UECF logoUnited Evangelical Christian Fellowship Church (UECF)130 Ferris Pl, Westfield, NJ
Chapter 7 of 25

Praising God for Salvation

Praising God for Salvation

Praising God for Salvation

1 Peter 1:3–12

Assured of Future Salvation (1:3–9)

1:3

God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ deserves all praise! By his abundant mercy he birthed us anew. This new birth brings us into a living expectation—an expectation that is living through Jesus Christ’s resurrection from among the dead.

1:4

This new birth thus also brings us into an inheritance that will never perish, is undefiled, and will never fade. It’s guarded in the heavens for you.

1:5

It’s guarded for you who, by God’s power and through your loyal trust, are guarded for the salvation that’s ready to be revealed in the last time.

1:6

That’s why you celebrate. Granted, now for a brief period various necessary testings have grieved you.

1:7

These testings are meant to prove the genuineness of your trust in God. Even though fire proves the genuineness of gold, gold is perishable. But your trust in God is worth far more than gold. The result of such unalloyed trust in God will be praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed!

1:8

Though you haven’t seen him yet, you love him. Thus, though you don’t see him now, you trust him and celebrate with inexpressible and glory-filled joy.

1:9

Thus you are receiving the outcome of your trust in God: your ultimate salvation.

1:3

In Greek, 1 Pet. 1:3–12 is one elaborate, “periodic” sentence, a sophisticated literary form that undoubtedly required much labor on the part of whoever composed or arranged it in this form (possibly Silvanus).1 What I rendered more idiomatically as deserves all praise is more conservatively rendered “Blessed be.”2 This is a common blessing form that appears more than forty times in the OT, usually for God, and appears pervasively in a later mishnaic tractate devoted to such blessings (Berakot).3 Here are a few ancient examples:

  • “Blessed be the Lord who saves the poor ones from the hand of strangers.”4
  • “Blessed be God who lives forever.”5
  • “Blessed be the God of truth!”6
  • “Blessed be our God in everything, who has . . .”7
  • “Blessed are you . . .”8
  • “Blessed be my Lord!”9 “Blessed is he, and may he be blessed from the beginning and for ever!”10
  • When walking among graves, one should say, “Praised [be Thou, O Lord . . .] . . . who knows your number. He will judge you and he will resurrect you to judgment. Praised [be Thou, O Lord . . .] whose word is trustworthy, who resurrects the dead.”11

    • Believers have been reborn into a living hope (1:3), an imperishable inheritance (1:4), and a prepared salvation (1:5).12 I translate elpis here as expectation, a key theme and response to suffering in 1 Peter.13 Although most translations prefer the term “hope” (and it would be less unwieldy at times in 1 Peter), in English “hope” sounds less certain than Peter and some other early Christian writers intend concerning elpis when they speak about Christ.14 Aristotle spoke of hoping for what is good, what brings pleasure rather than pain;15 other thinkers praised hope, provided people were wise enough to hope for the right things.16 In Greco-Roman antiquity, however, only Jews and Christians typically used the language of “hope” fully positively,17 instead of as something neutral.18 Such hope or expectation could relate to trusting in God’s salvation, or deliverance.19 Diaspora Jews could think of the hope of immortality (Wis. 3:4), in contrast to the wicked’s lack of good hope (Wis. 3:11, 18; 5:14; 13:10).20

    I chose the term birthed as a semantic compromise. Birthed is normally a feminine image and the same verse speaks of the Father, hence implying fathering by conception (hence the “seed” in 1:23).21 Nevertheless, in today’s English “beget” sounds archaic and “father” as a verb has more to do with raising a child than begetting one. “Regeneration” focuses on the experience but could obscure the connection with the Father. Just as biological generation brings biological life, so regeneration from an immortal seed (1:23), thus becoming the Father’s children (cf. 1:14), brings new, eternal life. The phrase “eternal life” appears first in Jewish sources as the life of the resurrection (Dan. 12:2), and this phrase appears often both in early Jewish sources22 and in early Christianity.23

    This new life comes through Jesus Christ’s resurrection to eschatological life. That is why Peter describes this eschatological expectation as living.24 Resurrection would inaugurate eternal life (Dan. 12:2), and Jesus’s resurrection has confirmed the promised future resurrection of all his followers (1 Cor. 15:20, 23).25 Being born to God also confers on God’s new children an inheritance (1 Pet. 1:4). Some of these images were undoubtedly familiar and well understood among early Christians, as noted in the following excursus on rebirth, conversion, and inheritance.

    The image communicates something similar to that of new creation,26 yet with a more directly organic, personal connection to God and his character (cf. comment on the seed in 1 Pet. 1:23). Early Judaism often spoke of new creation, most often with respect to the coming new world (Isa. 65:17; 66:22).27 Jewish thinkers may have sometimes connected such language with God “creating” a new heart and spirit for his people.28 Some later rabbis used it for a new beginning on Rosh Hashanah, after old sins had been removed,29 and also for converts,30 so that someone who converted another was also considered as if having created that person.31 Paul applies the language of “new creation” to believers, who presently experience the foretaste of the coming age (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15).

    A CLOSER LOOK

    Rebirth, Conversion, Inheritance32

    That Peter employs the image of rebirth for conversion here is no accident. Gentiles in Roman Asia might think of some gentile traditions of regeneration,33 but that is not the primary, original source of Peter’s image.34 (See the excursus “The Supreme Deity as Father in Ancient Thought.”)

    Rebirth, often explicitly from God’s Spirit or word as in 1 Pet. 1:3, 23, was a familiar early Christian image (John 1:12–13; 3:3–6; Gal. 4:29; 1 John 3:9; perhaps James 1:18),35 and it may play partly on an image of conversion probably already circulating in first-century Judaism. In the Diaspora, Justin Martyr also testifies independently to the mid-second-century Jewish belief, apparently widespread, that the proselyte is “like one who is native born.”36 It became, in fact, a commonplace that a proselyte’s status was that of a newborn child.37 Before God, the law, and Israel, a convert was no longer the person he or she had been as a gentile; this person’s legal standing was that of an Israelite.38

    Although the traditions’ origins are of uncertain date, in the halakah, a proselyte had lost all previous connections; the convert had begun a new life.39 This may bear some relation to a Roman custom in which one becoming a Roman citizen had to explicitly reaffirm prior legal ties for them to remain binding.40 Thus, in terms of legal status, a proselyte had no relatives, and could marry paternal relatives;41 according to legal theory, though not practice, a proselyte could even marry his former mother.42 It may not be surprising that gentiles accused converts to Judaism of disowning their families of origin.43 Many early Amoraim in greater Judea understood Tannaitic authorities to say that a proselyte had no inheritance obligation to his former children.44 A proselyte was still, however, allowed to inherit from gentile parents.45

    Conversion to Judaism was in a sense adoption into a new ethnic community. In 1 Pet. 1:3, God adopts gentiles as his children without their adopting a new ethnicity (cf. comment on Jewish language in 1:1–2, esp. 1:1). The idea would be more widely intelligible. Thus someone disinherited by parents but brought into a new family could be depicted figuratively as “born again, allotted a new destiny in some sort.”46 His understanding is more ontological (cf. 1:23) than legal, in contrast to later rabbinic analogies, but it does mention the connection with a new inheritance.

    1:4

    The inheritance rightly belongs to the obedient children (1:14) born to the Father (1:3, 23).47 Jewish tradition widely reapplied the biblical language of “inheritance” to eschatology (cf. already LXX Isa. 57:13; 58:11; 60:21; 65:9; Ezek. 36:12; 47:14, 22–23). Tradition tended to identify “promise” with “inheritance.”48 The righteous expected to “inherit” God’s “promises,”49 and to “inherit” eternal life.50 The promise of inheriting the “land” (e.g., Pss. 25:13; 37:9, 11, 22, 29, 34)51 came to be understood as inheriting the “earth” (the same Hebrew term).52 Early Christians sometimes expressed this hope as “inheriting” (or not) the kingdom.53 Jewish tradition most often associated inheriting the world to come with one of two conditions: being Jewish or studying the Torah.54

    Peter describes this inheritance with three adjectives, all beginning with the Greek letter alpha (alliteration was rhetorically pleasing to ancient ears):55 that will never perish, is undefiled, and will never fade (imperishable, undefiled, and unfading). The imperishable inheritance fits the imperishable inner person (3:4) of believers’ birthright from imperishable seed (1:23). Its unfading character also corresponds with the description of the unfading eternal reward in 5:4.

    Peter’s audience might also understand that God keeps (tēreō, 1:4) and guards (phroureō, 1:5). One traditional blessing was for God to “protect” or “guard” his people (Num. 6:24).56 Other Jewish pietists praised God for “keeping” or “guarding” them from those who would destroy them,57 and Wisdom could “keep” God’s servants.58 In 1 Peter, believers are kept by loyal trust—that is, by their status as believers who have not turned from the faith as apostates.59

    They might also be familiar with the idea of treasures reserved in heaven, whether from the Jesus tradition (Matt. 6:20 // Luke 12:33–34; Mark 10:21) or from other Jewish traditions. Although the following examples are later than the Gospels,60 it is unlikely that they borrowed the image from the Gospels:

  • 4 Ezra 7:77: “For you have a treasure of works laid up with the Most High; but it will not be shown to you until the last times.”61
  • 4 Ezra 7:83: The wicked will “see the reward laid up for those who have trusted the covenants of the Most High.”62
  • 2 Baruch 14:12: “For the righteous justly have good hope for the end . . . because they possess with you a store of good works which is preserved in treasuries.”63
  • t. Peʾah 4:18: Giving treasures to the poor lays up treasures in heaven.64

    • The heavens are the divine realm65 articulated in spatial terms. In some Jewish literature heaven appears even as a Jewish periphrasis for God.66 The older Greek cosmology was a three-tiered universe of heaven, earth, and underworld, with the vast majority of the dead in the last. From the Hellenistic period forward many intellectuals conceived of the earth as a sphere surrounded by the planetary spheres in which the sun, moon, and planets moved.67 In this period many people, both Greek and Jewish, came to believe that unencumbered souls would rise upward to the highest heavens.68 (Some even believed in forms of astral immortality.)69

    1:5

    Believers’ inheritance is imperishable and guarded for them (1:4) because they themselves are protected by God for ultimate salvation (1:5, 9).70 Although the terms that I translate as guarded in 1:4 and 1:5 differ, I translate them the same way to highlight the connection between them.

