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COMMENTARY
ON
THE NEW TESTAMENT
HANDBOOK
TO
THE GENERAL EPISTLES
OF
PETER AND JUDE
BY
JOH. ED. HUTHER, TH.D.,
PASTOR AT WITTENFÖRDEN, SCHWERIN
EDINBURGH:
T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET
1893
THE TRANSLATION OF
THE EPISTLES OF PETER
HAS BEEN EXECUTED BY
D. B. CROOM, M.A.
THE EPISTLE OF JUDE
BY
PATON J. GLOAG, D.D.
PREFACE
Von Hofmann often seeks to surmount the exegetical difficulties presented in the epistles by a new exposition, and, of course, no exception can be taken to this; but it is to be regretted that the interpretations are not unfrequently of so artificial a nature, that they cannot stand the test of an unprejudiced examination, and are consequently little calculated to promote the true understanding of the text.
As regards the origin of the Second Epistle, my renewed investigations have produced no result other than that which I had formerly obtained. I can only repeat what I said in the preface to the third edition of this Commentary: “If I should be blamed for giving, in this edition also, no decisive and final answer to the question as to the origin of Second Peter, I will say at the outset, that it seems to me more correct to pronounce a non liquet, than to cut the knot by arbitrary assertions and acute appearances of argument.”
Although this Commentary on the whole has preserved its former character, yet it has been subjected to many changes in particulars, which I hope may be regarded as improvements.
I would only add, that in the critical remarks it is principally Tischendorf’s Recension that has been kept in view. Tisch. 7 refers to the editio septima critica minor, 1859; Tisch. 8, to his editio octava major, 1869. Where the two editions agree in a reading, Tisch. simply is put.
J. ED. HUTHER.
WITTENFÖRDEN, May 1877.INTRODUCTION
SEC. 1.—THE APOSTLE PETER
[1] That Luke (1Pe_5:1 ff.) and Matthew (1Pe_4:18 ff.) relate the same fact, admits of no doubt; not only are the scenes and the persons identical, but the words in Matthew: ποιήσω ὑμᾶς ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων , agree in sense with those in Luke addressed specially to Peter. Neither is there any inward difference (cf. Meyer on Luk_5:1 ff.), for the “point” of Matthew’s narrative is not the mere injunction and promise, as in Luke’s it is not the “miracle of the draught of fishes,” but the call to become fishers of men. Nor does Luke contradict himself, for what is related in 1Pe_5:8 does not prove that previous to this Peter had had no experience of miracles, since that which produced the impression on Peter—related by Luke—was not necessarily the first miracle he witnessed.
After the ascension of Christ, Peter appears standing at the head of the apostles, for it is at his advice that their number is again increased to twelve. After the descent of the Spirit, however, he becomes in reality the Rock, as Christ had ordained him; henceforth the direction and furtherance of the church rests chiefly in his hand. It was his sermon—the first apostolic sermon—by means of which, on the day of Pentecost, three thousand were added to the church of God; and if afterwards he laboured at first in connection with John, it was yet himself who was the real actor (Act_3:1, Act_3:4 ff., Act_3:11 ff.). He healed the lame man, addressed the people, and on both apostles being brought before the ecclesiastical authorities, it was he who was the speaker. He had to execute judgment on Ananias and Sapphira (Act_5:1-10); and when the whole of the apostles were summoned to appear before the Sanhedrim, it is he, too, who in the name of all testifies for Christ. Again, in Samaria, whither he went along with John to continue the work begun by Philip, John appears beside him only as an accompanying fellow-worker.
During the time that the churches had rest after the conversion of Paul, Peter journeyed throughout the districts of Palestine bordering on the Mediterranean Sea; in Lydda he healed Aeneas (Act_9:32 ff.), and raised up Tabitha in Joppa (Act_9:36 ff.).
In accordance with the position assigned to him by Christ, he was permitted by God to bring into the church the first-fruits of heathenism; for although Paul was destined to be the Apostle of the Gentiles, it was still Peter who should first preach the gospel to the heathen and administer the ordinance of baptism, that thus also he might retain the primacy and be the Rock of the Church.
