1 Peter 1:2 - Homilies By C. New

This is no mere Jewish title, for there are passages in the Epistle which forbid the idea that it was addressed exclusively to Jews ( 1 Peter 1:18 ; 1 Peter 2:10 ; 1 Peter 4:3 , 1 Peter 4:4 ). It is the title of the universal Church and the individual believer. The verse is a summary of the most important and difficult points of Christian doctrine; hardly a word in it but is inexhaustible.

I. THE FACT OF DIVINE ELECTION STATED . Perhaps no greater mystery in Scripture, and none more perverted; but if it is revealed from heaven we need not be afraid of it; if it comes from God who would draw all men unto him, only by misunderstanding it can it repel them from him; if it be in this book, we cannot withhold it from ourselves without spiritual loss. What is the Divine election? It is used in Scripture in different connections—of election to an office ( John 15:16 ); of election to certain privileges, as the Jews ( Psalms 135:4 ); but in a large class of passages it clearly refers to the blessings of salvation ( Romans 8:28-30 ; Ephesians 1:4 , Ephesians 1:5 , Ephesians 1:11 ; 2 Thessalonians 2:13 ; 1 Peter 1:2 ). This is not election of a community, for it refers to matters necessarily personal; e . g . " As many as were ordained to eternal life believed;" " All that the Father giveth me must come to me, and him that," etc.; " sanctification of the Spirit;" " belief of the truth;" " sprinkling of the blood;" " conformed to his Son." It must be the Divine election of individuals to eternal salvation. There are certain serious prejudices to this doctrine—such as that it is opposed to the goodness and justice of God . But that prejudice is unwarranted if the doctrine be really here, for God cannot break the bounds of his nature, and these must harmonize in some way, though as yet we see not how. At the same time, notice that it is election to salvation, not to perdition; we are saved by the sovereign grace of God, we are lost because of our own sin ("Come, ye blessed of my Father! " but it is only, " Depart, ye cursed!"). Why does not grace save all? All we know is that it does not, and that "the Lord is righteous in all his ways," and what we know not now we shall know. " What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee." Another prejudice: It seems opposed to the freedom and responsibility of man . Certainly man is free; he is commanded-to repent and believe, and held responsible for not obeying, and is reasoned and pleaded with by God; and "How often would I, but ye would not!" We cannot harmonize that with election, yet they may both be true. If we make an objection in this to seeking salvation, it is not as we act in other matters; we know that our recovery from sickness is amongst what God has determined, yet we use means for recovery, and are hopeless otherwise; so, as though there were no foreordination to eternal life, we are responsible for employing the means to secure it. If we are lost, it will not be because of foreordination, but because in our freedom we failed to use the necessary means. Another prejudice is that the doctrine seems opposed to the universal offer of salvation . Salvation is offered to all; "God willeth not the death of a sinner;" all are commanded to believe, and are condemned for not believing. Then election is not out of harmony with that, and closes the door to the salvation of none. We may not see the harmony, but God's secret purposes cannot contradict his declared purposes.

II. CERTAIN PARTICULARS RESPECTING THIS DIVINE ELECTION . Father, Son, and Spirit—the whole Godhead, so to speak, combine to the redemption of a single soul.

1. The source of election " The foreknowledge of God the Father ." The word "to know" in Scripture is often used for "to know with favor" ( Matthew 7:23 ; Romans 11:2 ; Romans 8:29 ). God knows, foreknows all, so that the idea of foreknowledge with favor is involved in the expression in these passages. So here; the same word as is translated "foreordained" in 1 Peter 1:20 —the foreknowledge of purpose, favor, as in Ephesians 1:5 , Ephesians 1:9 , Ephesians 1:11 . Our salvation is entirely on a Divine basis; we are not elect because of anything in ourselves; we choose him because he first chose us ( Ephesians 1:4 ).

2. The working out of election : " The sanctification of the Spirit ." Sanctification in the sense of separation, something that comes before "the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ;" separation to God, equivalent to the new birth; for only thus are we called out from the world, from its joys, and sorrows, and principles, and attitude towards God. This is the seal of election—the elect are the separated; the Spirit separates for God those whom God chooses for himself. And this separation is carried on to faith and every Christian grace, and final perfection in heaven.

3. The end of election : " Obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ ." "Obedience" here can hardly mean "submission to law;" it probably stands for the full expression, "the obedience of faith," as in Romans 1:8 (comp. with Romans 16:19 ; Romans 10:16 ; 2 Thessalonians 1:8 ; 1 Peter 4:17 ). The passage, then, is a striking parallel to 2 Thessalonians 2:13 . The end of election is faith, and the consequent application of the atoning blood. Because of what the sprinkling of that blood does for us: justifies ( Romans 3:9 ); cleanses ( 1 John 1:7 ); seals to us the blessings of the covenant ( 1 Corinthians 11:25 ); heaven ( Hebrews 10:19 ).

