1 Peter · Chapter 3

V. 1. If any-He speaks tenderly.

Won-Gained over to Christ.

Verse 1. Ye wives, be in subjection] Consider that your husband is, by God’s appointment, the head and ruler of the house; do not, therefore, attempt to usurp his government; for even though he obey not the word-is not a believer in the Christian doctrine, his rule is not thereby impaired; for Christianity never alters civil relations: and your affectionate, obedient conduct will be the most likely means of convincing him of the truth of the doctrine which you have received.

Without the word] That your holy conduct may be the means of begetting in them a reverence for Christianity, the preaching of which they will not hear. See Clarke’s notes on “1 Corinthians 14:34”, and the other places referred to in the margin.

Verses 1, 2. Likewise — As I have exhorted servants to be in subjection to their masters, I in like manner say, Ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands — In all things just and lawful; that if any (he speaks tenderly) obey not the word — Disbelieve and reject the gospel; they also may, without the word — Though they neglect or reject that means of grace; be won by the conversation — The good behaviour of the wives — That is, be gained over to Christ. “Here St. Peter wisely intimates to the women, that the silent, but powerful persuasion of a becoming behaviour, would be more effectual in winning their unbelieving husbands to embrace the gospel, than many arguments, proposed perhaps with heat, for the purpose of convincing them. For when the husbands found what a happy influence the gospel had in making their wives sweet-tempered and dutiful in every respect, they could not but entertain a good opinion of a religion which produced such excellent effects.” While, with admiration and increasing love, they daily behold your chaste and spotless conversation coupled with fear — With a dutiful, respectful, obliging conduct, and a care not to displease.

Verse 1-6. Ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands. The same words occur in Ephesians 5:22. Colossians 3:18. The excellence of piety is pleaded here, as the first ornament of a wife. Wisdom connected with the culture of the mind and all the adornings of the christian temper; a chaste behaviour, a fear, and a cautious prudence. These will gain a husband to the Lord more than the monthly fashions of dress. The example of Sarah is adduced, whom all the Hebrew women revered as a model of virtue. A woman devoid of wisdom, and of female graces, only renders her folly more conspicuous by splendour of dress. Proverbs 11:22. It is a standing complaint against religious women of the present age, that their dresses are too expensive, and often bordering upon immodesty.

1. Likewise—On the principle laid down in 1 Peter 2:18. Ye wives— The same precept is found in Ephesians 5:22, 24, and Colossians 2:28, yet not with the reason here assigned. That the husband does not obey… the word of the gospel, constitutes no exception to the rule of subjection, but is rather a special ground of its obligation, in order that he may be won to Christ by the powerful argument of the wife’s holy and obedient conduct. Without the word—Not, as Alford, the wives’ word, in preaching to or exhorting them, but, as before in the verse, the word of the gospel, the preached word, which had not yet won them to faith in Christ.

V. 2. Joined with a loving fear of displeasing them.

Verse 2. Chaste conversation-with fear.] While they see that ye join modesty, chastity, and the purest manners, to the fear of God. Or perhaps fear, fobov, is taken, as in Ephesians 5:33, for the reverence due to the husband.

Verses 1, 2. Likewise — As I have exhorted servants to be in subjection to their masters, I in like manner say, Ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands — In all things just and lawful; that if any (he speaks tenderly) obey not the word — Disbelieve and reject the gospel; they also may, without the word — Though they neglect or reject that means of grace; be won by the conversation — The good behaviour of the wives — That is, be gained over to Christ. “Here St. Peter wisely intimates to the women, that the silent, but powerful persuasion of a becoming behaviour, would be more effectual in winning their unbelieving husbands to embrace the gospel, than many arguments, proposed perhaps with heat, for the purpose of convincing them. For when the husbands found what a happy influence the gospel had in making their wives sweet-tempered and dutiful in every respect, they could not but entertain a good opinion of a religion which produced such excellent effects.” While, with admiration and increasing love, they daily behold your chaste and spotless conversation coupled with fear — With a dutiful, respectful, obliging conduct, and a care not to displease.

Verse 1-6. Ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands. The same words occur in Ephesians 5:22. Colossians 3:18. The excellence of piety is pleaded here, as the first ornament of a wife. Wisdom connected with the culture of the mind and all the adornings of the christian temper; a chaste behaviour, a fear, and a cautious prudence. These will gain a husband to the Lord more than the monthly fashions of dress. The example of Sarah is adduced, whom all the Hebrew women revered as a model of virtue. A woman devoid of wisdom, and of female graces, only renders her folly more conspicuous by splendour of dress. Proverbs 11:22. It is a standing complaint against religious women of the present age, that their dresses are too expensive, and often bordering upon immodesty.

2. While they behold—Closely observe and scrutinize. Chaste conversation—Modest, pure, and holy behaviour. With fear—With a spirit of reverence toward their husbands. Such conduct would evince that the religion which induced and sweetened such a life must be divine.

V. 3. Three things are here expressly forbidden: curling the hair, wearing gold, (by way of ornament,) and putting on costly or gay apparel. These, therefore, ought never to be allowed, much less defended, by Christians.

Verse 3. Whose adorning] kosmov. See Clarke’s note on “Hebrews 9:1”, where the word kosmov, world or ornament, is defined; and also the note on “Genesis 2:1”.

Plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold] Plaiting the hair, and variously folding it about the head, was the most ancient and most simple mode of disposing of this chief ornament of the female head. It was practised anciently in every part of the east, and is so to the present day in India, in China, and also in Barbary. It was also prevalent among the Greeks and Romans, as ancient gems, busts, and statues, still remaining, sufficiently declare. We have a remarkable instance of the plaiting of the hair in a statue of Agrippina, wife of Germanicus, an exact representation of which may be seen in a work of Andre Lens, entitled Le Costume de Peuple de I’ Antiquite, pl. 33. Many plates in the same work show the different modes of dressing the hair which obtained among the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Persians, and other nations. Thin plates of gold were often mixed with the hair, to make it appear more ornamental by the reflection of light and of the solar rays. Small golden buckles were also used in different parts; and among the Roman ladies, pearls and precious stones of different colours. Pliny assures us, Hist. Nat., l. ix. c. 35, that these latter ornaments were not introduced among the Roman women till the time of Sylla, about 110 years before the Christian era. But it is evident, from many remaining monuments, that in numerous cases the hair differently plaited and curled was the only ornament of the head. Often a simple pin, sometimes of ivory, pointed with gold, seemed to connect the plaits. In monuments of antiquity the heads of the married and single women may be known, the former by the hair being parted from the forehead over the middle of the top of the head, the latter by being quite close, or being plaited and curled all in a general mass.

There is a remarkable passage in Plutarch, Conjugalia Præcept., c. xxvi., very like that in the text: kosmov gar estin, wv elege krathv, to kosmoun. kosmei de to kosmiwteran gunaika poioun poiei de tauthn ou crusov, oute smaragdov, oute kokkov, alloJsa

semnothtov, eutaxiav, aidouv emfasin peritiqhsin. Opera a Wyttenb., vol. i., page 390. “An ornament, as Crates said, is that which adorns. The proper ornament of a woman is that which becomes her best. This is neither gold, nor pearls, nor scarlet; but those things which are an evident proof of gravity, regularity, and modesty.” The wife of Phocion, a celebrated Athenian general, receiving a visit from a lady who was elegantly adorned with gold and jewels, and her hair with pearls, took occasion to call the attention of her guest to the elegance and costliness of her dress, remarking at the same time, “My ornament is my husband, now for the twentieth year general of the Athenians.” Plut., in vit. Phoc. How few Christian women act this part! Women are in general at as much pains and cost in their dress, as if by it they were to be recommended both to God and man. It is, however, in every case, the argument either of a shallow mind, or of a vain and corrupted heart.

Verses 3, 4. Whose adorning, &c, — See note on 1 Timothy 2:9; Titus 2:3. “Three things are here expressly forbidden: curling the hair, wearing gold, (by way of ornament,) and putting on costly or gay apparel. These, therefore, ought never to be allowed, much less defended, by Christians.” — Wesley. But let it be the hidden man of the heart — An inward, gracious disposition, or complete inward holiness, namely, that which is not corruptible — Which will not wear out and decay, as the external ornaments of dress will; even a meek and quiet spirit — Essential to true holiness. A meek spirit consists in bearing provocation patiently; a quiet spirit in abstaining from giving provocation, especially by bitter language, and from causing unnecessary trouble to any; in the sight of God — Who looks at the heart. “All superfluity of dress contributes more to pride and anger than is generally supposed. The apostle seems to have an eye to this, by substituting meekness and quietness in the room of the ornaments he forbids. ‘I do not regard these things,’ is often said by those whose hearts are wrapped up in them. But offer to take them away, and you touch the very idol of their souls. Some, indeed, only dress elegantly that they may be looked on; that is, they squander away their Lord’s talent to gain applause; thus making sin to beget sin, and then plead one in excuse of the other.” — Wesley. The sentiments contained in this verse are illustrated by Blackwall (Sacred Classics: vol. 1. p. 164,) as follows: “How must all the short-lived beauties, the shapes, features, and most elegant and rich ornaments of the mortal body, which attract the eyes and admiration of vain mortals, fade away, and lose their charms and lustre, when compared with the heavenly graces of a pious and regular temper, the incorruptible ornaments and beauties of the soul, which are ever amiable, and of high value in the eye of God, the Sovereign Judge of what is good and beautiful!” Nearly resembling this is a passage of Crates, a heathen philosopher, quoted by Plutarch: “Neither gold, nor emeralds, nor pearls grace and ornament a woman; but all those things which clearly express and set off her gravity, regularity, and modesty.”

Verse 1-6. Ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands. The same words occur in Ephesians 5:22. Colossians 3:18. The excellence of piety is pleaded here, as the first ornament of a wife. Wisdom connected with the culture of the mind and all the adornings of the christian temper; a chaste behaviour, a fear, and a cautious prudence. These will gain a husband to the Lord more than the monthly fashions of dress. The example of Sarah is adduced, whom all the Hebrew women revered as a model of virtue. A woman devoid of wisdom, and of female graces, only renders her folly more conspicuous by splendour of dress. Proverbs 11:22. It is a standing complaint against religious women of the present age, that their dresses are too expensive, and often bordering upon immodesty.

3. Whose adorning—The same principle is now extended to the ornamentation of the person; and though wives are directly addressed, the precept has a general application. Three specifications of the outward are mentioned, in which the real adorning should not be sought, and that not in forbidding, except as instruments of vanity, and as things in which they prided themselves. It is not said that gold should not be worn; but that the true adornment does not consist in that, but in something higher and better. Plaiting the hair—Braiding and wearing it in knots, and variously intertwining it. Ancient medals and sculptures exhibit excesses of this kind, and other ancient writers than Christian describe them. Wearing of gold— Golden ornaments, particularly such as are put round the head, neck, arm, leg, or finger. Putting on of apparel—For the gratification of pride and vanity.

V. 4. The hidden man of the heart-Complete inward holiness, which implies a meek and quiet spirit. A meek spirit gives no trouble willingly to any: a quiet spirit bears all wrongs without being troubled. In the sight of God-Who looks at the heart. All superfluity of dress contributes more to pride and anger than is generally supposed. The apostle seems to have his eye to this by substituting meekness and quietness in the room of the ornaments he forbids. "I do not regard these things," is often said by those whose hearts are wrapped up in them: but offer to take them away, and you touch the very idol of their soul. Some, indeed only dress elegantly that they may be looked on; that is, they squander away their Lord's talent to gain applause: thus making sin to beget sin, and then plead one in excuse of the other.

Verse 4. The hidden man of the heart] oJ kruptov thv kardiav anqrwpov. This phrase is of the same import with that of St. Paul, Romans 7:22, o esw anqrwpov, the inner man; that is, the soul, with the whole system of affections and passions. Every part of the Scripture treats man as a compound being: the body is the outward or visible man; the soul, the inward, hidden, or invisible man. The term anqrwpov, man, is derived, according to the best etymologists, from ana trepwn wpa, turning the face upward. This derivation of the word is beautifully paraphrased by Ovid. The whole passage is beautiful; and, though well known, I shall insert it. After speaking of the creation and formation of all the irrational animals, he proceeds thus:—

“Sanctius his animal, mentisque capacius altæ

Deerat adhuc, et quod dominari in cætera posset.

Natus HOMO est: sive hunc divino semine fecit

Ille opifex rerum, mundi melioris origo;

Sive recens tellus, seductaque nuper ab alto

Æthere, cognati retinebat semina cœli.—

Pronaque cum spectent animalia cætera terram,

OS HOMINI SUBLIME DEDIT; CŒLUMQUE TUERI

Jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere veltus.”

METAM, lib. i. ver. 76.

“A creature of a more exalted kind

Was wanting yet, and then was MAN design’d;

Conscious of thought, of more capacious breast,

For empire form’d, and fit to rule the rest.

Whether with particles of heavenly fire

The God of nature did his soul inspire,

Or earth but new divided from the sky,

Which still retain’d th’ ethereal energy.—

Thus, while the mute creation downward bend

Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend,

Man looks aloft, and with erected eyes

Beholds his own hereditary skies.”

DRYDEN.

