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Title: The Epistles of St. Peter
Author: Lumby, J. Rawson
Language: English
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* * * * *
THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE
EDITED BY THE REV.
W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A., LL.D.
_Editor of "The Expositor"_
THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER
BY
J. RAWSON LUMBY, D.D.
London
HODDER AND STOUGHTON
27, PATERNOSTER ROW
MDCCCXCIII
THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE.
_Crown 8vo, cloth, price 7s. 6d. each vol._
FIRST SERIES, 1887-8.
Colossians.
By A. MACLAREN, D.D.
St. Mark.
By Very Rev. the Dean of Armagh.
Genesis.
By Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D.
1 Samuel.
By Prof. W. G. BLAIKIE, D.D.
2 Samuel.
By the same Author.
Hebrews.
By Principal T.C. EDWARDS, D.D.
SECOND SERIES, 1888-9.
Galatians.
By Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A.
The Pastoral Epistles.
By Rev. A. PLUMMER, D.D.
Isaiah I.--XXXIX.
By G. A. SMITH, M.A. Vol. I.
The Book of Revelation.
By Prof. W. MILLIGAN, D.D.
1 Corinthians.
By Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D.
The Epistles of St. John.
By Rt. Rev. W. ALEXANDER, D.D.
THIRD SERIES, 1889-90.
Judges and Ruth.
By Rev. R. A. WATSON, D.D.
Jeremiah.
By Rev. C. J. BALL, M.A.
Isaiah XL.--LXVI.
By G. A. SMITH, M.A. Vol. II
St. Matthew.
By Rev. J. MONRO GIBSON, D.D.
Exodus.
By Very Rev. the Dean of Armagh.
St. Luke.
By Rev. H. BURTON, M.A.
FOURTH SERIES, 1890-1.
Ecclesiastes.
By Rev. SAMUEL COX, D.D.
St. James and St. Jude.
By Rev. A. PLUMMER, D.D.
Proverbs.
By Rev. R. F. HORTON, M.A.
Leviticus.
By Rev. S. H. KELLOGG, D.D.
The Gospel of St. John.
By Prof. M. DODS, D.D. Vol. I.
The Acts of the Apostles.
By Prof. STOKES, D.D. Vol. I.
FIFTH SERIES, 1891-2.
The Psalms.
By A. MACLAREN, D.D. Vol. I.
1 and 2 Thessalonians.
By JAMES DENNEY, B.D.
The Book of Job.
By R. A. WATSON, D.D.
Ephesians.
By Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A.
The Gospel of St. John.
By Prof. M. DODS, D.D. Vol. II.
The Acts of the Apostles.
By Prof. STOKES, D.D. Vol. II.
SIXTH SERIES, 1892-3.
1 Kings.
By Ven. Archdeacon FARRAR.
Philippians.
By Principal RAINY, D.D.
Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther.
By Prof. W. F. ADENEY, M.A.
Joshua.
By Prof. W. G. BLAIKIE, D.D.
The Psalms.
By A. MACLAREN, D.D. Vol. II.
The Epistles of St. Peter.
By Prof. RAWSON LUMBY, D.D.
SEVENTH SERIES, 1893-4.
2 Kings.
By Ven. Archdeacon FARRAR.
Romans.
By H. C. G. MOULE, M.A.
1 Chronicles.
By Prof. W. H. BENNETT, M.A.
2 Corinthians.
By JAMES DENNEY, B.D.
Numbers.
By R. A. WATSON, D.D.
The Psalms.
By A. MACLAREN, D.D. Vol. III.
THE
EPISTLES OF ST. PETER
BY
J. RAWSON LUMBY, D.D.
LADY MARGARET PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF
CAMBRIDGE
LONDON
HODDER AND STOUGHTON
27, PATERNOSTER ROW
MDCCCXCIII
_Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury._
PREFACE
The two letters which bear the name of St. Peter have from the
earliest times met with very different degrees of acceptance. The
genuineness of the First Epistle is attested by the unanimous voice of
primitive Christendom. As it is addressed to Christians dwelling in
different parts of Asia Minor, it is natural to look for a knowledge
of it in those countries. And nowhere is it earlier noticed. Polycarp,
Bishop of Smyrna, a contemporary of the last surviving Apostle, and
whose martyrdom took place about the middle of the second century, has
repeated quotations from this Epistle. It was known also to Papias (+
163), Bishop of Hierapolis, and to Melito (170), Bishop of Sardis.
That it was known to the Greeks is seen from the Epistle to Diognetus,
which for a long time was attributed to Justin Martyr (+ 165), while
the "Shepherd" of Hermas, written at Rome, testifies that it was known
there also at about the same date. The inclusion of it in the
Peschito-Syriac Version bears witness to its early circulation in the
Eastern Church, as also does its quotation in the writings of
Theophilus of Antioch (178). Heretics, no less than the faithful,
regarded it as a portion of authoritative Christian literature.
Basilides in Alexandria and the Marcosians and Theodotus in Syria all
knew of and cited this Epistle. The Latin Church of Africa accepted
it, as we can see from a few quotations in Tertullian (+ 218) and a
greater number in the writings of Cyprian (+ 258). In the Alexandrian
Church it is often quoted by both Clement (+ 218) and Origen (+ 254);
while for Gaul we have the testimony of the Church of Vienne in the
touching letter sent by the Christians there to their "brethren in
Asia and Phrygia" (177), and of Irenæus, who was Bishop of Lyons
shortly afterwards, and who, coming from Asia to fill that see, is a
witness both for the East and the West. From the Christian Church of
the early centuries it is hardly possible to produce stronger
attestation.
But although so abundantly vouched for in ancient days, the Epistle
has not been exempt from the assaults of modern criticism. Primitive
Christendom regarded St. Peter, St. John, and St. Paul as heralds of
one and the same Gospel, founded on the same promises, strengthened by
the same faith. They were at one in what they taught and what they
opposed. But some modern thinkers, taking as a thesis that the Gospel
as set forth by the Apostle of the circumcision differed widely from
the doctrines of St. Paul, have proceeded to make an eclectic
Christian literature, out of which the First Epistle of St. Peter has
been rejected. Its language is too much in harmony with accepted
writings of St. Paul. It can only have been compiled by some later
hand to promote the opinion that there was no discord between the
teachings of the first Christian preachers. Moreover, it is
inconceivable, they consider, that a letter should be addressed by St.
Peter to the Christians in those very lands where the missionary
labours of St. Paul had been specially exerted, where the converts
were in a peculiar sense his "little children."
Now in this first letter of St. Peter there is unquestionably much
that corresponds in tone with the Epistle to the Romans, especially
with the twelfth and thirteenth chapters. In both letters Christians
are exhorted to offer their bodies as spiritual sacrifices, to shun
conformity with the world, to study to be sober in mind, and to use
duly all the gifts which they possess; the same unfeigned love of the
brethren is inculcated, the same patience under suffering. Christians
are not to retaliate, but to overcome evil with good; they are to be
in subjection to all lawful authority, and this for conscience' sake,
to avoid all excesses, rioting, drunkenness, chambering, and
wantonness, and to be ever looking forward to the coming of the Lord.
In like manner there will be found numerous passages in St. Paul's
Epistle to the Ephesians which in spirit and tone greatly resemble the
words of St. Peter. At the very outset St. Paul addresses his converts
as "chosen of God in Christ before the foundation of the world, that
they should be holy and without blemish before Him in love"; tells
them that they were "foreordained unto adoption as sons through Jesus
Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise and
glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on them in the Beloved"
(Eph. i. 3-6). Similarly St. Peter writes to "the elect ... according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the
Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ,"
and presently he adds that "according to God's great mercy they were
begotten again by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (i.
1-3). In both epistles there is the same teaching, the same election
in love, the same sonship, the same progress in holiness, the same
free gift through Jesus Christ. But in neither is there a word that
can be taken to militate against independent authorship. And the same
remark applies to all the resemblances which exist between the two
epistles in the exhortations to servants, wives, and husbands; in the
commendations of humility, pity, courtesy; in the entreaties to the
believers to gird up the loins of the mind and to lay aside all malice
and hatred; in those passages which speak of them as strangers and
pilgrims, as called from darkness to light, as being a spiritual
house, built upon Christ as the head corner-stone. Of all these
exhortations undoubted parallels are to be found; but they are only
evidence of the common character which would pervade all the teaching
of the apostolic missionaries where the people addressed were the
same, the times not far apart, and the dangers and temptations known
alike to all the writers. Hence parallels to St. Peter may be found in
St. James too, but they are no proof that the one Apostle (or, as some
critics say, some one writing under his name) copied from the other.
Nor is it easy to see reason why St. Peter might not be expected to
write a letter to the congregations formed first by St. Paul. No
Evangelist or Apostle could publish the message of the Gospel--that
is, the life and works--of Christ without telling of His chosen
followers; and amongst them, if our Gospels be a true picture, St.
Peter must ever have filled a prominent place. The Churches in Asia
assuredly had heard much of him, and in a time of persecution or
impending trial nothing could be more fit than that the Apostle who
had been most prominent amid Christ's companions should write from
Babylon or from Rome, it may be, where the signs of the times would
proclaim most clearly the sufferings for which the Christian
inhabitants of the provinces should be prepared, to encourage the
believers in Asia to steadfastness and to remind them that the same
afflictions were being accomplished in their brethren that were
elsewhere in the world.
This was likely enough even had St. Peter never visited the districts
to which his letter was addressed. But we seem to find traces of him
in Corinth (1 Cor. ix. 5; cf. also xv. 5), and he certainly was not
unknown by name to the Christians of that city. And if so, why need we
question his journeying through Asia Minor? And he was aware of the
labours of his fellow-apostle. From personal intercourse and
discussion, especially in connexion with the council at Jerusalem, he
would be sure that they were of one mind. It may be that he had learnt
something of St. Paul's letters to the Churches. Under such
circumstances it is not foreign to St. Peter's character, nay rather
quite in harmony with it, that he should fulfil the Lord's command to
"strengthen the brethren"; that he should send them an earnest
assurance that, spite of sufferings and trials, this was the true
grace of God, in which they should rejoice to stand.
But there are internal tokens in the Epistle which seem more powerful
evidence of its genuineness than anything else. The writer calls
himself "Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ"; and he declares his
personality by touches and allusions which a forger would never have
fabricated. Thus he says, "All of you _gird yourselves_ with humility,
to serve one another" (v. 5). The verb which he employs here indicates
a sort of girding about with some towel or apron, which a slave put
on for doing some menial service. It is almost impossible that the
writer had not in his thoughts the act of Christ when He gave His
great lesson of humility: "If I have washed your feet, ye ought also
to wash one another's feet."
So, too, the Master's exhortation, "Feed My sheep," "Feed My lambs,"
comes to mind as we read, "Tend the flock of God which is among you,
exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly" (v. 2).
And St. Peter's own words spoken in the house of Cornelius are
reproduced when the Father is declared to be One "who, without respect
of persons, judgeth according to each man's work" (i. 17).
But it is in the allusions to Christ's passion and resurrection, those
events which marked the deep fall and the rising again of St. Peter,
that the personality of the Apostle becomes most manifest. He has been
himself "a witness of the sufferings of Christ" (v. 1). He can speak
as an eye-witness of the Lord's death in the flesh (iii. 18; iv. 1)
and His quickening in the spirit; can exhort men to courage because
they are partakers of the sufferings of Christ (iv. 13). Who does not
feel that the writer of the words, "Let them also that suffer
according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing unto a
faithful Creator" (iv. 19), is thinking of the scene on the cross, of
the Saviour's finished work, of the dying cry, "Father, into Thy hands
I commend My spirit"?
Perhaps the most striking instance of this peculiarity, this tendency
to dwell on the events of the Passion, is found in ii. 19-24. Speaking
to servants, he argues, "What glory is it if when ye sin and _are
buffeted_ for it ye shall take it patiently?" And having used the
word by which the Evangelists describe (Matt. xxvi. 67; Mark xiv. 65)
the insults heaped upon the Lord at His trial, the writer is carried
away in mind to the whole scene: "He did no sin, neither was guile
found in His mouth; when He was reviled, He reviled not again; when He
suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth
righteously; in His own self He bare our sins in His own body upon the
tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness,
by whose stripes ye were healed." And in the last clause especially we
see traces of one who had been present through the painful history.
The word rendered "stripes" means "bruises" or "weals," such as come
from savage blows, and is just the word which would occur to one who
had seen the bruised body taken down from the cross, but hardly to any
one else.
Again, the writer makes you feel without quoting that he has the words
of Jesus constantly in his mind. Thus in the exhortation, "Cast all
your anxiety upon God, for He careth for you" (v. 7); when he says,
"If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are ye" (iv.
14), or "Be sober; be vigilant" (v. 8), or "Be sober unto prayer" (iv.
7), or commends "not rendering evil for evil, or reviling for
reviling, but contrariwise blessing" (iii. 9), at each of the
sentences--and the letter abounds with examples--there rise in the
reader's mind some similar words of Christ, making him feel that he is
perusing a writing of one to whom the Lord's language was abundantly
familiar.
With the marks of personal character and associations meeting us
constantly, and with the unbroken consensus of antiquity in favour of
St. Peter's authorship, we shall not lightly allow speculations about
hypothetical differences between the teaching of the Apostles of the
Gentiles and of the circumcision to disturb our acceptance of this
letter for what it proclaims itself to be: the work of the Apostle St.
Peter, of one who was himself a witness of the sufferings of Christ.
* * * * *
Of the Second Epistle the whole history is very different. It appears
to have been little known in the early Church, and is included by
Eusebius (330) among the ἀντιλεγόμενα, "books to which
objection was raised" as late as his day. It is true that in Clement
of Rome there is a sentence (Ep. i., chap. xi.) which many have
accepted as containing a clear allusion to the passage (2 Peter ii. 6,
7) which speaks of Lot and the destruction of Sodom. And if this could
be demonstrated with certainty, it would be most valuable testimony.
It would prove the Epistle to have been accepted at a very early date
and by the important Church in Rome. But we have so far to go before
we come upon any other notice that the silence makes us doubtful of
the evidence from Clement. Moreover, such other witness as we do find
is not of a very direct character. Firmilian, Bishop of Cæsarea, in
Cappadocia, about 256 A.D., in a letter of which a Latin version is
preserved among the writings of Cyprian, uses words which probably
indicate that he knew both the epistles of St. Peter; but he gives no
quotation. The Second Epistle was no doubt meant for the same readers
as the First; and that is addressed, among others, to the Christians
of Cappadocia, so that there is no improbability in supposing the
letter to have been early known there. Theophilus of Antioch (170)
uses the comparison of the word to a lamp shining in a dark place in
such a way as to give the impression that he knew the Epistle, and a
similar possible reference is found in the writings of Ephrem Syrus
(+ 378). Palladius (400), who was a friend of Chrysostom, and wrote at
Rome, makes a clear allusion to 2 Peter; and in the Apology of Melito,
Bishop of Sardis, there is a passage concerning the destruction of the
world by fire at the last day which is strikingly parallel to 2 Peter
iii. 5-7, and can hardly have been written without a knowledge of the
Epistle.
This is a very small amount of early evidence, and among the more
voluminous writers of the first three centuries we find no mention of
the Epistle. We cannot, therefore, be surprised that by Eusebius it is
classed among the works of less acceptance. But the same fate befell
larger and more important writings than this Epistle. The Apocalypse
and the Epistle to the Hebrews stand in the same list in Eusebius. And
St. Peter's second letter has not the same general interest as the
first, and therefore is likely to have been less widely circulated;
and this is all that Eusebius's classification means. The books were
not generally received because there was a less general knowledge of
their existence and history.
But when the Church entered on the settlement of the New Testament
Canon at the Council of Laodicæa (366), the Second Epistle of St.
Peter was accepted; and no doubt there was evidence then before the
assembled Fathers which time has now destroyed. Yet in the letter
itself there are points which no doubt weighed with them, and which
are patent to us as they were then. The writer claims to be St. Peter,
an Apostle and the writer of a previous epistle. He speaks solemnly of
his death as near at hand; and still more solemn, when viewed as
evidence, is the declaration that he had been one of the witnesses of
Christ's transfiguration. It is almost inconceivable that a forger,
writing to warn against false teachers, writing in the interest of
truth, should have thus deliberately assumed a name and experience to
which he had no claim. These statements must have influenced the
opinion of the Laodicæan Council, and we know that they did not act on
light evidence; they did not on the strength of a name accept into
their canon, but excluded, works at the time widely circulated and
passing for histories or letters of some of the Apostles.
Moreover, when we consider the kind of teaching against which St.
Peter's epistle is directed, it is difficult to place it anywhere
except at about the same date as St. Paul's epistles. It speaks of the
"fables" mῦθοι, i. 16), the groundless, baseless fancies,
of the early heretics in the same manner which we find in St. Paul
(cf. 1 Tim. i. 4; iv. 7). The same greed and covetousness (πλεονεξία)
is noted by both the Apostles in the teachers against whom their voice
is raised (cf. 2 Peter ii. 3; 1 Tim. vi. 5; Titus i. 11). There are
the same beguiling promises of liberty (cf. 2 Peter ii. 19; 1 Cor. x.
29; Gal. v. 13), a perversion of the freedom of which St. Paul speaks
so much to the Galatian converts; and just as he warns against "false
brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our
liberty" (Gal. ii. 4), so does St. Peter condemn those "who privily
bring in heresies of destruction" (2 Peter ii. 1). With so many common
features in the two pictures, we can scarcely be wrong in referring
them to the same times. No other period in early Church history suits
the language of St. Peter so well as the few years before his
martyrdom. The First Epistle may be dated eight or ten years earlier.
There is another morsel of evidence from the New Testament which is
worth notice. St. Peter describes the heretics against whom he writes
as following the error of Balaam the son of Beor, and notes this among
the tokens of their covetousness. In the Apocalypse (ii. 14, 15) the
same people are described, and in the same terms, but with an
addition. They have received a definite name, and St. John terms them
several times over "the Nicolaitanes." Such a distinctive title marks
a later date than St. Peter's descriptive one, which is drawn from the
Old Testament. The Apocalypse was assuredly written before the
destruction of Jerusalem. If then we may take the mention of the
Nicolaitanes by that designation as an indication of a later date than
2 Peter, we are again brought to the time to which we have already
referred the Epistle: some time between 68 and 70 A.D.
Considerable discussion has arisen about the passages in 2 Peter which
are like the language of St. Jude. There can be no doubt that either
one Apostle copied the words of the other, or that both drew from a
common original. But this point, in whatever way it be settled, need
not militate against St. Peter's authorship. It is nothing unworthy of
the Apostle, if he find to his hand the words of a fellow-teacher
which will serve his need, to use what he finds. Nay, the letter
itself tells us that he was prepared to do this. For he refers his
readers (iii. 15) to the writings of St. Paul for support of his own
exhortations. St. Peter's seems, however, to be the earlier of the two
epistles, if we compare his words, "There _shall be_ false teachers,
who _shall bring_ in heresies of destruction," etc. (ii. 1), with St.
Jude, who speaks of these misleading teachers as already existent and
active: "There _are certain men crept in_ unawares"; "_These are_
spots now existing in the feasts of charity"; "_They are feasting
among the brethren_ without fear." And St. Jude seems clearly to be
alluding to St. Peter's words (2 Peter iii. 3) when he says, "Remember
ye the words which were spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord
Jesus Christ, how that they told you there should be _mockers_"
(ἐμπαῖκται) "in the last time." This word for "mockers" is
found only in St. Peter's epistle. It is nowhere else in the New
Testament; and while St. Peter's words are a direct utterance, St.
Jude's are a quotation.
But there are two or three features of resemblance between the style
of St. Peter's first epistle and the second which support strongly the
genuineness of the latter. The First Epistle has a large proportion of
words found nowhere else in the New Testament. There are a score of
such words in this short composition. Now the Second Epistle presents
us with the same peculiarity in rather larger abundance. There are
twenty-four words there which appear in no other New Testament
writing. It seems to have been a peculiarity of the writer of both
letters to use somewhat uncommon and striking words. Now take the
Second Epistle to have been the work of an imitator. He would be sure
to notice such a characteristic, and sure also to repeat, for the sake
of connexion, some distinctive expressions of the first letter in the
second. But the case is much otherwise. There is the same abundance of
unusual words in both epistles, but not a single repetition; the same
peculiarity is manifest, but displays itself in entirely new material.
This is an index of authorship, not of imitation.
There are one or two differences between the two epistles which in
their way are of equal interest. The first letter was one of
encouragement and consolation; the second is full of warning. Hence,
though the coming of the Lord is dwelt on alike in the two, in the
former it is set forth as a _revelation_ (1 Peter i. 5), as a day for
which believers were looking, and in which their hopes would be
realised, and their afflictions at an end; in the second letter the
same event is called a coming (παρουσία), an appearing, a
presence, but one which will usher in the great and terrible day of
the Lord, and be the prelude of judgement to them that have fallen
away.
Again, the sufferings of Christ are a theme much dwelt on in the First
Epistle, where they are pointed to as the lot which Christians are to
expect, and the Lord is the pattern which they are to imitate; in the
Second they are hardly noticed. But was there not a cause for such
reticence? Was it a time to urge on men the imitation of Christ when
the danger was great that they would deny Him altogether?
No doubt many other points of evidence, which are lost to us, were
presented to the Fathers of the Laodicæan Council, and with the result
that the Second Epistle of St. Peter was received into the Canon side
by side with the first. But the three centuries of want of
acknowledgement have left their mark on its subsequent history, and
many earnest minds have treated it as of less authority than other
more accepted portions of the New Testament. Among these is Luther,
who speaks of the First Epistle as one of the noblest in the New
Testament, but is doubtful about the claims of the Second. Similar was
the judgment of Erasmus and of Calvin.
We cannot, however, go back to the evidence produced at Laodicæa. Time
has swept that away, but, while doing so, has left us the result
thereof; and the acceptance of the Epistle by the Fathers there
assembled will be judged by most men to stand in lieu of the evidence.
No court of law would permit a decision so authenticated and of such
standing to be disturbed or overruled.
And we ourselves can observe some points still which draw to the same
conclusion. The letter harmonises in tone with the other New Testament
writings, and some of its linguistic peculiarities are strikingly in
accord with the universally accepted letter of St. Peter. We are
therefore not unwilling, though we have not the early testimony which
we could desire, and though the primitive Church held its genuineness
for doubtful, to believe that ere this second letter was classed with
the other New Testament writings these doubts were cleared away, and
would be cleared away for us could we hear all the evidence tendered
before those who fixed the contents of the Canon.
The discovery last year in Egypt of some fragments of the Gospel and
Apocalypse once current under the name of St. Peter has drawn
attention once more to the genuineness and authenticity of the Second
Epistle in our canon. But the difference in character between it and
these apocryphal documents is very great. The Gospel ascribed to Peter
seems to have been written by some one who held the opinion, current
among the early heretics, that the Incarnation was unreal, and that
the Divine in Christ Jesus had no participation in the sufferings at
the Crucifixion. Hence our Lord is represented as having no sense of
pain at that time. He is said to have been deserted by His "power" in
the moment of death. The stature of the angels at the Resurrection is
represented as very great, but that of the risen Christ much greater.
To these peculiar features may be added the response made by the
cross to a voice which was heard from heaven, the cross having
followed the risen Christ from the tomb. In the fragments of the
Apocalypse we have a description of the torments of the wicked utterly
foreign to the character of the New Testament writings, in which the
veil of the unseen world is rarely withdrawn. The circumstance and
detail given in the apocryphal fragment to the punishments of sinners
mark it as the parent of those mediæval legends of which the "Visions
of Furseus" and "St. Patrick's Purgatory" afford well-known examples.
The study of these fragments, of which the Gospel may be dated about
170 A.D., sends us back to the contemplation of the Second Epistle of
St. Peter more conscious than before at what a very early date errors,
both of history and doctrine, were promulgated among the Christian
societies, while at the same time we are impressed more strongly with
the sense that the accord of the Second Epistle with Gospel history,
where it is alluded to, as well as the simplicity of Christian
doctrine which it enforces, mark it as not unworthy of that place in
the Canon which was accorded to it in the very earliest councils which
dealt with the contents of New Testament Scripture.
CONTENTS
_THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. PETER_
I
PAGE
THE WORK OF THE TRINITY IN MAN'S ELECTION AND
SALVATION 3
II
THE HEAVENLY INHERITANCE 17
III
THE UNITY AND GLORIOUSNESS OF THE PLAN OF
REDEMPTION 29
IV
THE CHRISTIAN'S IDEAL, AND THE STEPS THEREUNTO 41
V
CHRISTIAN BROTHERHOOD: ITS CHARACTER AND
DUTIES 55
VI
THE PRIESTHOOD OF BELIEVERS 69
VII
CHRISTIANS AS PILGRIMS IN THE WORLD 83
VIII
CHRISTIAN SERVICE 95
IX
CHRISTIAN WIVES AND HUSBANDS 107
X
THEY WHO BLESS ARE BLESSED 119
XI
THE REWARDS OF SUFFERING FOR WELL-DOING 133
XII
THE LESSONS OF SUFFERING 149
XIII
CHRISTIAN SERVICE FOR GOD'S GLORY 163
XIV
THE BELIEVER'S DOUBLE JOY 177
XV
THE RIGHTEOUS HAVE JUDGEMENT HERE 189
XVI
HOW TO TEND THE FLOCK 201
XVII
BE CLOTHED WITH HUMILITY 213
XVIII
THROUGH PERILS TO VICTORY 223
_THE SECOND EPISTLE OF ST. PETER_
XIX
THE SAVING KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 235
XX
WHO SHALL ASCEND INTO THE HILL OF THE LORD? 245
XXI
THE VOICE HEARD IN THE HOLY MOUNT 257
XXII
THE LAMP SHINING IN A DARK PLACE 271
XXIII
THE LORD KNOWETH HOW TO DELIVER 283
XXIV
"BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL KNOW THEM" 297
XXV
ALTOGETHER BECOME ABOMINABLE 313
XXVI
AS WERE THE DAYS OF NOAH 325
XXVII
JUDGEMENT TO COME 335
XXVIII
THE LORD IS NOT SLACK 345
XXIX
"WHAT MANNER OF PERSONS OUGHT YE TO BE?" 355
XXX
BE YE STEDFAST, UNMOVABLE 365
THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. PETER
I
_THE WORK OF THE TRINITY IN MAN'S ELECTION AND SALVATION_
"Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect who are
sojourners of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: grace to you and peace
be multiplied."--1 PETER i. 1, 2.
"When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren" (Luke xxii. 32),
was the Lord's injunction to St. Peter, of which this Epistle may be
considered as a part fulfilment. So richly stored is it with counsel,
warning, and consolation that Luther, the conflicts of whose life will
bear some comparison with the trials of these Asian converts, calls it
one of the most precious portions of the New Testament Scriptures. Its
value is further enhanced because in so many places the Apostle
reverts in thought or word to his own life-history, and draws his
teaching from the rich stream of personal experience. Even the name
which he sets at the head of the letter had its lesson in connexion
with Jesus. Most Jews took a second name for profaner use in their
commerce with the heathen; but to Simon, the son of Jonas, Peter must
have been a specially sacred name, must have served as a watchword
both to himself and to all others who had learnt the story of its
bestowal and the meaning which was bound up with it.
That a letter by St. Peter should be, as this is, of a very practical
character is no more than we might expect from what we know of the
Apostle from the Gospels. Prompt in word and action, ever the
spokesman of the twelve, he seems made for a guide and leader of men.
What perhaps we should not have expected is the very definite
doctrinal language with which the Epistle opens. Nowhere in the
writings either of St. Paul or St. John do we find more full or more
instructive teaching concerning the Holy Trinity. And herein St. Peter
has been guided to choose the only order which tends to edification.
Sound lessons for Christian life must be grounded upon a right faith,
and a brother can afford no strength to his brethren unless first of
all he point them clearly to the source whence both his strength and
theirs must come.
Of the previous intercourse between St. Peter and those to whom he
writes we can only judge from the Epistle itself. The Apostle's name
disappears from New Testament history after the Council of Jerusalem
(Acts xv.), but we feel sure his labours did not cease then; and
though the first message of Christianity may have been brought to
these Asiatic provinces by St. Paul, the allusions which St. Peter
makes to the trials of the converts are such as seem impossible had he
not himself laboured among them. The frequent reminders, the special
warnings, could come only from one who knew their circumstances very
intimately. Allusions to the former lusts indulged in in their days of
ignorance, to the reproaches which they now have to suffer from their
heathen neighbours, to their going astray like lost sheep, are a few
of the unmistakable evidences of personal knowledge.
He writes to them as _sojourners of the dispersion_. In the minds of
the Jews this name would wake up sad memories of their past history.
It told of that great break in the national unity which was made by
the tarrying in Babylon of so many of the people at the time of the
return, then of those painful periods in later days when their nation,
as the vassal now of Persia, now of Greece, of Egypt, of Syria, and of
Rome, was made the sport of the world-powers as they rose and fell,
times in which Israel could see few tokens of the Divine favour, could
hear no voice of the prophet to encourage or to guide. But now to
those who had accepted the Gospel of Christ those dark years would be
seen to have been in no wise barren of blessing and of profit. The
scattered Jews had carried much of their faith abroad among the
nations; schools of religious teaching had arisen; the chosen people
in their dispersion had adopted the language best known among the
other nations; and thus the outcome of those sorrowful times had been
a preparation for the Gospel. Proselytes had been made in the
countries of their exile, and a wider field opened for the Christian
harvest. The dispersion of Israel had been made, as it were, a bridge
over which the grace of God passed for publishing the glad tidings of
the Gospel, and to gather Jew and Gentile alike into the fold of
Christ.
But it would be a mistake to restrict the word "dispersion" here to
the Jewish converts. The Apostle speaks more than once in his letter
to those who had never been Jews, to men who (i. 14) had been
fashioned according to their former lusts in ignorance; who had in
times past (ii. 10) no share with God's people; who (iv. 13) had
wrought the will of the Gentiles, walking in lasciviousness, lusts,
and abominable idolatries. To these too since their conversion the
name "dispersion" might be fitly applied. They were but a few here
and there among the multitudes of heathendom. And their acceptance of
the faith of Jesus must have given to their lives a different aspect.
It must often be so with the faithful. Their life is from the world
apart. It must have been specially thus with these Christians in Asia.
They could be verily only strangers and sojourners; their true home
could never be made among their heathen surroundings. As the Jew in
old days sighed for Jerusalem, so their hope was centred on a
Jerusalem above.
Yet God had a mission for them in the world. This is a special portion
of St. Peter's message. As the scattered Jews of old had opened a door
for the spreading of the Gospel, so the Christians of the dispersion
were to be its witnesses. Their election had made them a peculiar
people; but it was that they might show forth the praises of Him who
had called them out of darkness into His marvellous light, and that by
their good works the heathen might be won to glorify God when in His
own time He should visit them too with the day-star from on high.
But beside the words which speak of severance and pilgrimage, the
Apostle uses one of a different character. With that large charity and
hope which is stamped upon the whole of the New Testament, he calls
these scattered Christian converts the _elect_ of God. Just as St.
Paul so often includes whole Churches, even though he find in them
many things to blame and to reprove, under the title of "saints" or
"called to be saints," so it is here. And the sense of their election
is intended to be a mighty power. It is to bind them wherever they may
be scattered into one communion in Christ Jesus. Through the world
they are dispersed, but in Christ they constitute a great unity. And
the sense of this is to lift their hearts above any sorrowing for
their isolation in the world. For through Christ they have (i. 4) an
inheritance, a home, a claim of sonship; and their salvation is ready
to be revealed in the last time.
Later generations have witnessed much unprofitable controversy round
this word "election." Some men have seen nothing else in the Bible,
while others have hardly acknowledged it to be there at all. Then some
have laboured to reconcile to their understandings the two truths of
God's sovereignty and the freedom of the human will, not content to
believe that in God's economy there may be things beyond their
measure. St. Peter, like the other New Testament writers, enters on no
such discussions. Whether amid the full assurance of newly quickened
faith the first Christians found no room for intellectual
difficulties, or whether the spirit within them led them to feel that
such questions must ever be insoluble, we cannot know; but it is
instructive to note that the Scripture does not raise them. They are
the growth of later days, of times when Christianity was wide-spread,
when men had lost the feeling that they were strangers and pilgrims of
the dispersion, and were no longer prepared to welcome, with St. Peter
and St. Paul, every Christian brother into the number of God's chosen
ones, counting them as those who had been called to be saints.
Of the election of believers the Apostle here speaks in its origin,
its progress, and its consummation. He views it as a process which
must extend through the whole life, and connects its various stages
with the Three Persons of the Trinity. But, with the same practical
instinct which has already been noticed, he enters on no statements
about the nature of the Godhead in itself; he neither discusses what
may be known of God, nor how the knowledge is to be obtained. He says
no word to intimate that the mention of three Persons may be difficult
to understand in co-relation to the unity of the Godhead. Such
inquiries exercise the mind, but can hardly further, what was St.
Peter's special aim, the edification and comfort of the soul. That
result comes from the inward experience of what each Person of the
Godhead is to us, and on this the Apostle has a lesson. He makes plain
for us the share which Father, Son, and Spirit bear in the work of
human salvation. Christians, he teaches us, are elect, chosen to be
saints, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father; the election
is maintained when their lives are constantly hallowed by the
influence of the Holy Ghost; while in Christ they have not only an
example of perfect obedience after which they must strive, but a
Redeemer whose blood can cleanse them from all the sins from which the
most earnest strivings will not set them free. Of these things the
Christian soul can have experience. It is thus that the life of the
elect believer begins, grows, and is perfected.
It begins _according to the foreknowledge of God the Father_. Here St.
Peter may be his own interpreter. In his sermon on the day of
Pentecost he employs the same word, "foreknowledge," and he is the
only one who uses it in the New Testament. There (Acts ii. 23) he says
that Christ was delivered up to be crucified by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. And on the same subject in this very
chapter (i. 20) he speaks of Jesus as _foreknown_, as a Lamb without
spot and blemish before the foundation of the world. In these passages
we are carried back beyond the ages into the Divine council-chamber,
and we find the whole course of human history naked and open before
the eyes of the All-seeing. God knew even then what the history of the
human race would be, saw that sin would find an entrance into the
world, and that a sacrifice would be needed, if sinners were to be
redeemed. Yet He called the world and its tenants into being, and
provided the ransom in the person of His only Son. Why this was
well-pleasing unto Him it is not ours to discuss; whether for the
uplifting of humanity by providing an opportunity for moral obedience
or for the greater manifestation of His infinite love. But whatever
else is mysterious, one thing is plain: the counsel of the Holy One is
seen to be a counsel of mercy and of love; and though its operation
may not seldom be perplexing to our finite powers, the Apostle teaches
us that this determination from all eternity was made with infinite
tenderness. He tells us it was the ordinance of our Father. The
beginning and the end thereof are hidden from us. We learn only a
fragment of His dealings during the brief period of a human life. But
men may rest content with the proof of their election in the sound of
the Gospel message which they hear. They who are thus called may count
themselves for chosen. This call is the Divine testimony that God is
choosing them. Concerning His intention towards others who may seem to
have passed away without hearing of His love, or who are living as
though no loving message of glad tidings had ever been proclaimed, we
must rest in ignorance, only assured that the Eternal God is as truly
their Father as we know Him to be ours.
To limited human knowledge the course of the world has ever been, must
ever be, full of darkness and perplexities. Men gaze upon it as they
do upon the wrong side of a piece of tapestry as it is woven. To such
observers the pattern is always obscure, many a time quite
unintelligible. For full knowledge we have to wait to the end. Then
the web will be reversed, God's designs and their working
comprehended; we shall know even as we are known, and, with hearts and
voices tuned to praise, shall cry, "He hath done all things well." Of
such a revelation the poet (Shelley, _Adonais_, Stanza lii.) sings, a
revelation of the all-seeing, unchanging Jehovah and of the glorious
enlightenment that shall be in His presence:--
"The one remains, the many change and pass;
Heaven's light for ever shines, earth's shadows fly:
Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass,
Stains the white radiance of eternity,
Until death tramples it to fragments."
In this wise would St. Peter have us think of the grace of election.
It has its beginning from our Father; its fulfilment will also be with
Him. The measure and the manner of its bestowal are according to His
foreknowledge, according to the same foreknowledge which provided in
Christ an atonement for sin, which appointed Him to die, and that not
for some sinners only, but for the sins of the whole world.
But in the call according to God's foreknowledge the believer is not
perfected. He must live worthily of his calling. And as his election
at the first is of God, so the power to hold it fast is a Divine gift.
He who would rejoice over God's election must feel and constantly
foster within himself _the sanctification of the Spirit_. To be made
holy is his great need. This demands a life of progress, of renewal, a
daily endeavour to restore the image which was lost at the Fall. "Be
ye holy, for I am holy," is a fundamental precept of both Old and New
Testaments; and it is a continual admonition, speaking unto Christians
that they go forward. Under the Law the lesson was enforced by
external symbols. Holy ground, holy days, holy offices, kept men alive
to the need of preparation, of purification, before they could be fit
to draw near unto God or for God to draw near unto them.
For us there is opened a more excellent way: the inward, spiritual
cleansing of the heart. Christ has gone away where He was before, and
sends down to His servants the Holy Ghost, who bestows power that the
election of the Father may be made sure. Hence we can understand those
frequent exhortations in the epistles, "Walk in the Spirit"; "Live in
the Spirit"; "Quench not the Spirit." The Christian life is a
struggle. The flesh is ever striving for the mastery. This enemy the
believer must do to death. And as aforetime, so now, sanctification
begins with purification. Christ sanctifies His Church, those whom He
has called to Him out of the world; and the manner is by cleansing
them through the washing of water with the word. Here we gladly think
of that sacrament which He ordained for admission into the Church as
the beginning of this Divine operation, as the wonted entrance of the
Holy Ghost for His work of purifying. But that work must be continued.
He is called "holy" because He makes men holy by His abode with them.
And Christ has described for us how this is brought to pass. "He shall
take of Mine," says our Lord, "and shall show it unto you. All things
that the Father hath are Mine" (John xvi. 14, 15). Every good gift,
which the Father who calls men hath, the Spirit is sent to impart. The
words speak of the gradual manner of its bestowal; all things may be
given, but they are given little by little, as men can or are fit to
receive them. He shall take a portion of what is Mine, is the literal
meaning of the Evangelist's phrase (John xvi. 15). The plural phrase
πάντα ὅσα ἔχει ὁ πατηρ marks the boundless supply,
the singular ἐκ τῦu ἐμοῦ λήμπσεται the Spirit's choice of such a
portion therefrom as best suits the receiver's needs and powers. In
this wise men may become gradually conformed to the image of Christ,
grow more and more like Him day by day. More and more will they
drink in of the whole truth, and more and more will they be sanctified.
In this daily enlightenment must God's faithful ones live, a life
whose atmosphere is the hallowing influence of the Holy Ghost. But it
is to be no mere life of receptivity, with no effort of their own. The
Apostle makes this clear elsewhere, when he says, "Sanctify the Lord
God in your hearts" (iii. 15)--make them fit abodes for His Spirit to
dwell in; lead your lives in holy conversation, that the house may be
swept and garnished, and you be vessels sanctified and meet for the
Master's use.
Thus chosen by the Father and led onward by the Spirit, the Christian
is brought ever nearer to the full purpose of his calling: _unto
obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ_. The
Christ-pattern which the Spirit sets before men is in no feature more
striking than in its perfect obedience. The prophetic announcement of
this submission sounds down to us from the Psalms: "Lo, I come to do
Thy will, O God"; and the incarnate Son declares of Himself, "My meat
is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work": and
even in the hour of His supreme agony His word is still, "Father, not
My will, but Thine, be done." Specially solemn, almost startling, is
the language of the Apostle to the Hebrews when he says of Jesus that
"He learned obedience by the things which He suffered," and that "it
became the Father, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make Christ,
the Captain of their salvation, perfect through suffering." With the
Lord as an example, obedience is made the noblest, the New Testament
form of sacrifice.
But when such obedience was connected with the sprinkling of the blood
of Jesus, the Jews among St. Peter's converts must have been carried
in thought to that scene described in Exod. xxiv. There, through Moses
as a mediator, we read of God's law being made known to Israel, and
the people with one voice promised obedience: "All the words which the
Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient." Then followed a
sacrifice; and Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people,
saying, "Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made
with you concerning all these words"; and the Lord drew nigh unto His
people, and the sight of the glory of the Lord on Mount Sinai was like
devouring fire in the eyes of the children of Israel.
For Christians there is a Mediator of a better covenant. We are not
come unto the mount that burned with fire, but unto Mount Zion (Heb.
xii. 18-22). In that other sacrament of His own institution, our Lord
makes us partakers of the benefits of His passion. With His own blood
He constantly maketh His people pure, fitting them to appear in the
presence of the Father. There at length the purpose of their election
shall be complete in fulness of joy in the sight of Him who chose them
before the foundation of the world.
Thus does the Apostle set forth his practical, profitable lessons on
the work of the Trinity in man's election and salvation; and he
concludes them with a benediction part of which is very frequent in
the letters of St. Paul: _Grace to you and peace_. The early preachers
felt that these two blessings travelled hand in hand, and comprised
everything which a believer could need: God's favour and the happiness
which is its fruit. Grace is the nurture of the Christian life; peace
is its character. These strangers of the dispersion had been made
partakers of the Divine grace. This very letter was one gift more, the
consolation of which we can well conceive. But St. Peter models his
benediction to be a fitting sequel to his previous teaching. _Grace_,
he says, _to you and peace be multiplied_. The verb "be multiplied" is
only used by him here and in the Second Epistle, and by St. Jude,
whose letter has so much in common with St. Peter's.
In this prayer the same thought is with him as when he spake of the
stages of the Christian election. There must ever be growth as the
sign of life. Let them hold fast the grace already received, and more
would be bestowed. Grace for grace is God's rule of giving, new store
for what has been rightly used. This one word of his prayer would say
to them, Seek constantly greater sanctification, more holiness, from
the Spirit; yield your will to God in imitation of Jesus, who
sanctified Himself that His servants might be sanctified. Then, though
you be strangers of the dispersion, though the world will have none of
you, you shall be kept in perfect peace, and feel sure that you can
trust His words who says to His warfaring servants, "Be of good cheer;
I have overcome the world."
II
_THE HEAVENLY INHERITANCE_
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
according to His great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an
inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven for you, who by the power of God are
guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in
the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a
little while, if need be, ye have been put to grief in manifold
temptations, that the proof of your faith, being more precious
than gold that perisheth, though it is proved by fire, might be
found unto praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus
Christ: whom not having seen ye love; on whom, though now ye see
Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable
and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the
salvation of your souls."--1 PETER i. 3-9.
"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," words true of
all this letter, but of no part more true than of the thanksgiving
with which it opens. The Apostle recalls those dark three days in
which the life he bore was worse than death. His vaunted fidelity had
been put to the proof, and had failed in the trial; his denial had
barred the approach to the Master whom he had disowned. The
crucifixion of Jesus had followed close upon His arrest, and Peter's
bitter tears of penitence could avail nothing. He to whom they might
have appealed was lying in the grave. The Apostle's repentant weeping
saved him from a Judas-like despair, but dreary must have been the
desolation of his soul until the Easter morning's message told him
that Jesus was alive again.
We can understand the fervency of his thanksgiving: _Blessed be God,
which hath begotten us again by the resurrection of Christ from the
dead_. No better image than the gift of a new life could he find to
describe the restoration that came with the words of the angel from
the empty tomb, "He is risen; go your way: tell His disciples and
Peter that He goeth before you into Galilee." The Lord forgave His
sinning, sorrowing servant, and through this forgiveness he lived
again, and bears printed for ever on his heart the memory of that
life-giving. The very form of his phrase in this verse is an echo from
the resurrection morning: _Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ_.
Only in a few passages resembling this in St. Paul's epistles[1] is
God called "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ." But Peter is mindful of
the Lord's own words to Mary, "Go unto My brethren and say unto them,
I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and My God and your God"
(John xx. 17); and now that he is made one of Christ's heralds, the
feeder of His sheep, he publishes the same message which was the
source of his own highest joy, and which he would make a joy for them
likewise. That God is called theirs, even as He is Christ's, is an
earnest that Jesus has made them His brethren indeed. To the doctrine
of their election according to the foreknowledge of the Father he now
adds the further grace which couples the Fatherhood of God with the
brotherhood of Christ.
[1] 2 Cor. i. 3, xi. 31; Eph. i. 3, with which may be compared Rom.
xvi. 6.
That these gifts are purely of God's grace he also implies: _He begat
us again_. Just as in natural birth the child is utterly of the will
of the parents, so is it in the spiritual new birth. _According to
God's great mercy_ we are born again and made heirs of all the
consequent blessings. This passage from death unto life is rich, in
the first place, in immediate comfort. Witness the rejoicing amidst
his grief which St. Peter experienced when he could cry to the Master,
"Lord, Thou knowest all things: Thou knowest that I love Thee." But
the new life looks for ever onward. It will be unbroken through
eternity. Here we may taste the joy of our calling, may learn
something of the Father's love, of the Saviour's grace, of the
Spirit's help; but our best expectations centre ever in the future.
The Apostle terms these expectations a lively, or rather _a living,
hope_. The Christian's hope is living because Christ is alive again
from the dead. It springs with ever-renewed life from that rent tomb.
The grave is no longer a terminus. Life and hope endure beyond it. And
more than this, there is a fresh principle of vitality infused into
the soul of the new-born child of God. The Spirit, the Life-giver, has
made His abode there; and death is swallowed up of victory.
In continuing his description of the living hope of the believer, the
Apostle keeps in mind his simile of Fatherhood and sonship, and gives
to the hope the further title of _an inheritance_. As sons of Adam,
men are heirs from their birth, but only to the sad consequences of
the primal transgression. Slaves they are, and not free men, as that
other law in their members gives them daily proof. But in the
resurrection of Jesus the agonised cry of St. Paul, "Who shall deliver
me?" (Rom. vii. 24), has found its answer. Christians are begotten
again, not to defeat and despair, but to a hope which is eternal, to
an inheritance which will endure beyond the grave. And as in their
spiritual growth they are ever aspiring to an ideal above and beyond
them, in respect of the saintly inheritance they have a like
experience. They begin to grasp it now in part, and have even here a
precious earnest of the larger blessedness; they are sealed by the
Holy Spirit of promise and marked as the redeemed of God's own
possession (Eph. i. 13, 14). But that which shall be is rich with an
exceeding wealth of glory; Christ keeps the good wine of His grace to
the last.
How beggared earthly speech appears when we essay by it to picture the
glory that shall be revealed for us! The inheritance of the
Christian's hope demands for its description those unspeakable words
which St. Paul heard in paradise, but could not utter. The tongues of
men are constrained to fall back upon negatives. What it will be we
cannot express. We only know some evils from which it will be free. It
shall be _incorruptible_, like the God and Father (Rom. i. 23) who
bestows it. _Eternal_, it shall contain within it no seed of decay,
nothing which can cause it to perish. Neither shall it be subject to
injury from without. It shall be _undefiled_, for we are to share it
with our elder Brother, our High-priest (Heb. vii. 26), who is now
made higher than the heavens. Earthly possessions are often sullied,
now by the way they are attained, now by the way they are used.
Neither spot nor blemish shall tarnish the beauty of the heavenly
inheritance. It shall _never fade away_. It is amaranthine, like the
crown of glory (1 Peter v. 4) which the chief Shepherd shall bestow at
His appearing; it is as the unwithering flowers of paradise.
Nor are these the only things which make the heavenly to differ from
the earthly inheritance. In this life, ere a son can succeed to
heirship, the parent through whom it is derived must have passed away;
while the many heirs to an earthly estate diminish, as their number
increases, the shares of all the rest. From such conditions the
Christian's future is free. His Father is the Eternal God, his
inheritance the inexhaustible bounty of heaven. Each and all who share
therein will find an increase of joy as the number grows of those who
claim this eternal Fatherhood, and with it a place in the Father's
home.
St. Peter adds another feature which gives further assurance to the
believer's hope. The inheritance is reserved. Concerning it there can
be no thought of dwindling or decay. It is where neither rust nor moth
can corrupt, and where not even the archthief Satan himself can break
through to steal. There needs no preservation of the incorruptible and
undefiled, but it is especially kept for those for whom it is
prepared. He who has gone before to make it ready said, "I go to
prepare it for you." The Apostle has made choice of his preposition
advisedly. He says, ἐις ὑμᾶς[2]--on your behalf; for your
own possession. The inheritance is where Christ has gone before us, in
heaven, of which we can best think, as Himself hath taught us, as the
place "where He was before" (John vi. 62), the Father's house, in
which are many mansions. There it is in store, till we are made ready
for it.
[2] The better reading, looking back to the ἡμᾶς of ver. 3,
appears to be ἐις ἡμᾶ, and it is well supported.
For the present life is only a preparation-time. Ere we are ready to
depart we must pass through a probation. God suffers His beloved ones
to be chastened, but He sends with the trial the means of rescue. They
are _guarded_. The word which St. Peter here uses is one applicable to
a military guard, such as would be needed in the country of an enemy.
God sees what we stand in need of. For we are still in the territory
of the prince of this world. But mark the abundant protection: _by the
power of God through faith_. The Apostle's language sets our
guardianship forth under a double aspect. The Christian is "in"
(ἐν) "the power of God." Here is the strength of our
wardship. Under such care the believer is enabled to walk amid the
trials of the world unscathed. Yet the Divine shield around him is not
made effective unless he do his part also. Through faith the shelter
becomes impregnable. The Christian goes forward with full assurance,
his eyes fixed on the goal of duty which his Master has set before
him, and, heedless of assailants, perseveres in the struggles which
beset him. Then, even in the fiercest fires of trial, he beholds by
his side the Son of God, and hears the voice, "It is I; be not
afraid."
Thus to the faithful warfarer the victory is sure. And to this
certainty St. Peter points as he continues, and calls the heavenly
inheritance a _salvation_. This will be the consummation. "Sursum
corda" is the believer's constant watchword. The completed bliss will
not be attained here. But when the veil is lifted which separates this
life from the next, it is ready to be manifested and to ravish the
sight with its glory. The sense of this salvation ready to be revealed
nerves the heart for every conflict. By faith weakness grows mighty.
Thus comes to pass the paradox of the Christian life, which none but
the faithful can comprehend: "When I am weak, then I am strong"; "I
can do all things through Christ, that giveth me power."
Hence comes the wondrous spectacle, which St. Peter was contemplating,
and which amazed the heathen world, exceeding joy in the midst of
sufferings. _Wherein ye greatly rejoice_, he says. Some have thought
him to be referring to a mental realisation of the last time, about
which he has just spoken, a realisation so vivid to the faith of these
converts that they could exult in the prospect as though it had
already arrived. And this exposition is countenanced in some degree by
words which follow (ver. 9), where he describes them as now receiving
the end of their faith, even the salvation of their souls.
But it seems less forced to consider the Apostle as speaking with some
knowledge of the circumstances of these Asian Christians, a knowledge
of the trials they had to undergo, and how hope was animating them to
look onwards towards their inheritance, which was but a little while
in reversion, towards the salvation which was so soon to be revealed.
Full of this hope, he says, ye greatly rejoice, though ye have had
many things to suffer. Then he proceeds to dwell on some of the
grounds for their consolation. Their trials, they knew, were but for a
little while, not a moment longer than the need should be. Their
sorrow would have an end; their joy would last for evermore.
The form of St. Peter's words,[3] it is true, seems to imply that
there must always be the need for our chastening. And what else can
the children of Adam expect? But it is He, the Father in heaven, who
fixes both the nature and the duration of His children's discipline.
Some men have felt within themselves the need of chastisement so
keenly that they have devised systems for themselves whereby they
should mortify the flesh, and prepare themselves for the last time.
But of self-appointed chastenings the Apostle does not speak. Of such
the converts to whom he writes had no need. They _had been put to
grief in manifold temptations_.
[3]Ἐι δέον ἐστί--if need be, as need there is.
We can gather from the Epistle itself some notion of the troublous
life these scattered Christians had amid the crowd of their heathen
neighbours. They were regarded with contempt for refusing to mingle in
the excesses which were so marked a feature of heathen life and
heathen worship. They were railed upon as evil-doers. They suffered
innocently, were constantly assailed with threatenings, and passed
their time oft in such terror that St. Peter describes their life as a
fiery trial.
