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CHAPTER 1
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1 Peter 1:1-2

1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered
throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

1. Petrus, apostolus Jesu Christi, electis inquilinis qui dispersi sunt
per Ponturn, Galatiam, Cappadociam, Asiam et Bithyniam,

2. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through
sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the
blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

2. Secundum precognitionem Dei Patris in sanctificatione Spiritus, in
obedientiam et aspersionem sanguinis Jesu Christi; Gratia vobis et pax
multiplicetur.


1 Peter, an apostle What in this salutation is the same with those of
Paul, requires no new explanation. When Paul prayed for grace and
peace, the verb is left out; but Peter adds it, and says, be
multiplied; still the meaning is the same; for Paul did not wish to the
faithful the beginning of grace and peace, but the increase of them,
that is, that God would complete what he had begun.

To the elect, or the elected. It may be asked, how could this be found
out, for the election of God is hid, and cannot be known without the
special revelation of the Spirit; and as every one is made sure of his
own election by the testimony of the Spirit, so he can know nothing
certain of others. To this I answer, that we are not curiously to
inquire about the election of our brethren, but ought on the contrary
to regard their calling, so that all who are admitted by faith into the
church, are to be counted as the elect; for God thus separates them
from the world, which is a sign of election. It is no objection to say
that many fall away, having nothing but the semblance; for it is the
judgment of charity and not of faith, when we deem all those elect in
whom appears the mark of God's adoption. And that he does not fetch
their election from the hidden counsel of God, but gathers it from the
effect, is evident from the context; for afterwards he connects it with
the sanctification of the Spirit As far then as they proved that they
were regenerated by the Spirit of God, so far did he deem them to be
the elect of God, for God does not sanctify any but those whom he has
previously elected.

However, he at the same time reminds us whence that election flows, by
which we are separated for salvation, that we may not perish with the
world; for he says, according to the foreknowledge of God This is the
fountain and the first cause: God knew before the world was created
whom he had elected for salvation.

But we ought wisely to consider what this precognition or foreknowledge
is. For the sophists, in order to obscure the grace of God, imagine
that the merits of each are foreseen by God, and that thus the
reprobate are distinguished from the elect, as every one proves himself
worthy of this or that lot. But Scripture everywhere sets the counsel
of God, on which is founded our salvation, in opposition to our merits.
Hence, when Peter calls them elect according to the precognition of
God, he intimates that the cause of it depends on nothing else but on
God alone, for he of his own free will has chosen us. Then the
foreknowledge of God excludes every worthiness on the part of man. We
have treated this subject more at large in [2]the first chapter of the
Epistle to the Ephesians, and in other places.

As however in our election he assigns the first place to the gratuitous
favor of God, so again he would have us to know it by the effects, for
there is nothing more dangerous or more preposterous than to overlook
our calling and to seek for the certainty of our election in the hidden
prescience of God, which is the deepest labyrinth. Therefore to obviate
this danger, Peter supplies the best correction; for though in the
first place he would have us to consider the counsel of God, the cause
of which is alone in himself; yet he invites us to notice the effect,
by which he sets forth and bears witness to our election. That effect
is the sanctification of the Spirit, even effectual calling, when faith
is added to the outward preaching of the gospel, which faith is
begotten by the inward operation of the Spirit.

To the sojourners [4] They who think that all the godly are thus
called, because they are strangers in the world, and are advancing
towards the celestial country, are much mistaken, and this mistake is
evident from the word dispersion which immediately follows; for this
can apply only to the Jews, not only because they were banished from
their own country and scattered here and there, but also because they
had been driven out of that land which had been promised to them by the
Lord as a perpetual inheritance. He indeed afterwards calls all the
faithful sojourners, because they are pilgrims on the earth; but the
reason here is different. They were sojourners, because they had been
dispersed, some in Pontus, some in Galatia, and some in Bithynia. It is
nothing strange that he designed this Epistle more especially for the
Jews, for he knew that he was appointed in a particular manner their
apostle, as Paul teaches us in Galatians 2:8. In the countries he
enumerates, he includes the whole of Asia Minor, from the Euxine to
Cappadocia. [5]

Unto obedience He adds two things to sanctification, and seems to
understand newness of life by obedience, and by the sprinkling of the
blood of Christ the remission of sins. But if these be parts or effects
of sanctification, then sanctification is to be taken here somewhat
different from what it means when used by Paul, that is, more
generally. God then sanctifies us by an effectual calling; and this is
done when we are renewed to an obedience to his righteousness, and when
we are sprinkled by the blood of Christ, and thus are cleansed from our
sins. And there seems to be an implied allusion to the ancient rite of
sprinkling used under the law. For as it was not then sufficient for
the victim to be slain and the blood to be poured out, except the
people were sprinkled; so now the blood of Christ which has been shed
will avail us nothing, except our consciences are by it cleansed. There
is then to be understood here a contrast, that, as formerly under the
law the sprinkling of blood was made by the hand of the priest; so now
the Holy Spirit sprinkles our souls with the blood of Christ for the
expiation of our sins.

Let us now state the substance of the whole; which is, that our
salvation flows from the gratuitous election of God; but that it is to
be ascertained by the experience of faith, because he sanctifies us by
his Spirit; and then that there are two effects or ends of our calling,
even renewal into obedience and ablution by the blood of Christ; and
further, that both are the work of the Holy Spirit. [6] We hence
conclude, that election is not to be separated from calling, nor the
gratuitous righteousness of faith from newness of life.
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[4] Inquilinis; they are those who dwell in a hired house, tenants. The
original, parepidemois, means those who dwell among a people, that is,
not their own. Sojourners or pilgrims would be the best word. The
sentence literally is, "To the sojourners of the dispersion of Pontus."
etc. -- Ed.

[5] On this question both ancient and modern divines have differed. It
is to be decided by the contents of the Epistle only. There is nothing
decisive in favor of the opinion that it was written only to believing
Jews; but there is a passage, 1 Peter 4:3, which seems clearly to shew
that Peter included the believing Gentiles; for "the abominable
idolatries" could only refer to them, as the Jews, since the Babylonian
captivity, had never fallen into idolatry. -- Ed.

[6] The meaning would be more clear, were we to make a change in the
order of the words, "Elected, according to the foreknowledge of God,
unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, through
(or, by) the sanctification of the Spirit," that is, they were elected
in order that they might obey the gospel, and be cleansed from the
guilt of sin by the blood of Christ, through the sanctifying power of
the Spirit. It was not their obedience that made them the elect, but
they were chosen that they might obey, and thus obey through the
influence of the Spirit. This is clearly the doctrine of this passage.
See 2 Thessalonians 2:13 -- Ed.