The word anqrwpov, man, is frequently applied to the soul, but generally with some epithet. Thus o esw anqrwpov, the inner man, Romans 7:22, to distinguish it from the body, which is called o exw anqrwpov, the outer man, 2 Corinthians 4:16; o kruptov anqrwpov, the hidden man, as in the text; o kainov anqrwpov, the new man, the soul renewed in righteousness, Ephesians 2:15, to distinguish him from o palaiov anqrwpov, the old man, that is, man unregenerate or in a state of sin, Romans 6:6. And the soul is thus distinguished by the Greek philosophers.

A meek and quiet spirit] That is, a mind that will not give provocation to others, nor receive irritation by the provocation of others. Meekness will prevent the first; quietness will guard against the last. Great price.] All the ornaments placed on the head and body of the most illustrious female, are, in the sight of God, of no worth; but a meek and silent spirit are, in his sight, invaluable, because proceeding from and leading to himself, being incorruptible, surviving the ruins of the body and the ruins of time, and enduring eternally.

Verses 3, 4. Whose adorning, &c, — See note on 1 Timothy 2:9; Titus 2:3. “Three things are here expressly forbidden: curling the hair, wearing gold, (by way of ornament,) and putting on costly or gay apparel. These, therefore, ought never to be allowed, much less defended, by Christians.” — Wesley. But let it be the hidden man of the heart — An inward, gracious disposition, or complete inward holiness, namely, that which is not corruptible — Which will not wear out and decay, as the external ornaments of dress will; even a meek and quiet spirit — Essential to true holiness. A meek spirit consists in bearing provocation patiently; a quiet spirit in abstaining from giving provocation, especially by bitter language, and from causing unnecessary trouble to any; in the sight of God — Who looks at the heart. “All superfluity of dress contributes more to pride and anger than is generally supposed. The apostle seems to have an eye to this, by substituting meekness and quietness in the room of the ornaments he forbids. ‘I do not regard these things,’ is often said by those whose hearts are wrapped up in them. But offer to take them away, and you touch the very idol of their souls. Some, indeed, only dress elegantly that they may be looked on; that is, they squander away their Lord’s talent to gain applause; thus making sin to beget sin, and then plead one in excuse of the other.” — Wesley. The sentiments contained in this verse are illustrated by Blackwall (Sacred Classics: vol. 1. p. 164,) as follows: “How must all the short-lived beauties, the shapes, features, and most elegant and rich ornaments of the mortal body, which attract the eyes and admiration of vain mortals, fade away, and lose their charms and lustre, when compared with the heavenly graces of a pious and regular temper, the incorruptible ornaments and beauties of the soul, which are ever amiable, and of high value in the eye of God, the Sovereign Judge of what is good and beautiful!” Nearly resembling this is a passage of Crates, a heathen philosopher, quoted by Plutarch: “Neither gold, nor emeralds, nor pearls grace and ornament a woman; but all those things which clearly express and set off her gravity, regularity, and modesty.”

Verse 1-6. Ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands. The same words occur in Ephesians 5:22. Colossians 3:18. The excellence of piety is pleaded here, as the first ornament of a wife. Wisdom connected with the culture of the mind and all the adornings of the christian temper; a chaste behaviour, a fear, and a cautious prudence. These will gain a husband to the Lord more than the monthly fashions of dress. The example of Sarah is adduced, whom all the Hebrew women revered as a model of virtue. A woman devoid of wisdom, and of female graces, only renders her folly more conspicuous by splendour of dress. Proverbs 11:22. It is a standing complaint against religious women of the present age, that their dresses are too expensive, and often bordering upon immodesty.

4. The hidden man of the heart—This is the true adorning, which should be most eagerly sought and highly prized, and to which all other should be subordinate. It is further described as consisting in the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is not corruptible, as gold, apparel, and even the body itself are. Such an ornament is not possible for her who lives only for the world and display. In God’s sight, who looks upon the inward, not the outward, it is very precious.

5, 6. The holy women—Particularly the wives of the patriarchs. Trusted in God—Better, hoped in God: believing and serving him, and looking for the fulfilment of his promises. They are adduced as illustrations of the adorning with gentleness and calmness of spirit, which was especially manifested in the matter of subjection to their husbands. Notably, Sarah, the Princess and Mother of nations, (Genesis 17:15, 16,) showed it in her obedience to Abraham, indicated in her calling him lord. Genesis 18:12. So considerate Greek and Roman wives used the equivalent kuriov and dominus. Whose daughters ye are—Literally, whose children ye become, in possessing her spirit. As long as—Setting forth two points of resemblance of the daughters to the mother. Do well—Like her, hoping in God, as one of the holy women. Not… amazement—Literally, fearing no fear. Commentators, ancient and modern, have been sorely perplexed by this difficult clause. The word ptohsin signifies fear, terror, trepidation, and may refer to either the emotion or its external cause. The meaning is to be found in the spirit of Sarah’s obedience, the second point of the daughters’ resemblance to her, which the apostle is inculcating as the true ornament. It is the calm, undisturbed, tranquil spirit, and not a slavish one; loving and trustful, and not afraid of the husband as an object of terror or apprehension.

V. 5. The adorning of those holy women, who trusted in God, and therefore did not act thus from servile fear, was,

1. Their meek subjection to their husbands:

2. Their quiet spirit, "not afraid," or amazed: and

3. Their unblamable behaviour, "doing" all things "well."

Verse 5. For after this manner] Simplicity reigned in primitive times; natural ornaments alone were then in use. Trade and commerce brought in luxuries; and luxury brought pride, and all the excessive nonsense of DRESS. No female head ever looks so well as when adorned with its own hair alone. This is the ornament appointed by God. To cut it off or to cover it is an unnatural practice; and to exchange the hair which God has given for hair of some other colour, is an insult to the Creator. How the delicacy of the female character can stoop to the use of false hair, and especially when it is considered that the chief part of this kind of hair was once the natural property of some ruffian soldier, who fell In battle by many a ghastly wound, is more than I can possibly comprehend. See the notes on 1 Corinthians 11:14-16; and 1 Timothy 2:9. Who trusted in God] The women who trust NOT in God are fond of dress and frippery; those who trust in God follow nature and common sense. Being in subjection unto their own husbands] It will rarely be found that women who are fond of dress, and extravagant in it, have any subjection to their husbands but what comes from mere necessity. Indeed, their dress, which they intend as an attractive to the eyes of others, is a sufficient proof that they have neither love nor respect for their own husbands. Let them who are concerned refute the charge.

Verses 5, 6. For after this manner — Namely, with inward holiness and outward plainness; in old time — In the patriarchal ages; the holy women who trusted in God — And therefore did not act thus from servile fear, but from true piety, and are consequently worthy to be imitated; adorned themselves — Their adorning, according to St. Peter here, was, 1st, Their meek subjection to their husbands; 2d, Their quiet spirit, not afraid or amazed; and, 3d, Their unblameable behaviour, doing all things well. Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham — See Genesis 12:5; 18:6; calling him lord — In token of her subjection; for the ancients, by giving titles of respect to their superiors, acknowledged their own inferiority. Therefore, by mentioning the reverence with which Sarah spake of Abraham, the apostle intimates that she entertained the highest respect for him, and a just sense of her own subjection to him. Sarah was considered by the Jewish women as an illustrious pattern of a dutiful wife; whose daughters — Or children, in a spiritual, as well as natural sense; ye are — Or show yourselves to be, and that ye are entitled to the same inheritance; as long as ye do well — Discharge all your conjugal duties conscientiously. Sarah being constituted by God the mother of all believers, (Galatians 4:26,) even as Abraham was made their father, the believing women of Pontus, by imitating Sarah’s virtues, became her children, though not descended from her. And are not afraid with any amazement — So terrified with the apprehension of any danger or prejudice that may arise to you on account of your piety, as to be discouraged from your duty, or induced, through fear of displeasing your husbands, to do actions contrary to your religion. For, while the apostle enjoined wives to be in subjection to their husbands, he cautioned them against committing sin, especially the sin of idolatry, either from a desire to please their husbands, or from a fear of offending them.

Verse 1-6. Ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands. The same words occur in Ephesians 5:22. Colossians 3:18. The excellence of piety is pleaded here, as the first ornament of a wife. Wisdom connected with the culture of the mind and all the adornings of the christian temper; a chaste behaviour, a fear, and a cautious prudence. These will gain a husband to the Lord more than the monthly fashions of dress. The example of Sarah is adduced, whom all the Hebrew women revered as a model of virtue. A woman devoid of wisdom, and of female graces, only renders her folly more conspicuous by splendour of dress. Proverbs 11:22. It is a standing complaint against religious women of the present age, that their dresses are too expensive, and often bordering upon immodesty.

V. 6. Whose children ye are-In a spiritual as well as natural sense, and entitled to the same inheritance, while ye discharge your conjugal duties, not out of fear, but for conscience' sake. Genesis 18:12.

Verse 6. Even as Sara obeyed] Almost the same words are in Rab. Tanchum, fol. 9, 3: “The wife of Abraham reverenced him, and called him lord, as it is written, Genesis 18:12: And my lord is old.” The words of the apostle imply that she acknowledged his superiority, and her own subjection to him, in the order of God.

Whose daughters ye are] As Abraham is represented the father of all his male believing descendants, so Sara is represented as the mother of all her believing female posterity. A son of Abraham is a true believer; a daughter of Sarah is the same.

As long as ye do well] For you cannot maintain your relationship to her longer than ye believe; and ye cannot believe longer than ye continue to obey.

And are not afraid with any amazement.] It is difficult to extract any sense out of this clause. The original is not very easy; mh foboumenai mhdemian ptohsiv may be rendered, And not fearing with any terror. If ye do well, and act conscientiously your part as faithful wives, ye will at no time live under the distressing apprehension of being found out, or terrified at every appearance of the discovery of infidelities, or improper conduct. Being not guilty of these, you will not have occasion to fear detection. On this subject a learned man has quoted these words, which I have produced elsewhere, Ephesians 6:14:—

——————hic murus aheneus esto,

Nil conscire sibi, nulla pallescere culpa.

“Let this be my brazen wall, to be self-convicted of no private delinquency, nor to change colour at being charged with a fault.” Happy is the wife, and happy is the husband, who can conscientiously adopt the saying.

Verses 5, 6. For after this manner — Namely, with inward holiness and outward plainness; in old time — In the patriarchal ages; the holy women who trusted in God — And therefore did not act thus from servile fear, but from true piety, and are consequently worthy to be imitated; adorned themselves — Their adorning, according to St. Peter here, was, 1st, Their meek subjection to their husbands; 2d, Their quiet spirit, not afraid or amazed; and, 3d, Their unblameable behaviour, doing all things well. Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham — See Genesis 12:5; 18:6; calling him lord — In token of her subjection; for the ancients, by giving titles of respect to their superiors, acknowledged their own inferiority. Therefore, by mentioning the reverence with which Sarah spake of Abraham, the apostle intimates that she entertained the highest respect for him, and a just sense of her own subjection to him. Sarah was considered by the Jewish women as an illustrious pattern of a dutiful wife; whose daughters — Or children, in a spiritual, as well as natural sense; ye are — Or show yourselves to be, and that ye are entitled to the same inheritance; as long as ye do well — Discharge all your conjugal duties conscientiously. Sarah being constituted by God the mother of all believers, (Galatians 4:26,) even as Abraham was made their father, the believing women of Pontus, by imitating Sarah’s virtues, became her children, though not descended from her. And are not afraid with any amazement — So terrified with the apprehension of any danger or prejudice that may arise to you on account of your piety, as to be discouraged from your duty, or induced, through fear of displeasing your husbands, to do actions contrary to your religion. For, while the apostle enjoined wives to be in subjection to their husbands, he cautioned them against committing sin, especially the sin of idolatry, either from a desire to please their husbands, or from a fear of offending them.

Verse 1-6. Ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands. The same words occur in Ephesians 5:22. Colossians 3:18. The excellence of piety is pleaded here, as the first ornament of a wife. Wisdom connected with the culture of the mind and all the adornings of the christian temper; a chaste behaviour, a fear, and a cautious prudence. These will gain a husband to the Lord more than the monthly fashions of dress. The example of Sarah is adduced, whom all the Hebrew women revered as a model of virtue. A woman devoid of wisdom, and of female graces, only renders her folly more conspicuous by splendour of dress. Proverbs 11:22. It is a standing complaint against religious women of the present age, that their dresses are too expensive, and often bordering upon immodesty.

V. 7. Dwell with the woman according to knowledge-Knowing they are weak, and therefore to be used with all tenderness. Yet do not despise them for this, but give them honour-Both in heart, in word, and in action; as those who are called to be joint-heirs of that eternal life which ye and they hope to receive by the free grace of God.

That your prayers be not hindered-On the one part or the other. All sin hinders prayer; particularly anger. Anything at which we are angry is never more apt to come into our mind than when we are at prayer; and those who do not forgive will find no forgiveness from God.

Verse 7. Dwell with them according to knowledge] Give your wives, by no species of unkind carriage, any excuse for delinquency. How can a man expect his wife to be faithful to him, if he be unfaithful to her? and vice versa.

Giving honour unto the wife] Using your superior strength and experience in her behalf, and thus honouring her by becoming her protector and support. But the word timh honour, signifies maintenance as well as respect;-maintain, provide for the wife.

