Greetings!

To Continue:

1 Peter 1:3-5

3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

3. Benedictus Deus et Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui secundum
multam suam misericordiam regenuit nos in spem vivare, per
resurrectionem Jesu Christi ex mortuis,

4. To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven for you,

4. In haereditatem incorruptibilem et incontaminatam et
immarcescibilem, repositum in caelis erga vos,

5. Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready
to be revealed in the last time.

5. Qui virtute Dei custodimini per fidem in salutem, qut parata est
revelari tempore ultimo.


3 Blessed be God We have said that the main object of this epistle is
to raise us above the world, in order that we may be prepared and
encouraged to sustain the spiritual contests of our warfare. For this
end, the knowledge of God's benefits avails much; for, when their value
appears to us, all other things will be deemed worthless, especially
when we consider what Christ and his blessings are; for everything
without him is but dross. For this reason he highly extols the
wonderful grace of God in Christ, that is, that we may not deem it much
to give up the world in order that we may enjoy the invaluable treasure
of a future life; and also that we may not be broken down by present
troubles, but patiently endure them, being satisfied with eternal
happiness.

Further, when he gives thanks to God, he invites the faithful to
spiritual joy, which can swallow up all the opposite feelings of the
flesh.

And Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Understand the words thus, --
"Blessed be God who is the Father of Jesus Christ." For, as formerly,
by calling himself the God of Abraham, he designed to mark the
difference between him and all fictitious gods; so after he has
manifested himself in his own Son, his will is, not to be known
otherwise than in him. Hence they who form their ideas of God in his
naked majesty apart from Christ, have an idol instead of the true God,
as the case is with the Jews and the Turks. Whosoever, then, seeks
really to know the only true God, must regard him as the Father of
Christ; for, whenever our mind seeks God, except Christ be thought of,
it will wander and be confused, until it be wholly lost. Peter meant at
the same time to intimate how God is so bountiful and kind towards us;
for, except Christ stood as the middle person, his goodness could never
be really known by us.

Who hath begotten us again He shews that supernatural life is a gift,
because we are born the children of wrath; for had we been born to the
hope of life according to the flesh, there would have been no necessity
of being begotten again by God. Therefore Peter teaches us, that we who
are by nature destined to eternal death, are restored to life by God's
mercy. And this is, as it were, our second creation, as it is said in
the first chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians. Lively or living
hope, means the hope of life. [7] At the same time there seems to be an
implied contrast between the hope fixed on the incorruptible kingdom of
God, and the fading and transient hopes of man.

According to his abundant mercy He first mentions the efficient cause,
and then he points out the mediating cause, as they say. He shews that
God was induced by no merits of ours to regenerate us unto a living
hope, because he assigns this wholly to his mercy. But that he might
more completely reduce the merits of works to nothing, he says, great
(multam) mercy. All, indeed, confess that God is the only author of our
salvation, but they afterwards invent extraneous causes, which take
away so much from his mercy. But Peter commends mercy alone; and he
immediately connects the way or manner, by the resurrection of Christ;
for God does not in any other way discover his mercy; hence Scripture
ever directs our attention to this point. And that Christ's death is
not mentioned, but his resurrection, involves no inconsistency, for it
is included; because a thing cannot be completed without having a
beginning; and he especially brought forward the resurrection, because
he was speaking of a new life.

4 To an inheritance [8] The three words which follow are intended to
amplify God's grace; for Peter (as I have before said) had this object
in view, to impress our minds thoroughly as to its excellency.
Moreover, these two clauses, "to an inheritance incorruptible," etc.,
and "to salvation ready to be revealed," I deem as being in apposition,
the latter being explanatory of the former; for he expresses the same
thing in two ways.

