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1Pe_5:10-11. Promise of blessing and doxology.
ὁ δὲ Θεός , placed by way of emphasis at the beginning. That which has gone before has told the readers what they should do; in contrast to this ( δέ ), the apostle now says what God will do (Schott); with the expression: Θεὸς πάσης χάριτος , cf. 2Co_1:3 : Θεὸς πάσης παρακλήσεως . God as the author of all grace; χάρις conceived as a possession. Like the whole promise of blessing, this very designation of God serves to comfort and strengthen the readers in their afflictions.
ὁ καλέσας ὑμᾶς , κ . τ . λ .] cf. 1Th_2:12 (2Th_2:14); that is: to participation in His (God’s) own δόξα . The participation is here thought of as future, although for believing Christians it is even now present in its beginning (2Pe_1:4). In this calling there is already contained the pledge of the promises that follow: καταρτίσει κ . τ . λ .
ἐν Χριστῷ belongs to καλέσας , more nearly defined by ὑμᾶς εἰς etc. (de Wette, Wiesinger, Schott), not to δόξαν (Hofmann). God possesses the glory not first in Christ, as Hofmann says, but He has had it from all eternity, although in Christ it is first revealed. Gerhard interprets incorrectly: propter meritum Christi. ἐν is by several interpreters inaccurately taken as equivalent to διά ; but though ἐν denote instrumentality, this is of a more inward nature than that expressed by διά . The sense is: by God having brought you into union with Christ (thus also de Wette, Wiesinger, Schott). The connection of ἐν Χρ . with ὀλίγ . παθόντας following (Glossa interl.: sicut membra in illo patientes; Nicol de Lyra) has nothing to commend it.
ὀλίγον παθόντας ] ὀλίγον , as in chap. 1Pe_1:6 : “a little while.”
παθόντας is to be joined with καλέσας κ . τ . λ . (Steiger, de Wette, Wiesinger), but in such a way that in sense it does not apply so much to καλέσας , as to the obtaining of the δόξα of God, since the aorist must not arbitrarily be interpreted as a present. Hofmann rightly observes: “Peter subjoins this aorist participle as if it had been preceded by εἰς τὸ δοξάζεσθαι .”[281] Lachmann and Tischendorf (om. ὙΜᾶς after ΚΑΤΑΡΤΊΣΕΙ ) have connected these words with what follows, as also the Vulg. translates: modicum passos ipse perficiet (so also Wichelhaus). Many, particularly among the older commentators, even retaining the ὙΜᾶς , have adopted this construction; Luther: “The same will make you, that suffer a little while, fully prepared,” etc. Opposed to this, however, is as much the fact that the ΚΑΤΑΡΤΊΖΕΙΝ does not take place after the afflictions only, but during them, as that the present affliction and the future glory belong closely together; cf. 1Pe_5:1.
If, as is highly probable, the ὑμᾶς after ΚΑΤΑΡΤΊΣΕΙ be spurious, it must be supplied out of the ὙΜᾶς that precedes.
ΑὐΤΌς ] is placed emphatically: the God …, who hath called you, He will, etc., the same God; the calling already contains the guarantee for the καταρτίζειν , κ . τ . λ .
καταρτίσει , κ . τ . λ .] ΚΑΤΑΡΤΊΖΕΙΝ , Luk_6:40; 1Co_1:10; Heb_13:21; Luther rightly translates: “fully prepare;” Bengel: ne remaneat in vobis defectus.
στηρίζειν , 2Th_2:17; 2Th_3:3, and other passages. Bengel: ne quid vos labefactet.
ΣΘΕΝΟῦΝ , ἍΠ . ΛΕΓ . Bengel: ut superetis vim omnem adversam.
ΘΕΜΕΛΙΟῦΝ (see the critical notes); in its proper sense, Mat_7:25; Luk_6:48; figuratively: Eph_3:18 ( ΤΕΘΕΜΕΛΙΩΜΈΝΟΙ synonymous with ἘῤῬΙΖΩΜΈΝΟΙ ); Col_1:23 (synonymous with ἙΔΡΑῖΟΙ ).
The future expresses the sure expectation that, as the apostle wishes, God will perfect, etc., the believers.
If ΚΑΤΑΡΤΊΣΑΙ be read, this form must not be taken as the infinitive (Pott), but as the optative.[282]
The heaping up of expressions connected by asyndeton is rhetorical, and arises from the natural impulse of an agitated heart to find full expression for its feelings.—1Pe_5:11. The same doxology as in chap. 1Pe_4:11. It sets the seal on the hope just expressed.
[281] Schott’s explanation, that “to the apostle as he looks from the present, in so far as it already contains their completion, back on the present of actual reality, the sufferings appear as past,” is inappropriate.
[282] Erasmus, by first reading καταρτίσαι and then στηρίξει , etc., understands this and the subsequent words as substantives: perficiet fultura confirmatione, fundatione.