III. THE BENEFITS OF THE DIVINE ELECTION . "Grace and peace multiplied." The fact of election can only be stated because there is untold good in it. It is essentially the believer's doctrine. For such it is full of encouragement and support.

1. It assures us of the certainty of multiplied grace . If God chose us to all the blessings of perfect salvation, it is certain we shall have them. Nothing can be more sure than God's eternal purpose.

2. And this assurance produces perfect peace . None can be afraid who have the seal that they are divinely elected to grace multiplied without end - C.N.

1 Peter 1:3-5 - The key-note of the Epistle, the hope of the believer.

The "sojourners of the dispersion" were now entering on a season of severe trial; one purpose of the apostle, therefore, was to send them encouragement and support; and the purport of these chapters may be summed up in the word" hope." Paul was pre-eminently the apostle of faith; John, of love; Peter, of hope. This passage has additional interest as written by the Peter of the Gospels. He was one of those who had "thought the kingdom of God should immediately appear," and a party to the question, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom unto Israel?" ]n those early days they were captivated by the thought of an earthly heritage. How different now! Here his eye is fixed on the "inheritance reserved in heaven." We remember, too, that we here listen to him who, on that never-to-be-forgotten morning, whilst it was yet early, came breathless to the sepulcher, and looking in, saw the linen clothes, etc., and was assured that the place was empty, and how the sudden conviction of the Resurrection flashed on his mind with all the wonderful hope this would impart to the troubled heart of the Lord's denier. What he says here is what his whole consecrated, joyous life had been saying ever since that day and because of it: "Blessed be the God," etc.

I. THE CHRISTIAN 'S HOPE . "The lively hope… of an inheritance."

1. It is that of the inheritance of sonship . "God hath begotten us" unto it; that is, God hath made us children a second time—by regeneration. "And if children, then heirs;" the inheritance is ours because we are God's sons. That brings its glory before us prominently. Fatherhood does its very best for the children ("Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children "—we'll do the work, if they see the glory). Apply that to the heavenly Father and the heritage he prepares for us. Prepares. "I go to prepare a place for you;" that will be God's best! What must that be which is proportionate to his resources and love?

2. This inheritance is permanent . "Incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away" (three almost synonymous words, characteristic of Peter's energy). They all include the idea of permanence, but they treat it in different aspects. "Incorruptible;" that is, spiritual, not material. The blessedness of that state will not depend on anything that can decay. The blessedness of heaven will be in the development of our spiritual nature. "Undefiled;" that is, untainted, unblemished. Here our spiritual blessings have some taint; there will be activity without weariness, love without coldness, hope without fear, purity without doubt, songs without sighs, light without shade. "That fadeth not away;" that is, all this to be everlasting; the beauties of that state will never diminish, its tasks never be monotonous, nor its tastes insipid, nor its fellowship ended.

"There the eye grows never dim,

Gazing on that mighty sun."

3. This inheritance is certain . "Reserved in heaven for you who are kept" for it. It is kept where waste or diminution cannot be known, and we are kept for its enjoyment. No earthly heritage is sure, but this is. "Reserved in heaven for you." Then that is safe. "You who are kept by the power of God for it." Then you are safe; the child of God is as sure of heaven as if he were there. We should be surprised if it were not so; for "as for God, his way is perfect." The word "kept" literally means "garrisoned." There is a picture in the word: "The angel of the Lord encampeth," etc. Garrisoned by the power of God, not by his weakness. Left to ourselves, we should lose it; but we cannot lose it thus.

4. This inheritance is the object of lively hope to God ' s children . Equivalent to "life-giving." This hope is life. What can animate us to fight like the assurance of victory, what make us steadfast in pilgrimage like the certainty of reaching the goal? what destroy the fascination of the present like the conscious possession of better things? what solace us in grief like the knowledge that we are on the way to the eternal home of tearless eyes? This hope brings with it a new being.

II. THIS HOPE IS JUSTIFIED BY THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD .

1. Christ ' s resurrection is the Proof of immortality . Man asks, "If a man die, shall he live again?" The natural heart thinks so, but cannot prove it. The Old Testament rather dimly hints it, Christ's resurrection is the assurance of it. He died—his enemies admitted that; he lay for three days in the grave; but then he rose, and that with undiminished powers and unchanged affection. The risen Savior was the proof that death was but like the plunging of the swimmer into the wave, from which he emerges on the other side essentially unchanged.

