a. The Exhortation to Holiness. Ch. 1:13-21

13 Wherefore girding up the loins of your mind, be sober and set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in the time of your ignorance: 15 but like as he who called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living; 16 because it is written. Ye shall be holy; for I am holy. 17 And if ye call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to each man's work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear: 18 knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ: 20 who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was manifested at the end of the times for your sake, 21 who through him are believers in God, that raised him from the dead, and gave him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God.

Having given thanks to God for the wonderful salvation to be revealed in all fullness at the second coming of Christ, Peter now urges his readers to conduct which is in accord with their high privileges and glorious destiny. The three chief exhortations are to holiness, to love, and to growth. He introduces the first of these by suggesting the animating principle of hope. "Wherefore . . . hope," is the substance of the first verse of the paragraph; "be ye . . . holy," is the sum of the verses which remain. "Wherefore," that is, in view of the deliverance from distresses and the heavenly inheritance which will be theirs when Christ appears; "girding up the loins of your mind," as an Oriental would prepare himself for special effort by gathering closely about him his loosely flowing robes, so the mind of the Christian must be unhampered by sinful, selfish, unbelieving thoughts; "be sober," or "being sober," that is "self-controlled," guarding against all fanatical and foolish excitement, "set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." At this present day there is need of similar caution in connection with the blessed hope which centers in the return of Christ; first, there is still danger that the hope may be neglected because the mind is hampered by worldly, sinful distractions; second, there is danger lest it be associated with wild and fanatical vagaries; third, because of long delay and abundant discouragements, the hope grows faint, it is not "set . . . perfectly," it does not continue until the end.

Hope is mentioned, however, only as the motive to holiness. The latter is the supreme thought of the paragraph. This holiness is described negatively by a reference to the former life of the readers, and positively by a reference to the holiness of God. "As children" who are such because of "obedience" to the divine call, and as those whose whole purpose of life is to obey, they are exhorted no longer to conform their acts and habits to the mode of life which, before they knew Christ, was molded by selfish and sinful desires. "But like as he who called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy." The root idea of holiness is that of "separation," of dedication, particularly to the service of God; it came therefore to denote the moral character belonging to God himself. The mention of this as the standard for Christian living is inspiring. If God commands us to be holy we can rest assured that he is ready to give us needed grace, and even though in this present time we fail to attain the divine ideal, we are thus encouraged to believe that perfect holiness is to be ours when Christ appears; it is part of our "inheritance."

Two special reasons are assigned for obeying this command: first, the fact that God is not only our Father but our Judge. He is loving, but he is also just, and can allow no sin in his children; therefore, we should spend the brief time of our "sojourning" here, before we go to his heavenly home, "in reverence and holy awe." The second reason is the fact that our ransom from the power of sin has been secured at so great cost, "even the blood of Christ"; it ever had been the divine purpose that he should be our Redeemer, and now after long ages of waiting he has appeared and finished his atoning work, has been raised from the dead, and has been exalted to the place of supreme power; through him we know God, on him our "faith and hope" are based.

b. Exhortation to Brotherly Love. Ch. 1:22-25

22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently: 23 having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth. 24 For,

All flesh is as grass.

And all the glory thereof as the flower of grass.

The grass withereth, and the flower falleth : 25 But the word of the Lord abideth for ever. And this is the word of good tidings which was preached unto you.

The new life of holiness, made possible by the redemption of Christ, is now made the basis of an exhortation to mutual love between believers. In fact such love is suggested as the very object and purpose of that purification of soul which results from obedience to the revealed will of God. "Seeing ye have purified your souls"; this process was begun when the truth concerning Christ was first accepted, it has been continued in "obedience to the truth" and has its issue and goal in "unfeigned love of the brethren"; therefore, develop, cultivate, manifest this affection: "love one another from the heart fervently."

This love is natural, for Christians share a common life; all have one Father, and the spirit of sonship should be the spirit of brotherhood. This love should be abiding, for the new life from which it springs is eternal, it comes from "incorruptible seed," communicated by means of the living message of salvation; for we have been "begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God which liveth and abideth." Mere natural, human love might wither and fade, but the affection of those whose new life has come through accepting the changeless, deathless truths of the gospel, will flourish and never fail; "all flesh is as grass, . . . but the word of the Lord abideth for ever."

