Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 7 Jun 2015
17. And since the Father y’all are calling upon is the One who judges against the work of each man without showing favoritism,
y’all should start lifestyling the time of your temporary residence with respectfulness,
18. knowing that
it was not using perishable things – silver or gold –
that y’all were ransomed out of your empty lifestyle passed along from forefathers ,
19. but rather it was using precious blood from Christ,
[who is] like a lamb without blemish and unsullied .
20. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world,
but was brought to light at the last times for y’all’s sake -
21. [y’all] who through Him are trusting in God
(the One who raised Him out of the dead
and who gave to Him glory)
such that y’all’s hopeful trusting should be in God.
· There was once a young man who graduated from high school and went away to college. His parents were very proud of him and a generous benefactor paid for everything that wasn’t covered by scholarships. This young man really took to the new freedoms he had at college. He could stay up as late as he wanted, sleep in as long as he wanted, party with anybody he wanted, watch whatever movies he wanted, and eat whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, and there was no mom there to scold him for it and no Dad to get angry. Over his first year away from home he became sick because what he wanted was not always good for him. Eventually the day came when he had to be sent home between his poor health and his bad grades and his run-ins with the law. It took this rude awakening to realize that no matter where you go and no matter how free you are, you never can escape accountability; there will always be authorities which must be respected, and there will always be boundaries which, if honored, bring health and honor rather than the shame and weakness he was experiencing. His Dad warned him that if he did not keep his grades to a certain level, he would stop paying for college, so his second year in college, he actually went to classes and studied because he knew there was going to be consequences for not keeping his grades up. He reminded himself that his Dad had worked hard to earn the money that he was spending on his college education and that it would honor His father’s effort if he succeeded in college, and furthermore, he realized that his parents’ wise lifestyles were actually pretty smart and worth following because they got desirable results.
· This is somewhat analogous to the situation that Christians may find themselves in. All of our past sins have been paid for by Jesus, and every future sin we will commit is also covered by His blood. Why bother to resist sin anymore? We are freed from bondage to sin and free from the law, free to move as the Spirit leads. Why not live the carefree life? This kind of freedom can lead an immature person to the same kind of licentious lifestyle that our only-partially-hypothetical college prodigal lived. What Biblical motivations are there to resist sinful indulgences which you know will bring you all the pleasure or comfort you want right now?
· The Apostle Peter offers three basic strategies: 1) Fear God’s judgment, 2) Remember what Jesus paid to ransom you, and 3) Trust hopefully in God.
· Peter begins with OUR CONTEXT: The condition is true[3]: We are Christians who call upon God the Father to save us.
o God had indeed encouraged His people to call Him Father, and this is right and good.
§ Ps. 89:26 He shall cry unto me, “Thou art my Father,”
§ Isa. 63:16 “Thou art our Father,”
§ Jer. 3:19 “Thou shalt call Me, ‘My Father’”
o We call upon Him to meet our own need for salvation because we can’t save ourselves – this is the meaning of the Greek middle voice spelling of this verb “call” – we realize this will benefit ourselves: “Save me, Lord. Have mercy on me!”
o “[T]he point [however is] that God is to be invoked, not only as Father but [also] as Judge” (Vincent)
· GOD’s CONTEXT: Those who trust in the Lord for salvation must come to grips with the righteous and just character of the God they are asking to save them.
o This God is a discriminating God who has His own standard of right and wrong by which He will judge your life work and the deeds of every other human being in history, as we read earlier in the worship service in 2 Corinthians 5.
o We also see it in Romans 14:10-12, “We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ... So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.”
o The late Dr. Gordon Clark, in his commentary on 1 Peter observed, “It is not only the big sinners and the big sins that will stand revealed in that day. God’s judgment will be comprehensive and will take in sins that most people call little. It is written in Matthew 12:36 that ‘every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.’ This is a terrible thought to be held accountable for every thoughtless expression.”
o We are not really free; we remain under the scrutiny of a divine judge who will have His day of reckoning.
o And this judge can’t be fooled by “pious language or warm emotions” (James Moffet); He judges our actual deeds.
o “[O]ur works will be an evidence whether we have complied with our obligations or not.” ~M. Henry
o The fact that God will judge impartially[4] should give us a frighteningly sober outlook on our relationship with God
§ The word translated “impartially/without respect of persons” is a combination of the Greek word for “receiving” (lempsomai) and the Greek word for “face” (proswpon). Bishop Lightfoot explained that, “...the bad sense attaches to it, owing to the secondary meaning of πρόσωπον, a mask; so that πρόσωπον λαμβάνειν [accepting masks] signifies to regard the external circumstances of a man, his rank, wealth, etc., as opposed to his real, intrinsic character.” Which, of course, would be unjust, so God does not do it.