2. Christ ' s resurrection is, further, the assurance of the believer ' s justification . It settled the question with his foes as to who he was. He said he was the Son of God; they said he made himself equal with God, and they asked for some sign by which they could know it, and he replied that they should have the sign of the Prophet Jonas. He was declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. The Resurrection was the Divine endorsement of the claims of Jesus, another voice from heaven: "This is my beloved Son; hear him!" Thus Christ's teaching was endorsed ( John 3:16 ), and the sufficiency of his atoning work. "God raised him from the dead and gave him glory, that our faith and hope might be in him."

3. And Christ ' s resurrection is the pledge of the believer ' s preservation . For he has risen into the inheritance, and that as our Representative. Before he rose he said, "Because I live ye shall live also;" "Where I am there shall also," etc.; "Father, I will that they whom," etc. But not only so. What is he doing there? He is there still as Savior, to keep by his intercession those for whom by his cross he atoned. "Who is he that condemneth? It is," etc.; "Wherefore he is able to save to," etc. How surely, then, we are "begotten to lively hope by the resurrection," etc.!

III. THE CERTAINTY OF THIS HOPE CONSTRAINS THE CHRISTIAN TO BLESS GOD . AS the apostle thinks of all this, he exclaims with fervor, "Blessed be the God," etc.!

1. The mote of joy is here . Grasp the hope revealed in the resurrection of Christ, and life loses its gloom, and songs rise in the desert.

2. And this is also consecration . For to bless God is to glorify him. When we realize what thus he gives to us, we shall already begin the heavenly life where from love and gratitude they praise him night and day - C.N.

1 Peter 1:6-9 - The saints joy notwithstanding heaviness.

In the previous verses the apostle describes the state of salvation; he then says here, "Wherein," etc. So the experience recorded here is the possible experience of the believer. Comp. 1 Peter 1:5 , "Kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time," with 1 Peter 1:9 , "Receiving [ now ] the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls;" i.e. salvation is not a future matter only. We can receive the end of our faith now; heaven is only fully revealed hereafter, but it is already possessed. And here the apostle tells them how. Heaviness may minister to it; out of heaviness may grow such joys as shall be the salvation which is the goal of their hopes. Heaviness—joy—salvation; that's the order here. Sometimes when the sun is setting behind the hills, making the peaks glow like burnished gold, the beauty is repeated on the peaks opposite, eastern and western both aglow; but the valleys between are already in twilight or darkened with mist. That is an emblem of many a Christian life; the beginning and the end are radiant, but the years between are filled with shadows. Now, that need not be. The Light of the world is a sun which no more goes down, and when he has risen on our hearts henceforth east and west horizons, the summits of our history, but no less the broad plain, and every little glen and lowly place that comes between, may lie in the soft full glow of perpetual noon. The hindrance to this, we say, is the "heaviness through manifold trials," which will come; but, says Peter, there is a secret by which out of these may grow "joy unspeakable and full of glory." Not only notwithstanding these, but because of these, the believer's life may be a continuous chastened joy; and to have that is to anticipate heaven.

I. THE SAINTS ' HEAVINESS THROUGH MANIFOLD TRIALS . The trials must be; they are part of the necessary discipline of sonship. If "man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward," more still is the new man. But for our help, then, consider:

1. The necessity for the heaviness . "If need be." Only "if need be;" that is assured by the paternal love of God. It is a witness to his love that, when trial cannot be avoided consistent with our good, he is willing to bear the pain of inflicting it. It does not follow that we can see the "need be;" it may be the needs be of preparation for some exceptional blessedness rather than that of chastisement. Perhaps the "need be" is implied in the text: "Ye are kept… through faith unto salvation;" but "ye are in heaviness… that the trial of your faith might be found," etc., equivalent to "we are kept in the state of salvation only through faith, and affliction is one of the means by which alone faith is maintained." The love of God, however, assures us that there is a needs be for the affliction which would satisfy even us could we see it.

2. The manner of the heaviness . "Manifold trials," and these like the "fire" of the refiner. God's trials are not all of one pattern, but are "afflictions sorted, anguish of all sizes." Loneliness, weakness, a nervous temperament, discordance in the home, responsibility, or duty, may be as real a trial to us, though no one detects it, as the more manifest sorrows of others. Does it burn?—that's the question; is it to the soul what fire is to the body—deep, searching, consuming pain? If so, it is the "heaviness" of the text, and may issue in joy unspeakable' And if it be fire, we know who presides at the crucible, who regulates the heat, and blows aside the blue flame to see if the dross be gone, and waits to see his face mirrored in the clear ]iqui0 metal. "He shall sit as a refiner," etc.

