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1Pe_1:6. ἐν ᾧ ἀγαλλιᾶσθε ] The verb expresses the liveliness of the Christian joy, equivalent to: exult; it is stronger than χαίρειν , with which it is sometimes connected (chap. 1Pe_4:13; Mat_5:12; Rev_19:7[59]).
ἐν ᾧ refers either to the preceding thought, that the salvation is ready to be revealed (Calvin: articulus “in quo” refert totum illud complexum de spe salutis in coelo repositae; so also Estius, Grotius, Calov, Steiger, Jachmann, de Wette, Brückner, Steinmeyer, Schott; similarly Gerhard, who, however, applies it to all that precedes: ἀναγεννήσας , etc.), or to καιρῷ ἐσχάτῳ (Oecum., Erasmus, Luther, Wiesinger, etc.). In the first construction ἀγαλλ .—in form as in meaning—is praesens, and denotes the present joy of the Christians over their future salvation ( ἐν ᾧ : over which, cf. chap. 1Pe_4:4[60]). In the second construction a double interpretation is possible, inasmuch as ἐν ᾧ may denote either the object or the time of the joy; in the first case the sense is: the καιρὸς ἔσχατος is for you an object of joy, because in it the salvation will be revealed; in the second case the sense is: in that last time ye shall rejoice (so Wiesinger and Hofmann); here the object of joy is doubtless not named, but it may be easily supplied, and the want of it therefore cannot be urged against this view (as opposed to Brückner). The last of these different views deserves the preference, both on account of the subsequent ὀλίγον ἄρτι … λυπηθέντες , which forms a distinct antithesis to ἀγαλλιᾶσθε , and of the idea peculiar to the epistle, that in the present time the Christian has to suffer rather than to exult, and only in the future can he expect the full joy;—and the prevalent manner of conjunction, too, precisely in this section of the epistle, by which what follows is linked directly on to the word immediately preceding, cf. 1Pe_1:5; 1Pe_1:8; 1Pe_1:10, shows that ἐν ᾧ applies to καιρῷ ἐσχάτῳ . In this combination, however, it is more natural to take ἐν in the same sense as in that which it has before καιρῷ , rather than in another.[61]
Doubtless the present ἀγαλλιᾶσθε will then have a future force; but this occasions no difficulty, there being nothing uncommon in such a use of the present (cf. also Winer, p. 249 [E. T. 331 f.]).
The present tense strongly emphasizes the certainty of the future joy, rays of which fall even on the present life.[62]
ὈΛΊΓΟΝ ἌΡΤΙ ] ὈΛΊΓΟΝ not of measure (Steiger), but of time, chap. 1Pe_5:10, where it forms the antithesis to ΑἸΏΝΙΟς ; cf. Rev_17:10; ἌΡΤΙ denotes present time. The juxtaposition of the two words is explainable by the apostle’s hope that the ΚΑΙΡῸς ἜΣΧΑΤΟς would soon begin.
ΕἸ ΔΈΟΝ ἘΣΤΊ ] not an affirmative (Bengel), but a hypothetical parenthesis: si res ita ferat: if it must be so, that is, according to divine decree; cf. chap. 1Pe_3:17. Incorrectly Steinmeyer: qui per peregrinationis spatium, quamdiu necessarium est, contristati estis.[63]
ΛΥΠΗΘΈΝΤΕς ἘΝ ΠΟΙΚΊΛΟΙς ΠΕΙΡΑΣΜΟῖς ] The aorist with ἌΡΤΙ has reference to the future joy: “after that ye have now for a short time been made sorrowful.” “It signifies the inward sadness, in consequence of outward experiences” (Wiesinger).
Particula ἐν non solum est ΧΡΟΝΙΚΉ , sed etiam ΑἸΤΙΟΛΟΓΙΚΉ (Gerhard). Both meanings pass over into each other, so that ἘΝ is not to be interpreted as synonymous with ΔΙΆ .
ΠΕΙΡΑΣΜΟΊ are the events by which the faith of the Christian is proved or also tempted; here, specially the persecutions which he is called upon to endure at the hands of the unbelieving world, cf. Jam_1:2; Act_20:19. By the addition of the adjective, the manifold nature of their different kinds is pointed out.
[59] Steinmeyer, whilst combating the opinion that ἀγαλλ . has a stronger force than χαίρειν , correctly describes the ἀγαλλίασις as affectio fervidior animi hilaris, but χαρά unwarrantably as: perpetua ilia cordis laetitia, quae neque augeri queat neque imminui.
[60] Brückner explains ἐν ᾧ as above stated, but he understands ἀγαλλιᾶσθς in a future sense, “of that which shall most surely come to pass;” this interpretation is undoubtedly inappropriate, inasmuch as the present assurance of the future salvation, stated in ver. 5, may now indeed be an object of rejoicing, but will not be so then, when that future salvation itself is attained.
[61] Schott’s assertion, that, as a rule, ἀγαλλ . is connected by ἐν with its object, is erroneous. In the N. T. the passage, Joh_5:35, at the most, can be quoted in support of this construction; whilst in Luk_10:21, ἐν accompanies the simple indication of time. In Luk_1:47, ἀγαλλ . is construed with ἐπί c. dat.; Joh_8:56, with ἵνα .
[62] It is altogether inappropriate to interpret ἀγαλλιᾶσθε , with Augustine, as an imperative; the exhortations begin only in ver. 13.
[63] The older Protestant commentators, more especially, sometimes employ this passage to combat the arbitrary seeking after suffering; thus Luther says: “It is not to be our own works which we choose, but we must await what God lays upon us and sends, so that we may go and follow, therefore thou mayest not thyself run after them.”
REMARK.
When Schott, in opposition to the interpretation here given, maintains the purely present force of ἀγαλλ . on the ground that “it must be the apostle’s object to commend by way of exhortation the readers for their present state of mind,” it is to be remarked—(1) That the apostle here gives utterance to no exhortation; and (2) That the apostle might perfectly well direct his readers to the certainty of the future joy, in order to strengthen them for the patient endurance of their present condition of suffering. It is perfectly arbitrary to assert, with Schott, that by ἄρτι the present trials as transitory are contrasted with the present joy as enduring, as also to maintain “that by the aorist λυπηθέντες the suffering is reduced to the idea of an ever-changing variety of individual momentary incidents which, in virtue of the uniform joy, may always lie behind the Christian surmounted”(!).
Schott insists again, without reason, that εἰ δέον [ ἐστι ] cannot be taken as referring to the divine decree, in that it is “impossible to make the accomplished concrete fact of the λυπηθῆναι hypothetical with respect to the will of God;” for it is not clear why Peter should not characterize the λυπηθῆναι ἐν ποικ . πειρασμοῖς as something hypothetical here, where he does not as yet enter more particularly into the concrete facts. Nor can it be assumed that εἰ δέον ( ἐστί ) is added in order to remind the readers that the τοικιλοὶ πειρασμοί should in reality occasion no sadness,—the less so that thus the intimately connected λυπηθέντες ἐν ποικ . πειρασμοῖς are torn asunder.