The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Peter — Section 69

these facts, and have our hearts touched with love to him, then the first condition ie fulfilk-d of our having joy at his revelation. (b) Faith. "On whom, though now yo sec him not, yet believing." A point has been raised regarding love coming here before belief. " ·why is the natural order of thino-s reversed? How can we love heforn we believe? Must we not first feel convinced of the reality of Christ and the genuine- ness of his claims? Must we not on this conviction trust him, and so have love generated in our souls?" The answer given is that "in the history of a soul's coming to Christ we are touched by the narrative of his sufferings, or stirred by an appeal, or moved by the grandeur of some utterance," and thus are Jed on to the more difficult exercise of trust. It may be said that love is mentioned first as lying near to our rejoicing as it ever will do. It would be an advantage if (prejudice aside and an imperfect conception aside) we saw the Object of our love. The present substitute for seeing is believing. We are to have living intercourse with an unseen Saviour until, to the great advantage of our love and also of our joy, our faith becomes siaht. (3) How our joy at the revelation of Jesus Christ is characterized. (a) .As trans~endently excellent. "Ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory." 'l'he present tense is again used with the force of a future. When at the revelation of Jesus Christ, V.'ith hearts fu 11 of love to him, we see, our joy will be unspeakable. "For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold,~and not another." What a joy to look upon him, then, in the human nature which he took upon him! to look upon him wit.h the marks testifying to the mysterious sufferings through which he came! to look npon him finally triumphing over sin and death I It will be unspeak- able experience of joy added to experience of joy beyond all power of expression. It will be as if the joy of a lifetime were concentrated into a moment. It will also be full of glory, the joy of a glorified spirit in a glorified body in presence of the glory of the Redeemer. (b).As faith's reward in the sours experience. "Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." The revelation of Jesus Christ is to be the time for distributing rewards. What we are to receive as our reward is not apart from our foregoing faith; it is its goal. Faith is the principle of life: the soul is the subject of the life, which is to be saved or lost. When Christ makes our faith issue in our emancipation from all sin and imperfection and in the vigorous exercise of all our powers, our joy will be complete. IIL THE SUBJECT OF INQUIRY BY PROPHETS ANO ANGELS. 1. Prophets. (1) Their prz'.vate desire and public function. "Concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you." Salvation, carried forward from the preceding section, must continue to have the sense of completed salvation. It is a magnifying of this salvation that prophets had to do with privately and publicly. They are mentioned here as a great order, They had their private exercises. Concerning the salvation they "sought and searched diligently." There is the idea of intensified search in both verbs. If there is a distinction, the one may refer more to the end, and the other to the means. They eagerly tried to grasp what the full salvation was to be. The remarkable thing is that their private desire was in connection with their public function, which is here defined as a telling before- hand of the grace that was to come to men in Christian times. What they were eager to find out was the 0!1ristian elements contained in the salvation. This is pointed to in grace, which is to be referred to that on which salvation depends, and by which also it is charactered. There was a display commencing with the incarnation of the Son of God on our behalf, which certainly was not due to our merit, but only to grace. 'l'here is additional ITT"ace in our living in Christian times. (2) To what their inquiry was direcf&i. "s:archinu what time or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did point ~to, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow them." The latter of the verbs is here continued (not in the intensive form). Their search was directed to two connected points-time and manner of time. This must be referred to Messianic time and circumstance as giving a gracious character to the salvation. Bow were they led t<J think of a salvation connected with Christian facts? In a very direct way-the Spirit of Christ was in them. It was thi~ thut mAde the prophets a great order; and yet in this respect they were not entirely on. 1. 1-25.] THE FIRS'!' EPISTLE GENERAL OF PETER. 63