Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/epistlesofstpete00lumb_0 "r \ / THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE EDITED BY THE REV. W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A.,~ LL.D. Editor of u The Expositor ” THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER J. RAWSON LUMBY, D.D. NEW YORK A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON 51 EAST TENTH STREET 1893 THE EXPOSITOR’S BIBLE Crown 8 VO) cloth , price $i 50 c. each voL ColossSans, By A. Maclaren, D.D. St. Mark, By Very Rev. the Dean of Armagh. Genesis. By Prof. Marcus Dods, D.D. First Series, 1887-8. 1 Samuel. Galatians, By Prof. G. G. Findlay, B.A. The Pastoral Epistles. By Rev. A. Plummer, D.D. Isaiah 1 . — xxxix. By G. A. Smith, M.A. Vol. I. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Fourth Series, 1890-1. Leviticus. 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. 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. 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. 1 Kings. By Ven. Archdeacon Farrar. Philippians. By Principal Rainy, D.D. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. By Prof. W. F. Adeney, M.A. Sixth Series, 1892-3. Joshua. 2 Kings. By Ven. Archdeacon Farrar. Romans. By H. C. G. Moule, M.A. 1 Chronicles. By Prof. W. H. Bennett, M.A 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 Corinthians. By James Denney, B.D. Numbers. By R. A. Watson, D.D. The Psalms. By A. Maclaren, D.D. Vol. III. THE FIRST EPISI'LE OF ST. PETER I THE WORK OF THE TRINITY IN MAN’S ELECTION AND SALVATION THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER BY J. RAWSON LUMBY, D.D. LADY MARGARET PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE NEW YORK A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON 51 EAST TENTH STREET 1893 PREFACE HE 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 Chris- tians 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 mart}Tdom took place about the middle of the second century, has repeated quotations from this Epistle. It was known also to Papias (f 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 attri- buted to Justin Martyr (f 165), while the “Shepherd” of Hermas, written at Rome, testifies that it was known there also at about the same date. The in- clusion 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 V VI PREFACE and Theodotus in Syria ail knew of and cited this Epistle. The Latin Church of Africa accepted it, as we can see from a few quotations in Tertullian (f 218) and a greater number in the writings of Cyprian (f 258). In the Alexandrian Church it is often quoted by both Clement (f 218) and Origen (f 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 Irenaeus, 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 mis- sionary labours of St. Paul had been specially exerted, PREFACE vii where the converts were in a peculiar sense his u little children.” Now in this first letter of St. Peter there is unques- tionably 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. Chris- tians 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 wanton- ness, and to be ever looking forward to the coming of the Lord. In like manner there will be found numerous pas- sages 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 PREFACE viii 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 pub- lish 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 PREFACE IX 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 (i 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 assur- ance 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 X PREFACE 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 peculiarit}', 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 PREFACE xi 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 : li Fie 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 right- eousness, 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 associa- tions meeting us constantly, and with the unbroken consensus of antiquity in favour of St. Peter’s author- ship, we shall not lightly allow speculations about hypo- thetical differences between the teaching of the Apostles xii • PREFACE 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 dvriXeyo/jbeva, “ 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 destruc- tion 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 Caesarea, 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 im- probability 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 PREFACE xiii found in the writings of Ephrem Syrus (f 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 Laodicsea (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 ito 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 XIV PREFACE 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 in- fluenced the opinion of the Laodicsean 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 ” (/ w6ol } i. 1 6), the groundless, baseless fancies, of the early heretics in the same manner which we find in St. Paul (cf. i Tim. i. 4; iv. 7). The same greed and covetousness ( TrXeove^ia ) 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. n). 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 PREFACE xv 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 u 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 author- ship. 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 5k// 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 XVi PREFACE 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 ” ( [i/jLiraLfCTcu ) “ 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 compo- sition. 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 some- what 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 ; PREFACE XVII 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 (i 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 (7 rapovaia), 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 Laodicaean 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 sub- sequent 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 Laodicaea. Time has swept that away, but, while doing so, has left us the result thereof ; and the accept- b xviii PREFACE ance 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 authenti- cated and of such standing to be disturbed or over- ruled. And we ourselves can observe some points still which draw to the same conclusion. The letter har- monises 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. Plence our Lord is represented as having no sense of pain at that time. He is said to have been deserted by His u 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 PREFACE xix 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 mediaeval 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 I JO 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 1 7 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 xxi xxii CONTENTS VII PAGE CHRISTIANS AS PILGRIMS IN THE WORLD . . .83 VIII CHRISTIAN SERVICE 95 IX CHRISTIAN WIVES AND HUSBANDS .... 107 X THEY WHO BLESS ARE BLESSED II9 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 1 77 XV THE RIGHTEOUS HAVE JUDGEMENT HERE . . .189 XVI HOW TO TEND THE FLOCK . 201 CONTENTS xxiii XVII PAGE EE CLOTHED WITH HUMILITY 21 3 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 . . . 27 1 XXIII THE LORD KNOWETH HOW TO DELIVER . . . 283 XXIV “ BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL KNOW THEM 99 . . 297 XXV ALTOGETHER BECOME ABOMINABLE • 313 XXIV CONTENTS XXVI AS WERE THE DAYS OF NOAH .... XXVII JUDGEMENT TO COME XXVIII THE LORD IS NOT SLACK XXIX “WHAT MANNER OF PERSONS OUGHT YE TO BE ? ” XXX BE YE STEDFAST, UNMOVABLE .... • 325 • 335 • 345 • 355 • 365 I THE WORK OF THE TRINITY IN MAN'S ELECTION AND SALVATION (l 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.’ 