Such love was needed by those early Christians, amid the withering heat of persecution and pain; such love is needed to-day where sorrows cast their shadows and where the night of grief and doubt deepens; it is the fragrant expression of the life of faith, it is the flower and the fruit of "the good tidings" concerning Christ.

c. Exhortation to Growth as the People of God. Ch. 2 : 1-10

1 Putting away therefore all wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 2 as newborn babes, long for the spiritual milk which is without guile, that ye may grow thereby unto salvation; 3 if ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious: 4 unto whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, precious, 5 ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Because it is contained in scripture.

Behold, I lay in Zion a chief comer stone, elect, precious: And he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame.

7 For you therefore that believe is the preciousness : but for such as disbelieve.

The stone which the builders rejected, The same was made the head of the comer;

8 and,

A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence; for they stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. 9 But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 10 who in time past were no people, but now are the people of God : who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Having reminded his readers of the new life communicated to them through the gospel and by faith in Christ, Peter next urges them to secure such growth and development as will fit them for service as the people of God. The figures of speech are vivid and change with bewildering rapidity; most of them are taken from the Old Testament, and together they form almost a mosaic of quotations. At first Christians are regarded as children, then as a temple, and then as a priesthood, and then as the true "Israel of God."

"As newborn babes, long for the spiritual milk . . . that ye may grow thereby." The suggestion of spiritual infancy is not intended here as a rebuke, but rather as an encouragement to seek for the growth which ail partakers of the new life need. Negatively, this growth will be secured by repressing all those motions and habits which belong to the old life of sin, particularly such as are opposed to the brotherly love in which the new birth has been shown to have its first and highest expression: "Putting away therefore all wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, long for the spiritual milk." Thus, positively, the growth can be secured only as the soul receives spiritual food. The words "spiritual milk" are often translated "milk of the word"; and quite possibly the writer has in mind "the word of good tidings" to which he has previously referred as the means of the new birth. Surely the same means must be employed in nourishing the new life; and the main reason for the arrested development of modern Christians is found in their neglect of spiritual food, whereby, as Peter declares, we "may grow . . . unto salvation," that is, unto that full moral maturity, that complete deliverance from sin, which will be realized at the coming of Christ. A longing for such food is the sure proof that we have been "born anew," for if we "have tasted that the Lord is gracious," these first experiences of the loveliness and goodness of Christ will make us yearn to drink more deeply of his exhaustless grace.

Peter next refers to believers as forming a temple, although he unites this figure with that of a priesthood. As "living stones" they are united to Christ, the great Corner Stone who had been set at nought by men but afforded supreme honor by God; cemented to him by faith, and to their fellow Christians by love, they are being built into a glorious house for the indwelling of God, by his Spirit. As a priesthood they are to offer sacrifices of praise and prayer, of kindness and holiness and love, which will be acceptable to God because presented in the name of Jesus Christ.

Of this spiritual temple the prophets had spoken; they had declared that Christ, as the Corner Stone, was chosen by God, and held in highest honor, and that those who trusted in him should not, as Peter suggests, "be put to shame." The honor, the "preciousness," belonged to believers, but for those who refused to believe on Christ there was only condemnation and loss. The exalted Christ is the touchstone of character; those who spurn his gospel of grace declare their own judgment: "The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner; and, a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence."

In contrast with the fate of unbelieving Israel, Peter depicts the privileges of the Church, the true people of God: "But ye are an elect race," "chosen," as was the Hebrew people, and a "race," because possessing a common life resulting from the new birth; "a royal priesthood," "royal" as appointed by their King, royal as called to share his dignity and his glory, and "priests," as offering spiritual sacrifices and interceding for men; "a holy nation," a nation separated from others, consecrated unto God, and expected to manifest the moral nature and purity of God; "a people for God's own possession," that is, a people "acquired and possessed by him as a special and peculiar treasure." Such boundless privileges imply great responsibilities: Christians are expected to show forth by life and word, "the excellencies," the virtues, the goodness, the wisdom "of him who called" them, by his Spirit and providence, "out of darkness," the ignorance and night of moral ignorance and unbelief, "into his marvelous light" as revealed in his Son; in time past, whatever their nationality, they really "were no people, but now are the people of God"; they "had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." Thus the words spoken by Hosea of repentant Israel find their fulfillment in the redeemed, sanctified, beloved followers of Christ.