§ You cannot wear a mask to fool God. John Calvin commented on this, “we by no means discharge our duty towards God, when we obey him only in appearance; for he is not a mortal man, whom the outward appearance pleases, but he reads what we are inwardly in our hearts. He not only prescribes laws for our feet and hands, but he also requires what is just and right as to the mind and spirit.”
§ For this reason Paul explained that God’s impartiality informed his apostolic practice of not treating Jews and Gentiles differently like some of the other apostles wrongfully did (Gal. 2:6 “...God doesn’t receive the face of a man” πρόσωπον Θεὸς ἀνθρώπου οὐ λαμβάνει), and James 2:1 exorts us Christians not to show partiality or prejudice (προσωποληψίαις) against any one in church. The impartiality of God should reflect in our own lives of not showing unjust favoritism.
§ This raises the bar on holiness beyond any possibility of fulfilling it. You can’t just act like you’re a good person, you have to think like a good person and truly be a good person or else you will be condemned in God’s judgment. This is why we need Christ to ransom us.
· And so we come to the first strategy against succumbing to sin, the COMMAND: Make fear of God as Judge characteristic of your lifestyle
o The main verb “conduct yourselves/start lifestyling” is a verbal form of the noun used in v. 15 “Just as the One who called you is holy, so be holy in all your lifestyle/behavior/conduct,” and it forms a contrast to the “empty lifestyle which came from [pagan] forefathers” (v.18)
o The command is to “style your life in the fear (or reverence/respect) [of God],” treating life on this earth as a “temporary residence,” after which we will be judged and either welcomed into God’s presence with favor or cast into the lake of fire.
o Since this is an Aorist Imperative, it could be translated ingressively “start styling your life in the fear of God,” although, if you are already trying to do this, you can apply it by keeping on conducting yourself in reverent respect for God.
o Wait; doesn’t God command us not to fear? How do we reconcile God’s repeated command “Do not fear” with this injunction to style your earthly life-span in terms of fear? Note what the circumstances are for fear – and for freedom from fear – beginning with the first book of the Bible:
§ Genesis 3:10-11 Brenton “And the Lord God called Adam and said to him, Adam, where art thou? And he said to him, I heard thy voice as thou walkedst in the garden, and I feared...”
§ Genesis 15:12, a “great fear” came upon Abraham when God drew near to make a covenant with him
§ Genesis 18:15 “But Sarrha denied, saying, ‘I did not laugh,’ for she was afraid.”
§ Genesis 19:30 And Lot went up out of Segor [Zoar], and dwelt in the mountain, he and his two daughters with him, for he feared to dwell in [Zoar]
§ Genesis 20:8 King Abimelek of Egypt is scared out of his wits when God theatens to punish him for a sin he didn’t even know he was about to commit.
§ Do you see a pattern? People were afraid of God because they realized they had disobeyed Him and that He could punish them! Moses (Ex. 3:6), Gideon (Judges 6:22), and Isaiah (6:5) all covered their faces and quaked with fear when they were confronted with the presence of God because they knew they were sinners living among sinful people. And yet, by the same token, God could also vindicate them and make them safe by making a covenant with them:
§ Genesis 15:1 Brenton “...the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I shield thee, thy reward shall be very great.”
§ Genesis 21:17 The angel of the Lord tells Hagar, “Do not fear” and makes promises regarding Ishmael.
§ Genesis 26:24 Brenton “And the Lord appeared to [Isaac] in that night [renewing with him the covenant he had made with his father], and said, I am the God of Abraam thy father; fear not, for I am with thee, and I will bless thee...”