3. The duration of the heaviness . "Now for season." Only "for a season." If a continuous line from here to the sun, and beyond the sun as far again, and beyond that as far again, represent only a part of our immortal history, the season of suffering would be represented by the smallest point you can make on that line. "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is not worthy," etc. Presently we shall say—

"Now the crucible is breaking,

Faith its perfect seal is taking,

Like the gold in furnace tried.

Through the test of sharp distresses,

Those whom Heaven most richly blesses

For its joys are purified.

"Sighs and tears at last are over.

Breaking through its fleshly cover,

Soars the soul to light away.

Who while here below can measure

That deep sea of heavenly pleasure,

Spreading there so bright for aye?"

II. THE SAINTS ' JOY GROWING OUT OF THIS HEAVINESS . Sorrow and joy at the same time! The believer ought to be "always rejoicing," and that is a puzzle to many. But there is great difference between always rejoicing and only rejoicing. The idea that the believer ought only to rejoice is as foolish as it is false. But it is possible always to rejoice—" as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." Here we have some of the grounds of this joy. They concern faith, hope, love.

1. Heaviness is said to be the proving of our faith . "Trial," equivalent to "trying, testing, proving." Is it not? Is it not just in darkness that our faith is tested? That gives a new aspect to heaviness. Heaviness is the time when we show what we are. Then we are being watched. Heaven and earth are gathered around us then, God and Satan looking on, and the Divine honor and joy are at stake. What a solemn, sublime moment that!

2. It is also said to be the enlargement of our hope . "That the trial of your faith might be found," etc. That carries our thought forward. Our present life is often unbearable because we live as though it were all In almost every other department we are cheered on through difficulty by hope. So in this. See what the angel of hope did for Paul on the wrecking ship, when all hope that they should be saved had been taken away: "Be of good cheer, fear not, thou must be brought before Caesar." Hope ever points to the blessed end, and whispers, "Be of good cheer." Moreover, the heaviness is going to minister to our enrichment then . We shall not only escape the storm, but be stronger because of it.

3. Heaviness is said to be the quickener of our love . "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though," etc. A kind of tender pity in the words, as though Peter said, "Oh that you had but seen him, and how you would have loved him!" The sentence is equivalent to "love to Christ imparts to heaviness an unspeakable joy." Does it not? This for the Lord's sake. By this, too, I get nearer to the Lord!

III. THE SAINTS ' SALVATION IN THIS JOY . "Ye rejoice with joy… receiving the," etc.

1. Salvation is a mystery to be revealed in heaven . He has said that. "'Salvation ready to be revealed at the last time." However much is revealed of it here, "eye hath not seen, nor ear," etc.

2. But the unfolding of this mystery begins in Divine joys on earth . It is possible to anticipate heaven, to receive now the salvation of our souls, and heaviness may be the means to this. Then blessed heaviness! the storm may bring us to the very shore of eternal bliss, and though as yet we cannot land, its sacred chimes may be our music even now - C.N.

1 Peter 1:10-12 - The certainty and greatness of Divine salvation.

The tone of the whole letter shows that its readers were entering on a season of severe trial, and one object of the writer was to sustain and encourage them. Now, what is his method? what is the Divine way of consolation? How well should we be able to minister to the tried if we knew how God would minister to them! His method is to bring before them the wonderful blessings of that salvation of which, in Christ, they partake. That is what we have here. As we read from the third verse, we seem to hear the apostle saying the blessings of salvation are the true solace for the distressed believer. He begins with an outburst of praise for their great hope; but he goes on to say their joy is not in the future only; then comes this paragraph on the substance of their salvation in Christ.

I. SALVATION THROUGH CHRIST THE SUBJECT OF OLD TESTAMENT PREPARATION . The work of the prophets was not so much for their own day and dispensation as for this; they knew there was a deeper meaning in what they were impelled to say than they were conscious of intending; it was clear to them that they, centuries beforehand, were really working for New Testament times. That is, Christianity is no modern invention; it is not a step in the upward movement of the race dating back to Jesus of Nazareth, and now to he left behind as the race advances beyond it; to say nothing of appearances being against such a theory, for there are no traces that Christianity is not still infinitely above what any of the race has reached, its fundamental idea is false; Christianity dates from the beginning, its basis is a Divine work of preparation carried on through all the ages that were before it, and "when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son." Our text, however, does not take us further than this—that salvation was the subject of Old Testament preparation. It is no heresy of the modern Church; it did not originate with Paul; it is not an idea of Jesus; it dates back through all the Old Testament that the world's redemption should spring from a Savior suffering and then glorified.

