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1Pe_1:24-25. Quotation from Isa_40:6; Isa_40:8, slightly altered from the LXX. in order to confirm the eternal endurance of the word by a passage from the Old Testament.[107]
διότι , as in 1Pe_1:16; the passage here quoted not only confirms the idea ΜΈΝΟΝΤΟς , but it gives the reason why the new birth has taken place through the living and abiding word of God (so, too, Hofm.). The reason is this, that it may be a birth into life that passes not away.
ΠᾶΣΑ ΣΆΡΞ i.e. πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ; caro fragilitatem naturae indicat (Aretius); not “all creature existence,” embracing both stones and plants, etc. (Schott), for of a plant it cannot be said that it is ὡς χόρτος .
ὡς χόρτος ] is to be found neither in the Hebrew text nor in the LXX.
ΚΑῚ ΠᾶΣΑ ΔΌΞΑ ΑὐΤῆς ] instead of ΑὐΤῆς , the LXX. has ἈΝΘΡΏΠΟΥ ; in Hebrew, çÇñÀãÌåÉ . Incorrectly Vorstius: Ap. nomine carnis et gloriae ejus intelligit praecipue legem Mosis et doctrinas hominum; Calvin again rightly: omne id quod in rebus humanis magnificum dicitur.
ἘΞΗΡΆΝΘΗ Ὁ ΧΌΡΤΟς Κ . Τ . Λ . gives the point of comparison, that wherein the ΣΆΡΞ and its ΔΌΞΑ resemble the ΧΌΡΤΟς and its ἌΝΘΟς ; but it does not emphatically assert that “the relation of the flesh to its glory in point of nothingness is quite the same as that of the grass in its bloom” (Schott).
ΚΑῚ ΤῸ ἌΝΘΟς ΑὐΤΟῦ ἘΞΈΠΕΣΕ ] ΑὐΤΟῦ , if it be the true reading, is an addition made by Peter, for it is to be found neither in the LXX. nor in the Hebrew text. By the preterites ἘΞΗΡΆΝΘΗ and ἘΞΈΠΕΣΕ the transitoriness is more strongly marked; cf. Jam_1:11; Jam_5:2.—1Pe_1:25. Instead of ΚΥΡΊΟΥ , the LXX. have ΤΟῦ ΘΕΟῦ ἩΜῶΝ , àÁìÉÍäÅéðåÌ . ΚΥΡΊΟΥ can hardly have been written on purpose by Peter “because he had in his mind Christ’s word” (Luthardt). James refers to the same passage here cited by Peter, without, however, quoting it verbatim.
In the following words the apostle makes the application: τοῦτο δέ ἐστιν ] τοῦτο is not used “substantively here,” as the predicate of the sentence equal to: that is; i.e. eternally abiding word of God is the word of God preached among you (Schott); but it refers back simply to the preceding ΤῸ ῬῆΜΑ ΚΥΡΊΟΥ , and is equivalent to: this word, of which it is said that it remaineth for ever, is the word which has been preached among you.
ΤῸ ῬῆΜΑ ΤῸ ΕὐΑΓΓΕΛΙΣΘΈΝ ] Periphrasis for the gospel. In the O. T. it denotes the word of promise, here the gospel. Peter identifies them with each other, as indeed in their inmost nature they are one, containing the one eternal purpose of God for the redemption of the world, distinguished only according to different degrees of development.
ΕἸς ὙΜᾶς ] i.e. ὑμῖν ; in the expression here used, however, the reference to the hearers comes more distinctly into prominence; cf. 1Th_2:9, and Lünemann in loc.
In the last words Peter has spoken of the gospel preached to the churches to which he writes, as the word of God, by which his readers are begotten again of the incorruptible seed of divine life, so that, as such, in obedience to the truth thus communicated to them, they must sanctify themselves to unfeigned love of the brethren.
[107] The context in no way indicates that the apostle had particularly desired to make emphatic “that natural nationalities, with all their glory, form but a tie for these earthly periods of time” (Schott).