§ And God renewed His covenant with the next generation, saying to Jacob, “I am the God of thy fathers; fear not...” (Gen 46:3)
§ This safe relationship with God, in turn, breeds a desire to obey God with a healthy respect:
§ Genesis 28:16 Brenton “Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and said, ‘The Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.’ And he was afraid...”
§ Gen 31:53 the “God of Abraham” is called “the fear of Isaac”
§ Gen. 42:18 Joseph “feared God”
§ The Hebrew midwives in Exodus 1 demonstrated their “fear of God” by disobeying Pharoah’s command to kill Hebrew babies and obeying God’s will not to commit murder, and God blessed them for that.
§ The Egyptians who “feared God’s word” in Exodus 9:20 obeyed the command to bring their cattle under shelter so they would not be killed by the plague of hail.
§ I don’t have time to go through all 600+ instances of fear in the bible, but I could briefly mention the early Psalms since we were just there:
§ Psalm 2:11 “Serve the Lord with fear...”
§ Psalm 5:7 Brenton “I will enter into thine house in the multitude of thy mercy: I will worship in thy fear toward thy holy temple.”
§ And in Psalm 14, “there is no fear of God” in the heart of the wicked, but when God comes in judgment against them, then “they are terrified!”
§ Psalm 19:9 “The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring for ever and ever...”
§ Psalm 22:23 Brenton “Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye seed of Jacob, glorify him: let all the seed of Israel fear him.”
§ Is this true of the New Testament too? Of course!
§ Matthew 1:20b "Joseph, son of David, do not fear...”
§ Matthew 9:8 When the crowd saw Jesus heal the paralytic, they “were afraid and glorified God...”
§ Matthew 10:28 NKJV Jesus said, “...do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
§ Matthew 17:5-7 NKJV at the transfiguration, a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came and touched them and said, "Arise, and do not be afraid."
§ People were filled with “fear” of God when they observed Jesus’ miracles and when they witnessed Jesus’ death and resurrection, yet Jesus told his disciples not to be afraid.
§ In Philippians 2:12, the Apostle Paul connects fear of God with obedience, even for those who know they are loved by God, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”
§ 1 Timothy 5:20 NKJV “Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear.”
§ And later on in 1 Peter 2:17, we find the command, “Fear God”
§ John summed it up well in his first epistle: “By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as He is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment...” (1 John 4:17-18, ESV)
§ The knowledge of God’s coming judgment against our sin brings a healthy fear to humans like Adam and Eve, Sarah, Abimelek and who realize that they have disobeyed God and deserve His wrath. Jesus was right, We should indeed “fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” We should be afraid to sin and should want to obey God so that His wrath will not increase against us. Yet, at the same time, those whom God has reached out to in love to forgive sins on the basis of Christ’s substitute atonement have their fear of God’s personal judgment against them wiped away, even though they continue to treat Him with the fear of holy reverence because of who He is.
§ “The fear that is mentioned, stands opposed to heedless security, such as is wont to creep in, when there is a hope of deceiving with impunity. For, as God’s eyes are such that they penetrate into the hidden recesses of the heart, we ought to walk with him carefully and not negligently.” ~John Calvin
· This is the only place this word “ransom” appears in the N.T., but it shows up 32 times in the Greek Old Testament, referring to
o a person being purchased out of the condition of being a slave (Lev. 19:20),
o and therefore of God ransoming the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt (Ex. 15:13, Deut. 7:8, 15:15, etc. cf. Micah 6:4),
o and later, God redeeming David’s life from distressing circumstances (2 Sam. 4:9, Ps. 31:5, etc., cf. Jeremiah in Lam 3:58),
o and it is proclaimed in congregational liturgy as applying to all believers:
§ Psalm 107:2 “let the ransomed of the LORD say so,” [“I have been redeemed from bondage by my Lord!”]
