1 Peter
1 Peter 2
1Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking, 2as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that with it you may grow, 3if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious: 4coming to him, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, precious. 5You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6Because it is contained in Scripture,
7For you who believe therefore is the honor, but for those who are disobedient,
8and,
For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed. 9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10In the past, you were not a people, but now are God’s people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
11Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they see, glorify God in the day of visitation.
13Therefore subject yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether to the king, as supreme; 14or to governors, as sent by him for vengeance on evildoers and for praise to those who do well. 15For this is the will of God, that by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 16as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God.
17Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
18Servants, be in subjection to your masters with all respect: not only to the good and gentle, but also to the wicked. 19For it is commendable if someone endures pain, suffering unjustly, because of conscience toward God. 20For what glory is it if, when you sin, you patiently endure beating? But if, when you do well, you patiently endure suffering, this is commendable with God. 21For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps, 22who didn’t sin, “neither was deceit found in his mouth.” 23When he was cursed, he didn’t curse back. When he suffered, he didn’t threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. 24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by his wounds. 25For you were going astray like sheep; but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
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4 commentators · 77 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry3
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
The holy apostle has been recommending mutual charity, and setting forth the excellences of the word of God, calling it an incorruptible seed, and saying that it liveth and abideth for ever. He pursues his discourse, and very properly comes in with this…
I. The apostle here gives us a description of Jesus Christ as a living stone; and though to a capricious wit, or an infidel, this description may seem rough and harsh, yet to the Jews, who placed much of their religion in their magnificent temple, and who…
The general rule of a Christian conversation is this, it must be honest, which it cannot be if there be not a conscientious discharge of all relative duties. The apostle here particularly treats of these distinctly. I. The case of subjects. Christians were…
John Gill25
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
Wherefore, laying aside all malice,.... Since the persons the apostle writes to were born again, and therefore ought to love one another, he exhorts them to the disuse of such vices as were disagreeable to their character as regenerate men, and contrary…
As new born babes,.... The Syriac version renders it, "be ye simple as infants"; and as if it was a distinct exhortation of itself, and from that which follows; though it seems rather to be descriptive of the persons spoken to, and a character of them, under…
If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Reference is had to Psalm 34:8, "O taste and see that the Lord is good"; and the Syriac version here adds, "if ye have seen": by the Lord is meant, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the following words show, who is…
Adam Clarke25
The linguist of this set. Expect Hebrew and Greek word study, oriental custom, and geography — and an Arminian reading of grace and free will where Gill or Henry would read election. Note one real divergence: Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ, a position most of the tradition rejects, so read him closely on the person of Christ.
Why this voice is here: Where you want to know what a word actually says, Clarke is the one who will tell you — with the caveat above on Christ’s sonship.
Wherefore, laying aside - This is in close connection with the preceding chapter, from which it should not have been separated, and the subject is continued to the end of the 10th verse. Laying aside all malice - See the notes on Eph 4:22-31 (note). These…
As new-born babes - In the preceding chapter, Pe1 1:23, the apostle states that they had been born again; and as the new-born infant desires that aliment which nature has provided for it, so they, being born again - born from above, should as earnestly…
If so be ye have tasted - Ειπερ εγευσασθε· Seeing ye have tasted. There could be no doubt that they had tasted the goodness of Christ who were born again, of incorruptible seed, and whose hearts were purified by the truth, and who had like precious faith with…
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown24
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
new-born babes--altogether without "guile" (Pe1 2:1). As long as we are here we are "babes," in a specially tender relation to God (Isa 40:11). The childlike spirit is indispensable if we would enter heaven. "Milk" is here not elementary truths in…
Peter alludes to Psa 34:8. The first "tastes" of God's goodness are afterwards followed by fuller and happier experiences. A taste whets the appetite [BENGEL]. gracious--Greek, "good," benignant, kind; as God is revealed to us in Christ, "the Lord" (Pe1 2:4)…
coming--drawing near (same Greek as here, Heb 10:22) by faith continually; present tense: not having come once for all at conversion. stone--Peter (that is, a stone, named so by Christ) desires that all similarly should be living stones BUILT ON CHRIST, THE…
World English Bible — Public domain