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 way is
steep, but they will not be unattended. What fear then of failing to
attain the goal? For the Father will 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
performance, 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 occurrences are of
little account.[5] 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
think lightly of peril which surrounds them there. The great
preservative from this danger is to revive constantly the thought of
the great things which have been done for us. Be in fear of the world
and its beguilements, 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.
[5] 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.
But in the hearts of men the world and its allurements 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. Prejudices 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.
Generation after generation has been involved in the consequences 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 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 blood, 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
overflowing 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 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 resurrection 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 Christians. 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. 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-day 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 testimony 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.
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."--1 PETER i. 22-ii. 3.
That holy lives have been lived in solitude none would venture to
dispute, and that devout Christians 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.
Christ's intention was to found a Church, a communion, a brotherhood,
and all His language looks that way: "One is your Master, and all ye
are brethren"; "So let your light shine before men that they may see
your good works 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. 10); "Let brotherly love continue"
(Heb. xiii. 1). 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 "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, 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 has 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 steadfastness 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 seed, 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 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 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 a 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: "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 the 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 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 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 probability 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. He 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 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_, 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 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 "supplanter" 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
undisturbed, while those who indulge in it are called _backbiters_
(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 prerogative of God
Himself, and passing sentence where he can have no sure knowledge of
the acts which he judges. "Evil-speaking," says one of the Apostolic
Fathers,[6] "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.
[6] Hermas, Mand. ii. 2.
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 inclinations, 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.