    In my attempt to avoid theological jargon in my translation, I would have substituted “deliverance” for “salvation” here, but neither term is in common nontheological use. “Rescue” might be better, but in this case (and throughout 1 Peter) retaining the theologically loaded “salvation” better communicates the range of ideas for which Peter uses the term. The word group was also natural language for physical deliverances71 or safety,72 including in childbirth,73 military situations,74 or at sea.75 But Israel also looked for full, future deliverance (Isa. 43:3; 45:17; 46:13; 49:6; 52:7, 10; 60:16; Ezek. 34:22), an idea that naturally extended to the salvation of the righteous.76 The language appears widely in early Christianity.

    Perhaps because early Christians saw themselves as already in the “last days” (e.g., Acts 2:17; 2 Tim. 3:1; Heb. 1:2; James 5:3; 2 Pet. 3:3; 1 John 2:18; see fuller comment on 1 Pet. 1:20), Peter describes the future consummation not as the last days but as the last time (cf. “the last day” in John 6:39–40, 44, 54; 12:48). The term that I translate as trust is usually translated as “faith”; early Christians often use it to depict trusting dependence on the God who is absolutely trustworthy and hence rightly merits such trust. It involves entrusting one’s life and direction to God in a relationship of mutual faithfulness dependent on God.77 Peter and Paul (in contrast to, say, James) do not apply it to a merely nominal profession of faith that entails little if any real concern for God and his values and agendas (i.e., no fear of God). Peter requires perseverance, and this perseverance occurs through believers remaining believers—that is, through continued faith rather than apostasy.78

    1:6

    My translation uses That’s why because the Greek en hō (“in which”) cannot refer back to salvation alone;79 it probably thus refers to the entire preceding comment. The brief period is the time now, the present age (as likely in 5:10).80 In retrospect, the interim might seem less brief to us than early Christians expected (e.g., Rev. 12:12; 17:10), but Peter’s primary point in this context is that the present period of suffering is incomparably brief compared to the eternal, imperishable inheritance to come (1:4). As the Venerable Bede observes, “Once we have entered our eternal reward, the years we spent suffering here below will seem like no time at all.”81

    Grieved can apply to various sorts of hardships, including unjust treatment (as in 2:19).82 It contrasts with and qualifies the celebration described in the same verse; we rejoice in suffering, but it is also difficult. That the expression various testings appears also in James 1:2 suggests that, if these texts are literarily independent, they reflect the same distinctive early Christian language; the two terms do not appear together in the Septuagint, Philo, or Josephus.83

    In Jewish thought, distress tested one’s character to see if one would sin;84 suffering was thus often testing.85 Enemies could test martyrs’ faith by torture.86 God would try his people;87 he would also test particular individuals88 through their sufferings, such as martyrs89 or whoever wished to serve the Lord.90 Jewish tradition often cited as major examples of undergoing testing Abraham91 and Israel in the wilderness.92 God would also rescue his servants in their testing;93 he did not desire that one so tested should fail, because he did not want people to sin.94 The same person could experience testing as being from God95 or Satan96 in the same context, because Satan was subject to God’s rule.

    Peter encourages those who are suffering by reminding them of their future hope;97 it is easier to endure suffering when we remember that it is temporary. Various writers, though especially Stoics and apocalyptically- or martyr-oriented Jews, spoke of joy in suffering.98 Stoics urged a view that few ordinary hearers embraced: Seneca the Younger urges that right thinking will make one joyful in hardship,99 and that one should “be able to endure adversity with a cheerful mind.”100 Epictetus opines that one should die without groaning, be fettered without wailing, and go into exile with a cheerful face.101 The ideal wise person should thank God for any circumstance that enters one’s life;102 virtue should be enough to keep the ideal wise person happy.103 The goal was serenity and to remain calm in all situations.104 Such sentiments were not limited to Stoics; even Epicurus reportedly insisted that a wise person should be happy even on the rack.105

    Peter may share some views in common with Stoics, but probably lacked much acquaintance with them. Closer to Peter’s worldview was the approach of Jewish pietists who believed that God would reward the righteous who, though suffering, blessed God. Following are some examples of various ancient Jewish approaches.

  • 2 Maccabees: “With regard to my body, I endure grief as I am being beaten; with regard to my soul, I suffer these things gladly because I fear him [God].”106
  • Qumran’s Manual of Discipline: “When distress breaks out I shall praise Him, and in His salvation shall I rejoice.”107
  • 1 Enoch (second century BCE): God rewards the righteous who “loved heaven more than their life in the world, and even though they . . . were abused, yet they blessed me.”108
  • Jubilees (second century BCE): Sarah’s death was “the tenth trial with which Abraham was tried. And he was found faithful, controlled of spirit.”109
  • Sirach: “Accept whatever befalls you, and in times of humiliation be patient.”110
  • Josephus (late first century CE): The Essenes, tortured by Romans, smiled, and cheerfully offered their lives in expectation that they would receive them again.111
  • 2 Baruch (early second century CE): “Rejoice in the suffering that you suffer now.”112
  • Mishnah: “A person is bound to bless [God] for the evil even as one blesses [God] for the good, for it is written, And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might.”113
  • Sipre Deuteronomy: “And, furthermore, a person should rejoice in suffering more than in good times. For if someone lives in good times his entire life, he will not be forgiven for such sin as may be in his hand. And how shall he attain forgiveness? Through suffering.”114

    • The idea was common in early Christianity (e.g., Acts 5:41; 16:25; Rom. 5:3–5; James 1:2–3), probably reflecting Jesus’s instructions (Matt. 5:11–12 // Luke 6:22–23),115 perhaps akin to apocalyptic or other radical Jewish approaches.116 As John Chrysostom later remarked, “What is required is not only to suffer for Christ, but to endure what we suffer nobly and with all gladness.”117

    1:7

    The term rendered as genuineness118 was often used for unalloyed metals;119 fire tested their genuineness, as it tests that of believers. For believers, the figuratively fiery testing refers to sufferings in the present age; as in 4:12, it probably envisions for Peter’s audience especially persecution. The imperishable inheritance of 1:4 is worth far more than perishable gold (1:7).120 Gold may endure testing by fire, but faith that is tested by fire proves far more permanent and will be honored once Christ returns. This is because believers were bought not with perishable silver or gold (1:18), valuable merely outwardly (3:3), but with the far more precious blood of Christ (1:19).

    Scripture supplied Peter and biblically informed members of his audience with comparisons affirming that divine matters were far more precious than gold or silver, and Jewish tradition elaborated this. For example (from the NRSV):

  • Psalm 119:127: “Truly I love your commandments / more than gold, more than fine gold.”
  • Proverbs 3:14: Wisdom’s “income is better than silver, / and her revenue better than gold.”
  • Proverbs 8:19: Wisdom’s “fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, / and my yield than choice silver.”
  • Proverbs 22:1: “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, / and favor is better than silver or gold.”
  • Tobit 12:8: “A little with righteousness is better than wealth with wrongdoing. It is better to give alms than to lay up gold.”
  • Sirach 7:19: “Do not dismiss a wise and good wife, / for her charm is worth more than gold.”
  • Sirach 29:11: “Lay up your treasure according to the commandments of the Most High, / and it will profit you more than gold.”
  • Sirach 30:15: “Health and fitness are better than any gold, / and a robust body than countless riches.”
  • Sirach 40:25: “Gold and silver make one stand firm, / but good counsel is esteemed more than either.”

    • One may compare also a Diaspora Jewish thinker writing before Peter’s time: knowledge of God and the beauty of virtue are a treasure greater than gold and silver, which are perishable.121

    Fire tested and refined metals, just as it tests even more precious faith here. Heating a furnace sufficiently allowed ancients to extract precious metals from ore: lead melts already at 327º C, and its main ore would be heated to 900 or 1000º C to extract silver. Gold remains long after lead, melting only at 1063º C.122 Thus gold would remain after most other ore was removed.123 This image of figurative refining, too, had plenty of precedent. God’s words could be seen as tested and refined to purity in a furnace (Ps. 12:6);124 most often, God’s people were also tested as if refined by fire (Ps. 66:10; Isa. 1:25; 48:10; Zech. 13:9; cf. Dan. 11:35; 12:10; Mal. 3:2–3).125 The Lord tests hearts like refining (Prov. 17:3), as does praise (Prov. 27:21).