§ Psalm 136:24 “who has ransomed us from all our enemies, for His lovingkindness is forever,”
o Finally we see “the redeemed” in heaven in Zephaniah 3:15, “The Lord has taken away thine iniquities, he has ransomed thee from the hand of thine enemies: the Lord, the King of Israel, is in the midst of thee” ~Brenton (cf. Isa. 35:9 & 62:12)
· Titus 2:14 seems to refer to the same ransom from sin paid by Christ that Peter refers to: “[Christ] gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” (NKJV).
o Moffet: “[I]n the world of that day certain forms of manumission were carried out in temples, the formal ceremony concluding with a sacrifice; thus the connexion of slaves’ emancipation with a sacrificial act would be intelligible to these Asiatics.”
o ATR: “Slaves were set free by silver or gold”
o But, “Neither silver nor gold nor any of the corruptible things of this world can redeem so much as one soul” from vanity ~M. Henry
· Of course some believers grew up under faithful parents or grandparents, but here Peter is speaking of the vain lifestyle patterns which can surely be found somewhere in your ancestry or among your associations.
o Commentators take different sides as to whether this refers to Gentile Paganism (Moffet, ATR) or to Judaism devoid of fulfillment in Christ (Calvin), but even to the Jews, God said, “Walk not in the ways of your fathers” (Ezekiel 20:18).
o Some family traditions are important to pass on, but just because something is a family tradition does not necessarily mean it is something to cling to.
o “A man’s conversation may carry an appearance of devotion and may plead antiquity, custom, and tradition in its defence, and yet after all be a most vain conversation.” ~M. Henry
o This applies to social groups as well. Just because the Freemasons are “ancient and accepted” does not make them a tradition to follow. Some lifestyles are like a bondage that you need to be freed from.
o To discern what is worth keeping and what is “vain/futile/empty,” ask yourself, “Does this honor Christ and His blood shed for us?” If not, shuck it off.
· A couple of weeks ago I was reading a blog that had been recommended to me. The blogger said that theology was all about how loving God is and how the cross is about how God embraced suffering as an example for all of us to follow and frees us from having to believe in eternal punishment. I wrote back to the person who had recommended the blog to me and said this was classic neo-orthodox liberalism, a religion in which man is not bad and in which God does not hold judgment, so there is no need for the blood of Christ. That is not Biblical Christianity.
· We, on the other hand, affirm what the Apostle Peter says in v.19, that God will judge, that man is sinful, and that the blood of Christ (indeed, “the blood of God” Himself Acts 20:28) must be shed to atone for us to make us right with God.
· Gordon Clark, one of the best 20th century apologists against neo-orthodoxy pointed out in his commentary on 1 Peter that “Christ’s death was not an unavoidable calamity, or the death of a martyr; it was rather the result of a deliberate purpose to offer a sacrifice for sin... [S]acrifices, in any religion, are... not to produce a frame of mind in the worshipper so that that frame of mind makes the worshipper acceptable with God. The aim of a sacrifice is, as it were, to produce a frame of mind in God by a means acceptable to Him, so that His anger toward the sinner is placated. Thus when anyone makes Christ’s sacrifice his own, he is in effect offering the blood of Christ to God the Father with the hope that God will accept the offering, and, on the basis of the offering, forgive his sins. The primary effect of a sacrifice is on God, not man. It is essential to understand that Christ’s death was a sacrifice... even the unconverted Jews understood the meaning quite well.”
· It had been prefigured for ages in the Old Testament by the sacrificing of sheep.
o Exodus 29:38 “And these are the offerings which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two unblemished lambs of a year old daily on the altar continually, a constant offering.”
o Leviticus 1:3-5 “If his gift be a whole-burnt-offering, he shall bring an unblemished male of the herd to the door of the tabernacle of witness, he shall bring it as acceptable before the Lord. And he shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt-offering as a thing acceptable for him, to make atonement for him. And they shall slay [it] before the Lord; and the sons of Aaron the priests shall bring the blood, and they shall pour the blood round about on the altar...” (Brenton)
o This requirement for an “unblemished” animal went for the peace offering (Lev. 3:6), the sin-offering (Lev. 4:28), the purification offerings (Lev. 12:6, 14:10), and the free-will offerings too (Lev. 22:19).
o These sheep had to be physically perfect and free of defects, to symbolize Jesus who would be morally perfect (free of sin), as the use of the second word “unsullied/spotless” denotes every time it is used in the Bible (1 Timothy 6:14; James 1:27; 2 Peter 3:14).
