Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadHeinrich Meyer Commentary - 1 Peter 1:13 - 1:13
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
1Pe_1:13. The first group of exhortations extends from this verse to the end of the chapter.—1Pe_1:13. First exhortation, which forms the basis of those which follow. The τελείως ἐλπίζειν is the foundation upon which the whole moral-religious life of the Christian must be raised.
διὸ ἀναζωσάμενοι τὰς ὀσφύας τῆς διανοίας ὑμῶν ] διό does not refer back to any single thought in what precedes, certainly not to the glory of the σωτηρία touched upon in 1Pe_1:10 ff. (Calvin: ex magnitudine et excellentia gratiae deducit exhortationem), still less to the thought expressed 1Pe_1:5-9 : “that the Christian goes through trial towards a glorious destiny” (de Wette), but to the whole of the foregoing lines of thought (Schott), which, however, have their point of convergence in this, that unto the Christian begotten again εἰς ἐλπίδα ζῶσαν , the σωτηρία is appointed as the τέλος τῆς πίστεως (similarly Brückner).
ἀναζωσάμενοι τὰς ὀσφύας ] a figurative expression taken from the runners (and others) who tucked up their dress, so as to prosecute their work with less hindrance. ἀναζώννυμι , ἅπ . λεγ . (Pro_31:17; LXX., ed. van Ess 29:17), means to tuck up; Luther incorrectly: “therefore so gird yourselves” (thus Wiesinger also translates, although he justly says: “The figure taken from the tucking up of a long under garment denotes preparedness for something,” etc.); cf. the passages, Luk_12:35 and Eph_6:14 (in both passages, however, περιζώννυμι ). The figure is the more appropriate, that the Christian is a παρεπίδημος , on his way to the future κληρονομία . The figurative τὰς ὀσφύας finds its own explanation in the epexegetical genitive τῆς διανοίας ὑμῶν . Aretius interprets incorrectly: lumbi mentis i. e. ipsa recta ratio renati hominis recte judicans de negotio pietatis; διάνοια means here, as in Col_1:21 : the “disposition of mind.” The meaning of the phrase applies not only to deliverance from evil desires (Gerhard: quarumvis passionum et cupiditatum carnalium refrenatio praescribitur), but to all and every needful preparation of spirit for the fulfilling of the exhortations following; “it is the figure of spiritual preparedness and activity” (de Wette). The aorist participle points to this spiritual preparedness as the preliminary condition of ἐλπίζειν (Schott).
νήφοντες ] cf. chap. 1Pe_4:7, 1Pe_5:8 (1Th_5:6; 1Th_5:8; 2Ti_4:5). Calvin correctly: non temperantiam solum in cibo et potu commendat, sed spiritualem potius sobrietatem, quum sensus omnes nostros continemus, ne se hujus mundi illecebris inebrient; similarly most interpreters. Otherwise, however, Weiss (p. 95 f.), who supposes an antithesis between ἀναζωσάμενοι and νήφοντες , inasmuch as the former is opposed “to want of courage and apathy,” the latter to “unnatural overstraining and excitement,” and “unhealthy exaltation.” But no such antithetical relation is (as little as there is in chap. 1Pe_5:8 and 1Th_5:6; 1Th_5:8, between γρηγορεῖν and νήφειν ) here anywhere hinted at, nor is there anything in the whole epistle to lead us to suppose that Peter considered it necessary “to warn his hearers against the extravagant enthusiasm of a Messianic glory.” Rather in νήφοντες is prominence given to an important element in the ἀναζώσασθαι , without which a τελείως ἐλπίζειν cannot exist, namely, the clearness and soberness of mind with which the goal of hope and the way leading thither is kept in view.
τελείως ἐλπίσατε ἐπὶ τὴν φερομένην κ . τ . λ .] τελείως , ἅπ . λεγ ., belongs not to νήφοντες (Oecumenius, Benson, Semler, Mayerhoff, Hofmann), but to ἐλπίσατε ;[79] it shows emphatically that the hope should be perfect, undivided, unchangeable (“without doubt or faint-heartedness, with full surrender of soul,” de Wette; Wiesinger adds further: “excluding all ungodly substance and worldly desire, and including the μὴ συσχηματ ., 1Pe_1:14;” and Schott: “with reference also to the moral conduct of earnest sanctification”). Weiss (p. 93) finds the τελειότης of hope in this, that it does not allow itself to be overcome by suffering—but of suffering there is here no mention. Erasmus, Grotius, Bengel take it unsatisfactorily, only ratione temporis, i.e. “ad finem usque.”
ἐλπίζειν , frequently with εἰς , ἐν , ἐπί c. dat., is construed with ἐπί cum. accus. only here and in 1Ti_5:5; it means “to place his hope on something.” The object connected with it by means of ἐπί is not the proper object of hope; the latter stands in the accusative, or is expressed by a verb, either in the infin. or with ὅτι ; but it is that from which the fulfilment of hope is expected.[80] If, as here, ἐπί be construed with the accusative, the disposition of mind with respect to the object is expressed; whilst if it be taken with the dative, the object is presented to us as the basis of hope, that on which it is founded.
