ἔλεος ἀναγεννήσας
41
τὴρ τοῦ KU ἡμῶν 163 ἡμᾶς 3 eis
1 OF is the normal contraction of Θεός: so Xs = Χριστός, ks = κύριος, ἰς = ᾿Ιησοῦς. 2For ἡμᾶς a few cursives read ὑμᾶς: the words are practically interchangeable
in manuscripts.
law everything is cleansed by blood. All the types were summed up in the fulfil- ment (see especially Heb. ix.) whether they related to the Covenant or to the Worship. So in Heb. xii. 24 the blood of Abel the first martyr is drawn into the composite picture of typical blood shed- dings. It would be possible to take ὑπακοήν with Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ, and to render either that ye might obey Jesus Christ (cf. i. 22; 2 Cor. x. 5) being sprinkled with His blood or that ye might obey as He obeyed even unto death (cf. Heb.. v. 83. Phil; ii. 8). χάρις... πληθνυνθείη. This tull formula is found also in 2 Peter and Jude. For precedent see Dan. iii. 31. Its use here is not merely a convention peculiar to the Petrine school ; grace and peace are multiplied to match the growth of hostility with which the Christians ad- dressed are confronted, lest the word of Jesus be fulfilled διὰ τὸ πληθυνθῆναι τὴν ἀνομίαν ψυγήσεται ἡ ἀγάπη τῶν πολλῶν (Matt. xxiv. 12); cf. Rom. ν. 20 f. In the Pastoral Epistles ἔλεος (cf. ver. 3) is inserted between x. and eip., so 2 John 3. From Gal. vi. 16 it appears that ἔλεος stood originally in the place which χάρις usurped (as distinctively Christian and reminiscent of the familar χαίρειν); so that the source will be Num. vi. 24-26. κύριος . . . ἐλεήσαι σε . . . καὶ Son σοι εἰρήνην.
Vv. 3-12. Benediction of the Name. The mention of God is followed by the Benediction of the Name as Jewish piety prescribed; the formula the Holy One, blessed be He, being amplified by the Christian appreciation of their fuller knowledge. The Apostle surpasses the fervour of the Psalmist, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel inasmuch as the last mighty work surpasses all previous de- liverances. It falls naturally into three divisions. Vv. 3-5 have as their central figure the Father, vv. 6-9 the Son, and vv. 10-12 the Spirit who is at last given, who inspired the prophets of old and now inspires the Christian missionaries. From the past which preceded their acceptance of God’s choice of them and its outward sign St. Peter turns to consider their present condition and to illuminate it with the light of the future glory.
Vv. 3-5. Blessed be God whom we have come to know as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For He has granted to us the crowning mani- festation of His great mercy. He has raised Jesus Christ from the dead and us thereby to newness of life. So you may hope for and in part enjoy the inheritance which was prefigured by the Promised Land. This heavenly treasure God has kept for those whom He guards with His power. So your faith respond, He is guarding you for the salvation which will be revealed at the last.
Ver. 3. εὐλογητός. The verbal adjective is recognised, perhaps coined by the LXX as proper to the Benediction of the Name. This usage is reflected in ΝΤ Rom. τ ο κ. ο (Cor. 1.) 3, xi. 31; Eph. i. 3; note Mark xiv. 61. ὁ Beds... ἡμῶν, part ot the for- mula (cf. 2 Cor. i. 3; Eph. i. 3)—based on the saying “I ascend to your father and my father, unto your God and my God” (John xx. 17). κατὰ τὸ πολὺ ἔλεος, the more elaborate κατὰ τὸ πλοῦτος τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ of Eph. i. 7 (cf. ii. 4). ἀναγεννήσας (cf. i. 23). Else the verb only occurs in N.T. as variant to γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν in Old Latin (and Irenzus) text of John iii. 5, which prompted St. Peter’s Christian use of the word, see especially i. 23. Later it is used to describe the outward sign of baptism (e.g., Justin Apol. i. 51) for the benefit of pagans as to the limitation of worshippers of Isis (Apuleius, Met. xi. 26, ut renatus quodammodo staatim sacrorum obsequio desponderetur). And of Mithras (in aeternum renati). Here the regenera-