o Clement of Alexandria wrote around 180AD, “Here he touches on the ancient Levitical and sacerdotal celebrations; but means a soul pure through righteousness which is offered to God.”
o Hebrews 9:13-15 explains, “For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” (NKJV)
o That is why John the Baptizer introduced Jesus by saying, “Behold the Lamb of God!” (John 1:36, KJV)
o The “blood” of an “unblemished” “male” “lamb” used as a “ransom” points most clearly to the Passover ceremony of Exodus 12, where each household that trusted in the one, true God was to:
§ take a male lamb which had no defect,
§ kill it and drain its blood out into a bowl,
§ and then dip a brush into the bowl and paint that blood around their front door.
§ The angel of death sent by God to kill the oldest boy in every family then passed over every family which had painted the blood on their door. The death of a lamb had already been paid as a ransom for the life of the oldest child in that house, so the angel of death did not kill anyone in that house.
§ In like manner, Jesus, the man who never sinned, offered His death on the cross in place of us to pay the ransom for our souls so that the wrath of God would not fall upon us.
· In addition to Jesus’ death being a sacrifice to God like that of the Passover lambs, Peter gives us two more important facts about Jesus in v.20 using past tense participles for both: first that he was “foreknown” and second that he was “brought to light/manifested”
1. What does it mean that Christ was “foreknown”?
o All the other uses of the word “foreknown” in the Bible indicate a positive relationship which was prior to an offense which then broke the relationship[6]
o John 17:24 informs us that God the Father loved God the Son before the foundation of the world.
o I think Peter simply means that Jesus was in relationship with God – as God – before there ever was a world as we know it, and before there ever was sin to make broken relationships between God and His creation.
o This matches what Peter preached back in Acts 2:22-24 “...Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know – Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge[7] of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.”
o God had a plan from before the time that He laid the foundations of the world and kept it “secret” until the time of the Gospels when Jesus revealed it – that’s what Jesus Himself said in Matt. 13:35.
o He went on to say in Matt 25:34 that God’s plan from before the founding of the world included preparing a kingdom to share with the men and women He would create.
o The writings of the Apostles fill in more detail, saying that God’s plan included “choosing us in [Christ]” (Eph. 1:4), writing our names down in the “lamb’s book of life” (Rev. 17:8), and planning for Jesus to be slain like a lamb to save us (Rev. 13:8) – all before the world was created!
o That all has to do with Him being “foreknown”
2. What does it mean that Jesus was “manifested/revealed” in the last times?
o “These last times” are the times that Peter lived in and that we live in, referred to, for instance in:
§ Galatians 4:4 “In the fullness of time, God sent forth His only-begotten son,”
§ and Hebrews 1:1-2 “God spoke in time past in various ways, but now in these last days He has communicated with us through His Son...”
§ Hebrews 9:26 “but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”
§ (cf. 1 Cor. 10:11 on us, on whom the ends of the ages have come”)
o “He was manifested by His birth, by his Father’s testimony, and by His own works, especially by His resurrection from the dead (Rom. 1:4)” ~M. Henry
· and this was done for the sake of...
· This tells us at least four things about faith:
1. Our faith/trust is not something we create ourselves, it only comes through Jesus. As it says in Hebrews 12:2, “Jesus [is] the author and finisher of our faith...” He is where our faith comes from, and only as we rely on Him as our high priest can we “come with confidence before the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16).
2. Not everyone will have saving faith. Jesus was only manifested to save those who trust in Him. “Hypocrites and unbelievers will be ruined forever, notwithstanding the death of Christ.” ~M. Henry
3. Our trusting faith should be full of hopefulness. Remember: v.3b “...He has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” and v.13 “set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed”
4. Our faith is the intended result of God’s plan to save us. The wording of the end of this verse in Greek is interesting, because Peter spells the verb of being in the Infinitive (which, as we’ve seen earlier in 1 Peter 1, indicates purpose) rather than the descriptive Indicative mood. In other words, he is not merely saying that these believers’ faith and hope are currently in God. I think he is saying that their hope and faith in God is the express fulfillment of what God had intended. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit executed all these plans to the end that God’s redeemed people would trust in God, just as He intended.[8]
