The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Peter — Section 110

endure the humiliations of his life and the agonies of his death was no personal end; he suffered " for our sake." There were two distinct and yet closely related purposes which th~ Saviour, bad before him in his sufferings. Doth are stated in this passage very exphc1_tly. 'I he~e are some minds that look only at the one of these pmposes; there are different mmds that regard only the other. But the sober and attentive student of Scripture cannot fail to recognize the necessity of both, and their harmony with each other. Christ's endurance of sufferings, being exemplary, furnishes us with the model of our patience and submission; and the same endurance of sufferings, being sacrificial and substitutionary, supply us with our highest motive. That Christ is an Example for our imitation is not only taught in Scripture; it is & truth seized upon by every Christian whose Christianity is not merely nominal-who is by the Holy Spirit awakened to spiritual life. \Vhen he said, "Learn of me," "Follow me," Jesus sanctioned this view of the religious endeavour and prayerful aim of his disciples. And the apostles frequently admonish their converts to imitate the conduct, to share and display the spirit, of the Divine Leader and Lord. His obedience to the Father, his holy life, his benevolent disposition, his self-denying labours, are all put before us as a model which we are to study and to copy. In this passage the especial point selected for imitation is the meekness and long-suffering of our Lord. This is repre- sented as a "copy" which he has left behind, that we may place it before our eyes, and try to produce a good, correct, well-studied imitation of it. We are told to follow in his steps; he is the Guide, to whom we entrust our way, in whose wisdom we have confidence; where he treads it is for us to follow, placing our feet in the footmarks he has left behind him. By these two simple and beautiful figures it is shown how we should lay to heart the perfect example of our Lord, and seek to make it ours. Human examples are so faulty, and human characters, even when noble, so lacking in sympathy, that hero-worship (as it has been called) is a very perilous proceeding. The young are more likely to emulate the questionable side of a great man's character, if that side be dazzling. Thankful should we be that our Creator, who has implauted within us the principle of imitation, has made provision for calling out that principle, and giving it full scope. The imitation of Christ is the lifelong practice and discipline of every pupil aud learner in the spiritual school of God. The Divine Spirit must be the Teacher, revealing and applying the lesson to the scholar's heart, firing that heart with a holy ambition to be conformed to the sacred likeness of the Lord. But this is no such easy matter. Our gracious God and Father, who knows our nature perfectly, 1.-nows that it would be vain to set before men a perfect example of holiness and of patience, and then bid them and leave them to aspire to conformity thereto. Hence the further purpose of the Saviour's sufferings. We are happily familiar with the gr~t and precious truth, so strikingly exhibited in the twenty-fourth verse, "who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree." When Christ suffered as he did, it was not simply as an illustration of the grace of patience. It was both to secure to us the pardon of our sins, and to provide us with a motive of holiness, in the experience of his sacrificial grace. Without himself becoming a sinner, he nevertheless took the sinner's place, entered into the case of the sinner, and took upon him the sinner's burden, dying the death of the cross-appropriate, indeed, to the sinner, but only appropriate to the holy Christ as the sinner's Representative and Saviour. By "bear• ing our sins " we are to understand a sacrificial, and therefore a redemptive, act. Whilst many popular teachers are insisting that sin can never be forgiven, and that every man must bear to the uttermost the consequences of his sins, the gospel comes with the good news of the remission of sins, and the favour of God for those who receive the Christ as their Mediator and Redeemer, in humility, faith, and penitence. Ill. The apostle traces THE OPERATION OF THIS DIVINE PRINCIPLE. It is not enough to tell that Jesus died, and died for us sinners. We need to show what is the result of Christ's sacrifice-that is, upon the heart and life of Christians. For whilst it has a relation to God and his government, it has also a relation-and one naturally more comprehensible by us-to our own moral life and conduct, "That we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness." Now, you need not to be told that these poor Galatia.n and Cappadocian bondmen must have been, before their conversion, in a position very unfavourable for the formation of a just and pure character, for living a blameless anti benevolent life. They must hav11 been alive to si11. and dead to en. n.1-26.J THE FlRS'r EPIS'l'LE GENERAL OF PETER. 105