By Zane C. Hodges
{This is Chapter 3 from the new book First Peter: The Salvation of the Soul}
The transforming work of God by which our “souls” are transformed and prepared for glory will touch every area of our earthly experience. The first such area, and the core area of all Christian experience, is the area of our relationship to God.
Through Obedience (1:13-16)
1:13. The word therefore draws up into itself all of the elevating content of the prologue (1:3-12) and makes it a basis for the admonition to follow.
The figure gird up the loins of your mind is drawn from the Oriental (Eastern) practice of gathering up the long folds of the outer garment and tucking them under the belt so as to facilitate vigorous activity. So the mind, like a flowing garment, tends to distract us from our major objectives unless it is strictly controlled to that end. “Gathering in” our wandering thoughts, we are to focus our attention upon the great consummation of our experience in the coming of Christ. We could say, “Don’t let your mental skirts drag!”
The aorist hope (elpisate) with to the end (teleiōs) might be captured by: “Fix your hope completely.” We are to be absorbed by the eschatological consummation of our experience.
The phrase the grace being brought to you (tēn pheromenēn humin charin) picks up the idea of the grace toward you (tēs eis humas charitos) of v 10 and refers to the consummation of our lives in the glory of the Messianic unveiling. It is essential that we get a clear grasp of the glory which by the grace of God we are being prepared for now, and then set that glory before us as the all-consuming expectation of our hearts. Does your basic objective in life lie within the bounds of time or on the Holder of eternity? Do we live for this age or the one to come?
Verse 13, then, teaches that our wandering thoughts and pre-occupations of heart are to be carefully drawn in, like the robe of a garment, in order that in a spirit of sobriety they may be fully fixed on the hope of sharing Messiah’s glory.
1:14. Both the Nestle-Aland text and TR place a period after “Christ” of v 13. This is dubious. A semicolon might better present the idea that Peter continues to unfold in v 14. Peter’s mind in speaking of not fashioning yourselves (mē suschēmatizomenoi) was probably not a truly independent construction (e.g., an imperatival participle), but was subordinate to (or, continuous with) “hope” (v 13). If so, it indicates a process that is to go on contemporaneously with the fixing of our hope on future glory.
Indeed, it is only as our hope is so fixed that we can truly avoid those lusts associated with the ignorance of our unsaved days. Bear in mind that pride, worldly ambition, rivalry, and jealousy are such lusts and can only be truly escaped as our souls are liberated from them by the vision of a higher goal and a greater glory.
It is hope in the future glory then that motivates us to be obedient children. And this is the basic principle of our relationship to God. Eschatology, properly conceived, is the primary NT motive for obedient living. Not what we gain now (for here we suffer), but what we gain hereafter is what encourages us to live for God.
1:15-16. Peter reminds us that God calls us to His own kingdom and glory. If the eye is fixed on our future calling (cf. 1 Thess 2:12), we will find motivation to be like Him who called us, namely, to be holy.
Through Godly Fear (1:17-21)
The division suggested by the outline may be somewhat artificial; there is little basic difference between obedience to God and fear of God. Yet obedience is more the external aspect, while fear of God stresses the internal, i.e., the disposition that issues in obedience.
1:17. The verb you call on (epikaleisthe) meant either (1) to name, or surname; or (2) to call upon (someone for aid); to appeal to (esp. in a legal sense).
The latter sense is used here and perhaps with a flavoring from the world of jurisprudence in which it indicated a legal “appeal” (cf. Acts 25:11-12).
Such connotations are most appropriate in a context of suffering, even if—as is probable—the word here has the broad sense of “to call on (for aid).” The point is that in all the exigencies of life you ask God for help. But remember that your appeal is to a Judge Who is utterly impartial and rewards according to one’s work. So fear Him.
The reference to the time of your stay here refers once again to the thought of our status as aliens in a foreign land (cf. 1:1). Such a reminder is also appropriate here. Possessed of this sense of “strangeness” to the world, our eye is ever on our true homeland. Conscious of our destination, we are conscious also of the impartial judgment that awaits us there. This instills godly fear.
1:18-19. The participle knowing (eidotes) is circumstantial (adverbial) and causal and can be understood as “since you know.” It introduces the first rich doctrinal section of the body of the epistle. It is Peter’s technique to motivate by doctrine and to select his doctrinal content so that it is appropriate to his admonition. We shall see this repeatedly. Here, knowing is grammatically subordinate to “conduct yourselves” (anastraphēte) at the end of v 17. We live because we know.
The first feature of the motivation revolves around the awesome price of our redemption (vv 18-19). The verb redeemed would probably suggest to Peter’s readers (Jew and Gentile alike) the experience of release by purchase from slavery. Our fear of God and conformity to His will, ought certainly to arise from, and be sustained by, a realization of the costliness to Him of our redemption. Our lives will be judged by this impartial God and Father (v 17) in the light of that price.
The phrase tradition from your fathers (patroparadotou) means “inherited from one’s fathers.” The use of this word implies a Gentile audience. While it may not be impossible so to describe the manner of life of an unconverted Jew, this way of doing so seems foreign to the NT. The fathers and their legacy to Jewish life are usually regarded positively (cf. Acts 22:3; 24:14; 28:17; 2 Tim 1:3; Rom 11:28). This is not to ignore an indictment like Stephen’s (Acts 7:51), but the basic Jewish way of life as an inheritance from the fathers is never condemned. When it might be condemned, this is only as a failure to measure up to the inherited traditions. Thus, the phrase is more natural as a description of Gentiles and their inherited modes of conduct.
1:20-21. The word foreordained (proegnōsmenou) seems clearly to denote more than prescience (foresight). Why should we be told merely that God knew about this beforehand? The implication in the word is one of purpose (cf. Rom 11:2). Christ’s death as a sacrificial lamb was part of an eternal purpose, and carries implications for the significance of the phrase “according to the foreknowledge of God” in 1:2.
Observe that here the Apostle’s stress falls on the awesome purpose of God in our redemption, a purpose stretching back into eternity past, but finding fulfillment at the ends of the times.
Peter’s message in 1:18-21 is that, having fixed his hope firmly on the Second Coming, the believer is to become an obedient and holy child. He is to maintain a reverent fear of his impartial Father in the light of so magnificent a redemption. The Christian fear of God springs from the awesome price of redemption (vv 18-19), the awesome purpose of foreknowledge (v 20), and the awesome principle of faith in a God of resurrection and glory (v 21). The price is infinite (or incorruptible), the purpose is eternal, and the principle is divine.
Note as well that the stress of this section falls on the child-father relationship (cf. “obedient children” in v 14 and “Father” in v 17). Thus, having been born again (cf. 1:3), the first area of life in which we ought to experience the salvation of the soul is that of the child-Parent relationship which the new birth creates.
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Zane Hodges taught New Testament Greek and Exegesis at Dallas Theological Seminary. His book, First Peter: The Salvation of the Soul is available now.