As-the weaker vessel] Being mare delicately, and consequently more slenderly, constructed. Roughness and strength go hand in hand; so likewise do beauty and frailty. The female has what the man wants-beauty and delicacy. The male has what the female wants-courage and strength. The one is as good in its place as the other: and by these things God has made an equality between the man and the woman, so that there is properly very little superiority on either side. See Clarke’s note on “1 Thessalonians 4:4”.

Being heirs together] Both the man and woman being equally called to eternal glory: and as prayer is one great means of obtaining a meetness for it, it is necessary that they should live together in such a manner as to prevent all family contentions, that they may not be prevented, by disputes or misunderstandings, from uniting daily in this most important duty-family and social prayer.

Verse 7. Likewise, ye husbands — See on Ephesians 5:25; Colossians 3:19; dwell with them — Conduct yourselves toward them, according to knowledge — Wisely and discreetly; suitably to that knowledge of your duty which you have obtained by the gospel: or, knowing they are weak, and therefore to be used with tenderness: yet do not despise them for this, but give them honour — Both in heart and in your behaviour toward them, as those who are called to be joint-heirs of that eternal life which ye and they hope to receive by the free grace of God. “In Scripture, honour is sometimes used for maintenance, because to supply any one with the necessaries and conveniences of life was considered, in ancient times, as doing him honour. Accordingly the Greeks, in reward of eminent services done to the community, decreed maintenance at the public expense to those who had performed these services. By assigning as the reason why honour should be given to the wife, that she is weaker than the husband, in body or person, (as the word skeuov, vessel, here seems to mean,) the apostle hath intimated, not only that he ought to afford her a competent share of the necessaries and conveniences of life, but as much relief from bodily labour as his circumstances will allow: all which is most reasonable, considering the many bodily troubles women are subject to, in the breeding, bearing, and nursing of children.” That your prayers be not hindered — On the one part or the other. All sin hinders prayer, particularly anger. Any thing at which we are angry is never more apt to come into our minds than when we are at prayer. And those who do not forgive, will find no forgiveness from God.

7. Ye husbands—A correspondent command is now laid upon the husband, requiring for the wife considerate and Christian treatment as his spiritual equal, although physically weaker than he. Dwell with—The word means, primarily, a living together in the same house, and here in the marriage relation. According to knowledge—Wisely, reasonably, and not arbitrarily, as lording it over them. Giving honour—Reverent regard and respectful treatment. Weaker vessel—More delicate and fragile in structure, and therefore demanding the greater consideration. The bottom idea in the word vessel is, a work; it then comes to include the human body as a piece of God’s workmanship. Man is a weak vessel, and easily damaged; woman is a weaker one. Her mental or moral strength is not referred to. Heirs together—An additional and higher reason for honour to the wife. We prefer the pointing of Tischendorf and Alford, which gives the rendering: Dwell according to knowledge with the wife as with the weaker vessel, giving honour as to those who are (not only your wives, but) also fellow heirs (with you) of the grace of life. Thus reading, the apostle enjoins (1.) Considerateness for the wife, because of her comparative physical weakness; and, (2.) Honour for her because she is an heir with her husband to the gift of life. Not hindered—Only on the ground thus laid down can there be union in the prayers of husband and wife. Disagreements, disrespect, and the ill feelings thence resulting, are destructive to united prayer, and, indeed, to all prayer.

6. General Counsels, 8-12.

V. 8. Finally-This part of the epistle reaches to 1 Peter 4:11. The apostle seems to have added the rest afterwards. Sympathizing-Rejoicing and sorrowing together. Love all believers as brethren.

Be pitiful-Toward the afflicted.

Be courteous-To all men. Courtesy is such a behaviour toward equals and inferiors as shows respect mixed with love.

Verse 8. Be ye all of one mind] Unity, both in the family and in the Church, being essentially necessary to peace and salvation. See on Romans 12:16; 15:5.

Having compassion] sumpaqeiv. Being sympathetic; feeling for each other; bearing each other’s burdens.

Love as brethren] filadelfoi. Be lovers of the brethren. Pitiful] eusplagcnoi. Tender-hearted; let your bowels yearn over the distressed and afflicted.

Courteous] filofronev. Be friendly-minded; acquire and cultivate a friendly disposition. But instead of this word, tapeinofronev, be humble-minded, is the reading of ABC, more than twenty others, with the Syriac, Arabic of Erpen, Coptic, Armenian, Slavonic, and some of the fathers. This is probably the true reading, and Griesbach has admitted it into the text.

Verses 8, 9. Finally — This section of the epistle reaches to 1 Peter 4:11. The apostle seems to have added the rest afterward. Be ye all of one mind — Omofronev, unanimous; guarding against all unnecessary occasion of contention: see on Romans 12:16: have compassion, &c. — Greek, sumpaqeiv, sympathizing with each other; rejoicing and sorrowing together: love all believers as brethren: be pitiful — Toward the afflicted. The original word, eusplagcnoi, is, literally, of good bowels. The meaning is, Be moved with compassion on beholding the weaknesses and distresses of others, and do all you can to assist and relieve them. Be courteous — To all men. Courtesy is such a behaviour toward equals and inferiors as shows respect mixed with love. Not rendering evil for evil — See on Matthew 5:39; or railing for railing — One reproachful speech for another; but contrariwise, blessing — Even to those that curse you, according to Christ’s precept; wishing and praying for their welfare, and endeavouring to promote it. Knowing that ye are thereunto called — Namely, to be of this benevolent and beneficent forgiving temper: that ye should inherit a blessing, immense and eternal. Therefore their railing cannot hurt you; and by blessing them, you imitate God, who blesses you.

Ver. 8, 9. Be ye all of one mind. Unity is the glory of the church. While fear and self-interest bind the world in chains, love reigns among the saints. Antichrist has many children, restless spirits, and disturbers of all repose. All is wrong, according to them, in government, in commerce, and in the church, because the sceptre of the world is not in their hands.

8. Finally—Not as if closing the epistle, but presenting a few things summarily. One mind—Of the same sentiment and affection. Having compassion—Sympathizing with, whether in sorrow or joy. Love as brethren—Literally, brotherly-loving. Pitiful—Tender-hearted, compassionate. Courteous—Benignant, kind. But the best ancient MSS. and Versions read humble-minded.

V. 9. Ye are called to inherit a blessing-Therefore their railing cannot hurt you; and, by blessing them, you imitate God, who blesses you.

Verse 9. Not rendering evil for evil] Purposing, saying, doing nothing but good; and invariably returning good for evil.

Ye are thereunto called] This is your calling-your business in life, to do good, and to do good for evil, and to implore God’s blessing even on your worst enemies. And this is not only your duty, but your interest; for in so doing you shall obtain God’s blessing, even life for evermore.

Verses 8, 9. Finally — This section of the epistle reaches to 1 Peter 4:11. The apostle seems to have added the rest afterward. Be ye all of one mind — Omofronev, unanimous; guarding against all unnecessary occasion of contention: see on Romans 12:16: have compassion, &c. — Greek, sumpaqeiv, sympathizing with each other; rejoicing and sorrowing together: love all believers as brethren: be pitiful — Toward the afflicted. The original word, eusplagcnoi, is, literally, of good bowels. The meaning is, Be moved with compassion on beholding the weaknesses and distresses of others, and do all you can to assist and relieve them. Be courteous — To all men. Courtesy is such a behaviour toward equals and inferiors as shows respect mixed with love. Not rendering evil for evil — See on Matthew 5:39; or railing for railing — One reproachful speech for another; but contrariwise, blessing — Even to those that curse you, according to Christ’s precept; wishing and praying for their welfare, and endeavouring to promote it. Knowing that ye are thereunto called — Namely, to be of this benevolent and beneficent forgiving temper: that ye should inherit a blessing, immense and eternal. Therefore their railing cannot hurt you; and by blessing them, you imitate God, who blesses you.

Ver. 8, 9. Be ye all of one mind. Unity is the glory of the church. While fear and self-interest bind the world in chains, love reigns among the saints. Antichrist has many children, restless spirits, and disturbers of all repose. All is wrong, according to them, in government, in commerce, and in the church, because the sceptre of the world is not in their hands.

9. With such habits of soul, acts contrary to them, as those next named, are easily avoided. Neither the evil deed nor the railing word must be retaliated. See 1 Peter 2:23, in the example of Christ. Blessing—This word is not a noun. The apostle means blessing them who injure and revile us. So taught our Lord. Luke 6:28. Thereunto—The blessing of enemies. Inherit—In the day of judgment. See our notes on Matthew 25:34.

V. 10. For he that desireth to love life, and to see good days-That would make life amiable and desirable. Psalm 34:12, &c.

Verse 10. For he that will love life] This is a quotation from Psalm 34:12-16, as it stands in the Septuagint; only the aorist of the imperative is changed from the second into the third person, &c. He who wishes to live long and prosperously, must act as he is here directed. 1. He must refrain from evil-speaking, lying, and slandering. 2. He must avoid flattery and fair speeches, which cover hypocritical or wicked intentions. 3. He must avoid evil, keep going away ekklinatw, from evil. 4. He must do good; he must walk in the way of righteousness. 5. He must live peaceably with all men; seek peace where it has been lost; restore it where it has been broken; and pursue it where it seems to be flying away. He who lives thus must live happy in himself. And as excess in action and passion always tends to the shortening of life, and nothing preys on the constitution more than disorderly passions, he must live not only happiest but longest who avoids them. It is an edifying story that is told in the book Mussar, chap. 1., quoted by Rosenmuller: “A certain person, travelling through the city, continued to call out, Who wants the elixir of life? The daughter of Rabbi Joda heard him, and told her father. He said, Call the man in. When he came in, the rabbi said, What is that elixir of life thou sellest? He answered, Is it not written, What man is he that loveth life, and desireth to see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking guile? This is the elixir of life, and is found in the mouth of man.”

Verses 10-13. He that will love life — That would make life amiable and desirable; and see good days — Namely, such as are prosperous and happy; let him refrain his tongue from evil — From railing, back-biting, tale-bearing, from all rash and provoking expressions; and his lips that they speak no guile — No deceit; nothing contrary to sincerity and simplicity. See on Psalm 32:2. In this and the following verses the apostle offers three arguments, of great importance, to induce men to the practice of piety and virtue: 1st, It secures the happiness both of the present and of the future life: 2d, It ensures the favour and protection of God, verse 12: 3d, It disarms the malice of men, verse 13. Let him eschew evil — Ekklinatw apo kakou, let him turn away from evil, of every kind, and from evil dispositions, as well as evil words and actions; and do good — To the utmost extent of his power. Let him seek peace — Endeavour, as much as in him lieth, to live peaceably with all men: and pursue it — When it appears to flee from him. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous — Are continually set upon them, to watch over and protect them; and his ears are open to their prayers — Especially when they are in distress. But the face of the Lord — His countenance, full of wrath and resentment; is against them that do evil — Against all that live in known sin, whether high or low, rich or poor. And who is he that shall harm you — That shall have the ability to do you any real harm; if ye be followers of that which is good — Or imitators of the good One, as the original expression, tou agaqou mimhtai, may be rendered: that is, if you copy after the benevolence of your heavenly Father, and of his beloved Son, your great Master, whose whole life was so illustrious an example of the most diffusive generosity and goodness to his followers?

Ver. 10-13. He that will love life, and see good days, let him avoid evil, do good, and pursue peace. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous; they are his children, and the heirs of glory. He delights in them, and calls them by his own name. The Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. His face is against all that do evil. Who then is he that shall harm [hurt] you, if you are followers of that which is good?

10, 11. The counsels just given are fortified by a citation from Psalm 34:15-17, nearly verbatim, from the Septuagint. He… love life—He that loves to live, and resolves to make his life happy and prosperous, must heed these rules: (1.) Refrain from insolent, slanderous, false, and deceitful speech; (2.) Abstain from action that is wicked or injurious to others; (3.) Do the good and right thing; (4.) Seek peaceful relations with all men, and strenuously endeavour to secure them.

V. 11. Let him seek-To live peaceably with all men. And pursue it-Even when it seems to flee from him.

Verses 10-13. He that will love life — That would make life amiable and desirable; and see good days — Namely, such as are prosperous and happy; let him refrain his tongue from evil — From railing, back-biting, tale-bearing, from all rash and provoking expressions; and his lips that they speak no guile — No deceit; nothing contrary to sincerity and simplicity. See on Psalm 32:2. In this and the following verses the apostle offers three arguments, of great importance, to induce men to the practice of piety and virtue: 1st, It secures the happiness both of the present and of the future life: 2d, It ensures the favour and protection of God, verse 12: 3d, It disarms the malice of men, verse 13. Let him eschew evil — Ekklinatw apo kakou, let him turn away from evil, of every kind, and from evil dispositions, as well as evil words and actions; and do good — To the utmost extent of his power. Let him seek peace — Endeavour, as much as in him lieth, to live peaceably with all men: and pursue it — When it appears to flee from him. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous — Are continually set upon them, to watch over and protect them; and his ears are open to their prayers — Especially when they are in distress. But the face of the Lord — His countenance, full of wrath and resentment; is against them that do evil — Against all that live in known sin, whether high or low, rich or poor. And who is he that shall harm you — That shall have the ability to do you any real harm; if ye be followers of that which is good — Or imitators of the good One, as the original expression, tou agaqou mimhtai, may be rendered: that is, if you copy after the benevolence of your heavenly Father, and of his beloved Son, your great Master, whose whole life was so illustrious an example of the most diffusive generosity and goodness to his followers?

