Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church Manhattan KS, 20 Sep 2015
3:8 So, the goal [is for] y’all [to be] like-minded, sympathetic, brotherly-loving, compassionate, humble-minded, 9 not paying back bad for bad or insult for insult, but instead speaking blessing, because y’all were called into this in order that y’all might inherit blessing.
3:10 For, “The one who wants to love life and to see good days,
let him stop his tongue from bad and his lips such that they don’t utter deceptiveness.
11 Let him lean away from bad and start doing good.
Let him seek peace and start chasing it down.
12 Because the Lord’s eyes are on the righteous and His ears are toward their request, but the Lord’s face is against doers of bad .
· In my last sermon, I outlined the six things which Peter listed in chapter 3 verses 8 and 9 as normative Christian behavior:
1. “the goal [is for] y’all [to be] like-minded,
2. sympathetic,
3. brotherly-loving,
4. compassionate,
5. humble-minded,
6. not paying back bad for bad or insult for insult, but instead speaking blessing”
· In this sermon, I plan to look at the reasons for these 6 character traits and the Biblical basis for them.
· This is two reasons, really, first that this is a vocational privilege and responsibility, and second, that the purpose and end result of you practicing these things is that you will be blessed. Both calling and blessing imply a personal God who purposefully develops definite relationships with humans.
· God has been doing this since the dawn of time:
o In Genesis 1-3, God created a man, gave him a name, blessed him, gave him a job to do, and held him accountable.
o Later, God called Abraham. Hebrews 11:8a tells us, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance.” (NKJV, cf. Gen. 48:6)
o Abraham’s descendents ended up leaving the promised land and becoming slaves in Egypt, but then “Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, ‘Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it.’” (Deut. 31:7, NKJV)
· Then as the story of the Bible unfolds, we realize that the calling of the patriarchs to move into Canaan is only a symbol of a greater calling of God for us to move into relationship with Him.
o Hebrews 9:15 “And for this reason He [Jesus] 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 Ephesians 1:18 “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints...” (NKJV)
· And, just as God’s calling of the Old Testament Patriarchs involved fulfilling a task (like moving to the Promised Land), so God’s calling of His elect in the New Testament involves fulfilling the task of “speaking blessing” to people, even when those people are mean to us.
· Now, it might go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, that just because you should return curses with blessings doesn’t mean you have to expose yourself to abusive speech.
o It’s one thing if you are called to minister in a particular way to someone who is disagreeable, but there is wisdom in avoiding casual social interaction with people whose speech indicates they are out to cause trouble for Christians[1]. In 1 Corinthians 5:11, the apostle Paul said, “Hey, just keep away from revilers. Don’t go out to dinner with them.”[2]
o But you can’t protect yourself from everything, and at some point you’re going to have to put this principle into practice. I recently heard of some Christians in Afghanistan whose church building was torn down by their hostile, anti-Christian government. Those Christians decided to put this verse into practice by going over to the property and serving tea to the wrecking crew that was destroying their building! “Asalam Alikum (Peace to you), would you like some tea?” Isn’t that what God himself did? He reached out to show kindness when we were still an enmity to Him. Once He has saved us, we can show that same character of God to others still at enmity with Him.
· God has called you to return good for evil, blessings in the place of insults. That is the job He has given you, and He expects you to do it.
· But God hasn’t called you to do this awkward task in order to make you miserable. He did it because He knew that you would be blessed through doing this, so He has your best interest in mind when He commands us to do this.
· So, that’s the first reason Peter gives for making these six things our goal.
· Whoah. The Old Testament? Commands in the Old Testament still apply to Christians today? You betcha! This is the clincher for Peter’s argument. As far as he’s concerned, he has saved the most compelling argument for last, and his most compelling argument is that God has already commanded this sort of behavior of His people in Psalm 34:12-16.
· This Psalm brings out three standards of behavior, each written out in two parallel phrases.
o The first in v.10 is stop saying bad and untrue things,
o The second in v.11 is to stop doing bad things – and start doing good things,
o And the third (also in v.11) is to want peace so much that you will do whatever it takes to get it.
o Let’s look at these three things a little bit more in depth:
1. “Stop your tongue from bad and your lips from uttering deceitfulness” (10b)
o The verb translated “stop/refrain/keep” – pausatw in Greek (you can hear the English word “pause” in it) is a command. “He must/Let him” “push pause” on his tongue so that it doesn’t say anything bad. This parallels the sixth character trait listed at the beginning of v.9: “not paying back bad for bad.” Here’s Peter’s Biblical basis.