    Similarly:

  • Athenian dramatist Euripides: “Let no success be so great that it will excite you to pride greater than is proper. . . . Rather, stay always the same, maintaining your own nature steadfastly like gold in fire.”126
  • Athenian orator Isocrates: “As we try gold in the fire, so we come to know our friends when we are in misfortune.”127
  • Roman Stoic Seneca the Younger: “Fire tests gold, misfortune brave men.”128
  • Job: “But he knows the way that I take; / when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold.”129
  • Isaiah: “See, I have refined you, but not like silver; / I have tested you in the furnace of adversity.”130
  • Ezekiel: “The house of Israel has become dross to me; all of them are bronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace; they are dross of silver. . . . As one gathers silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into a furnace, to blow the fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will put you in and melt you. . . . As silver is melted in a furnace, so you shall be melted in the midst of it.”131
  • Zechariah: “I will put this third into the fire, / and refine them as one refines silver, / and test them as gold is tested.”132
  • Malachi: “Who can withstand the day of his coming? . . . For he is like a refiner’s fire.”133
  • Sirach: “For gold is tested in the fire, / and those found acceptable, in the furnace of humiliation.”134
  • Qumran texts speak of the righteous tested in God’s crucible,135 which is the time of final battle:136 “. . . by the fierce anger of God among those who have been refined sevenfold. But God will consecrate some of the holy ones for Himself as an eternal sanctuary; a refining among those who are purified.”137
  • Wisdom of Solomon: After God has disciplined them for a short time (by martyrdom), God will greatly reward them, “because . . . like gold in the furnace he tested them, / and like a whole-burnt offering he has accepted them.”138
  • 4 Ezra: “Then the tested quality of my chosen people shall be manifest, as gold that is tested by fire.”139

    • Later rabbis also continued the comparison.140 Believers who stand firm in testing prove faithful; the language of “testing” can include the nuance of those who pass the test being “approved.”141 Just as testing refines gold and improves the final product as pure gold, so testing improves those who persevere through it. As Athanasius notes about this verse, “Rather than being hurt by what they went through, they grew and were made better, shining like gold that has been refined in a fire.”142

    The glory here may connect with resurrection (1 Pet. 1:11, 21) (on eschatological glory, see comment on 1:11). Rivalry for honor was a very serious matter in ancient urban Mediterranean society.143 The ancient Mediterranean world highly valued honor and praise,144 and “glory” often meant much the same thing. Thus “glorifying” God involves honoring him. When applied to humans, it could refer to reputation;145 some thinkers warned that such reputation depended on human whims and was not worth much effort.146 Although many thought the pursuit of honor would lead to noble exploits,147 some others regarded love of glory, or its excess, as something to be avoided.148

    Jewish texts do speak of “honor” or “glory” for those who did exploits,149 or of bringing honor to their nation.150 Other Jewish texts praised those who would not concern themselves with human glory,151 and noted that God would shame those presently honored.152 God “glorified” or honored his people, vindicating them.153 Thus Jewish thinkers, like some Greek and Roman thinkers, emphasized the importance of transcending concern for honor. Early Christian writers also adopted this virtue of seeking only divine commendation (Rom. 2:29; 1 Cor. 4:3; 2 Cor. 3:1; 1 Thess. 2:6). Whatever might be said of human honor, ultimately all true honor belonged to God. But God would honor, “glorify,” or vindicate his people in the end (e.g., Isa. 44:23; 49:3; 60:1–2; 2 Thess. 1:10), so bringing glory to himself (e.g., Isa. 60:21; Ezek. 38:23; 2 Thess. 1:12).

    In the case of God, his “glory” involves revealing himself. Divine glory evoked a range of associations for early Jewish hearers. For example, in the exodus, God’s “glory” led his people.154 As in the Hebrew Bible (Isa. 60:1–3), Judaism continued to associate an ultimate revelation of “glory” with the eschatological time,155 including for God’s people.156 Some Jewish thinkers undoubtedly related it to the concept of Shekinah,157 which functioned essentially as a circumlocution for God,158 indicating his nearness.159 God himself could be addressed as “Glorious One”160 or called “The Glory of the World.”161 Rabbis believed that God’s presence could be banished by sin162 or invited by merit.163 Although these associations can vary widely, they typically involve the divine. Many scholars today rightly highlight the prominence of honor and shame in 1 Peter;164 shame was genuinely appropriate only for nonbelievers.165

    1:8

    Believers do not see him now (1:8), in contrast to when he will be revealed (1:7). Because of trust in him, however, they rejoice, even in the face of sufferings (see comment on 1:6). Whereas Jesus’s mockers at the cross (cf. 1 Pet. 2:23) demanded that he come down from the cross so that they might “see and believe” (Mark 15:32),166 Peter’s audience believes without seeing (as valued also in John 20:29),167 and they love Jesus.168 Loving those who were visible was supposed to be easier than loving those not seen (1 John 4:20).

    The linking of roughly synonymous terms, such as with “joy” and “gladness,” fits Semitic repetition169 as well as Asianic rhetoric’s propensity for semantically superfluous repetition of ideas. Ancient thinkers proposed various associations with joy. Stoics usually marginalized emotion,170 though especially of the negative sort.171 Many philosophers, including some Stoics, did value what they defined as “joy” (chara),172 Peter’s term here, although ancient philosophy’s primary objective was instead generally “happiness” (eudaimonia).173 This latter Greek term appealed to Hellenistic Jews and to some early Christians, yet it never appears in the NT.174

    Stoics classified emotions as forms of, positively, joy (chara) or, negatively, grief (lupē).175 “Grief” is actually too narrow a translation, though it is the conventional one; lupē includes also other negative ideas such as depression and even confusion.176 For Stoics, joy (chara) lacked exuberance, being more tranquil and content;177 less Hellenized Jewish tradition, however, would demur on this point.178 Both Stoics and Jewish tradition, however, agreed that joy was “not always contingent on the present experience of the speaker”;179 Peter conspicuously agrees.180 Because Stoics emphasized the cognitive side of joy (chara), they associated it with correct reasoning about what is good181 and assigned it to the wise.182 In keeping with the LXX, Peter reframes joy theocentrically183 and assigns it to God’s people.184

    Most philosophers agreed that reason should control emotion,185 while rejecting the Stoic ideal of extinguishing negative emotion.186 Even Stoics, however, allowed cheerful and calm satisfaction with the will of God.187 In Peter’s day, the Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger opined that true joy stems not from externals, but from philosophy;188 true joy is continuous and not subject to circumstances.189 Jewish thinkers were more apt to associate it with wisdom,190 Torah,191 and righteous living.192 For Philo, joy accompanies virtue.193 More commonly people associated joy with religious festivals and celebrations, among both gentiles194 and Jews.195 Scripture and Jewish tradition associated joy with worship.196

    Peter describes this joy as glory-filled, connecting it with the promised glory in 1:7. Celebrate (agalliasthe) echoes 1:6 (also agalliasthe). One could argue that the joy is inexpressible in the sense that it is too sacred to utter, as in the sacred mysteries,197 mystical teachings,198 or elsewhere.199 Far more likely, however, is the idea that words are not adequate to articulate this joy (cf. 1 Cor. 2:9–10, 13; Eph. 3:19; Phil. 4:7);200 perhaps it is expressed inarticulately (cf. Rom. 8:26) or affectively (cf. 1 Cor. 14:2, 14–15). Compare the remark of Hilary of Arles: “Not even a thousand ironclad tongues can sound out the sweetness of heavenly blessings.”201

    1:9

    Peter speaks of the outcome202 of their faith (though telos has a range of overlapping meanings, including goal,203 purpose,204 or “end”); sometimes the term applied to the end time (cf. 1 Pet. 4:17),205 including glorious eschatological hope.206 Here Peter returns to the eschatological salvation through trust promised in 1:5. Traditionally, this is the NT passage that speaks of salvation of souls (psuchai; cf. also James 1:21; 5:20); Peter sometimes does use the term in contrast to the body (1 Pet. 2:11; possibly 1:22; 2:25; 4:19).207 Since bodily resurrection is envisioned, however (as in Jesus’s case [1:3, 21; 3:21]), Peter does not mean “souls” in any Platonic sense.208 He speaks of deliverance of lives,209 but in the eschatological sense of rescuing one’s life forever (as in Mark 8:35).

    More Than the Prophets Knew (1:10–12)

    1:10

    The prophets tried hard to learn more about this salvation, searching carefully. These prophets prophesied about the grace that you would experience.

    1:11

    They were trying to understand what person or what sort of time the Spirit of Christ within them was announcing as this Spirit was testifying in advance about Christ’s sufferings and subsequent glory.

    1:12

    It was revealed to them that they weren’t serving themselves, but you. These matters that they once announced are the same good news now brought to you by those who preached it. They did so by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. These are matters that angels want to investigate!

    1:10

    Most first-century sources for Petrine thought report his interest in Israel’s prophets (esp. Acts 3:18, 21, 24–25; 10:43; 2 Pet. 1:20–21).210 The verb translated as searching here (exeraunaō) is a potentially more intensive form of the verb translated as trying to understand (eraunaō) in 1:11.211 Here it refers to exploring and trying to understand the future salvation.212 Probably the grace in 1:10 is identical to the salvation that the prophets announced but could not yet fully comprehend.213 Grace is a recurrent theme in 1 Peter (cf. 1:2; 4:10; 5:5, 10),214 including with respect to future salvation (1:10, 13; 3:7), and is a key subject of Peter’s message (5:12).215 Sections of Scripture that Peter has in mind undoubtedly include Isa. 40 (1:24–25) and Isa. 53 (2:22–25).

    Later teachers certainly believed that the prophets prophesied for the end of the age and the messianic era.216 Using hyperbole, a later rabbi217 could even claim that all the prophets prophesied only of the messianic era.218 Many believed that the ancient prophets prophesied a future era being fulfilled only in the readers’ era. Compare, for example, a comment from one of the Dead Sea Scrolls: “And God told Habakkuk to write what would come upon the last generation; but he did not make known to him when the time [end] would be finished.”219 Interestingly, the approach is much more common in Luke’s Petrine sermons than in, say, Paul;220 not distinctively Lukan, it might reflect Luke’s knowledge of early apostolic preaching.221

    1:11

    Pauline and Johannine circles used this somewhat rare form of this verb for “search” (eraunaō) for diligent study of Scripture (John 5:39; 7:52) or God searching the depths of divine (1 Cor. 2:10) or human hearts (Rom. 8:27; Rev. 2:23).222 What could indicate “what person” (e.g., NASB, NRSV)—that is, “who?”; the masculine pronoun itself does not demand this interpretation, but Peter goes on to affirm that they spoke about Christ. What sort of time might evoke wisdom about the nature of times (cf. 1 Chron. 12:32; Esther 1:13; perhaps Eph. 5:16).223 Although the terms rendered what and what sort of sometimes functioned synonymously, some argue that the second reference corrects the first, making it even more general.224 In any case, prophets did inquire regarding future times (Dan. 9:2–3, 24–27; 10:2–3, 12–14; 12:6–13).225

    Although one could speak of the messianic Spirit in terms of the divine Spirit on the Messiah (Isa. 11:1–2), among early Christians the Spirit of Christ (1 Pet. 1:11) probably meant something more than merely designating the sender or initial bearer of the Spirit. The Spirit of Jesus or of Christ (Acts 16:7; Rom. 8:9b) is none other than the Spirit of God (Acts 16:6; Rom. 8:9a; 1 Pet. 1:12). The phrase thus likely associates the Spirit with Christ as with God, recognizing Christ’s divine character. Peter sometimes emphasizes the sanctifying or eschatological, resurrecting power of the Spirit (1 Pet. 1:2; 3:18; 4:6, 14). More relevant to 1 Pet. 1:11–12, however, the Holy Spirit was often associated with prophetic speech. For example:

  • Numbers 11:25 (ASV): The LORD “took of the Spirit that was upon him [Moses], and put it upon the seventy elders: and . . . when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied.”226
  • 1 Samuel 19:20 (NIV): “But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came on Saul’s men, and they also prophesied.”
  • Sirach 48:24: Isaiah “saw the future by a great spirit.”
  • 1 Enoch: Enoch says, “A spirit has been poured out over me, . . . that I may show to you everything that will come upon you for ever.”227
  • Jubilees: When Isaac was to bless Jacob’s sons, “a spirit of prophecy came down upon his mouth.”228
  • Qumran’s Manual of Discipline: “what the prophets have revealed by his Holy Spirit.”229
  • Josephus: “When the divine Spirit abandoned Saul and entered David, David began to prophesy.”230
  • Pseudo-Philo’s Biblical Antiquities: “And when they had sat down, a holy spirit came upon Kenaz and dwelled in him and put him in ecstasy, and he began to prophesy, saying . . .”231
  • 4 Ezra: “Send the Holy Spirit to me, and I will write everything that has happened in the world.”232

    • One could go on with such sources at length; prophetic inspiration was a common activity of the Spirit in Jewish Scripture233 and an even more narrow one in much of early Judean Judaism.234 This emphasis also appears among Diaspora Jews such as Philo, who speaks of the divine spirit of prophecy.235 Later rabbis sometimes associated the Spirit with prophetic revelation and insight.236 Thus, for example, through the Holy Spirit that rested on them, Israel knew Pharaoh’s plans against them.237 The rabbis especially often associated the Spirit of prophecy with the inspiration of books of the Bible. Given the Spirit’s association with prophecy, such a usage naturally appears also in nonrabbinic Jewish texts,238 but it becomes far more prominent in the rabbis.239 In the Targumim, “Holy Spirit” and “Spirit of Prophecy” are functionally interchangeable, the differences mandated by style.240 For further detail on conventional ancient understandings of prophecy, see the excursus “Prophetic Speech” (at comment on 1 Pet. 4:11).

    The prophets did not understand all the details,241 but Peter says that they did predict the Messiah’s sufferings and subsequent exaltation, and that they knew their message would serve most fully the future generation when these matters would be fulfilled (1 Pet. 1:12). (For the prophets predicting Christ’s suffering and subsequent glory, see also Luke 24:26.)242 Peter elsewhere emphasizes that glory follows suffering (1 Pet. 4:13; 5:1).243

    “Glory” can mean “honor” as in 1:7–8, but in God’s case it is palpable, the shining aura around him (e.g., Exod. 24:16–17; 33:22; 40:34–35; 1 Kings 8:11; Ezek. 1:28; 3:23; 8:4; 43:2), to be revealed widely in the future (e.g., Isa. 2:10, 19, 21; 60:2; Hab. 2:14). Peter could refer to the glory involved in Jesus’s resurrection (1 Pet. 1:21; cf. Luke 24:26; Acts 3:13; Rom. 6:4; Phil. 3:21) or at his return (1 Pet. 1:7; 4:13; 5:1, 10; cf. Mark 8:38; 13:26; Titus 2:13); given the prophets’ ignorance of two phases, Peter’s words probably encompass both.244

    1:12

    The God who sovereignly and selectively reveals mysteries revealed some matters to the prophets (1:12) and will reveal matters fully at Christ’s eschatological revealing (1:5, 7, 13; 4:13; 5:1).

    Normally the word group associated with good news (euangelion and its cognates)—that is, the gospel—included celebratory information (“good news” or “glad tidings”) previously unknown to an audience. Non-Jewish Greek speakers applied the noun, usually in the plural, to news of victories, weddings,245 and other sorts of happy announcements.246 Given the term’s wider uses, narrower contrasts with good tidings about imperial accessions or birthdays247 may be often overdrawn by scholars.

    Conversely, there is little dispute about the biblical origin of the language in the Septuagint’s use of the cognate verb.248 Early Christian expressions such as good news of peace (Acts 10:36; Eph. 2:17; 6:15), of salvation (Eph. 1:13; cf. Rom. 1:16), and of God’s kingdom or reign (e.g., Mark 1:15; Matt. 4:23; 9:35; Luke 8:1; Acts 8:12) evoke Isa. 52:7, presumably the original source of this language (cf. esp. Rom. 10:15). Other Jewish writers also evoked Isaiah’s language of “good news,” referring to the promise of Israel’s restoration.249 Isaiah 52:7 precedes by only the space of some three or four paragraphs the Isa. 53 passage later mined by Peter in 1 Pet. 2:22–25.

    The language of prophets (Acts 10:43; Rom. 3:21; Rev. 11:3), the Spirit (John 15:26; Acts 5:32; Heb. 10:15; 1 John 5:6),250 or those empowered by the Spirit (Acts 1:8) “testifying” is not surprising; “testimony about Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10). Testifying in advance in 1 Pet. 1:12 grammatically refers to the Spirit (both are neuter in Greek). That the Holy Spirit has been sent from heaven (1:12; cf. Mark 1:10; Wis. 9:17) may contrast with the Spirit within the prophets (1 Pet. 1:11) and allude to the more widespread availability of the Spirit since Pentecost (Acts 2:33). The Spirit now dwells in and empowers all believers (1 Pet. 4:14), thus empowering oracle-like speech (4:10–11).251 Sent from heaven also guarantees veracity, implying “sent by God.”252

    Peter reminds his hearers that they live in an eschatological time. This is a privilege that the prophets could merely anticipate with eagerness (Matt. 13:17 // Luke 10:24).253 This experience of proleptic eschatological salvation, through being birthed by God (1 Pet. 1:3), is also a privilege that even angels do not fully experience!254 What the Spirit of Christ within the prophets enabled them to announce in a more veiled way in advance (1:11), the Spirit now enables agents of the good news to proclaim more fully after the fact (1:12). Although noted only briefly in the verse, this insight beyond that of angels appears even more surprising than that it surpasses that of the prophets, although one might compare some other ancient Jewish ideas about the special role of God’s people among angels:

  • Jubilees: “And every angel and spirit will know and acknowledge that they [repentant Israel] are my sons and I am their father in uprightness and righteousness. And I shall love them.”255
  • 2 Enoch: “And not even to my angels have I explained my secrets, nor related to them their composition, nor my endless and inconceivable creation which I conceived, as I am making them known to you today.”256
  • 3 Enoch: Despite some angels’ complaint, God chooses Enoch and sets him above them.257
  • Babylonian Talmud, Ḥagigah: Whenever Yohanan ben Zakkai’s pupils lectured on the mystic theme of God’s throne chariot, they drew a large crowd of angels.258
  • Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin: “The righteous are greater than the ministering angels.”259
  • Jerusalem Talmud, Šabbat: In the eschatological time, God will place “the righteous closer [to his throne]” than ministering angels, so that angels will ask, “What did the Holy One . . . teach you?”260

    • 1. See Aune, Rhetoric, 347; at least 175 words, it is one of the longest in the NT. Some have implausibly proposed an underlying hymn; its current form does not support that suggestion (Best, Peter, 73–74), and many proposed NT “hymns” fit grand rhetoric (see Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Lit. Comp. 25; Longinus, Subl. passim; Fronto, M. Caes. 3.16.1–2; Hermogenes, Inv. 1.5.107–8; Menander Rhetor, Treat. 1.1, 335.21–22; 2.1–2, 368.9; 2.6, 399.21–22) better than known forms of Greek hymnic structures (such as iambic pentameter or the hexameter of the Jewish Sibylline Oracles; though cf. Papanikolaou, “Aretalogy”). Even prose could have rhythm (Aristotle, Rhet. 3.8.1, 1408b; Rowe, “Style,” 154; Aune, Rhetoric, 343; Dihle, “Prose Rhythm”). Still, the blessings here and in Eph. 1:3–14 could echo liturgical forms (Coutts, “Ephesians”). For one discussion of structure, see Bony, “Lecture II.”

    2. Many ancient letters include a thanksgiving section; Martin (Metaphor, 47–68) views 1:3–12 as fulfilling that function; cf. 2 Cor. 1:3–7; Eph. 1:3–14.

    3. Note esp. the Shemoneh Esreh, the Eighteen Benedictions (m. Ber. 4:3; 5:2; Taʿan. 2:2; t. Ber. 2:9; 6:24; cf. the thirteenth benediction in Justin, Dial. 96). In Samaritan sources, see Bowman, Samaritan Documents, 9.

    4. Ps. 154:18 (5 Apoc. Syr. Pss. 2 [trans. Charlesworth and Sanders, OTP 2:621]). Not the same, however, in the earlier Hebrew version (11QPsa 154 [11Q5], OTP 2:619). For early forms of berakot see, e.g., Swanson, “Book of Blessings.”

    5. Tob. 13:1–2, in a written prayer; cf. also, e.g., 3:11; 11:14, 17.

    6. 1 Esd. 4:40; cf. also 4:58, 60; 8:25.

    7. 2 Macc. 1:17; cf. 1 Macc. 4:30.

    8. 1QS 11.15.

    9. 1 En. 22:14.

    10. 1 En. 39:10 (trans. Knibb, Ethiopic Book of Enoch, 127; Isaac, OTP 1:31, is almost identical); cf. also 39:13–14; 84:2.

    11. t. Ber. 6:6 (trans. Neusner, 1:36).

    12. Each of these objectives is marked with the Greek preposition eis (Kaiser, Exegetical Theology, 156, 176; Schreiner, Peter, 61), although in the third instance the direct grammatical connection (as opposed to a theological one) with regeneration is uncertain, since it depends grammatically on guarded (recognizing both, Kelly, Peter, 52). First Peter uses eis more than forty times, but ancient writers appreciated parallel grammatical structures.