5 — I Peter i. i, 2. “TTTHEN thou art converted, strengthen thy VV brethren” (Luke xxii. 32), was the Lord’s in- junction 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. 3 4 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 spokes- man of the twelve, he seems made for a guide and leader of men. What perhaps we should not have ex- pected 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. i. i, 2.] THE WORK OF THE TRINITY 5 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 disper- sion 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. 1 3) had wrought the will of the Gentiles, walking in lasciviousness, lusts, and abominable idolatries. To these too since their conversion the name “ disper- 6 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER sion ” 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 spread- ing 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 u 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 i. I, 2.] THE WORK OF THE TRINITY 7 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 assur- ance of newly quickened faith the first Christians found no room for intellectual difficulties, or whether the spirit within ithem 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 8 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 thai 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 i. I, 2.] THE WORK OF THE TRINITY 9 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 obedi- ence 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 con- tent 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. Con- cerning 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 10 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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, AdonaiSy 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 con- stantly 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 i. I, 2.] THE WORK OF THE TRINITY II ye holy, for I am holy,” is a fundamental precept of both Old and New Testaments ; and it is a continual admoni- tion, 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. Flence 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 12 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 Travra oaa eyei 6 irarfjp marks the boundless supply, the singular €/c rov ifiov Xrjii'^reTcu 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 announce- ment 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 i. I, 2.] THE WORK OF THE TRINITY 13 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 con- cerning 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. H THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER Thus does the Apostle set forth his practical, profit- able 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 disper- sion 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 multi- plied. 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 sancti- fied. 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 HE A VENLY INHERITANCE i5 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 revela- tion 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.” — I Peter i. 3-9. UT 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 2 17 iS THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER been the desolation of his soul until the Easter morn- ing’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, u 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, i. 3-9.] THE HEAVENLY INHERITANCE 9 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 conse- quences 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. Chris- 20 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER tians 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 earthty 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 with- out. 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 pos- sessions 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 amaran- thine, 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. >• 3 - 9 -] THE HEAVENLY INHERITANCE 21 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, els v/jlcls 1 — on your behalf ; for }^our 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 u 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. For the present life is only a preparation- time. Ere we are ready to depart we must pass through a proba- 1 The better reading, looking back to the rj/^ds of ver. 3, appears to be ds ijfids, and it is well supported. 22 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER tion. 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 ” (ev) “ 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 com- prehend : “ When I am weak, then I am strong ” ; i- 3-9*] THE HEAVENLY INHERITANCE “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 ot the last time, about which he has just spoken, a realisa- tion 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, 1 it is true, seems to imply that there must always be the need for our chasten- ing. 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. 1 E6 otov ecrTL — if need be, as need there is. 24 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 . 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 (7 rouclXoi) 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 i- 3-9-] THE HEAVENLY INHERITANCE 25 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 26 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 thanks- givings 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. Ill THE UNITY AND GLORIOUSNESS OF THE FLAN OF REDEMPTION 27 Ill THE UNITY AND GLORIOUSNESS OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION 11 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.” — i Peter i. 10-12. HE 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 29 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 30 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 ^fruit- ful 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 b}' His covenants with the patriarchs. Then the wider scope of mercy was pro- claimed 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. i. 10-12.] UNITY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION 31 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 adver- saries 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 32 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 chastise- ments 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 i. 10-12.] UNITY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION 33 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 3 34 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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. Pie does not use the ordinal words by which the personal sufferings of Christ would generally be expressed, but he says rather, (i the suffer- ings 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 : i. IO-I2.] UNITY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION 35 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 dis- pensation. One here and there -had felt, as Malachi (hi. 1), that the Lord whom the}' 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 f 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 36 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 Iiis 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 i. 10-12.] UNITY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION 37 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 ascen- sion, though they were present on that occasion also. To Cornelius and to Peter angels were made messengers, 38 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 1 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 v/hich manifests its noblest features in showing mercy and pity. 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.” 