Yet in the word (ποικίλος) which he here employs to picture
the varied character of their sufferings we seem to have another hint
that these did not fall out without the permission and watchful
control of God Himself. It is a word which, while it tells of a
countless variety, tells at the same time of fitness and order
therein. The trials are meted out fitly, as men need and can profit by
them. The Master's eye and hand are at work through them all; and the
faithful God keeps always ready a way of deliverance. In this wise
does St. Peter proclaim that the putting to grief may be made unto us
a dispensation of mercy. Himself had been so put to grief by the
thrice-repeated question, "Lovest thou Me?" (John xxi. 17). But a way
was opened thereby for repentance of his triple denial, and that he
might thrice over be entrusted with the feeding of Christ's flock.
Such was the putting to grief of the Corinthian Church (2 Cor. vii.
9) by St. Paul's first letter, for it wrought in them repentance, so
that they sorrowed after a godly sort. And such sorrow can exist side
by side with, yea be the source of, exceeding joy. The Apostle of the
Gentiles is a witness when he says that he and his fellow-labourers
are "sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing" (2 Cor. vi. 10).
The Christian does not allow troubles to overwhelm him. The very
comparison which St. Peter here institutes, speaking though it does of
a furnace of trial, bears within it somewhat of consolation. Gold that
is proved by the fire loses all the dross which clung about it and was
mingled with it before the refining. It comes forth in all its purity,
all its worth; and so shall it be with the believer after his
probation. The things of earth will lose their value in his eyes; they
will fall away from him, neither will he load himself with the thick
clay of the world's honours or wealth. The ties of such things have
been sundered by his trials, and his heart is free to rise above the
anxieties of time. And better even than the most refined gold, which,
be it never so excellent, will yet be worn away, the faith of the
believer comes forth stronger for all trial, and he shall hear at the
last the welcome of the Master, "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord,"
the joy which He bestows, the joy which He shares with those that
follow Him.
This is the revelation of Jesus Christ of which St. Peter speaks. This
is the praise which through His atonement His servants shall find, and
shall become sharers of the glory and honour which the Father has
bestowed upon Him. To Christ then turns every affection. _Whom not
having seen ye love._ This is the test since Christ's ascension, and
has the promise of special blessing. To His doubting Apostle Christ
vouchsafed the evidence he desired, for our teaching as well as for
his; but He added therewith, "Blessed are they which have not seen and
yet have believed." And their joy is such as no tongue can tell. Not
for that are they silent in their rejoicing; their hearts overflow,
and their voices go forth in constant songs of praise. But ever there
remains with them the sense, "The half has not been told."
For faith anticipates the bliss which God hath prepared for them that
love Him, and enters into the unseen. The Holy Spirit within the soul
is ever making fuller revelation of the deep things of God. The
believer's knowledge is ever increasing; the eye-salve of faith clears
his spiritual vision. The thanksgivings of yesterday are poor when
considered in the illumination of to-day. His joy also is glorified.
As his aspirations soar heavenward, the glory from on high comes
forth, as it were, to meet him. By gazing in faith on the coming Lord,
the Christian progresses, through the power of the Spirit, from glory
to glory; and the ever-growing radiance is a part of that grace which
no words can tell. But so true, so real, is the sense of Christ's
presence that the Apostle describes it as full fruition. Believers
_receive even now the end of their faith, the salvation of their
souls_. So assured does He make them of all which they have hoped for
that they behold already the termination of their journey, the close
of all trial, and are filled with the bliss which shall be fully
theirs when Christ shall come to call His approved servants to their
inheritance of salvation.
III
_THE UNITY AND GLORIOUSNESS OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION_
"Concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched
diligently, who prophesied of the grace that _should come_ unto
you: searching what _time_ or what manner of time the Spirit of
Christ which was in them did point unto, when it testified
beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should
follow them. To whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves,
but unto you, did they minister these things, which now have been
announced unto you through them that preached the Gospel unto you
by the Holy Ghost sent forth from heaven; which things angels
desire to look into."--1 PETER i. 10-12.
The message of the Gospel unlocks the treasures of Old Testament
revelation. Evangelists and Apostles are the exponents of the
prophets. The continuity of Divine revelation has never been broken.
The Spirit which spake through Joel of the pentecostal outpouring had
spoken to men in the earlier days, to Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and
David, and was now shed forth upon the first preachers of the Gospel,
and bestowed abundantly for the work of the newly founded Church of
Christ. St. Peter, himself a chief recipient of the gift, here
proclaims the oneness of the whole of revelation; and more than this,
he bears witness to the oneness of the teaching of the whole body of
Christian missionaries. St. Paul and his fellow-labourers had spread
the glad tidings first of all among these Asian converts; but there
is no thought in St. Peter's mind of a different gospel from his own.
Those who preached the Gospel to them in the first instance were, even
as himself, working in and by the same Holy Spirit.
In the preceding verses of the chapter the thoughts of the Apostle
have been dwelling on the future, on the time when the hope of the
believer shall attain its fruition, and faith shall be lost in sight.
He now turns his glance backward to notice how the promise of
salvation has been the subject of revelation through all time. To
those among the converts who had studied the Jewish Scriptures such a
retrospect would be fruitful in instruction. They would comprehend
with him how the truths which they now heard preached had been
gradually shadowed forth in the Divine economy. That first
proclamation of the seed of the woman to be born for the overthrow of
the tempter, but who yet must Himself be a Sufferer in the conflict,
was now become luminous, and in outline presented the whole scheme of
redemption. The study of the development of that scheme would beget a
full trust in their hearts for the future as they contemplated the
stages of its foreshadowing in the past.
_Concerning which salvation_, he says, _the prophets sought and
searched diligently_. The Divine revelation could only be made as men
were able to bear it, and the sentences of old must needs be dark. At
first God's love was set forth by His covenants with the patriarchs.
Then the wider scope of mercy was proclaimed in the promises given to
Abraham and repeated to his posterity. In their seed, it was declared,
not the chosen race alone, but all the nations of the earth, should be
blessed. Here all through the history was ground enough for diligent
searching among the faithful. How could these things be, Abraham
solitary and aged, Isaac's sons at feud with each other, Jacob and his
posterity in captivity? Even at their best estate these seemed little
fitted for the destiny which had been foretold to them. But throughout
the Mosaic history some clung to their faith, and their great leader
foresaw that the promise would be fulfilled in its time through One of
whom he was but a feeble representative. But to so wide a vision only
a few attained.
In the evil days which followed, the hope of the people must often
have dwindled down; but yet at times, as to Gideon's diminished army,
it was made manifest that the Lord could do great things for His
people: and the thought of the seed of the woman promised as a
Deliverer lingered in many hearts, and enabled them to sing in
thankfulness how the adversaries of the Lord should be broken in
pieces, how out of heaven the Lord should thunder upon them, and prove
Himself the Judge of all the ends of the earth, giving strength unto
His king and exalting the horn of His anointed. In such wise the
prophetic teaching, which had advanced from the blessing of an
individual to the choice and exaltation of a chosen family, was
expanded in the noblest spirits to the conception of a kingdom of God
among all mankind, and assumed a more definite form when the promise
was made to the Son of David that His throne should be established for
ever.
But how imperfectly God's design was comprehended by the best among
them we can see from the last words of David himself (2 Sam. xxiii.
1-7). In them we have an instance of the searching which must have
occupied other hearts beside that of the king of Israel. The Spirit of
the Lord had spoken by him, and a promise of future glory had been
made, when all should be brightness, every cloud dispersed. But the
vision tarried. The house of David was not so with God. Yet he still
held firmly to the everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and
sure, a covenant of salvation, though as yet God made it not to grow.
David may be numbered among those _who prophesied of the grace that
should come_ hereafter; and his words are shaped by a power above his
own, to suggest the advent of Him who was to be the "dayspring from on
high."
He and the other enlightened Israelites who have left us their
thoughts and aspirations in the Psalter felt that the history of the
chosen people was from first to last a grand parable (Psalm lxxviii.
2), and that the present could always be learning from the leading and
discipline of the past. The miracles and the chastisements which they
recite were all tokens of the sure promise, tokens that the people
were not forgotten, but constantly aided by instruction, warning, and
reproof. So that another psalmist, though still searching for the
fuller meaning of the parables and dark sayings through which he was
conducted, could sing, "God shall redeem my soul from the hand of the
grave, for He shall take me" (Psalm xlix. 15). There is a confidence
in the words, a confidence enough to sustain amid many trials. To such
a man the present was not all. There was a life to come where God
should be and rule, and his heart had not seldom gone forth to the
questioning _at what time and in what form_ the promises should be
fulfilled. Like Abraham, such men had seen the day of Christ in vision
and rejoiced over it, and the _Spirit of Christ was within them_ to
sustain them. But the things which they had heard and known, and of
which their fathers had told them, supplied cause for deep searchings
as _to the time and the manner of time unto which the Spirit
pointed_. The strength of the Lord and His wondrous works were to be
rehearsed to the coming generations, that among them the hope might
live, by them the searching be continued. And as time went on the
vision was widened, for in no small number of the Psalms we find the
promised blessedness described as the portion not of Israel only, but
through Israel grace was to be extended to the ends of the earth.
"Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands," is no solitary
invocation.
And when we turn to those prophets whose writings we possess, we
recognise that in them the Spirit of Christ was working and pointing
forward to the coming redemption. But long before the days of Isaiah
and Micah the Spirit of the Lord had come mightily upon His servants,
and that picture of a glorious future which both those seers have
given to us was not improbably the utterance of some earlier servant
of the Lord: "It shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain
of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains
and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto
it" (Isa. ii. 2; Micah iv. 1). Thus far had they attained, but the
search was not ended. "The last days"! When these should come was
known to God alone; and they spake only as they were moved by Him,
standing on their towers of spiritual elevation, hearkening what the
Lord would say to them, and delivering His message with all the
fulness they could command. But they were sure of the final bliss.
Of the same character are those words of Joel, which St. Peter quoted
in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, "It shall come to pass
_afterward_" (ii. 28). Beyond this was not yet revealed. But it was
the voice of God which spake through the prophet: "In those days I
will pour out My Spirit." And the Divine voice spake of visitations of
another kind. It _testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and
the glories that should follow them_. We feel sure that here St. Peter
had in mind Isa. liii., which the New Testament has taught us to apply
in its fullest sense to our blessed Lord.
But the language of St. Peter in this clause deserves special notice.
He does not use the ordinary words by which the personal sufferings of
Christ would generally be expressed, but he says rather, "the
sufferings which pertain unto Christ." And here we may well consider
whether the variation of phrase be not designed. St. Paul uses the
simple direct expression (2 Cor. i. 5), and so does St. Peter himself
(1 Peter iv. 13); and in those passages the Apostles are speaking of
the sufferings of Christ as shared by His people. It would almost seem
as if St. Peter's phrase in the verse before us were intended to
convey this sense more fully. The sufferings pertain unto Christ, were
specially borne by Him; but they fall also upon those who are, and
have been, His people, both before and after the Incarnation.
Those prophecies of Isaiah which speak of the sufferings of the
servant of the Lord had long been expounded as meant of the Jewish
nation, and with such interpretation St. Peter was doubtless familiar.
Hence may have come his altered phrase, capable of being interpreted,
not only of Christ Himself, but of the sufferings of those who, like
these Asiatic converts, were for the Lord's sake exposed to manifold
trials. This double application of the words, to Christ and to His
servants also, explains, it may be, the unique use of the word
"glories" in the clause which follows: the sufferings of Christ and
the _glories_ that should follow them. For the glories may be taken to
signify not only that honour and glory which the Father has given unto
Christ, but also the glory in which they shall share who have taken up
their cross to follow Him. Nowhere else in the New Testament does this
plural word occur. To draw a sense like this from it would minister no
small comfort to the Christians in their trials; and just before St.
Peter has described the joy which they should experience as
"glorified," or "full of glory" (ver. 8). In like manner St. Paul
speaks (Rom. viii. 18) of the sufferings of this present time as not
worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us in
the resurrection.
It would also serve as consolation to the sufferers, who were thus
pointed on to the future for Christ's best gifts, to know that a
similar forward glance had been the lot of the prophets under the
ancient dispensation. One here and there had felt, as Malachi (iii.
1), that the Lord whom they were seeking was soon to come; but we know
of none before the aged Simeon to whom it had been made known that
they should not die till they had seen the Lord's Christ. To the
former generations _it was revealed_, says the Apostle, _that not unto
themselves, but unto you, did they minister these things_. They beheld
them, and greeted them, but it was afar off. They spake often one to
another of a bliss that was to come; yet though praying, longing, and
hoping for it, they saw it only with the eye of faith. The psalmists
supply many illustrations of this forward projection of the thoughts
which dwelt on the Messianic hope. Thus in Psalm xxii. 30, 31, while
rejoicing over his own rescue from suffering, the speaker recognises
that this is but a foreshadowing of another suffering and another
deliverance, even the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should
follow. "It shall be told of the Lord unto the next generation. They
shall come; they shall declare His righteousness to a people that
shall be born, that He hath done it," and again in another place,
"This shall be written for the generation to come, and a people which
shall be created shall praise the Lord" (Psalm cii. 18). And these
anticipations are ever coupled with the thought of the wider extension
of the kingdom of God, with the time when "all the ends of the world
shall remember and turn unto the Lord," "when the nations shall fear
the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth His glory."
But the things which prophets and psalmists ministered _have now been
announced unto you through them that preached the Gospel unto you_.
You, St. Peter would say, are now not heirs expectant, but possessors
of the blessings which former ages of believers foresaw and foretold,
just as in his pentecostal address he testifies, "This is that which
was spoken by the prophet Joel." And those who have preached these
glad tidings unto you, he continues, have not done so without warrant.
They are joined by an unbroken link to the prophets who went before
them. In those the Spirit of Christ wrought at such times as He found
fit instruments for raising a little the veil that lay over the
purposes of God. The preachers of the Gospel have the same Spirit, and
speak unto you _by the Holy Ghost sent forth from heaven_. These (and
of St. Peter is this specially true) had witnessed the sufferings of
Christ, and been made partakers of the glories of the outpoured
Spirit. The promise of the Father had been fulfilled to them, and they
had received a mouth and wisdom which their adversaries were not able
to resist. The risen Lord, the assurance of a life to come, the
guidance by the Spirit into all truth--these were now realities for
them, and were to be made real for the rest of the world by their
testimony.
And that he may further magnify that salvation which he has been
describing as published in part under the Law and now assured by the
message of the Gospel, he adds, _which things angels desire to look
into_. Of the whole Divine plan for man's redemption the angels could
hardly be cognisant. Of God's love for man they had been made
conscious, had been employed as His agents in the exhibition of that
love, both under the old and under the new covenant. Their ministry,
we know, was exercised in the lives of Abraham and Lot; they watched
over Jacob and over Elijah in their solitude and weariness. One of
their host was sent to deliver Daniel and to instruct the prophet
Zechariah. At a later day they, who stand above mankind in the order
of creation, and are pure enough to behold the presence of the Most
High, were made messengers to announce how the Son of God had deigned
to assume, not their nature, but the nature of humanity, and would by
His suffering lift up the race from its slavery to sin. They
proclaimed the birth of the Baptist, and brought the message of the
Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin. They heralded the birth of Christ
to the shepherds of Bethlehem, and a multitude of their glorious
company sang the song of glory to God in the highest. They tended the
God-Man at His temptation, strengthened Him in His agony, were present
at His sepulchre, and gave the news of the Resurrection to the early
visitants. Nor were their services at an end with Christ's ascension,
though they were present on that occasion also. To Cornelius and to
Peter angels were made messengers, and our Lord has told us that
their rejoicing is great over even one sinner that repenteth.
These immortal spirits whose home is before God's throne, and whose
great office is to sing His praise, yet find in those ministrations to
mankind in which they have been employed matter for admiration, matter
which kindles in them fervent desire. They long to comprehend in all
its fulness that grace which they are conscious God is shedding forth
upon mankind. They would scan[4] all the workings of His love and His
forbearance towards sinners. These things are to them a subject of
admiration, even as was the empty tomb of Jesus to the disciples after
the Resurrection; and from their high estate the angelic host would
fain stoop down to gaze their fill upon what God's goodness has
wrought and is working out for mankind. They feel that this knowledge
would add a new theme to the songs around the throne, would give them
still greater cause to extol that grace which manifests its noblest
features in showing mercy and pity.
[4] παρακύψαι is the word employed to describe the stooping
of the disciples and Mary that they might look into the grave of Jesus
(Luke xxiv. 12; John xx. 5, 11).
And if such be the aspiration of angels, sinless beings who feel not
the need of rescue, shall the tongues of men be dumb, men who know,
each from the experience of his own heart, how great is the evil of
sin in which they are entangled, how hopeless without Christ's death
was their deliverance from its thraldom; who know how constant and how
undeserved is the mercy of which they are partakers, how true to
Himself God has been in their case? "I am Jehovah; I change not:
therefore ye children of men are not destroyed."
IV
_THE CHRISTIAN'S IDEAL, AND THE STEPS THEREUNTO_
"Wherefore girding up the loins of your mind, be sober and set
your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you
at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as children of obedience, not
fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts _in the time
of_ your ignorance: but like as He which called you is holy, be
ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living; because it is
written, Ye shall be holy; for I am holy. And if ye call on Him
as Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to
each man's work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear:
knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with
silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from
your fathers; but with precious blood, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot, _even the blood_ of Christ: who was
foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was
manifested at the end of the times for your sake, who through Him
are believers in God, which raised Him from the dead, and gave
Him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God."--1 PETER
i. 13-21.
The Apostle, who has set forth the character of the Christian's
election, who has given to the converts large assurance for the hope
which he exhorts them to hold, who has proclaimed the exceeding glory
of their inheritance in the future and how its nature had been
foreshadowed in type and prophecy, now turns to those practical
lessons which he would enforce from the doctrines of election and of
the future glory in heaven. Such glorious privileges cannot be looked
forward to without awakening a sense of corresponding duties, and for
these he would not have them unprepared. _Wherefore_, he says, because
you have the assurance of what the best men of old only dimly foresaw,
_girding up the loins of your mind, be sober_. The Apostle has in mind
the words of his Master, "Let your loins be girded about, and your
lamps burning; and be ye yourselves like unto men looking for their
lord" (Luke xii. 35, 36). The advent of the bridegroom may be sudden;
those who would be of his train must be prepared for their summons. To
be girt in body is a token of readiness for coming duty. And St.
Peter's figure would speak more forcibly to Eastern ears than it does
to ours. Without such girding the Oriental is helpless for active
work, the encumbrance of his flowing robes being fatal to exertion.
The heart of the Christian must be untrammelled with the cares, the
affections, the pleasures of the world. He must be free to run the
race which lies before him, as was the well-girt prophet who ran
before the royal chariot to the entrance of Jezreel.
And the Christian life is no light care, as St. Peter pictures it.
First, he says, _Be sober_. To train the mind to exercise
self-restraint is no easy duty at any time, but specially in a season
of religious excitement. We know how converts in the very earliest
days of Christianity were carried into excesses both in action and in
word; and in every age of quickened activity some have been found with
whom freedom degenerated into licence, and emotion took the place of
true religious feeling. The Jewish converts in the provinces of Asia
might be tempted to despise those who still clung to the ancient
faith, while some of those who had been won from heathenism might by
their conduct alienate rather than win their brethren in Christ. We
gather what was the nature of the peril when we find the Apostle (iv.
7) urging this sobriety as a frame of mind to be cultivated even in
their prayers, and St. Paul in his advice to Timothy combining the
exhortation to sobriety with "Suffer hardship; do the work of an
evangelist" (2 Tim. iv. 5). It is the frame of mind meet for the
maintenance of sound doctrine, utterly opposed to those itching ears
which are only satisfied with teaching according to their own lusts.
Fitly therefore does our Apostle add to his first exhortation a second
which will make the believers steadfast: _Set your hope perfectly on
the grace that is to be brought unto you_. In those early days this
counsel was not always easy to follow. There were many enticements to
wavering, many trials which made the firm hold on strong faith
difficult to maintain. And with the "perfectly" must be combined that
other sense of the word "to the end." The hope must be perfect in its
nature, unshaken in its firmness, persuaded of the certainty of the
future grace, and strengthened in that persuasion by the experience of
the present working of the Spirit. But the language of the Apostle
almost anticipates the future. He says not so much that the grace is
"to be brought," but rather that it is even now "being brought" near
and coming ever nearer; for the revelation of Jesus Christ is
progressive. Though we learn something, it is only so much as teaches
us that there is more still to learn of the boundless stores of grace.
But as in a former verse he spake of believers as having already by
faith their salvation in possession, even such is his language here.
And mark his lesson on the free gift of God s grace. It is not a
blessing to which the believer can attain of his own power. He can
hope for it; he can feel assured that God in His own time will bestow
it. But whenever it comes, either as present grace to help in trial,
or future grace which shall be revealed, it is given, brought,
bestowed; and its full fruition will only be reached _at the
revelation of Jesus Christ_. But assuredly these words may be applied
to this life as well as to the next. He who said, "The Holy Spirit
shall take of Mine and declare it unto you," designs to be ever more
and more revealed in the hearts of His followers. His grace is being
brought to them day by day, and trains continually unto obedience
those who have been sprinkled with His blood.
And this obedience is the next precept for which they are to be made
ready by the girding up of the loins of their minds, _as children of
obedience_, the obedience not of slaves, but of sons. Children they
are become by virtue of the new birth, and obedience it is which gives
them a claim upon God's Fatherhood. They must seek for the docility
and trustfulness of the childlike character; they must accept a law
other than their own wills, having taken upon them the yoke of Christ
and aiming, in the light of His example, to become worthy of being
reckoned among His true followers.
When they contemplate their own lives, they must feel that a mighty
change is needed from what they were aforetime. St. Peter's words mark
the completeness of the needed change: _not fashioning yourselves
according to your former lusts_. In time past they had sought no
further for a guide and pattern than their own perverted desires; now
they must school themselves to say, "Do with me as Thou wilt, for I am
Thine." And He whose grace has begotten them again will help them to
frame their lives by His rule, will have them learn of Him. But while
the Apostle dwells on the difference which must come over the lives of
these converts, mark the wondrous charity with which he alludes to
their former life in error. _In the time of your ignorance_, he says.
Even here he follows the example of the Lord, who prayed in His agony,
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Sin blinds the
moral and the mental vision too, and men so blinded sink deeper and
deeper into the slough, while he who has learnt Christ has gained
another source of light. But, to raise the ignorant, they must be
taught; and tenderness makes teaching most effective, and charity
dictates the apostolic words. So St. Paul at Athens to those who
worshipped an unknown God offered instruction to win them from their
ignorance, and pointed them to a God whose offspring they were, and to
whose likeness they might be conformed.
Just so does St. Peter; _Like as He who called you is holy, be ye
yourselves also holy in all manner of living_. This has been God's
call from the first day until now, but what a hopeless height is this
for the sinner to aim after, holy as God is holy! Yet it is the
standard which Christ sets before us in the Sermon on the Mount: "Be
ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." And
why does He propose to us that which is impossible? Because with the
command He is ready to supply the power. He knows our frailty; knows
what is in man both of strength and weakness. At the same time He
proclaims to us by this command what God intends to make of us. He
will restore us again to His own likeness. That which was God's at
first shall be made God's once more. The marred image, on which not
even the superscription can be traced, shall again be revealed in
full clearness, and the believer purged from all the defilements of
sin by the grace and help of Him who says, "Be ye perfect," because He
loves to make us so.
_Because it is written, Ye shall be holy; for I am holy._ This command
comes down to us from the earliest days of the Law. But in those old
times it could not be said, _in all manner of living_. These words
betoken the loftier standard of the New Testament. The patriarchs and
prophets and the people among whom they lived were trained, and could
only be trained, little by little. Even in the best among them we
cannot hope for holiness in all manner of living. It was only by the
types and figures of external purification that their thoughts were
directed to the inner cleansing of the heart, and long generations
passed before the lessons were learnt. The full sense of the
Fatherhood of God was not attained under the Law, nor did men under it
learn fully to live as children of obedience, children of a Father who
loves and will succour every effort which they make to walk according
to His law. The Incarnation has brought God nearer to man, and on this
relationship of love the Apostle grounds his further exhortation.
_And if ye call on Him as Father, who without respect of persons
judgeth according to each man's work, pass the time of your sojourning
in fear._ But the fear which St. Peter means is a fear which grows out
of love, a fear to grieve One who is so abundant in mercy. Who can
call on God as Father but the children of obedience? About the
Father's will and His power to make you holy there need be no fear. He
has called men and bidden them strive after holiness. The way is
steep, but they will not be unattended. What fear then of failing to
attain the goal? For the Father will also be the Judge. And here is
the ground for eternal hope and thankfulness, which the Apostle
expresses in words akin to those which he used in the house of
Cornelius: "Now I see that God is no respecter of persons, but in
every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted
with Him." Yes, this is the fear which God looks for, not a paralysing
dread which checks all effort and kills out all hope. Our Judge knows
that our work will be full of faults, but fear of Him must nerve us to
make the endeavour. It is not what men do, the feeble sum of their
performance, that He regards. The way, the spirit, the motive, from
which it is wrought--these will be the ground of our Father's
judgement. Hence the Gospel is a message for all the world alike. The
poor and lowly, to whom no great deeds are possible, may through it
live a life of hope. It is not great gifts poured into the treasury
from an abundant store that have value in His eyes, but the gifts
which come with a heart's sacrifice--these are precious indications,
and receive the blessing, "They have done what they could." And God's
children are to look on their life as no more than a brief pilgrimage.
It is a time of sojourning, in which the small occurrences are of
little account.[5] Earth is to the Christian, what Egypt was of old to
the Hebrews, no home, but a place of trial and oppression of the
enemy. God will bring His children forth, even as He did of old. But
the dread to be most entertained is lest the many attractions should,
like the flesh-pots of the history, win the affection of the pilgrims,
and make them not unwilling to linger in the house of bondage and to
think lightly of peril which surrounds them there. The great
preservative from this danger is to revive constantly the thought of
the great things which have been done for us. Be in fear of the world
and its beguilements, says St. Peter, _knowing that ye were redeemed,
not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain manner
of life handed down from your fathers_. The redemption price is paid,
has been paid for all men. Shall any then be willing to tarry in their
slavery? Ye were redeemed. The work is complete. "It is finished," was
the last sigh of the dying Lord, who before had testified that His
true disciples might be of good cheer, because He had overcome the
world.
[5] This would appeal with force to the hearts of those who were of
the dispersion. Therein they would behold a picture of what all
earthly life is as compared with the home to come.
But in the hearts of men the world and its allurements die very hard.
The men for whom St. Peter wrote would surely find this so. They had
many of them lived long either under Judaism or in heathendom, and
would be surrounded still by friends and kinsmen who clung to the
ancient teaching and customs. Prejudices were sure to abound, and the
ties of blood in such cases are very strong, as we know ourselves from
mission experience in India. The Apostle speaks of their manner of
life as handed down from their fathers. He may have had in his thought
the corruption of the human race from the sin of our first parents.
Generation after generation has been involved in the consequences of
that primal transgression. But he probably thought rather of the
converts from idolatry and the life which they had led in their days
of ignorance. Of God's covenant with the chosen people, though now it
was abolished, St. Peter would hardly speak as a _vain_ manner of
life. But to the worship of the heathen the word might fitly be
applied. Paul and Barnabas entreat the crowd at Lystra, who would have
done sacrifice to them as to their gods, to turn from these
_vanities_ to serve the living God (Acts xiv. 15); and to the
Ephesians St. Paul writes that they should no longer walk, as the
other Gentiles walk, in the _vanity_ of their mind (Eph. iv. 17). The
parents of such men, having themselves no knowledge, could impart none
to their children, could not lift them higher, could not make them
purer; and yet the ties of natural affection would plead strongly for
what had been held right by their fathers for generations.
But the price which has been paid for their ransom may convince them
how precious they are in the eyes of a Father in heaven. They are
redeemed _with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot_, even the blood _of Christ_. For ages the offering of
sacrifices had kept before the minds of Israel the need of a
redemption, but they could do no more. The blood of bulls and goats
and the ashes of a heifer suffice only to the purifying of the flesh,
and can never take away sin. But now the true fountain is opened, and
St. Peter has learnt, and bears witness, what was the meaning of the
words of Jesus, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me" (John
xiii. 8). The door of mercy is opened, that by the knowledge of such
wondrous love the hearts of men may be opened also.
And this counsel of God has been from all eternity. Christ _was
foreknown before the foundation of the world_ as the Lamb to be
offered for human redemption. The world and its history form but a
tiny fragment of God's mighty works, and yet for mankind a plan so
overflowing with love was included in the vision of Jehovah before man
or his home had existence except in the Divine mind. Now by the
Incarnation the secret counsel is brought to light, and the
foretokenings of type and prophecy receive their interpretation. _He
was manifested at the end of the times for your sake._ He was made
flesh, and tabernacled among men; He showed by the signs which He
wrought that He was the Saviour drawing near to them that they might
draw near unto Him. His lifting up on the cross spake of the true
healing of the souls of all who would look unto Him. And when death
had done its work upon the human body, He was manifested more
thoroughly as the beloved Son of God by His resurrection from the
grave. The first Christians felt that God's work was now complete,
salvation secured. It is not unnatural therefore that they should
expect the drama of the world's history soon to be closed. For the
Master had not seldom spoken of the coming of a speedy judgement.
Hence the age in which they lived seemed to merit the name of "the end
of the times." We now can see that the judgement of which Christ spake
was wrought in great part by the overthrow of Jerusalem, though His
words are still prospective, and will not find their entire fulfilment
till the close of human history; and the whole Christian era may be
intended and included in "the end of the times." This was the goal
towards which God's counsel had been moving since the world was made.
No new revelation is to be looked for, and we who live in the light of
Christ's religion are those upon whom the ends of the world are come.
In this sense the words may be applied in every age and to every
generation of Christians. To them, as to St. Peter's converts, the
preacher may testify, "For your sakes" all this was planned and
wrought, and may offer the ransom of the Saviour to His people,
assured that in this speck of time Christ is being manifested for
their sake also. For _they through Him are believers in God_, as the
Lord Himself hath testified. "No man cometh unto the Father but by
Me"; "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." The words are as true
to-day as when Christ was upon earth. Since the Fall the glory and
majesty of Jehovah have been unapproachable. Sin rendered man both
unfit and unable to have the pure communion of the days of innocence.
It was the vision of Jesus by faith which brought Abraham near to God
and filled him with joy. And so with all the saints and prophets of
the first covenant. They beheld Him, but it was afar off. They greeted
the maturing promises, but only as strangers and pilgrims upon earth.
To the Asian converts and to us also the testimony of St. Peter and
his fellows is from those who beheld the glory of God as it was
manifested in Christ, who saw Him when raised from the dead, and
watched His ascent into the glory of heaven. And by such witness faith
in what God has wrought is confirmed. We are sure that He raised
Christ from the dead; we are sure that He has received Him into glory:
and thus through all generations the faith and hope of Christians are
sustained and rest unshaken upon God.
V
_CHRISTIAN BROTHERHOOD: ITS CHARACTER AND DUTIES_
"Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the
truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from
the heart fervently: having been begotten again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God,
which liveth and abideth. For all flesh is as grass, and all the
glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and
the flower falleth: but the word of the Lord abideth for ever.
And this is the word of good tidings which was preached unto you.
Putting away therefore all wickedness, and all guile, and
hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as new-born
babes long for the spiritual milk which is without guile, that ye
may grow thereby unto salvation; if ye have tasted that the Lord
is gracious."--1 PETER i. 22-ii. 3.
That holy lives have been lived in solitude none would venture to
dispute, and that devout Christians have found strength for themselves
and given examples to the world by withdrawal from the society of
their fellows is attested more than once in the history of
Christendom. But with lives of such isolation and seclusion the New
Testament exhibits little sympathy. To whatever preparation the
Christian is exhorted, it is never with a view to himself. Though not
of the world, he is to be in the world, that men may profit by his
example. The prayer of the Lord for His disciples ere He left them
was, not that they might be taken out of the world, but protected from
its evils.
Christ's intention was to found a Church, a communion, a brotherhood,
and all His language looks that way: "One is your Master, and all ye
are brethren"; "So let your light shine before men that they may see
your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven." And of
like character is the teaching of the Epistles: "Be kindly affectioned
in love of the brethren" (Rom. xii. 10); "Let brotherly love continue"
(Heb. xiii. 1). We are in no way surprised therefore when St. Peter
turns from his exhortations to personal sobriety, obedience, and
holiness, and addresses the converts on the application of these
virtues, that through them they may bind in closer bonds the
brotherhood of Christ: _Seeing ye have purified your souls in your
obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one
another from the heart fervently_. Obedience is the sole evidence by
which the believer can show that God's call has wrought in him
effectually. His election is of the Father's foreknowledge, his
sanctification is the gift of the Holy Spirit, and it is the
sprinkling of the blood of Christ which makes him fit for entry into
the house of the Father. In the Christian, so called and so aided,
there must be a surrender of himself to the guidance of that Spirit
which deigns to guide him. The law in his members must be mortified,
and another and purer law accepted as the rule of his life. This law
St. Peter calls "the truth" because it has been made manifest in its
perfection in the life of Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the
Life. Of this example St. Paul testifies as "the truth which is in
Jesus." He therefore who would cherish the Christian hope will purify
himself even as Christ is pure. The way and means unto such
purification is obedience.
This first and most needful step the Apostle believes, from his
knowledge of their lives, that these Asian converts have taken in
earnest, and thus have attained to a love of their brethren which
differs utterly from the love which the world exhibits, which is true,
sincere, unfeigned. But the believer's life is a life of constant
progress. Daily advance is the evidence of vitality. All the language
which Scripture applies to it proclaims this to be its character. It
is called a walk, a race, a pilgrimage, a warfare. The Christian all
his life through will find himself so far from what Christ intends to
make him that he must ever be pressing forward. Hence, though they
have attained to a stage of purification, have put off in some degree
the old man, the Apostle's exhortation is, "Press forward"; "Love one
another from the heart fervently." The English word describes a warmth
and earnestness of love which is deep-seated and true, but the
original expresses more than this, more of the sustained effort to
which St. Peter is urging them. It points to incessant striving, to a
constancy like that of the prayers of the Church for the Apostle
himself when he was in prison, a prayer made unto God without ceasing.
So steadfast must be the Christian love; and such love the purified,
undistracted heart alone can manifest, a heart which has been released
from the entanglements of earthly ambitions and strivings, whose
affections are fully set on the things above.
Such souls must be filled with the Spirit; a steadfastness like this
comes only of the new birth. And of this the converts are reminded in
the words which follow: _having been begotten again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God_. It
is true they are but at the outset of their Christian course; but if
any man be in Christ, he is made a new creature. And in this
connexion the word of God might be taken in a twofold sense. First,
the Word who was made flesh, in whom was light; and the light was the
life of men. Through His resurrection God has begotten men again to a
life which shall know no corruption. But the figure which the Apostle
presently employs of the withering grass and the falling flower
carries our mind rather to Christ's explanation of His own parable.
The seed is the word of God, _which liveth and abideth_. And
throughout the New Testament the life-possessing and life-giving power
of the Gospel is made everywhere conspicuous. When it was first
proclaimed, we read again and again, "The word of God grew mightily
and prevailed" (Acts xii. 24, xix. 20); and the figurative language
used to describe its character shows how potent is its might. It is
the sword of the Spirit (Eph. vi. 16); "It is quick and powerful"
(Heb. iv. 12). By it Christ foiled the tempter. It makes those strong
in whom it abides (1 John ii. 14). It is free, and not bound (2 Tim.
ii. 9). St. Paul calls it "the power of God unto salvation" (Rom. i.
16), "the word of truth, the gospel of salvation" (Eph. i. 13), and
says, "It comes, not in word only, but in power" (1 Thess. i. 5). This
is the incorruptible seed of which St. Peter speaks. And his words
force on our thoughts that for such a seed a fitting ground must be
prepared, if the new life of which it is the source is to bear its due
fruit. This preparation it is which the Apostle is anxious to enforce,
the purifying and cleansing of the seed-plot of men's hearts. They
must not be hardened so as to forbid it access, and leave it for every
chance enemy to trample on or carry away; they must not be choked with
alien thoughts and purposes: the cares of life, the pleasures of the
world. Such things perish in the using, and can have no affinity with
the living and abiding word of God, which, even as He, is eternal and
unchanging.
And herewith is bound up a very solemn thought. The word may be
neglected, may be choked, in individual hearts; but still it liveth
and abideth, and will appear to testify against the scorners: "He that
rejecteth Me and receiveth not My words hath one that judgeth him; the
word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For
I have not spoken of Myself" (John xii. 48). But for those who accept
the message of the word and live thereby St. Peter's language is full
of comfort, especially to those who are in like affliction with these
Asian Christians. For them the acceptance of the faith of Jesus must
have meant the rending asunder of earthly ties; the natural
brotherhood would be theirs no longer. But they are enrolled in a new
family, a family which cannot perish, whose seed is incorruptible,
whose kinship shall stretch forward and be ever enlarging through all
time and into eternity. For they, like the word by which they are
begotten again, will live and abide for evermore.
And confirming this lesson by the prophecy of Isaiah (xl. 6-8), the
Apostle thus links together the ancient Scriptures and the New
Testament. But in so doing he shows by his language how he regards the
latter as more excellent and a mighty advance upon the former. The
margin of the Revised Version helpfully indicates the difference of
the words. In Isaiah the teaching is styled a _saying_. It was the
word whereby God, through some intermediary, made known His will to
the children of men. But under the Gospel the word is that living,
spiritual power which is used as synonymous with the Lord Himself.
The word of good tidings has now been spoken unto men by a Son, the
very image of the Divine substance, the effulgence of God's glory, and
now possesses a might quick even to discern the thoughts and intents
of the heart. This is verily the living word of God (Heb. iv. 12).
And we of to-day can see what ground there was for the Apostle's faith
and for his teaching, how true the prophetic word has been found in
the events of history. "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory
thereof as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower
falleth: but the word of the Lord abideth for ever." When we cast our
thoughts back to the time when St. Peter wrote, we see the converts
who had accepted the word of God a mere handful of people amid the
throngs of heathendom, the religion which they professed the scorn of
all about them, to the Jews a stumbling-block, to the Greeks
foolishness, and its preachers in the main a few poor, untrained,
uninfluential men, of no rank or conspicuous ability. On the other
hand, worshipping crowds proclaimed the greatness of Diana of the
Ephesians; and the power of the Roman empire was at its height, or
seemed so, with the whole of the civilised world owning its sway. And
now that world's wonder, the temple at Ephesus, is a pile of ruins,
and over the Roman power such changes have passed that it has utterly
faded out of existence; but the doctrines of the Galilean, who claimed
to be the Incarnate Word of God, are daily extending their influence,
proving their vitality to be Divine.
But though in his language he has seemed to mark the superiority of
the Gospel message, the Apostle is deeply conscious that the office of
the preacher has much, nay its chief character, in common with that
of the prophet. Hence he proceeds to call the Gospel message, now
that it is left to lips of Evangelists and Apostles to proclaim, a
_saying_ like that of Isaiah. In this way he links the New Testament
to the Old, the prophet to the preacher. Both spake the same word of
God; both were moved by the same spirit; both proclaimed the same
deliverance, the one looking onward in hope to the coming Redeemer,
the other proclaiming that the redemption had been accomplished. "This
is the telling" (the saying) "of good tidings which was preached unto
you."
Here St. Peter seems to allude to a preaching earlier than his own,
and to none can we attribute the evangelisation of these parts of Asia
with more probability than to St. Paul and his missionary colleagues.
But there was no note of disagreement between these early ambassadors
of Christ. They could all say of their work, "Whether it were I or
they, so we preached, and so ye believed."
Having spoken of the seed, the Apostle now turns to the seed-plot
which needs its special preparation. It must be cleared and broken up,
or the seed, though scattered, will have small chance of roothold.
But here St. Peter recurs to his former metaphor. He has spoken (i.
13) of the Christian's equipment, how with girded loins he should
prepare himself for the coming struggle. He now speaks of what he must
lay aside. He has been purified, or made to long after purification,
through his obedience to the truth, so that he can with earnest desire
seek to make known his love to the brethren; and the word of God is
powerful to overcome such dispositions as are destructive of brotherly
love. Hence it is to no hopeless, unaided conflict that the Apostle
urges his converts when he writes of their _putting away therefore
all wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all
evil speakings_. It is a formidable list of evils, but St. Peter's
words treat them as forming no part of the true man. These are
overgrowths, which can be stripped away, though the operation will
many a time be painful enough; they have enveloped and enclosed the
sinner, and cling close about him, but the sanctification of the
Spirit can help him to be unclothed of them all. They are the forces
which make for discord. The word of good tidings began with "peace on
earth, goodwill towards men." Hence those who hearken to the message
must put away everything contrary thereto. First in the Apostle's
enumeration stands a general term, _wickedness_, those which follow it
being various forms of its development. We learn how utterly alien
this _wickedness_ is to the spirit of Christ when we notice the
employment of the word to describe the sin of Simon: "Thou hast
neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right before
God" (Acts viii. 22). Such a man had no comprehension of the source of
the apostolic powers; the sacred things of God were unknown to one who
could treat such gifts as merchandise. And it is full of interest in
the present connexion to observe that what our English version there
renders "matter" is really, as the margin (R.V.) shows, "word." It was
the word of God which was mighty in the first preachers, which was
growing and prevailing as they testified unto Christ, and in this
"word" a heart like Simon's could have no share. He was no fit member
of the fellowship of Christ.
_Guile_ was the sin of Jacob, a sin which brake the bond of
brotherhood between him and Esau, and wrought so much misery in the
whole of Jacob's family history. Guile was not found in Nathanael. The
searching eye of Jesus saw that the sin of the "supplanter" was not in
him. Hence he is pointed out as an example of the true Israel, that
which the race of Jacob was intended to become.
That _hypocrisy_ is a foe to brotherhood our Lord makes evident as he
reproaches the Pharisees for this sin. "I thank Thee that I am not as
other men are, nor even as this publican," are words which could never
rise to the lips of him whose heart was purified by the Spirit of God;
and envy brings hatred in its train. It was by envy that Saul was
incited to seek the death of David; it was from envy that Joseph's
brethren sold him into Egypt; through envy a greater than Joseph was
sold to be crucified (Matt. xxvii. 18), and this sin led to war in
heaven itself.
From _evil-speaking_ these Asian converts themselves had to suffer,
and would know by experience its mischievous effects. They were spoken
against as evil-doers, as the Apostle notes twice over (1 Peter ii.
12, iii. 15). This evil adds cowardice to its other baneful qualities,
for it takes advantage of the absence of him against whom it is
directed, and is that vice which in 2 Cor. xii. 20 is described as
_backbiting_, a rendering which the Revised Version leaves
undisturbed, while those who indulge in it are called _backbiters_
(Rom. i. 30). St. James has much to say in its dispraise: "Speak not
one against another, brethren. He that speaketh against a brother or
judgeth his brother speaketh against the law, and judgeth the law"
(James iv. 11). Such a one is intruding into the prerogative of God
Himself, and passing sentence where he can have no sure knowledge of
the acts which he judges. "Evil-speaking," says one of the Apostolic
Fathers,[6] "is a restless demon, never at peace. So speak no evil of
any, nor take pleasure in listening thereto." By good works St. Peter
instructs his converts to live down such cowardly slanders, that those
who revile their good manner of life in Christ may be put to shame
thereby. Purity will overcome iniquity, innocence gain the day against
deceit.
[6] Hermas, Mand. ii. 2.
But the transformation to which the Apostle exhorts them must be
verily to become a new creation, and so he goes on to speak of their
condition as one akin to that of new-born babes. These by natural
instincts turn away from all that will hurt them, and seek only what
can nourish and support. To such right inclinations, to such
simplicity of desire, must the Christian be brought. He has been born
again of the word of God. From this he is to seek his constant
nurture, as instinctively as the babe turns to its mother's breast.
This is able to save the soul (James i. 21), but it cannot be received
unless the vices which war against it be put away, and a spirit of
meekness take their place. They seek other and less pure food for
their support.
Christians are to _long for the spiritual milk which is without
guile_. This food for babes in Christ is the word, which is taken by
the Spirit and offered a nurture for the soul. But there must be a
longing for, a readiness to accept, what is offered. For the spiritual
appeals to the reason of man, and though offered, is not forced on
him. The Spirit takes of the things of Christ and shows them unto us.
And the purification, the clearing off and putting away corrupt
dispositions, about which the Apostle speaks so earnestly, applies an
eye-salve to the inward vision which helps us to see things in their
true light, and so to long for what is really profitable food without
guile, which does not disappoint the hope of those that seek it. _That
ye may grow thereby unto salvation._ It is called the word of
salvation. "To you," says St. Paul to the men of Antioch (Acts xiii.
26), is the word of this salvation sent forth; and through it is
proclaimed the remission of sins. The healthy condition of the life of
the soul is evidenced by these two signs: longing for proper food and
growth by partaking thereof. For there is no standing still in
spiritual life, any more than in the natural life. Where there is no
growth, decay has already set in; if there be no waxing of the powers,
they have already begun to wane. To the natural human growth there
must needs come this waning; the body will decay: but the spiritual
increase can continue, must continue, until the stature of the fulness
of Christ be attained, till we come to be made like unto Him when we
see Him as He is. Watch, then, strive and pray for growth, _if ye have
tasted that the Lord is gracious_. The true food once found and
appreciated, the joy of this support will be such that no other will
ever be desired. Hence St. Peter adopts, or rather adapts, the words
of the Psalmist (xxxiv. 9) who tells of the blessedness of trusting in
the Lord. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear
Him, and setteth them free. This is the initial stage: the deliverance
from the power of evil. Then come the desire and longing for the true
strength. "O taste and see that the Lord is gracious; blessed is the
man that findeth refuge in Him." The joy of such a refuge can come
even to those who are suffering after the fashion of the Asian
converts. But the Psalmist's words are full of teaching. God's
training is empirical. Spiritual experience comes before spiritual
knowledge. Well does St. Bernard say of this lesson, though his words
pass the power of translation, "Unless you have tasted you will not
see. The food is the hidden manna; it is the new name which no one
knows but he who receives it. It is not external training, but the
unction of the Spirit, which teaches; it is not knowledge (_scientia_)
which grasps the truth, but the conscience (_conscientia_) which
attests it."
VI
_THE PRIESTHOOD OF BELIEVERS_
"Unto whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but
with God elect, precious, ye also, as living stones, are built up
a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Because it is
contained in Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
corner-stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall
not be put to shame. For you therefore which believe is the
preciousness: but for such as disbelieve, the stone which the
builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner, and
a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence; for they stumble at
the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
people for _God's_ own possession, that ye may show forth the
excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His
marvellous light: which in time past were no people, but now are
the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have
obtained mercy."--1 PETER ii. 4-10.
Leaving the exhortation to individual duties, the Apostle turns now to
describe the Christian society in relation to its Divine Founder, and
tells both of the privileges possessed by believers, and of the
services which they ought to render. He employs for illustration a
figure very common in Holy Scripture, and compares the faithful to
stones in the structure of some noble edifice, built upon a sure
foundation. Such language on his lips must have had a deep
significance. He was the rock-man; his name Peter was bestowed by
Christ in recognition of his grand confession: and Jesus had
consecrated the simile which the Apostle uses by His own words, "Upon
this rock I will build My Church" (Matt. xvi. 18), words which were
daily finding a blessed fulfilment in the growth of these Asian
Churches.
A rock is no unusual figure in the Old Testament to represent God's
faithfulness, and its use is specially frequent in Isaiah and the
Psalms. "In the Lord Jehovah is an everlasting rock" (Isa. xxvi. 4),
says the prophet; again he calls God "the rock of Israel" (xxx. 29);
while the prayers of the Psalmist are full of the same thought
concerning the Divine might and protection: "Be Thou my strong rock
and my fortress" (Psalm xxxi. 2); "Lead me to the rock that is higher
than I" (lxi. 2); "O God, my rock and my Redeemer" (xix. 14).
But the language of the New Testament goes farther than that of the
Old. Strength, protection, permanence--these were attributes of the
rock of which Isaiah spake and David sang. The life-possessing and
life-imparting virtue of the Spirit of Christ is a part of the glad
tidings of the Gospel. Through Him were light and immortality brought
to light. The rock which lives is found in Jesus Christ. In Him is
life without measure, ready to be imparted to all who seek to be built
up in Him.
_Unto whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with
God elect, precious._ By purification of thought, and act, and word,
that childlike frame has been sought after which fits them to draw
near; and they come with full assurance. Jesus they know as the
Crucified, as the Lord who came to His own, and they received Him not.
Generations of preparation had not made Jewry ready for her King's
coming, had failed to impress the people with the signs of His
advent; and so they disowned Him, and cried, "We have no king but
Cæsar." But the converts know Jesus also as Him who was raised from
the dead and exalted to glory. This honour He hath "with God." No
other than He could bring salvation. Therefore has He received a name
that is above every name. And "with God" here signifies that heavenly
exaltation and glory. The sense is[7] as when Jesus testifies, "I
speak what I have seen _with My Father_" (John viii. 38)--that is, in
heaven--or when He prays, "Glorify me, O Father, _with Thine own
self_" (xvii. 5). From this excellent glory He sends down His Spirit,
and gives to His people a share of that life which has been made
manifest in Him. Their part is but to come, to seek; and every one
that seeketh is sure to find.
[7] Παρὰ θεῷ ἐκλεκτόν speaks of Christ in His glory, in that
place where the reward of the faithful is kept in store. Cf. the words
of Matt. vi. 1.
_Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house._ Not
because they are living men does the Apostle speak of them as living
stones. They may be full of the vigour of natural life, yet have no
part in Christ. The life which joins men to Him comes by the new
birth. And the union of believers with Christ makes itself patent by a
daily progress. He is a living stone; they are to be made more and
more like Him by a constant drawing near, a constant drinking in from
His fulness of the life which is the light of men. In this light new
graces grow within them; old sins are cast aside. By this preparation,
this shaping of the living stones, the Spirit fits Christians for
their place in the spiritual building, unites them with one another
and with Christ, fashions out of them a true communion of
saints--saints, who, that they may advance in saintliness, have
duties to perform both directly to God and for His sake to the world
around. By diligence therein the upbuilding goes daily forward.
First, they are _to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ_. From the day when
God revealed His will on Sinai, such has been the ideal set before His
chosen servants. "Ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and a holy
nation" (Exod. xix. 6) stands in the preface of the Divinely given
law. And God changes not. Hence the praise of the Lamb's finished work
when He has purchased unto God men of every tribe, and tongue, and
people, and nation is sung before the throne in the self-same strain:
"Thou madest them to be unto God a kingdom and priests" (Rev. v. 10).
Under the early dispensation God was leading men up from material
sacrifices to pay unto Him true spiritual worship. The Psalmist has
learnt the lesson when he pleads, "Offer the sacrifices of
righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord" (Psalm iv. 6); and
Hosea's sense of what was well-pleasing to God is made clear in his
exhortation, "Take with you words and return unto the Lord; say unto
Him, Take away all iniquity, and accept that which is good, so will we
render as bullocks the offering of our lips" (xiv. 3). The Apostle to
the Romans is hardly more explicit than this when he urges, "Present
your bodies a living sacrifice" (xii. 1), or to the Hebrews, "Let us
offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit
of lips which make confession to His name" (xiii. 15).
But the Apostles could add to the exhortations of the prophets and
psalmists a ground of blessed assurance, could promise how these
living sacrifices, these offerings of praise, had gained a certainty
of acceptance through Jesus Christ: "Through Him we have boldness and
access in confidence through our faith in Him" (Eph. iii. 12); and in
another place, "Having Him as a great Priest over the house of God,"
that spiritual house into which believers are builded, "let us draw
near with a true heart, in fulness of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure
water" (Heb. x. 22). Thus do believers become priests unto God, in
every place lifting up holy hands in prayer, prayer which is made
acceptable through their great High-priest.