o Your tongue and your lips are what form the words you say. (Without them, all you could say is “Ahhhhhhh,” and nobody would know what that meant.) One of the worst things we can do with our mouths is to “utter deceit” – to say things that are not entirely true. (For example: “You’re ugly.” “You’re worthless.” “You never do anything right.” “You’d be better off dead.” “You can’t be forgiven.” “You’re too messed up to be redeemed.” OR “I did everything right.” “It’s not my fault.” “I deserve more attention.” “I’m better than so-and-so.” “Everybody is so unfair to me.” “God is holding out on me.” “Indulging just a little bit in sin is o.k. and makes life fun.” “That actor or actress or singer who ignores God is so cool.” Lies. Lies. Lies!)
o You’ve got to push the “pause” button when words like that come to your mind. “Take every thought captive” to the glory of God[3]. Does this edify and “give grace to the hearers”[4]? Will this make Jesus look better to the world? If so, press the “play” button! If not, push the “delete” button!
o Your body and your words are constantly broadcasting to the physical (and also the spiritual) world what God is like. You are either broadcasting messages that are true or false about God, and your mind is like the editor. There’s always going to be stuff that slips into the broadcast stream that has no business being there, and it’s up to you to catch those things and throw them out. How do you know what to keep and what to edit out? God has published in the Bible what the broadcasting standard should be: What’s true, what’s right, what’s pure – it’s all in the Bible. Familiarizing ourselves with God’s word is the way to recognize deception and evil so that we can edit that stuff out of our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit.
o What do we queue up instead of evil and deceit? The Apostles modeled what we can do with our mouths without stopping/pausing: (all from the NKJV)
§ Tell people about Jesus: Acts 5:42 “And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.”
§ Warn people about falsehoods: Acts 20:31 “Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.”
§ Give thanks: Ephesians 1:16 “we do not cease to give thanks for you...”
§ Pray: Colossians 1:9 “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you...”
§ And in the book of Revelation, we see the worship of God going on unceasingly: Rev. 4:8 “The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not [have a pause[5]] day or night, saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!’”
o Those are the kinds of things we should keep queued up in our broadcast stream. Worship, prayer, thanksgiving, admonition, and evangelism are the kinds of content God wants coming through our mouths. Next comes what to do with our bodies:
2. “Lean away from bad and start doing good” (v.11a)
o This second command from Psalm 34 is also related to what Peter listed out in v.9, not paying back evil but instead speaking blessing. It might also be related to brotherly love back in v.8.
o Again, how do you know good from bad? By holding a finger to the wind of public opinion? By doing the kinds of things that do-gooders on the popular media channels do? NO! By familiarizing yourself with the Bible, which teaches us good from bad, and by doing what God commands.
o The Proverbs tell us that paying respect to God is the way to depart from all evil: Proverbs 3:7-8 “Be not wise in thine own conceit; but fear God, and depart from all evil. Then shall there be health to thy body, and good keeping to thy bones.” (Brenton) There is that blessing that you are called to inherit – or at least the foretaste of it in this life – good health!
o “Turning away from evil” means not indulging even small amounts of sin. The wise person does not assume an “I can handle it” attitude. He does not see how close to the edge he can get to wickedness. To flirt with evildoing is to invite disaster. Proverbs 14:16 “A wise man fears, and departs from evil; but the fool trusts in himself, and joins himself with the transgressor.” (Brenton) A wise man draws wide margins around sin:
§ It might mean limiting the books and movies and music you expose yourself to. Fill your mind with pop songs and stories, and you’re going to have little love for God because there is not room for God and no encouragement to passionately obey Him in most of the popular media. To “lean away from evil” may mean being a little out-of-it in regard to the latest books and movies and songs. I’m not saying you have to join the Amish and lose all touch with American culture; I’m just saying that you don’t have to float down the middle of mainstream American culture. It’s too easy to drown in the cares of the world. What would it look like for you to lean out of the middle of the mainstream? To identify evils and depart from them?
§ Around alcohol, it may mean being the One-beer Bill or the Tea-totaler Tom that others give a ribbing to, but who has no chance of ever getting drunk because you’ve drawn the margin wide around violating God’s command not to get drunk.
§ A little bit of compromise can lead to an erosion of resolve against sin. I was reading an article about that just last week on Covenant Eyes[6], how pornography so often starts with a first click off the track of our legitimate use of the Internet to explore something which is only a small compromise – maybe a link off of a news site to photos of athletes or movie-actors, and then there is a little more racy link off that link, and thus the viewer is drawn further and further into evil by small steps, and, of course, each step makes the next step harder to resist. The best strategy is to take the thought captive at the very beginning of the process (when it’s easiest to resist) and not take that first step away from the good path.