1. Old Testament events were but steps leading up to it . Promised in Eden, again to Noah, again with additions to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob, etc. Prepared for in the work of Moses, in the calling out and training of Israel, to the choice of their land, in their being made the depositary of Divine truth, in the lives of David, Solomon, and the prophets, in the scattering of the Jews, in their connection with Roman power and Greek literature; all these were but, like the Baptist, preparing the way of the Lord.

2. Old Testament prophecies were but the heralds of salvation through Christ . Whatever the origin of sacrifice by blood, it goes back to the first family; and since they were accepted by God—and it would be strange indeed for man to anticipate this great method of salvation—we regard them as prefigurings of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Later on they were developed in the elaborate Jewish ritual—atonement, high priest; mediation, entrance into the holiest, sprinkling of blood, etc. In the psalmists and prophets there is a yet further development of this—the nature, the date, the birthplace, the character, the work, the death, the resurrection, the universal reign of the Messiah, are drawn in outline, so that "beginning at Moses and all the prophets," etc. Salvation in Christ, therefore, is the termination of a wondrous system promoted from the beginning, and was, after being worked out, "the mystery which from the beginning hath been hid in God according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord."

II. SALVATION THROUGH CHRIST THE SUBJECT OF DIVINE REVELATION , The prophets taught through "the Spirit of Christ which was in them." So much for the Old Testament. The apostles—"them that have preached the gospel unto you"—have done this "with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." So much for the New Testament.

1. The Spirit of Christ, therefore, is the author of Sacred Writ . Inspiration was the operation of the Divine Spirit on the minds of men so that they were led to utter infallible truth. It sometimes consisted simply in power to narrate facts and discourses accurately; but sometimes it included the suggestion of the very thoughts they should express, and of the very words they should use. So in listening to prophets and apostles we listen to God himself.

2. Consider the evidence of the Divine inspiration of Scripture . The great central witness to this is Christ. The Old Testament of his time and ours is identical; he always regarded it as the authoritative voice of God; we accept its Divine inspiration because we accept him. As to the New Testament, the apostles claim an inspiration equal to that of the Old, e . g . 1 Corinthians 2:12 , 1 Corinthians 2:13 . And unless that claim be true, how can Christ's words be fulfilled? as e . g . to Peter as the representative of the twelve, "I will give unto thee the keys," etc., or after his resurrection, "As the Father hath sent me, so send I you;… receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye remit," etc. Thus "the Church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ," etc.

3. Then in Scripture we have the infallible declaration of the most high God . In all Scripture. We must take the whole, or we have no Divine warrant for any part. There is no power which can be trusted to discriminate between what therein is Divine and what not; those who affirm such discrimination to be needful differ among themselves as to the test. Here God has deigned to speak; what is here is certain truth; here God has declared salvation; then that salvation is real.

III. SALVATION THROUGH CHRIST THE SUBJECT OF ANGELIC RESEARCH . "Which things the angels," etc. Another evidence of the sublimity of the salvation offered in this book. The word is a graphic one, descriptive of the idea of bending down and fixing an intense, searching gaze on something, as when John stooped down and looked into the sepulcher; Peter may have been thinking of that.

1. The angels have vast privileges, yet they seem to envy the knowledge granted to us . They have all the blessings of a sinless state in God's presence, but they look down on the mysteries of grace revealed to us, as though coveting the revelation.

2. The angels have great acquaintance with God, yet apparently they discern the greatest revelation of him here . They are familiar with nature and heaven, but

"God in the person of his Son

Hath all his mightiest works outdone."

"To the principalities and powers in heavenly places may be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God."

3. The angels have wonderful faculties of insight, yet there is more here than they can fathom . Such is the fullness of the gospel that they are still far from comprehending it - C.N.

1 Peter 1:13-16 - Salvation by Christ issuing in holiness.

The modern demand for a religion which is practical is but an echo of the demand of Scripture. Right being and doing are the aim and proof, yea, the very substance, of Christianity. But Scripture adds that on which the moralists are silent—how this right living can be acquired. Redemption first, then holiness. Holiness grows out of redemption as its natural result. To say we do not want the doctrines of grace, but rather a setting forth of God's requirement of holy character, were as reasonable as to insist that the roots in the garden should be dug up, because we want, not roots, but fruit. Holy character is the outcome of a knowledge of free redemption through the Son of God. So much is involved in the word "wherefore" here. The paragraph has to do with practical life; it holds up the loftiest ideal: "As he who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy," etc., and this is set forth as the necessary sequence to the preceding.