It was only from oral teaching that these Asian Christians knew of
those lessons which we now can quote as the earliest messages to the
Church of Christ. The Scripture was to them as yet the Scripture of
the Old Testament, and to this St. Peter points them for the
confirmation which it supplies. And his quotation is worthy of notice
both for its manner and its matter: _Because it is contained in
Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner-stone, elect,
precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame._ The
passage is from Isaiah (xxviii. 16); but a comparison with that verse
shows us that the Apostle has not quoted all the words of the prophet,
and that what he has given corresponds much more closely with the
Greek of the Septuagint than with the Hebrew. The latter concludes,
"He that believeth shall not make haste," and contains some words not
represented in the version of the Seventy. The variations which St.
Peter accepts are such as to assure us that for him (and the same is
true for the rest of the Apostles) the purport, the spiritual
lessons, of the word were all which he counted essential. Neither
Christ Himself nor His Apostles adhere in quotation to precise verbal
exactness.[8] They felt that there lay behind the older record so many
deep meanings for which the fathers of old were not prepared, but
which Gospel light made clear. To somewhat of this fuller sense the
translators of the Septuagint seem to have been guided.[9] They lived
nearer to the rising of the day-star. Through their labours God was in
part preparing the world for the message of Christ. The words which
Isaiah was guided to use express the confidence of a believer who was
looking onward to God's promise as in the future: "He shall not make
haste." He knows that the purpose of God will be brought to pass;
that, as the prophet elsewhere says, "the Lord will hasten it in its
time" (lx. 22). Man is not to step in, Jacob-like, to anticipate the
Divine working.
[8] For illustration of what is here said, Matt. xxi. 16 may be
compared with Psalm viii. 2, Acts xv. 15-17 with Amos ix. 11, 12, and
Eph. iv. 8 with Psalm lxviii. 18; and the list might be largely
increased.
[9] Hence the New Testament writers quote from the LXX. in a very
large proportion. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews quotes
nothing else.
But "shall not be ashamed" was a form of the promise more suited to
the days of St. Peter and these infant Churches. For the name of
Christ was in many ways made a reproach; and only men of faith, like
Moses and the heroes celebrated with him in Heb. xi., could count that
reproach greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. Other and weaker
hearts needed encouragement, needed to be pointed to the privileges
and glories which are the inheritance of the followers of Jesus. And
in this spirit he applies the prophetic words, _For you therefore
which believe is the preciousness_. Faith makes real all the offers of
the Gospel. It opens heaven, as to the vision of St. Stephen, so that
while they are still here believers behold the glory of God to which
Christ has been exalted, are assured of the victory which has been won
for them, and that in His strength they may conquer also. Thus they
receive continually the earnest of those precious and exceeding great
promises (2 Peter i. 4) whereby they become partakers of the Divine
nature.
But all men have not faith. The Bible tells us this on every page. God
knows what is in man, and in His revelation He has set forth not only
invitations and blessings, but warnings and penalties. Life and good,
death and evil--these have been continually proclaimed as linked
together by God's law, but ever with the exhortation, "Choose life."
Of such warning messages St. Peter gives examples from prophecy and
psalm: _But for such as disbelieve, the stone which the builders
rejected, the same was made the head of the corner_ (Psalm cxviii.
22), _and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence_ (Isa. viii. 14);
_for they stumble at the word, being disobedient_. Here the Apostle
touches the root of the evil. The test of faith is obedience. It was
so in Eden; it must be ever so. But now, as then, the tempter comes
with his insidious questionings, "Hath God said?" and sowing doubts,
he goes his way, leaving them to work; and work they do. Now it is the
truth, now the wisdom, of the command, that men stumble at. But in
each case they disobey. Those leave it unobserved; these despise and
set it at nought. And the penalty is sure. For mark the twofold aspect
of God's dealing which is set forth in the passages chosen by St.
Peter to enforce his lesson. Spite of man's disobedience, God's
purpose is not thwarted. The stone which He laid in Zion has been made
the head of the corner. Though rejected by some builders, it has lost
none of its preciousness, none of its strength. Those who draw near
unto it find life thereby; are made fit for their places in the Divine
building, in the kingdom of the Lord's house which He will most surely
establish as the latter days draw on. But they who disobey are
overthrown. The despised stone, which is the sure word of God, rises
up in men's self-chosen path, and makes them fall, and at the last, if
they persist in despising it, will appear for their condemnation.
_Whereunto also they were appointed._ The Apostle has in mind the
words of Isaiah, how the prophet, in that place from which he has just
quoted, declares that many shall stumble and fall, and be broken, and
be snared, and be taken. This is the lot of the disobedient. These
penalties dog that sin. It is the unvarying law of God. The Bible
teaches this from first to last, by precepts as well as by examples.
The disobedient must stumble. But the Bible does not teach that any
were appointed unto disobedience. Such fatalist lessons are alien to
God's infinite love. The two ways are set before all men. God tries us
thus because He has gifted us above the rest of creation, that we may
render Him a willing service. But neither prophet nor Apostle teaches
that to stumble is to be finally cast away. Both picture God's mercy
in as large terms as those in which St. Paul speaks of the Jews: "Did
God cast off His people? God forbid.... They, if they continue not in
their unbelief, shall be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in
again" (Rom. xi.).
A hardening in part hath befallen Israel, and to the Church of Christ
there is offered the blessedness which aforetime was to be the portion
of the chosen people. But the offer is made on like terms of obedient
service, and involves large duties. St. Peter marks the likeness of
the two offers by choosing the words of the Old Testament to describe
the Christian calling, with its privileges and its duties. Believers
in Christ are a peculiar treasure unto God from among all people, a
kingdom of priests, and a holy nation, even as was said to Israel
(Exod. xix. 5, 6) when they came out of Egypt and received the Law
from Sinai. But among the dispersion, for whom he writes, there were
those who had been heathens, as well as the converts from Judaism.
That he may show them also to be embraced in the new covenant, and
their calling contemplated under the old, the Apostle points to
another of God's promises, where Hosea (i. 10; ii. 23) tells of the
grace that was ready to be shed forth on them which in time past were
no people, but now are the people of God, which had not obtained
mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Thus all, Jew and Gentile, are to
be made one holy fellowship, one people for God's own possession.
And this kingdom of God's priests has its duty to the world as well as
unto God. Israel in time past was chosen to be God's witness to the
rest of mankind, so that when men saw that no nation had God so nigh
unto them as Jehovah was whenever Israel called upon Him, that no
nation had statutes and judgements so righteous as all the Law which
had been given from Sinai, they might be constrained to say, "Surely
this great nation is a wise and understanding people," and might
themselves be won to the service of a God so present and so holy. And
now each member of the Christian body, while offering himself a living
sacrifice to God, while delighting to do His will, while treasuring
His law, is to exercise himself in wider duties, that God's glory may
be displayed unto all men. One of the psalmists, whose words have been
in part referred to Christ Himself, testifies how this priesthood for
mankind should be fulfilled: "I have published righteousness in the
great congregation; lo, I will not refrain my lips, O Lord, Thou
knowest. I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart; I have
declared Thy faithfulness and Thy salvation; I have not concealed Thy
loving-kindness and Thy truth from the great congregation" (Psalm xl.
9, 10). These were the excellencies which the Psalmist had found in
God's service, and his heart ran over with desire to impart the
knowledge unto others. With juster reason shall Christ's servants be
prompted to a like evangel. They cannot hold their peace, specially
while they consider how great blessings those lose who as yet own no
allegiance to their Master.
_That ye may show forth the excellencies of Him who called you out of
darkness into His marvellous light._ This theme fills the rest of the
letter. The Apostle teaches that in every condition this duty has its
place and its opportunities. Subjects may fulfil it, as they yield
obedience to their rulers, servants in the midst of service to their
masters, wives and husbands in their family life, each individual in
the society where his lot is cast, and specially those who preside
over the Christian congregations. Wherever the goodness of God's mercy
has been tasted, there should be hearts full of thanksgiving, voices
tuned to the praise of Him who has done great things for them. Lives
led with this aim will make men to be truly what God designs: a holy
nation; a kingdom of priests. And ever as men walk thus will the
kingdom for which we daily pray be brought nearer.
The opportunities for winning men to Christ differ in modern times
from those which were open to the earliest Christian converts; but
there is still no lack of adversaries, no lack of those by whom the
hope of the believer is deemed unreasonable: and now, as then, the
good works which the opponents behold in Christian lives will have
their efficacy. These cannot for ever be spoken against. A good manner
of life in Christ shall, through His grace, finally put the gainsayers
to shame. They shall learn, and gain blessing with the lesson, that
the stone which they have so long been rejecting has been set up by
God to be the foundation of His Church, the head stone of the corner,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
VII
_CHRISTIANS AS PILGRIMS IN THE WORLD_
"Beloved, I beseech you, as sojourners and pilgrims, to abstain
from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; having your
behaviour seemly among the Gentiles; that, wherein they speak
against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which
they behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Be subject to
every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the
king, as supreme; or unto governors, as sent by him for vengeance
on evil-doers and for praise to them that do well. For so is the
will of God, that by well-doing ye should put to silence the
ignorance of foolish men: as free, and not using your freedom for
a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God. Honour all
men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king."--1 PETER
ii. 11-17.
The Apostle opens his exhortations with a word eminently Christian:
_Beloved_. It is a word whose history makes us alive to and thankful
for the Septuagint Version. Without that translation there would have
been no channel through which the religious ideas of Judaism could
have been conveyed to the minds of the Western peoples. There are
several Greek words which signify "to love," but bound up with every
one of them is some sense which renders it ill-fitted to describe true
Christian love and still less suited for expressing the love of God to
man. The word in the text has been fashioned to tell of that love
which St. Paul describes in his "more excellent way" (1 Cor. xiii.).
In classic speech it implies more of the outward exhibition of
welcome, than of deep affection. But the translators of the Septuagint
have taken it specially for themselves, and use it first to express
the love of Abraham for Isaac (Gen. xxii. 2); and, thus consecrating
and elevating it, they have brought it at length to great dignity, for
they employ it to signify the love of the Lord for His people and the
highest love of man to God: "The Lord preserveth all them that love
Him" (Psalm cxlv. 20); "The Lord loveth the righteous" (cxlvi. 8). So
in the New Testament it can be used of the "well-beloved" Son Himself.
With such an expression of their union to each other in the Lord does
St. Peter preface his admonitions. They are counsels of love.
_I beseech you, as sojourners and pilgrims._ The Christian looks for a
life eternal. In comparison thereof the best things of this time are
of little account, while the evil of the world renders it no safe
resting-place. It is but as a lodging for a brief night, and at dawn
the traveller sets forward for his true home. Hence the argument of
the apostolic entreaty. You have no long time to stay, and none to
waste; your motto is ever, "Onward!" _I beseech you to abstain from
fleshly lusts, which war against the soul._ Of the perils of life's
journey the Psalmist gives us a telling sketch in the first verse of
Psalm i.; and if we may accept the words as the outcome of David's
experience, they teach us the subtlety of these lusts of the flesh, as
they war against the soul. They had led David to adultery and murder.
The first stage of the course through which they carry you is
described as walking by the counsel of the ungodly. It is not being of
their number, but only being ready to accept their advice; and though
the course has begun, it is still possible for him who walks to turn
round and to turn back. The next step shows captivation. The man
stands in the way of sinners, not afraid of his company now, though
they have a taint of positive guilt instead of the negative character
of ungodliness. But the war against the soul goes on; and the captive
at the next stage sinks down willingly, is pleased with his chains,
sits in the seat of the scorners, as ready now as they to make a mock
at sin. With good reason does St. Peter use most solemn words of
entreaty. The peril at all times is great. The flesh warreth against
the spirit. We cannot do the things that we would. But for these men
the danger was extreme. Some of them had lived in surroundings where
such sins were counted a part of religious duty; had the support of
long prescription; were sanctioned and indulged in by those of the
convert's own blood.
Yet the Apostle does not counsel the new-made Christians to run away
from this battle. They owe a duty to those who are out of the way, and
must not shrink from it, be it ever so painful: _having your behaviour
seemly among the Gentiles_. Their lives are to be led in the sight of
their fellow-men, to be so led as to have the approval of a clear
conscience, and to be void of offence in the eyes of others. This
outward seemliness is what Christian love exhibits as a testimony to
Christ's grace and an attraction unto the world, making known unto all
men the unsearchable riches of Christ: _that, wherein they speak
against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they
behold, glorify God in the day of visitation_. The seemly conduct of
believers must be continuous, or it will fail of its effect. It is not
one display of Christian conduct, nor occasional spasmodic
manifestations thereof, which will win men to love the way of Christ.
And this is the result without which Christ's people are not to rest
satisfied. The evil reports of the adversaries are ill-grounded, but
they do not think so; and the only means of removing their perverse
view is by a continuous revelation of the excellence of Christ's
service. They may rail, but we must bless; they may persecute: we must
not retaliate, but returning good always for their evil, make them see
at length that this way which they are attacking has a character and a
power to which they have been strangers. This enlightenment is implied
in the word "behold": _They behold your good works_. It denotes
initiation into a mystery. And to unbelievers Christ's religion must
be a mystery. The clearing of the vision leads them up to faith. The
word in every place where it occurs in the New Testament is St.
Peter's own, and he employs it once (2 Peter i. 16) to describe the
vision, the insight, into the glory of Christ, which he and his
fellows gained at the Transfiguration. Such a sight removes all
questionings, and constrains the enlightened soul to join in the
exclamation, "Lord, it is good for us to be here." The victory for
Christ is to be won on the very ground where the opposition was made.
In the very matter over which the enemy reviled, there shall they
praise God for that which they erewhile maligned. This it is which
constitutes their day of visitation. Some have thought the visitation
intended was to be one of punishment for obstinate withstanding of the
truth, but it surely harmonises better with the glory of God that the
dispensation should be one of instruction and light. We seem to have a
notable example of what is meant in the history of St. Paul. He in all
earnestness persecuted the Way unto the death. The day of visitation
came to him, a day which, while darkening the bodily vision, gave a
clearness to the soul. The persecutor became the Apostle to the
Gentiles, and the world bore him witness that now he preached the
faith of which he had once made havoc (Gal. i. 23). This was God's own
conquest, but in the same manner will believers be helped to win their
victory. They are to aim at nothing less, never to rest content till
the accusers of their good deeds are brought to glory in the
performance of the same. So was Justin Martyr won to the side of
Christianity: "When I heard the Christians accused and saw them
fearless of death and of everything else that is counted fearful, I
was sure they could not be living in wickedness and in the love of
pleasures" (2 Apol. xii.). Well-doing shall not fail of its reward.
Men will testify, as of Isaac of old "We saw plainly that the Lord was
with thee, and we said, Let there now be an oath betwixt us" (Gen.
xxvi. 28).
The Apostle now turns to one illustration of Christian behaviour
wherein the converts might be tempted to think themselves absolved
from some portion of their duty. They were living under heathen
rulers. Did their freedom in Christ release them from obligations to
the civil powers? The question was sure to arise. St. Peter supplies
both a rule and a reason: _Be subject to every ordinance of man for
the Lord's sake_. Christians, just as other men, hold their place in
the commonweal. All that the state requires citizens to do in aid of
good government, order, the support of institutions and the like, will
fall upon them, as upon others. Whether the demands made upon them in
this wise be always for ends of which they would approve, they are not
to discuss so long as their rulers provide duly for the social order
and welfare. This is the apostolic rule. The reason is, Men are to
submit thus for the Lord's sake. The powers that be are ordained of
God, and He would have obedience yielded to them. The Bible knows
nothing about forms of government; these are to be ordered as men at
various times and under various conditions deem most helpful. But the
Bible doctrine is that God uses all powers of the world for His own
purposes and to work out His will. Of Pharaoh, who had deliberately
despised God's messages through Moses, the Divine voice declared that
he would long ago have been cut off from the earth, but was made to
stand that he might show God's power, and that His name might be
declared throughout all the earth (Exod. ix. 15, 16); and of the
Assyrian at a later day (Isa. x. 10, 12) God tells how he was used as
the rod of the Divine anger, but that the fruit of his stout heart and
the glory of his high looks would surely be punished. God employs for
His ends instruments with which He is not always well-pleased. These
can inflict His penalties, yea even may be made to advance His glory.
Pilate was assured by Christ Himself that the power which he was about
to exercise was only by Divine permission: "Thou wouldest have no
power against Me except it were given thee from above" (John xix. 11);
and St. Paul enforces obedience to authorities equally with St. Peter:
"He that resisteth the power withstandeth the ordinance of God" (Rom.
xiii. 2). Be subject, therefore, _whether it be to the king, as
supreme; or unto governors, as sent by him for vengeance on evil-doers
and for praise to them that do well_. The order under which these
converts were living was superintended by some officer appointed by
the Roman emperor, and to this the form of the Apostle's words
applies. The king is the Cæsar; the governor is the procurator or
subordinate official by whom the imperial power was represented in the
provinces. When St. Peter wrote, Nero ruled in Rome, and was
represented abroad by ministers often of a like character.
How extreme must after this be the case of those who would claim
freedom to resist the rulers under whom they live. God has allowed
them to stand, He is using them for His own purposes, they may be the
ministers of His vengeance, and to Him alone does vengeance belong. He
intends them also to recognise the merit of the doers of good. It may
be that they do not fulfil God's intent in either wise, yet while He
suffers them to keep their power the Christian's duty is obedience to
every civil enactment, for anarchy would be a curse both to him and to
others, bringing in its train more hurt than help. When Christians
shall be found among those who abide by the law of the lands wherein
they dwell, even should their faith not be accepted by their rulers,
their good citizenship will hardly fail to disarm hatred and abate
persecution. And so they are to range themselves ever on the side of
order. _For so is the will of God, that by well-doing ye should put to
silence the ignorance of foolish men._ For this end believers are to
abide in the world, that through them the world may be renewed. The
opponents of their faith suffer, says the Apostle, from lack of
knowledge. As he says in another place, "they rail in matters whereof
they are ignorant" (2 Peter ii. 12). Had men known, they would not
have crucified the Lord of glory; and did they know, they would not
persecute His followers. But knowledge will not come without a
preacher. Such preachers of the excellence of their faith shall the
law-abiding Christians in each community be made. They shall publish
the lessons of their own experience; they shall win favour by their
example. The world will recognise that these men have a secret which
others do not possess, will find that they yield obedience to earthly
rulers because they are above all things servants of God. It was
through convicting them of their ignorance that Jesus put the
Sadducees to silence. "Ye do err," was His argument, "not knowing the
Scriptures nor the power of God" (Matt. xxii. 34). And when men are
made sensible of such ignorance, they are silenced for very shame (1
Cor. xv. 34). This word "silenced" is very expressive both in the
Gospel and here. It implies that a bridle or muzzle is put upon the
mouth of ignorance, so that it may either be guided into a better way,
or, if not so, be checked from doing harm. For some there are who not
only will be ignorant, but foolish also, whom no teaching will profit.
But even these will in the end be silenced. So, as says the brother
Apostle, "be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good" (Rom.
xii. 21).
The first part of the Apostle's exhortation in our verse had in view,
it may be, more especially the Gentile converts. Their past life had
been one of evil-doing in the sight of God; those whom they had left,
and who were most likely to be their adversaries, were still walking
in the same ways, and were to be won over and conquered for Christ. He
now turns more directly to those who had been Jews. These were no
longer bound to the observance of the ceremonial law, and we know from
the New Testament as well as from Church history that with this
release there were exhibited in the lives of many such excesses as
made them a disgrace to the Christian name. We find much about these
in the Second Epistle. St. Peter would not keep the Jewish converts
under the burden of the Law, but he warns them against their besetting
danger: _as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of
wickedness, but as bondservants of God_. There were bad Jews, even as
there have been bad Christians. These would welcome a rule which set
them at liberty from the Mosaic observances, to which their adherence
aforetime had been in outward seeming rather than in earnest zeal. To
these St. Peter preaches that to lay aside Judaism is not to embrace
Christianity. The Leader of the new faith had ever taught a different
lesson. He came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfil it, and to set
forth God's will in a nobler aspect. Those who would follow Him must
take up the cross. His service is a yoke which restrains from all
evil. Those who come to Christ come as bondservants of God, free only
because they are bound to the observance of the noblest law. They must
lay aside the flesh, with its affections and lusts, and not vindicate
their freedom by using it as an occasion to riot and self-indulgence.
And the Apostle binds together all his teaching in four closing
precepts: _Honour all men; Love the brotherhood; Fear God; Honour the
king_. All men, without distinction, are to be honoured, because in
all there remains the image of God. It may be defaced, blurred
exceedingly. The more needful is it to deal considerately with such,
that we may help to restore what has been marred. Those who are our
brethren in Christ, the brotherhood, we shall own with affection,
seeking to be of one heart and one soul with them, because they belong
to Christ. For them we shall have, if we be true to our faith, that
mighty love which passeth in excellence both faith and hope. But the
exhortation of St. Peter speaks in this wise: Ye who hold your
brethren in Christ unspeakably dear, do not allow that love to
suffice, to swallow up all regard for other men. They also need your
thoughts, your help. The heathen, the unbelievers--these have the
strongest possible claim, even their great need. And so with the other
pair of precepts. Ye who fear God, which is your foremost duty, do not
let that fear lessen your willingness to do honour to your earthly
rulers. The feelings toward God and the king differ in character and
in degree, but both have their place in proper share in the heart of
the true servant of Christ.
VIII
_CHRISTIAN SERVICE_
"Servants, be in subjection to your masters, with all fear; not
only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is
acceptable, if for conscience toward God a man endureth griefs,
suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye sin, and
are buffeted _for it_, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when
ye do well and suffer _for it_, ye shall take it patiently, this
is acceptable with God. For hereunto were ye called: because
Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye
should follow His steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found
in His mouth: who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when
He suffered, threatened not; but committed _Himself_ to Him that
judgeth righteously; who His own self bare our sins in His body
upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto
righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were going
astray like sheep, but are now returned unto the Shepherd and
Bishop of your souls."--1 PETER ii. 18-25.
The Gospel history shows very clearly that during our Lord's lifetime
His followers were drawn largely from the ranks of the poor. It was
fitting that He who had been proclaimed in prophecy as "the Servant of
the Lord" should enter the world in humble estate; and, from the lowly
position of the virgin-mother and her husband, the life of Jesus for
thirty years must have been spent in comparative poverty and amid poor
surroundings. The major part of His chosen disciples were fisherfolk
and such-like. And though we read of the wife of Herod's steward among
the women who ministered unto Him and of the richer Joseph of
Arimathæa as a secret disciple, these are marked exceptions. To the
poor His Gospel was preached, and among the poor it first made its
way. The question of the chief priests, "Hath any of the rulers
believed on Him, or the Pharisees?" (John vii. 48), tells its own
tale, as does also the significant record, "The common people heard
Him gladly" (Mark xii. 37).
It need not therefore much surprise us if St. Peter, now that he
begins to classify his counsels, addresses himself first to "household
servants": _Servants, be in subjection to your masters, with all
fear_. We have, however, to bear in mind, as we consider the Apostle's
exhortation, that most of those whom he addresses were slaves. They
had no power of withdrawing themselves, though their service should
prove burdensome and grievous. St. Paul, in writing to the same class,
nearly always employs the word which means "bondservants." Yet his
counsel agrees with St. Peter's. Thus he exhorts that their service be
"with fear and trembling" (Eph. vi. 5); in Col. iii. 22, "Obey in all
things them that are your masters." And to Timothy and Titus it is
given as a part of their charge to "exhort servants to be in
subjection to their own masters and to be well-pleasing to them in all
things" (1 Tim. vi. 1; Titus ii. 9).
When St. Peter and St. Paul wrote, this slave population was
everywhere very numerous. Gibbon calculates that in the reign of
Claudius the slaves were at least equal in number to the free
inhabitants of the Roman world; Robertson places the estimate much
higher. These formed, then, a very large share of the public to which
the first preachers had to appeal, and we can understand the
importance to the Christian cause of the behaviour of these humble,
but doubtless most numerous, members of the society. Their lives
would be a daily sermon in the houses of their masters. Hence the very
earnest exhortations addressed to them that by their conduct they
should adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things; that they
should count their masters worthy of all honour; that the name of God
and of the doctrine be not blasphemed; that they should be in
subjection _with all fear_. Everything in the New Testament concerning
slaves goes to show that they were a most important factor in the
early Christian societies.
Men wonder nowadays that there is so little said by any of the
Apostles about freeing slaves from their bondage. The best men in
those times and long before appear to have regarded slavery as one of
the institutions with which they were bound to rest content. It
flourished everywhere; it was countenanced in the Scriptures of the
older dispensation. Eleazar was Abraham's slave, and the Law in many
passages contemplates the possession by Israelites of persons who were
bought with their money. Hence we find no remonstrance against
slave-holding in the New Testament writings, only advice to those who
were in such bondage to cultivate a spirit which would render it less
galling and to strive that by their behaviour the cause of Christ
might be advanced. St. Paul represents the ideas of his age when,
writing to the Corinthians, he says, "Wast thou called being a
bondservant? Care not for it; but if thou canst be made free, use _it_
rather" (1 Cor. vii. 21). Freedom was worth having, but any heroic
effort to get rid of the yoke is not encouraged in the Epistles. Yet
it must have been a lot which called for the exercise of much moral
strength to make it bearable. Even from the house of the Christian
Philemon the slave Onesimus found cause to run away. But St. Paul in
his letter admits no right on the slave's part to take this course.
With the Apostle there is no question that the first duty is to go
back to his master. All that he urges is that the common profession of
Christianity by slave and master ought to, and doubtless would,
alleviate the conditions of servitude. There were in Christianity, as
time has shown, germs which would fructify, a spirit which some day
would strike on the chains of slaves. But the vision of such a time
had not dawned either for St. Paul or St. Peter. Christ has overcome
the world in many other matters beside slavery. It is only that
Christians are so tardy in awaking to the fulness of His lessons.
So in apostolic days the rights and claims of slave-masters were
looked upon as indisputable. Be subject, _not only to the good and
gentle, but also to the froward_. There is to be no resistance, no
lapse in duty. About service rendered to good masters there might be
little apprehension, but even here St. Paul finds occasion for
warning. "They that have believing masters," he says, "let them not
despise them because they are brethren" (1 Tim. vi. 2). Christian
freedom was not without its dangers in many forms, especially to minds
wherein liberty was a strange idea. But froward masters are to be
faithfully served likewise, and care is to be taken withal to remove
every occasion for their frowardness. The apostolic lesson is to make
suffering endurable, noble, acceptable to God, by seeing that it be
always undeserved. How strange a doctrine this in the eyes of the
world! The rule of purely human conduct would be just the opposite. If
wrong be undeserved, rebel at once. Christianity supplies a motive
for the contrary course: _conscience toward God_. The world's spirit
is not His spirit, and to have praise with Him should be the
Christian's single aim. Men can at times be patient when rebuke is
deserved, but the world sees that that deserves no credit. "What thank
have ye?" they cry. But they give no praise for the bearing of
unmerited rebuke.
The world counts such conduct weakness, and is still far from
comprehending the Divineness of the virtue of yielding patiently to
wrong. God has long been teaching the lesson, but it has been slowly
learnt. He chose the milder, timid Jacob rather than the fiery Esau.
Both had faults in multitude. With the world Esau is oft the
favourite. At a later day He stamps with approval the noble mercy of
David in sparing Saul, while round Daniel and his companions in
Babylon there gathers something of a halo of New Testament sanctity by
reason of the noble confession which they made under persecution.
These are chapters in the Divine lesson-book. Such lives marked stages
in the preparation for the Servant of the Lord. Men, if they would
have hearkened, were being trained to estimate such a character at
God's value. Now Christ's example is before us, and we are bidden to
follow it.
_For hereunto were ye called._ Strange invitation to be dictated by
love, a call to suffering! And yet the Master at first promises
nothing else to His followers: "If any man would come after Me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Matt. xvi.
24). And what can a Christian wish for but to be like Christ? And the
very reason given ought to make us love the cross. We are called unto
suffering because Jesus suffered for us, leaving us an example that we
should follow His steps. He has trodden the hard road, the winepress
of the wrath of God, alone and for men. At this point the Apostle
begins to apply to Christ Isaiah's description of the suffering
"Servant of the Lord," "who did no sin, neither was guile found in His
mouth" (Isa. liii.). But soon the memory of the scenes he had
witnessed is present with him; and his words, though holding to the
spirit of Isaiah's picture, become a description of what he himself
had seen and heard when Jesus was taken and crucified: _Who, when He
was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, threatened not, but
committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously_. How the brief
words sum up and recall the dark history--Caiaphas, Pilate, and Herod;
the mockery, the scourging, the railing crowd, the dying Jesus, and
the parting prayer, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit."
So far the Apostle speaks of the example of Christ, which, though far
above and beyond us, we are exhorted and called on to follow. And
there are many who will go with him thus far who value our Lord's work
only for its lofty example. Indeed, it is characteristic of those who
deny the mediatorial office of Christ to be loudest in magnifying the
grandeur of His character. To His good works, His love for men, His
spotless life, His noble lessons, they accord untiring praise, as
though thereby they would atone for denying Him that office which is
more glorious still. But St. Peter stops at no such half-way house. He
knows in whom he has believed, knows Him for the Son of the living
God, a Teacher with whom were the words of eternal life. So in
pregnant words he sets forth the doctrine of the Atonement as the end
of Christ's suffering: _Who His own self bare our sins in His own body
upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto
righteousness_. He bare our sins. The words tell of something beyond
our powers to comprehend; but some light is shed on them by a kindred
passage (Matt. viii. 17), where the Evangelist applies to the work of
Jesus those other words from Isa. liii., "Himself took our infirmities
and bare our sicknesses." The narrative in the Gospel has just
recorded how Jesus wrought many miracles. First a leper was healed,
then the centurion's servant, next Simon's wife's mother, and
afterwards many sick and demoniacs beside. There is no record here of
the effect produced on Jesus Himself by these exhibitions of
miraculous power, but from other passages in the Gospels we do find
that He was conscious in Himself of a demand on His power when such
cures were wrought. Thus we are told, at the cure of the woman with
the issue, that Jesus perceived in Himself that the power proceeding
from Him had gone forth (Mark v. 30); and again when many were cured,
that "power came forth from Him and healed them all" (Luke vi. 19). Of
the woman Jesus says expressly, "Thy faith hath made thee whole"; and
the manifestation of eagerness to touch Jesus is a sign of the faith
of the others whom the Divine power blessed with health.
The Bible recognises everywhere the analogy between sin and sickness.
May we not trace some analogy between the Lord's works of healing and
that mightier deliverance from sin won by Christ upon the cross, an
analogy which may help, if but a little, to give meaning to the
bearing by Christ of human sins? A power went forth when the sick were
healed; and through that imparted power they were restored to health,
faith being the pathway which brought the Divine virtue to their aid.
Thus Jesus bore their diseases and took them away. Look through this
figure on the work of our redemption. Christ has borne the burden of
sin. He has died for sin that men may die from sin, that sin may be
slain in us, the fell disease healed by the power of His suffering. We
cannot comprehend what was done for the sick when Christ was on earth,
nor what is wrought for sinners by His grace in heaven. Those alone
who reap the blessing know its certainty; and they can but say, as the
blind man whose sight was restored, "One thing I know: that, whereas I
was blind, now I see" (John ix. 25).
To this teaching, that Christ's suffering wrought man's rescue, St.
Peter adds emphasis by another quotation from that chapter of Isaiah
which he has so much in mind: _by whose stripes ye were healed_.
Christ was stricken, and God grants to His sufferings a power to heal
the souls of those whom He loves because they strive to love Him.
Healing through wounds! Soundness through that which speaks only of
injury! Mysterious dispensation! But long ago it had been
foreshadowed, and shown also how little connexion there was to be,
except through faith, between the remedy and the disease. Those who
were bitten of the serpents in the wilderness gazed on the brazen
serpent, and were healed. In the dead brass was no virtue, but God was
pleased to make of it a speaking sacrament; so has it pleased Him to
give healing of sins to those who by faith appropriate the sacrifice
on Calvary. Christ has claimed the type for Himself: "I, if I be
lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Myself" (John xii.
32).
And now, as is so often his wont, St. Peter varies the figure. The
wounded sinner finding cure becomes the wandering sheep that has been
brought back into the fold: _For ye were going astray like sheep, but
are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls_. But the
message, the teaching, the love, is all the same. He who before was
the great Exemplar, whose footsteps we should follow, is now the
Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, who goes before His sheep. This Shepherd
has been a Sufferer, too. He has given Himself up as a prey to the
wolves that His flock might be saved. Now, with a voice of love, He
calls His sheep by name; and hearing, they follow Him.
But He is more than this. Brought within the fold, the sheep still
need His care; and it is freely given. He is the Bishop, the Overseer,
the Watchman for His people's safety, who, having gathered them within
the fold, tends them with constant watchfulness. The figure passes
over thus into the reality in the Apostle's closing words. The cure
which the great Healer desires to accomplish is in the souls of men.
For them His care is bestowed, first to bring them safe out of the way
of evil, then for ever to keep them under the sheltering care of His
abundant love.
IX
_CHRISTIAN WIVES AND HUSBANDS_
"In like manner, ye wives, _be_ in subjection to your own
husbands; that, even if any obey not the word, they may without
the word be gained by the behaviour of their wives; beholding
your chaste behaviour _coupled_ with fear. Whose _adorning_ let
it not be the outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of
wearing jewels of gold, or of putting on apparel; but _let it be_
the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptible _apparel_ of a
meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great
price. For after this manner aforetime the holy women also, who
hoped in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection to their
own husbands: as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose
children ye now are, if ye do well, and are not put in fear by
any terror.
"Ye husbands, in like manner, dwell with _your wives_ according
to knowledge, giving honour unto the woman, as unto the weaker
vessel, as being also joint heirs of the grace of life; to the
end that your prayers be not hindered."--1 PETER iii. 1-7.
The Apostle gave at first (ii. 13) the rule of Christian submission
generally; then proceeded to apply it to the cases of citizens and of
servants. In the same way he now gives injunctions concerning the
behaviour of wives and husbands. The precept with which he began holds
good for them also. _In like manner, ye wives, be in subjection to
your own husbands._ The life and teaching of Jesus had wrought a great
change in the position of women, a change which can be observed from
the earliest days of Christianity. We can gather in what estimation
women were generally held among the Jews at that time from the
expression used in the account of our Lord's interview with the woman
of Samaria. There it is said (John iv. 27) that the disciples
marvelled that Jesus was talking with a woman. Such a feeling must
afterwards have been entirely dispelled, for all through the earthly
life of Christ we find Him attended by women who ministered unto Him;
we read of His close friendship with Mary and Martha, and are told, at
the time of His death (Matt. xxvii. 55), that many women beheld the
Crucifixion afar off, having followed Him from Galilee. Women were the
earliest visitors to the tomb on the great Easter morning, and to
them, among the first (Luke xxiv. 22), was the Lord's resurrection
made known.
We are not surprised, therefore, in the history of the infant Church,
to read (Acts i. 14) that women were present among the disciples who
waited at Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, nor to learn how
the daughters of Philip the evangelist (Acts xxi. 9) took a share in
the labours of their father for the cause of Christ, or that Priscilla
(Acts xviii. 26), equally with her husband, was active in Christian
good offices. Other examples occur in the Acts of the Apostles:
Dorcas, Lydia, and the mother of Timothy; and the constant mention of
women which we find in the salutations with which St. Paul concludes
his letters makes it clear how large a part they played in the early
propagation of the faith. "Fellow-workers," "servants of the Church,"
"labourers in the Lord," are among the terms which the Apostle applies
to them; and we know from the Pastoral Epistles what help the
primitive Church derived from the labours of its deaconesses and
widows.
To be occupied in such duties was sure to give to women an influence
which they had never possessed before; and the women converts, in
countries such as these Asiatic provinces, were exposed to the same
sort of danger which beset the slave population at their acceptance of
the Christian faith. They might begin to think meanly of others, even
of their own husbands, if they were still content to abide in
heathenism. Such women might incline at times to take counsel for
their life's guidance with Christian men among the various
congregations to which they belonged and to set a value on their
advice above any which they could obtain from their own husbands. They
might come to entertain doubts also whether they ought to maintain the
relations of married life with their heathen partners. With the
knowledge that such cases might occur, St. Peter gives his lesson. And
as in the case of slaves, so here, he gives no countenance to the idea
that to become a Christian breaks off previous relations. Wives,
though they have accepted the faith, have wifely duties still. Like
Christian citizens living in a heathen commonwealth, they are not by
religion released from their previously contracted obligations; they
are to abide in their estate, and use it, if it may be done, for the
furtherance of the cause of Christ. Be in subjection to _your own_
husbands; they have still their claim on your duty.
There is much gentleness in the Apostle's next words. He knows that
there may arise cases where believing wives have husbands who are
heathen. But he speaks hopefully, as thinking they would not be of
frequent occurrence: _even if any obey not the word_. Wives,
especially if they be of such a character as the Apostle would have
them be, could not have been won to the faith of Christ without much
converse with their husbands on so deep a subject; and the word which
was working effectually in the one would often have its influence with
the other. It might not always be so. But husbands, though not obeying
the word as yet, are not to be despaired of.
And here we may turn aside to dwell on the tone of hope in which St.
Peter speaks of these husbands who obey not. For the word
ἀπειθοῦντες, by which they are described, is the same that is used
in ii. 18 of those who stumble at the word, being disobedient. The
lesson here given to Christian wives, not to despair of winning their
husbands for Christ, gives warrant for what was said on the former
passage: that the disobedience which causes men to stumble need not
last for ever, nor imply final obduracy and rejection from God's
grace. But this by the way.
The Apostle adds the strongest motive to confirm wives in holding to
their married state: _That the husbands may without the word be gained
by the behaviour of their wives: beholding your chaste behaviour
coupled with fear_. "Without the word" here means that there is to be
no discussion. They are so to live as to make their lives a sermon
without words, to work conviction without debate; then, when the
victory is won, there will remain no trace of combat: all will tell of
gain, and nothing of loss.
And once again St. Peter uses his special word (ἐποπτέυειν)
as he describes how the husbands shall be affected by the behaviour of
their wives. They shall gaze on it as a mystery, the key to which they
do not possess. The wives in heathen homes must have been obliged to
hear and see many things which were grievous and distasteful. The
husbands could hardly fail to know that it was so. If, then, they
still found wifely regard and respect, wifely submission, with no
assertion of a law of their own, no comparison of the lives of
Christian men with those of their own husbands, if a silent,
consistent walk were all the protest which the Christian wives offered
against their heathen environments, such a life could hardly fail of
its effect. There must be a powerful motive, a mighty, strengthening
power, that enabled women to abide uncomplainingly in their estate.
For this the husbands would surely search, and in their search would
learn secrets to which they were strangers, would learn how the tongue
was restrained where remonstrance might seem more natural, how pure
life was maintained in spite of temptations to laxity, and the
marriage bond exalted with religious observance even when reverence
for the husband was meeting with no equal return. Such lives would be
more powerful than oratory, have a charm beyond resistance, would win
the husbands first to wonder, then to praise, and in the end to
imitation.
And from describing the grace of such a life the Apostle turns to
contrast it with other adornments of which the world thinks highly.
_Whose adorning_, he says, _let it not be the outward adorning of
plaiting the hair, and of wearing jewels of gold, and of putting on
apparel_. We can see from the catalogue in Isaiah (iii. 18-23) that
the daughters of Zion in old days had gone to great lengths in this
outside bravery, and provoked the Lord to smite them. These had
forgotten the simplicity of Sarah. But that in the house of Abraham
there were found no such ornaments is hardly to be believed. The
patriarch, who sent (Gen. xxiv. 53) to Rebekah jewels of silver and
jewels of gold, did not leave his own wife unadorned. Nor does the
language of St. Peter condemn Rebekah's bracelets, if they be worn
with Rebekah's modesty. The New Testament does not teach us to neglect
or despise the body. A misrendering in the Authorised Version, "Who
shall change our vile body" (Phil. iii. 21), has long seemed to lend
countenance to such a notion. It is one of the gains of the Revised
Version that we now read in that place, "Who shall fashion anew the
body of our humiliation." Sin has robbed the body of its primal
dignity, but it is to be restored and made like unto the body of
Christ's glory. And He did not despise the body when He deigned to
wear it that He might draw nearer unto us. If these things be present
to our thoughts, we shall seek to bestow on the body whatever may make
it comely. The mischief arises when the adornment of the outer brings
neglect of the inner man, when fine apparel has for its companions the
haughtiness, the stretched-forth necks, and wanton eyes which Isaiah
rebukes. Then it is that it rightly comes under condemnation. When the
jewel is (as Rebekah's was) the gift of some dear one--a parent, a
husband, a near kinsman--it rouses grateful reminiscences, and may
fitly be prized, and holily worn, and ranked near to the rings of
betrothal and of marriage.
Let these be the feelings which regulate womanly adornment, and it may
be made a part of the culture of the heart, the inner man, which St.
Peter urges the Christian wives to be careful to adorn: Let your
adorning _be the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptible apparel
of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great
price_. All Scripture regards man as of twofold nature, the outward
and the inward, of which the latter is the more precious. He is a Jew
who is one inwardly (Rom. ii. 29); the inward man delighteth in the
law of God (Rom. vii. 22); while the outward man perishes the inward
man may be renewed day by day (2 Cor. iv. 16), being strengthened with
power through God's Spirit. This hidden man is the centre from which
all the strength of Christian life comes. Let this be rightly adorned,
and the outward life will need no strict rules; there will be no fear
of excess, least of all when the inner life is cared for because it is
precious before God. Its pure array passeth gold and gems, be they
ever so beautiful. This is a grace which never fades, but will
flourish through eternity.
The Apostle proceeds to commend it by a noble example. The Old
Testament Scriptures do not dwell largely on the lives of women, but a
study of what is said will oftentimes reveal deeper meaning in the
record and put force into a solitary word. The writer of the Epistle
to the Hebrews couples Sarah with Abraham in the list of heroes and
heroines of faith, and St. Peter from a single word finds a text to
extol the submission which she showed to her husband. He probably
refers to Gen. xviii. 12, where she gives the title of "lord" to
Abraham, as Rachel in another place (Gen. xxxi. 35) does to her father
Laban: _For after this manner aforetime the holy women also, who hoped
in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands:
as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord_. A Scripture example which
has more in common with the experience of the Asian women is the life
of Hannah. Her lot, for a time at least, was as full of grief and
disappointment as theirs could be; but her trust in God was unshaken.
Her patience under provocation was exemplary, while the picture of her
home life is one full of touching affection on the part of both
husband and wife; and the mother's gratitude, when her prayer was
granted, is set forth in her noble hymn of thanksgiving and in the
devotion of her child to the service of the God who had bestowed him.
Ruth is another of those holy women who must have been in St. Peter's
thoughts, who, though not of the house of Israel, manifested virtues
in her life which made her fit to be the ancestress of King David. The
Apostle, however, seems to have had a purpose in his special mention
of Sarah. As the sons of Israel looked back to Abraham and to the
covenant sealed with him, yea, not seldom prided themselves on being
his children, so the daughters of Israel counted themselves as Sarah's
daughters after the flesh. St. Peter now gives them another ground for
that claim. God's promises to Abraham have been fulfilled in Christ,
and so Christian Jewesses are more truly than ever daughters of Sarah.
_Whose children ye now are._ But to the heathen converts the same door
was opened. They by their faith were now made partakers of the ancient
covenant. They too were become Sarah's daughters. Let them, one and
all, continue in the well-doing which has been commended; let it be
seen in the daily round (ἀναστροφὴ) of their lives, led in
quietness and humility. The excessive love of adornment against which
they are warned marks a condition of boldness and unrest. But unrest
may enter into the other actions of their life. Their behaviour is to
be coupled with fear and reverence, but it should eschew everything
which partakes of flighty irregularity. It should be steady and
consistent, running into no extremes either of humiliation or the
contrary. _Do well, and be not put in fear by any terror._
The Apostle now addresses Christian husbands. In his counsel to
subjects and slaves he has not dwelt on the duties of rulers and
masters. Perhaps he judged it unlikely that his letter would come to
the hands of many such, or it may be he thought the lessons which he
had to give were more needed by the subject people, if Christ's cause
were to be furthered. But with husbands and wives life has of
necessity a great deal in common, and the one partner can hardly
receive counsel which is not of interest to the other. To the wives
the Apostle spake as though examples of unbelieving husbands might be
rare. Christian husbands with unbelieving wives he hardly seems to
contemplate. We know from St. Paul (1 Cor. vii. 16) that there were
such. But doubtless heathen wives hearkened to Christian husbands more
readily than heathen husbands to their Christian wives. The husbands
are to use their position as heads of their wives with judgement and
discretion: _Dwell with your wives according to knowledge_. The
knowledge of which St. Peter speaks is not religious, godly, Christian
knowledge, but that foresight and thoughtfulness which the
responsibility of the husband calls for. He will understand what
things for his wife's sake he should do or leave undone. This
knowledge, which results in considerate conduct towards her, will
manifest itself in Christian chivalry. The woman is physically the
feebler of the two. No burden beyond her powers will be laid upon her;
and by reason of her weaker nature regard and honour will be felt to
be her due. For the woman is the glory of the man (1 Cor. xi. 7). Such
observance will not degenerate into undue adulation nor foolish
fondness, apt to foster pride and conceit, but will be inspired by the
sense that in God's creation neither is the man without the woman,
nor the woman without the man.
But beyond and above these daily graces of domestic and social
intercourse, the Apostle would have husband and wife knit together by
a higher bond. They are _joint heirs of the grace of life_. Both are
meant to be partakers of the heavenly inheritance, and such
participation makes their chief duty here to be preparation for the
life to come. Those who are bound together not by wedlock only, but by
the hope of a common salvation, will find a motive in that thought to
help each other in life's pilgrimage, each to shun all that might
cause the other to stumble: _That your prayers be not hindered_. They
are fellow-travellers with the same needs. Together they can bring
their requests before God, and where the two join in heart and soul
Christ has promised to be present as the Third. And in praying they
will know one another's necessities. This is the grandest knowledge
the husband can attain to for the honouring of his wife; and using it,
he will speed their united supplications to the throne of grace, and
the union of hearts will not fail of its blessing.
X
_THEY WHO BLESS ARE BLESSED_
"Finally, _be_ ye all like-minded, compassionate, loving as
brethren, tender-hearted, humble-minded: not rendering evil for
evil, or reviling for reviling; but contrariwise blessing; for
hereunto were ye called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For
he that would love life, and see good days, let him refrain his
tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: and let
him turn away from evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and
pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and
His ears unto their supplication: but the face of the Lord is
upon them that do evil. And who is he that will harm you, if ye
be zealous of that which is good? But and if ye should suffer for
righteousness' sake, blessed _are ye_: and fear not their fear,
neither be troubled; but sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord:
_being_ ready always to give answer to every man that asketh you
a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness
and fear: having a good conscience; that, wherein ye are spoken
against, they may be put to shame who revile your good manner of
life in Christ."--1 Peter iii. 8-16.
The Apostle now ceases from his special admonitions, and enforces
generally such qualities and conduct as must mark all who fear the
Lord. _Finally_, he says--and the word may indicate the close of his
counsels; but the virtues which he inculcates are of so important a
character that he may very well intend them as the apex and crown of
all his previous advice--_be ye all like-minded, compassionate, loving
as brethren, tender-hearted, humble-minded_. St. Peter has here
grouped together a number of epithets of which all but one are only
used in the New Testament by himself, and they are of that graphic
character which is so conspicuous in all the Apostle's language.
_Like-minded._ If the word be not there, the spirit is largely
exemplified in the early history of the Church. How often we hear the
phrase "with one accord" in the opening chapters of the Acts. Thus the
disciples continued in prayer (i. 14); thus they went daily to the
Temple (ii. 46); thus they lifted up their voices to God (iv. 24), for
all they that believed were of one heart and one soul (iv. 32). Such
lives exhibit harmony of thought, the same aim and purpose. The men
may not, will not, always use the same means or follow the same
methods, but they will all be seeking one result. Such unity is worth
more than uniformity. _Compassionate._ This feeling St. Paul describes
(Rom. xii. 15) as rejoicing with them that do rejoice and weeping with
them that weep. For the παθήματα of this life are not
always sorrowful, though the best of them are not worthy to be
compared with the glory that shall be revealed (Rom. viii. 18)._Loving
as brethren._ The sense of the brotherhood of Christians is strongly
marked in all the New Testament Scriptures. It is the name by which
our Lord claims fellowship with men, being not ashamed to call them
brethren. It is the designation of the Christian body from the first
(Matt. xxiii. 8), is constantly found in the Acts and the Epistles
(Acts vi. 3, ix. 30, xi. 29), and has been used of the Church in every
age, marking how as one family we dwell in Him. Next comes the word
which is not St. Peter's alone: _Tender-hearted_. St. Paul has it
(Eph. iv. 32), but it is no Greek notion. It was a Jewish idea that
deep feeling was closely connected with some of the organs of the
body; and in the Old Testament, as in the story of Joseph (Gen.
xliii. 30) and elsewhere (1 Kings iii. 26), we come upon such phrases
as "His bowels did yearn upon his brother." This Hebrew notion the
LXX. has conveyed into Greek by the word which St. Peter here uses,
and which those translators had used and consecrated long before. For
them so exalted was the thought contained in it that they employ it in
the prayer of Manasses (ver. 7) to express the tenderness of God
towards the penitent, the yearning love of the Father, who sees the
prodigal afar off, and has compassion. _Humble-minded._ This word and
those akin to it are almost a New Testament creation. The heathen had
no admiration for the temper it expresses, and where they do use the
word it is in a bad sense as signifying "cowardly" and "mean-spirited."
Before Christ none had taught, "He that is greatest among you shall be
your servant" (Matt. xxiii. 11).
It is manifest that if such harmony, kind feeling, attachment,
affection, and humility flourished among believers, these virtues
would put discord to the rout, and leave no occasion for rending the
oneness of the Christian body. They would also be proof against evil
from without, both in deed and speech, neither tempted to _render evil
for evil_ in their actions nor _reviling for reviling_ in their words.
They have a duty to the world, and cannot thus belie their Christian
profession. They are called to adorn the doctrine of their Saviour,
and the Master's sermon has among its prominent precepts "Bless them
that curse you." This is the spirit of St. Peter's exhortation, _But
contrariwise blessing_; that is, Be ye of those who bless. For there
is a law of recompense with God in good things as in evil; the
blessers shall be blessed: _For hereunto were ye called, that ye
should inherit a blessing_. It is as though he urged them thus: Ye
were aforetime enemies of God; but ye have been made partakers of His
heavenly calling (Heb. iii. 1), that ye may come to blessing. This
should move you to bless your enemies. And more than this, the servant
of God may receive no blessing from the world, may get curses for his
blessing; but yet he knows where to flee for consolation. He can pray
with the Psalmist, "Let them curse, but bless Thou" (Psalm cix. 28),
conscious that the Lord will stand at the right hand of the needy.
The psalmists knew much of such trials, and it is from the words of
one of them (Psalm xxxiv. 12-16) that St. Peter enforces his own
lesson. It is a psalm full of the knowledge of the trials of God's
servants: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous"; but it is rich
also in plenitude of comfort: "The Lord delivereth him out of them
all." The father of long ago teaches thus to his children the fear of
the Lord: _He that would love life, and see good days, let him refrain
his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: and let
him turn away from evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and pursue
it_. _For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears
unto their supplication: but the face of the Lord is upon them that do
evil._ A glance at the Psalm will show that the Apostle has not quoted
precisely; and though he has much in common with the Greek of the
LXX., he does not adhere closely to that. But he gives to the full the
spirit both of the Hebrew and the Greek. The life of which the
Psalmist speaks is life in this world. The original explains this by
making the latter clause of the verse, "and loveth _many_ days, that
he may see good." And the love is to be a noble feeling, a desire to
make his worth living. Such a life must exhibit watchfulness over
words and actions. The precepts begin at the beginning, with control
of the tongue. Control that, and you are master of the rest. "It is a
little member, but boasteth great things." "The world of iniquity
among our members is the tongue, which defileth the whole body" (James
iii. 5, 6). It needs to be kept as with a bridle, and not only when
the ungodly are in sight, but constantly. But the words of the Psalm
contemplate a further danger. Men may give good words with the lips
while the heart is full of bitterness. Then the lips are lying, and
this is an evil as great as the former, and more perilous to him who
commits it, because the sin does not come to the light that it may be
reproved, but contrives to wear the mask of virtue.