Ver. 10-13. He that will love life, and see good days, let him avoid evil, do good, and pursue peace. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous; they are his children, and the heirs of glory. He delights in them, and calls them by his own name. The Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. His face is against all that do evil. Who then is he that shall harm [hurt] you, if you are followers of that which is good?

10, 11. The counsels just given are fortified by a citation from Psalm 34:15-17, nearly verbatim, from the Septuagint. He… love life—He that loves to live, and resolves to make his life happy and prosperous, must heed these rules: (1.) Refrain from insolent, slanderous, false, and deceitful speech; (2.) Abstain from action that is wicked or injurious to others; (3.) Do the good and right thing; (4.) Seek peaceful relations with all men, and strenuously endeavour to secure them.

V. 12. The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous-For good. Anger appears in the whole face; love, chiefly in the eyes.

Verse 12. The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous] That is, He is continually under God’s notice and his care; God continually watches for him and watches over him, and he is under his constant protection. And his ears are open unto their prayers] The original is very emphatic: The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears to their prayers. The righteous man ever attracts the Divine notice, and wherever he is, there is the ear of God; for, as every righteous man is a man of prayer, wherever he prays, there is the ear of God, into which the prayer, as soon as formed, enters.

But the face of the Lord] Far from his eye being upon them, or his ear open to their requests, (for prayer they have none,) his face, his approbation, his providence and blessing, are turned away from them; and he only looks upon them to abhor them, and to turn the arm of his justice against them.

Verses 10-13. He that will love life — That would make life amiable and desirable; and see good days — Namely, such as are prosperous and happy; let him refrain his tongue from evil — From railing, back-biting, tale-bearing, from all rash and provoking expressions; and his lips that they speak no guile — No deceit; nothing contrary to sincerity and simplicity. See on Psalm 32:2. In this and the following verses the apostle offers three arguments, of great importance, to induce men to the practice of piety and virtue: 1st, It secures the happiness both of the present and of the future life: 2d, It ensures the favour and protection of God, verse 12: 3d, It disarms the malice of men, verse 13. Let him eschew evil — Ekklinatw apo kakou, let him turn away from evil, of every kind, and from evil dispositions, as well as evil words and actions; and do good — To the utmost extent of his power. Let him seek peace — Endeavour, as much as in him lieth, to live peaceably with all men: and pursue it — When it appears to flee from him. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous — Are continually set upon them, to watch over and protect them; and his ears are open to their prayers — Especially when they are in distress. But the face of the Lord — His countenance, full of wrath and resentment; is against them that do evil — Against all that live in known sin, whether high or low, rich or poor. And who is he that shall harm you — That shall have the ability to do you any real harm; if ye be followers of that which is good — Or imitators of the good One, as the original expression, tou agaqou mimhtai, may be rendered: that is, if you copy after the benevolence of your heavenly Father, and of his beloved Son, your great Master, whose whole life was so illustrious an example of the most diffusive generosity and goodness to his followers?

Ver. 10-13. He that will love life, and see good days, let him avoid evil, do good, and pursue peace. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous; they are his children, and the heirs of glory. He delights in them, and calls them by his own name. The Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. His face is against all that do evil. Who then is he that shall harm [hurt] you, if you are followers of that which is good?

12. For—Besides the natural tendency of this course, God watches over such persons with open, observant eyes, and his ears are turned toward their prayers, as though he were careful to lose no word or sigh. On the other hand, his face, much more than his eyes, is upon (epi in both cases) evil doers, so that while he will surely bless and defend the righteous, it is his fixed, unalterable purpose to punish the wicked. This, which is fully expressed in the Psalm, is here left to be inferred from the difference in God’s treatment of different characters.

III. THE BEARING PROPER FOR CHRISTIANS UNDER PERSECUTION, 13-5:14.

1. The blessedness of sufferers for righteousness, 13, 14.

V. 13. Who is he that will harm you-None can.

Verse 13. Who is he that will harm you] Is it possible that a man can be wretched who has God for his friend? “All the devices which the devil or wicked men work against such must be brought to naught, and by the providence of his goodness be dispersed.”

If ye be followers, &c.] ean tou agaqou mimhtai genhsqe. If ye be imitators of the good One, i.e. of God. oJ agaqov, the good One, is one of God’s prime epithets, see Matthew 19:17, and Satan is distinguished by the reverse, o ponhrov, the EVIL one, Matthew 13:19, where see the notes. Instead of mimhtai, followers, or rather imitators, zhlwtai, zealous of what is good, is the reading of ABC, fifteen others, both the Syriac, Erpen’s Arabic, the Coptic, Æthiopic, Armenian and Vulgate, with some of the fathers. This is a very probable reading, and Griesbach has placed it in the margin as a candidate for the place of that in the text.

Verses 10-13. He that will love life — That would make life amiable and desirable; and see good days — Namely, such as are prosperous and happy; let him refrain his tongue from evil — From railing, back-biting, tale-bearing, from all rash and provoking expressions; and his lips that they speak no guile — No deceit; nothing contrary to sincerity and simplicity. See on Psalm 32:2. In this and the following verses the apostle offers three arguments, of great importance, to induce men to the practice of piety and virtue: 1st, It secures the happiness both of the present and of the future life: 2d, It ensures the favour and protection of God, verse 12: 3d, It disarms the malice of men, verse 13. Let him eschew evil — Ekklinatw apo kakou, let him turn away from evil, of every kind, and from evil dispositions, as well as evil words and actions; and do good — To the utmost extent of his power. Let him seek peace — Endeavour, as much as in him lieth, to live peaceably with all men: and pursue it — When it appears to flee from him. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous — Are continually set upon them, to watch over and protect them; and his ears are open to their prayers — Especially when they are in distress. But the face of the Lord — His countenance, full of wrath and resentment; is against them that do evil — Against all that live in known sin, whether high or low, rich or poor. And who is he that shall harm you — That shall have the ability to do you any real harm; if ye be followers of that which is good — Or imitators of the good One, as the original expression, tou agaqou mimhtai, may be rendered: that is, if you copy after the benevolence of your heavenly Father, and of his beloved Son, your great Master, whose whole life was so illustrious an example of the most diffusive generosity and goodness to his followers?

Ver. 10-13. He that will love life, and see good days, let him avoid evil, do good, and pursue peace. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous; they are his children, and the heirs of glory. He delights in them, and calls them by his own name. The Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. His face is against all that do evil. Who then is he that shall harm [hurt] you, if you are followers of that which is good?

13. Who… harm you—The general experience of the world is, that good and benevolent men need anticipate no injury from the malice and violence of the wicked. “Justice,” says Plato, “causes concord and friendship.” Yet there are exceptions, as the next verse allows and experience proves. The word mimhtai, imitators, is used in six other places in the New Testament, and in every instance is connected with a person who is to be followed, or imitated. It should be so here; and we would then read, if ye be imitators of him that is good, namely, of the Lord Jesus Christ. The authority, however, is strong for zhlwtai, zealots, which Tregelles, Alford, and Wordsworth adopt.

V. 14. But if ye should suffer-This is no harm to you, but a good. Fear ye not their fear-The very words of the Septuagint, Isaiah 8:12,

13. Let not that fear be in you which the wicked feel.

Verse 14. But and if ye suffer] God may permit you to be tried and persecuted for righteousness’ sake, but this cannot essentially harm you; he will press even this into your service, and make it work for your good. Happy are ye] This seems to refer to Matthew 5:10, &c. Blessed or happy, are ye when men persecute you, &c. It is a happiness to suffer for Christ; and it is a happiness, because if a man were not holy and righteous the world would not persecute him, so he is happy in the very cause of his sufferings.

Be not afraid of their terror] ton de fobon autwn mh fobhqhte. Fear not their fear; see Isaiah 8:12. Sometimes fear is put for the object of a man’s religious worship; see Genesis 31:42; Proverbs 1:26, and the place in Isaiah just quoted. The exhortation may mean, Fear not their gods, they can do you no hurt; and supposing that they curse you by them, yet be not troubled; “He who fears God need have no other fear.”

Verses 14-16. But if you should suffer — If any should be so wicked as to endeavour to harm you when you are doing good; if your heathen rulers, or any others, should persecute you for righteousness’ sake; that is, upon the account of your religion, because you follow Christ, and believe and obey his gospel; this, properly speaking, will be no harm to you, but a good: yea, happy are you — In so suffering, in spite of all the malicious and outrageous efforts of your enemies; yea, your sufferings will be so far from lessening, that they will increase your happiness, and that in many respects. Be not afraid of their terror — Ton de fobon autwn mh fobhqhte, the very words of the Septuagint, Isaiah 8:12, 13; Fear ye not their fear: the exhortation which Isaiah gave to the Jews when threatened with an invasion by the Assyrians. The words are a Hebraism; the meaning of which is, Be not affected with the fear which they endeavour to raise in you by their threatenings. Or, as some understand the expression, Let not that fear be in you which the wicked feel. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts — Namely, by fearing him more than men, how many or powerful soever they may be; by believing all his promises; by trusting in his wisdom, power, and goodness; by acknowledging his justice in the punishments which he inflicts, and by patiently bearing all the trials he is pleased to appoint. By these dispositions, believers sanctify God in their hearts; they give him the glory of all his perfections. See on Isaiah 8:13. And be ready always — By a familiar acquaintance with the contents and evidences of your holy religion, and by that cheerfulness and presence of mind which arises from a consciousness of your practical regard to it; to give an answer to every man that asketh you — Either by virtue of his office, or for his own information; or when the defence of the truth requires it; a reason of the hope that is in you — Of eternal life; with meekness — For anger would hurt your cause, as well as your soul; and fear — A filial fear of offending God, and a jealous fear of yourselves, lest you should speak amiss. Having a good conscience — Keeping your consciences clear from guilt, that they may justify you when men accuse you; or conducting yourselves so that your consciences may not reproach you for dishonouring the gospel, by walking unsuitably to its holy precepts; that whereas, or wherein, they speak evil of you, as of evil-doers — And lay to your charge crimes of the most detestable nature; they may be put to shame, who falsely — Without any shadow of cause; accuse your good conversation — Your inoffensive, useful, and holy behaviour; in Christ — According to his doctrine and example.

14. Suffer for righteousness’ sake—St. Peter drops the harm for the milder suffer, which, in the case supposed, is a blessing rather than an injury. The probable reference is to anticipated persecutions by authority of the magistrates. These were part of the inheritance on earth. Mark 10:30. Happy—The Greek is the blessed of our Lord’s beatitudes, the eighth of which is clearly alluded to. Matthew 5:10. In the dungeon and in the flame they would be happy, or, which is more and higher, blessed, in their innocence, in their Lord’s approval, and in the reward of eternal joy. Terror—Used objectively, and pointing to attempts by threats to frighten them into apostasy. Neither be troubled—Be agitated by no fears or apprehensions.

V. 15. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts-Have an holy fear, and a full trust in his wise providence.

The hope-Of eternal life.

With meekness-For anger would hurt your cause as well as your soul. And fear-A filial fear of offending God, and a jealousy over yourselves, lest ye speak amiss.

Verse 15. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts] To sanctify God may signify to offer him the praises due to his grace, but as to sanctify literally signifies to make holy, it is impossible that God should be thus sanctified. We have often already seen that agiazw signifies to separate from earth, that is, from any common use or purpose, that the thing or person thus separated may be devoted to a sacred use. Perhaps we should understand Peter’s words thus: Entertain just notions of God; of his nature, power, will, justice, goodness, and truth. Do not conceive of him as being actuated by such passions as men; separate him in your hearts from every thing earthly, human, fickle, rigidly severe, or capriciously merciful. Consider that he can neither be like man, feel like man, nor act like man. Ascribe no human passions to him, for this would desecrate not sanctify him. Do not confine him in your conceptions to place, space, vacuity, heaven, or earth; endeavour to think worthily of the immensity and eternity of his nature, of his omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. Avoid the error of the heathens, who bound even their Dii Majores, their greatest gods, by fate, as many well-meaning Christians do the true God by decrees; conceive of him as infinitely free to act or not act, as he pleases. Consider the goodness of his nature; for goodness, in every possible state of perfection and infinitude, belongs to him. Ascribe no malevolence to him; nor any work, purpose, or decree, that implies it: this is not only a human passion, but a passion of fallen man. Do not suppose that he can do evil, or that he can destroy when he might save; that he ever did, or ever can, hate any of those whom he made in his own image and in his own likeness, so as by a positive decree to doom them, unborn, to everlasting perdition, or, what is of the same import, pass them by without affording them the means of salvation, and consequently rendering it impossible for them to be saved. Thus endeavour to conceive of him; and, by so doing, you separate him from all that is imperfect, human, evil, capricious, changeable, and unkind. Ever remember that he has wisdom without error, power, without limits, truth without falsity, love without hatred, holiness without evil, and justice without rigour or severity on the one hand, or capricious tenderness on the other. In a word, that he neither can be, say, purpose, or do, any thing that is not infinitely just, holy, wise, true, and gracious; that he hates nothing that he has made; and has so loved the world, the whole human race, as to give his only-begotten Son to die for them, that they might not perish, but have everlasting life. Thus sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and you will ever be ready to give a reason of the hope that is in you to every serious and candid inquirer after truth. Most religious systems and creeds are incapable of rational explanation, because founded on some misconception of the Divine nature. “They set at odds heaven’s jarring attributes,

And with one excellence another wound.”