§ It may mean limiting the company of other people – even decent people who nevertheless are not passionate about Christ. Of course, it is not God’s will for you to avoid all contact with non-Christians, but the Bible does command us to avoid people who cause us trouble.
§ So our love for God practically affects first what we say with our mouth, second what we do with our bodies, and third what we think with our minds:
3. “Seek peace and chase it down” (v.11b)
o Again, this Old Testament quote has tie-ins to Peter’s list in v.8 – “like-minded” and “humble-minded,” and this is the mindset that generates the practice of “doing good” in return for being “insulted” in v.9.
o There is something about peace that a lot of us don’t think about. Everybody wants peace. So why is there so much conflict? Because peace is the absence of conflict with a certain point of view.
§ The Communists in Russia said they wanted peace, but, if I remember correctly, it was Lenin who explicitly stated that this peace meant the absence of resistance to the Communist regime. While speaking of this peace, the Communists remained at war with everyone who resisted them.
§ The Muslims say they want peace – a universal ummah, but for them that means everybody submitting to Islam.
§ The American hippies and libertarians have called for peace, but for them that means everybody abandoning the law and order that comes from a Christian worldview and letting everyone do whatever they want.
§ And if we Christians are really honest, peace to us means that all the non-Christians would agree to uphold the values of Christianity.
§ It is a delusion to think that all the religions (and non-religions) of the world can ever be at peace with one another. Therefore, it is a mistake to think of peace simply in terms of keeping everybody happy with each other and not rocking the boat because there are necessary limits imposed by God on what I am allowed to tolerate.
§ Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not saying you should go around disturbing the peace and bothering people for no good reason. I am just saying that when you think of pursuing peace, it must be on God’s terms – peace as God defines it, and that is ultimately in terms of submission to Jesus.
o Another misconception regarding peace is the idea that peace is passiveness.
§ When we think of a peaceful lake, we think of it being still and quiet. No wind, no current, no ripples. But the Bible speaks of pursuing peace as though it is an active pursuit with other people.
§ In many of the Eastern religions, peace is conceived of as radically autonomous – turning inward into your mind and away from outward action and away from the outer world around you. Now, while God tells us that His peace will indeed guard our minds in Philippians 4, it is not a passive, personal sort of peace that ignores the world around us.
§ The Psalm Peter quotes here says it is a mindset to be actively pursued. Most of the English translations render this Greek word diokw as “pursue,” but I prefer painting that word more colorfully. I translated diokw as “chasing it down” because the same word is used in other passages like:
§ Matt. 10:23a “When they hunt you down in this city, flee to another.” (NAW)
§ Luke 21:12a “...they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons...” (NKJV)
§ Acts 22:4 “I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women” (NKJV)
§ Does that begin to give you a picture of how active your pursuit of God’s peace can be? “Pursuers” of peace can be just as vigorous as pursuers of violence!
§ So how to you “pursue peace”?
§ It begins by finding peace with God. We must recognize that we broke a peaceful relationship with God by breaking His commandments and thus became His enemies. But Jesus stepped between us and offered to take the punishment for our lawbreaking upon Himself and die on the cross in order to bring us back into a peaceful relationship with God. Christians find peace with God by trusting Jesus to save us. Philippians 3:14 “I am chasing down the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (NAW)
§ When we are at peace with God, we can spread that peace to other people. Romans 14:19&21 speaks of it in terms of “building up” other people and getting rid of offensive actions: “Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food... by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.” (NKJV)
§ In 1 Corinthians 14:1, the apostle writes, “Keep pursuing the love, but keep being zealous about the spiritual gifts” and he gives the reason in v.3 for “upbuilding and exhortation and comfort.”
§ 1 Thessalonians 5:15 “See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.” (NKJV)
§ 2 Timothy 2:22-25 “Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth...” (NKJV, cf. 1 Tim. 6:11)
§ Do you see how the Bible connects the active pursuit of peace with building up (edifying) other people through the practice of your spiritual gifts and through Bible teaching?
· So there’s the three Old Testament categories of godly living summarized in Psalm 34 – good speech, good actions, and pursuit of peace, all defined in terms of a relationship with God. And the promises extended to Old Testament believers who pursued these things are also extended to New Testament believers. “Do this because...”