And the actions need watchfulness also. They must not only possess the
negative quality of abstinence from evil, but the positive stamp of
good deeds done. "By their fruits ye shall know them." And the work
will be no light one. Peace is to be sought, and the Apostle uses a
word which implies that a chase is needful to obtain it. St. Paul has
a passage very much in the spirit of St. Peter's teaching here, and
the words of which picture distinctly the difficulties which the
Christian will have to labour against: "Giving diligence to keep the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. iv. 3). This tells us
why our Apostle urges the pursuit of peace. It is the clasp which
binds the Christian communion together. From all sorts of causes men
are prone to fall apart, to break the oneness; and peace is able to
hold them fast. Hence the diligence in seeking it, the earnestness of
the pursuit that it may not elude us.
But when all is done, when men have not been sitting with folded hands
waiting and dreaming that peace would come without pursuit, but have
laboured for it, they do not always attain to it. "I am for peace,"
says the Psalmist, "but when I speak, they are for war" (Psalm cxx.
7). And so the disappointed struggler is directed to the sure source
of consolation amid discomfiture. The Lord marks his efforts, knows
their earnest purpose in spite of their ill-success. He beholds also
those who have withstood them, but with far other regard. St. Peter
has not quoted what the Psalmist says of their fate: "God will root
out the remembrance of them from the earth." God's righteous pilgrim
is not forgotten. His prayer is heard, and will be answered for good.
No shadow has come between him and God, though his lot seem very dark.
Neither can the wrong-doer raise a shadow to screen himself from the
all-seeing eyes. All things are naked and open before the eyes of Him
with whom we have to do.
Thus far St. Peter has used the language of the Psalmist, and among
the converts the Jews would be sure to supply from the context those
other words, "O fear the Lord, all ye His saints; for they that fear
Him lack nothing." The Apostle clothes that same thought in his own
words: _And who is he that will harm you, if ye be zealous of that
which is good?_ He has repeatedly dwelt on the power of goodness to
win unbelievers to its side (ii. 12, 15; iii. 1), and the same idea
shapes his words now. In those days the Zealots were well known, and
their unbounded enthusiasm for their evil cause. Josephus lays the
destruction of Jerusalem at their door. The Apostle would have
Christ's disciples "zealots" for Him. Let there be nothing
half-hearted in their service, and its power will be irresistible. It
will avail either to silence and confound the adversaries, or to
strengthen the faithful so that the smell of the furnace of
persecution shall not pass upon them. They shall be enabled to break
the chains with which their foes would bind them as easily as Samson
his green withes. _But and if ye should suffer for righteousness'
sake, blessed are ye._ If ye endure chastening, God is dealing with
you as with sons. He has called Himself your Father; Christ has
claimed you for brethren. He, the righteous, suffered; shall we not
reckon it for a blessing to be worthy to bear the cross? Only let us
be of good courage. He that endureth to the end shall find salvation.
_And fear not their fear, neither be troubled._ Again St. Peter
applies the promises of the ancient Scriptures. In the days of Isaiah
all Judah was in terror, king and people alike, before the gathering
armies of Syria and Israel. In their dread comes the prophetic
message, and says to the confederates, "Gird yourselves, and ye shall
be broken in pieces," and to the tiny power of Judah, "Let the Lord of
hosts be your fear, and let Him be your dread, and He shall be for a
sanctuary" (Isa. viii. 12, 13). The condition of these Asian converts
was one of heaviness through manifold temptations. While the believer
lives here he always has his assailants, and in those early days the
rulers of the earth were not seldom among the adversaries of the
Christians. Hence the Apostle's exhortation is most apposite: Fear not
their fear--the things which they would dread, and with which they
will threaten you. For what are they? They may take away your
property. Be not troubled; you would soon have had to leave it. The
loss a few years sooner is no terrible affliction. They may drive you
from one land to another. To strangers and sojourners what can that
signify? If they cast you into prison, the Lord who shut the lions'
mouths for Daniel is your Lord also; and I, Peter, know how
angel-hands have removed chains and opened prison doors. And should
they scourge and torture you, do you shrink from thus being made like
unto your Master? _Sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord._
Isaiah's message to disheartened Judah was, "The Lord of hosts, Him
shall ye sanctify." On His word shall ye rely, assured that He, the
holy God, will fail neither in wisdom nor power. To think otherwise is
not to sanctify Him. The Lord knoweth how to deliver out of
temptation. St. Peter, who knew Christ as the Son of the living God,
applies to the Son the words first spoken of the Father. The Son is
one with the Father. Hence he bids the afflicted converts, suffering
for righteousness' sake, not to be afraid of the world's terror, but
to sanctify Christ in their hearts as Lord. He is the Emmanuel, whom
Isaiah was sent to promise. God has dwelt among men, and will be the
God and the Deliverer of all His faithful ones. This sense of "God
with us" they know, and with the knowledge comes a power not their
own, and they fear no more the fear of their adversaries.
It is against foes of another sort that the Christian has now to hold
fast his faith, and sanctify Christ as his Lord. There are those who
deny Him all that is supernatural, all that speaks of the Divine in
His history; who treat the resurrection and ascension of the Lord as
groundless legends, due to the ignorance of His followers; and who
leave to the Jesus of the Gospels only the qualities of a better
fellow-man. These are the enemies of the cross of Christ.
And of such dangerous teaching it would seem as if St. Peter had been
thinking in the words that follow: _Being ready always to give answer
to every man that asketh you a reason concerning the hope that is in
you._ The believer rests on Christ in faith. But though in his belief
there must be much which he cannot fathom, yet it is a belief for men.
His service is a reasonable service; he can point to abundance of
evidence as ground for his faith; he believes because he has
experienced the power of the Spirit, and fears not to trust the Christ
whom he has sanctified in his heart as Lord; he knows in whom he has
believed. But beside this, he can study the Old Testament; and there
he learns how the coming incarnation dominates every portion of the
volume, how from the first redemption through the seed of the woman
was made known; and he follows the revelation step by step till in the
evangel of Isaiah he has predictions almost as vivid and plain as the
narrative of the Gospels. Those four narratives are another warrant
for his faith, their wondrous agreement amid multitudinous
divergences, divergences so marked that none could have ventured to
put them forth as history except while the knowledge of those who had
seen the Lord and been witnesses of His actions was available to vouch
for and stamp as true these varicoloured pictures of the life of
Jesus. He has further vouchers in the lives and letters of those who
knew and followed the Lord, followed Him, most of them, on the road
that led through persecution unto death. And beside all this, there
stands and grows the Church built upon this history, strong with the
power of this faith and in her holy worship sanctifying Christ as her
Lord. These are things to which the Christian appeals. They are not
the only reasons for belief, but they are those of which he can make
other men cognisant, and to which the world cannot continue always
blind; and they have a force against which the gates of hell have not
yet been, nor ever will be able, to prevail.
These reasons he gives _with meekness and fear_--with meekness,
because in that spirit all the victories of the Lord are to be won;
with fear, lest by feeble advocacy the cause of Christ may suffer. And
he does not bring words alone with him to the struggle, but the power
of a godly life; he is prepared for the conflict by the possession of
a _good conscience_ before God and men; he bears in mind the prophetic
exhortation, "Be ye clean, ye that bear the vessels of the Lord" (Isa.
lii. 11). That injunction was given to those who were in their day
strangers and pilgrims. But with the good conscience, pureness of
heart in the service of the Lord, there need be no haste, no flight.
The Lord will go before them; the God of Israel will be their
rearward. And the good conscience has lost none of its efficacy:
_Wherein ye are spoken against, they may be put to shame who revile
your good manner of life in Christ_. Of the Christian's faith and hope
his revilers know nothing, but his good life and his reasons for it
men can see and hear. And these shall gain the victory. But they must
go hand in hand. The deeds must bear out the words. When he testifies
that his hope is placed where neither persecutions nor revilings avail
against it, his life must show him fearless of what the world can do.
His position toward it must be that which St. Peter himself took:
"Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than
unto God, judge ye" (Acts iv. 19). Men may marvel at what they see in
him, but they will take knowledge that he has been with Jesus. He is
created, new-created, in Christ Jesus unto good works (Eph. ii. 10).
His revilers use him despitefully; but, according to Christ's lesson,
he prays for them, and their shafts glance pointless off. Well does
St. Paul close his catalogue of the Christian armour "with all prayer
and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit" (Eph. vi. 18).
Thus does the believer wield his weapons effectually. His revilers
have no reason for their words; he is careful that they shall have
none. As with Peter and John the council could say nothing against
their good deed and let them go, finding nothing how they might punish
them, so shall it be with others of the faithful; and, for very shame
at the futility of their accusations and assaults, the revilers shall
be put to silence.
XI
_THE REWARDS OF SUFFERING FOR WELL-DOING_
"For it is better, if the will of God should so will, that ye
suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. Because Christ also
suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that
He might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened in the spirit; in which also He went and preached unto
the spirits in prison, which aforetime were disobedient, when the
long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark
was a-preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved
through water: which also after a true likeness doth now save
you, _even_ baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the
flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God,
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ; who is on the right
hand of God, having gone unto heaven; angels and authorities and
powers being made subject unto Him."--1 PETER iii. 17-22.
The Apostle comes back to his solemn subject. Why are the righteous
called to suffering? The question was perplexing these Asian
Christians when St. Peter wrote. Previous ages had pondered over it,
Job and his friends among the number; and men ponder over it still.
St. Peter has suggested several answers: The faith of Christ's
servants after trial will be found praiseworthy at the appearance of
their Lord; to bear wrong with patience is acceptable with God; it is
a happy lot, Christ has said, to suffer in the cause of righteousness.
His next response to the question is more solemn than these: Suffering
is sent to the righteous by the will of God. It never comes
otherwise, and is meant to serve two several purposes: it is intended
to benefit the unrighteous, and to be a blessing and glory to the
righteous who endure it.
He shows that this is God's will by two examples. Christ, the sinless,
suffered at the hands of sinful men, and for their sakes, as well as
for all sinners; and though we only can approach the subject with deep
reverence and use the language of Scripture rather than our own about
the effect of suffering on Christ Himself, we are taught therein that
He was made perfect as the Leader of salvation by the things which He
suffered: and the Apostle here describes the sequel of those
sufferings by the session on the right hand of God in heaven, where
angels and authorities and powers are made subject unto Him.
But God's ordinance in respect of the suffering of the godly has been
the same from of old. In the ancient world Noah had found grace in
God's sight in the midst of a graceless world. He was made a witness
and a preacher of righteousness; and the faithful building of the ark
at God's command was a constant testimony to the wrong-doers, whose
sole response was mockery and a continuance in the corruption of their
way. But God had not left them without witness; and when the Deluge
came at length, some hearts may have gone forth to God in penitence,
though too late to be saved from the destruction. To Noah and those
with him safety was assured; and when the door of the ark was opened,
and the small band of the rescued came forth, it was to have the
welcome of God's blessing and to be pointed to a token of His
everlasting covenant. In this wise St. Peter adds once more to the
consolations of those who endure grief and suffering wrongfully, and
thus does he set forth the general drift of his argument. But the
whole passage is so replete with helpful lessons that it merits the
fullest consideration.
_For it is better, if the will of God should so will, that ye suffer
for well-doing than for evil-doing._ For evil-doing suffering is
certain to come. It cannot be escaped. God has linked the two together
by an unalterable law. Such suffering is penal. But when the righteous
are afflicted their lot is not of law, but of God's merciful
appointment and selection, and is ordained with a purpose of blessing
both to themselves and others. The words of St. Peter are very
emphatic concerning God's ordinance: _If the will of God so will_. It
is not always clear to men. Therefore St. Paul (Eph. i. 9) speaks of
the mystery of the Divine will, but in the same place (i. 5) of the
good pleasure thereof. It is exercised with love, and not with anger.
It was the feeling[10] with which God looked forth upon the
new-created world, and, behold, it was very good (Rev. iv. 11). With
the same feeling He longs to behold it rescued and restored. Such is
the desire, such the aim, with which God permits trial and distress to
fall upon the righteous. And that the sufferers may be kept in mind of
God's remedial purpose herein, the Apostle adduces the example of
Christ Himself: _Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the
righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God_. The
suffering Christ should give pause to all questionings about the
sufferings of His servants. Their lot may be hard to explain. But be
their lives ever so pure, their purposes ever so lofty, "in many
things we offend all," and need not murmur if we be chastened. But as
we think of the sinless Jesus and His unequalled sufferings, we learn
the applicability of the prophet's lamentation, "See if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow" (Lam. i. 12). The burden of the
unrighteous world was laid upon the righteous Son of God, and this
because of God's love for sinners. Herein was the love of God
manifested in us. Sinful men were the material chosen for the display
of the Divine love, and God sent His only-begotten Son into the world
that we might live through Him. It was of God's ordinance and the
Son's obedience that redemption was thus purchased. That we might
live, the sinless Christ must die, and ere He died must be put to
grief by the opposition of those whom He came to save; must lament and
be hindered in His works of mercy by the want of faith among His own
kindred, by the persistent sins of those cities in which His mightiest
works were wrought; must shed tears of anguish over the city of David,
which would know nothing of the things which belonged unto her peace.
This was the chastisement of the innocent to gain peace for the
guilty, that God might thus commend His love to men, and Christ might
bring them back to the Father. And this bringing back is not the mere
action of a guide. This He is, but He is far more: He helps those who
are coming at every step, and as they draw near they find through Him
that the Father's house and the Father's welcome are waiting for their
return. Shall men complain, nay shall they not be lost in praise, if
God will at all consent to use their trials to extend His kingdom and
His glory, and thus make them partakers of the sufferings of Christ?
Such a lot had been welcome to St. Peter: "They departed from the
presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to
suffer dishonour for the name" (Acts v. 41); and here in his epistle
he publishes the joy of such shame, publishes it that others through
all ages may suffer gladly, trusting their God to use the pains He
sends to magnify His glory. The lesson is for all men at all times.
Christ suffered for sins once; but once here means once for all, and
proclaims to each generation of sinners that Jesus bore His cross for
them.
[10] The LXX. translators use the word θέλω very frequently
to translate such expressions as "to delight in," "to have pleasure
in." Cf. Deut. xxi. 14; 1 Sam. xviii. 22; 1 Kings x. 9.
_Being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit._ The
suffering of Jesus went thus far, that there might be nothing in the
cup of human woe which He had not tasted. His spirit was parted from
the flesh, as when we die. The body lay in the grave; the spirit
passed to the world of the departed. But the triumph of death was
short. After the three days' burial came the miracle of miracles. The
dead Jesus returned to life, and that resurrection is made the earnest
of a future life to all believers. Thus began the recompense of the
righteous Sufferer, and the power of the resurrection makes suffering
endurable to the godly, makes them rejoice to be conformed unto
Christ's death and forgetful of all things save the prize of the high
calling, which lies before them to be won. Nor was it with Christ's
spirit during those three days as with the souls of other departed
ones. He, the sinless One, had no judgement to await; His stay there
was that dwelling in paradise which He foreknew and spake of to the
penitent thief.
_In which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which
aforetime were disobedient, when the long-suffering of God waited in
the days of Noah._ At this point we come upon a twofold line of
interpretation, occasioned by the difficulty which constantly arises
of deciding whether πνεῦμα--"spirit" is to be understood of
the Divine Spirit or of the spiritual part of man's nature as
distinguished from the flesh. Those who have taken the words
"quickened in the Spirit" of the previous verse in the former of these
senses explain this passage of the preaching of Christ to the
antediluvian world through His servant Noah. The Divine fiat had gone
forth. The Flood was to come and bring destruction to the bodies of
all but Noah and his family. But within those doomed bodies souls were
shut up, and these the love of Christ would not willingly give over.
They should hear, while still in their prison of the flesh, the offer
of His grace; and should they repent, the waves which wrought
destruction of the body might release them from the bondage of
corruption. This was the purpose of God's long-suffering, which waited
and appealed while the ark was a-preparing. Thus did the Divine Spirit
of Christ go forth as a herald of mercy to the impenitent, proclaiming
that for their souls the door of forgiveness was not yet closed.
Those, on the contrary, who refer "quickened in the spirit" to the
human soul of Christ, take this text as an additional authority for
the doctrine in the Apostles' Creed that our Lord's human soul after
the Crucifixion descended into hell. Thus, they hold, His pure spirit
went beyond this world to experience all that human spirits can know
before the judgement comes. Thither He came but as a Herald. Death and
the grave had no power to detain Him. In mercy to those who had passed
away before the Incarnation, He brought the message of the mediatorial
work which He had completed in His crucifixion. The sinners before the
Flood are singled out for mention by St. Peter as sinners above all
men, so sunk in wickedness that but eight were found worthy to be
saved from the Deluge. Thus the magnitude of Christ's mercy is
glorified. He who goes to seek these must long to save all men. And to
carry this message of glad tidings is part of the recompense for the
agonies of Gethsemane and Calvary, a portion of what made it a
blessing to suffer for well-doing.
Up to the sixteenth century the latter exposition and application of
the words found most favour, but at the time of the Reformation the
chief authorities[11] expounded them of the preaching of Christ's
Spirit through the ministry of the patriarch. For the main argument
with which St. Peter is dealing these applications, however
interesting in themselves, are not deeply important. He wants to set
before the converts a warrant for what he has said about the
blessedness of suffering for righteousness. If we accept the
application to Noah, the example is a powerful one. His sufferings
must have been manifold. The long time between the threatened
judgement and its accomplishment was filled with the opposition of
sinners and their mockery and taunts over his patient labour on the
ark, to say nothing of the distress of soul when he found his
preaching falling ever on deaf ears. But his trial had its reward at
last when the little band were shut in by God Himself, and the ark
bore them safely on the rising waters. And if he could feel that any,
though perishing in body, had by repentance been saved in soul, this
would make light the burden even of greater suffering than had fallen
to the patriarch, to know the joy which comes from converting a sinner
from the error of his way and therein saving a soul from death.
[11] It marks the time of this change of opinion that in the first
form of the English Articles (the forty-two of 1553) the text 1 Peter
iii. 19 was given as evidence for the descent into hell in Article
III., but in the later form (the thirty-nine of 1563) the allusion to
St. Peter's words was omitted. No doubt the divines of that time
wished to do away with all that might be used to countenance the
doctrine of purgatory.
And if we refer the words "quickened in the spirit" to the soul of
Christ, parted from the body and present in the spirit-world, they are
a link to connect this passage with words of the Apostle's sermon on
the day of Pentecost. There he does speak of the Lord's descent into
hell, and teaches how David of old spake thereof and of the
Resurrection "that neither was He left in Hades, nor did His flesh see
corruption" (Acts ii. 31). In this sense the quickening in the spirit
is the beginning of Christ's victory and triumph. It is the earnest of
eternal life to all believers. And how welcome a message to those who,
like Abraham, had rejoiced in faith to see the day of Christ, to hear
from His own lips the tidings of the victory won! Of the Herald of
such a Gospel message, of Him who by His suffering delivered those who
through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage, we
may, with all reverence, speak as "being made perfect by becoming the
Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him" (Heb. v. 9).
_Wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved._ The building of the
ark was the test of Noah's faith, the ark itself the means of his
preservation. In the patriarch's sufferings St. Peter has found an apt
parallel to the life of these Asian Christians: the same godless
surroundings; the same opposition and mockery; the same need for
steadfast faith. But if rightly pondered, the Old Testament lesson is
rich in teaching. Noah becomes a preacher of righteousness, not for
his own generation only, but for all time. He suffered in his
well-doing. Nothing stings more keenly than scorn and contempt. These
he experienced to the full. He came as God's herald to men who had put
God out of all their thoughts. His message was full of terror:
"Behold, I do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all
flesh wherein is the breath of life from under heaven; everything that
is in the earth shall die" (Gen. vi. 17). Few heeded; fewer still
believed. But when the work of the messenger was over; when the ark
was prepared, and the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and
the windows of heaven were opened; when he and his were shut in by
God, then appeared the blessedness. And if haply there had been any in
whom he had beheld signs of repentance, how the thought that some
souls were saved, though their bodies were drowned with the rest,
would magnify the rejoicing of the rescued; and the overthrow of the
ungodly would proclaim how little ultimate bliss there could be in
evil-doing. All these things would come home to the hearts of the
"strangers of the dispersion."
And were they few in number? Fewer still were those who stood with
Noah in the world's corruption. But God was with him; he walked with
God, and found grace in His eyes; and God blessed him when the Flood
was gone, and by the sign of the covenant, the faithful witness in
heaven (Psalm lxxxix. 37), has placed a memorial of the happiness of
his well-doing before the eyes of mankind for ever. And it would
comfort the believers if they kept in mind the object which St. Peter
has so often set before them, and on which he would have them set
their desire in their distress. There was hope, nay assurance, that
the heathen world around them would be won by their steadfast
well-doing to the service of the Lord. Christ did not send his
followers on a hopeless quest when He said, "Go, baptize all nations."
It was no material ark they were set to fashion; they were exalted to
be builders of the Church of Christ. And to put one stone upon another
in that building was a joy worth earning by a life of sacrifice.
_Saved through water._ But God appointed the same waves to be the
destruction of the disobedient. With no faith-built ark in which to
ride safe, the sinners perished in the mighty waters which to Noah
were the pathway of deliverance. A solemn thought this for those who
have the offer of the antitype which the Apostle turns next to
mention! This double use which God makes of His creatures--how to some
they bring punishment, to others preservation--is the theme of several
noble chapters in the book of Wisdom (xi.-xvi.), expanding the lesson
taught by the pillar of a cloud, which was light to Israel, while it
was thick darkness to the Egyptians.
_Which also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism._
Under the new covenant also water has been chosen by Christ to be the
symbol of His grace. His servants are baptized into the name of the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This is the door appointed for entrance
into the family. But the waters of the Flood would have overwhelmed
Noah, even as the rest, had he not been within the ark, and the ark
would not have been made had he been lacking in faith. So in baptism
must no more saving office be ascribed to the water. Even the Divine
word, "the word of hearing, did not profit some, because they were
not united by faith with them that heard aright" (Heb. iv. 2). Neither
does the sign in baptism, though Divinely instituted, profit, being
alone. The Christian, having been cleansed by the washing of water
with the word, is sanctified by Christ because of his faith. The
washing of regeneration must be joined with the renewing of the Holy
Ghost. That Spirit does not renew, but convicts of sin those who
believe not on Christ (John xvi. 8). In his salvation Noah accepted
and acted on God's warning about things not seen as yet, and so his
baptism became effectual. In faith, too, Israel marched through the
Red Sea, and beheld the overthrow of their heathen pursuers. And
baptism mixed with faith is saving now. Those Old Testament
deliverances were figures only of the true, and were but for temporal
rescue. Christ's ordinance is that to which they testified before His
coming, and is coupled with the promise of His presence even unto the
end of the world.
And that there may be no place for doubting, the Apostle subjoins a
twofold explanation. First he tells us what baptism is not, then what
it is and what it bestows. It is _not the putting away of the filth of
the flesh_. Were this all, it would avail no more than the cardinal
ordinances (with meats and drinks and divers washings) which were
imposed of old until a time of reformation. Through them the way into
the holy place was not made manifest, nor could be. True baptism is
_the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ_. This is a spiritual purification,
wrought through the might of Christ's resurrection. And the Apostle
describes it by the effect which it produces in the religious
condition and attitude of him who has experienced it. The sinner who
loves his sin dare not question his conscience. That witness would
pronounce for his condemnation. So he finds it best to lull it to
sleep, or perhaps deaden it altogether. But to him who, being risen
with Christ in faith, seeks those things that are above, who strives
to make himself spiritually purer day by day, there is no such dread.
Rather by constant questioning and self-examination he labours that
his conscience may be void of offence towards God and man. That man
not only dares, but knows it to be a most solemn duty, thus to purge
his conscience. So the effect of baptism is daily felt, and the
questioned soul thankfully bears witness to the active presence of the
Spirit, for the bestowal of which the Sacrament was the primal pledge.
Others have rendered ἐπερώτημα "an appeal," and have joined
it very closely with the words _toward God_. These have found in the
Apostle's explanation the recognition of that power to draw nigh unto
God which the purified conscience both feels, and feels the need of.
There are daily stumblings, the constant want of help; and through
Christ's resurrection the way is opened, a new and living way, into
the holiest, and the power is granted of appealing unto God, while the
sense of baptismal grace already bestowed gives confidence and
certainty that our petitions will be granted.
_Who is on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven; angels and
authorities and powers being made subject unto Him._ Now the Apostle
turns back to his main subject. The righteous who suffers for, and in,
his righteousness, may not only be a blessing to others, but may
himself find blessing. We dare only use the words which the Spirit
has supplied when we speak of Christ being perfected by what He
endured. But the Apostle to the Hebrews has a clear teaching. He
speaks of Christ as being "the effulgence of God's glory, and the very
image of His person" (Heb. i. 3). Yet he tells that, "though He was a
Son, He learned obedience by the things which He suffered, and became
thus the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him"
(Heb. v. 8). And he goes further, and teaches that this submission of
Christ to suffering was in harmony with the Divine character and
according to God's own purpose: "It became Him for whom are all
things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto
glory, to make the Author of their salvation perfect through
sufferings" (Heb. ii. 10). From all eternity Christ was perfect as the
Son of God, but He has suffered that He may be a perfect Mediator. Why
this was well-pleasing unto the Father it is not ours to know, nor can
we by searching find. But, the sufferings ended, He is crowned with
glory; He is exalted to the right hand of the Father; He is made Lord
of all. This He taught His disciples ere He sent them to baptize: "All
authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth" (Matt.
xxviii. 18). Having taken hold of the seed of Abraham and consented to
be made lower than the angels, He has now been set "far above all
principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that
is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come"
(Eph. i. 21). Thus does St. Paul teach even as St. Peter; and we may
believe, though we fail to grasp the manner thereof, that through His
humiliation our blessed Lord has been exalted, not only because He
receives for ever the praises of the redeemed, but because He has
wrought through His suffering that which was well-pleasing in the
sight of the Father.
The whole clause before us is worthy of notice for another reason. It
was doubtless written before our Gospels were in circulation, when the
life and work of Jesus were only published by the oral teaching of the
Apostles and their fellows; yet in a summary form it covers the whole
field of the Gospel story. Those to whom this Epistle was written had
been taught that Jesus was the Christ, had heard of His righteous life
among men, of His sufferings, death, and resurrection, had been taught
that afterwards He was taken up into heaven. They knew also that the
baptism by which they had been admitted into the Christian communion
was His ordinance and the appointed door into the Church which He
lived and died to build up among men. Thus, without the Gospels, we
have the Gospel in the Epistles, and a witness to the integrity of
that history of Christ's life which has come down to us in the
narratives of the Evangelists. And when all the contributions of the
Apostolic Epistles are put side by side, we may easily gather from
them that the history of Jesus which we have now is that which the
Church has possessed from the beginning of the Gospel.
XII
_THE LESSONS OF SUFFERING_
"Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye
yourselves also with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in
the flesh hath ceased from sin; that ye no longer should live the
rest of your time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the
will of God. For the time past may suffice to have wrought the
desire of the Gentiles, and to have walked in lasciviousness,
lusts, winebibbings, revellings, carousings, and abominable
idolatries: wherein they think it strange that ye run not with
_them_ into the same excess of riot, speaking evil of _you_: who
shall give account to Him that is ready to judge the quick and
the dead. For unto this end was the gospel preached even to the
dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh,
but live according to God in the spirit."--1 PETER iv. 1-6.
It is always hard to swim against the stream; and if the effort be a
moral one, the difficulty is not lessened. These early Christians were
finding it so. For them there must have existed hardships of which
to-day we can have no experience, and form but an imperfect estimate.
If they lived among a Jewish population, these were sure to be
offended at the new faith. And when we remember the zeal for
persecution of a Saul of Tarsus, we can see that in many cases the
better the Jew, the more would he feel himself bound, if possible, to
exterminate the new doctrines. Among the heathen the lot of the
Christians was often worse. Did the people listen a while to the
teaching of the missionaries, yet so unstable were they that, as at
Lystra, to-day might see them stoning those whom yesterday they were
venerating as gods; and they could easily, by reason of their greater
numbers, bring the magistrates to inflict penalties even where the
multitude refrained from mob violence. The cry, "These men exceedingly
trouble our city" or "These who turn the world upside down are come
among us," was sure to find a ready audience; while the uproar and
violence which raged in a city like Ephesus, when Paul and his
companions preached there, shows how many temporal interests could be
banded together against the Christian cause. On individual believers,
not of the number of the preachers, the more violent attacks might not
fall; but to suffer in the flesh was the lot of most of them in St.
Peter's day. Hence the strong figure he employs to describe the
preparation they will need: _Arm ye yourselves_--make you ready, for
you are going forth to battle. St. Paul also, writing to Rome and
Corinth, uses the same figure: "Let us put on the armour of light,"
"the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left."
_Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye yourselves
also with the same mind._ Though some strokes of the foe will fall on
the flesh, the conflict is really a spiritual one. The suffering in
the body is to be sustained and surmounted by an inward power; the
armour of light and of righteousness is the equipment of the soul,
which panoply the Apostle here calls the mind of Christ. Now what is
the mind of Christ which can avail His struggling servants? The word
implies intention, purpose, resolution, that on which the heart is
set. Now the intention of Christ's life was to oppose and overcome all
that was evil, and to consecrate Himself to all good for the love of
His people. This latter He tells us in His parting prayer for his
disciples: "For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves
also may be sanctified in truth" (John xvii. 19), while every action
of His life proclaims His determined enmity against sin. This brought
Him obloquy while He lived in the world, and in the end a shameful
death; but these things did not abate His hatred of sin, nor lessen
His love for sinners. For still into the city where He reigns there
shall in no wise enter anything that defileth (Rev. xxi. 27), though
to the faithful penitent "the Spirit and the bride say, Come, and he
that is athirst, let him come; he that will, let him take the water of
life freely" (Rev. xxii. 17).
Christ bare willingly all that was laid upon Him that He might bring
men unto God. This is the spirit, this the purpose, the intent, with
which His followers are to be actuated: to have the same strenuous
abhorrence of sin, the same devotion in themselves to goodness, which
shall make them inflexible, however fiercely they may be assailed. Let
them only make the resolve, and power shall be bestowed to strengthen
them. He who says, "Arm yourselves," supplies the weapons when His
servants need them. Jesus Himself found them ready when the tempter
came, and drew them in all their keenness and strength from the Divine
armoury. Satan comes to others as he came to Christ, and will make
them flinch and waver, if he can. At times he offers attractive baits;
at times he brings fear to his aid. But, in whatever shape he comes or
sends his agents, let them but cling to the mind of Christ, and they
shall, like Him, say triumphantly, "Get thee behind me, Satan."
_For he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin._ God
intends it to be so, and the earnest Christian strives with all his
might that it may be so. To help men God sends them sufferings, and
intends them to have a moral effect on the life. They are not penal;
they are the discipline of perfect love desiring that men should be
held back from straying. Men cannot always see the purposes of God at
first, and are prone to bewail their lot. But here and there a saint
of old has left his testimony. One of the later psalmists had
discovered the blessedness of God-sent trials: "Before I was afflicted
I went astray; but now I observe Thy word"; and, in thankful
acknowledgment of the love which sent the blows, he adds, "It is good
for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Thy statutes"
(Psalm cxix. 67, 71). Hezekiah had learnt the lesson, though it
brought him close to the gates of the grave; but he testifies,
"Behold, it was for my peace that I had great bitterness.... Thou hast
cast all my sins behind Thy back" (Isa. xxxviii. 17). God had blotted
out the evil record, that he who had suffered in the flesh might cease
from sin. It is good for us thus to recognise that God's dispensations
are for our correction and teaching, and that without them we should
have been verily desolate, left to choose our own way, which would
surely have been evil; and though we cannot cease from sin while we
are in the flesh, God's mercy places the ideal state before us--_He
that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin_--that we may be
strengthened, nevermore to submit ourselves to the yoke of wickedness.
How shall he that is dead to sin live any longer therein? Live therein
he cannot. Of that old man within him he will have no resurrection,
for though the motions, the promptings to evil, are there, the love of
evil is slain by the greater love of Christ.
_That ye no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh to
the lusts of men, but to the will of God._ Christians must live out
their lives till God calls them, and for the rest of their time in the
flesh they will be among their wonted surroundings. Just as Christian
slaves must abide with their masters, and Christian wives continue
with their husbands, so each several believer must do his duty where
God has placed him. But because he is a believer it will be done in a
different spirit. He is daily cutting himself away from what the world
counts for life; he has begun to live in the Spirit, and the natural
man is weakened day by day; he knows that what is born of the flesh is
flesh, and bears the taint of sin: so he refuses to follow where it
would lead him. Men often plead for evil habits that they are natural,
forgetting that "natural" thus used means human, corrupt nature. The
birth of the Spirit transforms this nature, and the renewed man goes
about his worldly life with a new motive, new purposes. He must follow
his lawful calling like other folks, but the sense of his pilgrimage
makes him to differ; he is longing to depart, and holds himself in
constant readiness. Worldly men live as though they were rooted here
and would never be moved. "Their inward thought is that their houses
shall continue for ever, and their dwelling-places to all generations;
they call their lands after their own names" (Psalm xlix. 11). To the
servant of Christ life wears another aspect. He is content to live on,
for God so wills it, and has work for him to do. To continue in the
flesh may be, as it was to St. Paul, the fruit of his labour. And he
welcomes this owning of his work, and will spend his powers in like
service. Yet, with the Apostle, he has ever "the desire to depart and
be with Christ, for it is very far better" (Phil. i. 23).
And as he strives to fulfil God's intent by crucifying the old man and
ceasing from sin, the Christian rejoices in a growing sense of
freedom. To follow the lusts of men was to serve many and hard
taskmasters. Riches, fame, luxury, sensual indulgences, riotous
living, are all keen to win new slaves, and paint their lures in the
most attractive colours; and one appetite will make itself the ally of
another, lust hard by greed, so that the chains of him who takes
service with them are riveted many times over, and difficult, often
impossible, to be cast off. But the will of God is one: "One is your
Master"; "Love the Lord your God with all your heart"; "And all ye are
brethren"; "Love your neighbour as yourself." Then shall you enter
into life. And the life of this promise is not that fragment of time
which remains to men in the flesh, but that unending after-life where
the natural body shall be exchanged for a spiritual body, and death be
swallowed up in victory.
_For the time past may suffice to have wrought the desire of the
Gentiles._ The Apostle here seems to be addressing the Jews who,
living among the Gentiles, had, like their forefathers in Canaan,
learned their works. The nation was not so prone to fall away into
heathendom after the Captivity; yet some of them in the dispersion,
like Samson when he went down unto the Philistines, may have been
captured and blinded and made to serve. The proximity of evil is
infectious. To the Gentile converts St. Peter speaks elsewhere as
having been slaves to their lusts in ignorance (i. 14). But whether
Jew or Gentile, when they had once tasted the joy of this purer
service, this law of obedience which made them truly free, they would
be strengthened to suffer in the flesh rather than fall back upon
their former life. The time would seem enough, far more than enough,
to have been thus defiled. All was God's; all that remained must be
given to Him with strenuous devotion.
St. Peter seems to place in contrast, as he describes the two ways of
life, two words, one by which he denotes the service of God, by the
other devotion to the world and its attractions. The former (θέλημα)
implies a pleasure and joy; it is the will of God, that
which He delights in, and which He makes to be a joy to those who
serve Him. The other (βούλημα) has a sense of longing,
unsatisfied want, a state which craves for something which it cannot
attain. St. Paul describes it as "led away by divers lusts, ever
learning" (but in an evil school), "never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth, corrupted in mind, reprobate" (2 Tim. iii. 7).
Such is the desire of the Gentiles. The Apostle describes it in his
next words: _To have walked in lasciviousness, lusts, winebibbings,
revellings, carousings, and abominable idolatries_. How gross
heathendom can be our missionaries from time to time reveal to us. All
the corruptions which they describe were reigning in full power round
about these converts. When men change the glory of the incorruptible
God for the likeness of corruptible man or even worse, and worship and
serve the creature, their own animal passions, rather than the
Creator, there is no depth of degradation to which they may not sink.
St. Paul has painted for us some dark pictures of what such lives
could be (Rom. i. 24-32; Col. iii. 5-8). But though Christianity in
our own land have forced sin to veil some of its fouler aspects, vice
has not changed its nature. The same passions rule in the hearts of
those who live to the lusts of men, and not to the will of God. The
flesh warreth against the Spirit, even if the Spirit be not utterly
quenched, and brings men into its slavery. For the sake of Christ,
then, and for love of the brethren, the faithful have need still to be
proclaiming, _Let the time past suffice_, and by their actions to
testify that they are willing to suffer in the flesh, if so be they
may thereby be sustained in the battle against sin and may strengthen
their brethren to walk in a new way.
_Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them into the same
excess of riot, speaking evil of you._ The godless love to be a large
company, that they may keep one another in heart. Hence they who have
been of them, and would fain withdraw, have no easy task; and to win
new comrades sinners are ever most solicitous. Their invitations at
first will take a friendly tone. Solomon understood them well, and
described them in warning to his son: "Come with us," they say: "let
us lay wait for blood; let us lurk privily for the innocent without
cause; let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, and whole as those that
go down into the pit. We shall find all precious substance; we shall
fill our houses with spoil. Thou shalt cast thy lot among us; we will
all have one purse" (Prov. i. 11-14). This is one fashion of their
excess of riot, but there are many more. The Apostle's words picture
their life as an overflow, a deluge. And the figure is not strange in
Holy Writ. "The floods of ungodly men made me afraid," says the
Psalmist (Psalm xviii. 14); and St. Jude, writing about the same time
as St. Peter and of the same evil days, calls such sinners "wild waves
of the sea, foaming out their own shames" (Jude 14). "Shames," he
says, because the floods of excess pour on in overwhelming abundance,
and those who escape from them do so only with much suffering in the
flesh, sent of God, to set them free from sin.
And if there be no hope of winning recruits or alluring back those who
have escaped, the godless follow another course. They hate, and
persecute, and malign. Ever since the days of Cain this has been the
policy of the wicked, though not all push it so far as did the first
murderer (1 John iii. 12). For the life of the righteous is a constant
reproach to them. They have made their own choice, but it yields them
no comfort; and if one means of making others as wretched as
themselves fails, they take another. They point the finger of hatred
and scorn at the faithful. To the Greeks Christ's faith was
foolishness. The Athenians, full of this world's wisdom, asked about
Paul, "What will this babbler say?" and mocked as they heard of the
resurrection of the dead. With them and such as they this life is all.
But the Christian has his consolation: he has committed his cause to
another Judge, before whom they also who speak evil of him must
appear.
_Who shall give account to Him that is ready to judge the quick and
the dead._ The Christian looks on to the coming judgement. He can
therefore disregard the censures of men. Neither the penalties nor the
revilings of the world trouble him. They are a part of the judgement
in the present life; by them God is chastening him, preparing him by
the suffering in the flesh to be more ready for the coming of the
Lord. In that day it will be seen how the servant has been made like
unto his Master, how he has welcomed the purging which Christ gives to
His servants that they may bring forth more fruit. He believes, yea
knows, that in the Judge who has been teaching and judging him here
day by day he will find a Mediator and a Saviour. With the unbeliever
all is otherwise. He has refused correction, has chosen his own path,
and drawn away his neck from the yoke of Christ; his judgment is all
yet to come. The Judge is ready, but He is full of mercy. St. Peter's
phrase implies this. It tells of readiness, but also of holding back,
of a desire to spare. He is on His throne, the record is prepared, but
yet He waits; He is Himself the long-suffering Vinedresser who pleads,
"Let it alone this year also."
Such has been the mercy of God even from the days of Eden. In the
first temptation Eve adds one sin upon another. First she listens to
the insidious questioning which proclaims the speaker a foe to God:
then without remonstrance she hears God's truth declared a lie;
hearkens to an aspersion of the Divine goodness; then yields to the
tempter, sins, and leads her husband into sin. Not till then does
God's judgement fall, which might have fallen at the first offence;
and when it is pronounced, it is full of pity, and gives more space
for repentance. So, though the Judge be ready, His mercy waits. For He
will judge the dead as well as the living, and while men live His
compassion goes forth in its fulness to the ignorant and them that are
out of the way.
_For unto this end was the gospel preached even to the dead, that they
might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to
God in the spirit._ "_Unto this end_"--what does it signify? What but
that God has ever been true to the name under which He first revealed
Himself: "The Lord God, merciful and gracious" (Exod. xxxiv. 6); that
He has been preaching the Gospel to sinners by His dispensations from
the first day until now? Thus was the Gospel preached unto Abraham
(Gal. iii. 8) when he was called from the home of his fathers, and
pointed forward through a life of trial to a world-wide blessing.
Heeding the lesson, he was gladdened by the knowledge of the day of
Christ. In like manner and unto this end was the Gospel sent to God's
people in the wilderness (Heb. iv. 2), even as unto us; but the word
of hearing did not profit them. With many of them God was not well
pleased. Yet He showed them in signs His Gospel sacraments. They were
all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, did all eat the
same spiritual meat, and all drank the same spiritual drink (1 Cor. x.
2-4), for Christ was with them, as their Rock of refreshing, all their
journey through the desert, preaching the Gospel by visitations now of
mercy, now of affliction. Unto this end He brought them many a time
under the yoke of their enemies; unto this end He sent them into
captivity. Thus were they being judged, as men count judgements, if
haply they might listen in this life to the gospel of trial and pain,
and so live at last, as God counts life, in the spirit, when the final
judgement-day is over. They are dead, but to every generation of them
was the Gospel preached, that God might gather Him a great multitude
to stand on His right hand in the day of account.
Some have applied the words of this verse to the sinners of the days
of Noah, connecting them closely with iii. 19; and truly, though they
be but one example out of a world of mercies, they are very notable.
They were doomed; they were dead while they lived: "Everything that is
in the earth shall die" (Gen. vi. 17). Yet to them the preacher was
sent, and unto this end: that though they were to be drowned in the
Deluge, and so in men's sight be judged, their souls might be saved,
as God would have them saved, in the great day of the Lord. But every
visitation is a gospel, a gospel unto this end: that through judgement
here a people may be made ready in God's sight to be called unto His
rest.
Few passages have more powerful lessons than this for every age. The
world is full of suffering in the flesh. Who has not known it in many
kinds? But it is in consequence, to those who will hear, very full of
Gospel sermons. They cry aloud, Sin no more; the time past may suffice
to have wrought the will of the Gentiles. Suffering does not mean that
God is not full of love; rather it is a token that, in His great love,
He is training us, opening our eyes to our wrong-doings that we may
cast them off, and giving us a true standard to judge between the
desire of the Gentiles and the will of God. And though men may look on
us as sore afflicted, our Father, when the rest of our time in the
flesh shall be ended, will give us the true life with Him in the
spirit.
XIII
_CHRISTIAN SERVICE FOR GOD'S GLORY_
"But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore of sound
mind, and be sober unto prayer: above all things being fervent in
your love among yourselves; for love covereth a multitude of
sins: using hospitality one to another without murmuring:
according as each hath received a gift, ministering it among
yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God; if any
man speaketh, _speaking_ as it were oracles of God; if any man
ministereth, _ministering_ as of the strength which God
supplieth: that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus
Christ, whose is the glory and the dominion for ever and ever.
Amen."--1 PETER iv. 7-11.
_But the end of all things is at hand._ Well-nigh two thousand years
have passed away since the Apostle wrote these words. What are we to
think of the teaching they convey? For it is not St. Peter's teaching
only. Those who laboured with him were all of the same mind; all gave
the same note of warning to their converts. St. Paul exhorts the
Philippians, "Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is
at hand" (Phil. iv. 5); and in the first letter to the Corinthians the
last words before his benediction are to the same purport: "Maran
atha" (1 Cor. xvi. 22); that is, The Lord cometh. St. James preaches,
"Stablish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh" (James
v. 8). To the Hebrews the Apostle writes, "Yet a little while, and He
that shall come will come, and will not tarry" (Heb. x. 37). While
St. John, who lived longer than any of the rest, conveys the warning
even in more solemn tones: "Little children, it is the last hour" (1
John ii. 18). Are we to look on these admonitions as so many mistaken
utterances? Are we to think that the disciples had misunderstood the
Lord's teaching, or would they say the same words if they were with us
to-day?
We may allow that those who had been present at the Ascension, and had
heard the words of the angels declaring that "this same Jesus should
so come as they had seen Him go into heaven" (Acts i. 11), might
expect His return to judge the world to be not far distant. But, in
whatever they say in reference thereto, their main concern is that men
should be ready. "In such an hour as ye think not the Son of man
cometh," is the ground-text of all their exhortations. Now had arrived
the fulness of the time (Gal. iv. 4) in which God had sent forth His
Son, born of a woman; and if we take the verb of St. Peter's sentence
ἥγγικε, "has come near", we feel that he viewed the new era
on which the world had entered in this light. And so did the other
Apostles. One says, "Now once in the end of the ages hath Christ been
manifested" (Heb. ix. 26); another teaches that things of old "were
written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come"
(1 Cor. x. 11). God has spoken aforetime in many portions and in many
ways, but in the end of these days He hath spoken in His Son (Heb. i.
2). All things are now summed up in Christ; He is the end of all
things. Prophecy, type, sacrifice, all have passed away. There will
come no new revelation; no word more will be added to the Divine book.
Its lessons will find in each generation new illustrations, new
applications, but will admit no change of form or substance. The
Christian dispensation, be it long or short, is the last time; it will
close with the Second Advent. And continual preparedness is to be the
Christian's attitude. And this is the purport of St. Peter's next
exhortations, which are as forceful to-day as they were eighteen
hundred years ago.
_Be ye therefore of sound mind._ Exactly the counsel which should
follow the previous lesson. It was misinterpreted at first, as it has
been since. We know how unwisely the Thessalonians behaved when they
had been told by St. Paul, "The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief
in the night" (1 Thess. v. 2). The Apostle learnt that they were
sorely disturbed, and wrote them a second letter, from which we can
gather how far they had wandered from soundness of mind. At first the
Apostle speaks gently: "Be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet
be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us,
as that the day of the Lord is now present" (2 Thess. ii. 2). But soon
he shows us how the excitement had operated. Some among them had begun
to walk disorderly, apparently thinking that they might live upon the
community, working not at all, but being busybodies. These made, no
doubt, the approach of the day of the Lord their pretext. St. Paul
bids such men in quietness to work and eat their own bread. To be
found at their duty was the best way of preparing for the end.
How soundness of mind may serve the Church of Christ is seen in the
settlement of that murmuring which arose (Acts vi. 1) as soon as the
Christian disciples began to be multiplied in Jerusalem. It was the
Grecian Jews who complained that their widows were neglected. The
Apostles wisely withdrew from the distribution about which the
complaint was made, and more wisely still gave the oversight into the
hands of Greeks (as the forms of all their names bear witness) who
would be fully trusted by the murmurers. "And the word of God
increased." The pages of Church history supply examples in abundance
of the need in religious matters for this soundness of mind. We need
not go back to very ancient times. What sore evils led to and arose
out of the peasant war in Germany in the days of the Reformation,
followed by those excesses which disgraced the name of Christianity in
Münster and other parts of Westphalia! And in our own land both at
that time and subsequently the unwise enthusiasm of those who acted as
though whatever had been must be wrong hindered sorely the temperate
efforts of the more conservative and sober minds; while undue
prominence given to single doctrines of the Gospel has many times
warped men's minds; and does so still, making the cause of Christ to
be hardly spoken of. A sense of proportion is a gift which the Church
may fitly pray for in her members, and that, while they seek to foster
the sevenfold graces of the Holy Spirit, they may ever keep in mind
the mercy of Him who bestows only a portion on each of us as we can
receive it, and makes no man the steward of them all.
_And be sober unto prayer._ The Apostle selects one example wherein
the sound mind ought to be sought after, and he has chosen it so as to
be of general application. The wisdom to which he is exhorting is
needed for all men, both those who teach and those who hear, those who
serve tables and those who are served thereby. Many members of the
Christian body, however, will not be concerned with such special
duties. But all will pray, and so to prayer he applies his precept.
_Be sober._ A sound mind will preserve us from extravagance in our
approach unto God. For even here extravagance may intrude. The
Corinthian Church had gone very far wrong in this respect.
Over-elated, losing soundness of mind, through the bestowal of certain
gifts, they had introduced such irregularities into their religious
meetings that St. Paul speaks of occasions when they might have been
regarded as madmen (1 Cor. xiv. 23). These were public prayers. St.
James applies the same standard to private prayers: "Ye ask, and
receive not, because ye ask amiss" (James iv. 3). There is no true
prayer in your petitions. You have selected in your own hearts what
you would fain have and do, and you come before God with these as your
supplications. There is no thought in them of yielding to God's will,
but only the sense that if your petitions were granted you would reap
a present satisfaction. Ye ask amiss. Many a heart can testify to the
proneness to err thus by want of sobriety.
_Above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves._
Soundness of mind and sobriety should dominate every part of the
believer's life; but there are other virtues of pre-eminent
excellence, unto which, though they be far above him, he is encouraged
to aspire. Of these St. Peter, like St. Paul (1 Cor. xiii. 13), places
love at the summit, above all things. The word he uses signifies that
perfect love which is the attribute of God Himself. To frail humanity
it must ever be an ideal. But the Apostle in his second epistle (2
Peter i. 7) has given a progressive list of graces to be sought after
in a holy life, a series of mountain summits each above the other, and
each made visible through the one below it. Here, too, love comes as
the climax; and the Revised Version marks it as far above mere human
affection: "In your love of the brethren supply also love." Here is no
anticlimax, if we once appreciate the grandeur of the concluding term.
In the present verse, however, the Apostle exhorts that this Divine
quality is to be exercised by the converts among themselves, and
exercised with much earnestness and diligence. It is to be the grace
which pervades all their lives, and extends itself to every condition
thereof. But we understand why St. Peter has used this word for love
as soon as we come to the clause which follows: _For love covereth a
multitude of sins_. To cover sin is Godlike. It has been often asked,
Whose sins are covered by this love, those of him who loves, or of him
who is loved? The question can have but one answer. There is nothing
in the New Testament to warrant such a doctrine as that love towards
one's fellow-men will hide, atone for, or cancel any man's sins. When
our Lord says of the woman who was a sinner, "Her sins, which are
many, are forgiven; for she loved much" (Luke vii. 47), it is not love
to the brethren of which He is speaking, but love to God, which she
had manifested by her actions toward Himself; and when He presently
adds, "Thy faith hath saved thee," He tells us the secret of her
availing love. But when men are animated by that love toward their
neighbours which shows likest God's, they are tender to their
offences; they look to the future more than to the past, hoping all
things, believing all things; they have tasted God's mercy in the
pardon of their own sins, and labour to do thus unto others, to cast
their sins out of sight, to put them, as God does when He forgives,
behind their back, as though in being forgiven they were also
forgotten. The phrase is quoted by St. Peter from Prov. x. 12, where
Solomon says, "Love covereth _all_ sins," and our Lord's words to St.
Peter himself (Matt. xviii. 22) about forgiving until seventy times
seven times practically set no limit to the extension of pardon to the
repentant. Thus taught, the Apostle uses the noble word ἀγάπη
of human tenderness to offenders, because he would urge men
to a boundless, all-embracing, Godlike pity for sinners.
