rival faith nor superseded by a sudden revolution : Israel had only put off its ceremonial, the badge of its imma- turity and servitude, and now njniced in freedom and predicted blessing. What was said of the typical Israel may now he asserted with deeper truth of the spiritual Israel, lint the change is neither argued from premises laid down no, vindicated against dews or .Imlai/ers. and the results of the new condition are not held up as mat- ter of formal congratulation; they are only seized and pui forward as recognised grounds of joy, patience, .ami hope. The Redeemer stood out to Jewish hope as the Messiah: so Peter rejoices in that appellation, calling him usually Jesus I Ihrist, and often simply Christ n. 1 1 ; ii. 21; iii, 16 L8; iv, 1. 13, II): and it is remarkable that in nearly all those places the simple name Christ is used in connection with his sufferings, to tht which the Jewish mind had been so hostile. The C< li- tre of ihe apostle'- theology is the Redeemer, tin1 me- dium of all spiritual blessing. The relation of his ex- piatory work to sinners is described by Virkp (ii, 12; iii. 18); of it is said he hole our sins r.'ir a/tannac d>ir vtyKtv; or died iripi apapnwv. "The sprinkling of blood" ami the "Lamb without spot" were the fulfil- ment of ihe old economy, and the -race and salvation now enjoyed were familiar to the prophets ii. 10).
Christ who suffered is now in -lory, and is still keeping and blessing his p< ,,pl, ■.
In line, the object, as told by the author (v. 12). is essentially twofold. " I have written briefly , exhorting" (irapaKaXutv) ; and ihe epistle is hortatory not didac- tic or polemical; -ami testifying (iirtfiaprvpiZv) that
this is ihe true -race of God wherein ye stand." The true mace Of God ,i\lj':r, -lool, could not he doc- trine imparted through the apostle's personal teaching. Some of tin- fathers, indeed, allirm that Peter visited
the provinces specified in this epistle. Origen gives it a- a probable conjecture; and Eusebius says that the countries in which Peter preached the doctrine of Christ
appear from his own writings, and tna_\ he Been ti-m this epistle. The assertion has thus no hasis, save in
PETER (FIRST EPISTLE OF) 21 PETER (SECOND EPISTLE OF)
the idea that Peter must have preached in the churches to which he sent an epistle. Jerome repeats the state- ment, and Epiphanius, as his wont is, intensifies it; but it. lias no foundation. Nay, the apostle, by a change of person, distinguishes himself from "them that have preached the Gospel unto you" (i, 12). So that the "true grace" in which those churches stood was the Gospel which they had heard from others, and espe- cially' from Paul, by whom so many of them had been founded. The epistle, then, becomes a voucher for the genuineness of the Gospel preached in Asia Minor by the apostle of the uncircumcision. Not that, as Schweg- ler supposes, it attempts to mediate between James and Paul; for it proclaims the same truths, touching the peculiar aspects common to the two, without any dilu- tion of Paul's distinctive forms, or any modification of Peter's as given in his oral addresses — both being in inner harmony, and differing only in mode of presenta- tion, caused by mental diversity, or suggested by t he- peculiar circumstances, tendencies, or dangers of the churches which were warned or addressed.
V. Style. — The epistle is characterized by its fervor. The soul of the writer stamped its image on his thoughts and words — 6 iravraxov Sipfiac. is the eulogy of Chry- sostom. The epistle bears his living impress in his pro- found emotions, earnest convictions, and zealous thor- oughness. He was never languid or half-hearted in what he said or did, though the old impulsiveness is chastened; and the fire which often flashed up so sud- denly is more equable and tranquil in its glow. He is vivid without vehemence, and hurries on without im- petuosity or abruptness. The epistle is throughout hortative, doctrine and quotation being introduced as forming the basis or warrant, or as showing the neces- sity and value of practical counsel or warning. There is in it little that is local or temporary; it is suited to the Church of all lands and ages; for believers are al- ways in the present time "strangers and sojourners," with their gaze fixed on the future, exposed to trial and borne through by hope. The apostle infuses himself into the epistle, portrays the emotions which swayed and cheered him, as he reveals his own experience, which had been shaped by his past and present fellow- ship with a suffering and glorified Lord. What he un- folds or describes never stands apart as a theme by itself to be wrought out and argued ; nor is it lifted as if to a lofty eminence that it may be admired from afar: but all is kept within familiar grasp, and inwrought into the relations, duties, and dangers of everyday Christian existence. The truths brought forward are treated not in themselves, but in their immediate bearing on duty, trial, and hope; are handled quite in the way which one would describe air and food in their essential con- nection with life.