During the persecution raised shortly before his death by Herod Agrippa I., Peter was cast into prison. After his miraculous release he quitted Jerusalem[2] for a time, but later on again returned thither. The last circumstance which the Acts of the Apostles relates of him is his justification of Paul at the so-called convention of apostles in Jerusalem.
[2] We are not told where Peter went; Act_12:17 only says: ἐπορεύθη εἰς ἕτερον τόπον . The statement of several Fathers, that Peter then betook himself to Rome, and there founded the Christian church, has, without sufficient warrant, been accepted by Thiersch (die Kirche im apost. Zeitalter, p. 96 ff.). This is decidedly opposed not only by the Epistle to the Romans, but also by the indefinite expression employed here. Ewald also (Geschichte des Volkes Israel, VI. p. 618 ff.) thinks “that the old legend as to Peter’s sojourn in Rome during the reign of Claudius, and his meeting here with Simon the magician, was not altogether without foundation,” but that the Christian church in Rome had then already been established.—But it is not credible, either that if Peter had visited the church in Rome, Paul should not have made the slightest allusion to the fact in his Epistle to the Romans, or that Peter should have gone to Rome with the intention of there, as in Samaria, opposing Simon; cf. Hofmann, p. 203 ff.
The labours of Paul among the heathen, and the reception of believing Gentiles into the Christian church, occasioned the first division amongst the Christians. What position did Peter then take up? After what he himself had witnessed at the conversion of Cornelius, he could not make common cause with the judaistically-minded Christians; in the proceedings at Jerusalem, too, he placed himself decidedly on the side of Paul, and spoke against the subjugation of the heathen to the law. It was then, on Peter formally recognising the grace given by the Lord to Paul, that an agreement was come to, that Paul and Barnabas should labour among the Gentiles, whilst he himself, along with John and James, should devote themselves to the Jews (Gal_2:9)—the field of missionary enterprise being in this way divided among them.
In thus limiting his activity to the Jewish people, Peter detracted in no way from his primacy; for this, which had never in any sense been absolute, remained intact, as is evident from the circumstance that Paul took especial care to assure himself of Peter’s consent, and acknowledged his foremost position among the apostles (cf. Gal_2:7-8).
That Peter, with all his recognition of Paul’s principles, was wholly unfit to undertake the direction of missions to the Gentiles, is proved by his conduct at Antioch, for which he was called to account by Paul. He was not wanting, it is true, in a right perception of the relation in which the gospel stood to the law, so that without any misgivings he entered into complete fellowship with the Gentile-Christians;[3] still, as regarded his own conduct, this perception was not vivid enough to preserve him from the hypocrisy which drew forth Paul’s rebuke (Gal_2:12). For, when “certain came” to Antioch “from James,” Peter withdrew himself from them, fearing those of the circumcision, doubtless because he did not wish to appear in the light of a transgressor of the law. How dangerous his example was, became evident even then; and it is clear further that the Jewish-Christians hostilely disposed to the heathen-converts were only too ready to appeal to the example of Peter in their opposition to Paul. From this, however, it must not be concluded that there was any want of harmony in principle between Paul and Peter, and that by the δεξιὰς ἔδωκαν ἐμοὶ καὶ Βαρνάβᾳ κοινωνίας is to be understood a mere “temporary truce,” which they had concluded with each other in a purely external manner, and whilst holding fast their internal differences.[4]
[3] As in Gal_2:2; Gal_2:8-9; Gal_2:15, τὰ ἔθνη means not Gentile-Christians, but Gentiles, Paul seems, by the expression in ver. 12: μετὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν συνήσθιεν , to have meant heathens also. But even if they were only Gentile-Christians with whom Peter ate, it is not their Christianity, but their Gentile nationality and customs, as distinguishing them from the Jews, which Paul has here in his eye.