_Using hospitality one to another without murmuring._ We need only
reflect on the narrative of the Acts of the Apostles to realise how
large a part hospitality must have played in the early Church as soon
as the preachers extended their labours beyond Jerusalem. The house of
Simon the tanner, where Peter was entertained many days (ix. 43); the
friends who at Antioch received Paul and Barnabas and kept them for a
whole year (xi. 26); the petition of Lydia, "Come into my house, and
abide there" (xvi. 15); and Jason's reception of Paul and Silas at
Thessalonica (xvii. 7), are but illustrations of what must have been
the general custom. Nor would such welcome be needed for the Apostles
alone. The Churches must have been very familiar with cases of
brethren driven from their own country by persecution, or severed from
their own kinsfolk by the adoption of the new faith. To such the kind
offices of the Christian congregations must have been constantly
extended, so that hospitality was consecrated into a blessed and
righteous duty. To be "given to hospitality" (Rom. xii. 13) is
reckoned among the marks whereby it shall be known that believers,
being many, are one body in Christ; and from the salutations in the
last chapter of the Epistle to the Romans we can frame a picture of
the large work of lodging and caring for strangers as it entered into
the duties of a Christian life. The brethren at Rome are exhorted to
receive and help Phœbe, the bringer of the Epistle, because she had
been a succourer of many, and of Paul himself. Of Priscilla and
Aquila, who are next named, we know that they were friends and
fellow-workers with St. Paul in Corinth, and that in Ephesus they
showed their Christian love toward the stranger Apollos; and not only
so, but they provided a place where the brethren might assemble for
their worship. Later on is mentioned Mary, who bestowed much labour on
the brethren, Urbanus, a helper in Christ, and the households of
Aristobulus and Narcissus, whole families made friends through the
extension of hospitality. Of the mother of Rufus St. Paul speaks
tenderly as his own mother also. The coupling together of Philologus
and Julia suggests that they were husband and wife and had opened
their doors to the brethren, and the notice of Nereus and his sister
points to similar good offices. And from whatever place the Epistle
was sent to Rome, there Tertius, St. Paul's amanuensis, was under the
hospitable roof of Gaius, whom he speaks of as the host of the whole
Church. Doubtless at times the burden might fall heavily on some of
the poorer brethren. Hence the need for the Apostle's addition
_without murmuring_. The word is the same which is used (Acts vi. 1)
of the complaints of the Grecians. And in this matter, as in all, a
sound mind would be called for, that loads might be placed by the
Churches only on such as were able to bear them.
The intimate fellowship that would grow out of such exercise of kind
offices must have been a power to encourage greatly the labourers for
Christ. As they dwelt together, hours not given to public
ministrations would be spent in private converse, and would knit the
members together, and forward the common work. As St. Paul writes to
Philemon, who appears to have been eminent in good offices, the hearts
of the saints were refreshed by this godly intercourse. In friendly
communion the love of all would wax warmer, zeal become more earnest,
the weak would be strengthened, and the strong grow stronger.
_According as each hath received a gift, ministering it among
yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God._ The close
connexion between _gifts_ and _grace_ is better marked in the Greek
than it can be in the English. The χαρίσματα are bestowed
upon us by the χάρις of God. But every word in the sentence
is full of force. Each hath received a gift. None can plead his lack
of faculty; none can claim exemption from the duty of ministering;
none is so poor but he has something that he can lay out for the
brethren. All have time; all have kind words: the least can give, what
is the best of gifts, a good example. But what we have is not our own;
it is received: and humility would teach us to believe that God has
bestowed on us the powers which we are best fitted, by place and
opportunities, to use in His service. None can say of any gift, "It is
all my own; I may do with it as I please." God has set the world about
us full of His exchangers. The poor, the feeble, the doubting, the
fearful--these are God's bankers, with whom we may put out our gifts
to usury. And Himself is the security for all that we deposit thus:
"Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye
did it unto Me." Hence we live under the responsibility of
stewardship. And every man's gift is given to profit withal
(πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον, 1 Cor. xii. 7). The Greek implies that it must
be shared with others. Nor can any of us make it a profit to himself
till he have found the way to make it profitable to his brethren.
That he may give more precision to his counsel, the Apostle proceeds
to speak of gifts under two heads into which they are naturally
divided. First come those which St. Paul (Rom. xii. 6-8) ranges under
the head of prophecy, embracing therein teaching and exhortation
likewise: _If any man speaketh, speaking as it were oracles of God_.
The first Christian preachers must have gained their knowledge of the
life and teaching of Jesus by listening to the narratives of the
twelve, and must have gone forth to give their teaching orally. The
training of those who were appointed to minister in the various places
whither the apostolic missions penetrated must have been of the same
kind. In those first years there was work to be done which would seem
more important than the writing of a Gospel history. When such
preachers published to the congregations what they had learnt of the
Master's lessons, their sermons would be orally given, and though
conveying the same instruction, would be liable to constant
modifications of words. It was from such oral teaching that the
variations found in the Gospel narratives probably had their origin.
The preachers gave the spirit, and as nearly as possible the text, of
what they had been taught. Perhaps by memoranda or otherwise, they
would refresh their knowledge of the apostolic words, so as to adhere
as much as might be to what they had first received. The word
λόγια--oracles--which the Apostle here employs, seems intended to
remind such preachers and teachers that they now, as the Jews of old,
had received "living oracles" (Acts vii. 38), words by which spiritual
life was conveyed, to deliver to the Church. Those of them who were
Jews would call to mind how God's prophets had constantly prefaced
their message with "Thus saith the Lord" or concluded it with the
Divine accrediting, "I am the Lord"; and that the Christian prophet
must bear in mind that he is only an ambassador, and must abide by his
commission, if he would speak with authority, that as a steward he
must ever think of the account to be some day given of the "oracles of
God" (Rom. iii. 2) with which he was entrusted, and must "handle
aright the word of truth" (2 Tim. ii. 15). For all such is St. Peter's
admonition, _If any man speaketh, speaking as it were oracles of God_.
And next he turns to those gifts which are to be exercised in deeds,
and not in words: _If any man ministereth, ministering as of the
strength which God supplieth_. Under "ministry" St. Paul classes (Rom.
xii. 7, 8) giving, ruling, showing mercy. These are duties which
secure the temporal condition of the Church and her members. The New
Testament story suggests many offices which could be discharged by
those who had not devoted themselves in a special manner to the
ministry of the word. How much service would be called for by those
collections for the saints which St. Paul urges so frequently upon the
Churches! How many houses would find employment in such labours as
were exhibited in the home of Dorcas! How many a traveller, bent on
his secular work, would carry apostolic messages or letters to the
flocks of the dispersion! To these may be added those offices of mercy
which St. James describes as θρησκεία, outward acts of
religion, to visit the widows and fatherless in their affliction. The
strength which God supplieth embraces every faculty or possession, be
it wealth, administrative skill, or special knowledge. The physician
and the craftsman alike may spend their powers for Christ. All may be
consecrated, ministered, as supplied of God. And it is a gain to the
Church when, following the apostolic pattern, these duties of external
religion are severed from the prophecy, the spiritual work of the
teacher.
_That in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose
is the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen._ This is to be
the thought which animates all who minister: that each man's service
may be so rendered to his brethren that it will work for the glory of
God. And Christ has led the way. He testifies in His final prayer, "I
glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou
hast given Me to do" (John xvii. 4). Of our work we can use no such
words. We are but unprofitable servants. In many things we offend all.
But all may labour in the Christlike spirit; and thus through Him,
through service rendered in His name and for His sake, will God be
glorified. The thought of Jesus humbling Himself, taking the form of a
servant, testifying of Himself, "The Son of man came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for
many," can give a dignity to lowliest labour, and at the same time can
impart consolation to the true labourers, for whom this mighty ransom
has been paid, their inheritance won, their salvation achieved; while
the Conqueror of sin and death, their Redeemer, has taken His seat at
God's right hand, where worshipping spirits ever praise Him, saying,
"Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory, and the
honour, and the power" (Rev. iv. 11).
XIV
_THE BELIEVER'S DOUBLE JOY_
"Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among
you, which cometh upon you to prove you, as though a strange
thing happened unto you: but insomuch as ye are partakers of
Christ's sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of His glory
also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy. If ye are reproached for
the name of Christ, blessed _are ye_; because the _Spirit_ of
glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you."--1 PETER iv.
12-14.
After the benediction in ver. 11, we might have supposed that the
exhortations of the Apostle were ended. But he now proceeds to make
general application of the lessons which above (ii. 19) he had
confined to a particular class: the Christians who were in slavery.
And the times appear to have called for consolation. The Churches were
in great tribulation. St. Peter speaks here, more than in any other
passage of the Epistle, as if persecution were afflicting the whole
Christian body: _Beloved_--the word embraces them all--_think it not
strange concerning the fiery trial among you, ... as though a strange
thing happened unto you_. His strong word implies extreme suffering.
St. John uses it (Rev. xviii. 9, 18) of the burning up of the mystical
Babylon, and it is found nowhere else in the New Testament. A trial
meriting this description was harassing the Asian Christians; but
spite of the intensity of suffering, which may be inferred from his
language; he bids the converts not to wonder at it or deem it other
than their proper lot: "Think it not strange."
He does not enter upon reasons for his admonition, or he might have
selected a goodly list of Old Testament saints who for their faith
were called to suffer. For the Jewish brethren, Joseph and David,
Elijah and Micaiah, David and his companions in exile, Job and
Nehemiah, would have been forcible examples of suffering for
righteousness. The Apostle, however selects only the loftiest
instance. Christ, the Master whom they were pledged to serve, had
suffered, and had said, besides, that all who would follow Him must
take up the cross. Need they wonder, then, if in their case they found
the Lord's teaching coming true?
But, in describing the purpose of their trials, the Apostle introduces
some words which place their affliction in a distinct light: _Which
cometh upon you to prove you_--literally, for your proving
(πρὸς πειρασμὸν ὑμῖν). And the word is that which is constantly
used of _temptation_, whether sent of God or coming in some other way.
When viewed as a process of proving, the believers would be able to
find some contentment under their persecutions. God was putting them
to the test. He would know if they are in earnest in His service, and
so they are cast into the furnace, God's wonted discipline. The
prophet Zechariah tells both of the process, and the God-intended
result: "I will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as
gold is tried; they shall call on My name, and I will hear them: I
will say, It is My people; and they shall say, The Lord is my God"
(Zech. xii. 9). And the Psalmist bears like testimony: "The Lord
trieth the righteous" (Psalm xi. 5), and says that for those who are
found faithful the end is blessedness: "We went through fire and
through water, but Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place" (Psalm
lxvi. 12).
Such thoughts would yield comfort to those for whom St. Peter
immediately wrote. They were suffering for Christ's sake; their faith
in Him was being tested. But the Apostle's words are left for the
edification of all generations of believers. Throughout all time and
everywhere there has been abundance of grief and pain. How may
sufferers to-day participate in the apostolic consolation? How may
they learn to think it not strange that they are afflicted?
The Apostle's words supply the answer to such questions. And they are
no light or infrequent questionings both for ourselves and others. Men
are prone to lament over temporal losses or bodily sufferings, their
own or others', in tones which convey the idea that such trials will
in the end be compensated and made efficacious for the future blessing
of the sufferer. The New Testament has no such doctrine. "The trial
which cometh upon you to prove you," is St. Peter's expression. There
is much suffering in the world which is in no sense a participation of
the sufferings of Christ, in no sense a God-sent trial for proving the
faith of the sufferer.
Here, if honestly questioned, the individual conscience will give the
true answer; and if that inward witness condemn the life for no
excesses, of which suffering is the appointed fruit, if the bodily
pains be not the outcome of a life lived to the flesh, nor the sorrow
and poverty the result of follies and extravagance aforetime, then,
with the anguish and distress which God hath sent (for we may then
count them as of His sending), the Spirit will have bestowed light
that we may discern their purpose, light which will show us God's
hand weaning us from the world and making us ready for going home, or,
it may be, giving to others through us His teaching in message and
example. Then the enlightened and pacified soul will be able to
rejoice amid pain, conscious of purification; and will out of the
midst of sorrow see God's designs justified. Satan will look on such
times as his opportunity, and suggest to the Christian that he is
unduly afflicted and forgotten of God; but the joy which comes from
being able to look trouble in the face, as sent by a Father, drives
away despondency and puts the enemy to rout. He is triumphant who can
rest on a faithful God, with an assurance that with the temptation He
will also make the way of escape, that he may be able to endure it (1
Cor. x. 13).
But dare we then pray, as Christ has taught us, "Lead us not into
temptation"? Yes, if we ponder rightly on the purport of our petition.
Christ does not bid us pray to God not to try us; He Himself made no
such prayer for His disciples; He was Himself submitted to such trial:
"It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief" (Isa.
liii. 10). Nay, one Evangelist (Mark i. 12) tells us how He was not
led, but _driven_ forth, of the Spirit into the wilderness to be
tempted of the devil. Yet He taught the prayer to His disciples, and
He did so because He knew both what was in man, and what was in the
world. In the latter since sin entered, the tempter has found manifold
enticements to lead men astray. All that belongs to the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life, riches, influence,
beauty, popularity, prosperity of every kind, may be used as tests of
faith, may be made to glorify God; but they can also be perverted in
the using. And there dwell within man strong desires, which he is
prompted to gratify at times, without heeding whether their
gratification be right or wrong; and when desire and opportunity meet,
there is peril to the tempted.
"How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds
Makes deeds ill done!"
And when desire has once gained the mastery, the next yielding is
sooner made; the forbidden path becomes the constant walk; the moral
principle--the Godlike in the conscience--is neglected; men grow
weaker, are led away of their own lusts and enticed.
On the other hand, if the unlawful desire be resisted from the first,
each succeeding conflict will offer less hardship, each new victory be
more easily gained, and the virtuous act will become a holy habit; the
man will walk with God. For this end God uses the evil, of which Satan
is the father, to be a discipline, and turns the snares of the enemy
into a means of strength for those whom he would captivate. Knowing
all this, Christ has left us His prayer. In it He would teach us to
ask that God should protect us in such wise that the desire to sin
which dwells within us may not be roused to activity by opportunities
of indulgence, or if we are thrown where such opportunities exist, the
desire may be killed in our hearts. Thus our peril will be lessened,
and we shall be helped to walk in the right way, through His grace.
Our strong passions will grow weaker, and our weak virtues stronger,
day by day.
And such a petition should check all overweening confidence in our own
power to withstand temptation, all overreadiness to put ourselves in
the way of danger that we may show our strength, and that we can
stand though others may fall. The sin and folly of such presumption
would be constantly present to St. Peter's mind. He could not forget
how his own faith failed when he would make a show of it by walking to
meet Jesus over the sea of Galilee. Still less could he forget that
utterance of self-confidence, which thought scorn of trials to come,
"Though I should die with Thee, yet will I not deny Thee." It needed
but the timid suggestion of a servant-maid to call forth that
manifestation of feebleness for which only tears of deepest penitence
could atone, and which remained the darkest memory in the Apostle's
life. He above all men knew to the full the need we have to pray,
"Lead us not into temptation."
And in respect of courting trial, even when the suffering to be
encountered would be allowed by all men to be suffering for
righteousness' sake, the New Testament gives us many lessons that we
should not offer ourselves to unnecessary danger. Our Lord Himself
(John viii. 59), when the Jews took up stones to cast at Him, hid
Himself and conveyed Himself out of harm's way. At another time we are
told, "He would not walk in Judæa because the Jews sought to kill Him"
(John vii. 1). St. Paul, too (2 Cor. xi. 33), to avoid uncalled-for
suffering, was let down by the wall of Damascus, and afterwards made
use of the dissensions of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Acts xxiii. 6)
to divert the storm which their combined animosity would have raised
against him. In this spirit St. Peter gives his counsel. "Make sure,"
he would say, "that the trials you bear are sent to prove you. Let
constant self-questioning testify that they _are_ proving you; then
wonder not that they are sent, but _rejoice inasmuch as ye are
partakers of the sufferings of Christ_." He who thus learns the
blessing of trial thanks the Lord for his troublous days. He has a
double joy, rejoicing in this life, sorrowful yet alway rejoicing; and
is assured that at the revelation of Christ's glory his joy shall be
still more abundant.
_If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are ye._ It was
a joy to the Apostles (Acts v. 41) at the beginning of their ministry
that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the name. Their
offence is described as speaking in the name of Jesus, and filling
Jerusalem with their teaching. The feeling of their persecutors was so
strong that they were minded to slay them, but upon wiser counsel they
only beat them and let them go. St. Paul's commission to Damascus
(Acts ix. 14) was to bind all that called upon the name of Christ, and
his work after his conversion was to be "to bear Christ's name before
the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel." What such
preaching would be, we gather from St. Peter's words (Acts ii. 22).
They taught men that Jesus of Nazareth, a Man approved of God by
powers, and wonders, and signs, had been crucified and slain by the
Jews, but that God had raised Him from the dead; that He was now
exalted by the right hand of God and was ordained of God (Acts x. 42)
to be the Judge of quick and dead; that to Him all the prophets bare
witness that through His name every one that believeth on Him should
receive remission of sins. St. Paul and the rest preached the same
doctrine. All that had happened in Christ's life was "according to the
Scriptures" (1 Cor. xv. 3, 4) of the Old Testament; Christ and Him
crucified (1 Cor. ii. 2), Jesus and the resurrection (Acts xvii. 18),
are the topics constant in his letters and on his lips. And for their
doctrine and their faith preachers and hearers suffered persecution
and reproach.
In our land suffering such as theirs is no more laid upon us, but for
all that the reproach of Christ has not ceased. Our days are specially
marked by a desire for demonstration on every subject, and it comes to
pass thereby that those who are willing in spiritual things to walk by
faith rank in the estimation of many as the less enlightened portion
of the world, and are pictured as such in much of our modern
literature. All that tells of miracle in the life of Jesus is by many
cast altogether aside, as alien to the reign of law under which the
world exists; and the Gospel narratives of the virgin-birth, the
wonderful works, the Resurrection, and the Ascension are treated as
the invention of the fervid imaginations of the first followers of
Jesus; while to cling to them as verities, and to their importance and
significance in the work of the world's salvation, stamps men as
laggards in the march of modern speculation. To accept the New
Testament story as the fulfilment of predictions in the Old is
reckoned by many for ungrounded superstition; and among the
unbelieving there are keen eyes still which gladly mark the slips and
stumblings of professing Christians, and throw the obloquy of
individuals broadcast upon the whole body.
To hold fast faith at such a time, to accept the Gospels as true and
their teaching as the words of eternal life, to see in Christ the
Redeemer appointed from eternity by the foreknowledge of God, and to
believe that in Him His people find remission of sins, to see and
acknowledge above the reign of law the power of the almighty
Lawgiver--these things are still beset with trials for those who will
live in earnest according to such faith; and if we receive less of
the blessing which St. Peter here speaks of as accompanying the
reproach of Christ, may we not fear that we exhibit less of the zeal
and fervour of the Christians to whom he wrote?
_Because the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you._
In the former clause the Apostle, speaking of the joy of believers,
exhorted the converts to a present rejoicing, even in the midst of
sufferings, because these were borne for Christ's sake, that so, when
He shall appear in whose name they have suffered, their rejoicing may
be still more abundant. In like manner he seems here to regard their
blessedness in a double aspect. The Spirit of glory rests upon them. A
power is imparted to them whereby they accept their pains gladly, and
therein glorify God, and the same Spirit fills them with a sense of
future glory. Like Stephen before his persecutors, they become filled
with the Holy Ghost, their spirits are lifted heavenwards, and even
now they behold the glory of God, and Jesus sitting on the right hand
of God. Thus suffering is robbed of its sting, and Christ's reproach
becomes a present blessing.
St. Paul combines the same thoughts in his appeal to the Roman
Christians. "Let us rejoice," he urges, "in the hope of the glory of
God" (Rom. v. 2). This is the glory to be revealed in the presence of
Jesus Christ, that eternal weight of glory which affliction worketh
for us more and more exceedingly. But he continues, "Let us rejoice
also in our tribulations," knowing that by them we may glorify God in
our bodies, and that they are the pledge of glory to come. "For
tribulation worketh patience, and patience probation, and probation
hope, and hope putteth not to shame"--it will not be disappointed;
fruition will surely come--"because the love of God hath been shed
abroad in our hearts through the Holy Ghost which was given unto us."
This is the Spirit of God of which St. Peter here speaks. It rests
like the cloud of glory above the cherubim, and bestows all spiritual
power and blessing; it rests on the suffering believer, and gives him
rest.
The Authorised Version has here retained a clause which appears to
have been at first but an explanatory note, written in the margin of
some copy, and then to have been incorporated with the text: "On their
part He is evil-spoken of, but on your part He is glorified." We
cannot regret the preservation of such a note. It dates back to very
early times. The student who made it could write in the language of
the New Testament and in its spirit also. It gives us the sense which
was then felt to have most prominence and to be the most important.
The way of Christ was evil-spoken of, and it could be no strange thing
in those days for His followers to be put to fiery trial. Yet the
writer feels that the blessedness of the believer is most secured who,
regardless of blasphemers around him, strives with all his powers that
in his body, whether by life or by death, Christ shall be magnified.
XV
_THE RIGHTEOUS HAVE JUDGEMENT HERE_
"For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an
evil-doer, or as a meddler in other men's matters: but if _a man
suffer_ as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him
glorify God in this name. For the time _is come_ for judgement to
begin at the house of God: and if _it begin_ first at us, what
_shall be_ the end of them that obey not the gospel of God? And
if the righteous is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and
sinner appear? Wherefore let them also that suffer according to
the will of God commit their souls in well-doing unto a faithful
Creator."--1 PETER iv. 15-19.
The Apostle now goes one step farther in his exhortations. The
brethren are suffering for Christ's cause, and may draw comfort from
Christ's example, and be encouraged to patience under their
persecutions. But these very sufferings, he would have them see, are
God's judgement on His servants in this world, that they may be
counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which they are called to
suffer. They must be watchful not to deserve punishment for offences
that bring disgrace on themselves and on the cause of Christ.
_For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an
evil-doer, or as a meddler in other men's matters._ He appears to
divide these offences into two classes, made distinct by the
recurrence of ὡς, "as." The first three concern crimes of
which the laws of any land would naturally take cognisance.
"Evil-doer" was the word employed by the Jews when they brought our
Lord to Pilate: "If he were not an evil-doer, we should not have
delivered him up unto thee" (John xviii. 30). The last-named offence,
meddling in other men's matters, would bring upon the Christians
social odium and render them generally unpopular; and it was precisely
the kind of conduct likely to prevail in such a time. We have already
found the Apostle exhorting Christian subjects not to think lightly of
the duty of obedience to heathen rulers, and the like counsel was
given to Christian slaves with heathen masters and to Christian wives
with heathen husbands. Such persons would often be tempted to step
beyond their province with advice, and perhaps remonstrance, and to
display a sense of superiority in so doing which would be galling to
those who were of another mind. St. Peter's word to describe this
fault is his own, but the idea that such fault needed checking is not
wanting in the teaching of St. Paul, and may be taken as evidence that
such an interfering spirit prevailed. He speaks of those "who work not
at all, but are busybodies" (2 Thess. iii. 11), and to Timothy of
those who are "tattlers and busybodies" (1 Tim. v. 13).
St. Peter has ranged these offences in a descending order, placing the
least culpable last; and their compass embraces all that rightly might
come under the ban of the law or incur the just odium of society. To
suffer for such things would disgrace the Christian name; but there is
no shame in suffering as a Christian, but rather a reason for giving
glory to God. That the name was bestowed as a reproach seems probable
from Acts xi. 26, and still more from the mocking tone in which it is
used by Agrippa (Acts xxvi. 28); and in the earliest apologists we
find this confirmed. "The accusation against us," says Justin Martyr,
"is that we are Christians"; and in another place, "We ask that the
actions of all those who are accused before you should be examined, so
that he who is convicted may be punished as a malefactor, but not as a
Christian."
_But if a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let
him glorify God in this name._ That is, let him be thankful and show
his thankfulness that he has been called to bear the name of Christ
and to suffer for it. The Authorised Version, adopting a different
reading, has "on this behalf." But the sense is nothing different. He
is to rejoice that this lot has befallen him, for it is of God's great
mercy that we are purified here by trial; he who has not been tried
has not entered on the way of salvation. "Let me fall into the hand of
the Lord," was the petition of David; and they are more blessed who
feel that hand in their correction than those who are cut away from
it. It is a terrible lot to think of, if we be abandoned by Him to
worldly prosperity. St. Paul congratulates the Philippians "because to
them it had been granted, in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe
on Him, but also to suffer on His behalf" (Phil. i. 29); and to
another Church (Eph. iii. 13) he declares that his own tribulations,
endured for their sakes, ought to be to them a glory, because they
made known how precious those believers were in the sight of their
heavenly Father for whose sake He allowed another to be afflicted that
they might be drawn more effectually unto Him. And if this be so, how
much cause have they to bless and glorify God who may be permitted to
think that He is using their afflictions for a like purpose.
_For the time is come for judgement to begin at the house of God._ The
time is come. Why does the Apostle speak thus? Because the final era
of Divine revelation has begun. God has spoken unto men by His Son,
and He by His incarnation and death has brought life and immortality
to light. The new and living way is opened. We live in the fulness of
time, when the faithful, having the testimony of those who companied
with Christ, can love Him, though they see Him not, can rejoice in
Him, and can receive, with full assurance, the end of their faith,
even the salvation of their souls. Such souls have their judgement
here. With them God's judgement is neither postponed, nor is it penal.
It is disciplinary and corrective both for themselves and others. They
are the house of God, the pillar and ground of the truth, and can be
set forth as the salt of the earth, the light of the world. Of such
judgement and its purpose St. Paul also speaks to the Corinthians:
"When we" (the servants of Christ) "are judged" (by suffering in this
life), "we are chastened of the Lord, that we may not be condemned
with the world" (1 Cor. xi. 32). All chastening while it lasts is
grievous, yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that
have been exercised thereby. And by such chastisement God prepares Him
witnesses to the truth and preciousness of Christianity; and so long
as this time, which is now come, shall continue, so long will God try,
and make judgement of, His servants in every generation.
In St. Peter's words we have an echo of prophecy. When the hand of the
Lord carried Ezekiel in vision back from Babylon to Jerusalem, he
heard the voice of God commanding the destroyers, "Begin at My
sanctuary" (Ezek. ix. 6). Yet in that evil age some were found who had
been sighing and crying for all the abominations that were done in the
midst of the city. These holy ones, living in a naughty world, were
God's witnesses, feeling His judgements, but receiving His mark on
their foreheads, that they should not be destroyed with the sinners.
Years passed away, and at length the Lord of the Temple has Himself
come. He began His judgement at the house of God, casting out all that
defiled it. But it then had become a mere "house of merchandise"; nay,
at a later day He named it "a den of thieves." At last He left it for
ever. Then it ceased to be God's house, and though it was spared some
forty years, its fate was fixed when He went forth from it (Matt.
xxiv. 1, 2) and said that not one stone of it should be left upon
another. Henceforth He will have other temples in the hearts of those
who worship Him in spirit and in truth. These are now the house of
God. With them He exercises judgement constantly for their instruction
and amendment. But it shall turn unto them for a testimony in the end.
Not a hair of their head shall perish; in their patience they shall
win their souls.
_And if it begin first at us, what shall be the end of them that obey
not the gospel of God?_ The Apostle joins himself with those of the
house of God who will feel the pressure of temporal judgement. He is
not forgetful of the Lord's saying, "Simon, behold Satan asked to have
you that he might sift you as wheat, but I made supplication for thee
that thy faith fail not" (Luke xxii. 31). He knows that he will be
tried, but the end to him and all the faithful is that they may be
brought into the Father's home. To those who obey not the Gospel the
doom pronounced against the Temple answers the Apostle's question.
They have had their days of probation, and are like to Jerusalem at
the time of the Lord's lamentation, "If thou hadst known in this day
the things which belong unto peace! but now they are hid from thine
eyes" (Luke xx. 42). They cannot be said to disobey a law of which
they have not heard; the glad tidings have been preached unto them,
but have found no welcome. As of the doomed city, so of them, it may
be said, "Ye would not." After their hardness and their impenitent
heart, they have treasured up for themselves wrath in the day of the
revelation of the righteous judgement of God.
_And if the righteous scarcely is saved, where shall the ungodly and
sinner appear?_ The righteous is he who follows after righteousness,
but who feels that, in the midst of his efforts of faith, he needs to
cry, "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief." It is of God's mercy
that He accepts the aim and purpose of our lives, and counts not by
their results. All men are beset with temptation; in many things we
all offend. Works of righteousness bear the taint; they come many a
time from wrong motives. The best of us need both the Father's
chastisement, and, like Peter, the Saviour's prayers, and the Holy
Spirit's guidance. This is what the Apostle means by "scarcely saved."
By Divine help Christ's servants are brought nearer and nearer to the
ideal, "Be ye holy." But though they live not in sin, sin lives in
them; and the warfare with evil is not ended till the burden of the
flesh is laid aside. And as there are degrees in the progress of the
righteous up the hill of faith, so are there in the falling away of
the wicked; and St. Peter in his language appears to have had this in
mind, for of the ungodly and sinner he uses a verb in the singular
(φανεῖται). Where shall _he_ appear? The man begins as the
ungodly, a negative character: he thinks not of God; has no reverence
for His law; puts Him away from all his thoughts. But in this state
he will not long remain. There is no standing still in things
spiritual. He who does not advance goes backward, and the ungodly soon
becomes the wilful sinner. So sure is this development that the
Apostle combines the two aspects of the wicked man's life, and asks,
not, Where shall they, but Where shall he, appear?
For the judgement which for the righteous begins at God's house, and
is wrought out in the trials of this life, awaits the disobedient when
life is ended. The Apostle leaves his solemn question unanswered; but
at that day there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, only a fearful
expectation of judgement. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands
of the living God then. Hence the greater blessedness of those who are
taken into God's hand of judgement now. And thus the Apostle comforts
the sufferers.
_Wherefore let them also that suffer according to the will of God
commit their souls in well-doing unto a faithful Creator._ Again St.
Peter goes back in thought to the words of Christ, "Father, into Thy
hands I commend My spirit" (Luke xxiii. 46); and on these he builds
his final exhortation, which contains within it consolation in
abundance. The test of the faithful is his perfect trust. "Though He
slay me, yet will I trust in Him" (Job xiii. 15), was the confession
which marked Job as more righteous than his advisers. The Revised
Version has varied the rendering of the final words in that passage in
such wise as to explain how the trust is to be exhibited: "I will wait
for Him"--wait, sure that the event will be for my comfort and His
glory. This is the spirit which waxes strong in trial. "They that wait
upon the Lord shall renew their strength" (Isa. xl. 31), says the
prophet. "None that wait on the Lord shall be ashamed," is an
oft-repeated testimony of the psalmists (Psalms xxv. 3; xxxvii. 34;
lxix. 6); and one whose name is a synonym for suffering tells us, "The
Lord is good unto them that wait for Him" (Lam. iii. 25). To such
trust St. Peter here exhorts, bidding specially them that suffer to
rest on the Lord. Though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is
their hope full of immortality, for the souls of the righteous are in
the hand of God, a trust which they repose in Him while they live
here, a treasure guarded by Him in the world to come. St. Paul knows
of the efficacy of this perfect trust, for he writes to Timothy, "We
labour and strive," counting bodily suffering as nothing, "because we
have our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all men,
specially of them that believe" (1 Tim. iv. 10).
The Apostle links a holy life most closely with this trust in God. In
well-doing commit your souls unto Him. No otherwise can His
guardianship and aid be hoped for. But the Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous, and with Him to know is to watch over and help. Nor should
men sorrow when they suffer according to God's will. Rather it is
cause for gladness. For conscience must tell them that they need to be
purged from much earthly dross which clings about them. So the fire of
trial may be counted among blessings.
And with two words of exceeding comfort St. Peter strengthens the
believers in their trust. God is faithful; His compassions fail not:
they are new every morning. In moments of despair the sorrowing
Christian may feel tempted to cry out, with the Psalmist, "Hath God
forgotten to be gracious? hath He in anger shut up His tender
mercies?" (Psalm lxxvii. 10), but as he looks back on the path where
God has led him he is convinced of the unwisdom of his questioning,
and cries out, "This is my infirmity; I will remember the years of the
right hand of the Most High."
And this faithful God is our Creator. In the council of the Godhead it
was said in the beginning, "Let us make man in our image." And God
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, which made of him a
living soul. From God's hand he came forth very good, but sin entered,
and the Divine image has been blurred and defaced. Yet in mercy the
same heavenly conclave planned the scheme for man's restoration to his
first estate. The love which spake to Zion of old speaks through
Christ to all mankind. "Can a woman forget her sucking child? Yea, she
may forget; yet will I not forget thee" (Isa. xlix. 15). In the
fulness of time God has sent His Son to take hold upon the sons of
men, to wear their likeness, to live on earth and die for the souls
which He has made. Trust, says the Apostle, in this almighty,
unchanging love; trust God, your Father, your Creator. He will succour
you against all assaults of evil; He will comfort and support you when
it is His desire to prove you; He will crown you, with your Lord, when
trials are no more.
XVI
_HOW TO TEND THE FLOCK_
"The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder,
and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker
of the glory that shall be revealed: Tend the flock of God which
is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but
willingly, according unto God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a
ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to
you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock. And when the
chief Shepherd shall be manifested, ye shall receive the crown of
glory that fadeth not away."--1 PETER v. 1-4.
St. Peter's last lesson was full of consolation. He showed that it was
from God's hand that judgements were sent upon His people to purify
them and prepare them for His appearing. With this thought in their
minds, he would have the converts rejoice in their discipline,
confident in the faithfulness of Him who was trying them. He follows
this general message to the Churches with a solemn charge to their
teachers. They are specially responsible for the welfare of the
brethren. On them it rests by the holiness of their lives and the
spirit in which they labour to win men to the faith. _The elders
therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of
the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that
shall be revealed: Tend the flock of God which is among you.
Therefore_--because I know that the blessed purpose of trial is not
always manifest, and because the hope of the believer needs to be
constantly pointed to the faithfulness of God--I exhort you to tend
zealously those over whom you are put in charge. "Elders" was the name
given at first to the whole body of Christian teachers. No doubt they
were chosen at the beginning from the older members of the community,
when the Apostles established Churches in their missionary journeys.
"They appointed for them elders in every Church" (Acts xiv. 23); and
it was the elders of the Church of Ephesus that Paul sent for to
Miletus (Acts xx. 17). And St. Peter here contrasts them very
pointedly with those of younger years, whom he addresses afterwards.
But after it became an official title the sense of seniority would
drop away from the word.
It is clear from this passage that in St. Peter's time they were
identical with those who were afterwards named bishops. For the word
which follows presently in the text and is rendered "exercising the
oversight" is literally "doing the work of bishop, or overseer." And
in the passage already alluded to (Acts xx. 15-28) those who at first
are called elders are subsequently named bishops: "The Holy Ghost hath
made you bishops to feed the Church of God" (R.V.). As the Church grew
certain places would become prominent as centres of Christian life,
and to the elders therein the oversight of other Churches would be
given; and thus the overseer or bishop would grow to be distinct from
the other presbyters, and his title be assigned to the more important
office. This had not come about when St. Peter wrote.
The humility, which he is soon about to commend to the whole body, the
Apostle manifests by placing himself on the level of those to whom he
speaks: "I, who am a fellow-elder, exhort you." He has strong claims
to be heard, claims which can never be theirs. He has been a witness
of the sufferings of Christ. He might have made mention of his
apostleship; he might have told of the thrice-repeated commission
which soon supplies the matter of his exhortation. He will rather be
counted an equal, a fellow-labourer with themselves. Some have thought
that even when he calls himself a witness of Christ's sufferings he is
not so much referring to what he saw of the life and death of Jesus,
as to the testimony which he has borne to his Master since the
pentecostal outpouring and the share which he has had of sufferings
for Christ's sake. If this be so, he would here too be reckoning
himself even as they, as he clearly intends to do in the words which
follow, where he calls himself a sharer, as they all are, in the glory
to which they look forward. Thus in all things they are his brethren:
in the ministry, in their affliction, and in their hope of glory to be
revealed.
He opens his solemn charge with words which are the echo of Christ's
own: "Feed My sheep"; "Feed My lambs." Every word pictures the
responsibility of those to whom the trust is committed. These brethren
are God's flock. Psalmists and prophets had been guided of old to use
the figure; they speak of God's people as "the sheep of His pasture."
But our Lord consecrated it still more when He called Himself "the
good Shepherd, that giveth His life for the sheep." The word tells
much of the character of those to whom it is applied. How prone they
are to wander and stray, how helpless, how ill furnished with means of
defence against perils. It tells, too, that they are easy to be led.
But that is not all a blessing, for though docile, they are often
heedless, ready to follow any leader without thought of consequences.
But they are God's flock. This adds to the dignity of the elder's
office, but adds also to the gravity of the trust, a trust to be
entered on with fear and trembling. For the flock is precious to
Christ, and should be precious to His shepherds. To let them perish
for want of tending is treachery to the Master who has sent men to His
work. And how much that tending means. To feed them is not all, though
that is much. To provide such nurture as will help their growth in
grace. There is a food store in God's word, but not every lesson there
suits every several need. There must be thoughtful choice of lessons.
The elders of old were, and God's shepherds now are, called to give
much care how they minister, lest by their oversight or neglect--
"The hungry sheep look up, but are not fed."
But tending speaks of watchfulness. The shepherd must yield his
account when the chief Shepherd shall appear. Those who are watchmen
over God's flock must have an eye to quarters whence dangers may come,
must mark the signs of them and be ready with safeguards. And the
sheep themselves must be strengthened to endure and conquer when they
are assailed; they cannot be kept out of harm's way always. Christ did
not pray for His own little flock of disciples that they should be
taken out of the world, only kept from the evil. Then all that
betokens good must be cherished among them. For even tiny germs of
goodness the Spirit will sanctify, and help the watchful elder, by his
tending, to rear till they flourish and abound.
To his general precept St. Peter adds three defining clauses, which
tell us how the elder's duty may be rightly discharged, and against
what perils and temptations he will need to strive: _exercising the
oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according unto God_. How
would the oversight of an elder come to be exercised of constraint in
the time of St. Peter? Those to whom he writes had been appointed to
their office by apostolic authority, it may have been by St. Paul
himself; and while an Apostle was present to inspire them enthusiasm
for the new teaching would be at its height: many would be drawn to
the service of Christ who would appear to the missionaries well fitted
to be entrusted with such solemn charge and ministry. But even an
Apostle cannot read men's hearts, and it was when the Apostles
departed that the Churches would enter on their trial. Then the
fitness of the elders would be put to the test. Could they maintain in
the Churches the earnestness which had been awakened? Could they in
their daily walk sustain the apostolic character, and help forward the
cause both by word and life? Christianity would be unlike every other
movement whose officers are human if there were not many failures and
much weakness here and there; and if the ministrations of elders grew
less accepted and less fruitful, they would be offered with
ever-diminishing earnestness, and the services, full of life at the
outset, would prove irksome from disappointment, and in the end be
discharged only as a work of necessity.
And every subsequent age of the Church has endorsed the wisdom of St.
Paul's caution, "Lay hands hastily on no man." Fervid zeal may grow
cool, and inaptitude for the work become apparent. Nor are those in
whom it is found always solely responsible for a mistaken vocation.
As St. Paul's words should make those vigilant whose office it is to
send forth men to sacred ministries, so St. Peter's warning should
check any undue urging of men to offer themselves. It is a sight to
move men to sorrow, and God to displeasure, when the shepherd's work
is perfunctory, not done willingly, according to God.
In some texts the last three words are not represented, nor are they
found in our Authorised Version. But they have abundant authority, and
so fully declare the spirit in which all pastoral work should be done
that they might well be repeated emphatically with each of these three
clauses. To labour _according to God_, "as ever in the great
Taskmaster's eye," is so needful that the words may be commended to
the elders as a constant motto. And not only as in His sight should
the work be done, but with an endeavour after the standard which is
set before us in Christ. We are to stoop as He stooped that we may
raise those who cannot raise themselves; to be compassionate to the
penitent, breaking no bruised reed, quenching no spark in the smoking
flax. The pastor's words should be St. Paul's, "We are your servants
for Jesus's sake," his action that of the shepherd in the parable:
"When he findeth it, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing." Such
joy comes only to willing workers.
_Nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind._ We do not usually
think of the Church in the apostolic age as offering any temptation to
the covetous. The disciples were poor men, and there is little trace
of riches in the opening chapters of the Acts. St. Paul, too,
constantly declined to be a burden to the flock, as though he felt it
right to spare the brethren. The lessons of the New Testament on this
subject are very plain. When our Lord sent forth His seventy
disciples, He sent them as "labourers worthy of their hire" (Luke x.
7); and St. Paul declares it to be the Lord's ordinance that they
which proclaim the Gospel should live of the Gospel (1 Cor. ix. 14).
To serve with a ready mind is to seek nothing beyond this. But it is
clear both from St. Paul's language (1 Tim. iii. 3; Titus i. 7) and
from this verse that there existed temptations to greed, and that some
were overcome thereby. It is worthy of note, however, that those who
are given up to this covetousness are constantly branded with false
teaching. They are thus described by both the Apostles. They teach
things which they ought not (Titus i. 11), and with feigned words make
merchandise of the flock (2 Peter ii. 3). The spurt of self-seeking
and base gain (which is the literal sense of St. Peter's word) is so
alien to the spirit of the Gospel that we cannot conceive a faithful
and true shepherd using other language than that of St. Paul: "We seek
not yours, but you."
_Neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making
yourselves ensamples to the flock._ This, too, is a special peril at
all times for those who are called to preside in spiritual offices.
The interests committed to their trust are so surpassingly momentous
that they must often speak with authority, and the Church's history
furnishes examples of men who would make themselves lords where Christ
alone should be Lord. Against this temptation He has supplied the
safeguard for all who will use it. "My sheep," He says, "hear My
voice." And the faithful tenders of His flock must ever ask themselves
in their service, Is this the voice of Christ? The question will be in
their hearts as they give counsel to those who need and seek it, What
would Christ have said to this man or to that? The same sort of
question will bring to the test their public ministrations, and will
make that most prominent in them which He intended to be so. Thus will
be introduced into all they do a due proportion and subordination, and
many a subject of disquiet in the Churches will thereby sink almost
into insignificance. At the same time the constant reference to their
own Lord will keep them in mind that they are His servants for the
flock of God.
While he warns the elders against the assumption of lordship over
their charges, the Apostle adds a precept which, if it be followed,
will abate all tendency to seek such lordship. For it brings to the
mind of those set over the flock that they too are but sheep, like the
rest, and are appointed not to dominate, but to help their brethren.
_Making yourselves ensamples to the flock._ Christ's rule for the good
shepherd is, "He goeth before them, and the sheep follow him" (John x.
4). The weak take in teaching rather from what they see than from what
they hear. The teacher must be a living witness to the word, a proof
of its truth and power. If he be not this, all his teaching is of
little value. The simplest teacher who lives out his lessons in his
life becomes a mighty power; he gains the true, the lawful lordship,
and--
"Truth from his lips prevails with double sway."
The Apostles knew well the weight and influence of holy examples.
Hence St. Paul appeals continually to the lives of himself and his
fellow-workers. We labour, he says, "to make ourselves an ensample
unto you that ye should imitate us" (2 Thess. iii. 9); Timothy he
exhorts, "Be thou an ensample to them that believe" (1 Tim. iv. 12),
and Titus, "In all things showing thyself an ensample of good works"
(Titus ii. 7). Nothing can withstand the eloquence of him who can dare
to appeal to his brethren, as the Apostle does, "Be ye imitators
together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an
ensample" (Phil. iii. 7), and "Be ye imitators of me, even as I also
am of Christ" (1 Cor. xi. 1). Such pattern shepherds have been the
admiration of every age. Chaucer, among his pilgrims, describes the
good parson thus:--
"The lore of Christ and His Apostles twelve
He taught, and first he followed it himself."
Such are the lives of shepherds who remember that they are even as
their flocks: frail and full of evil tendencies, and needing to come
continually, in humble supplication, to the source of strength and
light, and to be ever watchful over their own lives. These men seek no
lordship; there comes to them a nobler power, and the allegiance they
win is self-tendered.
_And when the chief Shepherd shall be manifested, ye shall receive the
crown of glory that fadeth not away._ For their consolation the
Apostle sets before the elders their Judge in His self-chosen
character. He is the chief Shepherd. Judge He must also be when He is
manifested; but while He must pass sentence on their work, He will
understand and weigh the many hindrances, both within and without,
against which they have had to fight. Of human weakness, error, sin,
such as besets us, He had no share; but He knows whereof we are made,
and will not ask from any of us a service beyond our powers. Nay, His
Spirit chooses for us, would we but mark it, the work in which we can
serve Him most fitly. And He has borne the contradiction of sinners
against Himself. In judging His servants, then, He will take account
of the wilfulness of ears that would not hear and of eyes that would
not see, of the waywardness that chose darkness rather than light,
ignorance rather than Divine knowledge, death rather than life.
Therefore His feeble but faithful servants may with humble minds
welcome His appearing. He comes as Judge. _Ye shall receive._ It is a
word descriptive of the Divine award at the last. Here it marks the
bestowal of a reward, but elsewhere (2 Peter ii. 13) the Apostle uses
it for the payment to sinners of the hire of wrong-doing. But the
Judge is full of mercy. Of one sinner's feeble efforts He said, "She
hath done what she could. Her sins are forgiven." And another who had
laboured to be faithful He welcomed to His presence: "Enter into the
joy of thy Lord." To share that joy, to partake of His glory, to be
made like Him by beholding His presence--this will be the faithful
servant's prize, a crown of amaranth, unwithering, eternal.
XVII
_BE CLOTHED WITH HUMILITY_
"Likewise, ye younger, be subject unto the elder. Yea, all of you
gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another: for God
resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Humble
yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may
exalt you in due time; casting all your anxiety upon Him, because
He careth for you."--1 PETER v. 5-7.
Having admonished the shepherds, the Apostle now turns to the flock,
and his words recall the exhortations which he has given several times
before. In ii. 13 he taught Christian subjects the duty of submission,
even should it be their lot to live under heathen rulers. A few verses
further on in the same chapter he repeated this teaching to Christian
slaves with heathen masters, and the third chapter opens with advice
of the same character to the wives who were married to heathen
husbands. And now once more, with his favourite verb "be subject," he
opens his counsel to the Churches on their duty to those set over
them. The relation between the elders and their flock will not be as
strained, or not strained after the same manner, as between Christians
and heathens in the other cases, but the same principle is to govern
the behaviour of those who hold the subject position. The duly
appointed teachers are to be accepted as powers ordained of God, and
their rule and guidance followed with submission.
_Likewise, ye younger, be subject unto the elder._ He teaches that as
there is a duty of the elders to the younger, so there is a reciprocal
duty which, in like manner and with the same thoroughness, must be
discharged by the younger to the elders. In those early days the
congregation could fitly be spoken of as "the younger." Naturally the
teachers would be chosen from those who had been the first converts.
The rest of the body would consist not only of those younger in years,
but younger in the acceptance of the faith, younger in the knowledge
of the doctrines of Christ, younger in Christian experience. And if
the Churches were to be a power among their heathen surroundings, it
must be by their unity in spirit and faith; and this could only be
secured by a loyal and ready following of those who were chosen to
instruct them.
But lest there may be any undue straining of the claim to submission,
there follows immediately a precept to make it general: _Yea, all of
you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another_. Thus will be
realised the true idea of the Christian body, where each member should
help all, and be helped of all, the rest, eye and hand, head and feet,
each having their office, and each ministering therein as parts of the
one body. This idea of general humility was altogether unknown to the
world before Christ's coming. The word, therefore, is one coined for
Christian use: lowliness of mind, a frame wherein each deems others
better than himself. And with it the Apostle has coupled another word
for "gird yourselves," which is well fitted to be so placed. It is
found nowhere else, and is full of that graphic character of which he
is so fond. The noun from which it is derived signifies "an outer
garment," mainly used by household servants and slaves, to cover
their other clothing and keep it from being spoiled. It appears to
have been bound round the waist by a girdle. The word is a complete
picture. St. Peter sees in humility a robe which shall encompass the
whole life of the believer, keeping off all that might sully or defile
it; and into the sense of the word comes the lowly estate of those by
whom the garment in question was worn. It was connected entirely with
the humblest duties. Hence its appropriateness when joined with "serve
one another."
And one cannot in studying this striking word of the Apostle but be
carried in thought to that scene described by St. John where Jesus
"took a towel and girded Himself" (John xiii. 4) to wash the feet of
His disciples. St. Peter gained much instruction from that washing,
and he has not forgotten the lesson when he desires to confirm the
brethren in Christian humility. "I have given you an example, that ye
also should do as I have done to you," was the Lord's injunction; and
this the Apostle delivers to the Churches. And verily Christ spake of
Himself more truly than of any other when He described the master's
treatment of his watchful servants: "He shall gird himself, and make
them sit down to meat, and shall come and serve them" (Luke xii. 37).
Such has been the Lord's humiliation, who took upon Him our flesh, and
now bids us to His banquet, where, through His Spirit, He is ever
waiting to bless those who draw near.
How this exhortation to humility in dealing with one another is
connected with the verse (Prov. iii. 34) by which the Apostle supports
it does not perhaps immediately appear. _For God resisteth the proud,
but giveth grace to the humble._ But a little reflection on the
characteristics of pride towards men soon makes us conscious that it
is very closely united with pride towards God. The Pharisee who
despises the publican, and thanks God in words that he is not such a
one, feels in his heart no thankfulness nor care for God at all. His
own acts have made him the pattern of goodness which he conceives
himself to be. And we discover the like in every other exhibition of
this spirit. The term (ὑπερήφανοι) by which these haughty
ones are described indicates a desire to be conspicuous, to stand
apart from and above their fellows. They are self-centred, and look
down upon the rest of the world, and forget their dependence upon God.
St. Peter in his quotation has followed the Septuagint. In the Hebrew
the first half of the verse is, "He scorneth the scorners." And this
is the manner of God's dealing. He pays men with their own coin.
Jacob's deceit was punished in kind by the frequent deceptions of his
children, so that at last he could hardly credit their report that
Joseph is still alive. David was scourged for his offences exactly
according to his own sin. But the word which the Apostle has drawn
from the Septuagint is also of solemn import. It declares a state of
war between God and man. God _resisteth_ the proud; literally, He
setteth Himself in array against them. And their overthrow is sure.
They that strive with the Lord shall be broken to pieces. The Psalmist
rejoices over the contrary lot: "The Lord is on my side; I will not
fear. What can man do unto me?" (Psalm cxviii. 6). He had realised the
feebleness of human strength, even for man to rely on, much more if it
stand in opposition to God. "It is better to trust in the Lord than to
put any confidence in man," be it in ourselves or in others. So out of
his distress he called upon the Lord. It is the sense of need which
makes men humble; and to humbled souls God's blessing comes: "He
answered me, and set me in a large place."
And as though He would mark humility as the chief grace to prepare men
for His kingdom, the Lord's first words in His sermon on the mount are
a blessing on the lowly-minded: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven"--not shall be, but _is_ theirs even
now. God's favour to the humble is a present gift. How the sense of
this swells the thanksgivings of Hannah and the Virgin Mary! And to
teach the lesson to His disciples, when they were far from humility
and were anxious only to know which of them should be above the rest
in what they still dreamt of as an earthly kingdom, He took a little
child and set him before them, as the pattern to which His true
followers must conform. This childlike virtue gives admission to the
kingdom of heaven; its possessors have the kingdom of God within them.
And St. Peter feeds the flock as he himself was fed. _Humble
yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt
you in due time._ The Apostle may be referring in these words to the
trials which were upon the converts when he wrote to them. These he
would have them look upon as God's discipline, as a cause for joy
rather than sorrow. Christian humility will not rebel against
fatherly, merciful correction. How the good man bows before the hand
of God we see in Moses when God refused to let him go over into
Canaan: "I besought the Lord, saying, O Lord God, Thou hast begun to
show Thy servant Thy greatness and Thy strong hand.... Let me go over,
I pray Thee, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan. But the Lord
was wroth with me for your sakes, and hearkened not unto me" (Deut.
iii. 23). And so the meek prophet, who knew that his withdrawal was
for the people's sake, having sung, "Happy art thou, O Israel; who is
like unto thee, a people saved by the Lord?" (Deut. xxxiii. 29), went
up unto Mount Nebo and died there, when his eye was not dim, nor his
natural force abated. Hence his praise: "There hath not arisen a
prophet since in Israel like unto Moses." Humility was his dying
lesson.
But as the Apostle has just been speaking of the duty owed to the
elders as teachers, it is perhaps better to apply the words of the
exhortation in that sense. Those who were set over the Churches were
so set in the Lord. For the time they represented His hand, the hand
of care and guidance to those who were submissive. In honouring them,
the younger were honouring God. Thus the lesson would be, Bend your
hearts to the instruction which He imparts through their words; yield
your will to His will, and order your life to be in harmony with His
providence; live thus that He may exalt you. For the hand which may
seem heavy now will be mighty to raise you in due time. And that time
He knows. It is His time, not yours. If it tarry, wait for it. It will
surely come; it will not tarry, when the Divine discipline has done
its work.
_Casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He careth for you._ When
men do this the due time has come. Till this stage is reached there
can be no true humility. But how slow men are in reaching it! We are
willing to bring to God a little here and there of our sorrow and our
feebleness, but would fain still carry a part of the load ourselves.