The system of humanizing God, and making him, by our unjust conceptions of him, to act as ourselves would in certain circumstances, has been the bane of both religion and piety; and on this ground infidels have laughed us to scorn. It is high time that we should no longer know God after the flesh; for even if we have known Jesus Christ after the flesh, we are to know him so no more.

What I have written above is not against any particular creed of religious people, it is against any or all to whom it may justly apply, it may even be against some portions of my own; for even in this respect I am obliged daily to labour to sanctify the Lord God in my heart, to abstract him from every thing earthly and human, and apprehend him as far as possible in his own essential nature and attributes through the light of his Spirit and the medium of his own revelation. To act thus requires no common effort of soul: and just apprehensions of this kind are not acquired without much prayer, much self-reflection, much time, and much of the grace and mercy of God.

Instead of ton qeon, GOD, ABC, four others, both the Syriac, Erpen’s Arabic, the Coptic, Vulgate, and Armenian, with Clement and Fulgentius, read ton criston, CHRIST. Sanctify Christ in your hearts. This reading is at least equal to the other in the authorities by which it is supported; but which was written by St. Peter we know not.

A reason of the hope] An account of your hope of the resurrection of the dead and eternal life in God’s glory. This was the great object of their hope, as Christ was the grand object of their faith.

The word apologia, which we translate answer, signifies a defence; from this we have our word apology, which did not originally signify an excuse for an act, but a defence of that act. The defences of Christianity by the primitive fathers are called apologies. See Clarke’s note on “Acts 21:1”.

With meekness and fear] Several excellent MSS. add the word alla, but, here, and it improves the sense considerably: Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, BUT with meekness and fear. Do not permit your readiness to answer, nor the confidence you have in the goodness of your cause, to lead you to answer pertly or superciliously to any person; defend the truth with all possible gentleness and fear, lest while you are doing it you should forget his presence whose cause you support, or say any thing unbecoming the dignity and holiness of the religion which you have espoused, or inconsistent with that heavenly temper which the Spirit of your indwelling Lord must infallibly produce.

Verses 14-16. But if you should suffer — If any should be so wicked as to endeavour to harm you when you are doing good; if your heathen rulers, or any others, should persecute you for righteousness’ sake; that is, upon the account of your religion, because you follow Christ, and believe and obey his gospel; this, properly speaking, will be no harm to you, but a good: yea, happy are you — In so suffering, in spite of all the malicious and outrageous efforts of your enemies; yea, your sufferings will be so far from lessening, that they will increase your happiness, and that in many respects. Be not afraid of their terror — Ton de fobon autwn mh fobhqhte, the very words of the Septuagint, Isaiah 8:12, 13; Fear ye not their fear: the exhortation which Isaiah gave to the Jews when threatened with an invasion by the Assyrians. The words are a Hebraism; the meaning of which is, Be not affected with the fear which they endeavour to raise in you by their threatenings. Or, as some understand the expression, Let not that fear be in you which the wicked feel. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts — Namely, by fearing him more than men, how many or powerful soever they may be; by believing all his promises; by trusting in his wisdom, power, and goodness; by acknowledging his justice in the punishments which he inflicts, and by patiently bearing all the trials he is pleased to appoint. By these dispositions, believers sanctify God in their hearts; they give him the glory of all his perfections. See on Isaiah 8:13. And be ready always — By a familiar acquaintance with the contents and evidences of your holy religion, and by that cheerfulness and presence of mind which arises from a consciousness of your practical regard to it; to give an answer to every man that asketh you — Either by virtue of his office, or for his own information; or when the defence of the truth requires it; a reason of the hope that is in you — Of eternal life; with meekness — For anger would hurt your cause, as well as your soul; and fear — A filial fear of offending God, and a jealous fear of yourselves, lest you should speak amiss. Having a good conscience — Keeping your consciences clear from guilt, that they may justify you when men accuse you; or conducting yourselves so that your consciences may not reproach you for dishonouring the gospel, by walking unsuitably to its holy precepts; that whereas, or wherein, they speak evil of you, as of evil-doers — And lay to your charge crimes of the most detestable nature; they may be put to shame, who falsely — Without any shadow of cause; accuse your good conversation — Your inoffensive, useful, and holy behaviour; in Christ — According to his doctrine and example.

Ver. 15. Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh, a reason of the hope that is in you, or the ground on which your faith is built. The candidates for baptism were well-instructed in the christian faith by catechists. In this age, our unbelievers are well-read in books hostile to revelation, and nothing can be more imprudent than to let our young men go out into the world unarmed. What can we expect but an abdication of the faith they were never taught to defend? The best books I know on this subject are, Jenkins’ reasonableness of christianity, Addison’s evidences, bishop Bull’s analogy, and bishop Watson’s defence. Paley’s abridgment of Lardner is written on socinian principles. Calmet’s Dictionary, once so excellent, is now empoisoned with English unitarianism, and German neology.

15. The Lord God—The proper object of fear, as opposed to terror. The passage is from Isaiah 8:12, 13. Tregelles, Tischendorf, Alford, and Wordsworth read Christ for God, the last two translating “sanctify Christ as the Lord.” But it is rather Christ who is the Lord, the Lord Christ, whom they are instructed to sanctify. Enthrone him in your hearts for life and for death; and in alarm and danger he shall keep you in quietness and rest. The passage is proof of the Godhead of Christ.

2. Readiness for a suitable defence of their faith, 15, 16. Be ready—For an account to men, while thus having supreme regard for Christ. Always—No exception as to time. An answer—An apology, in the old sense of a defence of what is true, with a refutation of objections. St. Paul’s speech before Agrippa (Acts 26) is a masterly specimen. Every… asketh—Honest inquirers should receive instruction; cavillers and revilers are entitled only to silence. Matthew 7:6; 27:12. But probably magistrates are especially meant. A reason—An intelligent, rational account. The Romish response of “I believe because the Church believes,” is thus repudiated beforehand. Of the hope—That is, of eternal glory, involving the basis of truth in fact and doctrine, upon which it rests. The answer thus became a defence of Christianity itself, seldom, indeed, with the learning and power of a St. Paul, a Justin Martyr, or a Tertullian, but always with intelligence and reason. Meekness—With clearness and firmness, but (so the oldest MSS. read) with modesty in speech and bearing, and not with insolence or arrogance. Fear—Due respect to the interrogator.

V. 16. Having a good conscience-So much the more beware of anger, to which the very consciousness of your innocence may betray you. Join with a good conscience meekness and fear, and you obtain a complete victory. Your good conversation in Christ-That is, which flows from faith in him.

Verse 16. Having a good conscience] The testimony of God in your own soul, that in simplicity and godly sincerity you have your conversation in the world. See on the term conscience at the end of Hebrews. Whereas they speak evil of you] See the same sentiment in 1 Peter 2:11, and the note there.

Verses 14-16. But if you should suffer — If any should be so wicked as to endeavour to harm you when you are doing good; if your heathen rulers, or any others, should persecute you for righteousness’ sake; that is, upon the account of your religion, because you follow Christ, and believe and obey his gospel; this, properly speaking, will be no harm to you, but a good: yea, happy are you — In so suffering, in spite of all the malicious and outrageous efforts of your enemies; yea, your sufferings will be so far from lessening, that they will increase your happiness, and that in many respects. Be not afraid of their terror — Ton de fobon autwn mh fobhqhte, the very words of the Septuagint, Isaiah 8:12, 13; Fear ye not their fear: the exhortation which Isaiah gave to the Jews when threatened with an invasion by the Assyrians. The words are a Hebraism; the meaning of which is, Be not affected with the fear which they endeavour to raise in you by their threatenings. Or, as some understand the expression, Let not that fear be in you which the wicked feel. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts — Namely, by fearing him more than men, how many or powerful soever they may be; by believing all his promises; by trusting in his wisdom, power, and goodness; by acknowledging his justice in the punishments which he inflicts, and by patiently bearing all the trials he is pleased to appoint. By these dispositions, believers sanctify God in their hearts; they give him the glory of all his perfections. See on Isaiah 8:13. And be ready always — By a familiar acquaintance with the contents and evidences of your holy religion, and by that cheerfulness and presence of mind which arises from a consciousness of your practical regard to it; to give an answer to every man that asketh you — Either by virtue of his office, or for his own information; or when the defence of the truth requires it; a reason of the hope that is in you — Of eternal life; with meekness — For anger would hurt your cause, as well as your soul; and fear — A filial fear of offending God, and a jealous fear of yourselves, lest you should speak amiss. Having a good conscience — Keeping your consciences clear from guilt, that they may justify you when men accuse you; or conducting yourselves so that your consciences may not reproach you for dishonouring the gospel, by walking unsuitably to its holy precepts; that whereas, or wherein, they speak evil of you, as of evil-doers — And lay to your charge crimes of the most detestable nature; they may be put to shame, who falsely — Without any shadow of cause; accuse your good conversation — Your inoffensive, useful, and holy behaviour; in Christ — According to his doctrine and example.

16. A good conscience—A consciousness of rectitude. The correct life agreeing with the spoken defence would powerfully tend to make all calumniators ashamed. In Christ—St. Peter’s idea of good conduct is far higher than a mere worldly, dead morality. It centres in Christ; and in personal union by faith with him the believer lives, walks, and acts.

3. The excellence of suffering innocently stated, and illustrated in the suffering and triumph of Christ, 17-22.

V. 17. It is infinitely better, if it be the will of God, ye should suffer. His permissive will appears from his providence.

Verse 17. For it is better] See on 1 Peter 2:19, 20.

Verses 17, 18. For it is infinitely better, if the will of God be so — That you should suffer; and his permissive will in this respect appears from his providence; that ye suffer for well-doing, rather than for evil-doing — The testimony of a good conscience, and the sense of the divine favour, affording the no blest supports in the former case; whereas, in the latter, the severest torments that can be endured are those which the guilty mind inflicts upon itself; to which may be added, that while we suffer for the truth, we have the comfort of reflecting that we follow our blessed Redeemer, which is another most powerful source of consolation. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins — Not his own, but for ours, to make an atonement for them; the just for the unjust — Or the holy for the unholy; for the word just here denotes a person who has fulfilled not barely social duties, but every branch of righteousness; and the word unjust signifies not only those who have wronged their neighbours, but those who have transgressed any of the commands of God; that he might bring us to God — Might reconcile God to us, and us to God; and might obtain for us his gracious favour here, his Holy Spirit, to renew us after his image, and might bring us to his blissful presence hereafter; by the same steps of suffering and of glory. It is justly observed by Macknight, that in the sufferings of Christ we have a clear proof that sufferings are no evidence of the wickedness of the sufferer, nor of the badness of the cause for which he suffers; and that the power of God, visible in Christ’s resurrection, affords to all, who lose their lives for the gospel, a sure ground of consolation and hope that God will raise them up at the last day. Being put to death in the flesh — In the human nature; or in respect of that frail, mortal life he had on earth; but quickened — Zwopoihqeiv, made alive; by the Spirit — The Spirit of God and of Christ. “As Christ was conceived in the womb of his mother by the Holy Spirit, (Luke 1:35,) so he was raised from the dead by the same Spirit; on which account he is said (1 Timothy 3:16) to have been justified by the Spirit; and (Hebrews 9:14) to have offered himself without spot to God, through the eternal Spirit. It is true the resurrection of Christ is ascribed to the Father, 1 Corinthians 6:14; 2 Corinthians 4:14; Ephesians 1:20; but that is not inconsistent with Peter’s affirmation in this verse;” for the Father may, with the strictest propriety, be said to have done what his Spirit did, especially as it was done to show that God acknowledged Jesus to be his Son. And our Lord’s words, (John 2:19,) Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up, are to be understood in the same manner. He raised it up by that Spirit which proceeded from him as well as from the Father.

17. Better—It is infinitely preferable that, if suffering befalls, as it most likely will, it be on account of a godly life rather than for crime. This is an axiom in Christian ethics. If the will—Literally, if the will of God should will, (the former being the will itself, the latter the will acting,) that is, for high reasons, for the sake of either themselves or his cause, to place them where suffering would ensue.

V. 18. For-This is undoubtedly best, whereby we are most conformed to Christ.

Now Christ suffered once-To suffer no more.

For sins-Not his own, but ours.

The just for the unjust-The word signifies, not only them who have wronged their neighbours, but those who have transgressed any of the commands of God; as the preceding word, just, denotes a person who has fulfilled, not barely social duties, but all kind of righteousness. That he might bring us to God-Now to his gracious favour, hereafter to his blissful presence, by the same steps of suffering and of glory. Being put to death in the flesh-As man.

But raised to life by the Spirit-Both by his own divine power, and by the power of the Holy Ghost.

Verse 18. Christ also hath once suffered] See Clarke’s notes on “Romans 5:6”; “Hebrews 9:28”.

Put to death in the flesh] In his human nature.