    13. For hope in 1 Peter, see, e.g., Di Palma, “Speranza”; Sociedad, “Razón II”; Senior, “Reason for Hope”; for background, see Di Palma, “Speranza”; Sociedad, “Razón I.”

    14. Ironically, as an English-speaker I learned this insight from German theologian Jürgen Moltmann, in discussion at “Expectation and Human Flourishing,” sponsored by the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, June 22–23, 2015.

    15. Aristotle, Rhet. 1.11.9, 1370b.

    16. Diogenes Laertius, Lives 1.69, 87.

    17. E.g., hoping in the Lord as trusting in him (LXX Isa. 26:4, 8; Jer. 17:7; Sir. 2:6, 9).

    18. Bloch, “Elpis.” Cf. the “eternal hope” promised to Jacob through Isaac’s blessing in Jub. 31:32.

    19. E.g., LXX Pss. 21:6 (ET 22:5); 36:40 (37:40); Isa. 25:9; 51:5; Bar. 4:22; Josephus, Ant. 2.276; 10.11; for individual deliverance, LXX Pss. 7:2 (ET 7:1); 16:7 (17:7); 17:3 (18:2); 41:12 (42:11); 85:2 (86:2); Pss. Sol. 15:1; Josephus, Ant. 1.327; for hope of any kind of deliverance, cf. Philo, Drunkenness 25; Spec. Laws 3.115; Flaccus 11; Embassy 329; Josephus, Ant. 7.158; 12.344; 13.399; 15.153; 16.238; lack of hope of deliverance, 2 Macc. 3:29; lack of hope for eschatological salvation, 1 En. 98:10, 14.

    20. People should hope in God rather than idols (Wis. 13:10; Sib. Or. 5:285).

    21. Some ancients did speak of feminine seed under certain circumstances (Soranus, Gynec. 3.12.45), but this was far from the dominant usage.

    22. 2 Macc. 7:9; 4 Macc. 15:3; CD 3.20; 1QS 4.7; 4Q181 f1.4; 4Q418 f69ii.13; Pss. Sol. 3:12; 13:11; 1 En. 37:4; T. Ash. 5:2; Philo, Flight 78; m. ʾAbot 2:7; Sipre Deut. 305.3.2–3; CIJ 1:422, §569; 1:474, §661; 2:443, §1536; cf. CD 7.6; 4 Macc. 17:18; Sipra ʾAḥ. M. par. 8.193.1.10.

    23. E.g., Mark 10:17, 30; Matt. 25:46; Rom. 2:7; 5:21; 6:22–23; 1 Tim. 1:16; 6:12; Titus 1:2; 3:7; Jude 21; Did. 10:3; Ignatius, Eph. 18:1; Pol. 2:3; 2 Clem. 5:5; 8:4; Mart. Pol. 14:2; Herm. 7:2; 16:4; 24:5. It appears pervasively in Johannine literature: John 3:15–16, 36; 4:14, 36; 5:24, 39; 6:27, 40, 47, 54, 68; 10:28; 12:25, 50; 17:2–3; 1 John 1:2; 2:25; 3:15; 5:11, 13, 20.

    24. Cf. God’s “living” word (1:23), “living” stones (2:5), and the promise of resurrection life affecting both the present (2:24; 3:7) and the future (3:10).

    25. Dodd (Preaching, 34) rightly understands Christian rebirth language as suggesting that “the eschaton . . . has already entered human experience.”

    26. See, helpfully, Manns, “Théologie.”

    27. Jub. 1:29; 4:26; 1 En. 72:1; 91:16–17; cf. also the time when God will make new (1QS 4.25); concurring with Ringgren, Faith, 165; see esp. Stephens, Annihilation, 22–116.

    28. Jub. 1:20–21; 4Q393 f1.ii 2.5–6, drawing on Ps. 51:10 and Ezek. 36:26. One who turned from sins would live and get “a new heart and a new spirit” (Ezek. 18:30–31).

    29. Lev. Rab. 29:12; Moore, Judaism, 1:533.

    30. Jeremias, Jerusalem, 324, citing b. Yebam. 22a; 48b, bar. (a proselyte as a newborn child, but unlearned in religious duties); 62a (again); 97b; m. Gerim 2:6; others cite Gen. Rab. 39:14; see also b. Bek. 47a. Cf. also Chilton, “Galatians 6:15”; Charles, Jubilees, lxxxiv, on Jub. 5:12. See discussion of Joseph and Aseneth in Hubbard, New Creation, 54–76.

    31. Said of Abraham and Sarah in Sipre Deut. 32.2.1; ʾAbot R. Nat. 12A; 26, §54B; Song Rab. 1:2, §3; see other citations in Davies, Paul, 119. Amoraim also applied the principle to teaching young men (b. Sanh. 99b).

    32. Borrowed from Keener, Galatians (2019), 435–36.

    33. It appears later in Mithraism (cf. PGM 4.645–48, 719–23) and in the Hermetica (Corp. herm. 4.4; 13) (see Willoughby, Initiation, 196–224). For such language for reincarnation, see Plato, Meno 81BC; cf. Plato, Phaedr. 248AB; 248E–249B; Virgil, Aen. 6.747–51; Plutarch, Div. V. 32, Mor. 567EF.

    34. The language was generic rather than technical (Selwyn, Peter, 122), and the best-attested gentile sources are generally later than the first century CE (e.g., Tertullian, Bapt. 5.1; Hippolytus, Ref. 5.8.10; 23); see Willoughby, Initiation, 65, 175, 187–92; Keener, John, 539–41; Feldmeier, Peter, 127–28; esp. Wagner, Baptism, 250, 254, 270. Willoughby (Initiation) argues for regeneration in Orphism (90–113) but recognizes that there it was a process (108).

    35. This image may stem from Jesus, as in John 3:3–5 (cf. Matt. 18:3; also cf. Gos. Thom. 22:1–2, rightly noted by Crossan, Historical Jesus, xxxiii).

    36. Justin, Dial. 123:1; see Barnard, “Justin Martyr,” 403; Williams, Justin Martyr, xxxii.

    37. Often noted; see, e.g., Hoenig, “Conversion,” 54; Moore, Judaism, 1:335; Schnackenburg, Baptism, 15; Bultmann, John, 137. Someone whose sins were forgiven could also be like a newborn child (y. Bik. 3:3, §7), and a few later rabbis also connected deliverance from sin with a new birth of Israel at Sinai (b. Šabb. 145b–46a; Song Rab. 8:2, §1; Borgen, “Traditions,” 254–58).

    38. Mek. Nez. 1:47ff. (Lauterbach, 3:5), R. Ishmael; b. Yebam. 47b; Moore, Judaism, 1:328, 333–34; Hoenig, “Conversion,” 48, 54; Bamberger, Proselytism, 60. Legal standing, of course, does not mean that the convert was always treated as a social equal.

    39. Bamberger, Proselytism, 63–64.

    40. CIL 2.1963 (from 82 to 84 CE) (Sherk, Empire, §97, p. 138).

    41. b. Yebam. 98a; Gen. Rab. 18:5 (purportedly Tannaitic tradition; this may be related to the idea that gentiles could not know who their father was); cf. b. Sanh. 58a (relations dependent on time of conversion: converted with mother if in the womb, but with both parents if in the loins); b. Yebam. 22a.

    42. Bamberger, Proselytism, 86. In the more welcoming tradition of Hillel personified in R. Joshua, one gentile formerly guilty of incest was no longer guilty once she became a proselyte (Eccl. Rab. 1:8, §4).

    43. Tacitus, Hist. 5.5.

    44. b. Bek. 47a; b. Yebam. 62a.

    45. m. Demai 6:10. A proselyte might deal with himself more strictly and throw out his own share (t. Demai 6:13); but he was at least permitted to inherit. Yet by the Amoraic period it was agreed that this concession, allowing him to inherit, was only to dissuade him from returning to idolatry (b. Qidd. 17b).

    46. Renati, in Quintilian, Decl. 260.26. The renewal of a tree in spring could also be depicted figuratively as if born new, natae (Pliny E., Nat. 15.19.73).

    47. For “imperishable inheritance,” though using a different cognate for “inheritance,” cf. also Philo, Cherubim 51. For will never fade, “unfading,” cf. the description of Wisdom in Wis. 6:12; unfading life in Sib. Or. 8:411; in different wording, the contrast between the temporary flower and eternal message of God in 1 Pet. 1:24–25.

    48. Byrne (Romans, 157) cites 2 Macc. 2:17–18; Wis. 12:21; 18:6; Pss. Sol. 12:6; 1QapGen 21.8–14. See Rom. 4:13; 1 En. 5:7.

    49. Pss. Sol. 12:6.

    50. E.g., Pss. Sol. 14:10; 1 En. 40:9; 2 En. 50:2; 3 En. 23:18; 2 Bar. 44:13; Sib. Or. 3:47; m. ʾAbot 2:7; 5:19; Mark 10:17; cf. L.A.B. 32:3.

    51. For the OT, see Hester, Inheritance, 22–29; in early Judaism, 30–34. Note this inheritance for those blessed by the Lord in contrast to those under the curse in Ps. 37:22.

    52. E.g., 1 En. 5:7; Jub. 22:14; 32:19; in the Qumran scrolls, see Hester, Inheritance, 34–36; elsewhere, e.g., Adams, Constructing the World, 167–68; Das, Galatians, 355, citing Sir. 44:21; 1 En. 5:7; Jub. 22:14; 32:19 (cf. 17:3); 2 Bar. 14:13; 44:13; 51:3; Philo, Moses 1.155. See also 4 Ezra 6:59; L.A.B. 32:3 (for humanity as a whole); cf. t. Ber. 1:12; Mek. Besh. 7:139–40. In the NT, see, e.g., Rom. 4:13; see Hester, Inheritance, 80–83.

    53. Matt. 25:34; 1 Cor. 6:9–10; 15:50; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5; Ignatius, Eph. 16:1; Phld. 3:3; Polycarp, Phil. 5:3. Cf. the inheritance of the damned in Pss. Sol. 14:9; 15:10–11.