Human pride it is which cannot stoop to owe everything to God; want of
faith, too, both in the Divine power and the Divine love, though our
tongues may not confess it. What a powerful homily on this verse is
the conduct of the youthful David when he went forth against the
Philistine! "The Lord," he says to Saul, "that delivered me out of the
paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out
of the hand of this Philistine." And when the king offered his own
coat of mail, though tempted thereby, he put the armour away, saying,
"I cannot go with these, for I have not proved them." He knew that God
had given him skill with the humbler weapons, and it was God's battle
in which he was to engage. So with his stones and his sling he went
forth, telling the defiant challenger, "I come to thee in the name of
the Lord of hosts." The action is a comment on the Psalmist's words,
"Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring
it to pass" (Psalm xxxviii. 5).
But neither the young hero by his example, nor the Apostle in his
exhortation, teaches a spirit of careless indifference and neglect of
means. David chose him five smooth stones out of the brook. These he
could use. With these God had delivered him aforetime. And in every
condition men are bound to use the best means they know to ensure
success, and the Christian will pour out his prayers for guidance and
foresight in temporal concerns. That done, the counsel of Christ, on
which St. Peter's exhortation is grounded, is, "Be not overanxious;
your heavenly Father knoweth your needs." And he who has grown humble
under the mighty hand of God in trials has learnt that the same hand
is mighty to save: "He careth for you." When this perfect trust is
placed in God, the load is lifted. It is, as the Psalmist says
literally, _rolled_ upon the Lord (Psalm xxxviii. 5).
How salutary this teaching for both the elders and the congregations
among these Christians of the dispersion, and how full the promise of
help and blessing. The teachers had been placed in the midst of
difficulties and charged with a mighty responsibility; but robed in
the garment of humility, casting aside all self-trust, coming only in
the name of the Lord, the burden would be raised by the almighty arms
and made convenient to their powers. And to the younger the same lowly
spirit, loving thoughts toward those who cared for their souls, would
be fruitful in blessing. For the same God who resisteth the proud
showers His grace upon the humble. It falls on them as the dew of
Hermon, which cometh down upon the mountains of Zion. Unto them Christ
has proclaimed His foremost blessing; has promised, and is giving, the
kingdom of heaven to humble souls, and will give them life for
evermore.
XVIII
_THROUGH PERILS TO VICTORY_
"Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring
lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom withstand
steadfast in your faith, knowing that the same sufferings are
accomplished in your brethren who are in the world. And the God
of all grace, who called you unto His eternal glory in Christ,
after that ye have suffered a little while, shall Himself
perfect, stablish, strengthen you. To Him _be_ the dominion for
ever and ever. Amen.
"By Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I account _him_, I have
written unto you briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is
the true grace of God: stand ye fast therein. She that is in
Babylon, elect together with _you_, saluteth you; and _so doth_
Mark my son. Salute one another with a kiss of love.
"Peace be unto you all that are in Christ."--1 PETER v. 8-14.
Not only had these Asian Christians to suffer from the opposition and
calumnies of the heathen and from the estrangement of former friends:
there were perils within the Churches themselves. There were weak
brethren, who fell away when trials came, and infected others with
their despondency; there were false brethren, with whom faith was a
mere consent of the understanding, and not the spring of a holy,
spiritual life. These spake of the liberty of Christ as though it were
an emancipation from all moral restraints. Such dangers asked for
firmness both in the elders and their hearers. To withstand them there
must be a constant growth in Christian experience, whereby the
faithful might wax steadfast, and attain to the strength and stature
of the fulness of Christ. These dangers became more manifest before
St. Peter wrote his second letter, where we find them described in
dark colours.
Here to the converts, exposed to the assaults of these temptations, he
enjoins the same well-ordered frame of mind which before (i. 13) he
commended to them as they looked forward to the hope in store for
them, and also (iv. 7) in their prayers, that their petitions might be
such as suited with the approaching end of all things. _Be sober_, he
says again, and combines therewith an exhortation which without
sobriety is impossible: _Be watchful_. If the mind be unbalanced,
there can be no keeping of a true guard against such dangers as were
around these struggling believers. And it is impossible not to connect
such an exhortation from his lips with those words of Christ, which
one Evangelist says were expressly addressed to St. Peter, "Watch and
pray, that ye enter not into temptation" (Mark xiv. 37, 38). He who
had received this admonition was conscious that, as in his own case,
so with these his converts, the spirit might be willing, but the flesh
was weak, and the enemy mighty.
_Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking
whom he may devour._ In the days of Job, when God asked of Satan,
"Whence comest thou?" his answer was, "From going to and fro in the
earth and from walking up and down in it" (Job i. 7). Of this Old
Testament language the Apostle here makes partial use in his
description of the enemy of mankind. He walketh about in the earth,
which is his province, for he is called the prince of this world (John
xii. 31) and the god of this world (2 Cor. iv. 4). And the Greek word
ἀντίδικος, "adversary," which St. Peter uses as a
translation of the Hebrew "Satan," is well chosen, for it describes
not an ordinary enemy, but one who acts as an opponent would in a
court of law. Such was Satan from the first, an accuser. In Job's case
he accused the Patriarch to his God: "Doth Job serve God for nought?"
"Put forth Thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, or touch his
bone and his flesh, and he will curse Thee to Thy face." In earlier
days he appears as the accuser of God Himself: "Ye shall not surely
die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes
shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil" (Gen.
iii. 4, 5). And with such-like suggestions he assails the faithful
continually, speaking either to their unguarded hearts, or by the
words of his servants, of whom he has no lack. St. Paul dreaded his
power for the Thessalonian converts: "I sent that I might know your
faith, lest by any means the tempter had tempted you, and our labour
should be in vain" (1 Thess. iii. 5). And St. Peter's words are
dictated by the same fear; he has the same wish to keep the flock
steadfast in their faith. To them Satan's whisperings would be after
this sort: "You are forgotten of God"; "Love could never leave you so
long in trial." Or his agents would say in scorn, "How can you talk of
freedom, when your life is one long torment? What is the profit of
faith, when it gives you no liberty?" And such questions are perilous
to feeble minds. The Apostle marks the great danger by a comparison
which Ezekiel (xxii. 25) had used before him, speaking of the tempter
as a roaring lion, ever hungry for his prey. There is but one weapon
which can vanquish him. "This is the victory that hath overcome the
world, even our faith" (1 John v. 4). St. Peter's lesson is the same
as St. John's.
_Whom withstand steadfast in your faith, knowing that the same
sufferings are accomplished in your brethren who are in the world._
The steadfast faith must be the firm foundation of God; and the same
thoughts, which St. Paul commends as a correction of those who have
erred concerning the truth, are those most fit to be urged upon St.
Peter's converts to render them steadfast. "The Lord knoweth them that
are His" (2 Tim. ii. 19), and with the Lord to know is to care for and
to save. And "let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart
from unrighteousness." This is the perfect law, the law of true
liberty, and he who continueth therein, being not a hearer that
forgetteth, but a doer that worketh, shall be blessed in his doing.
Thus resting on God and thus ruling himself, he shall be kept from the
snares of the enemy, and having withstood in the evil day, shall still
be made able to stand.
And to such steadfastness the brethren are to be moved by the
knowledge that others are in the same affliction. How shall such
knowledge minister support? The mere knowledge that others bear a like
burden does not strengthen our own shoulders; to hear of others' pains
will not relieve our own. Not so. But just as it is a power in warfare
when men see their leader before them, facing the same perils, hear
his voice cheering them by his courage, inspiring them with his hope;
just as it is a support to brave men to find brave brethren at their
side in the conflict, animated by the same spirit, marching forward to
the same victory, so is it in the Christian struggle. All Christians
are to be steadfast, the elders like the leaders of an army, the
younger like the soldiers who follow, that, moving with one spirit
against the foe, feeling that each is like-minded with all the rest,
while all are equally conscious of the importance of victory, they may
grasp hands as they go forward, and be heartened thereby, being sure
that in the danger they will have helpers at their side.
And that he may give the more emphasis to this idea of unity, in
which, though the suffering is common to all, yet the hope is also
common, and the victory is promised to all, the Apostle does not speak
of the converts as a multitude of brethren, but uses a noun in the
singular number, naming them (as the margin of the Revised Version
indicates) "a brotherhood" (ἀδελφότης). And when they
regarded themselves as "a brotherhood in the world," the thought would
have its comforting as well as its painful aspect. The world, as
Scripture speaks of it, is void of faith. Hence the believer, while he
lives in it, is amid jarring surroundings, and is sure to suffer. "In
the world ye shall have tribulation." But it is not to last for ever,
nor for long. "The world passeth away, but he that doeth the will of
God abideth for ever." And though the brotherhood in the world must
suffer, yet there is that other brotherhood beyond; and there the
suffering will not be remembered for the glory that shall be revealed
in us.
_And the God of all grace, who called you unto His eternal glory in
Christ, after that ye have suffered a little while, shall Himself
perfect, stablish, strengthen you._ Being now about to sum up the
great work of Christian advancement, in which from first to last the
power is bestowed by God, St. Peter finds no title more fitting to
express the Divine love than "the God of _all_ grace." The invitation
to become partakers of the glory which Christ has won by His
sufferings, won that He may bestow it upon men, was God's free call.
Our sufferings, the discipline which the Father employs to purge and
purify us, are to last but a little while. Then those whom He has
called He will also justify, and those whom He justifies He will in
the end glorify. Thus St. Paul (Rom. viii. 30) describes the
operations of Divine grace. St. Peter, with the same lesson, uses
words more after his own graphic manner. He gives us a picture of
God's work in its several stages. First God will complete in all its
parts the work which He has begun. He will make it so that He can
pronounce it very good, as He did when the worlds _were perfected_ in
the first creation (Heb. xi. 3), making His people to be so
_perfected_ that they may be as their Master (Luke vi. 40). Then He
will sustain and support that which He has brought to its best estate.
There shall not be, as in the first creation, any falling away. New
gifts shall be bestowed by the Holy Spirit, through the ministration
of the word. It was for such a purpose that St. Paul longed to visit
the Roman Church, that he might impart unto them some spiritual gift,
to the end that they might be _established_. And what has been
perfected and established shall also by the same grace be made strong,
that it may endure and withstand all assaults.
In many ancient texts a fourth verb is given, which the Authorised
Version renders "settle." It signifies "to set on a firm foundation,"
and it is of the figurative character which marks St. Peter's
language, and, beside this, is not uncommon in the New Testament
(Matt. vii. 25; Luke vi. 48; Heb. i. 10, etc.). But the verbs
immediately preceding have no direct reference to a building, and the
addition arises probably from a marginal note, made to illustrate the
text and by some later scribe incorporated with it. The whole passage
brings to mind Christ's injunction to the Apostle, "When thou art
converted, strengthen thy brethren."
_To Him be the dominion for ever and ever. Amen._ A fitting doxology
to follow the Apostle's enumeration of the riches of Divine grace. He
who feels that every gift he has is from above will with ready
thankfulness welcome God's rule, and seek to submit himself thereto,
making it the law of his life here, as he hopes it will be hereafter.
_By Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I account him, I have written
unto you briefly._ Silvanus was that Silas who accompanied St. Paul in
his second missionary journey through the districts of Phrygia and
Galatia (Acts xvi. 6), to which St. Peter addresses his letter. To
send it by the hand of one known and esteemed among these Churches for
his former labours and for his friendship with the great Apostle of
the Gentiles would secure acceptance for it, while the bearer would
testify to the unity of the doctrine preached by the two Apostles. He
who had been a faithful brother to St. Paul was so also to St. Peter,
and was by him commended to the Churches. For the expression, _I
account him_, implies no doubt or question in the Apostle's own mind.
It is the utterance of a matured opinion. The verb (λογίζομαι)
is that which St. Paul uses: "I _reckon_ that the sufferings of this
present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall
be revealed in us" (Rom. viii. 18). To St. Paul something of the
future glory had been shown, and he had felt abundance of present
suffering. He had taken account of both sides, and could speak with
certainty. The brevity of St. Peter's letter could be supplemented by
the words of his messenger. For Silas himself was a prophet (Acts xv.
32), and fitted to exhort and confirm the brethren.
_Exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God: stand
ye fast therein._ The grace in its several stages has just been
summarised: the calling, the perfecting, stablishing, strengthening;
and the whole letter is occupied in showing that at every advance God
puts His servants to the test. But the Apostle knows that agents of
the adversary are busily scattering the tares of doubt and disbelief
where God had sown His good seed. The wrestling is not against flesh
and blood alone, but against the world-rulers of this darkness,
against the spiritual host of wickedness. Hence the form of his
exhortation: _Stand fast_.
_She that is in Babylon, elect together with you, saluteth you; and so
doth Mark my son. Salute one another with a kiss of love._ It is most
natural to refer these words to a Church, and not to any individual.
Some have interpreted them as an allusion to St. Peter's wife, whom,
as we know from St. Paul (1 Cor. ix. 5), he sometimes had as a
companion in his travels. But there is a degree of inappropriateness
in speaking of a single person as elect along with these various
Churches of Asia, whereas the Church in Babylon might fitly have such
a distinction. It is unnecessary, too, to explain Babylon (as some
have done) as intended for Rome. There was no conceivable reason in
St. Peter's day why, when he was writing to lands under Roman
dominion, if he meant to speak of the city in Italy, he should not
call it by its real name. The Mark here named was most probably the
John whose surname was Mark (Acts xii. 12), whose mother was a friend
of St. Peter's from the earliest days of his apostolic labours. He,
too, had been a companion of St. Paul for a time, and made another
link between the two great Apostles. St. Peter calls him "son" because
it is likely that both the mother and her son were won to the new
teaching by him, and he employs the term of affection just as St. Paul
does of Timothy, his convert (1 Tim. i. 2, 18; 2 Tim. i. 2). The
salutation by a kiss is frequently mentioned. It is called "a holy
kiss" (Rom. xvi. 16; 1 Cor. xvi. 20; 2 Cor. xiii. 12; 1 Thess. v. 26)
in St. Paul's language. We find from Justin Martyr[12] that it had
come to be used in his day as part of the ceremonial preceding the
Holy Communion. It was to be a token of perfect love, according to the
name which St. Peter here gives it. An evil construction was soon put
upon it by the enemies of the faith; and after a long history it fell
into disuse, even in the East, where such manner of salutation is more
common than in the West. In his final words the Apostle has embodied
the benediction of which the kiss was meant to be the symbol.
[12] _Apol._ i. 65.
_Peace be unto you all that are in Christ._ This is the bond which
unites believers into one fellowship. To be in Christ is to be of the
brotherhood which has been so significantly marked just before for its
unity. And in these last clauses we have examples of the force of the
tie. Individuals are brought by it into close communion, as Peter
himself with Silas and with Mark, whom he speaks of in terms of family
love. To the Churches Silas is commended as a brother in the faith,
which faith establishes a bond of strength between the distant
Churches which have been called into it together. Well might the
heathen, wonderstruck, exclaim, "See how these Christians love one
another!" And the Apostle's own words mark the all-embracing character
of the love: _all that are in Christ_. They are all brethren, children
of the common Father, inheritors of the same promises, pilgrims on the
same journey, sustained by the same hope, servants of the same Lord,
and strengthened, guided, and enlightened by the one Spirit, who is
promised to abide with Christ's Church for ever.
THE SECOND EPISTLE OF ST. PETER
XIX
_THE SAVING KNOWLEDGE OF GOD_
"Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that
have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness
of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be
multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing
that His Divine power hath granted unto us all things that
pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him
that called us by His own glory and virtue; whereby He hath
granted unto us His precious and exceeding great promises; that
through these ye may become partakers of the Divine nature,
having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by
lust."--2 PETER i. 1-4.
In the salutation of this second letter the Apostle describes himself
in fuller form than in the first: _Simon Peter, a servant and apostle
of Jesus Christ_. Some have seen in this description a testamentary
character, as though the Epistle contained his parting counsels. The
words form an epitome of his whole life. As Simon, son of Jonas, he
lived his life in Judaism until Christ's call summoned him to be a
fisher of men. "Peter" is the Christ-given name, which marked an
advance in spiritual illumination, an advance that fitted him to be
one of the chief heralds of God manifest in the flesh. As a servant
(or rather, bondservant) of Jesus Christ, he stands on the same level
with those to whom he writes, though the service to which he has been
called may be in character different from theirs. Jesus had said to
the twelve, and through them to the whole body of believers, "One is
your Master, even the Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall
be your servant" (Matt. xxiii. 10). And here comes forward that other
aspect of Christian service. The servants of Christ are, for His sake,
servants to all the brotherhood (2 Cor. iv. 5). As an apostle he
speaks with authority, an authority greater than can be possessed by
any future age. The solemn character of the office is stamped by
Christ's words, "As My Father sent Me, even so send I you"; and the
Churches are reminded, as they think of the apostolic office, that the
Lord who commissioned the twelve to be His servants said, "He that
heareth you heareth Me, and He that despiseth you despiseth Me."
St. Peter does not, as in his former letter, name the Churches to
which he is writing; but afterwards (iii. 1) he states that this is
his second letter to them. We may therefore conclude that the same
persons are addressed as before. Here he speaks of them as _them that
have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of
our God and Saviour Jesus Christ_. Some have thought that here the
Apostle's words are specially addressed to those among the converts
who had been won from heathendom, and now were made partakers of the
same faith with himself and others who, like him, had been born Jews,
and so heirs in part to God's precious promises. But, as he has just
made mention of his apostolic office, it seems easier to refer "us" to
the Apostles. If this be the sense, then--though in the allusion to
his office and authority they must have recognised the points wherein
his communing with Christ had made him to differ from them--these
words set forward that aspect of the Christian life wherein all the
faithful are equal. The graces, gifts, and opportunities which God
bestows are according to men's power to improve them; but faith, in
its saving efficacy and preciousness, is the same for every believer.
And when he speaks of this faith as being in the righteousness of our
God and Saviour Jesus Christ, we see that he is thinking of
righteousness in that sense in which he uses the word afterwards in
this Epistle (iii. 13): as that perfect righteousness which belongs to
the new heavens and the new earth, and hence to God Himself.
To this righteousness each "stranger and sojourner" in the world is
striving to attain by faith, and by each exercise thereof he is raised
nearer to his lofty aim. His faith, like the patriarch's of old, is
counted unto him for righteousness. The fruit of each man's faith will
be ἰσότιμος--"alike precious"--when the journey is ended.
For it will be salvation in the presence of the perfect righteousness.
As in the Saviour's parable the welcome was the same to him who had
rightly used his two talents as to him who had done the like with
five, so each faithful servant of Christ, working righteousness
according to his power here, shall be called up into the joy of his
Lord. For the joys of heaven all will not have the same capacity; but
for each, according to his power to receive it, there will be fulness
of joy. Nor should the word "obtained" pass unnoticed. It is the word
used of Judas (Acts i. 17), who _obtained_ part of the apostolic
ministry on the call of Jesus. So here, too, the call into the faith
is of God; and it is when men obey it that they progress in Divine
graces and go forward unto righteousness.
_Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of
Jesus our Lord._ The first words are the same with the Apostle's
prayer in the opening of the First Epistle. And to no stage of the
Christian life can such a wish be inappropriate. To grow in grace, and
so in peace, is the Christian's daily bread; and the thought of this
seems to be uppermost in St. Peter's mind in this letter, that thus
the falling away, to which he sees the converts are likely to be
exposed, may be counteracted. The danger was arising from the boastful
parade of a knowledge (γνῶσις) falsely so called (1 Tim. vi.
20). Before this letter was written teachers had risen within the
Church who professed to have a deeper and more mysterious
interpretation of the doctrines of the Gospel. This esoteric
enlightenment they specially named "knowledge," and led men astray by
profitless inquiries concerning the absolute nature of God and the
manner of His communication with the world. To this teaching St. Paul
is referring when he speaks of "foolish questions" and "endless
genealogies," and it is this which St. Peter rebukes so vehemently in
the next chapter of this letter. As an antidote for the poison, he
urges the converts to seek after a true and full knowledge (ἐπίγνωσις)
of the Father and the Son. No single word can adequately
represent this term, which became the watchword of all the Christian
teachers. It is that knowledge of the truth which St. Paul so often
commends to Timothy (1 Tim. ii. 4; 2 Tim. iii. 7) and speaks of as
that acknowledging of the truth, allowing it to be effective on the
life, which follows repentance (2 Tim. ii. 25); it is specially the
knowledge of God and of things Divine; it is that knowledge which must
temper religious zeal (Rom. x. 2) that it may be effective; it is the
knowledge against which if a man sin (Heb. x. 26) he is verily
reprobate. And this true knowledge can only come of faithful service.
He shall know the Lord who loves to do His will. Do the works, and ye
shall know of the doctrine.
_Seeing that His Divine power hath granted unto us all things that
pertain unto life and godliness._ The work, though great, becomes not
impossible; the dangers and difficulties, though abundant, are not
insurmountable. For it is not on us that the victory depends. God hath
begotten us again unto a lively hope through Christ's resurrection;
and Christ has promised to be with His servants all the days, even
unto the end of the world. There is a free gift of Divine power for
all our needs, everything to foster the spiritual life and to guide
into the way of holiness. Wisdom will be given that we may understand
God's will and choose aright, strength to persevere in the midst of
trial, boldness to make confession of the Lord before men, and
watchfulness lest we, as did the teachers of error, wax overconfident.
All things are granted; all things may be ours.
_Through the knowledge of Him that called us by His own glory and
virtue._ Here the same full knowledge (ἐπίγνωσις) of which
the Apostle has just been speaking is to become the channel of all our
blessings: to know God, who has made Himself to be known through
Christ Jesus. God's glory and virtue--that is, His Divine power--have
been manifested in Him. The disciples beheld them in Christ's
miracles. "This beginning of His signs did Jesus, ... and manifested
His glory; and His disciples believed on Him" (John ii. 11), and of
His whole life St. John says, "We beheld His glory, glory as of the
only-begotten from the Father. He dwelt among us full of grace and
truth" (John i. 14). This is what St. Peter means by "virtue." And
still in the hearts of men through the Spirit the same manifestation
is given. He illumines them, to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
_Whereby He hath granted unto us His precious and exceeding great
promises._ In Christ God has offered men all the blessings of the new
covenant: repentance; faith; justification; eternal life. He, with the
Son and the Spirit, comes unto the faithful and makes His abode with
them. Thus they are made members of Christ's mystical body. He dwells
in their hearts by faith; He gives them power to become sons of God:
they are adopted of God, who sent His only-begotten Son into the world
that they might live through Him. These are the precious promises
granted, but not forced upon men, set forth in all their greatness in
the life and love of Jesus; and men are invited to choose them. And
the choice is made by patiently doing the will of God so far as it is
revealed to each man; after that we shall receive the promises (Heb.
x. 36).
_That through these ye may become partakers of the Divine nature._
This is the Divine scheme for man's restoration; this is the change of
which St. Paul speaks to the Corinthians (2 Cor. ii. 18), and which he
illustrates by the glorified face of Moses. The prophet was called up
into Mount Horeb, and drew near to the presence of Jehovah; the Lord
spake with him face to face out of the midst of the fire, and his
countenance was illumined by the eternal glory. But the radiance was
bestowed on Moses alone; the people might not draw near: and the glory
shed on him was transient, so that he veiled his face lest the people
should mark its passing away. But since the manifestation of God in
Christ all men may draw near, and be made partakers of unfading glory.
It is not with Zion as with Sinai. The way is open to all, nor will
the glory pass away from those who have been blessed with it. For now
we all, with unveiled face, reflect as a mirror the glory of the Lord,
and, with progress in holiness, are transformed into the same image,
as from the Lord the Spirit. Thus men _become_--for it is a gradual
process--partakers of the Divine nature, and being drawn more near to
God while they live here, are fitted through His mercy, when the last
call comes, to go up higher and sit down at the marriage-supper of the
Lamb, their life having been a constant putting on of the wedding
garment.
_Having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust._
This is the victory that overcometh the world, but it is a conquest
which men cannot win unaided, nay, where the truest bravery, the
surest hope, is in speedy flight. Like Lot from Sodom must the
Christian hasten away from the lusts of the world, casting no look
behind him, nor tarrying to dally with them for a moment. For the
flesh is weak, and the prince of this world is mighty in his evil
domain, and, that he may lead men astray, will ofttimes transform
himself into an angel of light; and within the soul of man he has his
confederate powers, the cravings of this human nature, which thinks
the baits of the enemy are pleasant to the eyes, and it may be they
look fit to make one wise. And so in the eyes of the tempted ones, as
in the eyes of the senseless bird of the Proverbs, the net seems
spread in vain; in their own fancy they seem able to go on without
being entangled, and Satan encourages the delusion. After that the
stages are easy, but they are all downhill. Men first walk after their
own lusts; then they are led by them, then obey them, and at last
become their slaves. This is the corruption, the ruin, from which the
Christian is aided to flee through seeking the glory of God as it is
set before him in the Saviour's works and words. Drawn by these, he
turns away his gaze from the world and its lusts; his eyes no longer
behold vanity to love it. He has begun to learn of Jesus, and every
new lesson makes him stronger in the faith; and by degrees he is
enabled to bring forth into light, and bear witness to, the knowledge
which he has gained of the glory of God as it shines in the face of
Jesus Christ. So not he alone, but those who behold his escape and
mark his growth in grace, may give God the praise, saying, "This hath
God wrought," for they shall perceive that it is His work.
XX
_WHO SHALL ASCEND INTO THE HILL OF THE LORD?_
"Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence,
in your faith supply virtue; and in _your_ virtue knowledge; and
in _your_ knowledge temperance; and in _your_ temperance
patience; and in _your_ patience godliness; and in _your_
godliness love of the brethren; and in _your_ love of the
brethren love. For if these things are yours and abound, they
make you to be not idle nor unfruitful unto the knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ. For he that lacketh these things is blind,
seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his
old sins. Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make
your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye
shall never stumble: for thus shall be richly supplied unto you
the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ."--2 PETER i. 5-11.
The Apostle has just set forth in all their fulness the riches of
Divine grace: the precious faith, followed by the bestowal of all
helps toward life and godliness, and with the large promises of God to
rely on for the future, promises whereby those who seek to renounce
the things which are not of the Father, but of the world, may become
partakers of the Divine nature. These blessings are assured, are in
store, but only for those who manifest a desire to receive them. How
this desire shall be shown, how it shall constantly grow stronger and
be ever fulfilling, until it attain perfect fruition in Christ's
eternal kingdom, is the next instruction. _Yea, and for this very
cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply
virtue._ The plenteousness of the Divine bounty is proclaimed that it
may evoke an earnest response from all who receive it. What shall I
render unto the Lord for all the benefits which He hath done, and is
doing, unto me? is to be the heart's cry of the feeblest of God's
saints. For the boundless ocean of grace asks that there should be
mingled with it some drops of human duty. God will heal the bite of
the serpents in the wilderness, but to gain the blessing the wounded
ones, even in their suffering, must turn their eyes to the appointed
symbol of healing. Christ's power will cure ten lepers, but He first
sends them away to do their little in the path of obedience: "Go, show
yourselves to the priest." Thus the Apostle's exhortation here,
_Adding on your part all diligence_. The diligence of which he speaks
is that sort of endeavour which springs from a sense of duty: an
earnest zeal and will to accomplish whatever it finds to do; that does
not linger till some great work offers, but hastens to labour in the
immediate present. This is the spirit in which Christian advance will
be made. And the lines on which such progress will go he now describes
as though each new step were evolved from, and were a natural
development of, that which preceded it. The faith which the Christian
holds fast is the gift of God, and it contains the germs of every
grace that can follow. These the believer is to foster with diligence.
St. Peter begins his scale of graces thus: _In your faith supply
virtue_. Here virtue means the best development of such power as a man
possesses. It may be little or great, but in its kind it is to be made
excellent. And here it is that the Christian workers in every sphere
must surpass others. They work from a higher motive. What they do is
a constant attestation of their faith, is done as in God's sight, and
in the confidence that in every act it is possible to give Him glory.
There can be no carelessness in such lives, for they are filled with a
sense of responsibility, which is the first-fruit of a living faith.
And in St. Peter's figurative word the believer is said to supply each
grace in turn because he contributes by his careful walk to wake it
into life, to make it active, and let it shine as a light before men.
_And in your virtue knowledge_, he continues. For, with duty rightly
done, there comes illumination over the path of life: men understand
more of God's dealings, and hence bring their lives into closer
harmony with His will. And we have Christ's own assurance, "If any man
willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching" (John vii. 17).
And the same is true not only of the Lord's own lessons, but of all
the promptings of the Spirit in men's hearts. If they hearken to the
voice which whispers, "This is the way," it will become at every stage
plainer, and there will be shown to them not only the how, but the
wherefore.
_And in your knowledge temperance._ There is a knowledge which puffeth
up, giving not humility, which is the fruit of true knowledge, but
self-conceit. Of the evil effects thereof the Apostle knew much. Out
of it grew extravagance in thought, and word, and action; and its
mischief was threatening the infant Churches. Against it the
temperance which he commends is to be the safeguard, and it is a
virtue which can be manifested in all things. He who possesses it has
conquered himself, and has won his way thus to stability of mind and
consistency of conduct. "His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord,"
and so he can go forward to the Apostle's next stage of the
heavenward journey: _And in your temperance patience_. This is the
true sequence of spiritual self-control. Life is sure to supply for
the godly man trials in abundance. But he is daily striving to die
unto the world. The effort fixes his mind firmly on the Divine
purposes, and lifts him above the circumstances of time. He is a
pilgrim and sojourner amidst them, but is in no bondage to them, nor
will he be moved, even by great afflictions, to waver in his trust. He
can look on, as seeing Him that is invisible, and can persevere
without being unduly cast down.
_And in your patience godliness._ The mystery of godliness--that is,
Godlikeness--was made known by the Incarnation. The Son of God became
man, that men might through Him be made sons of God. And godliness in
the present world is Christ made manifest in the lives of His
servants. Toward this imitation of Christ the believer will aspire
through his patience. He takes up the cross and bears it after his
Master, and thus begins his discipleship, of which the communion with
Christ waxes more intimate day by day. Such was the godliness of St.
Paul. It was because he had followed the Lord in all that He would
have him to do that the Apostle was bold to exhort the Corinthians,
"Be ye imitators of me;" but he adds at once, "as I am of Christ" (1
Cor. xi. 1). And when he sends Timothy to recall his teaching to their
minds he says, "He shall put you in remembrance of my ways which are
in Christ." By such a walk with Christ His servants are helped forward
towards the fulfilment of the two tables of the moral law, to which
St. Peter alludes in his next words: _And in your godliness love of
the brethren; and in your love of the brethren love_. The
last-named love (ἀγάπη) is that highest love, the love of
God to men, which is set up as the grand ideal towards which His
servants are constantly to press forward; but from this the love of
the brethren cannot be severed, nay it must be made the stepping-stone
unto it. For, as another Apostle says, "he that loveth not his
brother, whom he hath seen, cannot love God, whom he hath not seen" (1
John iv. 20). But love of the brethren is not to be narrowed in the
verse before us or elsewhere to love of those who are already known to
the Churches as brethren in the Lord. The Gospel of Christ knows no
such limits. The commission of the Master was, "Go ye forth into all
the world." All mankind are to be won for Him; all are embraced in the
name of brethren. For if they be not so now, it is our bounden duty to
endeavour that they shall be so. And in thus interpreting we have the
mind of Christ with us, who came to seek and to save them that were
lost, to die for the sins of the whole world, and who found His
brethren among every class who would hear His words and obey them. We
have with us, too, the acts of God Himself, who would have all men
come to the knowledge of the truth, and who, with impartial love,
maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth His
rain upon the just and the unjust, that thus even the evil and unjust
may be won to own His Fatherhood. Such Divine love is the end of the
commandment (1 Tim. i. 5), and terminates the list of those graces the
steps whereto St. Paul has more briefly indicated when he says the
love which is most like God's springs from a pure heart, a good
conscience, and faith unfeigned. In this way shall men be borne upward
into the hill of the Lord.
The knowledge of Christ is a lesson in which we cannot be perfected
till we behold Him as He is, but yet through it from the first we
receive the earnest and pledge of all that is meant by life and
godliness, and the culture of the Divine gifts will yield a rich
increase of the same knowledge. _For if these things are yours and
abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful unto the knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ._ Men in this life can draw nearer unto this
full knowledge, and the bliss of each new gain prompts to more zealous
exertion. There can be no relaxation of effort, no remissness, in such
a quest. For hope is fostered by the constant experience of a
deepening knowledge, and receives continual pledges that the glory to
be revealed is far above what is already known. The enlightened vision
grows wider and ampler; and the path, which began in faith, shineth
more and more unto the perfect day. The world offers other lights to
its votaries, but they lead only into darkness. _For he that lacketh
these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the
cleansing from his old sins._ He who has taken no heed to foster
within him the light which is kindled by faith, and which can only be
kept alive by the grace of the Divine Spirit, is blind, yea blind
indeed, for he is self-blinded. He has quenched the inward light which
was of God's free gift, and made the light within him to be darkness,
a darkness, like Egypt's, which may be felt. Such a man has no insight
into the glories of the celestial vision, no joy of the widening
prospect which captivates the gaze of the spiritual man. He can see
only things close at hand, and is as one bowed downward to the earth,
groping a dreary way, with neither hope nor exaltation at the end. For
he has forgotten--nay, St. Peter's words are stronger and very
striking--λήθην λαβὼν--he has taken hold upon
forgetfulness, made a deliberate choice of that course which
obliterates all remembrance of God's initial gift of grace to cleanse
him from his old sins. Unmindful of this purification, he has admitted
into the dwelling where the Spirit of God would have made a home other
spirits more wicked than those first cast out. They have entered in,
and dwell there. There is a marked contrast between this expression
and the word used for God's gift of faith (ver. 1). That a man
receives (λαχὼν) as the bounty of his Lord's love; and if
treasured and used, it proves itself the light of life for this world
and the next. The wrong path he chooses for himself (λαβὼν),
and its close is the blackness of the dark.
_Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and
election sure._ "Wherefore, brethren"--because such terrible blindness
as this has fallen upon some, who left their first grace unimproved
and allowed even the memory of it to fade away--do you give the more
diligence in your religious life. The true way to banish evil is to
multiply good, leaving neither room nor time for bad things to spread
themselves. When the peril of such things is round about you, it is no
time for relaxed effort. Your enemy never relaxes his. He is always
active, seeking whom he may devour, and employs not the day only, but
the night, when men sleep, to sow his tares. Let him find you ever
watchful, ever diligent to hold fast and make abundant the gifts which
God has already bestowed upon you. In the foreknowledge of the Father,
you are elect from the foundation of the world; and your call is
attested by the injunction laid upon you, "Ye shall be holy, for I am
holy." Your inheritance is in store where nothing can assail it. God
only asks that you should manifest a wish, a longing, for His
blessings; and He will pour them richly upon you. He has made you of
a loftier mould than the inanimate and irrational creation. The flower
turns to the sun by a law which it cannot resist. From the Sun of
righteousness men can turn away. But the Father's will is that your
eyes should be set on the hope which He offers. Then of a certainty it
will be realised. Lift up your eyes to the eternal hills, for from
thence your help will come. The promise is sure. Strive to keep your
hope equally steadfast. For now you belong to the household of Christ;
now you are through Him children of the heavenly Father: to this
sonship you are elect and have been called, and to it you shall attain
if you hold fast your boldness and the glorying of your hope unto the
end.
_For if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble._ The way will be
hard, and may be long, the obstacles in your path many and rugged,
heaped up by the prince of this world to bar you from advancing and
make you faint-hearted; but down into the midst of the danger there
shall shine from the Father of lights a ray which shall illumine the
darkness and make clear for you the steps in which you ought to tread,
and the rod and staff of God's might will support and comfort you.
_For thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into the
eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ._ In his first
words in this passage the Apostle exhorted the believers to supply
something, as it were, of their own towards their spiritual
advancement; but when the demand was fully understood, behold God had
made ready the means for doing everything which was asked for! Within
the precious faith which He bestowed was enfolded the potentiality of
every other grace. There they lay, as seeds in a seed-plot. All that
men were bidden to do was to give them culture. Then God's Spirit
would operate as the generous sunshine, and cause each hidden power to
unfold itself in its time and bloom into beauty and strength. In this
verse the Divine assistance is more clearly promised. What men bestow
shall be returned unto them manifold. Do your diligence, says the
Apostle, and there shall be supplied unto you from the rich stores of
God all that can help you forward in your heavenward journey. The
kingdom of God shall begin for you while you are passing through this
present life. For it can be set up within you. It has been prepared
from all eternity in heaven, and will be enjoyed in full fruition when
this life is ended. But it is a state, and not a place. The entrance
thereto is opened here. The believer is beckoned into it; and with
enraptured soul he enjoys through faith a foretaste of the things
which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart of man conceived,
the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. Over those
joys Christ is King, but He is also the door; and those who enter
through Him shall go in and out, and shall surely find pasture, even
life for evermore.
XXI
_THE VOICE HEARD IN THE HOLY MOUNT_
"Wherefore I shall be ready always to put you in remembrance of
these things, though ye know them, and are established in the
truth which is with _you_. And I think it right, as long as I am
in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;
knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle cometh swiftly,
even as our Lord Jesus Christ signified unto me. Yea, I will give
diligence that at every time ye may be able after my decease to
call these things to remembrance. For we did not follow cunningly
devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eye-witnesses of His
majesty. For He received from God the Father honour and glory,
when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory,
This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: and this voice
we _ourselves_ heard come out of heaven, when we were with Him in
the holy mount."--2 PETER i. 12-18.
Up to this point the Apostle has spoken of God's abundant grace and
the consequent duties of believers. And he has set forth these duties
in the most encouraging language. He has pictured first the gift of
Divine power, and the precious promises of God, whereby men may be
helped to walk onward and upward; and when the labour is ended he has
pointed to the door of Christ's eternal kingdom, open to admit the
saint to His everlasting rest. Now he turns to describe the duty which
he feels to be laid upon himself, and faithful is he in the discharge
thereof. "Strengthen thy brethren," is constantly ringing in his ears.
_Wherefore_, he says, _I shall be ready always to put you in_
_remembrance of these things_. He dreads that taking hold of
forgetfulness--that λήθην λαβὼν--of which he has spoken
before, and against which constant diligence is needed. So far as in
him lies, the perilous condition shall come upon none of them. The
verb in the best texts expresses far more than that which is rendered
in the Authorised Version, "I will not be negligent." It implies a
sense of duty and the intention of fulfilling it; it bears within it,
too, the thought (which is strengthened by the word _always_) that
there may be need for such reminding, if not from internal weakness,
yet by reason of external dangers. And to bring to the mind of the
Churches the gracious bounty of God in Christ, and to set down the
steps whereby the graces bestowed should be fostered and increased, is
a subject worthy of an Apostle, a theme which no amount of exhortation
can exhaust, and one which ought to prompt the hearers to gratitude
and obedience.
_Though ye know them, and are established in the truth which is with
you._ Knowledge of things that pertain unto godliness is barren unless
it be wrought out in the life. Yet knowledge and practice do not
always go hand in hand. This was one of the lessons taught by Jesus as
He washed the disciples' feet: "If ye know these things, blessed are
ye if ye do them" (John xiii. 17). St. Peter longs that the converts
should make this blessedness their own. His life's work is to watch
for them, that they be not remiss in doing. To none can such a duty
more peculiarly belong than to him who holds Christ's special
commission to feed the flock. By "the truth which is with you" the
Apostle appears to be alluding to the varying degrees of advancement
which there must be among the members of the Churches. All have
travelled some way along the road which he has shown them; all have
some of the truth within their grasp. They have set their feet on the
path, though they be planted with different degrees of firmness. What
is needed for each and all is to press forward, not to rest in the
present, but to hasten to what lies beyond. For the truth of God is
inexhaustible.
Perhaps, too, he thought, as he spake of the truth present with them,
that he was of necessity absent and would soon be removed altogether,
and the only way by which he could serve them was by his epistle. He
could never forget that among those to whom he was writing were the
Galatians, over whose falling back from the truth St. Paul had so
greatly lamented: who had run well, but had fainted ere the course was
over; who had received some truth to be present with them, even the
faith of the crucified Jesus, but had been beguiled into letting it
slip. Thought of these things shapes his words as he writes, "I shall
be ready _always_ to put you in remembrance." He rejoices that they
are "established," but yet sends them an admonition. Let him that
thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
_And I think it right._ The word marks the solemn estimate which the
Apostle takes of his duty. It is a just and righteous work. Danger is
abroad, and he has been made one of Christ's shepherds. Many motives
prompt him to write his words of counsel and warning. First, his love
for them as his brethren, some of them, perhaps, his children in
Christ. Like St. Paul, he has them in his heart. Then, he will fulfil
to the utmost the charge which the Lord gave him. He is conscious,
too, that opportunities for the fulfilment of his trust will soon come
to an end. _As long as I am in this tabernacle_, he says. It is but a
frail home, the body; and with St. Peter age was drawing on. He saw
that the time of his departure could not be far off, and this left no
excuse for remitting his admonitions. He must be urgent so long as he
can. _To stir you up by putting you in remembrance._ The work of the
Apostle will be thoroughly done (διεγείρειν), and be of that
nature for which the Holy Ghost was promised to himself and his
fellows. "He shall bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you"
(John xiv. 26). Thus would St. Peter, like St. Paul, impart unto the
converts some spiritual gift, that he, with them, may be comforted,
strengthened, each by the other's faith. So he proceeds to dwell on
that Divine manifestation by which his own belief had been confirmed.
And there would be memories of St. Paul's lessons also to call to
their minds, and many of these would be awakened by an appeal like
this. The falling away of the Galatians had been from a different
cause, but the memory of the past would warn, and might strengthen,
them all in the future against their new dangers.
_Knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle cometh swiftly, even as
our Lord Jesus Christ signified unto me._ Such a motive makes the
appeal most touching. He will soon be removed. To this he looks
forward without alarm. His concern is for them, not for himself. He
regards his death as the stripping off of a dress: when its use is
past it is parted with without regret. To him, as to his brother
Apostle, to die would be gain. But he must have had constantly in mind
the Master's prophecy, "When thou art old, thou shalt stretch forth
thine hands, and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou
wouldest not" (John xxi. 18). And in the word "swiftly" he no doubt
alludes, not only to the old age in which the end would naturally
come, but also to some sharp stroke by which his departure would be
brought to pass. The stretching out of his hands would be a
preliminary to the prison and the cross. In the Gospel it is said that
Christ's words give the sign (σημάινων), the indication, by
what death he should die. The Apostle employs a stronger word (ἐδήλωσε)
here: "made it evident." The English version renders both
verbs by "signify," but St. Peter's own expression marks how growing
age had made clearer to him the manner in which his death should be
accomplished. And the mention of Jesus brings vividly before him the
thought of the scene he is about to describe, so vividly that some of
the language of the Transfiguration scene is reproduced by him.
_Yea, I will give diligence that at every time ye may be able after my
decease to call these things to remembrance._ Jesus is related (Luke
ix. 31) to have conversed with Moses and Elias of His decease
(ἔξοδος) which He should accomplish at Jerusalem. The word is rare
in this sense, being commonly used, as in Heb. xi. 22, of the
_departing_ of the children of Israel from Egypt. But it is deeply
printed in St. Peter's mind; and he, who looks forward to drinking of
his Master's cup and dying somewhere as He died, employs the same word
concerning his own end. And the word is another indication of the calm
with which he can look forward to his death. As with Christ, there is
no reluctance, no shrinking. The change will be but a departure, a
passing from one stage to another, the putting off the worn garment of
mortality to be clothed upon by the robe which is from heaven.
His letters are the only means whereby he can speak after he has been
taken from them. Hence his earnestness in writing. "I will give
diligence." I have urged diligence on you; I will apply the lesson to
myself, and make it possible that afterwards on every occasion you may
have it before you. When dead, he will yet speak to them; so that in
each new trial, in each time of need, they may strengthen their faith
or be warned of their danger. "At every time," he says; and thus his
strengthening words of admonition are a legacy through the ages to the
Church for evermore.
_For we did not follow cunningly devised fables._ Here the Apostle
speaks in the plural number, and it may well be that he means to
include St. Paul with himself and James and John. For the evidence
which converted that Apostle, though not the same as that vouchsafed
to St. Peter, was of the same kind. The Lord had appeared unto him in
the way, had made His glory seen and felt, and fixed for ever in the
Apostle's heart the reality of His power and presence. His cry, "Lord,
what wilt Thou have me to do?" came from a heart conquered and
convinced. He too followed no cunningly devised fable.
By the word (σεσοφισμένο) which is rendered "cunningly
devised" we are reminded of the (σοφία) wisdom which St.
Paul so earnestly disclaims in his first letter to the Corinthians. "I
came not with excellency of speech or of _wisdom_," he says; "my
preaching was not in persuasive words of _wisdom_, that your faith
should not stand in the _wisdom_ of men, but in the power of God." The
_wisdmom_ which he speaks is not of this world, but God's _wisdom_ in
a mystery (1 Cor. ii. 1-7). St. Paul also warns against giving "heed
to fables, which minister questionings rather than a dispensation of
God which is in faith" (1 Tim. i. 4; cf. also iv. 7 and 2 Tim. iv. 4).
In another place (Titus i. 14) he calls them "Jewish fables," a name
which is of the same import as the "Jewish vanities" of Ignatius,[13]
a name by which he intimates that they darken and confuse the mind.
The legends of the Talmud, the subtleties of the rabbinical teaching,
and the allegorising interpretations of Philo are the delusions to
which both the Apostles refer. The evidence on which they ask credence
for their teaching is of another kind. "That which was from the
beginning," is the testimony of another Apostle, "that which we heard,
that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our
hands handled, concerning the word of life, ... that declare we unto
you also, that ye also may have fellowship with us" (1 John i. 1-3).
St. Peter had seen, and so had St. Paul; and they constantly appealed
to, and rested their teaching on, facts and the historic reality of
Christ's life and work.
[13] _Ep. ad Magn. 8._
_When we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ._ This is the contrast to that mythic and allegorical teaching
to which he has just alluded. From it men could derive neither help in
the present, nor hope for the future. It generated superstition, and
its followers believed a lie. Often it denied the continuity of
revelation, and cast aside all the records thereof. Like theosophic
dreams in every age, it was always unprofitable, nearly always
pernicious. On the other hand, the teaching of Christ's Apostles
proclaimed a power which could save men from their sins, and imparted
a hope that stretched out beyond the present, looking for the time
when the Lord would reappear. All power is given unto Christ. He is
made Redeemer and Lord, and is to be at last the Judge of men. The
assurance of His coming had been proclaimed by St. Peter in his former
letter as a consolation under affliction. Faith, tried by suffering,
will be found unto praise, and glory, and honour at the revelation of
Jesus Christ (1 Peter i. 7). This is the climax of the glad tidings of
the Gospel. But Christ comes to His people through all the days; and
they are conscious of His coming, and inspired thereby and enabled for
their work.
_But we were eye-witnesses of His majesty._ He has already (1 Peter
iii. 22) spoken of the fact of Christ's ascension; he is now about to
describe what was seen on the holy mount. These things are facts and
verities, and not fables. But yet there was more revealed in them than
either eye could grasp, or tongue could tell. They were God's truth in
a mystery, which supplied new thought for a whole life-time. So for
"eye-witnesses" the Apostle uses a word akin to that which twice over
he employs in the former Epistle (ii. 12; iii. 2) to describe the
effect which Christian lives, when fully scanned, shall have upon the
unbeliever. They shall have power to stop the mouths of opponents and
to win them to the faith which before they maligned. Such deep insight
into the power, and work, and glory of Jesus was imparted to the
Apostles at the Transfiguration. They were initiated into the wisdom
of God, and henceforth became prophets of the Incarnation; they were
convinced that the Jesus with whom they companied was very God
manifest in the flesh. The voice from heaven proclaimed it; it was
attested by the glorified presence of Moses and Elijah, and by the
majesty which for a moment broke through the veil of Christ's flesh.
Later on they saw Him risen from the dead, beheld His ascension into
glory, and heard from the angels the promise of His return. Not
without much meaning does the Apostle use a special pronoun
(ἐκείνου) as he dwells on this scene of His majesty. For he would
impress on his converts the identity of that Jesus whom he had known
in the flesh with the very Son of God sent down from heaven.
_For He received from God the Father honour and glory._ For the bright
cloud which overshadowed them on the mountain-top was the visible
token of the presence of God, as of old the cloud of glory had been,
where God dwelt above the cherubim; while the honour and glory of
Jesus were manifested when He was proclaimed to be the very Son of
God. _When there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory,
This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased._ To express the
magnificence of the glory which he beheld, the Apostle uses a word not
found elsewhere in the New Testament. The Septuagint has it to
describe the splendour of Jeshurun's God, who rideth in His
_excellency_ on the skies (Deut. xxxiii. 26). And it is this outward
brightness of the shroud of the Godhead which tells all that human
powers can receive of the majesty which it hides, just as His palace,
the heavens, declares constantly the glory of God.
The words spoken by the heavenly voice vary here from the records of
each of the three Gospels. In one case the variation is slight, but
there is no precise agreement. Had the Epistle been the work of some
forger of a later age than St. Peter's, we may rest assured that there
would have been complete accord with one Evangelist or the other.
There is a like diversity in the records of the words of the
inscription above Christ's cross. Substantial truth, not verbal
preciseness, is what the Evangelists sought to leave to the Church;
and their fidelity is proved by nothing more powerfully than by the
diverse features of the Gospel narratives.
_And this voice we ourselves heard come out of heaven, when we were
with Him in the holy mount._ We learn here why the Apostles were taken
with Jesus to witness His transfiguration. Just before that event we
find (Matt. xvi. 21; Mark viii. 31; Luke ix. 22) it recorded by each
of the Synoptists that Jesus had begun to show unto His disciples how
He must suffer and die at Jerusalem. To Peter, who, as at other times,
was the mouthpiece of the rest, such a declaration was unacceptable;
but at his expression of displeasure he met the rebuke, "Get thee
behind Me, Satan." He, and the rest with him, felt no doubt that such
a death as Jesus had spoken of would be, humanly speaking, the ruin of
their hopes. What these hopes were they did not formulate, but we can
learn their character from some of their questionings. Now, on the top
of Tabor, these three representatives of the apostolic band behold
Moses and Elias appearing in glory, and Christ glorified more than
they; and the subject of which they spake was the very death of which
they had so disliked to hear: the decease which He was about to
accomplish (πληροῦν) in Jerusalem (Luke ix. 31). The verb
which the Evangelist uses tells of the fulfilment of a prescribed
course, and thus St. Peter was taught, and the rest with him, to speak
of that death afterwards as he does in his former letter. "Christ was
verily foreordained" to this redeeming work "before the foundation of
the world." They heard that He who was to die was the very Son of God.
The voice came from the glory of heaven; and from henceforth their
hearts were still, even Peter's voice being less heard than before.
Down from the mountain they brought much illumination, much solemn
pondering. We can feel why it was that "they held their peace, and
told no man in those days any of the things which they had seen"; we
can feel, too, that from henceforth the scene of this vision would be
the holy mount. God's voice had been heard there attesting the
Divinity of their Lord and Master; the place whereon they had thus
stood was for evermore holy ground.
XXII
_THE LAMP SHINING IN A DARK PLACE_
"And we have the word of prophecy _made_ more sure; whereunto ye
do well that ye take heed, as unto a lamp shining in a dark
place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts:
knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private
interpretation. For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but
men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Ghost."--2 PETER i.
19-21.
The rendering of the first words in this passage must be reckoned
among the distinct improvements of the Revised Version. As the
translation stands in the Authorised Version, "We have also a more
sure word of prophecy," it conveys a sense which many must have found
perplexing. The Apostle had just dwelt on the confirmation of faith,
both for himself and those to whom he preached, which was ministered
by the vision of the glory of Jesus and by the proclamation of His
Divinity by God's voice from heaven. Could any prophetic message vie
in his estimate with the assurance of such a revelation? Now what St.