I. SPIRITUAL REDEMPTION IS HERE SPOKEN OF AS " THE GRACE THAT IS BEING BROUGHT TO US IN THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST ." Revised Version margin, "Greek, Is being brought." "At" is the ordinary preposition signifying "in." We, therefore, take the expression as covering all that the apostle has spoken of from the third verse. The nature, certainty, sublimity of redemption; redemption beginning here, perfected in heaven;-that has been his theme, and he now sums it up in the beautiful and comprehensive phrase, "The grace that is being brought unto you in the revelation of Jesus Christ." Think of salvation under this title.

1. It is God ' s free gift . "The grace." It is gratuitous. One of its marvelous features is that it is for "whosoever will." A salvation we had wrought for ourselves could not have rectified our relation to God; it would have freed us from condemnation, but not have opened to us the Father's heart, nor constrained us to his service. There is a priceless power in God himself discharging our liabilities by the atonement of his own blood, and thus saving the unthankful and evil, the outcast and lost, for nothing.

2. It is possessed by us in an extraordinary degree . There is evident stress on the words," to you." The expression seems to look back to 1 Peter 1:10-12 . Divine truths were in their dawning in the Old Testament, but they are brought to light in the New. Compared with what has to be revealed, it is darkness; for that which is the expression of God's boundless love, and the full reward of the atonement, will need enlarged capacities for its perception, and all eternity for its reception; but compared with what was revealed before New Testament times, it is brightness. Very touching is it, for instance, to think of Isaiah sitting down and pondering the prophecies he was given to utter, and vainly trying to understand their mysteries. "The Spirit was not yet;" but he has come now, and in his light we see light, Now we may "comprehend with all saints what," etc.; now "the eyes of our understanding being," etc.; now "eye hath not seen, nor ear… but God hath," etc.; "Verily I say unto you, many prophets," etc.

3. It is continuous and increasing with the revelation of Jesus Christ . "That is being"—it is a prolonged, unceasing, ever-enlarging bestowment. What we received when we first knew Christ as Savior was far surpassed by what came with glowing knowledge of him; and this, in turn, shall be immeasurably surpassed when we shall see him as he is. What is the joy on the face of the young disciple; what the calm of the saintly heart as it comes forth from the closet; what the growing likeness to the Savior in the good man's character; what the holy peace of the aged believer; what the glory of the redeemed in heaven,—but "the grace that is being brought to us in the revelation of Jesus Christ?"

II. THE POSSESSION OF THIS GRACE CLAIMS THAT WE CLEARLY APPREHEND ITS FULNESS . "Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for this grace;" equivalent to "God would have us see how great salvation is; if it is to work in us its proper work, we must have adequate views, and a firm, personal, intelligent grip of it."

1. There must be activity of thought concerning it . To gird up the loins is the preparation for activity. In Scripture we have the thoughts of God, but they are not revealed to the careless reader; they only yield to patient study under the illumination of the Divine Spirit. The absolutely needful truths of Scripture, like the corn on the surface of the earth, are easily gathered, but for the gold and gems we must dig. Some Christians know so little of God's grace because they have no systematic, leisurely, deliberate, prayerful study of Scripture. "Search the Scriptures;" "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord."

2. There must be freedom from what would dim our vision of it . "Be sober." Sobriety is self-restraint from what intoxicates. The intoxicated man has no clear perception of anything; he sees nothing as it is. There is an intoxication of soul which operates thus on spiritual perceptions. We may be intoxicated with business, worldly pleasure, pride of intellect, etc. To understand God's grace, a restraining hand must be put on this.

3. There must be confident anticipation of it . "Hope perfectly [Revised Version] for," etc. Hope is beyond faith. Faith reveals somewhat, then hope anticipates it. Hope expects, ponders, yearns for. "Perfectly;" equivalent to "without any admixture of doubt." To make the blessings promised in Christ a subject of hope would make them grow before our vision, and intensify the consciousness that they are ours. It does not impress us to know that a vast multitude of stars fill the sky, but to go into the observatory and single out one star for observation, and fix our mind on that, ensures one new beauty after another gleaming out of the darkness, and where we thought was but a star, a galaxy is discerned.

III. THE APPREHENSION OF THE FULNESS OF DIVINE GRACE WILL LEAD TO HOLINESS . Man says, "Be holy, then you will have hope; do your duty, then you will find rest." God says, "Salvation free through Christ first; then holiness as the result." Verses 14-16 are the sequel to verse 13. A table tells of a stream which made those that drank of it new beings; so to drink of the blessings which flow from Calvary is to find ourselves new creatures. None can know what redemption is, and that it is his, and fashion himself according to his former lusts in his ignorance; it rather creates a desire to be "holy in all manner of living."