    54. Hester, Inheritance, 84, citing m. ʾAbot 2:7; 6:7.

    55. Cf., e.g., Musonius Rufus, 38, p. 136.2; Fronto, Ant. imp. 1.3; Anderson, Glossary, 91–92; Lee, “Translations: Greek,” 778; Black, “Oration at Olivet,” 86; in Hebrew, e.g., CD 4.14. For what is undefiled (amiantos) being associated with divine purity, see, e.g., Cornutus, Summary of Greek Theology 20, §36.8–10 (esp. 9); 2 Macc. 14:36; Philo, Flight 114; Spec. Laws 1.250; Heb. 7:26; Josephus, J.W. 6.99.

    56. Applied to protection from the evil impulse in, e.g., Num. Rab. 11:5.

    57. E.g., Ps. 17:8; 1QM 14.10. God’s angels guard the righteous in 1 En. 100:5; God guards all things in Sib. Or. 3:33.

    58. Various terms in Prov. 2:11; 4:6; 6:22; 7:5; Wis. 9:11; 10:1, 5.

    59. See further Marshall, Kept.

    60. Earlier, cf. perhaps Philo, Sacrifices 22; Migration 121.

    61. Trans. Metzger, OTP 1:539 (restored).

    62. Trans. Metzger, OTP 1:539.

    63. Trans. Klijn, OTP 1:626.

    64. Later, Pesiq. Rab. 25:2.

    65. E.g., Valerius Flaccus, Argon. 1.498; Libanius, Narr. 7.2; though classical Greek mythology (as opposed to Hellenistic philosophy) emphasized Olympus more.

    66. See, e.g., Dan. 4:26; 3 Macc. 4:21; 1 En. 6:2; 1QM 12.5; Rom. 1:18; Luke 15:18; m. ʾAbot 1:3; t. B. Qam. 7:5; Sipra Behuq. pq. 6.267.2.1; 79.1.1.

    67. Aune, Revelation, 318 (citing, e.g., Cleomedes, Celest. 1.8–9; Ptolemy, Math. Synt. 1.3; Aristotle, Cael. 2.13, 292ab; Theon of Smyrna, Rer. math. 148.6–7; Philo, Confusion 5; Cherubim 22).

    68. See, among many other possible examples, Cicero, Tusc. 1.19.43; 1.31.75; Rep. 6.14.14; 6.26.29; Cercidas, Poet. Frag. 1; Seneca Y., Dial. 11.9.3; 12.11.6; Plutarch, Is. Os. 78, Mor. 382F–383A; Maximus of Tyre, Or. 10.2–3; Pseudo-Heraclitus, Ep. 5; Aune, “Duality,” 228–30; 2 Cor. 4:17–18; souls were by nature (on this view) heavenly (e.g., Virgil, Aen. 6.728–34; Musonius Rufus, 18A, p. 112.24–25; Plutarch, Is. Os. 78, Mor. 382F; Face M. 28, Mor. 943A; Exile 17, Mor. 607D). Heroes would surely live in heaven (Virgil, Aen. 9.641; Ecl. 5.56–57, 64; Valerius Maximus, Mem. 9.3.ext. 1; Silius Italicus, Pun. 3.137; Eunapius, Lives 469), and some others also expected to go there after death (Cicero, Rep. 6.26.29; Virgil, Georg. 4.226–27; Ovid, Metam. 15.875–76; Lucan, Civ. W. 9.1–9; Fronto, Nep. Am. 2.8; Plotinus, Enn. 3.4.6; Herodian, Hist. 1.5.6).

    69. See, e.g., Valerius Flaccus, Argon. 3.378–82; Seneca Y., Lucil. 73.15; Herc. fur. 959; especially for “great” persons (Virgil, Ecl. 9.47; Ovid, Metam. 15.749, 843–51); cf. Plato, Tim. 41E. Though most common in Roman sources, it also appears in some Jewish sources (2 Bar. 51:10; cf. 4 Macc. 17:5; perhaps a play on this in 1 Cor. 15:41). Although Cumont (After Life, 91–109) overemphasized astral immortality, he did not invent the notion.

    70. On the logistics of future salvation in 1 Peter, see Williams, Doctrine; Stewart, “Saved.”

    71. E.g., Apuleius, Metam. 6.28; Chariton, Chaer. 2.7.6; 2.8.1; Pss. Sol. 16:5; Let. Aris. 18; 4 Macc. 17:21–22; Josephus, Ant. 11.282; J.W. 5.415; 6.310; T. Job 19:2/1; Ramsay, Teaching, 94–95; from demons in Incant. Text 17:1–2; 19:2; 34:1, 6; 47:1; probably eschatological, nationalistic deliverance in Josephus, Ant. 20.189.

    72. E.g., Aeschines, Leg. 74; Plutarch, Statecraft 32, Mor. 824D; Jdt. 11:3; Philo, Decalogue 53, 60, 155; 4 Macc. 15:8; cf. Dio Chrysostom, Or. 40.36; civic security in Proclus, Poet. 5, K49.1–2.

    73. E.g., Terence, Andr. 473; perhaps 1 Tim. 2:15 (cf. Winter, Wives, 109–10; Keener, Paul, 118–20); for medical help more generally, e.g., Menander Rhetor, Treat. 2.17, 443.27 (of Apollo).

    74. Xenophon, Anab. 5.2.24; Lysias, Or. 2.66, §196; Demosthenes, Crown 324; Funeral 10, 23, Or. 60; Ep. 1.2; by the Lord in Sir. 46:1; 1 Macc. 4:25; Jdt. 8:17; Josephus, Ant. 2.339; 3.1; cf. Plutarch, Them. 9.4.

    75. Diodorus Siculus, Libr. Hist. 4.43.1; 11.24.2; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Rom. Ant. 11.9.1; Achilles Tatius, Leuc. Clit. 3.5; Libanius, Comp. 4.4–5.

    76. E.g., 1 En. 99:10; 4 Ezra 6:25; 7:60, 131; 8:3, 39; 9:8, 13, 15; 2 Bar. 23:7; 51:7, 14.

    77. See discussions in Morgan, Faith; Bates, Salvation by Allegiance; Gupta, Language.

    78. Marshall, Kept, 162; Stewart, “Saved”; Kovalishyn, “Endurance.”

    79. Unlike sōtēria (“salvation”) in v. 5, hō (“which”) in v. 6 is not feminine.

    80. Cf. suffering testing “for a little while” in this life in Wis. 3:5.

    81. Bede, On 1 Peter (PL 93:43; trans. Bray, Peter, 71).

    82. Some ancient thinkers sought ways to avoid or minimize grief by avoiding attachments (see, e.g., Aelius Theon, Progymn. 8.55; Arius Didymus, Epit. 2.7.10c, p. 60.31–35; p. 62.1–8; Galen, Grief), but early Christians generally recognized an appropriate expression of grief (e.g., 2 Cor. 7:8–11).

    83. The term rendered as various is common in Philo (some 50 times), Josephus (some 40 times), and somewhat common in the LXX (some 25 times), but just 10 times in the NT, whereas the NT uses peirasmos (“testing”) some 20 times, the LXX 14 times (6 of them in Sirach), and Philo and Josephus never.

    84. 1QS 11.13 (in the context of 11.9–22). In this paragraph I draw on Keener, Acts, 2:1196.

    85. Pss. Sol. 16:14.

    86. So 4 Macc. 9:7.

    87. E.g., Deut. 13:3; Judg. 2:22; 3:1, 4; 7:4; Isa. 48:10; Jer. 20:12; Zech. 13:9; Jdt. 8:25; 1 Pet. 1:7; 4:12; Rev. 2:10; for Israel in the wilderness, see, e.g., discussion in Sheriffs, “Testing,” 832–33. Some rabbis observed that God tested only the righteous, not the wicked (Gen. Rab. 55:2). But in 3 Macc. 2:6, God tested Pharaoh.

    88. Cf. Joseph in Ps. 105:19; Hezekiah in 2 Chron. 32:31; the righteous in Wis. 3:5; Sir. 2:5; also Seneca Y., Dial. 1.4.8: God counts worthy those whom he tests, to see how much human nature can endure (cf. Dial. 1.1.6).

    89. So Wis. 3:5–6 (using peirazō in 3:5 and dokimazō in 3:6, the latter for refining like gold in the furnace); cf. 4 Macc. 17:12.

    90. So Sir. 2:1. Later rabbis claimed that God tests the righteous more than the wicked (Marmorstein, Names, 77, citing Gen. Rab. 32:3; 55:2).

    91. Especially in Gen. 22:1, where it is explicit in Scripture, e.g., Jdt. 8:26; Jub. 17:16–18; Heb. 11:17; Num. Rab. 17:2; cf. further Sir. 44:20; 1 Macc. 2:52. On other occasions, e.g., Jub. 19:8 (Abraham’s ten testings; cf. Num. 14:22); Num. Rab. 14:11 (also Abraham’s ten testings).

    92. E.g., Exod. 16:4; 20:20; Deut. 8:2, 16; Heb. 3:9; Wis. 10:10; 11:9; cf. Katzin, “Testing,” on 4Q171.

    93. So Sir. 33:1 [36:1]. He would deliver them after first allowing their brief testing (T. Jos. 2:6).

    94. E.g., Sir. 15:11–12, 20; cf. Mark 10:21. He could test mortals as a teacher tests students (Philo, Creation 149), or test the righteous as a parent warns a child (Wis. 11:10).

    95. E.g., Jub. 17:17; 4Q225 frg. 2, col. 1, lines 10–13.

    96. E.g., Jub. 17:15–18 (Satan [Mastema] suggested the idea, although God chose to implement it); 4Q225 frg. 2, col. 1, lines 9–10. Cf. angels in Jub. 19:3.

    97. On suffering and joy in 1 Peter, see, e.g., Manns, “Souffrances.” Some construe even the present verbs for rejoicing as future in 1:6, 8 (Martin, “Present Indicative”; noting the ancient incompatibility of joy and grief, Martin, “Physiology”), but cf. 3:14; 4:13–14, 16. With Schreiner, Peter, 67, the participle I render as grieved probably functions as concessive.