[4] The Tübingen school confessedly considers the first apostles, and Peter in particular, to have been narrow Judaists, and accordingly ascribes to them precisely those views which Paul so decidedly combats in those of his epistles which are undoubtedly genuine. Though compelled to admit that it was not the first apostles themselves who opposed Paul and his gospel at Corinth and elsewhere, Pfleiderer (der Judaismus, p. 299), nevertheless, maintains that they supported those who did so. He explains Peter’s conduct in Antioch (p. 296) in this way: that the apostle, in order to please the heathen-Christians, adopted there a mode of life freer than was really permissible from his dogmatic standpoint. The fact, on the contrary, was that his mode of life was stricter than was consistent with his principles, for which reason Paul accused him of ὑπόκρισις . It is more than singular that Pfleiderer should so entirely overlook the dishonour thus brought upon Paul by maintaining that the first apostles preached a different gospel from that which he taught. For how could Paul, without grossly violating his own conscience, accept the δεξιὰ κοινωνίας offered him by James, Peter, and John, if his ἀνάθεμα ἔστω (Gal_1:7-8) was applicable to each of them as the preacher of a ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον ?
As to where and with what result Peter worked after Paul commenced his labours, all precise and reliable information is wanting; from 1Co_9:5 it follows only that he made missionary journeys to various regions. If by Babylon (chap. 1Pe_5:13) that city itself and not Rome is to be understood, he must have been at the time our epistle was written in Babylon, whence by means of this letter he extended his influence to the churches of Asia Minor, which, in part at least, had been founded by Paul.
The account which the Fathers give of the life of the apostle is pervaded by many mythical traits. The more important his position, the more natural it was for a one-sided Judaeo-Christianity, as well as for the Catholic Church, to draw by invention, intentional or unintentional, the picture of the apostle’s labours in their own interests. Without any sifting of the legendary elements, Hieronymus describes the subsequent life of Peter in the following manner: “Simon Petrus princeps apostolorum post episcopatum Antiochensis ecclesiae et praedicationem dispersionis eorum, qui de circumcisione crediderant, in Ponto, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia et Bithynia secundo Claudii imperatoris anno ad expugnandum Simonum Magum, Romam pergit, ibique viginti quinque annis cathedram sacerdotalem tenuit, usque ad ultimum annum Neronis, id est, decimum quartum. A quo et affixus cruci martyrio coronatus est, capite ad terram verso et in sublime pedibus elevatis, asserens se indignum, qui sic crucifigeretur ut dominus suus. Sepultus Romae in Vaticano juxta viam triumphalem totius orbis veneratione celebratur” (De scriptor. eccl. cap. i. de Petro).
In this narrative the following particulars are mythical:—(1) The episcopate of Peter in the church at Antioch; the saying, too, of Eusebius (Chronicum ad annum, iii.), that Peter founded the church at Antioch, must be considered apocryphal, as contradicting Act_11:19-22. (2) His personal activity in the regions of Asia Minor; this is doubtless mentioned already by Origen as probable;[5] but it must be regarded simply as an inference from 1Pe_1:1, as even Windischmann (Vindiciae Pet. § 112 f.) admits. (3) His journey to Rome for the purpose of combating Simon Magus.[6] This story is based on a passage in Justin’s Apologia maj. c. 26, which speaks of a statue in Rome with the following inscription: ΣΙΜΩΝΙ ΔΕΩ ΣΑΓΚΤΩ , which, however, has been discovered to be the dedication not to that Simon, but to the Sabine god Semo Sanctus. (4) The twenty-five years’ residence of Peter in Rome (cf. on this Wieseler’s Chronol. des apostol. Zeitalters, p. 571 ff.). Perhaps also (5) the peculiar manner of his crucifixion, which has been recorded by Origen already (in Euseb. H. E. iii. 1 Peter 1 : ἀνεσκολοπίσθη κατὰ κεφαλῆς ); the motive given for it by Hieronymus must certainly be looked upon as an arbitrary addition. As indisputable fact, there remains, in the first instance, only the martyrdom of the apostle, which is corroborated by the unanimous testimony of antiquity, and especially by Joh_21:19;[7] the residence in Rome appears more open to doubt, still the reasons which can be urged against it are not sufficient to prove the