1 7 rapaKJj\j/aL 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). IV I HE CHRISTIAN'S IDEAL, AND THE STEPS THEREUNTO 39 THE CHRISTIAN'S IDEAL, AND THE STEPS THEREUNTO 11 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.” — I Peter i. 13-21. HE 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 42 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER forward to without awakening a sense of corresponding duties, and for these he would not have them un- prepared. 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, u 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 bride- groom ma}' 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 excite- ment. 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 quick- ened activity some have been found with whom free- dom degenerated into licence, and emotion took the place of true religious feeling. The Jewish converts in the provinces of Asia might be tempted to de- spise those who still clung to the ancient faith, while some of those who had been won from heathenism i. 13-21.] THE CHRISTIAN’S IDEAL 43 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 progres- sive. 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 44 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 complete- ness 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 them- selves 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 i. 13-21.] THE CHRISTIAN’S IDEAL 45 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 y 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 com- mand 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 superscrip- 46 THE EPISTLES OE ST. PETER tion can be traced, shall again be revealed in full clearness, and the believer purged from all the defile- ments 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 ij 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 wa}^ is steep, but they will not be unattended. What fear then of failing to attain the goal ? For the Father will i. 13-21.] THE CHRISTIAN’S IDEAL 47 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 perform- ance, 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 occur- rences are of little account . 1 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 1 . 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. 48 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER think lightly of peril which surrounds them there. The great preservative from this danger is to revive con- stantly the thought of the great things which have been done for us. Be in fear of the world and its beguile- ments, 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. But in the hearts of men the world and its allure- ments 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. Pre- judices 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. Genera- tion after generation has been involved in the conse- quences 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 i. 13-21.] THE CHRISTIAN’S IDEAL 49 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 bloody 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 overflow- ing 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 4 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 5o 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 resur- rection 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 Chris- tians. 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. i. 13-21.] THE CHRISTIAN'S IDEAL 5i 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-da}^ 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 testi- mony 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. OF ill ur V CHRISTIAN BROTHERHOOD: ITS CHARACTER AND DUTIES 53 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. 5 ’ — I Peter i. 22-ii. 3. ‘HAT holy lives have been lived in solitude none would venture to dispute, and that devout Chris- tians 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. 55 56 THE EPISTLES OF ST PETER Christ’s intention was to found a Church, a com- munion, a brotherhood, and all His language looks that way : “ One is your Master, and all ye are brethren ” ; il So let your light shine before men that they may see your good w’orks 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. io) ; “ Let brotherly love continue” (Heb. xiii. i). 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 (i 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, i. 22-ii. 3.] CHRISTIAN BROTHERHOOD 57 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 lias 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 stead- fastness 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 seedj 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 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 i. 22-ii. 3.] CHRISTIAN BROTHERHOOD 59 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 1 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 : u 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 th ' 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 6 o THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 i. 22-ii. 3.] CHRISTIAN BROTHERHOOD 61 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 pro- bability 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. Pie 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 62 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 y 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 i. 22-ii. 3.] CHRISTIAN BROTHERHOOD 6 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 “sup- planter ” 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 undis- turbed, while those who indulge in it are called back- biters (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 pre- rogative of God Himself, and passing sentence where he can have no sure knowledge of the acts which he judges. 6 4 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER “ Evil-speaking/’ says one of the Apostolic Fathers , 1 “ 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. 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 inclina- tions, 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 Hermas, Mand. ii. 2. i. 22-ii. 3*] CHRISTIAN BROTHERHOOD 65 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. u 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 5 66 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER suffering after the fashion of the Asian converts. But the Psalmist’s words are full of teaching. God’s train- ing is empirical. Spiritual experience comes before spiritual knowledge. Well does St. Bernard say of this lesson, though his words pass the power of transla- tion, “ 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 VI THE PRIESTHOOD OF BELIEVERS “ Unto whom coming 1 , 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 dis- believe, 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 priest- hood, 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.” — I Peter ii. 4-10. L EAVING 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 69 1° THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 f 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, ii. 4-10.] THE PRIESTHOOD OF BELIEVERS 71 had failed to impress the people with the signs of His advent; and so they disowned Him, and cried, “We have no king but Caesar.” 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 1 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. 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 — 1 II apa 6eu) ckKektov 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. 72 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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. io). 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 }^our 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. i), 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. 