    98. Manns (“Souffrances”) finds more parallels in Jewish Passover traditions than in apocalyptic.

    99. Seneca Y., Nat. 3.pref. 11–15.

    100. Seneca Y., Nat. 3.pref. 12 (trans. Corcoran, LCL, 1:209); lit., “a rejoicing soul,” laeto animo (LCL, 1:208).

    101. Epictetus, Diatr. 1.1.22 (trans. Oldfather, LCL, 1:12–13).

    102. Epictetus, Diatr. 4.7.9. One should praise the gods (Marcus Aurelius, Medit. 6.16) or providence (Epictetus, Diatr. 1.6.1) for whatever happens; people should never find fault with God’s works (Seneca Y., Dial. 7.15.4; Epictetus, Diatr. 1.14.16; Marcus Aurelius, Medit. 6.16).

    103. Cicero, Parad. 16–19 (cf. also Leg. 1.23.60); Seneca Y., Dial. 7.16.1–3.

    104. Epictetus, Diatr. 1.4.1.

    105. Diogenes Laertius, Lives 10.118. Galen the physician also resisted being distressed (see Grief 1, 4–5, 11, 29–30, 48, 50b, 71, 79b), though he did recognize limits (71–72a).

    106. 2 Macc. 6:30 (AT).

    107. 1QS 10.17 (trans. Wise et al., Scrolls, 141).

    108. 1 En. 108:10 (trans. Knibb, Ethiopic Book of Enoch, 251).

    109. Jub. 19:8 (trans. Wintermute, OTP 2:92).

    110. Sir. 2:4 (NRSV).

    111. Josephus, J.W. 2.152–53.

    112. 2 Bar. 52:6, addressed to the righteous (52:5) in view of future hope (52:7).

    113. m. Ber. 9:5 (trans. Danby, Mishnah, 10, adapted).

    114. Sipre Deut. 32.5.5 (trans. Neusner, 1:88). In b. Taʾan. 8a, whoever endures divine disciplines joyfully brings salvation to the world. For joy in suffering for God’s commandments, see Pesiq. Rab. 21:2/3.

    115. Cf., e.g., Estrada, “Gioia”; Estrada, “Beatitude.” Jesus’s example in the passion narrative may suggest that in the face of extreme persecution these instructions would function only as hyperbole. Paul’s “knowing that” in Rom. 5:3 suggests that he expects this rudimentary tradition to be also known in Rome (Talbert, Romans, 136). Possibly a saying of Jesus (similar to Matt. 5:11–12) stands behind the tradition (Davids, James, 66).

    116. Cf. also biblical passages about the helpfulness of affliction—e.g., Pss. 31:71; 119:50, 67, 71, 92; Isa. 29:19; 49:13.

    117. Chrysostom, Hom. Cor. 23.4 (Bray, Corinthians, 95); cf. Hilary of Arles, Comm. 1 Peter (PL Supp. 3:103; Bray, Peter, 119, on 4:16).

    118. Assuming the reading dokimion (with א, A, B, and a wide geographic range), although 𝔓72, which has dokimon, is earlier. A scribe could mishear or miscopy either term for the other. Dokimion allows the analogy with gold (see BDAG), but so does dokimos (LXX 1 Kings 10:18; 1 Chron. 28:18; 2 Chron. 9:17; Philo, Alleg. Interp. 1.66; Mart. Pol. 18:2). Papyri show that dokimion can apply to the result of testing (Ladd, Criticism, 90).

    119. Moulton and Milligan (Vocabulary) cite BGU 4.1045 2.12; 1065.8; 3.717.8; P.Tebt. 2.392.22.

    120. The empire had thoroughly exploited existing gold mines within its boundaries (Charlesworth, Trade Routes, 88), and gold was greatly devalued under Nero (White, “Finances,” 233–34).

    121. Philo, Cherubim 48.

    122. Wilson, “Bellows,” 168. Philosophic “first principles” as well as empirical observations informed some ancient accounts of metallurgy (Paparazzo, “Pliny on Metals”).

    123. By modern standards, what sources in the OT period mean by “pure” gold was only 72.1 percent to 99.8 percent pure, usually referring to natural rather than refined gold (Mazar, Views, 1:175; Forbes, Technology, 8:174; Lucas, Materials, 229).

    124. Cf. 4Q177 f10–11.1; Philo, Alleg. Interp. 1.77 (wisdom); Decalogue 48.

    125. Cf. 1QS 4.20; 1QHa 13.18; 14.11; 4Q174 f1–3.2.4; 4 Ezra 16:73; Isaac in T. Isaac 8:3. In some passages, the refining continues but nothing is pure enough to survive (Jer. 6:29; Ezek. 22:18–22). Cf. Israel enduring a “furnace” in Egypt (Deut. 4:20; 1 Kings 8:51; Jer. 11:4). Johnson (“Fire”) finds allusions to Mal. 3 in 1 Cor. 3 and 1 Pet. 1 (also Proctor, “Fire,” 9–10, though his focus is 1 Cor. 3).

    126. Euripides, frg. 963; from Plutarch, Mor. 102E (trans. Babbitt, LCL, 8:555).

    127. Isocrates, Demon. 25 (trans. Norlin, LCL, 1:19).

    128. Seneca Y., Dial. 1.5.10 (trans. Basore, LCL, 1:41).

    129. Job 23:10 (NRSV).

    130. Isa. 48:10 (NRSV).

    131. Ezek. 22:18, 20, 22 (ESV).

    132. Zech. 13:9 (ESV).

    133. Mal. 3:2 (AT).

    134. Sir. 2:5 (NRSV).

    135. 1QM 17.1.

    136. 1QM 17.9.

    137. 4Q511 frg. 35.1–3 (trans. Wise et al., Scrolls, 416).

    138. Wis. 3:5–6 (AT).

    139. 4 Ezra 16:73 (trans. Metzger, OTP 1:559).

    140. E.g., Gen. Rab. 44:1 (regarding Abraham); Pesiq. Rab. 14:6 (quoting Ps. 12:7).

    141. See Zell, “Tested.”

    142. Athanasius, Ep. fest. 10 (ARL 168; Bray, Peter, 71). Cf. also Hilary of Arles, Comm. 1 Peter (PL Supp. 3:85): “The glory of the redeemed will never fade after they have been raised from the dead, for it will have withstood the fire of temptation, whereas the gold of this world is said to rust” (Bray, Peter, 71–72).

    143. See, e.g., Pliny Y., Ep. 2.9.2, 5–6; Engels, Roman Corinth, 87; Jewett, “Shame,” 551–53; Savage, Power, 23–25; Witherington, Grace, 129–31; Butticaz, “Culture,” 114–19.

    144. See esp. Lendon, Empire; Barton, Honor.

    145. It was considered important enough to form a basis for praise in an encomium; see Aelius Theon, Progymn. 9.18; cf. Plutarch, Them. 1.1; Demosth. 12.1; Eunapius, Lives 465. Alexander reportedly craved praise (Arrian, Anab. 7.28.1). Some appreciated reputation but warned that it invited trouble (Babrius, Fab. 4.7).

    146. Dio Chrysostom, Or. 66; Seneca Y., Lucil. 123.16; cf. also Porphyry, Marc. 15.253 (where, however, the term bears the common nuance of “opinion,” as in, e.g., 17.284; Musonius Rufus, 10, p. 76.30). Human mortality also relativized the value of glory (Diogenes Laertius, Lives 5.40, citing Theophrastus), and reputation invited trouble (Babrius, Fab. 4.6–8). Cicero (Fam. 10.12.5) insists on true honor, that which benefits the state (also 15.4.13).

    147. E.g., Xenophon, Hiero 7.3; Cicero, Sest. 48.102; Valerius Maximus, Mem. 2.8.5; 5.7.ext. 4; 7.2.ext. 1b; Dio Chrysostom, Or. 31.20; Pseudo-Dionysius, Epid. 7.291; Philostratus, Her. 23.23; 45.8; cf. Pliny Y., Ep. 3.16.6; 5.8.1–2; 5.11.2; 9.3.1–2; Lucian, Dial. D. 449 (23/29, Ajax and Agamemnon 2); 1QSa 1.18.

    148. E.g., Diogenes Laertius, Lives 6.1.8 (Socrates); Pseudo-Diogenes, Ep. 4; Pseudo-Socrates, Ep. 6; Seneca Y., Lucil. 94.63–66; cf. Dio Chrysostom, Or. 3.17; 4.4, 60, 84, 118–19, 126–28; 13.13; 24.3; Epictetus, Diatr. 3.9; Lucian, Peregr. 33; Marcus Aurelius, Medit. 7.34; Philo, Spec. Laws 1.281. Diogenes the Cynic reportedly attacked all those who were bound by reputation (Diogenes Laertius, Lives 6.2.47). Cynics, of course, went so far as to refuse human commendations altogether (Pseudo-Diogenes, Ep. 9); Stoics could ridicule those concerned with what others thought (Musonius Rufus, 10, p. 76.30; Epictetus, Diatr. 2.21.12–14; cf. the diminutive in Marcus Aurelius, Medit. 4.2; 8.8).

    149. E.g., 1 Macc. 11:51; Wis. 8:10.

    150. E.g., 1 Macc. 14:35.

    151. E.g., T. Benj. 6:4. Competing social groups in the ancient Mediterranean world demanded that one seeking honor determine in which group(s) one should seek it (see deSilva, “Honor and Shame,” 520).

    152. 1QM 14.11–12; 4Q169 2.9; cf. 4Q169 3.9; 4.4; Gen. Rab. 1:5.

    153. E.g., Wis. 18:8; 19:22; cf. also 1QSb 3.4; Pesiq. Rab Kah. 2:7; Tg. Isa. on 1:2; 5:2.

    154. Exod. 13:21; 40:36–38; Neh. 9:12; Ps. 78:14; Mek. Shir. 3:67ff.; Pesiq. Rab Kah. Sup. 5:1; cf. Ps. 80:1; Isa. 63:14; see Urbach, Sages, 1:43 (citing Sipre Num. 80, 84). From at least the second century, rabbinic tradition indicated that the Shekinah also participated in Israel’s captivity in Egypt and Babylonia (Mek. Pisha 14:87ff.; Mek. Besh. 3:82–83; Sipra Behuq. pq. 6.267.2.6; Sipre Num. 84.4.1; y. Taʿan. 1:1, §10, citing a Tanna; Exod. Rab. 15:16; Num. Rab. 7:10; Lam. Rab. 1:5, §32; cf. Cohen, “Shekhinta”).