purely legendary character of the tradition. Although Clemens Rom. (Ep. ad Corinth. c. 5) does not say that Peter suffered martyrdom in Rome, yet Dionysius of Corinth (Euseb. H. E. ii. 25), Irenaeus (adv. Haer. iii. 1), Tertullian (contra Marc. iv. 5, and de praescript. adv. haeret. c. 36), and Origen (Euseb. H. E. iii. 1) do; and so early as by the presbyter Cajus mention is made of the τρόπαια of the two apostles Peter and Paul. Doubtless these testimonies are mixed up with many inexact and inaccurate particulars; but this does not justify doubt as to the truth of the circumstance to which Ignatius seems to refer in the words: ΟὐΧ Ὡς ΠΈΤΡΟς ΚΑῚ ΠΑῦΛΟς ΔΙΑΤΆΣΣΟΜΑΙ (Ep. ad Rom. c. 4). It is less certain that Peter was in Rome at the same time with Paul; nor, as Wieseler wrongly asserts, are all the witnesses of the second century who speak of the martyrdom of Peter in Rome guarantees for it. For, with the exception of the author of the Praedicatio Pauli, whose testimony is uncertain, not one of these witnesses speaks of a meeting and a conjoint labour of the two apostles in Rome, although all relate that both of them in Rome had a part in founding the church, and that they suffered martyrdom there. Even the circumstance mentioned by Dionysius of Corinth (Euseb. H. E. ii. 25): ἐμαρτύρησαν κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρόν ,[8] does not prove that at any previous time they had lived together; for this expression allows, as Wieseler himself grants, the possibility of a period of time—provided it be not too long—having elapsed between the deaths of the two apostles. “What remains then as the kernel of ecclesiastical tradition is this: that towards the end of his life Peter came to Rome, that he there laboured for the propagation of the gospel, and that he suffered martyrdom under Nero” (Wiesinger; cf. also Bleek, Introd. to N. T. p. 563 ff. [E. T. II. 157 ff.]). As, then, the Epistle of Peter is addressed to Pauline churches (i.e. those churches which were either founded by Paul himself, or had sprung from such as had been so founded), and as Peter could hardly feel himself called upon during Paul’s lifetime to interfere with the latter’s field of missionary operations, it is not at all improbable that he suffered martyrdom later than Paul. This is supported by the circumstance that after Paul’s death, and then only, was the fitting time for him to labour in Rome. Had Peter been there earlier, some trace surely of his presence would have been found in Paul’s epistles written from Rome. If, then, Paul suffered martyrdom at the earliest in the year 64, the death of Peter must have taken place in the time between 65–67 A.D.[9]
[5] Euseb. H. E. iii. 1 Peter 1 : Πέτρος ἐν Πόντῳ κ . τ . λ . κεκηρυχέναι τοῖς ἐν διασπορᾷ Ἰουδαίοις ἔοικεν .
[6] The stories about Peter and Simon M. in the Clementine Homilies are mere legendary formations. Even Ewald’s opinion, that Peter, after his release, went to Rome for a short time, in order there to oppose Simon M.; that, on his return to Jerusalem, he had visited the districts in the north-east, and there founded the churches to which he later addressed this epistle,—is too destitute of secure historical foundation to be regarded as correct.
[7] The explanation given in this verse of the prophecy contained in ver. 18 is indisputably correct. Mayerhoff is wrong in calling it in question (Einl. in d. Petr. Schriften, p. 87) by applying Christ’s words to Peter, not to the martyrdom he was about to suffer, but to the apostle himself, as destined to be the leader of the church: “He explains to Peter the necessity of a ministry of this kind, by pointing out to him that active support of the needy is a duty imposed by love to Christ.” Meyer gives the right explanation of this passage. Cf. in loc.
[8] The words of Dionysius: καὶ γὰρ ἄμφω καὶ εἰς τὴν ἡμετέραν Κόρινθον φυτεύσαντες ἡμᾶς ἐδίδαξαν , ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ εἰς τὴν Ἰταλίαν ὁμόσε διδάξαντες ἐμαρτύρησαν κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρόν , admit on the whole of but a doubtful inference, the more so that what is said here of Peter’s labour in Corinth appears to have arisen only from the fact that there was at an early period in Corinth a party calling itself by Peter’s name. A legend such as this could originate all the more easily from the endeavour to bring the two apostles as near as possible to each other; the κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρόν may also have arisen from that endeavour.