Every word which follows is weighty. The inheritance is said to be
reserved, or preserved, that we may know that it is beyond the reach of
danger. For, were it not in God's hand, it might be exposed to endless
dangers. If it were in this world, how could we regard it as safe
amidst so many changes? That he might then free us from every fear, he
testifies that our salvation is placed in safety beyond the harms which
Satan can do. But as the certainty of salvation can bring us but little
comfort, except each one knows that it belongs to himself, Peter adds,
for you For consciences will calmly recumb here, that is, when the Lord
cries to them from heaven, "Behold, your salvation is in my hand and is
kept for you." But as salvation is not indiscriminately for all, he
calls our attention to faith, that all who are endued with faith, might
be distinguished from the rest, and that they might not doubt but that
they are the true and legitimate heirs of God. For, as faith penetrates
into the heavens, so also it appropriates to us the blessings which are
in heaven.

5 Who are kept by the power of God We are to notice the connection when
he says, that we are kept while in the world, and at the same time our
inheritance is reserved in heaven; otherwise this thought would
immediately creep in, "What does it avail us that our salvation is laid
up in heaven, when we are tossed here and there in this world as in a
turbulent sea? What can it avail us that our salvation is secured in a
quiet harbour, when we are driven to and fro amidst thousand
shipwrecks?" The apostle, therefore, anticipates objections of this
kind, when he shews, that though we are in the world exposed to
dangers, we are yet kept by faith; and that though we are thus nigh to
death, we are yet safe under the guardianship of faith. But as faith
itself, through the infirmity of the flesh, often quails, we might be
always anxious about the morrow, were not the Lord to aid us. [9]

And, indeed, we see that under the Papacy a diabolical opinion
prevails, that we ought to doubt our final perseverance, because we are
uncertain whether we shall be tomorrow in the same state of grace. But
Peter did not thus leave us in suspense; for he testifies that we stand
by the power of God, lest any doubt arising from a consciousness of our
own infirmity, should disquiet us. How weak soever we may then be, yet
our salvation is not uncertain, because it is sustained by God's power.
As, then, we are begotten by faith, so faith itself receives its
stability from God's power. Hence is its security, not only for the
present, but also for the future.

Unto salvation As we are by nature impatient of delay, and soon succumb
under weariness, he therefore reminds us that salvation is not deferred
because it is not yet prepared, but because the time of its revelation
is not yet come. This doctrine is intended to nourish and sustain our
hope. Moreover, he calls the day of judgment the last time, because the
restitution of all things is not to be previously expected, for the
intervening time is still in progress. What is elsewhere called the
last time, is the whole from the coming of Christ; it is so called from
a comparison with the preceding ages. But Peter had a regard to the end
of the world.
__________________________________________________________________

[7] "This is a Hebraism," says Macknight, "for a hope of life.
Accordingly, the Syriac version hath here, in spem vitae -- to a hope
of life." The begetting again seems not to refer to inward renovation,
but to what God did by raising Christ from the dead. To beget,
sometimes means to put one in a new state or condition; as the
expression, "This day have I begotten thee," means, that God had then
constituted his Son a king, publicly invested him, as it were, with
that office. Similar is the meaning here: God through the resurrection
of Christ restored to the hope of life his desponding followers: hence
the import of the word "again;" though Macknight thinks the reference
to be to the covenant of grace made with our first parents after the
fall, and that believers were begotten the second time to the same hope
by the resurrection of Christ. The word for "begetting again," is only
found here, and in a passive sense in the 23d verse, where it has a
different meaning, as it evidently refers to the renovation of the
heart. -- Ed.

[8] Pareus puts, "that is, to an inheritance," making this sentence
explanatory of "the hope," as hope here is a metonymy for its object.
It is an inheritance "incorruptible," not to be destroyed by a flood or
by fire, -- "undefiled," not like the land of Canaan, its type, which
was defiled by its inhabitants, -- "unfading," different from any
worldly inheritance, for the world passeth away. -- Ed.

[9] The meaning would be somewhat different, but the sentence would be
more intelligible, were we to render it thus, "Who are kept by faith in
the power of God unto salvation." Salvation here means that of the body
as well as of the soul at the resurrection. -- Ed.