1 5). But the Apostles could add to the exhortations of the prophets and psalmists a ground of blessed assur- ii. 4-10.] THE PRIESTHOOD OF BELIEVERS 73 ance, could promise how these living sacrifices, these offerings of praise, had gained a certainty of acceptance through Jesus Christ : “ Through Him we have bold- ness 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 con- science 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 quota- tion 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 74 THE EPISTLES OF St. PETER 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 . 1 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 . 2 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. 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 trea- sures 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 1 For illustration of what is here said, Matt. xxi. 16 may be com- pared 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. 2 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. ii. 4-10.] THE PRIESTHOOD OF BELIEVERS 7 S words, For you therefore ivkich 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 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 76 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 condem- nation. 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 ii. 4-10.] THE PRIESTHOOD OF BELIEVERS 77 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 dis- persion, 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, il 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 78 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 man- kind should be fulfilled : “ I have published righteous- ness 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 con- gregation ” (Psalm xl. 9, io). These were the excel- lencies which the Psalmist had found in God’s service, and his heart ran over with desire to impart the know- ledge 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 mefcy 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 ii. 4-10.] THE PRIESTHOOD OF BELIEVERS 79 men walk thus \yll 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 gain- sayers 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. VI1 CHRISTIANS AS PILGRIMS IN THE WORLD 81 6 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.” — i Peter ii. 11-17. HE 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 ” (i Cor. xiii.). In classic speech it implies more of the 84 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 : u 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 Chris- tian 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, u 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 v/ords 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 ii. u-17.] CHRISTIANS AS PILGRIMS IN THE WORLD 85 for him who walks to turn round and to turn back.. The next step shows captivation. The man stands in the wa}' 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 1 wherein they speak against you as evil-doers , they may by your good works y 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 86 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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, u 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 ii. n-17.] CHRISTIANS AS PILGRIMS IN THE WORLD 87 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 : u 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 . Chris- tians, 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 88 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 through- out 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 : u Thou wouldest have no power against Me except it were given thee from above ” (John xix. n) ; and St. Paul enforces obedience to authorities equally with St. Peter : “He that resisteth the power withstandeth the ordi- nance 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 ii. 11-17.] CHRISTIANS AS PILGRIMS IN THE WORLD 89 the form of the Apostle’s words applies. The king is the Caesar ; 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 op- ponents 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 90 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 expres- sive 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 ex- hibited in the lives of many such excesses as made ii. n-17.] CHRISTIANS AS PILGRIMS IN THE WORLD 91 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 wicked- ness } 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 observ- ance 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 92 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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. J iL. VIII CHRISTIAN SERVICE 93 Vill 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 accept- able, 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 thatjudgeth righteously; who His own self bare pur 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. ”• — I Peter ii. 18-25. HE 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 95 9 6 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER Arimathaea 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 y 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 burden- some 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 ” (l 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 ii. 18-25.] CHRISTIAN SERVICE 97 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 con- templates the possession by Israelites of persons who were bought with their money. Hence we find no remonstrance against slave-holding in the New Testa- ment 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 7 9 8 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 off 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 ” (i 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 ii. 18-25.] CHRISTIAN SERVICE 99 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 100 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 him- self had seen and heard when Jesus was taken and crucified : Who, when He was reviled , reviled not again ; when He suffered , threatened not , hut 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 ex- horted 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 charac- teristic 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 ii. 18-25.] CHRISTIAN SERVICE 101 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, u 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 analog}' 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 102 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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, u 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 ii. 18-25.] CHRISTIAN SERVICE 103 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 acccomplish 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 IX CHRISTIAN WIVES AftD HUSBANDS 11 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 out- ward 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 subjec- tion 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.” — I Peter iii. 1-7. T HE Apostle gave at first (ii. 13) the rule of Chris- tian 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 107 o8 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 Cruci- fixion 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. iii. 1-7.] CHRISTIAN WIVES AND HUSBANDS 109 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 heathen- ism. 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 IIO THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 net. For the word direidovvTGs, by which they are described, is the same that is used in ii. x8 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 dis- obedience 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 hus- bands 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 ( eiroiTTeveiv ) 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 Hi. 1-7.] CHRISTIAN WIVES AND HUSBANDS hi 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 un- complainingly 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 y 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 1 12 THE EPISTLES 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 misrender- ing in the Authorised Version, u Who shall change our vile bod}'” (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 con- demnation. 