5. Note that trusting in Jesus is equated with trusting in God. Trusting in Christ is trusting in God.
So we see from these few verses three basic strategies to fight the temptation to sin:
o “How may we tell whether we have the proper attitude; how may we know to avoid both a cheap familiarity and a state of abjection which argues lack of confidence in God...Abraham, Moses Isaiah, and the Christians in Acts did not study, fret, or figure how to attain the proper attitude. Their response to God was instinctive, instantaneous, unpremeditated. It was not the result of introspection; it was the result of seeing God. From this it may be inferred that if we wish to have a proper attitude before God we should cease to study [our] attitudes and instead seek and study God... The sure way of coming to know God is the study of the revelation of himself which he has made to us... In the Scriptures, in them alone, do we have a clear and accurate concept of God. Our duty , then is to study them diligently. When we thus come to know God, the new, like Abraham, will naturally have a proper attitude before Him.” ~Gordon Clark, pgs. 48-49
o This will include respectful words about God and His word and His people
o This will include submission to God and obedience to His commands.
o “I know it was the blood”
o “There is nothing which ought so much to stimulate us to the practice of holiness, as the memory of this price of our redemption.” ~John Calvin
o If your holiness was precious enough to Jesus for Him to shed His blood for you, it is precious enough for you to go to the point of shedding your blood to preserve rather than refusing to fight and indulging in sin.
o “All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood”
o Remembering Christ on the cross has helped many a man and woman of God over the years to resist temptation.
o There is a crown of life waiting for those who overcome sin
o There are pleasures to be enjoyed forever in the Lord’s right hand
o Keep waiting on the Lord’s salvation, and you will not be disappointed.
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17 Καὶ εἰ πατέρα ἐπικαλεῖσθε PMI τὸν ἀπροσωπολήμπτως κρίνοντα κατὰ τὸ ἑκάστου ἔργον, ἐν φόβῳ τὸν τῆς παροικίας ὑμῶν χρόνον ἀναστράφητε APM, |
17. And since the Father y’all are calling upon is the One who judges against the work of each man without showing favoritism, y’all should start lifestyling the time of your temporary residence with respectfulness, |
17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: |
17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality
judges according to each
one's work, conduct yourselves |
17 And if you call on him [as] Father who
judges impartially
according to each
one's deeds, conduct
yourselves with fear |
17 If you address [as] Father the
One who impartially
judges according to each
one's work, conduct yourselves in fear |
17 Since you call on a Father who judges X each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers |
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18 εἰδότες RAP-NPM ὅτι οὐ φθαρτοῖς, ἀργυρίῳ ἢ χρυσίῳ, ἐλυτρώθητε API ἐκ τῆς ματαίας ὑμῶν ἀναστροφῆς πατροπαραδότου, |
18. knowing that it was not using perishable things – silver or gold – that y’all were ransomed out of your empty lifestyle passed along from forefathers, |
18 [Forasmuch as] ye know that ye were not
redeemed with corruptible things, as silver |
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from [your] fathers, |
18 knowing that you were ransomed
from |
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things [like] silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from [your] forefathers, |
18 [For] you know that it was not with
perishable things [such as] silver or gold that you were redeemed from |
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19 ἀλλὰ τιμίῳ αἵματι ὡς ἀμνοῦ ἀμώμου καὶ ἀσπίλου Χριστοῦ, |
19. but rather it was using precious blood from Christ, [who is] like a lamb without blemish and unsullied. |
19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: |
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. |
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. |
19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. |
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, X a lamb without blemish or defect. |
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20 [9]προεγνωσμένου RPP-GSM μὲν πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου, φανερωθέντος APP-GSM δὲ ἐπ᾿ εσχατων[10] τῶν χρόνων δι᾿ ὑμᾶς[11] |
20. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was brought to light at the last times for y’all’s sake - |
20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, |
20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you |
20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you |
20 |
20 He was |
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21 τοὺς δι᾿ αὐτοῦ πιστευοντας PAP-APM[12] εἰς Θεὸν τὸν ἐγείραντα AAP-ASM αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν καὶ δόξαν αὐτῳ δόντα AAP-ASM, ὥστε τὴν πίστιν ὑμῶν καὶ ἐλπίδα[13] εἶναι PAN εἰς Θεόν. |
21. [y’all] who through Him are trusting in God (the One who raised Him out of the dead and who gave to Him glory) such that y’all’s hopeful trusting should be in God. |
21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. |
21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. |
21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. |
21 who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. |
21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the
dead and X glor |
[1] The only other place this word appears in the NT is Acts 13:17, referring to the Jews living for a few hundred years in Egypt. It is also in Psalm 120:5 and Ezra 8:35 (and a few other places in the Greek O.T.) referring to the Jew’s 70-year exile in Babylon. It clearly connotes time away from your permanent residence.
