Untitled Sermon (11)
Ver. 7.—But the end of all things is at hand. The mention of the judgment turns St. Peter’s thoughts into another channel. The end is at hand, not only the judgment of persecutors and slanderers, but the end of persecutions and sufferings, the end of our great conflict with sin, the end of our earthly probation; therefore prepare to meet your God. The end is at hand; it hath drawn near. St. Peter probably, like the other apostles, looked for the speedy coming of the Lord. It was not for him, as it is not for us, “to know the times or the seasons” (Acts 1:7). It is enough to know that our own time is short. When St. Peter wrote these words, the end of the holy city, the centre of the ancient dispensation, was very near at hand; and behind that awful catastrophe lay the incomparably more tremendous judgment, of which the fall of Jerusalem was a figure. That judgment, we know now, was to be separated by a wide interval from the date of St. Peter’ Epistle. But that interval is measured, in the prophetic outlook, not by months and years. We are now living in “the last times” (1 Tim. 4:1; 1 John 2:18). The coming of our Lord was the beginning of the last period in the development of God’ dealings with mankind; there is no further dispensation to be looked for. “Not only is there nothing more between the Christian’ present state of salvation and the end, but the former is itself already the end, i.e. the beginning of the end” (Schott, quoted by Huther). Be ye therefore sober; rather, self-restrained, calm, thoughtful. The thought of the nearness of the end should not lead to excitement and neglect of common duties, as it did in the case of the Thessalonian Christians, and again at the approach of the thousandth year of our era. And watch unto prayer; rather, be sober unto prayers. The word translated “watch” in the Authorized Version is not that which we read in our Lord’ exhortation to “watch and pray.” The word used here (νήψατε) rather points to temperance, abstinence from strong drinks, though it suggests also that wariness and cool thoughtfulness which are destroyed by excess. The Christian must be self-restrained and sober, and that with a view to perseverance in prayer. The aorist imperatives, perhaps, imply that St. Peter’ readers needed to be stirred up (2 Pet. 1:13; 3:1), to be aroused from that indifference into which men are so apt to fall. The exhortation to persevere in watchfulness would be expressed by the present.
Ver. 8.—And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves; more literally, before all things, having your love towards one another intense. The existence of charity is taken for granted. Christians must love one another; love is the very badge of their profession. The apostle urges his readers to keep that love intense, and that before all things; for charity is the first of Christian graces. (On the word “intense” (ἐκτενής), see note on ch. 1:22.) For charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Read and translate, with the Revised Version, for love covereth a multitude of sins. If St. Peter is directly quoting Prov. 10:12, he is not using the Septuagint, as he commonly does, but translating from the Hebrew. The Septuagint rendering is quite different, Πάντας δὲ τοὺς μὴ φιλονεικοῦντας καλύπτει φιλία. But it may be that the words had become proverbial. We find them also in Jas. 5:20, “He which converteth the sinner … shall hide a multitude of sins.” St. James means that he will obtain God’ forgiveness for the converted sinner; but in Prov. 10:12 the meaning (as is plain from the context) is that love covers the sins of others; does not stir up strifes, as hatred does, but promotes concord by concealing and forgiving sins. This is probably St. Peter’s meaning here: “Take care that your charity is intense, for only thus can you forgive as you are bidden to forgive, as you hope to be forgiven.” Perhaps he was thinking of the “seventy times seven,” to which the Lord had told him that forgiveness was to extend. But his words may well be understood as implying more than this. Love shown in forgiving others will win forgiveness for yourselves: “Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.” Love manifested in converting others will cover their sins, and obtain God’ forgiveness for them. In the deepest sense, it is only the love of Christ energizing in his atoning work which can cover sin; but true charity, Christian love, flows from that holiest love. “Love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God, and knowth God.” Therefore in some sense Christian love, flowing from the love of Christ, and bringing the Christian very near to Christ, covers sins; for it keeps the Christian close to the cross, within the immediate sphere of the blessed influences of the atonement, so that he becomes a centre of grace, a light kindled from the true Light, a well of living waters fed by the one fountain which is opened for sin and for uncleanness. The mutual love of Christians, their kindly words and deeds, check the work of sin; their prayers, their intercessions, call down the forgiveness of God. Therefore, in the view of the approaching end, charity is before all things precious for our own souls and for the souls of others.
