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1 Peter 2:24-25

24. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that
we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose
stripes ye were healed.

24. Qui peccata nostra ipse pertulit in corpore suo super lignum, ut
peccatis mortui, justitiae vivamus: cujus livori sanati estis.

25. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the
Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

25. Eratis enim tanquam oves errantes; sed conversi estis nunc ad
Pastorem et Episcopum animarum vestrarum.


Had he commended nothing in Christ's death except as an example, it
would have been very frigid: he therefore refers to a fruit much more
excellent. There are then three things to be
noticed in this passage.
The first is, that Christ by his death has given us an example of
patience; the second, that by his death he restored us to life; it
hence follows, that we are so bound to him, that we ought cheerfully to
follow his example. In the third place, he refers to the general design
of his death, that we, being dead to sins, ought to live to
righteousness. And all these things confirm his previous exhortation.

24 Who his own self bare our sins This form of speaking is fitted to
set forth the efficacy of Christ's death. For as under the Law, the
sinner, that he might be released from guilt, substituted a victim in
his own place; so Christ took on himself the curse due to our sins,
that he might atone for them before God. And he expressly adds, on the
tree, because he could not offer such an expiation except on the cross.
Peter, therefore, well expresses the truth, that Christ's death was a
sacrifice for the expiation of our sins; for being fixed to the cross
and offering himself a victim for us, he took on himself our sin and
our punishment. Isaiah, from whom Peter has taken the substance of his
doctrine, employs various forms of expression, -- that he was smitten
by God's hand for our sins, that he was wounded for our iniquities,
that he was afflicted and broken for our sake, that the chastisement of
our peace was laid on him. But Peter intended to set forth the same
thing by the words of this verse, even that we are reconciled to God on
this condition, because Christ made himself before his tribunal a
surety and as one guilty for us, that he might suffer the punishment
due to us.

This great benefit the Sophists in their schools obscure as much as
they can; for they prattle that by the sacrifice of the death of Christ
we are only freed after baptism from guilt, but that punishment is
redeemed by satisfactions. But Peter, when he says that he bore our
sins, means that not only guilt was imputed to him, but that he also
suffered its punishment, that he might thus be an expiatory victim,
according to that saying of the Prophet, "The chastisement of our peace
was upon him." If they object and say, that this only avails before
baptism, the context here disproves them, for the words are addressed
to the faithful.

But this clause and that which follows, by whose stripes ye were
healed, may be also applied to the subject in hand, that is, that it
behoves us to bear on our shoulders the sins of others, not indeed to
expiate for them, but only to bear them as a burden laid on us.

Being dead to sins [34] He had before pointed out another end, even an
example of patience; but here, as it has been stated, it is made more
manifest, that we are to live a holy and righteous life. The Scripture
sometimes mentions both, that is, that the Lord tries us with troubles
and adversities, that we might be conformed to the death of Christ, and
also that the old man has been crucified in the death of Christ, that
we might walk in newness of life. (Philippians 3:10; Romans 6:4.) At
the same time, this end of which he speaks, differs from the former,
not only as that which is general from what is particular; for in
patience there is simply an example; but when he says that Christ
suffered, that we being dead to sins should live to righteousness, he
intimates that there is power in Christ's death to mortify our flesh,
as Paul explains more fully in the sixth chapter of the Epistle to the
Romans. For he has not only brought this great benefit to us, that God
justifies us freely, by not imputing to us our sins; but he also makes
us to die to the world and to the flesh, that we may rise again to a
new life: not that one day makes complete this death; but wherever it
is, the death of Christ is efficacious for the expiation of sins, and
also for the mortification of the flesh.

25 For ye were as sheep This also has Peter borrowed from Isaiah,
except that the Prophet makes it a universal statement,

"All we like sheep have gone astray." (Isaiah 53:6.)

But on the word sheep there is no particular stress; he indeed compares
us to sheep, but the emphasis is on what the Prophet adds, when he says
that every one had turned to his own way. The meaning then is, that we
are all going astray from the way of salvation, and proceeding in the
way of ruin, until Christ brings us back from this wandering.

And this appears still more evident from the clause which follows, but
are now returned to the Shepherd, etc.; [35] for all who are not ruled
by Christ, are wandering like lost sheep in the ways of error. Thus,
then, is condemned the whole wisdom of the world, which does not submit
to the government of Christ. But the two titles given here to Christ
are remarkable, that he is the Shepherd and Bishop of souls There is
then no cause to fear, but that he will faithfully watch over the
safety of those who are in his fold and under his care. And it is his
office to keep us safe both in body and soul; yet Peter mentions only
souls, because this celestial Shepherd keeps us under his own spiritual
protection unto eternal life.
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[34] Or, "Being freed from sins:" apogenomenoi, being away from, having
departed from, or, being removed from. Beza renders it "being separated
from." Freedom from the power or dominion of sin seems more expressly
to be intended, as the end of this freedom is, that we may live to
righteousness; the end of forgiveness on the other hand is, that we may
have peace with God. Beza, Estius, Grotis, and Scott, take this view of
the sentence. The subject in hand is not the removal of guilt, but
holiness of life, and Christ in his sufferings is set forth as the
pattern to us. Then in what follows, our diseased state and our
wandering from the right way, are the things referred to. Christ's
death was intended to answer two great ends, -- to remove guilt and to
remove or to destroy sin in us. The latter is the subject of this
passage. -- Ed.

[35] I would render the clause thus, "But you have been now restored,"
that is, from your wandering, "to the shepherd and the bishop (or,
overseer) of your souls." Macknight thinks, that our Lord took the
title of shepherd in order to shew that he is the person foretold in
Ezekiel 34:23, and that Peter alludes, in calling him bishop or
overseer, to the eleventh verse of that chapter, the latter clause of
which, according to the Sept. is, "I will oversee them,"
(episkepsomai.) -- Ed.