Peter meant is made clear. _And we have the word of prophecy made more
sure_--more sure because we have received the confirmation of all that
the prophets spake dimly and in figure. The Apostle and the rest of
the Jewish people had been trained in the ancient Scriptures, and
gathered from them, some more and some less, light concerning God's
scheme of salvation. There were, however, but few who had attained a
true insight into what was revealed. They had dwelt, as a rule, too
exclusively on all that spake of the glory of the promised Redeemer
and of His coming to reign and to conquer. That there should be
suffering in His life, they had put out of sight, though the prophets
had foretold it; and so when Christ spake of His crucifixion, soon to
come to pass in Jerusalem, St. Peter exclaimed--and he had the
feelings of his nation with him--"That be far from Thee." The voice on
the holy mount and the words of Moses and Elias had opened their eyes
to the full drift of prophetic revelation; and by the illumination of
that scene of glory, where yet the lot of suffering was contemplated
as near at hand, there had been given to them a grasp of the whole
scope of prophecy, and their partial and distorted conception of the
work of Christ was banished for ever.
_Whereunto ye do well that ye take heed._ The idea of a volume of New
Testament Scriptures had not entered St. Peter's mind. He knows that
St. Paul's letters (iii. 15, 16) are read by some, who do not all
profit by the privilege; and his own letters he intends to be an
abiding admonition to the Churches. The need, too, of a record of
Christ's life and works, a gospel, must have begun to be felt. But yet
he points the converts to the ancient records of Israel as a guide to
direct their lives. They had heard the Gospel story from the lips of
himself and others. Thus they had the key to unlock what hitherto had
seemed hard to understand, and could study their prophetic volume with
a new and perfect light. This he means by "ye do well." Ye go to the
true source of guidance, drink of the fountain of true wisdom, and
gain strength and refreshment when it is much needed. Duly to take
heed of these records is to search out their lessons and labour after
that deeper sense which is enshrined beneath the word. Given as they
were at various times and in various fashions, and given to point on
to God's purposes in the future, these Scriptures must needs have been
dark to those who first received them, nor could the men whom God
chose to deliver them have been fully conscious of all they were meant
to declare as the ages rolled on and brought their fulfilment nearer.
Nor are they all luminous even yet, but they grow ever more so to
those who take heed.
_As unto a lamp shining in a dark place._ Spite of all the light we
can compass, the world will always be in one sense a dark place. It is
a world of beauty, full of the tokens of God's handiwork, the
indications of His love. But evil has also made an entrance; and the
trail of the serpent is evident in the sorrow, the disease, the
wickedness, that abound on every side. And problems continually
present themselves which even to the saints are hard to be solved.
Many a psalm records the conflict which has to be passed through ere
God's ways can be reconciled to men. We must go into His house, draw
near to Him, feel to the full His Fatherhood, ere our hearts can be
contented. Nay, the disquiet breaks out again and again. So God, in
His mercy, has provided His lamp for those who will use it; and to
those who take heed it furnishes ever new light. The history, the
prophecy, the devotion, the allegory, of the holy volume are all full
of illustrations of the firm purpose of redemption, of the eternal,
unchanging love of Jehovah, thwarted only by the perverseness of those
whom He is longing to save from their sins. And to call God's
revelation in His word a lamp is a striking and instructive figure.
It is something which you can take with you, and carry into the dark
places whither your lot may send you, and use its light just where and
when you need it. But its light must be fed by the constant oil of
diligent study, or its usefulness will not be found to the full.
And the truth is the same if we apply the lesson to nations and
Churches as it is for individuals. The records were given to a nation
chosen to keep the knowledge of God alive in the world. The word
spoken did not profit, as it was meant to do, because it was not mixed
with faith in them that heard it. And there is the same faith needed
still. The light of a lamp in a dark place shines but a little way;
but by the rays of the Divine lamp men are to walk, in faith that the
steps beyond will become clear in their turn. And thus alone will the
problems of life be really solved, the religious contentions, the
social difficulties, the trials of family life, the individual doubts
and fears: all are elements of darkness; all need to be illumined by
the lamp which God has provided. Oh that men would burnish it by
diligent heed, and keep its radiance at the full by constant seeking
thereunto!
_Until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts._ The day
has begun to dawn for those who will lift up their heads to its
breaking. The day-star from on high hath visited the earth in the
person of Christ, but the full day will not be till He returns again.
Yet His coming into the world was meant to lighten every man, and to
win all men to walk in His light. "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all
men unto Me," is His own promise. And in that decease of which He
spake with Moses and Elijah He has been lifted up. But He has left it
to them that love Him to lift Him up constantly before the eyes of
men, to exalt Him by their lives; and our lax performances make the
progress of His _drawing all men_, to halt. We fail to make due use of
the lamp which He has put ready to our hand, and which only needs to
be grasped. The perfect day will not come to us in this life, but He
gives to His faithful ones glimpses of the dawn. They learn the
presence of the Sun of righteousness, though as yet they see Him only
through the mists and darkness of life; and they are cheered with the
certainty of the coming day. And the daystar of the Spirit is kindled
in the hearts of those who ask Him to dwell there; and they are led
forward into greater and greater truth, into richer and fuller light.
And for the same end the Spirit is promised to the Church of Christ:
that she may be enabled having used the lamp first given with all
faithfulness, to open to men the ways of God more fully, and, amid the
changes of times and varying vicissitudes and needs of men and
nations, to prove that the only satisfaction to the soul is the
increasing knowledge of the oneness of God's purpose and eternity of
His love. To such a power she will be helped by giving heed to the
lamp in every dark place and seeking in its light the elucidation of
all hard questions.
_Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private
interpretation._ The Greek words need to be taken account of before we
can gather the true meaning of this clause. That which is translated
"is" is much more frequently rendered "comes to pass," and bears the
sense of "arises," "has its origin." "Interpretation" is the
translation of a word which occurs here only in the New Testament, and
implies the "loosing" of what is complicated, the "clearing" of what
is obscure. The lesson which the Apostle would give relates to the
right appreciation of the Old Testament Scriptures, which contain the
prophecy which he has called above "the lamp in a dark place." He
intends to say something which may incline men to follow its guidance.
The prophetic writings furnish us with illustrations how the problems
which arose in the lives of the men of old time, both about events
around them and also about the dispensations of Divine providence,
found their solution. Thus they furnish rules and principles for time
to come; and that men may be induced to confide in their guidance is
the object of St. Peter's words. He bids the converts know that these
unravellings and clearings of the ways of God are not men's private
interpretation of what they beheld. This was not the manner in which
they came to be known. They are not evolved out of human
consciousness, pondering on the facts of life and the ways of God, nor
are they the individual exposition of those whom God employed as His
prophets. They are messages and lessons which came from one and the
same impelling power, from one and the same illuminating influence,
even from God Himself, and so are uniform in spirit and teaching from
first to last; and He from whom and through whom they are given can
say by the mouth of the last of the prophetic body, "I am Jehovah; I
change not" (Mal. iii. 6).
Although the Apostle uses in this Epistle the word "Scriptures" (iii.
16) for the writings of New Testament teachers, it is not likely that
he in mind included them among the prophetic Scriptures of which he
here speaks. We, knowing the flood of light which the Gospels and
Epistles pour upon the Old Testament, can now apply his words to them,
fully perceiving that they are a true continuation of the Divine
enlightenment, another spring from the same heavenly fountain.
Those who would explain "interpretation" as the judgement which men
now exercise in the study and application of the words of Scripture
forget the force of the verb (γίνεται) "comes to pass," and
that the Apostle is exalting the source and origin of the words of
prophecy, that he may the more enforce his lesson, "Ye do well to take
heed to them."
_For no prophecy ever came by the will of man._ Prophecy makes known
what never could have entered into the mind or understanding of men,
nor were the prophetic words that have come down to us written because
men wished to publish views and imaginations of their own. Man is not
the source of prophecy. That lay above and beyond the human penmen.
Nay, men could not, had they so willed, have spoken of the things
there written for the enlightenment of the ages. These are deep
things, belonging to the foreknowledge of God alone, by whom His Son
was foreknown as the Lamb without spot before the foundation of the
world. Of this the book of prophecy tells from first to last: of the
seed of the woman to bruise the serpent's head; of the family from
which a seed should come in whom all the earth should be blessed; of
the rod to spring from the stem of Jesse; of the king who was to rule
in righteousness; of the time when the kingdom of the Lord's house
should be established on the top of the mountains, and all nations
should flow into it; of the day when all men should know the Lord from
the least to the greatest, when the earth should be full of the
knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Such tidings came
not into the thoughts of men except as they were put there from the
Lord; and they tell of things yet to come that are beyond the grasp of
men unless they be spiritually-minded and enlightened. For not only
are the prophetic Scriptures God's special gift: the insight into
their full meaning comes also from Him. Beyond the physical sense it
is true, "The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord is the Maker of
them both" (Prov. xx. 12).
_But men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Ghost._ The
Authorised Version translates a text which had, "_Holy_ men of God
spake as they were moved by the _Holy_ Ghost." And this repetition of
an adjective is after St. Peter's manner, though the oldest
manuscripts do not support it here. Compare the thrice-repeated
"righteous" in the notice of Lot in the next chapter (ii. 7, 8). And
the Authorised Version describes most truly the agents whom God
chooses. He will have none but holy men to be the heralds of His
truth. A Caiaphas may be constrained to utter His counsels, but as His
prophets God takes the holy among men. These can grasp more of His
teaching, and we receive more than we should through other channels.
By their zeal for holiness they are brought nearer unto God, and made
more receptive of the teaching of the Spirit, who Himself is holy. But
"men spake from God" conveys a true idea of prophecy. Even one who was
not holy could feel that the power given to him was not his own, nor
could he speak after his own will. "What the Lord saith unto me, that
must I speak," was the confession of Balaam, though his greed for gain
prompted him to the opposite. And there are many expressions in the
Old Testament which bear witness to the effective operation of God's
power, as when we read of the Spirit of the Lord coming mightily upon
those whom He had chosen to do His bidding. And the same lesson is to
be found in St. Peter's words here. "Being moved" is literally "being
carried." An impulse was given to them, and a power which was above
their own. This is betokened, too, when the Old Testament prophets
tell how the Spirit of the Lord carried them to this place or that,
where a revelation was to be imparted which they should publish in His
name. Thus were they moved by the Holy Ghost, and thus were they able
to speak from God.
Such is St. Peter's lesson on the nature and office of prophecy. It is
an illumination to which men could not have attained by any wisdom of
their own, nay could not have framed the wish to attain unto it. For
it lay hid among God's mysteries. It is imparted from the holy God to
holy men, as His mediators to the less spiritual in the world; it has
received abundant confirmation through the incarnation of the Son of
God, but yet it has many a lesson for mankind to ponder and seek to
comprehend. It is their wisdom who follow its guidance and bear it
with them as a lamp amid the dispensations of Providence, which still
are not all clear, and amid the darkness which will often surround
them while they live here. That men may be prompted to its use, God is
a God that hideth Himself, yet through it He will lead those who
follow its light along the road to immortality.
XXIII
_THE LORD KNOWETH HOW TO DELIVER_
"But there arose false prophets also among the people, as among
you also there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring
in destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought
them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall
follow their lascivious doings; by reason of whom the way of the
truth shall be evil spoken of. And in covetousness shall they
with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose sentence now
from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not.
For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down
to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved
unto judgement; and spared not the ancient world, but preserved
Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when He
brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and turning the
cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an
overthrow, having made them an example unto those that should
live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, sore distressed by the
lascivious life of the wicked (for that righteous man dwelling
among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed _his_ righteous soul
from day to day with _their_ lawless deeds): the Lord knoweth how
to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the
unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgement."--2 PETER
ii. 1-9.
This second chapter contains much more of a direct description of the
heretical teaching and practices from which the converts were in
danger, and is full of warning and comfort, both alike drawn from that
Old Testament prophecy to the light of which St. Peter has just been
urging them to take heed. The chapter has many features and much of
its language in common with the Epistle of St. Jude. But the opening
of the chapter seems a suitable place to call attention to a
difference of motive which is manifested in this Epistle and in that.
They resemble one another greatly in the illustrations which they have
in common, but St. Peter makes a twofold use of them: while showing
that the ungodly will assuredly be punished, he comforts the righteous
with the lesson that, be they ever so few, even as the eight who were
saved at the Deluge, or as Lot, with his diminished family, at the
overthrow of Sodom, the Lord knows how to deliver His servants out of
trials. Of this latter side of the prophetic picture St. Jude shows us
nothing. The evil-doings of the tempters must have waxed grosser in
his day, and he is only concerned to preach the certainty of their
condemnation. The unbelievers in the wilderness, the angels who
sinned, the Cities of the Plain, the error of Balaam, and the
overthrow of Korah are all cited in proof that the wicked shall not
escape; but he has no word about the deliverance of those whose souls
are tortured by the wicked doings of the sinners among whom it is
their lot to live.
_But there arose false prophets also among the people, as among you
also there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in
destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them,
bringing upon themselves swift destruction._ It is as though the
Apostle would say, Be not unduly dismayed. The lamp of Old Testament
prophecy shows that yours is a lot which has befallen others. As
Israel of old was God's people, so the Church of Christ is now. And
among them again and again false prophets arose, not only those of
Baal and Asherah, not only those who served the calves at Dan and
Bethel, but those who called themselves by Jehovah's name, and of
whom He says to Jeremiah, "The prophets prophesy lies in My name; I
sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake I unto
them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a
thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart" (Jer. xiv. 14). The
picture is exactly repeated for these Asian Churches. False teaching
had attached itself to the true, used its language, and professed to
be at one with it, except in so far as it was superior. For the
history of corruptions in the faith repeats itself, and--
"Wherever God erects a house of prayer,
The devil always builds a chapel there."
It is the most perilous aspect of error when it parades itself as the
truest truth. Hence the name by which St. Peter calls this dangerous
teaching: "destructive heresies." They beguile unstable souls to their
ruin. Their exponents choose the name of Christ to call themselves by,
but cast aside the doctrine of the Cross both in its discipline for
their lives, and as the altar of human redemption. And the men to whom
St. Peter alludes were either among the teachers, or put themselves
forward to teach; and there was a danger lest their authority should
be recognised. They accepted Christ, but not as He loves to be
accepted. He has called Himself Lord and Master, and has paid the
price which makes Him so; but by their interpretations both of His
nature and His office these men in very deed renounced and deserted
His service, ignored their relation as His bondservants, and in this
way denied the Master that bought them. Soon they chose other masters
and became the slaves of the world and the flesh. Thus they entered on
the path that leads to destruction, and soon it will come upon them.
They who destroyed others shall themselves be destroyed. The lords
whom they serve have all their empire in this life; and when the end
thereof comes, it comes all too soon, and is a dread overthrow of
everything they have set store by. On their lot the lamp of prophecy
sheds its light: "How suddenly do they perish and come to a fearful
end."
_And many shall follow their lascivious doings; by reason of whom the
way of the truth shall be evil spoken of._ St. Jude, who had seen the
results of such teaching, says these men turned the very grace of God
into lasciviousness; they perverted the teachings of the Gospel
concerning the freedom which is in Christ, and their phraseology they
made to have a Pauline ring about it. Did he not teach how Christ had
made men free? Had they not heard from him that men should cast off
trust in the bondage of the Law? In this wise they taught a doctrine
of lawless self-indulgence, which they extolled as the token of entire
emancipation and of a loftier nature on which the taint of sins could
leave no defilement. In the blindness of their hearts, self-chosen
blindness, of which they boasted as knowledge, they gave themselves
over to the flesh, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
St. Peter knows that baits of this sort appeal to the natural man;
that there is within the citadel of the heart a traitorous weakness
which is ready to betray it to the enemy. So, with prophetic
foresight, he laments, Many shall follow after them. And such sinners
do not sin unto themselves: their falling away brings calamity on the
whole Church of Christ. It did so then; it does so still. The faithful
cannot escape from the obloquy which is due to the faithless; and the
world, which cares little for Christ, will readily point to the evil
lives which it sees in the renegade brethren, and draw the conclusion
that in secret the rest run to the same excess of riot. Evil-speaking
of this kind became abundantly common in the first Christian
centuries, and furnishes the object of many Christian apologies.
_And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of
you._ St. Paul in writing to Timothy gives a comment which throws much
light on these words. He tells of men who consent not to sound words,
even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, thus denying the Master that
bought them. He speaks of them as bereft of the truth, supposing that
godliness is a way of gain; and he adds, "They that desire to be rich
fall into a temptation and a snare, and many foolish and hurtful
lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of
money is a root of all kinds of evil, which some reaching after have
been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through
with many sorrows" (1 Tim. vi. 3-10). From the first days of the
Church's history we see, from the instances of Ananias and Sapphira,
and of Simon, with his offer of money to the Apostles, that both among
the disciples and the would-be teachers covetousness made itself very
apparent. The communistic basis on which the society was constituted
lent itself to the schemes of those who desired to make a gain of
their Christian profession. In the time when St. Peter wrote the evil
had spread. Teachers were discovering that, by a modification or
adaptation of the Christian language and doctrines, they could draw
after them many followers. These were the feigned words to which the
Apostle alludes, and the contributions of their satisfied hearers
were proving a gainful merchandise. The Gnostic teachers were of
various sorts, but of all alike the language was boastful as coming of
superior insight; great, swelling words they spake, having men's
persons in regard because of the prospects of advantage. The evil was
a sore one, and is so wherever it finds entry. And later ages have
also known somewhat of its mischief. It is the wisdom of all Christian
communities so to order themselves that their teachers and guides may
be safe from this temptation. For such teachers do not stop at small
beginnings of error, but prophesy smooth things, and close their eyes
at evil; nay, in this case they seem to have encouraged sensual
living, as though it were an indication of the freedom of which they
boasted.
_Whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction
slumbereth not._ In thought the Apostle reads the book of prophecy. It
is as if he said, "It is written in the prophetic word." And when the
overthrow of the sinners comes to pass, those who behold it may say,
"Thus is the prophecy fulfilled." The doom of such sinners is sure.
They may seem to live their lives with impunity for a while, as though
God's eternal law were inoperative; but the issue is certain. None
such escape. God's mills grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small.
And the lot of such men is destruction. Of illustrations the Apostle
chooses three, applying each to a different vice of these teachers of
error. These men were proud; so were the angels that sinned, but their
pride was only a prelude to their fall. These men were disobedient; so
were the antediluvian sinners, and would neither hearken nor turn, and
so the Flood came and swept them all away. These men were sensual; so
were the dwellers in the Cities of the Plain, and their overthrow
remains still a memorial of God's wrath against such sinners. Verily
the sentence of all such men is written from of old.
_For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to
hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto
judgement._ To each of the three instances which St. Peter adduces the
reader is left to supply the unmistakable conclusion, "Neither will He
spare the sinners of to-day." The sentences are all the more solemn
from their incompleteness. Some have thought that the reference in
this verse is to the narrative found in Gen. vi. 3; but that account
is very full of difficulties, and there is no mention of a judgement
upon those who offended. It seems more sound exposition to take the
Apostle's words as spoken of him concerning whom Christ has told us
(John viii. 44) that he was a murderer from the beginning and stood
not in the truth, and of the condemnation of whose pride St. Paul
speaks to Timothy (1 Tim. iii. 6). For him and for his fellow-sinners
the Gospel teaches us (Matt. xxv. 41) that eternal fire was prepared,
and an apostle (James ii. 19) says that "the devils believe and
shudder," it must be in apprehension of a coming judgement. All that
St. Peter here says is implied in these Scriptural allusions to Satan
and his fall; and it is more prudent to apply to them the highly
figurative language of the Apostle here, which is exactly after his
manner, than to seek for fanciful interpretations of the Mosaic story.
We may rest assured by the way in which these things are spoken of,
though but dimly, by Christ and His Apostles, that they formed a
portion of Jewish religious teaching and constituted part of the faith
of St. Peter and his contemporaries, though there is but little
mention of the fallen angels in the Old Testament.
_And spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven
others, a preacher of righteousness, when He brought a flood upon the
world of the ungodly._ Here the Apostle points to a consolation for
the converts amid their trials. The ungodly do not escape, be their
multitude ever so great. A world full of sinners is involved in one
common overthrow. Nor are the righteous forgotten, though their number
be but few. The lamp of prophecy sheds much light here. Amid all God's
dispensations toward Israel, His faithful ones were the remnant only;
but these were saved by the grace of the Lord, they were brought out
from the destruction, and not forsaken, and had a promise that they
should take root downward and bear fruit upward. The words in which
St. Peter describes the chief person of the few saved in the Deluge
appear intended to point out that feature in Noah's history which most
resembled the lot of the Asian Churches. They were now, as he was of
old, God's heralds in the midst of a naughty world; and to bring to
their minds the thought of his long-sustained opposition and mockery
could hardly fail to nerve them to stand fast. What lot could be more
desperate than the Patriarch's? For a hundred and twenty years by
action and by word he published his message, and it fell on deaf ears;
yet God was guarding him (ἐφύλαξεν) through it all, and
words could not express more complete safety than when the early
record tells us, ere the Flood came, "The Lord shut him in."
_And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned
them with an overthrow, having made them an example unto those that
should live ungodly._ These cities stood in a land fair enough to be
likened to the garden of the Lord. To Lot himself their fertile fields
had been a temptation, and by yielding thereto he brought on himself a
plenitude of sorrow; and the sacred record counts his deliverance
rather to the faith and righteousness of Abraham than to himself. God
remembered Abraham, and brought Lot out of the overthrow. One of the
fairest parts of His world God condemned for the wickedness of them
that inhabited it. Nature was defaced for man's sin, and still lies
desolate as a perpetual homily against such ungodly living as often
comes of wealth and fulness of bread. After such a state were these
false teachers seeking while they made their gain of their disciples;
and in the later times of which St. Jude speaks, having fostered all
that was carnal within and around them, in those things which they
understood naturally, there they cast themselves away.
_And delivered righteous Lot, sore distressed by the lascivious life
of the wicked (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing
and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their
lawless deeds)._ The thrice-named righteousness of Lot is perhaps thus
set down because of the struggle which it must have been to maintain
the fear of Abraham's God among such sinful surroundings. Lot was in
the land of the enemy, and his deliverance is pictured as a very
rescue: he was saved, yet so as by fire. He had gone down into the
plain with thoughts of a life of abundance, and it may be of ease, a
contrast to the wandering life which he had hitherto shared with
Abraham. Instead of this he found anguish and distress of mind, which
no amount of temporal prosperity could alleviate; and to this would be
added self-reproach. It was of his own choice that he was dwelling
among them. The Apostle paints his misery in the strongest terms. He
was distressed; and of the sights and sounds on every side, and never
ceasing, he made a torture to his soul. It was no mere offence to him
that these things were so: it was very anguish to see men setting at
defiance every law human and Divine. To behold the evils of a
lascivious life waxing rampant in the midst of the Christian Churches,
and countenanced by those who assumed the office of teachers, must
have been an agony to the faithful akin to that with which Lot
tortured himself. St. Peter would strengthen the drooping hearts of
the brethren; and no greater comfort could there be found than this
which he offers, taking the lamp of prophecy and shedding its rays of
hope into the dark places of their lives.
_The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation._ Already
he has given the lesson (i. 6) that true godliness must have its root
in patience. It is a perfect trust, which rests securely on the
Father's love, and willingly waits His time. The hearts of the
faithful ones must have found solace in the thought which he here
joins to his former teaching. The trials they endure are grievous, but
"The Lord knows" is an unfailing support. The floods of ungodliness
make His servants many a time afraid; but when they feel that there,
as amid the raging ocean, the Lord ruleth, they are not overwhelmed.
They are protected by Omnipotence; and the tiny grains of sand, which
check the fierce tide, are an emblem of how out of weakness He can
ordain strength. Hence there comes a knowledge to the struggling saint
which makes him full of courage, whatever trials threaten. The world
has its wrathful Nebuchadnezzars, whose threats at times are as a
fiery furnace; but he is proof against them all who can say and feel,
"The Lord knows." I am not careful nor disturbed; my God, in whom I
trust, is able to deliver me, and He will deliver me. The Lord knoweth
the way of the godly, and His knowledge means safety and eternal
deliverance.
_And to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of
judgement._ The unrighteous--yes, over them too God keeps ward. They
cannot hide themselves from Him, and through their conscience He makes
life a continuous chastisement. They may seem to men to walk on
heedlessly, but they have hidden tortures of which their fellows can
take no count. Even the offender against human laws, who dreads that
his sin will be found out, carries in his bosom a constant scourge.
Fear hath torment (κόλασιν ἔχει), and this it is of which
the Apostle speaks. And if the dread of man's judgement can work
terror, how much sorer must their alarm be who have the fiery
indignation of the wrath of God in their thoughts and stinging their
soul. Such men are kept all their life long under punishment. Yet in
this constant anguish we trace God's mercy: He sends it that men may
turn in time. His blows on the sinful heart are meant to be remedial;
and those who disregard His chastisements to the last will go away,
self-condemned, self-destroyed, despisers of Divine love, to a doom
prepared, not for them, but for the devil and his angels.
XXIV
"_BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL KNOW THEM_"
"But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of
defilement, and despise dominion. Daring, self-willed, they
tremble not to rail at dignities: whereas angels, though greater
in might and power, bring not a railing judgement against them
before the Lord. But these, as creatures without reason, born
mere animals to be taken and destroyed, railing in matters
whereof they are ignorant, shall in their destroying surely be
destroyed, suffering wrong as the hire of wrong-doing; _men_ that
count it pleasure to revel in the daytime, spots and blemishes,
revelling in their lovefeasts while they feast with you; having
eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; enticing
unsteadfast souls; having a heart exercised in covetousness;
children of cursing; forsaking the right way, they went astray
having followed the way of Balaam the _son_ of Beor, who loved
the hire of wrong-doing; but he was rebuked for his own
transgression: a dumb ass spake with man's voice and stayed the
madness of the prophet."--2 PETER ii. 10-16.
The Apostle now pictures in the darkest colours the evil-doing and
evil character of those who are bringing into the Churches their
"sects of perdition," those wolves in sheep's clothing who are mixing
themselves, and are likely to make havoc, among the flock of Christ.
He hopes that thus the brethren, being forewarned, will also be
forearmed. And not only does he describe these bold offenders: he also
reiterates in many forms the certainty of their evil fate. They aim at
destroying others, and shall themselves meet destruction; their
wrong-doing shall bring a recompense in kind upon their own heads.
They are a curse among the people, but the curse will also fall on
themselves; they are agents of ruin, and shall perish in the overthrow
which they are devising.
_But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement,
and despise dominion._ These chiefly--that is, above other
sinners--does God keep under punishment. It cannot be otherwise, for
on them His chastisements have little effect. They have entered on a
road from which return is rare, neither do they take hold on the paths
of life; their whole bent is for that which defileth, not only
defiling them, but spreading defilement on every side. They are
renegades, too, from the service of Christ; and having cast off their
allegiance to Him, they make their lust their law. The verse describes
the same character in two aspects: those who walk after the flesh
follow no prompting but appetite, have no lord but self.
_Daring, self-willed, they tremble not to rail at dignities._ The
Apostle passes on to describe another and more terrible manifestation
of the lawlessness of these false teachers. They have so sunk
themselves in the grossness of material self-indulgence that they
revile and set at nought the spiritual world and the powers that exist
therein. In the term "dignities" the Apostle's thoughts are of the
angels, against whom these sinners scruple not to utter their
blasphemies. The good angels, the messengers from heaven to earth, the
ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs
of salvation, they are bold to deny; while concerning the evil angels,
to whose temptations they have surrendered themselves, they scoff,
representing their lives as free and self-chosen, and at their own
disposal. The two terms "daring," "self-willed," seem to point
respectively to these two forms of blasphemy. They tremble not, they
dare to deny the existence of the good, and they shrink not to mock at
the influence of the powers of evil. Thus in mind and thought they are
as debased as in their bodies, and by their lessons they corrupt as
much as by their acts.
_Whereas angels, though greater in might and power, bring not a
railing judgement against them before the Lord._ The explanation of
this passage is not without difficulty, because of the indefiniteness
of the words "against them." To whom is reference here made? It can
hardly be questioned that by δόξαι, "dignities," literally
"glories," in the previous verse the Apostle meant angels, the
dignities of the spirit-world, in contradistinction to κυριότης,
"dominion," in which he before referred to those earthly
authorities whom these false teachers set at nought. The verbs used in
the two clauses support this view. The dominion they venture to
despise, at the dignities they rail, whereas they ought to be afraid
of them. Now even to the fallen angels there attaches a dignity by
reason of their first estate. In the New Testament the chief of them
is called by Christ Himself the "prince of this world" (John xiv. 30),
and by St. Paul "the prince of the power of the air" (Eph. ii. 2); and
he has a sovereignty over those who shared his rebellion and his fall.
Having described the railing of the false teachers in the previous
verse as directed alike against the evil angels and the good, it seems
preferable here to take "against them" as applying to the evil angels.
Even against them, though they must be conscious of their sin and
rebellion against God, the good angels, who still abide in the
presence of the Lord, bring no railing judgement, utter no reproach or
upbraiding.
There may have been in St. Peter's thought that solemn scene depicted
in Zech. iii., where, in the presence of the angel of the Lord, that
highest angel who is Jehovah's special representative, Joshua the
high-priest appears, and at his right hand Satan standing to be his
adversary, and to charge him, and the nation through him, with their
remissness in the work of the restoration of God's temple. There the
angel of the Lord, full of mercy, as Satan was full of hate, checked
the adversary's accusation, saying, "The Lord rebuke thee, Satan." The
same application of the words "against them" is suggested by the
apocryphal illustration in St. Jude (ver. 9), where in the contention
about the body of Moses no greater rebuke is administered to the devil
by the archangel Michael.
This exposition does not remove all difficulty. For as the angels in
the verse appear to be spoken of as superior in might and power to
these corrupt teachers, it seems natural at first sight to refer to
them the indefinite expression, and to explain that the angels, though
they be so exalted, bring no railing judgement before God against
these teachers and their evil doings. But from what Scripture tells us
of the angels, it is not easy to understand how or why they should
bring such a judgement. Nowhere is such an office assigned to, or
exercised by, these spiritual beings, nor are we anywhere told that
the observance of the deeds of the wicked is in their province. They
rejoice over one sinner that repenteth; they stand in God's presence
as the representatives of spotless innocence; they are sent forth by
God as His messengers of judgement and of love; but we never find them
as accusers of the wicked. That office Satan has taken for his own.
But the words which the Apostle uses seem hardly to make it necessary
that the comparison should be between angels and these teachers of
destruction. In the passage of Zechariah which we judge to have been
in St. Peter's mind when he wrote, the angel is that mightiest spirit
among the angelic host who is identified in the language of the
prophet with Jehovah Himself; and the angel in St. Jude's illustration
is the archangel Michael. Conceiving that by "angels" St. Peter
intends these chief members of the celestial powers, the sentence may
be taken to mean that the most glorious beings among the angelic
throng, those who are greater in might and power than the "dignities"
of whom he has spoken, bring no railing judgement even against the
fallen angels, whereas these men presume to blaspheme beings of an
order far above themselves. Such a conception of subordination in the
spirit-world as is here suggested is not foreign to New Testament
thought. St. Paul speaks of the angels in heaven as representing
"principality, power, might, and dominion" (Eph. i. 21); and in the
same Epistle the evil angels are mentioned in like terms: "the
principalities, the powers, the world-rulers of this darkness" (vi.
12). Similar language is found also in Col. i. 16. Taking this view of
St. Peter's meaning, the daring and presumption of these false
teachers are set in a stronger contrast. Whereas the highest angels,
those who stand first among the heavenly host and dwell in the
immediate presence of the Lord, though they might accuse Satan and his
angels of rebellion, yet refrain; these bold transgressors among the
race of men cast forth their blasphemy against the whole spiritual
world.
_But these, as creatures without reason, born mere animals to be
taken and destroyed, railing in matters whereof they are ignorant,
shall in their destroying surely be destroyed._ The glory of man in
creation is his reason. It is bestowed that he may freely, and not by
constraint, consent unto the will of God, and also may by it
discipline the body and hinder it from becoming his master. For the
soul tabernacling in the flesh there is ever this peril, and by it
these false teachers in the Asian Churches had been ensnared. Thus
they were degraded, and were frustrating the end for which the light
of reason was given. They were become like the horse and mule, which
have no understanding. When the serpent tempted Eve, he set before her
his own elevation through the fruit which to her was forbidden.
"I of brute human, ye of human gods,"
was his tempting speech. These men had given themselves up for a less
noble bribe. The bait of sensual indulgence was offered, and their
acceptance of it had brought them down to the level of creatures
without reason. Their conduct and their lessons merited such a
comparison, and showed how their nobler part had been warped by
excess. To blaspheme against the powers of the spirit-world is conduct
which can only be paralleled by that of the senseless animals, which,
with utter ignorance of consequences, will rush upon objects whose
strength they know not, and perish in their blind onslaught. But the
beasts were born to be taken and destroyed; no higher fate was in
their power. Men were meant for a nobler end, and it is only when the
rein is given to appetite that they become from human brutish in their
knowledge, more brutish than to know. Thus in their ignorance they
rail at all loftier thought, and of their railing make a show of
knowledge. Here they are more noxious than the unreasoning brutes.
Their blinding lessons gain a hearing; and those who listen are drawn
on by the same lust, and willingly follow after ignorance. But the
work of all carries condemnation with it. Man, whose gaze was meant
ever to be upward, is bowed down to earth like the beasts of the
field, which are meant only for capture and destruction. On such
perversion God will surely visit. They shall reap the fruit of their
bold self-will, and in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
_Suffering wrong as the hire of wrong-doing._ The Authorised Version
translates a somewhat different text (κομιούμενοι), "and
shall receive the reward of wrong-doing." This is the easier sentence,
and connects itself well with what precedes; but it has not the
strongest support. By the text which the Revised Version has adopted
(ἀδικούμενοι) the Apostle does not mean that these sinners
meet a punishment which they have not deserved, and in that sense
suffer wrong; but that they are themselves brought under the penalties
of the wrong into which they are leading others. As the Psalmist says,
their wickedness comes down on their own pate, and in the net which
they hid privily is their own foot taken. They differ from Balaam,
whose example St. Peter is soon about to instance. These men secure
the reward they seek, larger resources to squander on their lust; yet
this, their success, as they would call it, proves their overthrow.
_Men that count it pleasure to revel in the daytime._ They that are
drunken are drunken in the night, and the same holds ordinarily of
other excesses. They come not to the light because their deeds are
evil. But these men have cast aside all such timorousness. They find
a zest in outrage and in going beyond others, so as to add the daytime
to the night for their indulgences. The sense of "luxury that lasts
but for a day," that is ephemeral, and perishes in the using, is
hardly to be extracted from the Greek; but with St. James (v. 5) in
mind, where the verb is connected with the noun of this verse, "Ye
have lived delicately on the earth and taken your pleasure," it may
perhaps be allowable, as some have done, to interpret ἐν ἡμέρα
as signifying "the time of this present life." The men live
as though life were bestowed for no other object than their revelry.
_Spots and blemishes._ St. Peter must have had in his thought the
epithets which he applied to Christ: "a lamb without blemish and
without spot" (1 Peter i. 9). Utterly alien to the spirit and life of
Jesus is these men's wantonness. They belong rather to him who is
described as a roaring lion, walking about to find whom he may devour.
_Revelling in their lovefeasts while they feast with you._ Here also
the Revised Version accepts a text different from that rendered by the
Authorised, which for the first clause has "sporting themselves with
their own deceivings" (ἀπάταις). This refers to "the
feigned words" with which they have been pictured as making a gain of
the unstable souls whom they lead astray. They find a sport in their
delusion, a pleasure, which is devilish, in the evil they are working.
The other reading, ἀγάπαις, which is also found in Jude 12,
refers to those gatherings of the faithful in the earliest period of
the Church's history where the brethren by partaking in common of a
simple meal gave a symbol of Christian equality and love. It may be
that this in its origin was the assembling of the congregation for
"the breaking of bread," but we soon find the social meal had become a
distinct observance. And we know from St. Paul's letter to the Church
of Corinth that disorder was introduced into these meetings, and that
luxury and disparity ofttimes took the place of simplicity and
equality. "In your eating," says the Apostle, "each one taketh before
other his own supper, and one is hungry, and another is drunken....
When ye come together tarry one for another" (1 Cor. xi. 21). In these
Asian congregations the evil had gone to a greater length. Instead of
a sober assembly, where friendly converse might form a fitting
accompaniment to the more solemn breaking of bread in remembrance of
their Lord, these lovefeasts were converted into a revel by the
luxurious additions which the false teachers took care to have
supplied. The Apostle calls them _their_ lovefeasts, because it was
from their conduct that the gathering took its character. The members
of the Church were indeed invited, but these men made themselves
leaders of the meal, and turned what was meant to be a simple repast
into a scene of riot and indulgence. But such excess only opens the
floodgates for more.
_Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin._ These
preachers of freedom from the restraints of the Law must make their
evil liberty known, and so they shamelessly parade it even in the
meetings of the brethren. They cast about them their licentious
glances, and their lustful gaze is unchecked. Nay, they have so given
it rein that now it is beyond their control. Their eyes _cannot_ cease
from sin. The original speaks of "eyes full of an adulteress." By this
unusual expression the Apostle seems to point to the danger that such
conduct would meet with a response, that the sisters in the Church
would be beguiled and led to join hands with these teachers of
licence. With this we may compare the language addressed to the Church
of Thyatira concerning "the woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a
prophetess, and teacheth and seduceth My servants to commit
fornication" (Rev. ii. 20).
_Enticing unstedfast souls; having a heart exercised in covetousness;
children of cursing._ A very pestilence must such men have been to the
Churches. For there are always many to be found who are not
established in the truth, though it be present with them, men whom the
bait of a promised freedom, with its assumption of superiority, will
always catch. There is in it a witchery worse even than that which, in
another direction, had once before led the Galatians astray. Satan
himself offers the temptation, and finds allies within men's hearts to
help his cause. It is only by those stedfast in the faith that he can
be withstood (1 Peter v. 9). They look beyond to-day, and to a
brighter, purer joy than any which he can offer. So they are safe.
But, alas! in the Churches such men are often but the remnant, and the
trade of the beguiler makes its gain in every age. And it was for
material gain these men were laying themselves out; and, that they
might be perfect in their craft, they had put themselves, as it were,
to school, gone through a training. As was said of Israel in old time
(Jer. xxii. 17), their eyes and their heart are but for their
covetousness, greed of defilement, and greed of gain. Children of
cursing are they in a double sense: they are a curse to those whom
they lead astray; and in spite of the popularity which for a time they
will seem to enjoy, there is no blessing upon them. Their doom is
foretold from of old. The lamp of God's prophecy makes it clear that
such men are the children of Cain.
_Forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of
Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the hire of wrong-doing._ It is an
aggravation of wrong-doing when those who know the good willingly
choose the evil. Of such men there is little hope. To wander is their
choice; and as wrong paths are many, and the right but one, they
become wanderers to the end. That the closing of their eyes was in
these teachers a self-chosen course we see from the example which St.
Peter has chosen to illustrate their character. Balaam, however he
gained his knowledge and however unworthy he was to possess it,
certainly knew much of Jehovah, and had been used to keep alive the
knowledge of God among the heathen round about him; but his heart was
not whole with God. To be known as the prophet of the Lord was a
reputation which he prized, but mainly, as it seems, for the credit it
gave him among his fellows. When the chance came, he would fain
endeavour to serve two masters. It has been for ever true, "Ye cannot
serve God and mammon"; but Balaam resolved to try. He thought by
importunity to prevail with God for so much liberty of speech as would
gain Balak's silver and gold. When his intention was thwarted, and his
mouth was filled with blessings instead of curses, he still hankered
after Balak's honours and money, and wrought for Israel by his counsel
the curse which his lips were hindered from uttering.
And these teachers of licence in the name of freedom moved among the
Christian Churches as though they were true brethren. They used
Christian phrases in their "feigned words," yet were ready to lead
their followers in a way as dissolute as that which the son of Beor
suggested to the Midianites (Num. xxxi. 16) that the children of
Israel might trespass against the Lord. For these men's hearts were
set on the hire of wrong-doing. Yet their offence was even fouler than
Balaam's, for to their lust and covetousness they added hypocrisy.
_But he was rebuked for his own transgression: a dumb ass spake with
man's voice and stayed the madness of the prophet._ The word which St.
Peter here uses for "rebuke", and which is found nowhere else in the
New Testament, implies a rebuke administered by argument, a refutation
such as reasonable persons will yield to. The dumb ass (St. Peter's
word is literally _beast of burden_) appealed to her conduct all her
life through. Was I ever wont to do this unto thee? Should I do so now
without good reason? The reason was made plain at the sight of the
angel. That presence made the rider bow his head and fall on his face.
But what excuse was there for his lawlessness? For that is the sense
which the Apostle puts on Balaam's transgression. And the word which
he adds makes the rebuke more strong. It was _his own_ transgression.
The swerving of the dumb beast was not of herself. She would have held
to the right way had it been possible, but her master's lawlessness
was very madness; and he was the prophet, she the speechless brute. It
has been said, _Quem Deus vult perdere prius dementat_. But the
proverb is not true. The destruction is not of God's will; the madness
comes of a self-chosen course of rebellion. Ever God's voice is, as it
was of old, "It is thy destruction, O Israel, that thou art against
Me, against thy help" (Hos. xiii. 9). The ruin is self-destruction,
an infatuation which will accept no remonstrance, brook no check. For
the warning voice of the dumb beast only hindered Balaam's evil
project for a brief moment; and though the Divine power which loosed
the tongue of the ass kept her master's in check, the maddening greed
for Balak's gold was in his heart, and at all costs would be
satisfied, and led him to destruction. Such is the penalty of those
who willingly desert the right way through love of the hire of
wrong-doing. In forsaking God, they forsake the fountain of wisdom.
Then their lawlessness degrades their human endowments to the level of
the brutish, and the obedient drudging of the dumb beasts of burden
speaks loud--for God gives it a tongue--against the mad errors of
rebellious men.
XXV
_ALTOGETHER BECOME ABOMINABLE_
"These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm;
for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved. For,
uttering great swelling _words_ of vanity, they entice in the
lusts of the flesh, by lasciviousness, those who are just
escaping from them that live in error; promising them liberty,
while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for of whom
a man is overcome, of the same is he also brought into bondage.
For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world
through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they
are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is
become worse with them than the first. For it were better for
them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after
knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto
them. It has happened unto them according to the true proverb,
The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had
washed to wallowing in the mire."--2 PETER ii. 17-22.
The Apostle now describes these traitors to the cause of Christ under
another aspect. They proffer themselves as guides and teachers. As
such they should be sources of refreshment and help. But in every
respect they belie the character which they have assumed. _These are
springs without water._ The blessing of a spring is only known to the
full in Eastern lands. Hence it is that in Bible language wells and
fountains are constantly used as emblematic of happiness. When Israel
is brought out of Egypt, their destination is described as "a land of
fountains." Mental and spiritual blessings are pictured by this
figure: "The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life" (Prov. x.
11); "The wellspring of wisdom is a flowing brook" (Prov. xviii. 4).
The invitation which the prophet publishes in God's name runs, "Ho,
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters" (Isa. lv. 1); and the
gracious promise is, "With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of
salvation" (Isa. xii. 3). To those who had been accustomed to language
of this sort St. Peter's words convey a picture of utter
disappointment. Where men had a right to expect that they would find
brightness and refreshment, where they were promised an oasis in the
world's desert, there proved to be only a delusive mirage; and for
this the brethren were beguiled to forsake the living waters which
Christ has promised to His faithful ones. _And mists driven by a
storm._ Here the same thought is put into another shape. Mists,
resting above the ground, play a part like that of the watersprings
beneath. They protect from scorching heat, and drop down blessing on
the thirsty land. But when they are chased away by the whirlwind, they
can furnish neither protection nor nourishment. And so helpless for
those who followed them were these apostles of licence. Like mists
they were, it is true, but only in their blinding influence. They
brought with them blasts of vain doctrine, in their craftiness, after
the wiles of error, and so created a desolation for those who sought
unto them. We cannot help comparing this description with the
ever-increasing illumination that flows from the lamp of prophecy,
making the world's dark places light.
_For whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved._ Yes, for
these also God has a destiny in store. It is reserved, as is the
incorruptible inheritance (1 Peter i. 4) which awaits His faithful
ones. But it is in those pits of darkness to which the rebellious
angels were committed. Yet even in the Apostle's language there shines
out somewhat of God's mercy. The sinner's doom is certain, but the
blow has not yet fallen; the blackness of darkness is prepared, but
was not prepared for men. Only those fall into it who persist in their
rebellion. For them, in the words of Christ, it will be the outer
darkness, where is the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
_For, uttering great swelling words of vanity, they entice in the
lusts of the flesh, by lasciviousness, those who are just escaping
from them that live in error._ St. Peter's words are here very aptly
chosen to contrast the boastful pretensions of these corrupters with
the hollowness and delusion of all they promise. St. Jude (16) tells
of the great swelling words, but does not add that further touch which
proclaims their emptiness; St. Paul (1 Tim. i. 6) says that such men
fall to their vain and boastful talking because they have swerved from
purity of heart, from a good conscience, and from faith unfeigned.
From such there is nothing to be expected but falseness and unreality;
they arrogate to themselves a penetration which others have not.
Theirs it is to have found a deeper meaning in revelation, to have
worked their way to a freedom beyond the rest, a freedom in the midst
of sin, which imparts to those who attain to it a freedom to sin with
impunity. Thus do they entice in the lusts of the flesh by
lasciviousness. Such a liberty suits the natural man; such guides find
many to follow them.
True Christian freedom, the freedom of St. Paul, calls for constant
watchfulness, earnest anxiety at every step, for life is full of
treacherous roads. But forethought and carefulness are lacking for the
most part in those who have just escaped from the entanglements of
error. "I buffet my body," was the Apostle's rule, "and bring it into
bondage" (1 Cor. ix. 27). This was the discipline to free the soul.
And to others he preaches in his letter to Timothy that "the grace of
God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men" (2 Tim. ii. 11). But
mark the pathway which leads to this life: "Instructing us to the
intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." Such precepts
these men mocked at. There was a nobler knowledge, they said, a higher
initiation. To this they had attained; to this they beguiled their
followers.
Such men are unspeakably dangerous to those who have made but little
progress in spiritual life. It is only those who, like Nehemiah of
old, have become firm of purpose through prayer to the God of heaven,
and know the dangers that everywhere beset them, that can withstand
such temptation. As he laboured amid the ruins of Jerusalem, which he
was so zealous to restore, there came to him the invitation of the
Samaritans, "Come, let us meet together; ... let us take counsel
together" (Neh. vi.). No doubt the village in the plain of Ono, to
which they asked him to come, was a pleasanter place just then than
the bare hill-top of Zion, with its desolation and ruins. But his
heart misgave him at the words of such counsellors. "They thought to
do me mischief." And his sturdy answer to the tempters is a pattern
and a lesson for all time: "I am doing a great work, so that I cannot
come down." For it is always to come _down_ that such counsellors
invite us, not to be afraid of putting ourselves on their level. They
may cloke it under the name of elevation, as these Asian tempters did.
They talk of this as liberty and power, just as the archfiend himself
spake to the Saviour, tempting Him to a boastful display of His trust
in His Father: "Cast Thyself down." Those who fall fall in this way,
by a too ready yielding to some acceptable bait; and then they find
themselves, not free, but prisoners. And the weak in the faith, those
who are only just escaped from error, are those from among whom the
deluders seek and find their victims.
_Promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of
corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he also
brought into bondage._ Here we have two views of the same persons.
First their own picture. They proclaim their superiority in lofty
terms. Satan and his servants have always been liberal with promises.
"Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil," "All these things will I
give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me," are sample speeches
of the arch-tempter. And these men follow their master; but, says the
Apostle, they are themselves in the grossest slavery. He personifies
Destruction as a power who holds them in her chains. And the idea sets
sin before us in a terrible light. It begins in the single act, over
which men fancy they have entire control; but the acts become a habit,
and this, like a mighty, living power within men, but beyond their
sway, overmasters their whole being, and drives them at its will. In
the case of these men, no faculty was free; their very eyes could not
cease from sin.
_For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through
the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again
entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with
them than the first. Corruptio optimi pessima_ is a well-known and
very true dictum, and the Apostle sets these false teachers before us
as a notable illustration of it. The backsliders, the renegades who
desert a good cause, are sure to exhibit intense hostility to the
position from which they have fallen away. They are constrained to do
so that men may think they have a warrant for their conduct; and often
they have an uneasy conscience, which they must try to silence by
large assertion of the rectitude and wisdom of what they do. Satan
himself is the great instance. The state from which by rebellion he
fell was unspeakably glorious, a life in the presence of perfect
holiness. Now he takes his pleasure in marring everything that is
holy, in defiling God's world and filling it with pollution through
the sin which he has introduced.
These Asian backsliders had tasted the good grace of God. The Apostle
speaks of their knowledge of Christ as that true comprehension of His
love and mercy which draws men away from the world and its
allurements. They had escaped and found a camp of refuge. But to take
service under Christ means to bear the cross, and to bear it
patiently. Jesus puts His servants to the proof, and not all who have
set their hands to the plough continue stedfast in their work till the
harvest comes. They halt in the process of that growth of grace which
St. Peter describes in the first chapter of this letter. In their
temperance they should provide patience, endurance in well-doing.
Many, however, persevere but for a little time; and the world seizes
the opportunity of their doubt and hesitation, comes forward with its
allurements, and captures the weak in faith. And such were these men,
and their capture was fatal. They were now in the toils of a net from
which there was little chance of escape; they were overcome and made
very slaves. In their first efforts to walk with Christ they had been
enabled to wrest themselves away from their evil life; but now they
were sunk down, overpowered, and blind, with a blindness the more
terrible because they had known what it was to have sight. Their last
state was unspeakably worse than the first.
St. Peter has in mind the parable of his Master (Matt. xii.; Luke xi.)
which was spoken prophetically of the Jewish people. There Christ
tells of the evil spirit which has been cast out, but no attempt made
to fill his place with a better tenant. Soon finding no rest, he
returns, and beholds his former home swept, and garnished, and
unoccupied. Then he goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked
than himself, who enter with him and dwell there. With what solemn
meaning come those words which follow the parable, "Blessed are they
that hear the word of God and _keep_ it!" (Luke xi. 28). To have
heard, and not to have kept, indeed makes the last state worse than
the first.
_For it were better for them not to have known the way of
righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy
commandment delivered unto them._ These words of the Apostle point out
the fear and care which should possess the hearts of those whom God
blesses with large opportunities: fear lest they receive them amiss
and fail to value them; care lest they pervert them to a wrong use.
Our Lord's own words form the mightiest homily thereon when He spake
to those cities of Galilee upon whom a great light was shining as He
dwelt in their midst, but He could not do His mighty works there
because of their unbelief. "He came unto His own, and His own received
Him not." Hence the solemn denunciations of woe upon them: "It shall
be more tolerable in the judgement for Tyre and Sidon, for Sodom and
Gomorrah, than for them"; "The queen of the south shall rise up in
the judgement against them and condemn." And more sorrowfully still He
speaks to Jerusalem: "If thou hadst known in this thy day the things
that belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes."
Christ went away unto the Father, but He left the Apostles their
commission to teach the way of righteousness as He had taught it.
"Teach them," He says, "to observe all things whatsoever I have told
you; and lo, I am with you always." By the ministrations of St. Paul
and his fellow-labourers the feet of these Asian converts had been set
in the right way. They had made a profession of faith in Christ's
sacrifice, and thus had been reckoned among the righteous, among those
called to be saints. But the journey unto righteousness is made by
daily steps in keeping God's law; and if these be not taken, the road
may lie open, the traveller may see it, but he comes no nearer to the
goal. Nay, in this road there is no standing still. They who fail to
press forward inevitably slide back. It was here that these false
teachers had failed. The command of God checked their evil appetites
and greed; and so they set it at defiance and turned aside, and taught
their deluded followers that God's freedom in its highest sense meant
a licence to sin.
Here one of the Apostle's words is very significant. He says, not holy
commandments, but holy commandment, telling us thus that the Divine
law is all comprehended in the right ordering of the heart. In
principle all God's laws are one. If that inward source of all our
right and wrong be kept pure, from it are the issues of life; and
every action flowing from it will then have a righteous aim. Thus men
lead holy lives; thus they keep God's commandments in every relation.