[2] Gordon Clark suggested that Peter was thinking about Malachi 1:6-9 as he wrote this passage: “If I be a Father, where is my honor? And if I be a lord, where is my fear? ...”
[3] This Greek conditional particle in combination with a Present tense verb indicates that the author believes the condition to be true
[4] Same or similar word is found in Peter’s speech to Cornelius’ household: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality (προσωπολήπτης). But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.” (Acts 10:34-35, NKJV), It’s also in Romans 2:6-11 “God ‘will render to each one according to his deeds’... to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for there is no partiality (προσωπολημψία) with God.” cf. Mal. 1:6-9. See Gordon Clark p. 41ff for an apologetic on God’s impartial justice not requiring Him to treat everyone equally and save everyone. “Because God’s wrath is impartial, it does not follow that His love and favor are shown to everyone alike. There is no conflict, logical or otherwise, between the principle of ‘no respecter of persons,’ and the principle of free grace... Are men unjust when they give presents at Christmas time? Would you be unjust to all other beggars if you should give a coin to one?”
[5] cf. two other uses of this word “perishable” in 1 Peter: You were regenerated not from perishable seed (1:23), into an inheritance that is imperishable in heaven (1:4)
[6] Acts 26:5; Romans 8:29; 11:2; 2 Peter 3:17 – although 1 Pet 1:20 is the only time in the Bible that this word “foreknown” describes God rather than men
[7] This is the noun form of the verb in 1 Pet. 1:20 and the only place this noun occurs in the Greek Bible besides 1Pe 1:2 “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father...”
[8] ATR, on the other hand, says it expresses the “result,” but at least he agrees that it is not indicative like most English translations render it.
[9] “Foreknown is the perfect participle, has been known from all eternity down to the present “in reference to the place held and continuing to be held by Christ in the divine mind” (Salmond). Manifested is the aorist participle, pointing to a definite act at a given time.” ~Vincent
[10] Critical editions of the Greek text read singular ἐσχάτου (“the last of the times”) because it’s spelled that way in the majority of the oldest Uncial manuscripts. I went with the plural reading of the majority of Greek manuscripts, which are supported by some Uncials, by Papyrus #72 (which dates back further than the oldest Uncials), and by the majority of other Latin versions, including the Vulgate. Curiously, none of the English translations which usually follow the Critical text (ESV, NAS, NIV) did so here, choosing instead to follow the Textus Receptus and Patriarchal Greek editions in making “last” an adjective describing “times.”
[11] compare with eis humas at the end of v.4
[12] Critical editions of the Greek text read πιστοὺς – an accusative plural Masculine noun, which is the spelling of a couple of the oldest Greek manuscripts, but the majority of the oldest Greek manuscripts (as well as the majority of the totality of Greek manuscripts) overwhelmingly supports the participial spelling above. The participle “the ones who believe” makes sense because it matches the APM object “y’all” from the end of the previous verse, whereas the critical spelling turns it into nonsense “on behalf of you the faiths through Him into God.” Here is another case where critical scholarship has gone too far by assuming that the least-sensical reading is likely to be original rather than assuming that Greek Bible scholars ignored for ages the favorite manuscripts of Critical scholars because the Siniaticus and Vaticanus manuscripts had mistakes.
[13] I interpreted this as a hendiadyses (“hopeful trusting”), but I’ll freely admit that I’m in an experimental stage of discovering when – and when not – to interpret these constructions as such rather than as simple conjunctions (“trust and hope”), and I could well be overdoing it in my new zeal.