(2) Redemption.—Everything in regard both to the Redeemer (1”, cf. Ac 2%) and the redeemed (1%) is conditioned by the πρόγνωσις of the Father. Even disobedience to the gospel does not lie out- side the sphere of His purpose (28). The prepara- tion is dwelt on in 4, The prophetic witness was twofold—(a) to the sufferings destined for Messiah (εἰς Xp.) and the different elements in His subsequent glory ; (δ) to the Divine grace destined for the Gentiles (els ὑμᾶς, ef. Ac 10%). It should be noted that in this Epistle there is no allusion to the Law either in its ceremonial or in its moral aspect, nor again (except the passing reference to the ‘holy women,’ 356) to the ancient story of Israel ; contrast St. Paul’s Epistles. The Divine Person took human nature in its completeness— σάρξ and πνεῦμα (3,5); in 2% the Lord’s σῶμα is spoken of, but St. Peter has no occasion to refer to the Lord’s ψυχή, in St. Paul’s psychology the σῶμα and the ψυχή together making up the σάρξ. Christ was sinless (2**-, the language being derived from Is 53°; ef. 12°). He endured the last issue of the life of sinful man in the separation of ‘ flesh’ and ‘spirit,’ and ‘in His spirit’ passed into the unseen world of waiting human spirits (3, cf. Ac 277-51), His death is presented in a twofold aspect. On the one hand, it consummated the example of the t pical human life (2). On the other hand, in
is death He met the needs of sinful men. He ‘died’ to help them—dlxatos ὑπὲρ ἀδίκων (318. And His help to Bien consisted in this, that He finally and effectually dealt with sins (ἅπαξ περὶ ἁμαρτιῶν, 318), The mode in which He dealt with sins is develo in 2%. Adopting the language of Is 534, the apostle says that the Sinless One ‘took our sins’ (not sin as a principle, but the concrete sins of men) to Himself, i.e. by virtue of His representative humanity. His human ‘ body’ was, as it were, the vessel in which the sins of men were gathered (ἐν τῷ σώματι αὐτοῦ) and borne to the last extreme of humiliation—the ξύλον involving to the mind of Jews the Divine curse (Dt 21%). By His death (so the context implies) His relation to the flesh and to sins finally ended (2™ 41, cf. Ro 67°), so that the true life of humanity is henceforth ideally set free from the dominion of sin. This freedom the redeemed have to work out in their several lives. In 1!* a different line of thought is followed. Gentiles (for it is to Gentile Christians that the Epistle is addressed, see above) were ransomed (éAurpw@yre—the word is taken from Is 52%; cf. especially Mt 20%, 1 Ti 25) from bondage to an inheritance of vanity, and the ransom was no less a price than the ‘precious blood’ (ef. Ps 72 Heb., 115 (116) 5 65) LXX) of Christ. Christ Himself is likened to a lamb free from intrinsic blemish and from accidental stain (ἀμώμου καὶ ἀσπίλου. The whole cycle of ideas is probably derived from the ry of the first Passover and of Israel’s redemption from Feyet. The reserve of the passage is remarkable. Nothing is said in regard to the question to whom the λύτρον was paid. The sacrificial language is metaphorical (ὡς duyod); it is simple and is not develo a The aim of the Lord’s sufferings is twofold. It has a heavenly and an earthly side. On the one hand, ἀπέθανεν... ἵνα ὑμᾶς προσαγάγῃ τῷ θεῴ (318). There is a slight emphasis on Juaés—‘ you Gentiles who were afar off’ (Eph 218), Christ dealt with the sins of men, and remained Himself δίκαιος. His
work and His abiding character fitted Him te bring those whom He had freed from sin into the presence of God. The ideas of mediatorship and reconciliation lie in the background. On the other hand, Christ bore our sins ἵνα ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ἀπογενό-
μενοι τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ ζήσωμεν (2333, Here and in 4% Christ’s death is described as involving the Chris- tian’s death to sin (οἵ. St. Paul, e.g., Ro 67), The correlative idea of ‘the life to righteous- ness’ leads naturally to the teaching of the Epistle in regard to the resurrection. The resur- rection in regard to Christ Himself is described as the reversal (1 3”; ef. 418 51) through the act of the Father (13) of the humiliation involved in suffering and death—a conception which is promi- nent in the Petrine speeches in the Acts (see above, p. 766), but which in the Epistle falls into the background. Jn regard to men, it is δι᾽ ἀναστάσεως ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ (a) that the Father ‘ begat anew’ (ἀναγεννήσαΞ) all Christian men (ἡμᾶς, 15, ef. 1) ; (δ) that Baptism becomes in the gospel dis- pensation (νῦν) the crisis of salvation to each (ὑμᾶς ... σώζει, 3%; cf. Tit 3° ἔσωσεν). Further, the effect of redemption is not limited to the initiation of the Christian life. If ‘sanctification by the Spirit’ is represented (1?) as the influence which surrounds (év) the working out of the Divine pur- pose in the case of the ἐκλεκτοί, that ἐκλογή has for its immediate end (εἰς) the twofold issue ὑπακοὴ καὶ ῥαντισμὸς αἵματος ᾿Ιησοῦ Xpiorov —a life lived in accordance with the Divine will and pattern (1™ 73, ef. e.g. 116 2"), and continually cleansed from the defilement of sin by the application of the quicken- ing blood of Christ. The thought and thelanguage are derived from the OT. The phrase ῥαντισμὸς αἵματος recalls at once the ὕδωρ ῥαντισμοῦ of Nu 199. 18. 20t. (ef, He 12%, Barn. v. 1 ἐν τῷ αἵματι τοῦ ῥαντίσματος αὐτοῦ). In ancient Israel provision was made whereby the faithful Israelite, defiled b