They do not in this life become free from offence; they stumble,
because they are compassed by infirmity. But they act from a right
motive; and this, and not the sum-total of results, is what the loving
Father of men regards. Thus the Divine law is the law of true freedom,
supplying a principle, but leaving the particular actions to develop
according to the circumstances of each man's life. This is the freedom
of which the Psalmist sings: "I will walk at liberty, for I seek Thy
precepts" (Psalm cxix. 45); and one of our own poets extols a life so
ordered by Divine law as the truest, grandest freedom:--
"Obedience is greater than freedom. What's free?
The vexed straw on the wind, the tossed foam on the sea;
The great ocean itself, as it rolls and it swells,
In the bonds of a boundless obedience dwells."
_It has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog
turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to
wallowing in the mire._ To describe in all its horror the abysmal
depth to which these false teachers have sunk, the Apostle makes use
of two proverbs, one of which he adapts from the Old Testament (Prov.
xxvi. 11), while the other is one which would impress the Jewish mind
with a feeling of utter abomination. The dogs of the East are the
pariahs of the animal world, while everything pertaining to swine was
detestable in the eyes of the Israelite. But all the loathing which
attached to these outcasts of the brute creation did not suffice to
portray the defilement of these teachers of lies and their apostate
lives. It needed those other grosser features--the return to the
disgorged meal; the greed for filth, where a temporary cleansing
serves, as it were, to give a relish for fresh wallowing--these
traits were needed ere the full vileness of those sinners could be
expressed.
Solomon spake his proverb of the fool who goes back to his folly; but
of how much grosser lapse is he guilty who, having known the mercy of
Christ, having tasted the Father's grace, having been illumined by the
Holy Spirit, turns again to the world and its pollutions, goes back
into the far country, far away from God, and chooses again for his
food the husks that the swine did eat!
XXVI
_AS WERE THE DAYS OF NOAH_
"This is now, beloved, the second epistle that I write unto you;
and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by putting you in
remembrance; that ye should remember the words which were spoken
before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and
Saviour through your apostles; knowing this first, that in the
last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their
own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for,
from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as
they were from the beginning of the creation."--2 PETER iii. 1-4.
In the previous chapter the Apostle showed how the renegade false
teachers had published among the brethren their seductive doctrine,
declaring that God's fatherly discipline was something which they need
not undergo, that the trials which He sent them might be escaped, and
the natural bent of man's heart indulged as fully as they pleased. The
foul results of such lessons both to the flock and to the teachers he
also depicted in such wise as to render them abhorrent. Now he tells
of a further lesson which these guides on the downward road added to
the former. Those who do not accept God's judgements here soon go on
to deny the coming of judgement hereafter. It could hardly be
otherwise. The wish is father to the thought as truly in matters of
faith as of practice. Men whose lives are all centred on this world
must try and convince themselves, if possible, that the day of the
Lord, of which God's word speaks so often, is a delusion, and may be
cast out of their thoughts. This these men did, and it is against this
scoffing of theirs that St. Peter directs his exhortation in this
chapter.
_This is now, beloved, the second epistle that I write unto you._
Judging from the adverb which he uses (ἤδη, now, already),
we should conclude that no long time had elapsed between the Apostle's
first letter and the second. And by calling this the second, he shows
that it is intended for the same congregations as the former, though
he has not named them in the salutation with which the letter opens.
Aforetime they had been tried by inward questionings, and he sent them
his exhortation and testimony that, spite of all their trials, this
was the true grace of God which they had received, and therein they
should stand fast (1 Peter v. 12). Now the danger is from without:
false doctrine and evil living as its consequence. So, though he may
have written but a little while ago, he will neither spare himself,
nor neglect them. For the danger is of the utmost gravity. It
threatens the overthrow of all true Christian life.
_And in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by putting you in
remembrance._ Mark how trustfully he appeals to the sincerity of the
minds of the brethren, just as before (i. 12) he said they knew the
things of which he was putting them in remembrance, and were
established in the truth which they had received. And what he means by
the "mind" we may see from 1 Peter i. 13, where he uses the same word:
"Gird up the loins of your mind"--do not indulge vain, lax, and
speculative opinions, as though these would forward you in your travel
through the world--"be sober, and set your hope perfectly on the
grace that is to be brought unto you." A mind so braced looks onward
to the revelation of Jesus Christ, looks for every token of its
drawing nigh. And because it is sincere, the man dare look into its
inmost recesses, and by self-examination and discipline maintain its
purity. He can think soberly of the Lord's coming because he is
preparing for it. But he whose mind is dark, within whom the light has
been turned into darkness, dare not think on these things, but with
all his might endeavours to forget, ignore, and deny them. All that
St. Peter thinks needful for these Asian brethren is that he should
remind them. He knows that men's minds are prone to slumber,
especially about the things unseen as yet; and his aim is to rouse
them to thorough vigilance. But he has no new lesson to give them.
_That ye should remember the words which were spoken before by the
holy prophets._ On few themes do the prophets dwell more earnestly
than on those visitations of Jehovah which they publish as the coming
of the day of the Lord. With Joel (ii. 11, 32) it is to be a time
great and terrible, the prospect of which is to move men to
repentance, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be delivered. And Israel were taught in many ways that this great day
was constantly at hand. They were pointed to it by Isaiah (xiii. 6)
when the overthrow of Babylon was foretold. For that nation the day of
the Lord was coming as destruction from the Almighty. Jeremiah (xlvi.
10) and Ezekiel (xxx. 3) preach the same lesson, with the ruin of
Egypt for their text. It is a day of vengeance, when the Lord God of
hosts will avenge Him of His adversaries, a day of clouds, in which a
sword shall come upon Egypt, and her foundations shall be broken
down. By what they beheld around them God's people were to learn that
a like day would come upon them also, upon everything that was high
and lifted up against God; and for those who were unprepared another
prophet (Amos v. 18) declared that it would be darkness, and not
light. Before its coming, therefore, they were urged (Zeph. ii. 3) to
turn to the Lord, that they might be hid in the day of His anger. For
God designed by it to make Himself King of all the earth (Zech. xiv.
9), wherefore it would be great and terrible. For though Elijah should
first be sent (Mal. iv. 5) to turn the hearts of the fathers to their
children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, in its
manifestation that day should still be like a refiner's fire to purge
the evil from among the good.
Not without solemn purpose were all these words written aforetime, and
the Christian preachers who felt that God was faithful were sure that
such a day would come upon all the earth. How it would be manifested
was for God, and not for them. Some of those who lived when St. Peter
wrote beheld part of its accomplishment in the overthrow of the Holy
City. But they felt--and their lesson is one for all time--that it is
presumptuous in men to compute God's days, and that it is rebellious
blindness not to acknowledge the coming of His day continually in the
great crises of history. How many a time since St. Peter spoke has the
Lord proclaimed by partial judgements the certainty of that which
shall come at the last. The day of the Lord is attested when empires
fall, when hordes of barbarians break in upon the civilised world that
has grown careless of God, when convulsions rage like those which
preceded the Reformation and which shook Europe at the French
Revolution, and we may add to these the troubles which harass our own
land to-day. All these things preach the same doctrine; all proclaim
that verily there is a God that judgeth the earth. Not yet is the
voice of prophecy silent. Oh that men would but remember how long and
how surely it has been speaking!
_And the commandment of the Lord and Saviour through your apostles._
In connexion with the subject on which he is writing, the commandment
of Jesus to which St. Peter alludes can hardly be other than that
which occurs in the address of our Lord to His disciples after His
last visit to the Temple: "Watch therefore, for ye know not on what
day your Lord cometh; ... therefore be ready, for in an hour that ye
think not the Son of man cometh" (Matt. xxiv. 42). And with the last
judgement in his thoughts, we cannot fail to be struck with the
frequency with which the Apostle in this letter repeats as the title
of Christ "the Lord and Saviour" (i. 11; ii. 20; iii. 2, 18). This
precise form occurs in no other part of the New testament. And it
seems from the Apostle's use of it as though, while speaking of the
certainty of the coming of the day of the Lord, he desired to give
special prominence to the thought that to such as were looking for Him
He would manifest Himself as the Saviour and Redeemer.
The words "your apostles" also appear to be used with design. They
contain a direct acknowledgment of the mission of St. Paul as an
apostle. By him more than by any other had these regions been brought
to the knowledge of Christ, and we may rest confident that the gospel
which he preached elsewhere he preached to them also. The lesson of
watchfulness is oft repeated in his letters. To the Corinthians he
writes, "Watch ye; stand fast in the faith; quit you like men; be
strong" (1 Cor. xvi. 13), while, in connexion with this subject of the
day of the Lord, his words to the Thessalonians are, "Ye yourselves
know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the
night.... But ye are not in darkness, that that day should overtake
you as a thief. Let us watch and be sober" (1 Thess. v. 2-6). St.
Peter's letter was to be read in those Galatian Churches whose members
in past days had doubted about the apostolate of St. Paul. Its
warnings would sink the deeper because enforced by the authority of
him who even in his rebukes had spoken to them as his "little
children" (Gal. iv. 19).
_Knowing this first, that in the last days mockers shall come with
mockery._ St. Peter says the mockers will come; Polycarp[14] says in
his day they had come. He terms them the first-born of Satan, and
tells how they pervert the oracles of the Lord to their own lusts and
deny that there is either resurrection or judgement. The signs of the
times were not difficult to read; and the Apostle would have the
brethren know what to look for, know in such wise that they should not
be shaken in mind by what they saw or heard. For this the first need
was Christian sobriety. Thus settled, they could ponder on the words
of ancient prophecy and recall the lessons of those who had spoken to
them in the name of Christ; and therewith their hearts might take
comfort, and their heads be lifted up with expectation, knowing the
last days were bringing their redemption nearer. The mockery of the
sinners would keep no bounds. This he expresses by his emphatic
words, just as largeness of blessing is described: "In blessing I will
bless thee."
[14] _Ad Phil._ vii.
_Walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of
His coming?_ They would be a law unto themselves, and so they followed
an evil law. As sinners before them had said, "Our lips are our own"
(Psalm xii. 4), so these men by act and word alike proclaimed, "Our
lives are our own, to use as we please. We have no account to give."
Thus they made themselves bondslaves to the lust of the flesh, the
lust of the eye, and the pride of life, and, with these fetters heavy
about them, boasted of their liberty. They strengthened themselves in
their evil way by jeering at the thought of Christ's return to
judgement. "We have heard of the promise," they said, "but we see no
signs of its fulfilment. The angels, you say, spake of His return when
He was taken away from you. Let Him make speed and hasten His coming,
that we may see it. You are for ever speaking of it as sure and
pointing us back to the ancient Scriptures, as though they were a
warrant for what you preach. 'Where is the word of the Lord? Let it
come now'" (Jer. xvii. 15).
_For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue
as they were from the beginning of the creation._ Here the mockers
pass from the promise of Christ's return, and fall back upon the more
distant records as supplying a stronger argument. "The fathers" of
whom they speak cannot be the Christian preachers. Not many of them
could as yet have fallen asleep in death. But the ancient prophets of
the Jewish Scriptures had long ago passed away, and against them the
scorners direct their shafts. "Centuries ago," they urge, "the
prophetic record was closed; and its final utterance was of the day
of the Lord, which has not yet come." Their word, "fell asleep" may
have also been used as part of their mockery, classing the words of
prophecy among baseless dreams. It may be they intended a special
allusion to that one among the prophets who dates the time of the
Lord's coming. Daniel (xii. 12) speaks of a waiting which shall last a
thousand three hundred and five-and-thirty days. But say these
scorners, "When his word was complete, he was bidden, 'Go thou thy way
till the end be. For thou shalt rest, and shalt stand in thy lot at
the end of the days.' He has fallen asleep, and the other fathers
also. They all are at rest, and the end of the days is no nearer. The
world stands fast, and will stand. It has seen no change since it was
brought into existence."
Those who in faith clung to Christ could not fail, as they heard these
scorners, to think of the Master's question, "When the Son of man
cometh, shall He find faith in the earth?" (Luke xviii. 8), and of
those other words of His which told them that the last days should be
a parallel to the days of the Deluge: "As were the days of Noah, so
shall be the coming of the Son of man. For as in those days which were
before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in
marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they knew
not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall be the
coming of the Son of man" (Matt. xxiv. 37-39). The strong earth was
under the feet of those antediluvian mockers, the firmament above
their heads. So in ignorance they jeered at what they would call the
folly of Noah. But the Flood came, and then they knew. Yet the last
days have seen, and will see, men as blind and as full of satire and
scoffing as they.
XXVII
_JUDGEMENT TO COME_
"For this they wilfully forget, that there were heavens from of
old, and an earth compacted out of water and amidst water, by the
word of God; by which means the world that then was, being
overflowed with water, perished: but the heavens that now are,
and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire,
being reserved against the day of judgement and destruction of
ungodly men."--2 PETER iii. 5-7.
"The world lasts on" (Greek: [diam/enei]) "through all times," say the
scoffers, "just as it was at the Creation. There has been no change;
there will be none." But out of their own mouth their folly is
rebuked. How can these men speak of a creation? If there is to be no
Judge, why believe that there has been a Creator? That must be
included in the general denial. _For this they wilfully forget._ Yes,
here is the reason of their conduct, the root of all the evil. They
forget because they wish to forget; they speak of the fathers, but of
set purpose ignore the history of Noah; they are casting God out of
all their thoughts: and so even to the things that are made, and by
which He testifies to all men alike His eternal power and Godhead,
they close their eyes, and refuse to read His wide-open lesson-book.
And still less do they regard all that His written word records of the
world's past history and God's discipline for men therein.
_That there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of
water and amidst water, by the word of God._ They close their ears as
well as their eyes. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth." As the study of nature progresses men are learning to
comprehend more of the vastness of that phrase "in the beginning," and
in the light of science to read a larger meaning into St. Peter's
words, "There were heavens from of old." But even in that generation
to which the Apostle soon alludes the unchanging character of the
skies spake of duration and permanence. The antediluvian world had run
a long course; from Adam to Noah men had beheld the sun rise and set
daily in the skies, just as it rose on the morning of the Deluge. And
the mockers then living could say, and doubtless did say, to the
preacher in their midst, "These things have always been as they are,
and will be so for evermore." The later scorners had their prototypes
of old, who pointed to the existence of an eternal law, and wilfully
forgot that law implies a lawgiver, and that He who made must have the
power to unmake.
St. Peter takes their text, but reads from it a very different lesson.
There were heavens from of old, yea, long before there was an earth
fit for man to dwell in. This world in that old time was formless and
void, and the waters covered its face like a garment. The word of the
Lord went forth, and the waters were gathered together as a heap, and
the depth was laid up in God's storehouses. Then the dry land
appeared; then there was an earth. The streams took their appointed
place down the mountain-sides and in the valleys, and rivers began to
roll onward to the sea; the waters of ocean learnt their bounds,
neither turned again to cover the earth. The Divine word clothed in
all the glory of vegetation the hitherto barren land, making it a fit
home for man, who was not yet; and the water ministered sustenance to
everything that grew out of the ground. Birds, beasts, and fishes were
made, and the waters were the birthplace of most of these. For God
said, "Let the water bring forth abundantly the moving creature that
hath life," not its own tenants only, but fowl that may fly above the
earth in the open firmament of heaven. So there was an earth, not the
bare ground only, but the whole wealth of vegetable and animal life;
and this was all existent, compacted, supported out of water and by
means of water (δι' ὕδατος). For without it nothing could
have flourished. God had laid up water above the firmament and water
below the earth, and by means of watery vapour refreshed and blessed
everything that grew. This was the reign of God's law, and ere the
Flood came men could point to it and say, "What mean you to talk of a
deluge? The sand is made the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree,
that it cannot pass it; the earth is set high above the waters, and
has been so from old time." But that long duration did not hinder the
same productive, nurturing water being turned, by the word of the
Lord, into an agency of destruction.
_By which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water,
perished._ Every word in the Apostle's sentence is meant to tell. God
employed as means of overthrow the very powers which at first He
ordained for blessing. His word makes things what they are. The reign
of law endures until He, who is before all law and the source of all
law, gives another direction to those forces which His law has always
been controlling. In this way the world that then was, the world
which had endured and been stedfast from the Creation to the Flood,
perished. The world was full of order, full of glory. The name
(κόσμος) expresses all this. Yet, for the sin of man, it
repented God that He had made this glorious order; and this it was
which perished. The earth was not destroyed; it only received again
that covering of primeval waters which, at God's word, had retired and
let the dry land appear. At the same word both earth and heaven
combined to destroy the goodliness with which creation was adorned.
For, on the day of the Deluge (Gen. vii. 11), all the fountains of the
great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened, and
the waters came again to cover the earth. They prevailed exceedingly,
and all flesh died that moved upon the earth; even the fowls and the
moving creatures, which had been brought forth from the teeming
waters, perished, and all things were destroyed from off the earth.
Thus does St. Peter lay bare the unwisdom of those who will not listen
to, who are wilfully forgetful of, the parables of God's word, who
close their eyes to His judgements, sent that by them men may learn
righteousness.
_But the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have
been stored up for fire._ The Apostle now turns away from what the Old
Testament Scriptures relate as history of the past to what the same
records teach us concerning the future; and he deals partly with
promise, partly with prophecy. The earth will not be destroyed again
by a deluge. God hath made His covenant: "I will establish My covenant
with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of
a flood, neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth"
(Gen. ix. 11). But there will be a judgement; and then not, as in the
days of Noah, will the κόσμος, the beautiful order of
nature, alone be destroyed, but heaven and earth alike shall be
involved in the common overthrow. Here the Apostle is but the
expositor of the words of psalmists and prophets of the older times.
He who sang, "Of old Thou hast laid the foundation of the earth, and
the heavens are the work of Thy hands," was inspired to add, "They
shall perish, but Thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old
like a garment: as a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be
changed" (Psalm cii. 25). Isaiah, the evangelist among the prophets,
saw more, and connects this mighty change with the day of the Lord's
vengeance: "Then shall all the host of heaven be dissolved, and the
heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll" (Isa. xxxiv. 4); and in
another place he foresees how "the heavens shall vanish away like
smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell
therein shall die in like manner, ... for Mine arms shall judge the
people" (Isa. li. 6); and yet again in more solemn wise, "The Lord
will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render
His anger with fury and His rebuke with names of fire, for by fire and
by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh" (Isa. lxvi. 15). And
this he proclaims as the preparation for "the new heavens and the new
earth which He will make." Daniel also tells us of God's "throne of
judgement to be set, which is like the fiery flame, and His wheels as
burning fire" (Dan. vii. 9).
With such light from the lamp of prophecy, the Apostle in his exegesis
proclaims the nature of the final judgement. Like other New Testament
writers, he has attained, since the day of Pentecost, a deeper
insight and a firmer grasp of the purport of what Moses in the Law
and the prophets did write. We can see how on that very day thoughts
like these which he expresses in his letter were borne in upon his
mind. For not only does he apply the prophecy of Joel to the events
which then struck the multitude with wonder, but he carries on the
lesson further to the coming of the great and notable day of the Lord,
and reminds his hearers that then God "will show wonders in heaven
above and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapour of
smoke, when the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into
blood" (Acts ii. 19). And the like illumination had been bestowed on
St. Paul. For he too tells (1 Cor. iii. 13) of a day when each man's
work shall be proved by fire; and more definitely he assures the
Thessalonians, to whom he wrote much concerning the day of the Lord,
that there will come a "revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with
the angels of His power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them
that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ" (2 Thess. i. 8).
In such wise did the Apostles read the utterances of prophecy; and
thus did they apply them as lessons for their own and all future
times. They felt that not unto themselves, but unto us, did the
prophets minister. And St. Peter does but put their message into his
own words when in his bold figure he says that the heavens that now
are and the earth are stored up for fire.
The Revised Version on its margin renders the last words "stored with
fire." And when we reflect on the storing of the waters at the
Creation, afterwards to be let forth to destroy the world which
hitherto they had made fruitful and lovely, the parallelism is very
suggestive. God has stored the earth within with fire, which from
time to time makes its mighty presence and power for destruction
known. The visitations of earthquakes may therefore well remind us
that He who used the treasures of waters in the Deluge for His
ministers may in like manner hereafter employ this treasury of fire.
_Being reserved against the day of judgement and destruction of
ungodly men._ When God no longer waits for sinners to repent, then
will come the judgement and destruction of the ungodly. At that day
the heavens that now are and the earth shall be exchanged or
transformed. God will prepare a new heaven and a new earth wherein the
righteous may find a congenial home with their Lord. Here they can
never be other than pilgrims and sojourners, seeking to be clothed
upon with their house which is from heaven. What the destruction of
the ungodly shall be we can only judge and speak of in the terms of
Scripture. The language of St. Paul to the Thessalonians seems to
teach us that the very advent of the Judge shall bring their penalty:
"They shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction" (the word is
not the same which St. Peter uses) "from the face of the Lord and from
the glory of His might" (2 Thess. i. 9), in the presence of which
nothing that is defiled can dwell. So God, of His mercy, still
reserves the heavens and the earth, and thus to every new generation
offers His mercy, saying continually through their silent witness, in
the spirit in which He spake to Israel at the close of the volume of
prophecy, "I am Jehovah"--that is, the merciful and gracious,
long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for
thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin--"I change not;
therefore ye sinners are not destroyed."
XXVIII
_THE LORD IS NOT SLACK_
"But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the
Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The
Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count
slackness; but is long-suffering to youward, not wishing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance."--2 PETER
iii. 8, 9.
"All things continue as they were from the from the beginning of the
creation," said the mockers. It was foolish therefore to believe in,
or to think of, a judgement to come. In the words before us the
Apostle not only supplies an answer to the scorners, but gives a
precious lesson to Christians for all time on the nature of God and
His government of the world. It is but a single thought, but when the
mind of the believer has grasped its significance, he will look out
upon the world untroubled. No mockery will disturb his faith.
_But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day._ Here the
Apostle quotes some words from that psalm (xc.) which is entitled "A
Prayer of Moses, the Man of God." In it the Psalmist is contrasting
God's eternity with the frailty of man and the shortness of human
life. "A thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is
past." But St. Peter not only adopts, but adapts, the words for his
own purpose. He wants to teach the Christians in their trials that,
while what is long in man's estimation may in God's providence be
counted but little, yet through God's decree what to man appears
little may be big with mightiest consequences. He therefore first
inverts the words of the Psalmist. One day is with the Lord as a
thousand years, while a thousand years may be as one day. One day of
His deluge swept a whole generation out of the world, while His day of
Pentecost remains potent in the history of His grace for all the ages
which are yet to come. Through a mistaken literalness, men have
sometimes expounded the lesson as if Jehovah's dealings were a
question of arithmetic. Nothing could be farther from the Apostle's
thought, who would have us know that of great and little God's work
makes no account. With Him there is no short or long in time. What He
does is not to be measured by the petty standards of humanity.
Men _must_ take note of time, for they feel its lapse and its loss.
They are ever conscious that a period is coming after which what is
undone must continue undone. Again, the length of time is known to
them by the recurrence of the various acts of life, and by the
weariness which comes of continued labour, and by the grief of
protracted waiting. These things force them to speak of short and
long, but with God it is not so. For Him all time is one. He knows
nothing of toil. Whatsoever He pleaseth, that doeth He in heaven and
in earth, in the sea and in all deep places (Psalm cxxxv. 6). The
Psalmist had attained a true conception. The whole world and all
worlds were in His control, and their order the working of His eternal
will. He needs no rest; He slumbereth not, nor sleepeth. To Him there
is no waiting, no weariness. Hence the past, the present, and the
future are for Him one unbroken now.
This is the one thing which the Apostle offers to the Christian
brethren for their support and consolation against the scoffers. And
the knowledge is mighty for those who grasp it. It helps them to cast
themselves securely upon the almighty arms, convinced that God's
working is not to be estimated according to man's days and years, but
is certain in its effect. One generation passeth away, and another
cometh; but death, they learn, does not take men out of the knowledge
or the hand of God, be it for mercy they are reserved, or for
judgement. God does not defer His action because He lacks power to
perform, neither does He tarry because He is unmindful of His servants
or insensible to what they endure.
Such thoughts can minister to the faithful abundant consolation, and
this was the desire of the Apostle. But they raise for all time large
questions which can find no answer here, questions concerning the lot
of those who pass from this brief day of life into the eternal world
and have not known God's will, that they might do it; questions
concerning a discipline which may yet be reserved for some who have
not bent themselves to it here, perhaps from want of light; questions
of how far hope may extend itself beyond the veil which divides this
world from the next. Such questions rise within many earnest souls,
often rather for the sake of others than themselves; but God has
vouchsafed us no answer, lest men should wax presumptuous.
_The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count
slackness._ Many things conspire to make the doings of men to tarry.
At one time pledges are given beyond what foresight would warrant;
and when the day of performance arrives, they are forced to plead that
events have falsified their expectation, and they cannot do the things
that they would. Again, men, with the most earnest zeal, attempt a
work beyond their powers, and of necessity have to delay the
fulfilment of their promises; while some are taken away untimely from
the midst of their fellows, ere life has enabled them to achieve what
they counted on once as certain. Want of knowledge, of time, and of
power is the heritage of the sons of men; and therewith conspires not
seldom a change of mind and consequent want of will. But He with whom
is no variableness, the omnipotent, omniscient, eternal Lord of all,
is subject to no hindrance. Whether events appear to men to linger or
to be sudden, all move under the control of the same unchanging will.
He is not slack, as men are slack, either to rescue the righteous or
to punish the ungodly. Of this the son of Sirach spake: "The Lord will
not be slack, neither will the Almighty be patient, ... till He have
taken away the multitude of the proud and broken the sceptre of the
unrighteous, ... till He have judged the cause of His people and made
them to rejoice in His mercy" (Ecclus. xxxv. 18).
Here is a medicine for fainting souls, of whom there must have been
many among these Asian Christians. And it is a solace furnished, too,
by the teachings of prophecy. "The vision," says one, "is yet for an
appointed time" (Hab. iii. 3). God's will has ordered when and how it
shall be accomplished; all moves by His decree. "At the end it shall
speak, and not lie." There is no disappointment to those who wait upon
the purposes of God. "Though it tarry, wait for it," even though the
waiting may last beyond this life, "because it will surely come; it
will not tarry. The just shall live by his faith."
The order of the words in the original (ὅ κύριος
τῆς ἐπαγγελίας) and the unwonted construction of the verb, of which no
other example is forthcoming, have suggested to some to render thus:
"The Lord of the promise is not slack." Even so the words give a
powerful sense. God, who makes the promise to men, is supreme over all
on which its faithfulness depends, supreme both as Maker and Fulfiller
of His word. He sees and controls the end from the beginning. Blessed
are all they that put their trust in Him.
_But is long-suffering to youward._ The Authorised Version heads "to
usward". And some have thought it more in accord with the Apostle's
manner and humility to include himself with the brethren. The other
reading is better supported, and none will doubt on that account St.
Peter's sense of God's long-suffering towards himself. The term which
he here employs to describe the Divine character implies the holding
back of wrath. God might justly punish, but He stays His blow. Men
have sinned, and still sin; but His love prevails above His anger. The
word is formed by the LXX. translators to render one expression in
that passage (Exod. xxxiv. 6) where God proclaims unto Moses the
attributes by which He would be known unto men. Through all the list
mercy is the dominant feature. Term upon term seems devised to magnify
the tenderness of Jehovah towards His people, though at last, if the
continual offers of mercy are despised, He "will by no means clear the
guilty." No other language furnishes such a word, for no other people
had such a knowledge of the God of all grace.
_Not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance._ We are wont to connect statements like this with the
gracious messages of the New Testament. Yet some saints of earlier
time felt all that St. Peter here teaches. The writer of
Ecclesiasticus has some striking words. He is connecting God's mercy
with the shortness of man's life, and his language anticipates in the
main this teaching of the Apostle: "The number of a man's days at the
most are a hundred years. As a drop of water unto the sea, so are a
thousand years to the days of eternity. Therefore is God patient with
them, and poureth forth His mercy upon them. The mercy of man is
toward his neighbour, but the mercy of God is upon all flesh; He
reproveth, and nurtureth, and teacheth, and bringeth again as a
shepherd his flock" (Ecclus. xviii. 9-14). In such wise had some who
waited for the consolation of Israel grasped God's promises by
anticipation, seeing them afar off and being persuaded of them. Such
men owned themselves, equally with the Apostle, to be strangers and
pilgrims, and sought for that inheritance which Christ sent him to
preach.
The word "wishing" (βουλόμενος) implies deliberate consent.
This God does not give to the death of any sinner. If any perish, it
is not because God so desired or designed. But some will ask, "Why,
then, should any perish?" St. Peter in this sentence, full of grace,
supplies the answer. They continue in sin, and repent not. Even offers
of mercy are of no avail. But why does not the Almighty Father drive
them to repentance by His judgements? Because He has made His children
free, and asks from them a willing service. They are to _come_ to
repentance. The invitation is full and free. Christ says, "Come unto
Me, all ye that labour." Nay, God makes at times a less demand: "Look
unto Me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth." Could words
breathe more of mercy? To come, to look--that is the sole demand. God
bestows all besides. Let men but manifest a desire, and His grace is
poured forth. He wisheth not that any should perish.
And Christ, too, when He speaks of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, has
the same lesson. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost all conspire
to further the work of man's salvation. "All things," said our Lord,
"whatsoever the Father hath, are Mine. Therefore said I, He shall take
of Mine, and shall show" (R.V. declare) "it unto you." But the eye to
see what He shows, the ear to hear His declarations--these He asks
from men. He willeth that they should _come_ to repentance, and
through that gate should come to Him.
XXIX
"_WHAT MANNER OF PERSONS OUGHT YE TO BE?_"
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the
heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works
that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing that these things are
thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be
in _all_ holy living and godliness, looking for and earnestly
desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the
heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall
melt with fervent heat? But, according to His promise, we look
for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness."--2 PETER iii. 10-13.
The Apostle, ever earnest to put the brethren in mind of the things
they had heard or read, never fails to follow his own precept. His
thoughts perpetually go back to the words of Jesus, of which the
passage before us is but one example out of many. "If the master of
the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have
watched" (Luke xii. 39). So spake Christ to the disciples when urging
them to be like unto servants that look for the coming of their lord.
To the Master's parable St. Peter now gives its application: _But the
day of the Lord will come as a thief_. He means first to mark the
unexpected advent, which steals upon men when they least think of it.
Sinners will have lulled themselves into security, and the thought
farthest from their minds will be the all-important preparation. St.
Paul uses the same figure in speaking of the same subject (1 Thess.
v. 2), from which passage the words "in the night" have found their
way into the text of St. Peter, to which, as the Revised Version
indicates, they do not belong. And in the Epistle to the Hebrews the
Apostle has defined the preparation which, joined with patience,
should keep men in readiness for the certain advent: "Exhorting one
another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching" (Heb. x.
25).
St. Peter passes on to tell of the terrors which shall attend on that
day. Here also he has in mind the words of his Master, who, after a
prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, spake of that greater coming
of the Son of man of which the overthrow of the Holy City was to be
but a partial type: "There shall be signs in sun and moon and stars,
and upon the earth distress of nations, in perplexity for the roaring
of the sea and the billows, men fainting for fear and for expectation
of the things that are coming on the world, for the powers of the
heavens shall be shaken" (Luke xxi. 25; Matt. xxiv. 29). With the
Lord's language for his warrant, he paints, largely in the words of
the prophets of old, the things which shall befall the world in that
great and notable day: _In the which the heavens shall pass away with
a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat,
and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up_.
Isaiah had used like words of old: "All the host of heaven shall be
dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll" (Isa.
xxxiv. 4); and in another place he speaks (xxiv. 19) of the earth as
utterly broken, clean dissolved, moved exceedingly; Micah has to
proclaim the coming of the Lord, and he pictures it thus: "The
mountains shall be molten under Him, and the valleys shall be cleft
as wax before the fire" (Micah i. 4); and Nahum, describing the day of
the Lord which he foresaw was coming upon Nineveh, says, "The
mountains quake at Him, and the hills melt; and the earth is upheaved
at His presence, yea the world and all that dwell therein." It is St.
Peter's, by the light of the words of Jesus, to read their full
purport into these prophetic messages, and to teach those upon whom
the ends of the ages are come that all these things will have their
consummation in that coming of the Lord which shall be the close of
these latter days.
When thus considered his description contains many striking details.
"The heavens will pass away." Christ Himself had so spoken, not of
heaven only, but of the earth also. His word was the same which Peter
employs, but He used it in the same sentence thus: "My word will not
pass away" (Matt. xxiv. 35). That is the one thing to which we may
trust. All else will be destroyed or changed. Only those who are in
Christ will be fit for the new order. For them old things are passed
away; behold, they are become new (2 Cor. v. 17). They have been
purified by the fire of the Holy Spirit, and so can abide the day of
Christ's coming.
To describe the dread process he has a striking word, which, like so
many of the Apostle's expressions, is used nowhere else in the New
Testament: "With a great noise" (ῥοιζηδόν). It is applied
to many sounds of terror: to the hurtling of weapons as they fly
through the air; to the sound of a lash as it is brought down for the
blow; to the rushing of waters; to the hissing of serpents. He has
chosen it as if by it he would unite many horrors in one.
Then the thought of nature's dissolution. All that was bound together
at the Creation, and then received a law of cohesion which sustained
it thenceforth, will be cast loose, the compacted world dissolved.
These things have been thought of as emblems of stability. God hath
made the round world so fast that it cannot be moved (Psalm civ. 5),
but He who made can also unmake. How foolish then must they be who
bound their thoughts and aims by what the world can give, making
themselves thereby of the earth, earthy, and so sure to fail when that
is destroyed. And what are those works that are in the earth of which
the Apostle speaks? Do the words mean no more than "the world and all
that therein is," a phrase so common in Scripture? At first sight it
appears so. But some most ancient manuscripts, instead of "shall be
burned up," read "shall be discovered." Of this the Revised Version
takes note on its margin. From this reading the mind goes to the words
of the Preacher, "God shall bring every work into judgement, with
every hidden thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil" (Eccles.
xii. 14). The sense is thus bound closer with the coming of the day of
the Lord.
_Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of
persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness?_ The Apostle
says more than "are to be dissolved." His word signifies "are being
dissolved." The event is so sure, and the interests involved so
weighty, that he speaks of it as present, that thus he may more
forcibly urge his lesson of preparation. "What manner of persons ought
ye to be?" Christ had supplied the answer, and so St. Peter gives
none: "Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning, and ye
yourselves like unto men looking for their lord" (Luke xii. 25). The
figures imply readiness for any service, most of all, to an Eastern
mind, readiness to set forth on a journey. Such should ever be the
attitude of those who are but sojourners and pilgrims. And by his
words the Apostle intimates how this preparedness should enter into
every relation of the Christian life. The translation says, "in _all_
holy living and godliness"; but in the Greek there is no word for
_all_. Literally the words are "in holy conversations and
godlinesses." In English we could not use words thus. Hence the device
of the translators to come as near to the sense as is possible. But if
we carry with us the thought contained in these plural words, we see
how St. Peter teaches by them that in our daily life and work as well
as in our religious exercises we should be ever watchful, ever ready.
Our life with men and with God should be stamped as "Holiness unto the
Lord." By such a walk we shall keep ourselves apart from sinners, and
be helped thus far to keep away from sin. And the godliness of which
he speaks springs, as he has already taught (i. 6) in this Epistle,
from a patient waiting on the Lord. Thus the whole attitude of the
Christian becomes one of wakeful readiness. He is of those of whom it
is said, "Blessed are those servants whom their lord when he cometh
shall find watching."
_Looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by
reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the
elements shall melt with fervent heat._ The question of the mockers,
"Where is the promise of His coming?" will not disturb those whose
lives are thus made ready. That coming fills their every thought,
moulds every desire, controls and chastens every action. For not only
do they look for it: they long for it, and earnestly desire it. For to
be with Christ is far better. Hence they hear of the melting elements
and the fires of heaven without alarm. With them it is as with the
Hebrew children in the days of Nebuchadnezzar. The fires which others
dread, and by reason of which the heavens dissolve and the elements
melt, will have no power over them save to loose their bonds, to free
them from the burden of the flesh, to further that change from the
natural to the spiritual which St. Paul teaches we must all undergo;
while with them there will be the Son of God. And thus they will
attain to their desire, and become partakers of the Divine nature.
But the translation "earnestly desiring" by no means exhausts the
significance and solemnity of St. Peter's word. The Authorised Version
rendered it "hasting unto the coming of the day of God"; but the word
"unto" is not in the Greek, though the verb means "hastening." The
word is found in the LXX. of Isa. xvi. 5, where the Authorised Version
translates the Hebrew by "hasting righteousness" and the Revised by
"swift to do righteousness." But though a king, as in that passage,
may be said to hasten righteousness by being swift to do it, is there
any sense in which men could be said to hasten the coming of the day
of God? It seems as though Christ intended to set such an aim before
His servants. Before He was crucified He spake that prophetic promise,
"I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me." When He had been
lifted up on the cross and as a testimony to His Godhead, lifted up
from the grave, He gave His commission to the Apostles: "Go ye
therefore and make disciples of all the nations.... Lo, I am with you
alway, even unto the end of the world." He promised His Spirit also to
be their Guide into all truth.
Thus were they sent to be heralds of and labourers for his kingdom;
and one of them has testified to the abundance of the aid bestowed: "I
can do all things through Christ that giveth me power." But he who
thus spake could say to his converts, "Be ye imitators of me, even as
I also am of Christ" (1 Cor. xi. 1). In this way men can lift up
Christ; in this way can they draw men to Him. And to do this by
examples of holy living and godliness is the work which He has
committed to His Church, to let the light of Christian lives shine
before men in such wise that they may be won for Him. And when we see
His kingdom's slow advance, St. Peter's question is turned into a
reproach, "What manner of men ought ye to be?"
_But, according to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness._ All creation was marred at the
Fall. It groaneth and travaileth until now in pain along with the sons
of men. It was made subject unto vanity, but that was by reason of
God, who made it thus subject in hope that it shall be delivered,
along with man, from the bondage of corruption. And that victory was
promised from the first. The seed of the woman shall not always be the
spoil of the serpent. The world was in many ways kept alive to this
thought. A race was promised from whom all nations should be blessed.
God established a kingdom to represent His rule in the world, and at
length Isaiah was inspired to tell of new heavens and a new earth
(Isa. lxv. 17). He too foresaw that this was for a reign of
righteousness, that it pointed to a time when the wickedness of the
wicked had come to an end: "The sun shall be no more thy light by day,
neither the moon by night; for the Lord shall be thy everlasting
light, and as for thy people, they shall all be righteous." And Christ
while on earth endorsed the prophetic word: "I go to prepare a place
for you. I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I
am, there shall My servant be."
Hence St. Peter says, "According to His promise we look forward." And
by using the same he identifies the new heavens and the new earth with
the coming of the day of God. The believer heeds no more the mockers
who ask, "Where is the promise of His coming?" He can look and lift up
his head, assured that his redemption draweth nigh. For his
expectation has been fostered through a life of holy conversation and
godliness, and the assurance of the day of God is firm, for the
kingdom of God is set up within him.
And the consolation of the promise consists largely in the thought
that in the new creation righteousness will dwell, will make its home.
First, there will be Christ the righteous, who is also our
righteousness; and all the hindrances and stumbling-blocks of this
life will be removed. Here the sojourners and pilgrims abide for the
time amid many foes and countless perils; then they will be delivered
even from their own frailties. As their home is new-created, so they
shall become new creatures. So their thought, their prayer, their
struggle, is ever, _Sursum corda_; and day by day they are bound less
to earth and realise more of heaven.
"The distant landscape draws not nigh
For all our gazing, but the soul
That upward looks may still descry
Nearer each day the brightening goal."
XXX
"_BE YE STEDFAST, UNMOVABLE._"
"Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, give
diligence that ye may be found in peace, without spot and
blameless in His sight. And account that the long-suffering of
our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also,
according to the wisdom given to him, wrote unto you; as also in
all _his_ epistles, speaking in them of these things; wherein are
some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and
unstedfast wrest, as _they do_ also the other Scriptures, unto
their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, knowing _these
things_ beforehand, beware lest, being carried away with the
error of the wicked, ye fall from your own stedfastness. But grow
in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
To Him _be_ the glory both now and for ever. Amen."--2 PETER iii.
14-18.
In these solemn closing words the Apostle sums up his exhortations and
warnings. His admonition is of a twofold character. First, he urges
the brethren to strive after stedfastness, but to beware of sinking
into a careless security which may make them an easy prey to false
guides. "Stand fast," he would say, "and be ever watchful against
falling." Then, let your Christian life be one of steady, constant,
temperate progress; let it imitate God's works in nature, which wax,
man sees not how or when, by drawing constantly from the hidden
sources which minister life and increase. Let believers seek thus that
in their lives there may grow from God's seed of faith first the
blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear, to yield some
thirty, some sixty, some a hundredfold, to the praise and glory of
the Lord of the harvest.
_Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, give
diligence that ye may be found in peace, without spot and blameless in
His sight._ The whole passage runs over with Christian affection; a
very working out it is in a believer's life of Christ's teaching, "By
this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye love one
another." Love to the brethren, love to his fellow-apostle, breathes
in every line of these final sentences. Beloved are the Churches,
beloved his fellow-labourer. And he is never weary of repeating that
word "looking for," which marks the true attitude of the Christian
pilgrim: Seeing that ye look for the coming of the day of God. Before
he had said, _We_ look for it; now he brings the lesson nearer home to
every one of them: _Ye_ are looking for these things. Be ye therefore
ready. Give diligence that ye may be found in peace by Christ when He
appears.
Peace is the bond which clasps together the brotherhood of Christ. But
things which need a bond are prone to break asunder, and St. Paul
marks the care which is needed in this matter by using the same word
(σπουδάζοντες) which St. Peter employs here. And his list of
the virtues which make for peace shows how much anxiety is needed:
"With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering forbearing one
another in love, _giving diligence_ to keep the unity of the Spirit in
the bond of peace" (Eph. iv. 2). Such are the graces to be fostered by
those who look for the Lord's coming. The Hebrew knew no nobler word
to use for blessing than "Peace be with you." Christ at His parting
says to His disciples, "My peace I leave with you; My peace I give
unto you." It embraces reconciliation with God and union with the
brethren; it is a treasure worthy of all striving for, and when
attained it passeth all understanding.
They who are looking for Christ will strive to become like Him. Christ
came down from heaven and assumed humanity that His brethren might
take courage for this lofty aim. The Apostle (1 Peter i. 19) has
spoken of Him as a lamb without spot and blemish, and this ideal
purity he now sets before the brethren. For he knows that to strive
after it will sunder them from the corruptions of those false teachers
whom he has called "spots and blemishes" (ii. 13) in the Christian
society. Instead of denying the Master that bought them, they will be
hearkening constantly for His voice. Thus will they become clean
through the word which He speaks unto them (John xv. 3). For His voice
is ever helpful; and abiding in Him, they will bring forth much fruit.
_And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation._ The
mockers had made the delay of God's day the subject of their scoffing.
"It tarries," said they, "because it is never coming." Their speech
was, in fact, a challenge: "If it is to come, let it come now." The
Christian is of another mind. His heart is full of thankfulness for
the mercy which allows time for that diligence which his preparation
demands. St. Paul expresses this feeling concerning God's dealings
with himself: "For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me as chief
might Jesus Christ show forth all His long-suffering, for an example
of them which should hereafter believe on Him unto eternal life" (1
Tim. i. 16). And the opportunity thus granted him that Apostle used to
the full; yet ever mindful was he not only from whom was the mercy,
but also from whom came the power which was with him in his diligence:
"I laboured more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace
of God which was with me." And in another place (Phil. i. 22), though
he longs to be released from life and to be with Christ, he recognises
that there may be a Divine purpose in delaying _that_ day of God also,
that to live in the flesh may be the fruit of his labour; and if this
be so, he is content.
For the believer thinks not only of his own salvation and his own
opportunities. The Christian's faith is not selfish. He beholds how
large a part of the world is not yet subject unto Christ, and owns in
the delay of the day of the Lord a wealth of abundant grace, offering
salvation still to all who will accept it.
_Even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given
to him, wrote unto you._ Some, who have restricted the allusion of St.
Peter here to the "long-suffering" of God, have thought that the
Epistle to the Romans is intended. That letter is the only one in
which St. Paul speaks generally on this subject. In ii. 4 he asks,
"Despisest thou the riches of God's goodness, and forbearance, and
long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to
repentance?" and, again, asks another question: "What if God, willing
to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much
long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction, and that He
might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy?" (ix.
22). Others, considering the great subject of the day of God to be
specially present to St. Peter's mind, have found parallels in the two
epistles to the Thessalonians. It has also been pointed out that
Silvanus was with St. Paul when these letters were written, and that
through him (1 Peter v. 12) their import might have been brought to
the knowledge of the Asiatic congregations. But we know too little of
the intercommunication of the Churches of Europe and Asia to arrive at
a conclusion, while the definite statement "wrote unto you" seems
certainly to refer to some letter addressed to the Churches of Asia.
Among these, beside the Galatians, were the Ephesians and the
Colossians. Reference has already been made to the way in which St.
Paul speaks in his first epistle to Timothy of the long-suffering of
God towards himself. Would the letter to the bishop of Ephesus be held
too personal for its contents in some form to be imparted to the whole
Church? Then in the Ephesian epistle such a passage as ii. 4-7 may
well have been in St. Peter's thoughts: "God, being rich in mercy, ...
quickened us together with Christ, ... that in the ages to come He
might show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness towards us in
Jesus Christ," or Col. i. 19, 20: "It was the good pleasure of the
Father that in Him should all the fulness dwell, and through Him to
reconcile all things unto Himself, having made peace through the blood
of His cross." But there is no reason from St. Peter's words to assume
that he is referring to an extant epistle. He may have known of a
letter to the brethren in Asia of which we have no trace. Of one thing
we may be sure: that his words had a definite sense for those to whom
they were written.
But his reference to St. Paul has much interest for other reasons.
Among these brethren there would be current many memories of the great
Apostle to whose labour the formation of these Churches was chiefly
due. His name would for them add weight to St. Peter's admonitions.
The mention of the wisdom Divinely given to him would remind the
Galatians at least how foolish had been their doubts and waverings in
bygone days. While, as they knew how one apostle had withstood the
other when he saw that he was to be blamed, such words as these from
St. Peter would come with double force. Most of all, while the
teachers of error were perverting St. Paul's language for an occasion
to the flesh, it was good that the Churches should be reminded that he
ever taught men to strive after lives without spot and blemish and had
given no licence to the excesses for which his words were offered as a
warrant.
_As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things._ From
this it appears that it is the whole drift of St. Peter's letter, its
warnings as well as its counsels, which is in harmony with the words
of St. Paul. But we need not assume that St. Peter's readers were
acquainted with all the fellow-Apostle's writings. He is telling them
what his own experience has proved.
_Wherein are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and
unstedfast wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own
destruction._ This passage is noteworthy as the only place in the New
Testament in which the writings of the Apostles are regarded as
ranking with the Scriptures of the old covenant. Everywhere else
"Scripture" means the Old Testament. Yet, as the Apostles were passing
away, it must have begun to be felt that a time was coming when great
authority would attach to their words, as of persons who had seen the
Lord. St. Peter has just spoken of the wisdom which was given to St.
Paul. That wisdom came from the same source as the illumination of the
prophets; and it is not unnatural, after such an allusion, that his
writings should be classed with those of old time. Both were
subjected to the same treatment. So perversely had the Old Testament
been read that when He came of whom it spake--came to those who held
the volume in their hands, and who regarded it with much show of
reverence--He was not recognised. His people had blinded their eyes.
Just so was it faring with that "freedom" of which St. Paul had said
so much to the Galatian Church. Wrested from its true meaning, it was
put forward as if it gave warranty and encouragement for the life of
the libertine.
That many things in the writings of St. Paul are difficult to
comprehend is beyond question. He more than any of the New Testament
writers works out the principles of Christ's teaching in their
consequences. He deals most fully with the great questions which
circle round the doctrine of redemption; with election and
justification; with the casting off of God's ancient people and the
certainty of their restoration; with the objects of faith, the things
hoped for, but as yet unseen; with the resurrection of the body and
the changes which shall pass upon it; and with the nature of the life
to come. He of all men realised to the full the length, and breadth,
and depth, and height of the love of God, and spake in his letters of
much which passeth knowledge.
But in St. Peter's word (δυσνόητα) "hard to be understood"
there appears to be the thought that men's difficulties arise in part
because they look on these subjects as studies for the intellect
(νοῦς) alone, and fail for this reason to attain to the best
knowledge which is given to man. It is of God's order that for the
lessons which come from Him He also imparts the power of true
discernment. Those who approach the study of Christian truth as a cold
intellectual exercise, in the comprehension of which heart and soul
bear no part, will go away empty, and as dark almost as they come.
The "wresting" of which St. Peter here speaks may come either of the
misuse of single terms, just as the apostles of licence put a wrong
sense, for their own ends, on St. Paul's "liberty," or it may be the
effect of severing a lesson from its occasion and its context. Such
perversion also happened to St. Paul's doctrine. To those who, like
the Galatians, had been drawn back to an undue estimate of the legal
ordinances of Judaism, the Apostle, as a corrective, had exalted faith
far above outward observances; and there soon arose those who under
his language sheltered themselves in a dissolute Antinomianism. The
same befell in later days when Agricola and the Solifidians perverted
Luther's teaching of justification by faith. And when such misleading
guides find hearers who are "ignorant and unstedfast," the false
lessons, which always have the frailties of humanity to back them,
gain many adherents. To the thoughtless such teaching is seductive,
and is unsuspected because it puts on a semblance of affinity with
truth. Hence grow those ruptures of the Christian body, those heresies
which lead to destruction (ii. 1).
_Ye therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware lest,
being carried away with the error of the wicked, ye fall from your own
stedfastness._ In the first chapter the Apostle has already (ver. 12)
addressed the converts as those who knew the things of which he wrote
and needed only to be put in mind, who were established in the truth,
and not to be classed with the ignorant and unstedfast. Yet for all
there is need of watchfulness. The lies which are abroad clothe
themselves in the garb of truth, wresting the Scriptures.
"Therefore," says he, "guard yourselves" (φυλάσσεσθε). The
word is not only a notice against dangers from without, but an
admonition to watchfulness within. The wandering of the lawless may
beguile; to many it has attractions. But if they join that company and
follow with them, the end will be a shipwreck of the whole Christian
life. The verb (ἐκπίπτειν) is that which we find (Acts
xxvii. 26, 29) in the description of the wreck at Melita, when the
sailors feared lest they should be cast ashore on rocky ground. It is
against a moral peril of even more terrible character that St. Peter
warns the Churches; and the contrast is most instructive which is
pictured in the two words by which he defines error and stedfastness.
The former (πλάνη) betokens a ceaseless wandering, a life
without a plan, a voyage without rudder or compass, every stage made
in doubt, uncertainty, and peril; the other word στηρυγμὸς) tells of
firmness, fixity, and strength, and comes fitly into the exhortation
of that Apostle whose charge was, "When thou art converted,
strengthen" (στήριξον) "thy brethren" (Luke xxii. 32). "This
stedfastness," he says, "is now your own" (ἰδίου); "barter it not away
for any illusions of wayward error."
_But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ._ As if to attest his own stedfastness; he ends as he had
begun. "Grace unto you and peace be multiplied," was the opening
greeting of his first letter, to which in his second he adds, "through
the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." But there is great
significance in the way in which St. Peter's words hang together in
this verse. The structure of the sentence shows that he intends to say
not only that grace is the gift of Jesus Christ, but that from Him
comes also all knowledge that is worthy of the name, a lesson most
fitting and most necessary in those days, when teachers, who claimed
to be possessors of a special higher knowledge, were denying Jesus
altogether both as Master and as Judge. "Root yourselves in Christ,"
is the apostolic charge; "seek His help; walk by His light. Thus only
can your power increase; thus only can your way be safe."
_To Him be the glory both now and for ever. Amen._ This is the end of
the Apostles labour: that Christ may be glorified in His servants;
that they may know Him here as the Way, the Truth, and the Life,
hereafter as the High-priest of His people, but deigning to become the
First-born among many brethren. For those who find Him here and there
also eternity will be too short to show forth all His praise.
_Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury._
_SEVENTH SERIES--1893-4._
=THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE.=
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=The Second Book of Kings=
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_ST. MARK_
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_THE EPISTLES OF PETER_
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