But quickened by the Spirit] That very dead body revived by the power of his Divinity. There are various opinions on the meaning of this verse, with which I need not trouble the reader, as I have produced that which is most likely.

Verses 17, 18. For it is infinitely better, if the will of God be so — That you should suffer; and his permissive will in this respect appears from his providence; that ye suffer for well-doing, rather than for evil-doing — The testimony of a good conscience, and the sense of the divine favour, affording the no blest supports in the former case; whereas, in the latter, the severest torments that can be endured are those which the guilty mind inflicts upon itself; to which may be added, that while we suffer for the truth, we have the comfort of reflecting that we follow our blessed Redeemer, which is another most powerful source of consolation. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins — Not his own, but for ours, to make an atonement for them; the just for the unjust — Or the holy for the unholy; for the word just here denotes a person who has fulfilled not barely social duties, but every branch of righteousness; and the word unjust signifies not only those who have wronged their neighbours, but those who have transgressed any of the commands of God; that he might bring us to God — Might reconcile God to us, and us to God; and might obtain for us his gracious favour here, his Holy Spirit, to renew us after his image, and might bring us to his blissful presence hereafter; by the same steps of suffering and of glory. It is justly observed by Macknight, that in the sufferings of Christ we have a clear proof that sufferings are no evidence of the wickedness of the sufferer, nor of the badness of the cause for which he suffers; and that the power of God, visible in Christ’s resurrection, affords to all, who lose their lives for the gospel, a sure ground of consolation and hope that God will raise them up at the last day. Being put to death in the flesh — In the human nature; or in respect of that frail, mortal life he had on earth; but quickened — Zwopoihqeiv, made alive; by the Spirit — The Spirit of God and of Christ. “As Christ was conceived in the womb of his mother by the Holy Spirit, (Luke 1:35,) so he was raised from the dead by the same Spirit; on which account he is said (1 Timothy 3:16) to have been justified by the Spirit; and (Hebrews 9:14) to have offered himself without spot to God, through the eternal Spirit. It is true the resurrection of Christ is ascribed to the Father, 1 Corinthians 6:14; 2 Corinthians 4:14; Ephesians 1:20; but that is not inconsistent with Peter’s affirmation in this verse;” for the Father may, with the strictest propriety, be said to have done what his Spirit did, especially as it was done to show that God acknowledged Jesus to be his Son. And our Lord’s words, (John 2:19,) Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up, are to be understood in the same manner. He raised it up by that Spirit which proceeded from him as well as from the Father.

Ver. 18, 19. Quickened by the Spirit: by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison. The apostle here asserts that those who obstinately perished in the flood of Noah, were in the prison of hell; and for this assertion he knew he had the consent of the jewish nation. The sanhedrim taught that the generation of the flood have no portion in the world to come, neither shall they stand up in judgment; for it is said my Spirit shall not always strive with man. Hence Peter intimates that the Spirit which strove with the old world was the Spirit of Messiah. See note on chap. 4:6. Dr. Lightfoot. The plain interpretation of this passage, observes bishop Pearson, is the true one; namely, that Christ preached to those men who lived before the flood, even while they lived, and consequently that He was before it. For though this was not done by an immediate act of the Son of God, as if he had personally appeared on earth, and actually preached to that old world; but by the ministry of a prophet, by the sending of Noah, a preacher of righteousness; yet to do anything by another, not able to perform it without him, as much demonstrates the existence of the principal cause, as if he did it of himself without any intervening instrument.

18. Christ also—As well as yourselves. Once—Once for all; perhaps also intimating that their suffering might be in like manner, once, or at least that soon they would look back upon it in that light. Suffered—On the cross, freely, voluntarily, doing the will of God, and for no fault of his own. For sins—On account of, or in relation to, sins, that is, in expiation of them. The preposition peri, for, radically signifies around, in the relation of circumference to centre, the action being from above. (See Curtius, 466, 5.) It represents Christ throwing himself down upon and around sins in such a manner that the falling curse of the broken law would surely strike him. In the Septuagint, peri amartiwn is used more than sixty times to represent sin-offerings. Its use here shows that Christ made atonement for sins, by suffering in the stead of those for whom he offered himself a sacrifice. The just—Rather, A just person for unjust persons; one righteous man for a world of the unrighteous. The terms just and unjust express a relation to law, and are exact opposites. Christ, the innocent and guiltless, died as a condemned criminal in the stead of the wicked and guilty. The preposition uper, here rendered for, is used to represent a bending over one to protect, defend, and avert injury. (Winer, 47, 5, 50.) Christ did this by letting the injury fall upon himself, interposing between the stroke of justice and the sinner, and receiving in his own person, in the stead of the guilty, a suffering on account of sin. This, surely, was most blessed suffering in well doing; and his followers may well take courage to suffer patiently in his cause. But a still more glorious view is presented, showing the intent of this suffering. That he might bring us to God— Does this mean that he might bring us, after the final judgment, together with himself into heaven? Or, that he might bring us into a state of reconciliation and communion with God in this world? Dean Alford, quoting Bengel, adopts the former view, as though it were the only possible one; and it evidently accords with his interpretation of what follows. It is true that Christ will bring all saved souls to heaven; but it does not seem to be taught here. We prefer the second view, as bringing the death of Christ into close connexion with its results, as in 1 Peter 1:3, 21; 2:24; Colossians 1:21, and elsewhere. It also precisely accords with the use of the noun prosagwgh, access, in Romans 5:2; Ephesians 2:18; 3:12; and, further, sustains the parallel in 1 Peter 2:21. Indeed, it is what our Lord said, (John 12:32,) that if he were lifted up he would draw all unto himself. Being put to death—Aorist: Having been put to death. The participles qanatwqeiv and zwopoihqeiv are connected with bring us to God, as explanatory of the means whereby we, unjust, alienated, and afar off, are brought into peace with him. Besides the antithesis between them, there is another between sarki and pneumati. The clause literally reads, put to death indeed in flesh, but quickened in, or by, spirit. As to put to death, there is no difficulty. Flesh—If this word means Christ’s body, then spirit must mean his human spirit, which, as we shall see, the word quickened will not allow; yet the assumption that as only the body died, sarx must perforce signify body, has led to the wildest vagaries in both interpretation and theology. The word is a common one to designate our Lord’s entire humanity, embracing both body and soul. “The Word was made flesh.” John 1:14. “Of his loins according to the flesh.” Acts 2:30. “Of the seed of David according to the flesh.” Romans 1:3. “In the likeness of sinful flesh.” Romans 8:3. “God was manifest in the flesh.” 1 Timothy 3:16. “Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.” 2 John 7. Compare John 17:2; Acts 2:17; Romans 3:20; Ephesians 2:15; 1 Peter 1:24; 1 John 4:2, for a similar use of the word. Christ was put to death as a man. Death dealt with him as with any other man, separating, in the usual way, the soul from the body, and subjecting him to all the conditions of dying. No reason appears, therefore, for a specific statement that he died in his body, leaving as true in his special case the universal fact that the spirit did not die. The meaning, then, is, he was put to death in his human nature. Quickened—The word so translated is used in eleven other places in the New Testament. In seven, John 5:21, (twice;) Romans 4:17; 8:11; 1 Corinthians 15:22, 36, 45, it refers to the resurrection of the dead; in three, John 6:63; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Galatians 3:21, to giving spiritual life; and once, 1 Timothy 6:13, to God as the life-giver. In every case it means to make alive, to give life where it before had ceased to be, or had not been, which, indeed, is the exact signification of the word. Those expositors who understand by pneuma the human spirit, are compelled here to invent new definitions for this word. Some, like Steiger and Bloomfield, understand preserved alive, which the word never means; and which would only make St. Peter record a fact common to all who die, as a singular phenomenon in the case of Christ. Wordsworth says, “His human spirit, being liberated by death from the burden of the flesh, acquired new life by death; it gained new powers of motion,” etc. This is undoubtedly true, and no less universally true of all souls on their escape from the body; but the word never means an increase of life where life already exists. Alford correctly insists that the word means “brought to life;” but he explains, Christ “ceased to live a fleshly mortal life, began to live a spiritual resurrection life,” which, true enough as to the first half, has no foundation in fact for the second half until the morning of the third day. The plain and necessary meaning of quickened is, that something pertaining to our Lord, which had once lived, was restored to life, or that something that had never lived was brought into being and connected with him. Of the latter we have no intimation, and the former was realized in his resurrection from the dead. Any other meaning destroys the antithesis. The Spirit—This refers (1) to our Lord’s human spirit, (2) to the Holy Spirit, or (3) to his divine nature. As to the first, the human spirit of Christ had not died; it, therefore, was, not made alive. Doubtless on its emancipation from the body by death it became more free and untrammelled; but neither this nor any supposed change in the mode or sphere of its existence fulfils the condition required in made alive. It follows that spirit is not the object of the participle quickened. Nor had Christ’s human spirit any power to raise him from the dead, which, as we have seen, quickened signifies. (2.) It would not be dogmatically erroneous to understand the word of the Holy Spirit, although no express passage ascribes the resurrection of Christ to him. For, though God raised him from the dead, it is a well-known truth that God’s works are wrought by the Holy Ghost; and we are taught that Christ “cast out devils by the Spirit of God,” (Matthew 12:28;) gave “commandments unto the apostles through the Holy Ghost,” (Acts 1:2;) and by his Spirit inspired the prophets, chap. 1:11. But, (3.) we prefer to understand Christ’s divine nature, partly because it fills out the contrast, and partly because whatever is done by the Holy Spirit is in reality his work. Thus he will raise believers at the last day, (John 6:40, 44, 54;) but St. Paul teaches that it will be done by the indwelling Holy Spirit in them. Romans 8:11. This rounds out the double antithesis: put to death indeed as to his human nature, but made alive by his divine nature. It is urged, (as in Lange,) as a grammatical objection to this view, that the two datives are evidently parallel, and must have the same sense. The reply is, that this is a begging of the whole question that compels quickened to take a meaning which it never has; and that the true rule is, that the force of the datives is fixed by the meaning of the two participles. The resurrection is referred to again in verse 21, but in another connexion and for another purpose, namely, to show how baptism saves; and, besides, it is too remote for the present inquiry as to how the suffering of Christ brings us to God. Our Lord was put to death, and thus made atonement, but his dying simply expiated sin. As God-man he was dead; and, though his human soul still lived in union with his divine nature, while held in the bonds of death he was powerless to apply the benefits of his dying. By his resurrection he became “Lord both of the dead and living,” (Romans 14:9,) and won that power. An exact parallel is, “Was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” Romans 4. 25. Thus St. Peter and St. Paul agree.

V. 19. By which Spirit he preached-Through the ministry of Noah. To the spirits in prison-The unholy men before the flood, who were then reserved by the justice of God, as in a prison, till he executed the sentence upon them all; and are now also reserved to the judgment of the great day.

Verse 19. By which] Spirit, his own Divine energy and authority. He went and preached] By the ministry of Noah, one hundred and twenty years.

Unto the spirits in prison] The inhabitants of the antediluvian world, who, having been disobedient, and convicted of the most flagrant transgressions against God, were sentenced by his just law to destruction. But their punishment was delayed to see if they would repent; and the long-suffering of God waited one hundred and twenty years, which were granted to them for this purpose; during which time, as criminals tried and convicted, they are represented as being in prison-detained under the arrest of Divine justice, which waited either for their repentance or the expiration of the respite, that the punishment pronounced might be inflicted. This I have long believed to be the sense of this difficult passage, and no other that I have seen is so consistent with the whole scope of the place. That the Spirit of God did strive with, convict, and reprove the antediluvians, is evident from Genesis 6:3: My Spirit shall not always strive with man, forasmuch as he is flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years. And it was by this Spirit that Noah became a preacher of righteousness, and condemned that ungodly world, Hebrews 11:7, who would not believe till wrath-Divine punishment, came upon them to the uttermost. The word pneumasi, spirits, is supposed to render this view of the subject improbable, because this must mean disembodied spirits; but this certainly does not follow, for the spirits of just men made perfect, Hebrews 12:23, certainly means righteous men, and men still in the Church militant; and the Father of spirits, Hebrews 12:9, means men still in the body; and the God of the spirits of all flesh, Numbers 16:22; 27:16, means men not in a disembodied state.

But even on this word there are several various readings; some of the Greek MSS. read pneumati, in spirit, and one pneumati aJgiw, in the Holy Spirit. I have before me one of the first, if not the very first edition of the Latin Bible; and in it the verse stands thus: In quo et hiis, qui in carcere erant, SPIRITUALITER veniens prædicavit; “by which he came spiritually, and preached to them that were in prison.”

In two very ancient MSS. of the Vulgate before me, the clause is thus: In quo et his qui in carcere erant SPIRITU venient prædicavit; “in which, coming by the Spirit, he preached to those who were in prison.” This is the reading also in the Complutensian Polyglot.

Another ancient MS. in my possession has the words nearly as in the printed copy: In quo et hiis qui in carcere CONCLUSI erant SPIRITUALITER veniens prædicavit; “in which, coming spiritually, he preached to those who were SHUT UP in prison.”

Another MS., written about A. D. 1370, is the same as the printed copy. The common printed Vulgate is different from all these, and from all the MSS. of the Vulgate which I have seen in reading spiritibus, “to the spirits.”

