δοκιμαζοµένου ἀποκαλύψει Ι8 XG ὃν ὁρῶντες πιστεύοντες δὲ ἀγαλ δεδοξασµένη Ψψυχῶν. i
κομιζόµενοι τὸ τέλος περὶ ἧς ow ται οἱ περὶ τῆς eis ὑμᾶς
ΠΕΤΡΟΥ Α εὑρεθῆ eis ἔπαινον k οὐχ 1 ἰδόντες ἀγαπᾶτε
λιᾶτε χαρᾶ ἀνεκλαλή
τηρίας ἐξείήτησαν &
45
δόξαν καὶ τειμὴν ἐν
3 a »” A εἰς ὃν ἄρτι μὴ 8 τω καὶ τῆς πίστεως σωτηρί avg ἐξηραύνησαν προ- 1ο
Χάριτος προφητεύσα «τες
1 The first hand of Codex Vaticanus is alone in reading οὐχ, which could only
be justified if followed by an aspirate.
2 For ἰδόντες many manuscripts, headed by Codex Alexandrinus, read εἰδότες : this confusion between ἰδεῖν and εἰδέναι is common.
‘ three distinct clauses referring to the past, the present and the future climax whom you knew not; in whom now—not secing ye believe; whom whenyou see you will exult. But for lack of support it ‘must be set aside in favour of the Greek text (which regards present as leading up to future culmination without a break) as being a redaction of the passage for separate use. εἰς ὃν, with πιστεύοντες, μὴ ὁρῶντες being parenthesis added to explain force of πιστ. (Heb. xi. 1 ; Rom. viii. 24)—xap@ ἀνεκλαλήτῳ καὶ δεδοξασµένῃ. Their faith enables them to pass beyond their present suffer- ings to the joy which belongs to the sub- sequent glories. Thus their joy being heavenly is unspeakable and glorified. Language cannot express the communion with God which the Christian like St. Paul may enjoy (2 Cor. xii. 3 f.); com- pare Rom. viii. 26, αὐτὸ τὸ πνεῦμα ὑπερ- “evVTVyXavet στεναγμοῖς ἀλαλήτοις. And this joy is glorified because it is an earnest of the glory which shall be re- vealed; cf. iv. 14.
Ver.g. The connexion with mention of persecution suggests that the writer is here thinking of the saying, 7m your patience ye shall win your souls and per- haps also of the contrast between the persecutor who has only power over the body. Whatever happen to the body the conclusion—the consummation of their faith—is assured {πεπῃ.--κομ.ι ζ ό- µενοι implies that already they are receiving what is due to them (cf. ν. 4) and therefore they rejoice with Hannah in God the Saviour. In the Attic Orators who use a refined form of colloquial Greek the verb is common in the sense of recovering debts, as in Matt. XXV. 27, ἐκομισάμην ἂν τὸ ἐμόν. St. Paul applies it to future recompense (2 Cor. v. 10, ἵνα κοµίσηται ἕκαστος τὰ διὰ τοῦ «σώματος; Eph. vi. 8; Col. iii. 25: cf. 2 Macc. viii. 33, τὸν ἄξιον τῆς δυσσεβείας
ἐκομίσατο µισθόν); in Heb. iii. 4, it is used of receiving promises.—r6 τέλος. The common meaning fulfilment or con- summation gives a fair sense but the con- nection with κομιζόµενοι is thus some- what strange. The parallel of v. 4, taken with Pindar, Ol. x(xi.) 81, Δόρν- κλος 8 ἔφερε πυγμᾶς τέλος, suggests as a possible rendering because ye receive the reward. The Septuagint, again (Num. xxxi. 28, etc.), uses 7. to
translate D3 = proportion to be paid, tax. And this use is well estab- lished in Greek literature for τὰ τέλη, cf. λυσιτελεῖν, etc. Accordingly Suidas defines τέλος as TO διδόµενον τοῖς βασιλεῦσι. The particular connotations can hardly be pressed here but these uses give some colour of support to the Syriac rendering recompense and the mercedem of Augustine; cf. Rom. vi. 22. —cotnplar Ψψυχῶν-τ σωτηρίαν above. Ψψυχῶν is added to console the readers for their sufferings in accordance with Mark viii. 35, ὃς 8 ἂν ἀπολέσει τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἕνεκεν τοῦ εὐαγγελίου σώσει αὐτήν = John xii. 25; cf. Luke ax τος Jas. i 2k.) Phe sonl) for St. Peter is the self or personality as for Jesus Himself.
Vv. 10-12.—The ancient prophets pro- phesied concerning the grace which was destined for you and enquired diligently about this salvation. They were the un- conscious instruments of the revelation of God and their first duty done continued to pore over the inspired descriptions of the sufferings and subsequent glories o the Messiah. They asked themselves to whom does this refer and when shall these things be. And to them the revela- tion was made that they were only the administrators of an estate which others —you in fact should enjoy. The subjects of their prophecies have now been pro- claimed to you by your Christian teachers who, like the prophets, were inspired by