· “the Lord’s eyes are on the righteous and His ears are toward their request, but the Lord’s face is against doers of bad”
· or, more literally, “the Lord’s eyes are oriented over the righteous... but it is the side of His face that is oriented over doers of evil.” In Greek the prepositions are identical, but it is the part of the face that is important. Evildoers are off to the side and not in the focus of attention. Those who are righteous (or justified) are rewarded with attentiveness – their prayers will be heard and answered; their problems and accomplishments will be seen.
· It is interesting to see that the most important reward for doing what is right is intimacy with God. Seeking God is rewarded with more opportunity to get close to God. God is the inheritance and reward, and that is the best reward anyone could ever have!
· With God you will “love life and see good days”!
Reason #1 (v.9) “y’all were called into this in order that y’all might inherit blessing”
Reason #2 (vs. 10-11) The O.T. commands the same things
A) “Stop your tongue from bad and your lips from uttering deceitfulness”
B) “Lean away from bad and start doing good”
C) “Seek peace and chase it down”
Reason #3 (v. 12) God rewards seekers with relational intimacy
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Patriarchal Text |
NAW |
KJV |
NKJV |
ESV |
NASB |
NIV |
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8 [7]Τὸ δὲ τέλος, πάντεςNPM ὁμόφρονεςNPM, συμπαθεῖςNPM, φιλάδελφοι, εὔσπλαγχνοι, [φιλό[8]]φρονες, |
8 So, the goal [is for] y’all [to be] like-minded[9], sympathetic[10], brotherly-loving[11], compassionate[12], humble-minded[13], |
8 Finally, be ye all [of] one mind, [having] compassion [one of another], love [as] brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: |
8 Finally, all of you be [of] one mind, [having] compassion [for one another]; love [as] brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; |
8 Finally, all [of you, have] unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, |
8 To sum up, all [of you be] harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, [and] humble in spirit; |
8 Finally, all [of you, live in] harmony [with one another; be] sympathetic, love [as] brothers, [be] compassionate [and] humbleX. |
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9 μὴ ἀποδιδόντεςPAP-NPM κακὸν ἀντὶ κακοῦ ἢ λοιδορίανASF ἀντὶ λοιδορίαςGSF, τοὐναντίον[14] δὲ εὐλογοῦντες PAP-NPM, [εἰδότες[15]] ὅτι εἰς τοῦτο ἐκλήθητεAPI-2P, ἵνα εὐλογίανASF κληρονομήσητε AAS-2P. |
9 not paying back bad for bad or insult for insult, but instead speaking blessing, because y’all were called into this in order that y’all might inherit blessing. |
9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. |
9 not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. |
9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary,
bless, for to
this you were called, that you may
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9 not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a
blessing instead;
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9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but X [with] blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. |
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10 ὁ γὰρ[16] θέλωνPAP-NSM ζωὴν ASF ἀγαπᾶνPAN καὶ ἰδεῖνAAN ἡμέρας APF ἀγαθὰς παυσάτω AAM-3S τὴν γλῶσσανASF αὐτοῦ[17] ἀπὸ κακοῦ καὶ χείλη APN αὐτοῦ τοῦ[18] μὴ λαλῆσαι AAN δόλονASM, |
10 For, “The one who wants to love life and to see good days, let him stop his tongue from bad and his lips such that they don’t utter deceptiveness.[19] |
10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: |
10 For "HE WHO WOULD LOVE LIFE AND SEE GOOD DAYS, LET HIM REFRAIN HIS TONGUE FROM EVIL, AND HIS LIPS FROM SPEAKING DECEIT. |
10 For "Who[ever] desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; |
10 For, "THE ONE WHO DESIRES LIFE, TO LOVE[20] AND SEE GOOD DAYS, MUST KEEP HIS TONGUE FROM EVIL AND HIS LIPS FROM SPEAKING DECEIT. |
10 For, "Who[ever] would love life and
see good days must keep
his tongue from evil and his lips from deceit |