ἐπὶ τὴν φερομένην ὑμῖν χάριν ἐν ἀποκαλύψει Ἰησ . Χριστοῦ ] Several commentators interpret so that the sense runs: “place your hope on the grace which has been shown you by the revelation of Jesus Christ;” thus Erasmus, Luther, Calov, Bengel, Gerhard, Steiger, etc.; according to this, φερομένην is the ἀντίστροφον of κομίζεσθαι (i.e. “which has been already offered or communicated to you”), χάρις , “the forgiveness of sins effected by Christ,” and ἀποκάλυψις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ , “the revelation of Christ which has already taken place.” In the more exact definition of the term ἀποκάλυψις , these interpreters again diverge from one another; whilst Luther, Calov, Steiger, and others hold it to be “the revelation which has taken place in the gospel;” Bengel, etc., on the other hand, understand it of “the incarnation of Christ.” Erasmus gives both: sentit de mysterio evangelii divulgato per quod Christus innotuit, seu de adventu Christi. Steiger, in support of the first view, appeals to Luk_2:32; Rom_16:25; Gal_1:16; Eph_1:17; 2Co_12:1; Eph_3:3; but all these passages do not furnish the proof desired. In no passage is the revelation of the gospel called the ἀποκάλυψις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ . But the other view is opposed by the N. T. usus loquendi, according to which ἀποκ . always denotes the future coming of Christ only. It must also be held to be unwarrantable to interpret ἐν ἀποκ . Ἰησ . Χρ . here in a different sense from that given shortly before in 1Pe_1:7 (and chap. 1Pe_4:13).
Not less opposed to the former interpretation is the present participle φερομένην , since the present may not arbitrarily be taken in the sense of the preterite, but must be looked upon as a realization of the future. Steiger is no doubt right in holding that ἡ φερ . ὑμ . χάρις “does not speak of the object of hoping, but the ground on which hope is built.” But from this it does not follow that by the phrase “something already accomplished” must be understood, for why should the Christian not be able to set his hopes of salvation on the grace which in the future will be offered to him at and with the return of Christ? Piscator incorrectly explains χάρις : coelestis felicitas et gloria, quam Deus nobis ex gratia daturus est. Aretius, again, is right: benevolentia Dei, qua nos amplectitur in filio: the grace of God from which the Christian has to expect the coelestis felicitas.
With φερομένην , cf. Heb_9:16. φέρειν : “to bring, to present” (not “to bring nearer,” Schott), points here to the free grace of God. That is, then: “place your hope on the grace which will be brought to you at (in and with) the revelation (the second coming) of Christ.” It is rightly interpreted by Oecumenius, Calvin (who errs in this only, that he takes ἐν for εἰς , i.e. usque ad adventum Christi), Beza, Grotius, Estius, Semler, Pott, de Wette, etc.
[79] The reasons which Hofmann brings forward for the combination of τελείως with νήφοντες are not by any means conclusive; for as the chief accent lies on ἐλπίσατε , a strengthening of this expression by τελείως is entirely appropriate, whilst νήφοντες requires no such support. The position of the word, too, is in favour of the connection with ἐλπίσατε .
[80] The expression “to hope for something,” confidently to expect it, may lead to the supposition that this meaning is expressed by ἐλπίζειν ἐπί τι . In the N. T. this is usually rendered by ἀπεκδέχεσθαι . Even in the construction with εἰς the thing accompanying it is not the object of hope, cf. Joh_5:45; 2Co_1:10; only in Sir_2:9 is the object of ἐλπίζειν construed with εἰς ( ἐλπίσατε εἰς ἀγαθὰ καὶ εἰς εὐφροσύνην ). Hofmann wrongly attaches importance to whether εἰς is followed by a person or a thing, asserting that in the latter case the thing is the object; for it is quite as possible to set one’s hope on a thing as on a person. Cremer rightly quotes this passage as one of those in which ἐλπίζειν has the meaning of “setting one’s hope on something.”
REMARK.
The more recent interpreters take up different positions with respect to the view here presented. Wiesinger, Brückner, Schott, Fronmüller, Hofmann, agree with the interpretation of ἀποκάλυψις , but are opposed to that of ἐλπίζειν ἐπί . Weiss and Zöckler (De vi ac notione voc. ἐλπίς in N. T. 1856, p. 15 ff.), on the other hand, are against the latter, but in favour of the former.
As regards ἐλπίζ . Zöckler: Ea est vis praepositionis ἐπί c. acc. constructae, ut finem designet s. localem s. temporalem s. causalem, in quem tendat actus verbi. Qui tamen finis s. terminus sperandi ita discernendus est a simplici objecto sperandi, ut hoc significet rem, quam sibi obtingere speret subjectum, finis vero ille simul auctor sit, e quo pendeat vel satisfacere votis sperantis, vel deesse;[81] in support of which he justly quotes, in addition to this verse, 1Ti_5:5 (to which Wiesinger appeals without any justification), and a not inconsiderable number of passages from the LXX.; cf. Weiss also (p. 36 f.). De Wette interprets ἐλπίζειν correctly, but thinks that inasmuch as the σωτηρία is conceived as a χάρις , it is at once the ground and the object of the hope. With this Brückner agrees, finding “in this intermingling a part of the peculiarity of the thought;” whilst, on the other hand, Weiss sees in it only a makeshift, conveying no clear idea at all.
With regard to the term ἀποκάλυψις , Weiss explains it as: manifestatio Christi, quae fit in verbo evangelii in hac vita (Gerhard). But this interpretation is decidedly opposed to the N. T. usage; in no passage is the revelation, of which by the gospel we become partakers, described as an ἀποκάλυψις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ , although ἀποκαλύπτειν is used of the different kinds of revealing. The reference to the gospel is an evident importation. Weiss raises two objections to the correct view—(1) “It is, as a matter of fact, impossible that the Christian should set his hope on the grace that is to be brought at the revelation of Christ;”—but why should this be impossible? How often does it happen that the individual bases his hope for the fulfilment of his wish on an event as yet future, but which he is assured will happen! (2) “That the second coming of Christ is not a revelation of grace at all, but of just judgment;”—but the latter in no way excludes the former; and how could the Christian contemplate the second coming of Christ with calm, yes, even with joy, if there were no grace?
[81] This interpretation is correct. The only point under dispute is “simul.”