not at the same time to rejoice. Thus sorrow does
not prevent their joy, but, on the contrary, give place to it. Again, though
joy overcomes sorrow, yet it does not put an end to it, for it does not
divest us of humanity. And hence it appears what true patience is; its
beginning, and, as it were, its root, is the knowledge of God’s blessings,
especially of that gratuitous adoption with which he has favored us; for all
who raise hither their minds, find it an easy thing calmly to bear all
evils. For whence is it that our minds are pressed down with grief, except
that we have no participation of spiritual things? But all they who regard
their troubles as necessary trials for their salvation, not only rise above
them, but also turn them to an occasion of joy.
Ye are in heaviness, or,
Ye are made sorrowful. Is not sorrow also the common lot of the
reprobate? for they are not free from evils. But Peter meant that the
faithful endure sorrow willingly, while the ungodly murmur and perversely
contend with God. Hence the godly bear sorrow, as the tamed ox the yoke, or
as a horse, broken in, the bridle, though held by a child. God by sorrow
afflicts the reprobate, as when a bridle is by force put in the mouth of a
ferocious and refractory horse; he kicks and offers every resistance, but
all in vain. Then Peter commends the faithful, because they willingly
undergo sorrow, and not as though forced by necessity.
By saying, though now for a
season, or, a little while, he supplied consolation; for the
shortness of time, however hard evils may be, does not a little lessen them;
and the duration of the present life is but a moment of time. If need be;
the condition is to be taken for a cause; for he purposed to shew, that
God does not, without reason, thus try his people; for, if God afflicted us
without a cause, to bear it would be grievous. Hence Peter took an argument
for consolation from the design of God; not that the reason always appears
to us, but that we ought to be fully persuaded that it ought to be so,
because it is God’s will.
We must notice that he does not
mention one temptation, but many; and not temptations of one kind, but
manifold temptations It is, however, better to seek the exposition of
this passage in the first chapter of James
7. Much more precious than
of gold The argument is from the less to the greater; for if gold, a
corruptible metal, is deemed of so much value that we prove it by fire, that
it may become really valuable, what wonder is it that God should require a
similar trial as to faith, since faith is deemed by him so excellent? And
though the words seem to have a different meaning, he yet compares faith to
gold, and makes it more precious than gold, that hence he might draw the
conclusion, that it ought to be fully proved.
[Note: ]
It is moreover
uncertain how far he extends the meaning of the words, “tried”
δοκιμάζεσθαι
and “trial”
δοκίμιον
Gold is, indeed, tried twice by
fire; first, when it is separated from its dross; and then, when a judgment
is to be formed of its purity. Both modes of trial may very suitably be
applied to faith; for when there is much of the dregs of unbelief remaining
in us, and when by various afflictions we are refined as it were in God’s
furnace, the dross of our faith is removed, so that it becomes pure and
clean before God; and, at the same time, a trial of it is made, as to
whether it be true or fictitious. I am disposed to take these two views, and
what immediately follows seems to favor this explanation; for as silver is
without honor or value before it be refined, so he intimates that our faith
is not to be honored and crowned by God until it be duly proved.
At the appearing of Jesus Christ,
or, when Jesus Christ shall be revealed. This is added, that the
faithful might learn to hold on courageously to the last day. For our life
is now hidden in Christ, and will remain hidden, and as it were buried,
until Christ shall appear from heaven; and the whole course of our life
leads to the destruction of the external man, and all the things we suffer
are, as it were, the preludes of death. It is hence necessary, that we
should cast our own eyes on Christ, if we wish in our afflictions to behold
glory and praise. For trials as to us are full of reproach and shame, and
they become glorious in Christ; but that glory in Christ is not yet plainly
seen, for the day of consolation is not yet come.
[Note: ]
8 Whom having not seen,
or, Whom though ye have not seen. He lays down two things, that
they loved Christ whom they had not seen, and that they believed on him whom
they did not then behold. But the first arises from the second; for the
cause of love is faith, not only because the knowledge of those blessings
which Christ bestows on us, moves us to love him, but because he offers us
perfect felicity, and thus draws us up to himself. He then commends the
Jews, because they believed in Christ whom they did not see, that they might
know that the nature of faith is to acquiesce in those blessings which are
hid from our eyes. They had indeed given some proof of this very thing,
though he rather directs what was to be done by praising them.
The first clause in order is, that
faith is not to be measured by sight. For when the life of Christians is
apparently miserable, they would instantly fail, were not their happiness
dependent on hope. Faith, indeed, has also its eyes, but they are such as
penetrate into the invisible kingdom of God, and are contented with the
mirror of the Word; for it is the demonstration of invisible things, as it
is said in Hebrews 11:1.
Hence true is that saying of Paul, that
we are absent from the Lord while we
are in the flesh;
for we walk by faith and not by sight.
(2 Corinthians 5:6-7.)
The second clause is, that faith is
not a cold notion, but that it kindles in our hearts love to Christ. For
faith does not (as the sophists prattle) lay hold on God in a confused and
implicit manner, (for this would be to wander through devious paths;) but it
has Christ as its object. Moreover, it does not lay hold on the bare name of
Christ, or his naked essence, but regards what he is to us, and what
blessings he brings; for it cannot be but that the affections of man should
be led there, where his happiness is, according to that saying,
“Where your treasure is, there is
also your heart.” (Matthew
6:21.)
Ye rejoice, or, Ye exult.
He again refers to the fruit of faith which he had mentioned, and not
without reason; for it is an incomparable benefit, that consciences are not
only at peace before God, but confidently exult in the hope of eternal life.
And he calls it joy unspeakable, or unutterable, because the peace of
God exceeds all comprehension. What is added, full of glory, or
glorified, admits of two explanations. It means either what is magnificent
and glorious, or what is contrary to that which is empty and fading, of
which men will soon be ashamed. Thus “glorified” is the same with
what is solid and permanent, beyond the danger of being brought to nothing.
[Note: ]
Those who are not
elevated by this joy above the heavens, so that being content with Christ
alone, they despise the world, in vain boast that they have faith.
9 Receiving the end of
your faith He reminds the faithful where they ought to direct all their
thoughts, even to eternal salvation. For this world holds all our affections
ensnared by is allurements; this life and all things belonging to the body
are great impediments, which prevent us from applying our minds to the
contemplation of the future and spiritual life. Hence the Apostle sets
before us this future life as a subject of deep meditation, and he
indirectly intimates that the loss of all other things is to be deemed as
nothing, provided our souls be saved. By saying receiving, he takes
away all doubt, in order that they might more cheerfully go on, being
certain of obtaining salvation.
[Note: ]
In the meantime,
however, he shews what the end of faith is, lest they should be
over-anxious, because it is as yet deferred. For our adoption ought now to
satisfy us; nor ought we to ask to be introduced before the time into the
possession of our inheritance. We may also take the end for reward;
but the meaning would be the same. For we learn from the Apostle’s words,
that salvation is not otherwise obtained than by faith; and we know that
faith leans on the sole promise of gratuitous adoption; but if it be so,
doubtless salvation is not owing to the merits of works, nor can it be hoped
for on their account.
But why does he mention souls
only, when the glory of a resurrection is promised to our bodies? As the
soul is immortal, salvation is properly ascribed to it, as Paul sometimes is
wont to speak, —
“That the soul may be saved in the
day of the Lord.”
(1 Corinthians 5:5.)
But it is the same as though he had
said “Eternal salvation.” For there is an implied comparison between it and
the mortal and fading life which belongs to the body. At the same time, the
body is not excluded from a participation of glory when annexed to the soul.
[With gratitude to the
Christian Classics Ethereal Library for this text.]