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11 ἐκκλινάτω AAM-3S [21] ἀπὸ κακοῦ καὶ ποιησάτω AAM-3S ἀγαθόν ASN, ζητησάτω AAM-3S εἰρήνην ASF καὶ διωξάτω AAM-3S αὐτήν. |
11 Let him lean away from bad and start doing good. Let him seek peace and start chasing it down. |
11 Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. |
11 LET HIM TURN AWAY FROM EVIL AND DO GOOD; LET HIM SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT. |
11 let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. |
11 "HE MUST TURN AWAY FROM EVIL AND DO GOOD; HE MUST SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT. |
11 He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. |
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12 ὅτι [22] ὀφθαλμοὶ Κυρίου ἐπὶ δικαίους καὶ ὦτα NPN αὐτοῦ εἰς δέησιν ASF αὐτῶν, πρόσωπον δὲ Κυρίου ἐπὶ ποιοῦντας PAP-APM κακά. |
12 Because the Lord’s eyes are on the righteous and His ears are toward their request, but the Lord’s face is against doers of bad[23]. |
12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayer[s]: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. |
12 FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE ON THE RIGHTEOUS, AND HIS EARS ARE OPEN TO THEIR PRAYER[S]; BUT THE FACE OF THE LORD IS AGAINST THOSE WHO DO EVIL." |
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." |
12 "FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE TOWARD THE RIGHTEOUS, AND HIS EARS ATTEND TO THEIR PRAYER, BUT THE FACE OF THE LORD IS AGAINST THOSE WHO DO EVIL." |
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." |
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Psalms 34:12-16 מִי-הָאִישׁ הֶחָפֵץ חַיִּים אֹהֵב יָמִים לִרְאוֹת טוֹב: 14 נְצֹר לְשׁוֹנְךָ מֵרָע וּשְׂפָתֶיךָ מִדַּבֵּר מִרְמָה: 15 סוּר מֵרָע וַעֲשֵׂה-טוֹב בַּקֵּשׁ שָׁלוֹם וְרָדְפֵהוּ: 16 עֵינֵי יְהוָה אֶל-צַדִּיקִים וְאָזְנָיו אֶל-שַׁוְעָתָם: 17 פְּנֵי יְהוָה בְּעֹשֵׂי רָע לְהַכְרִית מֵאֶרֶץ זִכְרָם |
Psalm 34:12-16, LXX τίς ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος ὁ θέλων ζωὴν ἀγαπῶν ἡμέρας ἰδεῖν ἀγαθάς; 14 παῦσον τὴν γλῶσσάν σου ἀπὸ κακοῦ καὶ χείλη σου τοῦ μὴ λαλῆσαι δόλον. 15 ἔκκλινον ἀπὸ κακοῦ καὶ ποίησον ἀγαθόν, ζήτησον εἰρήνην καὶ δίωξον αὐτήν. 16 ὀφθαλμοὶ κυρίου ἐπὶ δικαίους, καὶ ὦτα αὐτοῦ εἰς δέησιν αὐτῶν. 17 πρόσωπον δὲ κυρίου ἐπὶ ποιοῦντας κακὰ τοῦ ἐξολεθρεῦσαι ἐκ γῆς τὸ μνημόσυνον αὐτῶν. |
Psalm 34:12-16 What man is there that desires life, loving to see good days? 13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. 14 Turn away from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. 15 The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer: 16 but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to destroy their memorial from the earth... (Brenton) |
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[1] 1 Cor. 6:10 “nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” (NKJV)
[2] 1 Cor. 5:11 “But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.” (NKJV)
[3] 2 Corinthians 10:5 “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (NKJV)
[4] Ephesians 4:29 “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” (NKJV)
[5] αναπαυσιν ουκ εχουσιν
[6] http://www.covenanteyes.com/2015/09/15/the-ridiculously-predictable-cycle-of-porn-addiction/
[7] This phrase does not occur anywhere else in the Greek Bible. It appears that translators have interpreted this phrase to mean the same as To loipon, which is used as an epistolary summary indicator in 2Cor. 13:11; Eph. 6:10; Phil. 3:1; 4:8; 1Thess. 4:1; 2Thess. 3:1; and 2Tim. 4:8. Interestingly, the same 4 words in a different order can be found in 1Peter 4:7 Πάντων δὲ τὸ τέλος “The end of all things [is near]”.
[8] All manuscripts and versions older than the 9th century AD read ταπεινοφρονες (humble-thinking) instead of φιλόφρονες (fond-thinking – thus the KJV “courteous”), so the reading of the Patriarchal text here is suspect, even though it is the reading of the majority of total known Greek manuscripts. Philophrones is only found in one other location in the Greek Bible, and that is in Acts 28:7 to describe Publius’ “courteous” hospitality toward Paul and his stranded shipmates. (It is also in 2 Maccabees 2:25; 3:9; and 4 Maccabees 8:5 with a similar meaning.)