1. It is so because of the filial love redemption evokes . Without redemption we have no sufficient motive to holiness; that comes with love to God in Christ.

2. And it is so because of the high purpose of God redemption reveals . As we apprehend what redemption is, we see it includes God's purpose of likeness to him. Then this likeness can be reached, for what God wills can be - C.N.

1 Peter 1:17-21 - The holiness in which salvation consists a reason for Christian fear.

The order of thought in the first twenty-one verses may be summed up in salvation ( 1 Peter 1:3-12 ), holiness ( 1 Peter 1:12-16 ), fear ( 1 Peter 1:17-21 ). This last paragraph contains one long reason why those who have salvation through Christ should live in fear. It is remarkable that the demand for fear should follow what has been already said. The apostle has spoken strongly of the certainty of their redemption to whom he writes; he calls them "elect according to," etc.; he blesses God that they have an inheritance reserved for them, and that they are kept for it; he says that loving Christ they have now the salvation of their souls; he adds that the revelation of this salvation, being given through the Holy Ghost, is infallibly true; but after all that, he bids them pass the time of their sojourning here in fear—an emphatic contradiction of the idea that the doctrines of grace foster a spirit of carelessness. Fear is the natural result of God's free salvation.

I. THE FACT OF REDEMPTION NECESSITATES HOLINESS . The seventeenth verse is based on the eighteenth and following verses.

1. Redemption is from the vain manner of life received from our fathers . "Conversation;" equivalent to" manner of life." Christ died to deliver us from the sinful manner of life received from our fathers. From hell; yes, that is clear. "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all; He bore our sins in his own body on the tree;" "There is therefore now no condemnation," etc. But that is not the end for which he died, only a means to an end. Holiness in us was the purpose of the atonement, so much so that if we can imagine one getting no further than the canceling of his sins, we should have to say that Christ died for him in vain (see 2 Corinthians 5:15 ; Galatians 1:4 ; Ephesians 1:4 ; Ephesians 5:25-27 ; Titus 2:14 ). Redemption by Christ is from the life of the natural man: "If any man be in Christ Jesus, it is a new creation."

2. Redemption is only effected at unspeakable cost . "Not with corruptible," etc. An emphatic testimony that redemption is through our Lord's death—not through his life, or example, or holiness, or mediation, but, as Scripture invariably says with unwavering consistency, by " his blood." God himself bore the penalty of human guilt that he might righteously extend his mercy to the guilty. Nor can we imagine any method which so glorifies his grace and reveals himself. Think of the worth of our Lord's offering. The universe were as nothing compared with the Son of God. What unfathomable meaning is in the words, "the precious blood of Christ"! Now, this stupendous price was paid for nothing less than that we might be holy. In that we see how imperative, how indispensable, holiness is.

3. Redemption is to faith and hope in God . ( 1 Peter 1:20 , 1 Peter 1:21 .) Characteristic of Peter to emphasize the foreordination of Christ. It occurs here naturally when we see that it is a point in perhaps all his recorded sermons. What a redemption this is which is based on God's eternal purpose! and what a hope which goes back through all time, and finds its foundation in the everlasting thought of God! But the point is that Christ was appointed to this work by the Father, manifested by the Father, raised up by the Father, given glory by the Father—Redemption is the working out by the Father of his own plan, quite contrary to the idea that Calvary was to appease him. The text says that God did all this that we might be believers in him, not stop short at Jesus, but go on to rest in the Father. Alienated man drawn to act in faith and hope. Then as the stream flows from the fountain, so by the constraint of conscious obligation and loving petition, consecration to God will flow from this faith and hope, and thus, if redemption is to faith and hope, it necessitates holiness.

II. THIS NECESSITY CALLS THE PROFESSING CHRISTIAN TO FEAR . ( 1 Peter 1:17 .) The more Christian life we have, the more we find that fear is one of its characteristics. Not that which hath torment, and repels; but that which is the opposite of carelessness, presumption, self-confidence, disobedience.

1. For a filial spirit toward God leads to the fear of his disfavor . Perfect love produces fear—fear of distressing him we love. The word "father" tells of tender relationship, mutual happiness, reciprocated affection; that either would shrink from paining the other; and that any barrier coming between them is unbearable. He on whom we call as Father must have holiness. Then we cannot help going through life with this element of fear; he who does not fear does not love.