[9] According to Ewald, Peter suffered martyrdom before Paul—that is to say, during the persecutions of the Christians by Nero, A.D. 64, whilst Paul, having been released from his Roman captivity, was in Spain.
The contents of the epistle are in the order of thought as follows: First of all, thanksgiving to God for the hope of the eternal inheritance in heaven, of which the Christians had been made partakers, of which they can with joy be certain, although for a time here they have to suffer tribulation, and of which the glory is so great that the prophets diligently searched after it, and the angels desired to behold it. This is followed by a series of exhortations, which may be divided into three classes. The first class (1Pe_1:13 to 1Pe_2:10) is linked on to the thought of the glory promised to the Christians, and has sanctification in general as its object. Foremost and as a starting-point stands the summons to a full hope of the future grace ( τελείως ἐλπίσατε ); then follows the exhortation to an holy walk ( ἅγιοι γενήθητε ) in the fear of God the impartial judge, based on a conscious knowledge of the redemption wrought by the blood of Christ (1Pe_1:14-21); then, to a pure and unfeigned love of the brethren ( ἀλλήλους ἀγαπήσατε ), as became those who were born of incorruptible seed (1Pe_1:15-25); and lastly, laying aside all κακία , to desire the pure milk, and firmly cleaving to Christ, as living stones to build themselves up more and more to the spiritual house, in accordance with their calling as Christians ( τὸ λογικὸν ἄδολον γάλα ἐπιποθήσατε · … ὡς λίθοι ζῶντες οἰκοδομεῖσθε ), 1Pe_2:1-10.
The second series of exhortations (1Pe_2:11 to 1Pe_4:6), which are of a special nature, is in connection with the position of the Christians in the world ( παρακαλῶ ὡς παροίκους καὶ παρεπιδήμους · … τὴν ἀναστροφὴν ὑμῶν ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἔχοντες , 1Pe_2:11-12), and has reference—(1) To the relation to civil authorities (1Pe_2:13-17); (2) To the particular relations of domestic life: (a) exhortation to the slaves ( οἱ οἰκέται ὑποτασσόμενοι … τοῖς δεσπόταις , 1Pe_2:18-25) to obedience towards their masters in patient endurance, even of unjust suffering, based on a reference to the sufferings of Christ; (b) exhortation to the women to be subject unto their husbands, and to an holy walk, with reference to the godly women of the O. T., especially Sarah, 1Pe_3:1-6; (c) exhortation to the men to a discreet treatment of their wives; (3) To the relation to the world persecuting the church; after a short exhortation to unity and love (1Pe_3:8), the apostle exhorts not to return evil for evil (1Pe_3:9-14); with meekness to give a reason for their own hope (1Pe_3:15), and in the midst of suffering to give proof of faithful submission to the divine will (1Pe_3:16-17). These exhortations are based on a reference to Christ, who through suffering entered into His glory (1Pe_3:18-22), and who by His death appeals to believers not to continue their former life, but to lead a new one, even though they should be reviled for it. Lastly, the apostle reminds his readers of the future judgment of Christ (1Pe_4:1-6).
The third class of exhortations (1Pe_4:7 to 1Pe_5:9) has special reference to life in the church, and is connected with the thought of the nearness of the end of all things (1Pe_4:7). The several particulars to which prominence is given are: soberness unto prayer (1Pe_4:7), ardent love towards each other (1Pe_4:8), hospitality (1Pe_4:9), a faithful administration of spiritual gifts for the general good (1Pe_4:10-11), joyful bearing of the sufferings of Christ (1Pe_4:12-19). Hereupon follows an exhortation to the elders to guide the church in a right manner, reference being made to the reward which awaits them (1Pe_5:1-4); then a command to the younger to submit themselves to the elder (1Pe_5:5); on this, admonitions to all to an humble behaviour towards each other, and to humiliation before God (1Pe_5:6-7); lastly, a summons to watchfulness against the temptations of the devil (1Pe_5:8-9).