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 w.omanly 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 oj the heart , in the in- corruptible 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 iii. 1-7.] CHRISTIAN WIVES AND HUSBANDS 113 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 strength- ened 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. 'Fhe 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 f adorned themselves y being in subjection to their oivn husbands: as Sarah obeyed Abraliam } calling him lord . A Scripture ex- ample 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 disappoint- ment 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 8 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 114 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 pro- mises 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 {avaarpocprj) 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 ever} r - thing 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 . iii. I-7-] CHRISTIAN WIVES AND HUSBANDS 1 1 5 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 un- believing 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 accord- ing to knowledge. The knowledge of which St. Peter speaks is not religious, godly, Christian knowledge, but that foresight and thoughtfulness which the re- sponsibility of the husband calls for. He will under- stand 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 adula- tion nor foolish fondness, apt to foster pride and conceit, but will be inspired by the sense that in God’s creation TIIE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 1 16 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 neavenly inheritance, and such par- ticipation 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 hus- band 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. THEY WHO BLESS ARE BLESSED 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 revil- ing 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.” — i Peter iii. 8-16. HE Apostle now ceases from his special admoni- tions, 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 119 120 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 u 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 rejoic- ing with them that do rejoice and weeping with them that weep. For the 7 TaOrj/juara 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, iii. 8-16.] THEY WHO BLESS ARE BLESSED 1 2 1 as in the story of Joseph (Gen. xliii. 30) and elsewhere (1 Kings iii. 2 6), 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 Man asses (ver. 7) to express the tender- ness 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. 1 1). 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 con- trariwise 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. 122 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER It is as though he urged them thus : Ye were afore- time enemies of God ; but ye have been made par- takers of His heavenly calling (Heb. iii. i), 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, iii.8-16.] THEY WHO BLESS ARE BLESSED 123 a desire to make life 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 one- ness ; 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. 124 THE EPISTLES OF ST . PETER 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, u 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 u zealots” for Him. Let there be nothing half-hearted in their service, and its power iii. 8 -i 6 .] THEY WHO BLESS ARE BLESSED 125 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 y 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 con- verts was one of heaviness through manifold tempta- tions. 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 126 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 thg 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 i the qualities of a better fellow-man These are the enemies of the cross of Christ. * iii.8-i6.] THEY WHO BLESS ARE BLESSED 127 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. 128 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 ex- hortation, “ 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 fear- less 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 iii.8-16.] THEY WHO BLESS ARE BLESSED 129 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. 9 XI THE REWARDS OF SUFFERING FOR WELL-DOING 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.” — I Peter iii. 17-22. HE 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 134 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 faith- ful 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 cor- ruption 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 iii. 17-22.] REWARDS OF SUFFERING FOR WELL-DOING 135 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 un- alterable 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 ivill 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 1 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 pur- pose 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 1 The LXX. translators use the word co very frequently to translate such expressions as “ to delight in,” “ to have pleasure in.” Cf. Deut. xxi. 14; I Sam. xviii. 22; 1 Kings x. 9. 136 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER ever so pure, their purposes ever so lofty, u 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 com- mend 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 ? iii. 17-22.] REWARDS OF SUFFERING FOR WELL-DOING 137 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. 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 disobedicnt } when the long- suffering of God waited in the days of Noah . At this 138 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER point we come upon a twofold line of interpretation, occasioned by the difficulty which constantly arises of deciding whether 7rvevjbLa — u 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 destruc- tion 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 com- pleted in His crucifixion. The sinners before the Flood iii. 17-22.] REWARDS OF SUFFERING FOR WELL-DOING 139 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 1 expounded them of the preaching of ChrisPs Spirit through the ministry of the patriarch. For the main argument with which St. Peter is dealing these applica- tions, 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 applica- tion to Noah, the example is a powerful one. His sufferings must have been manifold. The long time between the threatened judgement and its accomplish- ment 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 1 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. 140 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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. 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 6f 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 patri- arch’s sufferings St. Peter has found an apt parallel to the life of these Asian Christians : the same god- less surroundings ; the same opposition and mockery ; the same need for steadfast faith. But if rightly Hi. 17-22.] REWARDS OF SUFFERING FOR WELL-DOING 14 1 pondered, the Old Testament lesson is rich in teach- ing. 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 mes- senger 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 wnen 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 142 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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, u 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 iii. 17-22.] REWARDS OF SUFFERING FOR WELL-DOING 143 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 renew- ing 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. 