Ver. 9—Use hospitality one to another; literally, being hospitable (comp. Rom. 12:13; 1 Tim. 3:2; Heb. 13:2; 3 John 5). Hospitality must have been a necessary, and often a costly, duty in the early ages of the Church. There was no public provision for the poor. Christians travelling from place to place would find no suitable shelter except in the houses of Christians. They would be obliged to avoid the public houses of entertainment, where they would be exposed often to danger, always to temptation; only the private houses of Christians would be safe for them. Hence the use of the “letters of commendation,” mentioned by St. Paul (2 Cor. 3:1). Those who brought such letters were to be received in Christian homes. The well-known ‘Teaching of the Twelve Apostles’ speaks of this right of hospitality, and gives cautions against its abuse. The apostle is not speaking of ordinary social gatherings; they have their place and their utility in the Christian life, but they do not, as a rule, afford scope for the higher self-denials of Christian charity (comp. Luke 14:12, 13). Without grudging. Such hospitality would be always costly, often inconvenient, sometimes attended with danger, as in the case of the first British martyr; but it was to be without murmuring. Murmuring would take from the hospitality all its beauty; it should be offered as a gift of love, and Christian love can never murmur (comp. 2 Cor. 9:7).
Ver. 10.—As every man hath received the gift; rather, according as each received a gift. The aorist ἔλαβεν, “received,” seems to point to a definite time, as baptism, or the laying on of hands (comp. Acts 8:17; 19:6; 1 Tim. 4:14). For the gift (χάρισμα), comp. Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 12:4, “There are diversities of gifts.” Even so minister the same one to another; literally, ministering it towards one another. The gifts of grace, whatever they may be, are talents entrusted to individual Christians for the good of the whole Church; those who have them must use them to minister to the wants of others (comp. ch. 1:12, where the same word, διακονεῖν, to minister, is used of the gift of prophecy). As good stewards of the manifold grace of God. We seem to see here a reference to the parable of the talents (comp. also 1 Cor. 4:1; Titus 1:7). Christians must be “good stewards (καλοὶ οἰκονόμοι).” There should be not only exactness, but also grace and beauty in their stewardship—the beauty which belongs to holy love, and flows from the imitation of him who is “the good Shepherd (ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός).” The gifts (χαρίσματα) are the manifestations of the grace (χάρις) of God; that grace from which all gifts issue is called manifold (ποικίλη), because of the diversities of its gifts, the variety of its manifestations.
Ver. 11.—If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. St. Peter proceeds to give examples of the proper use of gifts. One of those gifts is utterance. The apostle means an Christian utterance, whether public in the Church, or private in Christian conversation or ministrations to the sick. The second clause may be also rendered, as in the Revised Version, “speaking as it were oracles of God.” It is more natural to supply the participle “speaking” than “let him speak,” after the analogy of διακονοῦντες (“ministering”) in ver. 10. For the word λόγια, oracles, see Acts 7:38; Rom. 3:2; also Heb. 5:12, in which last place the Scriptures of the New Testament seem to be intended. The apostle’ meaning may be either that the Christian teacher was to speak as do the oracles of God, that is, the Scriptures, or (and the absence of the article rather favours this view) that he was so to yield himself to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that his teaching should be the teaching of God; he was to seek no praise or reward for himself, but only the glory of God. Those who with single-hearted zeal seek God’ glory do speak as it were oracles of God, for he speaketh by them (comp. Mark 13:11). If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth. Again it is better to supply the participle “ministering.” Whatever a man’ gifts may be, he must minister them for the good of the whole Church (see ver. 9; also Rom. 12:8; 1 Cor. 12:28). And this he must do as of the strength which God supplieth; the strength is not his—God giveth it. The verb χορηγεῖ, rendered “giveth,” is used in classical Greek first of supplying the expenses of a chorus, then of liberal giving generally; it occurs in 2 Cor. 9:10. The compound, ἐπιχορηγεῖν, is more common; St. Peter has it in the Second Epistle (1:5, 11). That God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ. The glory of God should be the one end of all Christian work. The Lord himself had said so in the sermon on the mount, in words doubtless well remembered by the apostle (Matt. 5:16; comp. 1 Cor. 10:31). To whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen; rather, as in the Revised Version, whose is the glory and dominion for the ages of ages. It is thought by some that St. Peter is here quoting from some ancient form of prayer; the use of the “Amen,” and the resemblance to Rev. 1:6 and 5:13, seem to favour this supposition. It is uncertain whether this doxology is addressed to God the Father or to the Lord Jesus Christ; the order of the words is in favour of the latter view, and the doxology closely resembles that in Rev. 1:6.