The epistle concludes with the benediction and a doxology (1Pe_5:10-11), an observation on this epistle itself (1Pe_5:12), and sundry commissions (1Pe_5:13-14).
The aim of this epistle is stated by the apostle himself (1Pe_5:12) in the words: ἔγραψα παρακαλῶν καὶ ἐπιμαρτυρῶν ταύτην εἶναι ἀληθῆ χάριν τοῦ Θεοῦ , εἰς ἣ ἑστήκατε . Accordingly he proposed a παρακαλών and an ἐπιμαρτυρῶν , both in close connection with each other, as the immediate juxtaposition of the ideas shows. The occasion of them lay in this, that the readers, as professing Christians, had to endure severe afflictions through the slanders of the heathen. In view of the dangers lying therein, the apostle was careful, on the one hand, to exhort them to patience, by directing their minds to the future κληρονομία , as also to the continuance in holiness, and to a conduct towards each other and towards the heathen such as would lead the latter to see how groundless their manders were; and, on the other hand, that his exhortation slight not be without a firm basis, to assure them that a state of suffering was the true divine state of grace. Accordingly the epistle bears neither a polemical nor a doctrinal, but an entirely hortatory character. No doubt dogmatic ideas are interwoven in some passages; these, however, are never treated doctrinally, but are always made subservient to the purpose of exhortation.
REMARK.
Schott regards this epistle as, in the first instance, a letter of consolation, in which the readers are calmed and comforted, on the one hand, with respect “to the accusations of the heathen, that they as matter of principle denied a moral basis to social life;” and, on the other, as regards their fears, lest the fact of God’s permitting persecutions should be a proof to them that they were without the “complete moral certainty of their salvation in Christ.” In opposition to this, it is to be remarked that Peter uses παρακαλεῖν only in the sense of “to exhort,” and that even if the apostle in the treatment of his subject does introduce some words of comfort, the whole epistle cannot on that account be styled a letter of consolation, the less so that these very words are always made subservient to purposes of exhortation; cf. Weiss, die petrin. Frage, p. 631 f.
Several interpreters assume from ἐπιμαρτυρῶν κ . τ . λ ., that Peter composed his hortatory epistle with the intention also of formally confirming the preaching of the gospel, aforetime addressed to his readers. Wiesinger says: “Peter in his epistle to Pauline churches has impressed the seal of his testimony on the gospel as preached by Paul.” Weiss, while questioning this, in that he does not consider the church to have been Pauline, nevertheless asserts that “the apostle wished by his apostolic testimony to confirm the preaching already delivered to the readers,” and for this reason precisely, “that it had not yet been proclaimed to them by an apostle.” But although in 1Pe_1:12; 1Pe_1:25 we have it attested, that the true gospel is preached unto them, and in 1Pe_5:12, that thus they are made partakers of the very grace of God, still this testimony is not made in such a form as to warrant the conclusion that the Apostle Peter considered it necessary to confirm by his apostolic authority the preaching by which the readers had been converted; nor does it imply that the readers had begun to doubt of its truth, because it had come to them—directly or indirectly—from Paul, or even from one who was no apostle. The double testimony is rather to be explained simply thus: the apostle was desirous of preserving his readers from the danger to which they were exposed, by the trials that had befallen them, of entertaining doubts as to their state of grace, and of confirming them in the confident trust in the grace of which they had been made partakers, apart altogether from the person by whom the gospel had been preached to them.
Hofmann, while justly recognising the hortatory character of the epistle, thinks that Peter’s intention in it was “to secure the fruits of Paul’s labours in a way possible only to the Apostle of the Circumcision.” But in the epistle there is not the smallest hint of any such intention, nor is there any mention made of a difference between the Apostle of the Gentiles and the Apostle of the Circumcision. Besides, if such were his intention, it is impossible to understand how Peter could have written a hortatory epistle of such length. This same objection may be urged against Bleek’s idea, that the sole occasion of the epistle was the journey of Silvanus to Asia Minor.