[9] hapex legomenon (See Prov. 6:32; 7:7; 9:4; 11:12; 12:11; 15:21; 18:2; 24:30 on a “lack” of this “mind”). Linked to maturity in 1 Corinthians 14:20 & Phil. 3:15. Set on God/Christ/Spirit in Col. 3:1-2 & Phil 3:19,Mat 16:23, Rom 8:5. Unity and peace implied in Php 2:2 & 4:2, 2 Cor. 13:11, Rom. 15:5-7, & 12:3 & 16
[10] cf. suffering in 2:19. The only other instance of this root is in Heb 4:15. cf sympasch- in 1 Corinthians 12:26.
[11] Peter mentions “brotherly love” more than any other Biblical author. See Rom. 12:9, 1 Thess. 4:9, 1 Pet 1:22, 2 Peter 1:7,Heb. 13:1-7.
[12] Found one other place in scripture, Eph. 4:32. Jesus is characterized by compassion (James 5:11). Compassion leads to action: Matthew 9:36-37, 4:14, 15:32, 20:34, Col. 3:12-14.
[13] cf. Prov. 29:23, Acts 20:19, Eph. 4:1-3, 1 Peter 5:5
[14] This word is translated “on the contrary” or “instead” and is only found in two other places in the Greek Bible: 2 Corinthians 2:7 and Galatians 2:7.
[15] Not in Critical Editions of the GNT because it is not in any manuscripts or versions dating before the 9th century.
[16] The greyed-out text represents Petrine alterations of the Septuagint text of Psalm 34 (33). Since gar is postpositive, it would not lead a Greek speaker to think Peter considered it part of the quote; nevertheless I greyed it out for the English readers who might not catch that.
[17] This and the following autou are not in critical editions of the GNT because 5 out of the 6 oldest-known manuscripts do not include it. However, this is the reading of the majority of manuscripts, dating all the way back to the oldest-known ones, plus the even-more-ancient Greek text of Psalm 34 and the Hebrew original of it also include the pronouns (2nd person pronouns, which Peter shifted to 3rd person), and most of the ancient Latin and Syrian translators also chose to keep the pronouns, so I do not think they should be stricken from the text.
[18] A.T. Robertson wrote that this could just as accurately be translated purposive (“[in order] that they don’t utter” – cf. Geneva, KJV, Vulgate, RV, Wycliffe) as ablative (“from uttering” – NKJ, ESV, NAS, NIV, NET). Hanna, however stated confidentally that this states purpose.
[19] cf. 2:1-2 “Therefore after you have displaced all wickedness and deceptiveness and hypocrisies and rivalries and all trash-talks, like newborn babies, ya’ll must start cultivating desire for the non-deceptive milk of the word, in order that y’all might be caused to grow in salvation by means of it” (NAW)
[20] While the order of the Greek words can support “to love” being associated with “good days” instead of “life,” that possibility should be rejected on logical grounds, for it takes no willpower to love good days, but it does take willpower to love life.
[21] Four out of the 5 oldest-known manuscripts include the conjunction δε here, as do two of the ancient versions, so it’s in the Critical editions of the GNT. It is not a very important word and doesn’t change anything, but I prefer to go with the Majority, and the majority is supported by one of the oldest-known manuscripts and three of the ancient versions, and it is consistent with the reading of the original Hebrew and the ancient Greek translation of the Psalm being quoted. The only change Peter has made from the Septuagint psalm is to switch the verbs from second to third person (you = he).
[22] The Textus Receptus adds the definite article οι, which is not in the majority of manuscripts nor is it in any of the oldest-known manuscripts, nor is it in the original Hebrew or ancient Greek text of Psalm 34, but it makes no difference in meaning because the definite use of Kuriou to designate the LORD forces the “eyes” to be definite, and thus all the English versions that follow the Critical text have a “the” before the word “eyes.”
[23] I am experimenting with maintaining distinct translations for kakos as “bad” and poneros as “evil” and the former is the only word in this passage. I am also trying to do the same with deesin which I have translated “beg/plea/request” to keep that distinct from proseuch- root which I am translating “pray,” and it is the former which appears here. Similarly, in v.10 I avoided the English translation “desire” which is more associated with a different Greek verb root and steered toward the central meaning of the Greek word thelwn, which is centered on the “will.” Unfortunately, I could not think of a way to keep the translation of the word epi consistent in v. 12. It appears that the contrast in Greek in not between the prepositions but upon the parts of the face. I toyed with conveying this by translating it “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous but it is the cheek of the Lord that is toward those who do what is bad.” The prepositions are the same in Greek, so it appears that the “face” here is referring to the side of the face and indicates being relationally sidelined and not receiving attention.