Ver. 12.—Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; literally, be not astonished at the burning among you, which is coming to you for a trial, as though a strange thing were happening to you. St. Peter returns to the sufferings of his readers. The address, “beloved,“as in ch. 2:11, shows the depth of his sympathy with them. He resumes the thought of ch. 1:7; the persecution is a burning, a fiery furnace, which is being kindled among them for a trial, to try the strength of their faith. The present participles imply that the persecution was already beginning; the word πύρωσις, a burning (see Rev. 18:9, 18), shows the severity. St. Peter tells them its meaning: it was to prove them; it would turn to their good. Persecution was not to be regarded as a strange thing. The Lord had foretold its coming. St. Paul, in his first visit to Asia Minor, had warned them that “we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” (On the word ξενίζεσθαι, see note on ver. 4.) The thing was not strange; they were not to count it as strange; they must learn, so to speak, to acclimatize themselves to it; it would brace their energies and strengthen their faith.
Ver. 13.—But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings. St. Peter speaks in stronger language; he repeats the Lord’ words in Matt. 5:12. Christians should learn to rejoice in persecution; they must rejoice in so far as, in proportion as (καθό), they are partaken of Christ’ sufferings (see 2 Cor. 4:10; Phil. 3:10; Heb. 13:13). Suffering meekly borne draws the Christian nearer to Christ, lifts him, as on a cross, nearer to the crucified Lord; but this it does only when he looks to Jesus in his suffering, when the eye of faith is fixed upon the cross of Christ. Then faith unites the sufferings of the disciple with the sufferings of his Lord; he is made a partaker of Christ’ sufferings; and so far as suffering has that blessed result, in such measure he must rejoice in his sufferings. That, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy; literally, that in the revelation of his glory also ye may rejoice exulting. The word for “exulting,” ἀγαλλιώμενοι corresponds with that used in ch. 1:6 and in Matt. 5:12 (χαίρετε καὶ ἀγαλλιᾶσθε). Joy in suffering now is the earnest of the great joy of the redeemed at the revelation of that glory which they now see through a glass darkly.
Ver. 14.—If ye be reproached for the Name of Christ, happy are ye; rather, if ye are reviled in the Name of Christ, blessed are ye. There is, again, a manifest quotation of our Lord’ words in Matt. 5:11. The conjunction “if” does not imply any doubt: the words mean “when ye are reviled.” For “in the Name of Christ,” comp. Mark 9:41, “Whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my Name, because ye belong to Christ.” So here the meaning is, “When ye are reviled because ye belong to Christ, because ye bear his Name, because ye are Christians” (comp. Acts 5:41). For the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. The form of the sentence in the Greek is unusual. Some regard the first clause, τὸ τῆς δόξης as a periphrasis for δόξα and translate, “For glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you.” But there is no other instance of such a periphrasis in the New Testament (Winer, 3. 18. 3); it is better to supply πνεῦμα. Men revile them, but God glorifieth them. The Spirit of glory, the Spirit which hath the glorious attributes of God, the Spirit which proceedeth from the Father who dwelleth in the glory, in the Shechinah,—that Spirit resteth upon them, and sheds on them the glory of holy suffering, the glory which hung around the cross of Christ. Two of the most ancient manuscripts, with some others, insert the words καὶ δυνάμεως, “the Spirit of glory, and of power, and of God.” The Spirit is power from on high (Luke 24:49). (For “resteth,” comp. Isa. 11:2.) Ἐπί with the accusative suggests the thought of the Spirit descending upon them and resting there (comp. John 1:32, 33). The Spirit abides upon those who patiently suffer for Christ. On their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. These words are not found in the most ancient manuscripts, and are probably a gloss, but a true one. Those who reviled the suffering Christians really blasphemed the Holy Spirit of God, by whom they were strengthened; the Holy Spirit was glorified by their patient endurance.
Ver. 15.—But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil-doer; literally, for let none of you, etc. They are blessed who suffer in the Name of Christ, because they belong to Christ: for it is not the suffering which brings the blessedness, but the cause, the faith and patience with which the suffering is borne. The word for “evil-doer,” κακοποιός, is used by St. Peter in two other places (ch. 2:12 and 14). Christians were spoken against as evil-doers; they must be very careful to preserve their purity,. and to suffer, if need be, not for evil-doing, but for well-doing (ch. 3:17). Or as a busybody in other men’s matters. This clause represents one Greek word, ἀλλοπριοεπίσκοπος; it means an