1 rue 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 144 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER religious condition and attitude of him who has ex- perienced 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 eVcpcoT^/xa “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 iii. 17-22.] REWARDS OF SUFFERING FOR WELL-DOING 145 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 bring- ing 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 ; Fie 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 xo 146 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 1HE LESSONS OF SUFFERING * 4 1 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, carous- ings, 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.” — I Peter iv. 1-6. I T 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 persecu- tion of a Saul of Tarsus, we can see that in many cases the better the Jew, the more would he feel him- self 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 *49 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER ISO 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 b}^ an inward power ; the armour of light and of righteousness is the equip- ment 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 conse- crate Himself to all good for the love of His people. iv. 1 - 6 .] THE LESSONS OF SUFFERING 151 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 abhor- rence 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 Him- self 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 trium- phantly, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” I 1 or he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sm. God intends it to be so, and the earnest Christian 1 52 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER strives with ail 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, u 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. iv. 1-6.] THE LESSONS OF SUFFERING 153 That ye no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh to the lusts oj men, hut 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. n). 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 154 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 ” ; u And all ye are brethren ” ; “ Love your neigh- bour 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 iv. 1 - 6 .] THE LESSONS OF SUFFERING 155 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 ( deXrj/jia ) 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 (/ SouXrjjma ) 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 know- ledge 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 y winebibbings , revellings } carous- ingSy 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 like- ness 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 degrada- tion 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 156 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 y 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 iv. i-6.] THE LESSONS OF SUFFERING 157 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 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 158 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 Vine- dresser 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 ques- tioning 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 judge- ment 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 compas- sion 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 y 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 preach- ing the Gospel to sinners by His dispensations from iv. 1-6.] THE LESSONS OF SUFFERING 5*9 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 i6o THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 161 II 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, speak- ing 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.” — I Peter iv. 7—1 1 . UT 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 warn- ing 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, u Yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry ” (Heb. x. 37). 164 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 mis- taken 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. n), 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 rjyyuce, “ 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 iv. 7-1 1.] CHRISTIAN SERVICE FOR GOD’S GLORY 165 change of form or substance. The Christian dispensa- tion, 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, (i 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 disorder^, 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 quiet- ness 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 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 1 66 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 ail 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 Munster and other parts of Westphalia ! And in our own land both at that time and sub- sequently 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 seven- fold 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, iv. 7-1 1.] CHRISTIAN SERVICE FOR GOD’S GLORY 167 however, will not be concerned with such special duties. But all will pray, and so to prayer he applies his pre- cept. 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. 13J, 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 ea:ch made THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 1 68 visible through the one below it. Here, too, love monies as the climax ; and the Revised V ersion 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 con- verts 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 iv. 7-1 1.] CHRISTIAN SERVICE EOR GOD’S GLORY 169 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 prac- tically set no limit to the extension of pardon to the repentant. Thus taught, the Apostle uses the noble word aydirrj 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 enter- tained 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 170 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 Phoebe, 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 Narcis- sus, 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 to- gether 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. i) 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 iv. 7-1 1.] CHRISTIAN SERVICE FOR GOD’S GLORY 171 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 %api C| THE RIGHTEOUS HA VE JUDGEMENT HERE 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.” — I Peter iv. 1 5 — 1 9- HE 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 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 009, “as.” The first three concern crimes of which the laws of any land would naturally take cognisance. “Evil-doer” was the Christ. 189 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 190 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 busy- bodies” (2 Thess. iii. 1 1), and to Timothy of those who are u 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 iv. 15-19.] THE RIGHTEOUS HAVE JUDGEMENT HERE 191 against us,” says Justin Martyr, “is that we are Chris- tians”; 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 the)^ 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 192 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 : u 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 ” (i 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 chastise- ment 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 sanc- tuary ” (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. iv. 15-19.] THE RIGHTEOUS HAVE JUDGEMENT HERE 193 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 for- getful 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 13 194 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 (<; pavecrcu ). 