Pfleiderer (as above, p. 419) correctly gives the design of the letter thus: “an exhortation to patience and perseverance under severe persecution from without, as also to a blameless life, by means of which the Christian church might avoid every occasion for a justifiable persecution.”
On Schwegler’s hypothesis, that the letter was written with the design of effecting a compromise between the followers of Paul and those of Peter, see § 4, Introd. Ewald’s view, that this circular letter was composed chiefly with the design “of teaching the true relation to all heathen and heathen rulers,” is refuted by the contents themselves, which go far beyond this.
The peculiar character of the epistle is due as much to the individuality of its author as to its own hortatory tendency; but not to this, that its author preached a Christianity different from that of the other apostles, that is to say, a narrow Jewish Christianity. The Christianity of Peter, in its subjective as in its objective side, is the same as that of Paul and John. As regards the objective side, there are no conceptions of the person of Christ here expressed lower than in the other books of the N. T. Weiss, who draws a distinction between the historical and the speculative methods of viewing the person of Christ in the N. T., is no doubt of opinion that only the former of these is to be found here, and that therefore Peter’s conception is, in this respect, only a preliminary step to those of Paul and John. But although Peter does not speak of the pre-existence of Christ in so many words, yet the significance which, according to him, Christ had for the realization of the eternal purposes of God toward humanity (1Pe_1:2-3; 1Pe_1:7-8; 1Pe_1:10-12; 1Pe_1:18-20, 1Pe_2:4-10; 1Pe_2:21-25, 1Pe_3:18 to 1Pe_4:6, 1Pe_4:13-14, 1Pe_5:4; 1Pe_5:10), goes to prove that he did not regard Christ “as a mere man,” distinguished from other men only in that “He was anointed by God at His baptism with the Holy Spirit, and thus equipped for the office of Messiah.” Besides, however, there are not wanting hints which point to a higher conception than this. If Christ be not called υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ , God is spoken of directly as πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ (chap. 1Pe_1:3; 1Pe_1:2); and the name κύριος , which Peter, according to the O. T. usage, frequently applies to God, is by him attributed without any explanation to Christ also. Again, if the Trinity, to which reference is made in chap. 1Pe_1:2, be only the economical Trinity, still in it Christ is placed in such a relation to God “as could absolutely never, and especially never in the domain of Old Testament faith, be applied to a mere human instrument” (Jul. Köstlin). Still further, in chap. 1Pe_1:20, προεγνωσμένου πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου , where even Weiss is forced to find an idea expressed beyond any that can be explained on the “historic principle,” though it be true that here it is not—as Schumann (die Lehre v. d. Person Christi, p. 449) assumes—the real, but only, in the first instance, the ideal pre-existence that is affirmed, yet this very ideal pre-existence undeniably points beyond the simple humanity of Christ. It is, too, a mere makeshift for Weiss to assert that the idea was formed in Peter’s mind, from the circumstance only, that Christ had already been predicted by the prophets, for πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου plainly goes far beyond this. And lastly, even if Weiss’ interpretation of τὸ … πνεῦμα Χριστοῦ , chap. 1Pe_1:11 (see Comment. in loc.), were admissible, it would also follow, from the very fact that Peter spoke of the working of God’s Spirit in the prophets, according to its indwelling in Christ, that he had a conception of Christ’s nature higher than any Weiss would allow him to have had.
Peter’s estimate also of the work of Christ, as of His person, is in no way different from that of the other apostles. For him, too, it is the death and resurrection of Christ which lays the foundation of man’s salvation, the communication of the Spirit of the glorified Christ by which that salvation is appropriated by man, and the second coming of Christ by which it is completed. No doubt Weiss thinks that Peter attributes to the blood of Christ a redemptive, but not an expiatory power, and that certainly the idea of sacrifice is foreign to him, if that of substitution be not; but this opinion can be justified only by a misconception of the particular points in the passages in question (1Pe_1:18-19, 1Pe_2:24, 1Pe_3:18).
