PETER (FIRST EPISTLE OF) 20 PETER (FIRST EPISTLE OF)
tire system of practical and relative duties, self-control, care ol reputation, especially for the sake of Gentiles; submission to all constituted authorities; obligations of slaves, urged with remarkable earnestness, and founded upon the example of < Jhrisl and his atoning death | ver. 11-25); and duties of wives and husbands fiii, 1-7). Then generally all Christian graces are commended, those which pertain to Christian brotherhood, and those which arc especially needed in times of persecution, gentleness, forbearance, and submission to injury (ver. 8-17): all the precepts being based on imitation of Christ, with warnings from the history of the deluge, and with special reference to the baptismal covenant [n the following chapter (iv, 1, 2) the analogy between the death ol Christ and spiritual mortification, a topic much dwell upon by Paul, is urged with special refer- ence to the sins committed by Christians before conver- sion, and habitual to the Gentiles, The doctrine of a lut ure judgment is inculcated, both \\ it li reference to their heathen persecutors as a motive for endurance, and to their own conduct as an incentive to sobriety, watchfulness, fervent charity, liberality in all external acts of kindness, anil diligent discharge of all spiritual duties, with a view to the glory of God through Jesus Christ (ver. 3-11). This epistle appears at the first draught to have terminated here with the doxology, bul the thoughl of the fiery trial to which the Chris- tians were exposed stirs the apostle's heart, and sug- gests additional exhortations. Christians are taughl to rejoice in partaking of Christ's sufferings, being thereby assured of sharing hi> glory, which even in this life
rests uj hem, and is especially manifested in their
innocence and endurance of persecution : judgment must come first, to cleanse the house of Cod, then to reach the disobedient: suffering according to the will of Cod. they may commit their souls to him in'well- doing as unto a faithful Creator. Faith and hope are equally conspicuous in these exhortations. The apostle then (v. 1-1) addresses the preshyters of the churches, warning them a- one of their own body, as a witness (jxapTVs) of Christ's sufferings, and partaker of future
glory, against negligence, eovetousuess. and love of
power; the v ger members lie exhorts to submission
and humility, and concludes this part with a warning againsl their spiritual enemy, and a solemn ami most beautiful prayer to the God of all grace. Lastly, he mentions Silvanus with special commendation, and states very distinctly what we have seen reason to be- lieve was a principal object of the epistle, vi/. that the principles inculcated by their former teachers were sound, the true grace of Cod. to which they are ex- horted to adhere. A salutation from the Church in Babylon and from Mark, with a parting benediction, closes the epistle.
A few characteristic features may he more distinctly looked at. The churches addressed were in trials such trials as the spirit of that age must necessarily have brought upon them iiii. 17: iv, 12 19). Those
trials originated to some extent in their separation from tin- heathen amusements and dissoluteness in which they had mingled prior to their conversion (iv. I. ol.
I hej ■•in' exhorted to bear suffering patiently, a ml ever
to remember the example, and endure in the spirit, of
the Suffering One the Righteous One who had Buf- fered for them. While affliction would come upon them in the present time, they are ever encouraged to look
with joyous anticipation to (lie future. Peter indeed
might be called the apostle ol hope. Doctrine and con- solation alike assume this form. The "inheritance" is
future, hut its heirs are begotten to a "living hope" i i. 3, 1 1. Their tried faith is found unto glory "at tin ap- pearance of .lesus Christ" (i. 7). The "end" of their
faith is "salvation" i i. 9), and they are to "hope to the end for the grace to he brought at the revelation of Je- ans Christ" i i, i:',i. Their ruling emotion is therefore "the hope that is in them" i iii. I ■> | : so much lying over in reserve for them in the future, their time here
is only a "sojourning" ii. 17 1 : they wire merely ••strangers and pilgrims" (ii. 11); nay.""' the end of all things is at hand" i iv. 7). Suffering was now. but joy- was to come when his "-lory shall he revealed" i v. 1 |. In ( 'hrist's own experience as Prototype Buffering led to -lory ti. 11 ; iv, 13); the same connection the apostle applies |,, bimself, and to faithful ministers i v. 1 I).
There are also allusions to Christ's words, or, rather, r< m- iniscences of them mingle with the apostle's thoughts. Coin]., i. I with Matt, xxv, 34; i, 8 with John xx, 29;
i. Hi with Luke x. 24; i. 13 with Luke *ii. 35; ii. [2 with Matt. v. It'.: iii. 13 15 with Malt. v. 16, X,28; v,6 with Matt xxxiii. 12, etc.
There were apparently some tendencies in those churches that required reproof some temptations against which they needed to he warned, as "former lusts," •• fleshly lusts" ii. 1 1. 1 1 1 : dark and envious fe< 1- ings (ii, 1; iii, 8, 9); love of adornment on tin pan of women (iii, 3); and ambition and worldliness on the part oft Indian teachers (v. lli. God's gracious and tender relationship to Ids people was a special feature of tie- old covenant, and Peter reproduces it under the new in its closer and more spiritual aspects (ii. p. 10; iv. 17; v, "-). The old economy is neither eulogized nor disparaged, and no remark is made on its abolition, the reasons ol' it. or the good to the world springing out of it. The disturbing question of its relation to Gentile believers is not even glanced at. In the apostle's \ iew it had passed away by its development into another and -lander system, on,' with it in spirit, and at the same time the realization ol its oracles and types. His mind is saturated with ().-'!'. imagery .and allusions, hut they are freely applied to the spiritual Israel, which, having always existed within the theocracy, had now hurst the national barriers, and was to he found in all the believ- ing communities, whatever their lineage or country. To him the Jewish economy was neither Supplanted by a