2. Then , a remembrance of his impartiality leads to a fear of his judgments . "The Father, who without respect of persons judgeth," etc. The kind Father is also the impartial Judge, and he will judge us by our works. We are saved by faith; we are judged by holiness; we are redeemed to holiness. Then if we are amongst the redeemed, we are holy. What should we like to be tested by—experiences, profession, creed, charity, opinions of others? God will judge us impartially by our works. "Show me thy faith by thy works." Is not that something to make us fear?

3. A consideration of the brevity of life leads to the fear of losing eternal blessing . "Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear." We are here but for a short time; the perfected blessings of redemption are yonder, and what they are no tongue can tell. But redemption is holiness, and therefore apart from holiness we have no right to anticipate these. Without holiness there is no redemption, that is, no heaven. Is not this calculated to create fear, to destroy spiritual indifference, carelessness about conformity to Christ, lightheartedness respecting inconsistency? Does it not compel us to examine heart and life with anxiety, and press forward to better things with something of the feeling of the racer lest he lose the prize?

III. THIS FEAR IS CONSISTENT WITH JOY UNSPEAKABLE AND FULL OF GLORY . This must be remembered to avoid misapprehension. The fear the apostle urges is not that which clouds life, but that which harmonizes with the joy he has spoken of. Yes; this fear contributes to the joy.

1. It leads to a correct knowledge of our Christian position . Making us search to the foundations of our hope, it enables us to say, "I know."

2. It compels us to a simpler dependence on the Savior . For looking for holiness as an evidence of redemption, we discover how little we have, and are compelled to fall back on Christ the more entirely—than which what is more blessed? Blessed fear, which makes us know better how perfect a Savior Jesus is!

3. It glorifies even our trials as a means of keeping us holy . For if holiness be essential, we can welcome that as a friend which tends to deepen it, and makes us thank God for our very sorrows - C.N.

1 Peter 1:22-25 - Christian love the test of the possession of salvation.

Christian love is the subject of this paragraph. There are no words here to show why that is dealt with in this particular place, but as the preceding verses treat of fear lest we should fail of the fruits which prove the possession of redemption, we may assume that the apostle here gives them a test by which this fear may be removed or confirmed, and no better test could be suggested than that of love. For love is such a test ( John 13:34 ; 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 ; 1 John 3:14 ). Peter might have chosen some other test. Possibly he had reason for anxiety on this particular ground, for the Epistle contains several hints on the proper mutual relation of these Christians; e . g . 1 Peter 1:22 ; 1 Peter 2:17 ; 1 Peter 3:8-10 , 1 Peter 4:8 ; 1 Peter 5:5 .

I. SALVATION IS HERE SPOKEN OF AS THE PURIFICATION OF THE SOUL IN OBEYING THE TRUTH . "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth;" only another way of saying, "Seeing you have received this salvation of which I speak, which issues in holiness." For:

1. This is a suitable and comprehensive expression of the fact of salvation . "Obeying the truth" is a synonym for" believing the gospel;" e . g . 2 Thessalonians 1:8 ; Romans 6:17 ; Hebrews 5:9 ; Romans 10:16 , in all of which "obey" is evidently equivalent to "believe." The word is used by Peter in that sense in this Epistle ( 1 Peter 3:1 and 1 Peter 4:17 ). Link that with the other word, "purifying the soul;" and whether that refers to the cleansing by the atonement or by the work of the Spirit, we have the essential elements of redemption.

2. This expression with this meaning harmonizes well with what has gone before . The last two paragraphs from Romans 10:13 dealt largely with purification resulting from faith.

3. This particular way of speaking of salvation bears closely on the subject in hand . In each of the epistles to the seven Churches, our Lord gives himself a different title, according to the special condition of each Church. So here the apostle speaks of their redemption under this aspect of it, because this aspect of it bears on the duty of Christian love he is about to enforce.

III. SALVATION NATURALLY ISSUES IN CHRISTIAN LOVE . "Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren."

1. Love a necessity where salvation is . That is shown as follows: "See that ye love one another,… being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God."

2. This love is of a very high order .

III. SALVATION IS THEREFORE TESTED BY THE POSSESSION OF THIS LOVE . Where the life is, the love is; where the life is low, so is the love.

1. Have we sympathy with the people of God— true fellow-feeling that helps? "Whoso hath this world's good," etc. We should if we loved.

2. Do we delight in fellowship with them? Love must be with its beloved. Is it so with us? do we love the house of God, the brotherhood, etc.? We should if we loved.

3. Are our judgments concerning them tender and charitable? "Love covers a multitude of sins;" "Love thinketh no evil," etc. Is it so with us? Do we find ourselves trying to put a favorable construction on evil reports, hushing them up, sorrowing over them, talking to God about them? We should if we loved.

4. Are we ashamed to call them brethren?— C.N.