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 iv. 15-19.] THE RIGHTEOUS HARE JUDGEMENT HERE 195 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 com- mend My spirit ” (Luke xxiii. 46) ; and on these he builds his final exhortation, which contains within it con- solation in abundance. The test of the faithful is his perfect trust. “ Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him ” (Job xiii. 1 5), 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 196 THE EPISTLES OE ST. PETER 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, u 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 ac- cording 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 iv. 15-19.] THE RIGHTEOUS HAVE JUDGEMENT HERE 197 back on the path where God has led him he is con- vinced of the unwisdom of his questioning, and cries out, u 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 G :*d 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 1 99 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.” — I Peter v. 1-4. T. 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 201 202 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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. 1 5-28) 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 certaim 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 V. 1 - 4 .] HOW TO TEND THE FLOCK 203 himself on the level of those to whom he speaks : “ I, who am a fellow-elder, exhort you.” He has strong claims to he 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 204 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 v. 1 - 4 .] HOW TO TEND THE FLOCK 205 clauses, which tell us how the elder’s duty may be rightly discharged, and against what perils and tempta- tions 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 b}^ 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 en- dorsed 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 206 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 repre- sented, 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 ioy 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 '• i-4] HOW TO TEND THE FLOCK 207 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 covetous- ness 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 spirit 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 faith- ful 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 Pie 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 ? 208 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 V. I -4-] HOW TO TEND THE FLOCK 209 showing thyself an ensample of good works ” (Titus if 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 14 210 THE EPISTLES OF ST PETER His servants, then, He will take account of the wilful- ness 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 know- ledge, 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 mere}'. 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 21 1 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.”— i Peter v. 5-7. AVING 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. 213 214 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 sur- roundings, 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 v. 5 - 7 -] BE CLOTHED WITH HUMILITY 215 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 u 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 2l6 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 ( yirepi^avoi ) by which these haughty ones are de- scribed 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 v - 5-7-] BE CLOTHED WITH HUMILITY 217 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 : u 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 pos- sessors 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 218 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 r - 5-7-] BE CLOTHED WITH HUMILITY 219 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). 220 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 fails on them as the dev/ 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 221 XVIII THROUGH PERILS TO VICTORY 11 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 accom- plished 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. t{ 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.” — I Peter v. 8-14. OT 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, 224 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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). Pie who had received this admoni- tion 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 v. 8-14-] THROUGH PERILS TO VICTORY 225 word dvTcSi/cos, u 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 l s case he accused the Patriarch to his God : u 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 un- guarded 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 : u You are for- gotten 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. u This is the victory that IS 226 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER hath overcome the world, even our faith ” (i 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 sup- port ? 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 Chris- tians are to be steadfast, the elders like the leaders of v. 8 - 14 -] THROUGH PERILS TO VICTORY 227 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 ” (aSeX^or^?). 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 brother- hood 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 y 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. 228 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 suffer- ings, 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. Pie 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 (Ileb. xi. 3), making His people to be so perfected that they may be as their Master (Luke vi. 40). Then Fie 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 v. 8-14.] THROUGH PERILS TO VICTORY 229 building, and the addition arises probably from a mar- ginal 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, / account him } implies no doubt or question in the Apostle’s own mind. It is the utterance of a matured opinion. The verb (Xoyi^o/^at) 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 some- thing 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. 23 ° THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 per- fecting, 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 the 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 dark- ness, 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 v.8-14.] THROUGH PERILS TO VICTORY 2 3 i 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 (i Tim. i. 2, 18 ; 2 Tim. i. 2). The saluta- tion 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 1 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. 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 Apol % i. 65. 232 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 233 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 ot the Divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust.” — 2 Peter i. 1-4. I N 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 235 236 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 afterwaixls (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 par- takers 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 i. I-4-] THE SAVING KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 237 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 LaoTLfjLos — “ 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 238 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER 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 counter- acted. The danger was arising from the boastful parade of a knowledge (