With respect to the subjective side of Christianity, Peter has in reference to it also no peculiar teaching. According to him, it is again faith which is made the condition of a participation in the salvation of Christ; cf. 1Pe_1:5; 1Pe_1:7-9; 1Pe_1:21, 1Pe_2:7 (1Pe_4:13), 1Pe_5:9. True, the πίστις of Peter is not characterized as specifically Christian by any adjunct such as εἰς Χριστόν ; but that none other than a faith on Christ can be meant is evident, partly from the reference to the redeeming death of Christ which pervades the whole epistle, and partly from the circumstance, that when God is spoken of as the object of faith (1Pe_1:21), the phrase: τὸν ἐγείραντα αὐτὸν ( Χριστὸν ) ἐκ νεκρῶν καὶ δόξαν αὐτῷ δόντα (comp. Rom_4:24), is added to Θεόν by way of nearer definition. It can with no justification be asserted that faith according to Peter is, on the one hand, only the trust in God based on the miracle of the resurrection, and on the other simply the recognition of the Messianic dignity of Christ, and that accordingly he does not, like Paul, make reference to the atonement accomplished by the blood of Christ. For, precisely because Peter regards the death of Christ as the ground of salvation, it is plainly impossible that he should think of this faith by which redemption is obtained, without reference to the death of Christ and its effects. Weiss, though he admits that this faith, according to the view taken of it not merely by Paul and John, but also by Peter, introduces into real community of life with Christ, does so only under this restriction, that Peter’s conception is based entirely on the utterances of Christ, and has not as yet been worked into didactic shape;—as if the living faith were not necessarily conscious of community of life with Christ, and as if the matter contained in an epistle written with the view of imparting instruction must of necessity be brought into didactic form. If, according to Peter, the life of faith be, from its earliest commencement, a life of obedience, there is taught in this nothing different from what Paul more than once affirms (Rom_6:17; Rom_15:18; Rom_16:19-20; 2Co_10:15); but that Peter “makes the idea of obedience so prominent, that faith as the fundamental condition of the possession of salvation retires completely into the background” (Weiss), is an unfounded assertion.
Since, then, the epistle is written with the design παρακαλεῖν the Christians, who were enduring affliction for their faith’s sake, the reference to a future and complete salvation
κληρονομία , σωτηρία , δόξα , χάρις ζωής —forms, along with the exhortation to a pious Christian walk of life, a chief feature in it, and it is therefore quite natural that the ἐλπίς should appear as the centre of its apostolic παράκλησις (chap. 1Pe_1:3; 1Pe_1:13; 1Pe_1:21, 1Pe_3:5; 1Pe_3:9; 1Pe_3:15, 1Pe_4:13, 1Pe_5:1; 1Pe_5:4; 1Pe_5:10). But although it is peculiar to Peter to gaze on the future completion of salvation with a hope that stretched away beyond the present possession of it, yet we must not on that account seek to draw a distinction between him as the apostle of hope and Paul as the apostle of faith; and still less, with Weiss, attribute to him a different conception of doctrine in that, whilst according to Paul hope is only a single constituent of faith, Peter saw in faith only “the preliminary step to hope.”
REMARK.
Whilst Weiss considers the doctrinal conception in the epistle as a preliminary step to Paulinism, Pfleiderer, on the other hand, characterizes it as “a Paulinism popularised, and thereby rendered weak and insipid.” In reference to this, the following remarks must be made:—(1) Pfleiderer indeed admits that the emphasis laid on the death of Christ as the means of our redemption is a genuinely Pauline feature; at the same time, however, he is of opinion that the death of Christ must be taken here as referring not, as with Paul, to the expiation of the guilt of sin, but only to the removal of a life of sin, and that its redemptory effects can only be considered as morally communicated, in order that it may as a powerful example bring about the resolution to an obedient imitation of Christ. But this is clearly incorrect, for it is apparent from an unprejudiced perusal of the passages in question that redemption from the guilt of sin is viewed as the primary effect of Christ’s death, though there is undoubtedly also reference to its final aim in delivering from the power of sin. How can redemption from a life of sin be conceived of without the forgiveness of sin? The very expression ῥαντισμὸς αἵματος Ἰ . Χ . (1Pe_1:2) is a proof that our author regarded the forgiveness of sin as the effect of the blood of Christ. The id