In my old MS. Bible, which contains the first translation into English ever made, the clause is the following: In whiche thing and to hem that weren closid togyder in prison, hi commynge in Spirit, prechide. The copy from which this translation was taken evidently read conclusi erdnt, with one of the MSS. quoted above, as closid togyder proves.

I have quoted all these authorities from the most authentic and correct copies of the Vulgate, to show that from them there is no ground to believe that the text speaks of Christ’s going to hell to preach the Gospel to the damned, or of his going to some feigned place where the souls of the patriarchs were detained, to whom he preached, and whom he delivered from that place and took with him to paradise, which the Romish Church holds as an article of faith.

Though the judicious Calmet holds with his Church this opinion, yet he cannot consider the text of St. Peter as a proof of it. I will set down his own words: Le sentiment qui veut que Jesus Christ soit descendu aux enfers, pour annoncer sa venue aux anciens patriarches, et pour les tirer de cette espece de prison, ou ils Pattendoient si long tems, est indubitable; et nous le regardons comme un article de notre foi: mais on peut douter que ce soit le sens de Saint Pierre en cet endroit. “The opinion which states that Jesus Christ descended into hell, to announce his coming to the ancient patriarchs, and to deliver them from that species of prison, where they had so long waited for him, is incontrovertible; and we (the Catholics) consider it as an article of our faith: but we may doubt whether this be the meaning of St. Peter in this place.”

Some think the whole passage applies to the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles; but the interpretation given above appears to me, after the fullest consideration, to be the most consistent and rational, as I have already remarked.

Verses 19, 20. By which also — That is, by which Spirit; he went and preached — Poreuqeiv ekhruxen, having gone, he preached, namely, in and by Noah, who spake by the Spirit of Christ, (1 Peter 1:11,) and of the Father, who said, (Genesis 6:3,) referring to the men of that generation, My Spirit shall not always strive with man. Hence Noah is called a preacher of righteousness: 2 Peter 2:5. “By attributing the preaching of the ancient prophets to Christ, the apostle hath taught us, that from the beginning the economy of man’s redemption has been under the direction of Christ. To the spirits in prison — That is, which were in prison when St. Peter wrote this epistle. They were men in the flesh when Christ preached to them by his Spirit speaking in Noah; but after they were dead, their spirits were shut up in the infernal prison, detained, like the fallen angels, (Jude 1:6,) unto the judgment of the great day; which sometime — Pote, once, or formerly, were disobedient, when the long-suffering of God waited — For their repentance; in the days of Noah — During the long space of one hundred and twenty years; while the ark was preparing — During which time Noah warned them all to repent, and flee from the wrath to come. Wherein — In which ark; few, that is, eight souls — Namely, Noah and his wife, with their three sons and their wives; were saved by water — Or, were carried safely through the water; namely, the waters of the flood, which bare up the ark in which they were enclosed. Some suppose that the persons here spoken of are said to have been in prison in the days of Noah, by the same figure of speech, by which the persons to whom Christ preached in the days of his flesh, are called captives in prison, Luke 4:18. “Christ’s preaching to the antediluvians by Noah, their destruction for their disobedience to that preaching, and the preservation of Noah and his family in the ark, are all fitly mentioned, to show that it hath been God’s way from the beginning of the world, when the wickedness of men became general, to oppose it, by raising up prophets to reprove them, and warn them of their danger; and after waiting for their repentance to no purpose, to destroy them; while he delivered the righteous from the evils to which they were exposed, by manifest interpositions of his power. These things teach us, that we should not think the worse of the gospel, because it hath been rejected by many; nor of ourselves, because we are persecuted by the wicked. On the other hand, by the punishment of the antediluvians, and of the Jews who crucified our Lord; wicked men and persecutors are taught to dread the judgments of God.” — Macknight.

Ver. 18, 19. Quickened by the Spirit: by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison. The apostle here asserts that those who obstinately perished in the flood of Noah, were in the prison of hell; and for this assertion he knew he had the consent of the jewish nation. The sanhedrim taught that the generation of the flood have no portion in the world to come, neither shall they stand up in judgment; for it is said my Spirit shall not always strive with man. Hence Peter intimates that the Spirit which strove with the old world was the Spirit of Messiah. See note on chap. 4:6. Dr. Lightfoot. The plain interpretation of this passage, observes bishop Pearson, is the true one; namely, that Christ preached to those men who lived before the flood, even while they lived, and consequently that He was before it. For though this was not done by an immediate act of the Son of God, as if he had personally appeared on earth, and actually preached to that old world; but by the ministry of a prophet, by the sending of Noah, a preacher of righteousness; yet to do anything by another, not able to perform it without him, as much demonstrates the existence of the principal cause, as if he did it of himself without any intervening instrument.

19. By which—Better, In which, namely, his pre-existent divine nature. He went—Literally, having gone. Alford supposes local transference and personal preaching; but the case is parallelled in Ephesians 2:17, “And came [by the Holy Spirit] and preached [through the apostles] peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.” So Christ went by the Holy Spirit, and preached, through Noah, to the antediluvians. He is the Jehovah who sent his Spirit to do his office of awaking to repentance the ungodly of that generation, (Genesis 6:3,) and to speak through Noah. Preached—This is not euaggelizw, the ordinary word for preaching the gospel, but khrussw, to proclaim as a herald, to publish, to announce, to preach. It is used sixty times in the New Testament, and in every instance what is preached or published must be sought in the context. It never, in itself, means to preach the gospel. The spirits in prison—The disembodied spirits of men who had been disobedient… in the days of Noah, and were in prison at the time when St. Peter wrote. The object is to identify the men to whom Christ preached; and they are spoken of as they were at the time, not of the preaching, but of this identification. The word prison is always used in a bad sense, and denotes the department of hades in which the wicked are shut up, 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6; Revelation 20:7. To these persons, when on the earth, Noah, “a preacher of righteousness,” (2 Peter 2:5,) under the inspiration of the Spirit of Christ, preached the law of repentance and godly living for a hundred and twenty years, and preached in vain. That the apostle never dreamed of them as enjoying in their prison a second day of grace, is plain from his mention of them as, like the fallen angels, a specimen of those who are reserved (guarded in prison) unto the day of judgment, and a proof as well of the certain perdition of the ungodly, 2 Peter 2:4-9. The purpose of this digression was to show that the Christ who suffered and rose again, strove, in the earlier ages of the world, to bring men to God, as well as in the days of his passion; and, perhaps, also, as Wordsworth suggests, to confute the notion of certain heretics that the God of the Old Testament was less merciful than the God of the New.

This passage has received very various interpretations, from Augustine downward; but the weight of interpretation seems to accord with that above given. The descent into hell, with its object, some have thought they found here; and the theories thence resulting very widely differ. Some hold that Christ entered paradise and triumphantly announced his completed redemption; others add to this, the release of the Old Testament saints; some hold that he went to Tartarus as conqueror and judge, denouncing condemnation upon the ungodly there confined; others, that, as redeemer and judge, he preached to both the good and the bad; and others still, as Alford, Fronmuller in Lange, and Wordsworth, that he preached the gospel of salvation to the ungodly antediluvians; the last insisting that it was a unique case, and not repeated or continued, and the first, that it is continued to others who die impenitent.

Upon this we remark:

1. That Christ “descended into hell,” (hades,) though not directly asserted in this passage, nor other scripture, appears plainly from the use of Psalm 16:10 by St. Peter in Acts 2:27-31. That his human soul, released from its connexion with the body by death, entered the world of departed spirits, as do the souls of all men, and was subject to all the laws and conditions of that world until the third morning, is a true doctrine. But let it not be made to carry what does not belong to it. The one important point in it is, that the soul of Christ did not remain in that world, but on the third day came forth for the resurrection. Yet, be it remembered, our Lord was in paradise, the blessed side of hades, whither the penitent thief accompanied him, as was promised on the cross.

2. Of Christ’s employment in that world we have no intimation, unless in the present passage, which our interpretation, necessitated by the force of the word quickened, forbids. He entered that world as do other men, with the humble, prayerful cry upon his lips, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,” (Luke 23:46,) and with the limitations of a man, as he had passed his whole earthly life. That saints and angels welcomed him as personally, though not yet officially, victorious, and that he partook of a higher bliss than when on earth, we can well believe. But not even his human soul could bridge over the awful, impassable gulf between paradise and the prison-house of hades, of which Father Abraham said to the rich man, “They which would pass from hence to you, cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.” Luke 16:26. This is one of the inexorable laws of the realm of the dead, which some of the above-mentioned theories forget when they imagine Christ’s human spirit crossing to preach to the lost, or the lost accepting salvation and passing the “great gulf” into paradise, which our Lord himself, in the words cited, declares impossible.

3. If Christ, in person, preached in hades to the antediluvians there imprisoned, by the well-known law, exceptio probat regulam—the exception proves the rule—the specification of the persons to whom he preached, namely, the disobedient of Noah’s time, excludes all others from the message. This view suggests at once most serious difficulties. Why preach to the antediluvians of Noah’s time, whom St. Peter classes with fallen angels and Sodomites, reserved unto judgment, (2 Peter 2:4-9,) and not to all antediluvians? and, indeed, why to antediluvians alone, and not to all who have died disobedient? How should the selection be so effected as to exclude others from the hearing? What was the nature of the proclamation? Was it a message of wrath or of mercy? If salvation was offered, why to those particular sinners who had so persistently sinned against light and long-suffering, to the exclusion of all other sinners? And what would be the judgment of those excluded upon the partial goodness which made so limited an offer? These are pertinent questions that should be answered before the theory is accepted.

4. These representations of Christ entering the world of spirits as a triumphant conqueror, and there doing the work of judge and saviour, overlook the important fact that he was still in his state of humiliation. “Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Philippians 2:8. He had voluntarily gone down to the lowest depths of self-humiliation in his death on the cross, and there he remained until the moment of his resurrection, the beginning of his exaltation. Death was conqueror, and still held him in its grasp. The shame of the cross was upon him. The curse which he took upon himself had crushed him in the sight of the universe; and he still lay under it where he fell. The atonement, in itself, was complete in his dying; but, however exultingly the wonderful story, soon to be made glorious, might be told in paradise, its application, and the proclamation of it as an accomplished and valid fact, required the precedent deliverance from the curse by the resurrection. Only so, as it seems to us, was the “all power” (Matthew 28:18) won to authoritatively condemn as judge, or to offer mercy as redeemer. Then, indeed, was he Conqueror and Lord; and with an authority to be gainsaid by none, his salvation could thenceforth be preached. Some, indeed, hold that his preaching in hades was after his resurrection; but not even that view can remove the difficulties, nor can it be gathered from this passage.

5. The doctrine here dissented from is contrary to the whole tenor of Scripture, which confines its offers of salvation to the present life, and connects the decisions of the final judgment with the characters and acts of men as they are in this world, and not as they may be formed after death. See Matthew 7:21-23; 10:32, 33; 25:31-46; Mark 8:38; Luke 16:25, 26; Romans 2:6; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 2:10. An interpretation which is at war with the analogy of faith cannot be safe or true.

V. 20. When the longsuffering of God waited-For an hundred and twenty years; all the time the ark was preparing: during which Noah warned them all to flee from the wrath to come.

Verse 20. When once the long-suffering of God waited] In Pirkey Aboth, cap. v. 2, we have these words: “There were ten generations from Adam to Noah, that the long-suffering of God might appear; for each of these generations provoked him to anger, and went on in their iniquity, till at last the deluge came.”

Were saved by water.] While the ark was preparing, only Noah’s family believed; these amounted to eight persons; and these only were saved from the deluge di uoatov, on the water: all the rest perished in the water; though many of them, while the rains descended, and the waters daily increased, did undoubtedly humble themselves before God, call for mercy, and receive it; but as they had not repented at the preaching of Noah, and the ark was now closed, and the fountains of the great deep broken up, they lost their lives, though God might have extended mercy to their souls.

Verses 19, 20. By which also — That is, by which Spirit; he went and preached — Poreuqeiv ekhruxen, having gone, he preached, namely, in and by Noah, who spake by the Spirit of Christ, (1 Peter 1:11,) and of the Father, who said, (Genesis 6:3,) referring to the men of that generation, My Spirit shall not always strive with man. Hence Noah is called a preacher of righteousness: 2 Peter 2:5. “By attributing the preaching of the ancient prophets to Christ, the apostle hath taught us, that from the beginning the economy of man’s redemption has been under the direction of Christ. To the spirits in prison — That is, which were in prison when St. Peter wrote this epistle. They were men in the flesh when Christ preached to them by his Spirit speaking in Noah; but after they were dead, their spirits were shut up in the infernal prison, detained, like the fallen angels, (Jude 1:6,) unto the judgment of the great day; which sometime — Pote, once, or formerly, were disobedient, when the long-suffering of God waited — For their repentance; in the days of Noah — During the long space of one hundred and twenty years; while the ark was preparing — During which time Noah warned them all to repent, and flee from the wrath to come. Wherein — In which ark; few, that is, eight souls — Namely, Noah and his wife, with their three sons and their wives; were saved by water — Or, were carried safely through the water; namely, the waters of the flood, which bare up the ark in which they were enclosed. Some suppose that the persons here spoken of are said to have been in prison in the days of Noah, by the same figure of speech, by which the persons to whom Christ preached in the days of his flesh, are called captives in prison, Luke 4:18. “Christ’s preaching to the antediluvians by Noah, their destruction for their disobedience to that preaching, and the preservation of Noah and his family in the ark, are all fitly mentioned, to show that it hath been God’s way from the beginning of the world, when the wickedness of men became general, to oppose it, by raising up prophets to reprove them, and warn them of their danger; and after waiting for their repentance to no purpose, to destroy them; while he delivered the righteous from the evils to which they were exposed, by manifest interpositions of his power. These things teach us, that we should not think the worse of the gospel, because it hath been rejected by many; nor of ourselves, because we are persecuted by the wicked. On the other hand, by the punishment of the antediluvians, and of the Jews who crucified our Lord; wicked men and persecutors are taught to dread the judgments of God.” — Macknight.

