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1Pe_3:10-12. Quoted from Psa_34:13-17, LXX., and strengthening the foregoing exhortations by a reference to the divine judgment. In the original the first clause forms an interrogation, to which the following clauses, in the second person imperative, give the answer.
ὁ γὰρ θέλων ζωὴν ἀγαπᾷν , καὶ ἰδεῖν ἡμέρας ἀγαθάς ] The translation of the LXX., an inexact reproduction of the Hebrew,[185] runs: τίς ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος ὁ θέλων ζωὴν , ἀγαπῶν ἡμέρας ἀγαθάς ; Peter’s deviation from it by the conjunction of θέλων ἀγαπᾷν is striking.
θέλων is not used adverbially here, equivalent to “fain;” but neither must another conception be substituted for ἀγαπᾷν ; de Wette: “he who will show[186] love for life” (i.e. a yearning desire after it). The idea “show,” besides being an arbitrary introduction, is inappropriate, inasmuch as it is love of life itself, and not the showing of it, that is here in question. Wiesinger is more happy: “He who is really in earnest as to the love of life.” θέλων is then to be explained on the principle that love of ΖΩΉ , no less than the possession of it, is conditioned by a certain course of conduct on the part of man. Bengel, appealing to Ecc_2:17, interprets still better: qui vult ita vivere, ut ipsum non taedeat vitae; i.e. who will have life so that he can love it; so, too, Schott; similarly Hofmann, only that the latter unnecessarily understands ἀγαπᾷν to mean simply “to enjoy a thing.”
ΚΑῚ ἸΔΕῖΝ ἩΜΈΡΑς ἈΓΑΘΆς ] with ἸΔΕῖΝ in this connection, comp. Luk_2:26; Heb_11:5; Joh_3:3.
The passage in the Psalms has evidently reference to earthly happiness; according to de Wette, on the other hand, the apostle had the future and eternal life in view here; this, however, is not the case, for in the passage before us the reference is likewise to the present life (Wiesinger, Schott, and Brückner), only it must be observed that for the believer happiness in this life consists in something different from that of the man of the world; to the former, days of suffering also may be ἡμέραι ἀγαθαί . If this be correct, ΓΆΡ cannot refer to the thought immediately preceding, but only “to the whole exhortation, 1Pe_3:8-9” (Wiesinger, Schott).
ΠΑΥΣΆΤΩ Κ . Τ . Λ .] The LXX., keeping to the Hebrew original, here and in what follows preserve the second person.
ΠΑΎΕΙΝ , “to cause to cease, to hold back;” in classical Greek never joined with ἀπό ; the subsequent genitive ΤΟῦ ΜῊ ΛΑΛῆΣΑΙ stands in conformity with the use of the verb among the Greeks; comp. Winer, p. 305 [E. T. 409].
ΚΑΚΌΝ has a wider range than ΔΌΛΟς ; there is no ground for limiting the application of the term here simply to words of reprimand (de Wette). With δόλος , comp. chap. 1Pe_2:1; 1Pe_2:22.—1Pe_3:11. ἘΚΚΛΙΝΆΤΩ ΔῈ Κ . Τ . Λ .] ἘΚΚΛΊΝΕΙΝ ἈΠΌ ; comp. Rom_16:17. The same thought in the same words, Psa_37:27; comp. further, Isa_1:16-17; Rom_12:9.
ΔΈ , if it be genuine, serves to bring into prominence the new idea, distinct from the preceding.
ΖΗΤΗΣΆΤΩ Κ . Τ . Λ .] ΔΙΏΚΕΙΝ (comp. 1Ti_6:11, etc.), stronger than ΖΗΤΕῖΝ (comp. Mat_6:33; Col_3:1).
The first half contains the general thought, the second emphasizes one more special. Although the exhortations of the apostle refer more particularly to the conduct of Christians towards their persecutors, yet they are not confined to this, but go beyond it (in opposition to Schott).—1Pe_3:12. ὍΤΙ ὈΦΘΑΛΜΟῚ ΚΥΡΊΟΥ Κ . Τ . Λ .] ὍΤΙ is inserted by the apostle in order to mark more precisely the connection of thought. The exhortations are founded on a reference to the manner of God’s dealings. On the first hemistich Bengel remarks: inde vitam habent et dies bonos. The apostle omits the words ΤΟῦ ἘΞΟΛΟΘΡΕῦΣΑΙ ἘΚ Γῆς ΤῸ ΜΝΗΜΌΣΥΝΟΝ ΑὐΤῶΝ in the Psalm, added to ΠΡΌΣΩΠΟΝ … ΚΑΚΆ (not because, as de Wette thinks, he considered them too strong), and thus deprives the last member of the verse of a nearer definition. Calvin, Grotius, Beza, de Wette, accordingly take the ἘΠΊ of this member in a sense different from that which it has in the first, namely, as conveying the idea of “punishment,” equivalent to “against;” this, however, is arbitrary. Hensler, Augusti, and Steiger find in all three members the expression of “attentive observation” only; but this view—itself, according to the thought, inadequate—is opposed by the particle ΔΈ , which indicates rather a contrast, and is not to be translated, with Hensler, by “but also.” If, now, the antithesis be not contained in ἘΠΊ , it can be sought for only in ΠΡΌΣΩΠΟΝ , which, though in itself doubtless a vox media (comp. Num_6:25-26; Psa_4:7), is nevertheless in this passage of the Psalms to be thought of as one full of wrath, and, as such, was present to the mind of the apostle. Strictly speaking, indeed, this should have been expressed; but not necessarily so, since the antithesis between this and the preceding member of the verse makes it sufficiently apparent. A similar interpretation is given by Wiesinger, Brückner, and Schott.
[185] In the original Hebrew the passage is:
[186] Similarly already the Glossa interl.: qui vult ostendere, se dilectionem habere.—Lorinus thinks that the combination of the two words serves to intensify the idea: si recte dicitur quis concupiseere, desiderare (Psa_118:20), quidni velle, quod est verbum generale, amare? Innuit duplicatio non solum vehementiam desiderii amorisve, sed infirmitatem quoque carnis revocantis subinde voluntatem, ne ita velit acriter et assiduo. But in Psa_118:20 (Vulg.: concupivit anima mea desiderare justificationes tuas) the connection is different from here.
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