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r6ws\ It is the part of the godly to ash , to consult, to address God with confidence ; but it is the part of the ungodly not to ask Him, or to ask idols : Judges xx. 18, 23, 27 ; 1 Sam. x. 22, xxiii. 2, 4 ; Isa. xxx. 2 ; Hosea iv. 12 ; in all which places the Septuagint has sKspuToiv. Therefore it is the ashing of a good conscience which saves us ; that is, the asking, in which we address God with a good con science, our sins being forgiven and laid aside. Comp. ver. 16 ; Heb. x. 22. This asking is given in baptism ; and it is exercised in all acts of faith, of prayers, and of Christian life ; and God always re- gards it as worthy of an answer. Comp. Deut. xxvi. 17, 18, mDKn miT ns, r'ov Qs'ov e'/XoVy thou hast chosen God : ‘■JTftSn niiT"|, xa/' K {jpiog eiXero os, and the Lord hath chosen thee: Isa. xix. 21. — di umoraoswg, by the resurrection ) Constructed with saves. Comp, ch. i. 3, 21.
22. "Og sor/v sv ds^ia rov 0sou, xara-r/wt' rbv 6avarov, h a farjg aiwvfoi xXripovofiot ysv(jj/jjs6a) Such is the reading of the version which is by far the most ancient of all. Who is on the right hand of God , after having swallowed up death , that we might be made the heirs of eternal life.1 This reading is followed by Augustine, Cassiodorus, Fulgen- tius, Beda, and, as Mill affirms, by all the Latin writers. See App. Crit. Ed. ii. on this passage. Peter derives special uses from the sufferings of Christ, from His death, from His return to life, from His resurrection, from His going into heaven, from His judging the quick and dead ; but from His sitting at the right hand of God he either derives no use, or that which is still read in the Latin Version. By His death, Christ altogether destroyed death : but His sitting on the right hand of God presupposes that this death has been once for all exhausted, that He may claim life for us ; and it involves a state of life which is glorious, eternal, and salutary for us. Acts ii. 28 ; Rom. vi. 9, 10 ; Heb. vii. 16, 24, 25 ; 1 Cor. xv. 54; John xiv. 19. The signification of past time in xa ru*iwv ought especially to be considered. — nopsvkig) after that He had gone. — ayygXwv, angels) To Him angels are subject, and that too of all ranhs , whether good or evil ; and so also are men.
1 “ Qui est in dextera Dei, [deglutiens mortem, ut vitae aeternae haeredes efficeremur. ”] Vulgate in Amiat. and other oldest MSS. Fuldensis MS., however, and others, omit the words in brackets ; and they are not supported by Greek MSS.— E.
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