20. Disobedient—They disbelieved the preaching of Noah, and disobeyed his calls to repentance. Waited—Literally, was waiting; and it continued to wait for their repenting through a hundred and twenty years, when the end came. Few—Only eight; very few compared with the vast number that might have escaped. Were saved—From destruction by the flood, by means of the water which bore up the ark.

V. 21. The antitype whereof-The thing typified by the ark, even baptism, now saveth us-That is, through the water of baptism we are saved from the sin which overwhelms the world as a flood: not, indeed, the bare outward sign, but the inward grace; a divine consciousness that both our persons and our actions are accepted through him who died and rose again for us.

Verse 21. The like figure whereunto, &c.] Dr. Macknight has translated this verse so as to make the meaning more clear: By which (water) the antitype baptism (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God) now saveth us also, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

He remarks that the relative w being in the neuter gender, its antecedent cannot be kibwtov, the ark, which is feminine, but udwr, water, which is neuter.

There are many difficulties in this verse; but the simple meaning of the place may be easily apprehended. Noah believed in God; walked uprightly before him, and found grace in his sight; he obeyed him in building the ark, and God made it the means of his salvation from the waters of the deluge. Baptism implies a consecration and dedication of the soul and body to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He who is faithful to his baptismal covenant, taking God through Christ, by the eternal Spirit, for his portion, is saved here from his sins; and through the resurrection of Christ from the dead, has the well-grounded hope of eternal glory. This is all plain; but was it the deluge, itself, or the ark, or the being saved by that ark from the deluge, that was the antitype of which St. Peter speaks? Noah and his family were saved by water; i.e. it was the instrument of their being saved through the good providence of God. So the water of baptism, typifying the regenerating influence of the Holy Spirit, is the means of salvation to all those who receive this Holy Spirit in its quickening, cleansing efficacy. Now as the waters of the flood could not have saved Noah and his family, had they not made use of the ark; so the water of baptism saves no man, but as it is the means of his getting his heart purified by the Holy Spirit, and typifying to him that purification. The ark was not immersed in the water; had it been so they must all have perished; but it was borne up on the water, and sprinkled with the rain that fell from heaven. This text, as far as I can see, says nothing in behalf of immersion in baptism; but is rather, from the circumstance mentioned above, in favour of sprinkling. In either case, it is not the sprinkling, washing, or cleansing the body, that can be of any avail to the salvation of the soul, but the answer of a good conscience towards God-the internal evidence and external proof that the soul is purified in the laver of regeneration, and the person enabled to walk in newness of life. We are therefore strongly cautioned here, not to rest in the letter, but to look for the substance.

Verses 21, 22. The like figure whereunto — Antitupon, the antitype whereof, that is, the thing which corresponds, not with the water, but with the ark; even baptism doth now save us — Or is the instrument of our safety and preservation, from the guilt, power, and consequences of sin, which overwhelms the world as a flood. Not the putting away the filth of the flesh — As if he had said, By baptism I do not mean merely or chiefly the sprinkling or washing the body with water from its filthiness, which is only the outward or visible sign of baptism, but the inward renewing grace of God, producing the answer of a good conscience, or a divine consciousness that both our persons and our actions are accepted; by the resurrection of Christ — That is, the baptism which consists in the answer of a good conscience toward God, and which is the antitype or thing which was signified by Noah’s preservation in the ark, now saves us as effectually as the ark preserved Noah from destruction by the flood. It is well known the Jews laid a great stress upon their lustrations or washings. The apostle, therefore, very properly cautions his readers against such foolish dependancies. A readiness to perform their whole duty, and even to suffer persecution for the sake of truth, was absolutely necessary in the first Christians, in order to their maintaining that good conscience, to which, in their baptism, they professed a great regard, and to the exercise of which they solemnly engaged themselves. The word eperwthma, here rendered answer, signifies rather interrogation, and is said by Archbishop Leighton to be a judicial word, and to signify interrogations used in the law for a trial, or executing a process, and has been thought by some commentators to refer to certain interrogations, said by Cyprian and other ancient writers to be put to persons who offered themselves to baptism, concerning their faith in Christ, and their renunciation of Satan with all his works, and the vanities of the world. But it does not appear, Macknight thinks, that these questions and answers were used in the apostle’s days; and if they were not, the apostle could not refer to them. “Allowing, however,” he says, “that the word question is here put for the word answer, this answer of a good conscience, being made to God, is an inward answer, and means the baptized person’s sincere persuasion of the things which, by submitting to baptism, he professed to believe; namely, that Jesus, in whose name baptism is administered, arose from the dead, and that at the last day he will raise all from the dead to eternal life, who sincerely obey him. This signification of baptism the Apostle Paul hath taught, Romans 6:4, 5; and therefore he calls it, our begun confidence, Hebrews 3:14; and exhorts the Hebrews to hold it steadfast to the end.” Who is gone into heaven — As our forerunner; and is on the right hand of God — Having all power in heaven and on earth; angels, authorities, and powers — That is, all orders, both of angels and men; being made subject to him — Insubserviency of his great design, of saving all his true followers. The apostle, in speaking here of the resurrection and glory of Christ, means not only to represent him as the object of our confidence, but to intimate, that if we imitate him in his courageous fidelity, we may hope to partake with him in his glory.

Ver. 21, 22. The like figure, even baptism, doth now save us. Some important ideas must here be associated, to illustrate the allusion. We are not saved by the putting away of corporeal defilement, but by being buried with Christ by baptism unto death, and by rising with him to newness of life. Thus in 1 Corinthians 10:2, the Israelites are said to be baptized to Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They came out of the sea and out of the cloud, as it were, a new people, sprinkled with the blood of the covenant. The atonement of Christ, offered up in the end of the world, had a retrospective influence, and removed all their sins. The washing of the new birth, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, lead to righteousness of life, which is the correspondence of a good conscience, by keeping our garments unspotted from the flesh. This new life is associated with seeking the things that are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of the Father. Such are the arguments used by the apostle in several places. Colossians 3:1, 4. Romans 6:3, 12. Titus 3:5.

21. The like figure whereunto—Better, Which, in its antitype. The water of the flood is the type, the thing prefiguring; the water which becomes baptism is the antitype, the thing prefigured. Noah, believing and obeying, (Hebrews 11:7,) was saved by the type; us, believing and obeying, baptism, the antitype, is now saving. But the apostle is careful to assure us that baptism saves, not by a mere external application of water in cleansing the body, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but symbolically, representing the cleansing of the soul. “Baptismal regeneration,” therefore, can be only a symbolical regeneration. The answer—The response of the soul consecrating itself to God, and earnestly seeking toward him for salvation. The word means both inquiry and answer, and is used for the examination of candidates for baptism. The following is a very early formula: “Dost thou separate thyself from Satan?” “I separate myself.” “Dost thou devote thyself to Christ?” “I devote myself.” The answer then would be (see Bloomfield) the promise to live righteously and holily, so as to have a conscience void of offence toward God. This is the literal “regeneration.” By the resurrection—The risen Christ, with the Holy Spirit, baptizes and saves spiritually and really, and gives efficiency to baptism with water to save symbolically.

V. 22. Angels and authorities and powers-That is, all orders both of angels and men.

Verse 22. Who is gone into heaven] Having given the fullest proof of his resurrection from the dead, and of his having accomplished the end for which he came into the world.

On the right hand of God] In the place of the highest dignity, honour, and influence.

The Vulgate, one copy of the Itala, Augustine, Fulgentius, Cassiodorus, and Bede, have the following remarkable addition after the above words: Deglutiens mortem, ut vitæ æternæ hæredes efficeremur. “Having abolished (swallowed down) death, that we might be made heirs of eternal life.” But this addition is found in no Greek copy, nor in any other of the ancient versions.

Angels and authorities and powers] That is, all creatures and beings, both in the heavens and in the earth, are put under subjection to Jesus Christ. He has all power in the heavens and in the earth. He alone can save; and he alone can destroy. None need fear who put their trust in him, as he can do whatsoever he will in behalf of his followers, and has good and evil spirits under his absolute command. Well may his enemies tremble, while his friends exult and sing. He can raise the dead, and save to the uttermost all that come unto the Father through him.

If he have all power, if angels and authorities and powers be subject to him, then he can do what he will, and employ whom he will. To raise the dead can be no difficulty to him, because he has power over all things. He created the world; he can destroy it, and he can create it anew. We can conceive nothing too difficult for Omnipotence. This same omnipotent Being is the friend of man. Why then do we not come to him with confidence, and expect the utmost salvation of which our souls and bodies are capable?

I PETER

Verses 21, 22. The like figure whereunto — Antitupon, the antitype whereof, that is, the thing which corresponds, not with the water, but with the ark; even baptism doth now save us — Or is the instrument of our safety and preservation, from the guilt, power, and consequences of sin, which overwhelms the world as a flood. Not the putting away the filth of the flesh — As if he had said, By baptism I do not mean merely or chiefly the sprinkling or washing the body with water from its filthiness, which is only the outward or visible sign of baptism, but the inward renewing grace of God, producing the answer of a good conscience, or a divine consciousness that both our persons and our actions are accepted; by the resurrection of Christ — That is, the baptism which consists in the answer of a good conscience toward God, and which is the antitype or thing which was signified by Noah’s preservation in the ark, now saves us as effectually as the ark preserved Noah from destruction by the flood. It is well known the Jews laid a great stress upon their lustrations or washings. The apostle, therefore, very properly cautions his readers against such foolish dependancies. A readiness to perform their whole duty, and even to suffer persecution for the sake of truth, was absolutely necessary in the first Christians, in order to their maintaining that good conscience, to which, in their baptism, they professed a great regard, and to the exercise of which they solemnly engaged themselves. The word eperwthma, here rendered answer, signifies rather interrogation, and is said by Archbishop Leighton to be a judicial word, and to signify interrogations used in the law for a trial, or executing a process, and has been thought by some commentators to refer to certain interrogations, said by Cyprian and other ancient writers to be put to persons who offered themselves to baptism, concerning their faith in Christ, and their renunciation of Satan with all his works, and the vanities of the world. But it does not appear, Macknight thinks, that these questions and answers were used in the apostle’s days; and if they were not, the apostle could not refer to them. “Allowing, however,” he says, “that the word question is here put for the word answer, this answer of a good conscience, being made to God, is an inward answer, and means the baptized person’s sincere persuasion of the things which, by submitting to baptism, he professed to believe; namely, that Jesus, in whose name baptism is administered, arose from the dead, and that at the last day he will raise all from the dead to eternal life, who sincerely obey him. This signification of baptism the Apostle Paul hath taught, Romans 6:4, 5; and therefore he calls it, our begun confidence, Hebrews 3:14; and exhorts the Hebrews to hold it steadfast to the end.” Who is gone into heaven — As our forerunner; and is on the right hand of God — Having all power in heaven and on earth; angels, authorities, and powers — That is, all orders, both of angels and men; being made subject to him — Insubserviency of his great design, of saving all his true followers. The apostle, in speaking here of the resurrection and glory of Christ, means not only to represent him as the object of our confidence, but to intimate, that if we imitate him in his courageous fidelity, we may hope to partake with him in his glory.

Ver. 21, 22. The like figure, even baptism, doth now save us. Some important ideas must here be associated, to illustrate the allusion. We are not saved by the putting away of corporeal defilement, but by being buried with Christ by baptism unto death, and by rising with him to newness of life. Thus in 1 Corinthians 10:2, the Israelites are said to be baptized to Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They came out of the sea and out of the cloud, as it were, a new people, sprinkled with the blood of the covenant. The atonement of Christ, offered up in the end of the world, had a retrospective influence, and removed all their sins. The washing of the new birth, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, lead to righteousness of life, which is the correspondence of a good conscience, by keeping our garments unspotted from the flesh. This new life is associated with seeking the things that are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of the Father. Such are the arguments used by the apostle in several places. Colossians 3:1, 4. Romans 6:3, 12. Titus 3:5.

22. Gone into heaven—At his ascension, to take his place as crowned King, to send the Holy Spirit, and to exercise kingly power in bringing men to God. The right hand—The place of highest honour, to which God exalted him. See notes on Acts 12:55, and Romans 8:34. Made subject—To him, the glorified God-man, as supreme Lord. Whether, as Steiger considers, the authorities be reigning authorities, and the powers acting powers, we know not. But see notes on Romans 8:38; Ephesians 1:21; and Colossians 2:15.