    155. E.g., CD 20.25–26; 1QM 12.12; 4Q174 col. 3, line 5; 2 Macc. 2:7–8; Pss. Sol. 11:6 (the new exodus); Sib. Or. 3:282; Lev. Rab. 1:14; Num. Rab. 21:22; Deut. Rab. 6:14; Esther Rab. 1:4. Some eschatological glory texts refer to a new exodus (e.g., Isa. 40:5; 2 Macc. 2:7–8; Pss. Sol. 11:6; Pesiq. Rab Kah. Sup. 5:1).

    156. 4 Ezra 7:98; 2 Bar. 51:3; 2 En. 43:3 A; perhaps T. Job 40:3.

    157. Abelson (Immanence, 380–82) notes that although kābôd (“glory”) sometimes is identified with Shekinah, they are not always the same; but he feels that doxa in the NT covers the semantic range of both terms (380).

    158. E.g., Num. Rab. 20:10; see Kadushin, Mind, 223–26 (against medieval philosophers); cf. Abelson, Immanence, 98–134, followed also by Isaacs, Spirit, 25–26. In one late personification, the departing Shekinah kissed the walls of the temple (Lam. Rab. proem 25).

    159. Kadushin, Mind, 226–29; cf. Abelson, Immanence, on the Shekinah as the “immanent God” (117–34).

    160. E.g., 1QM 12.10. God’s face was “glorious” as he led Israel out of Egypt (1 En. 89:22).

    161. Marmorstein (Names, 88) finds it especially in the Targumim; for “glory of the Lord” as a divine circumlocution, see, e.g., Tg. Neof. 1 on Gen. 1:17, 28; 2:3; 9:27; 11:5; 17:22; 18:33; 22:14; 28:16; Exod. 17:7, 16; 19:11; 33:23; Tg. Ps.-J. on Gen. 17:22; 18:1, 33; 28:13; Tg. Onq. on Lev. 9:4. Rabbis disputing an interpretation of R. Isaac, a second-century Tanna, call him “The Glory of the Life of all worlds” (Gen. Rab. 100:5).

    162. E.g., Sipra Qed. pq. 8.205.2.1; par. 4.206.2.6; Sipre Deut. 258.2.3; 320.2.1; b. Ber. 5b; b. Roš Haš. 31a; b. Šabb. 33a; 139a; b. Yebam. 64a, bar.; b. Yoma 21b; y. Sanh. 8:8, §1; Deut. Rab. 5:10; 6:14; Ruth Rab. 1:2; ʾAbot R. Nat. 38 A; cf. Sipre Num. 1.10.3; see Urbach, Sages, 1:286–87 (citing Mek. Pisha 5); pagan deities in Ovid, Fasti 1.247–50; Plutarch, Them. 10.1; so with Wisdom (Wis. 1:4; 6:12–25, esp. 6:23; cf. Wis. 7:25–26; Babrius, Fab. 126). The Shekinah was progressively banished from and then reinvited to earth (ʾAbot R. Nat. 34 A; Pesiq. Rab Kah. 1:1; Gen. Rab. 19:7; Song Rab. 5:1, §1).

    163. Especially on the clouds of glory in the wilderness or revealed to Moses: Sipre Deut. 305.3.1; 313.3.1; 355.6.1; Gen. Rab. 60:16; Exod. Rab. 45:5; Num. Rab. 19:20; Song Rab. 4:5, §2; 7:6, §1.

    164. See, e.g., Campbell, Honor, 12–13, 83–87; Elliott, Conflict, 51–86.

    165. Hockey, Role of Emotion, 226–50.

    166. The “see and believe” combination is a significant Johannine motif (John 4:48; 6:30, 36; 19:35; 20:8, 25; cf. Mark 15:32; Acts 13:12), with believing ideally preceding seeing (John 11:40; 20:29). Seeing and believing may evoke Exod. 14:31 (though the connection is not unique; cf. Sallust, Catil. 13.1); disbelief despite seeing reflects Num. 14:11.

    167. In much later sources, cf. the principle in Pesiq. Rab. 32:3/4; see Urbach, Sages, 1:120 (on b. Sanh. 100a; b. B. Bat. 75a); Vermes, Religion, 132n13 (on Tanḥuma Lekh lekha 6.63); Philostratus, Her. 21.5–6.

    168. As Oecumenius (Comm. 1 Pet. [PG 119:520; Bray, Peter, 72]) points out, believers will love Jesus even more when they see him in glory. Loving God was naturally important also in early Jewish sources (e.g., Josh. 22:5; Isa. 56:6; Dan. 9:4; 11Q19 54.12; 1 En. 108:8; Jub. 20:7; Sib. Or. 4:25; 5:360; 8:432; T. Ab. 3:3; 17:7 A; 1 Cor. 2:9), starting with Deut. 6:5; 11:1, 13, 22; 13:3; 19:9; 30:6, 16.

    169. E.g., MT Neh. 12:43; LXX 1 Kings 1:40; Pss. 31:11 (ET 32:11); 50:10 (ET 51:8); 125:2 (ET 126:2); Isa. 9:2 (ET 9:3); 66:10; 1 Macc. 14:11; Luke 1:14.

    170. Seneca Y., Lucil. 108.7; 116.1; Musonius Rufus, 36, p. 134.14–16. More philosophers shared Aristotle’s preference for moderation; for a survey of views, see Sorabji, Emotion, 194–202; Knuuttila and Sihvola, “Emotions,” 17.

    171. See Engberg-Pedersen, Paul and Stoics, 72; Engberg-Pedersen, “Marcus,” 334–35; Brennan, “Theory,” 57; Hockey, Role of Emotion, 56. Beyond Stoics, cf. Cicero, Off. 1.38.136; 2.5.18; Valerius Maximus, Mem. 3.3.ext. 1; Iamblichus, Vit. pyth. 32.225; Diogenes Laertius, Lives 7.1.110.

    172. E.g., Musonius Rufus, 17, p. 108.7; Arius Didymus, Epit. 2.7.5k, p. 34.1; 2.7.11e, p. 68.12–16; Iamblichus, Vit. pyth. 31.196. Stoics approved of joy as a good emotion (Engberg-Pedersen, “Vices,” 612; Engberg-Pedersen, Paul and Stoics, 73). It was not, however, a moral “virtue” (Arius Didymus, Epit. 2.7.5b, p. 10.19; 2.7.5c, p. 28.7; 2.7.5g, p. 32.4), though Paul lists it with virtues that belong to the Spirit’s fruit (Gal. 5:22–23). Stoics appreciated a “calm pleasure” concerning what was good (Brennan, “Theory,” 57).

    173. See, e.g., Musonius Rufus, 7, p. 58.13–15; Arius Didymus, Epit. 2.7.5b5, p. 20.15–16; 2.7.6d, pp. 38.34–41.3; 2.7.6e, p. 40.11–13; Vorster, “Blessedness.”

    174. Diogn. 10:5; the term and its cognates appear 151 times in Josephus (e.g., Ant. 1.14, 20, 41, 44, 46, 69, 98, 104, 113, 142–43) and 189 times in Philo (e.g., Alleg. Interp. 1.4; 2.10, 82, 101–2; 3.52, 83, 205, 209, 218–19, 245). Haimo of Auxerre, on Gal. 5:22 (Levy, Galatians, 121), felt that the Vulgate term for “joy” was more exuberant than its term for happiness; cf. also Jerome, Comm. Gal. 5.22.

    175. Hockey, Role of Emotion, 106–9.

    176. Hockey, Role of Emotion, 109.

    177. Hockey, Role of Emotion, 109–10, noting Diogenes Laertius, Lives 7.116 and SVF 3.432. She notes (113) that 2 Macc. 3:30 also contrasts it with disturbance, and LXX Isa. 35:10 contrasts celebration with lupē.

    178. See, e.g., LXX 1 Sam. 18:6; Ezra 3:13; Pss. 19:6 (MT 20:6; ET 20:5); 29:6, 12 (MT 30:6, 12; ET 30:5, 11); 31:11 (32:11); 34:27 (35:27); 46:2 (MT 47:2; ET 47:1); 80:2 (MT 81:2; ET 81:1); 97:4 (ET 98:4); 104:43 (105:43); Isa. 12:6; 35:2, 6; 39:2; 44:23; 54:1; 55:12; 61:7; 65:14; Jer. 38:7, 12–13 (ET 31:7, 12–13); Lam. 5:15; Zeph. 3:14; Zech. 9:9. The LXX is sometimes less explicit in these cases than the MT. See also, e.g., 1QM 12.15; 1QHa 26.10; 4Q196 f18.10; 4Q427 f7.1.14.

    179. For the LXX, note Hockey, Role of Emotion, 115.

    180. See Hockey, Role of Emotion, 105–76 (joy despite distress in 1:6–8, on 105–41).

    181. Hockey, Role of Emotion, 76, citing Diogenes Laertius, Lives 7.116 and noting the contrast with mere pleasure.

    182. Hockey, Role of Emotion, 114.

    183. For the LXX, see Hockey, Role of Emotion, 114; for 1 Peter, 253–54.

    184. Hockey, Role of Emotion, 114.

    185. See, e.g., Plato, Phaedo 83d; Cicero, Inv. 2.54.164; Off. 2.5.18; Leg. 1.23.60; Sallust, Catil. 51.3; Plutarch, Lect. 1, Mor. 37E; Maximus of Tyre, Or. 33.3; Porphyry, Marc. 6.99; 29.453–60; 31.478–83; 34.521–22; see further Keener, Mind, 21–22, 77–78.

    186. Knuuttila and Sihvola, “Emotions,” 17. For studies of emotion in the NT, see the survey in Hockey, Role of Emotion, 3–18.

    187. Seneca Y., Dial. 7.15.4, 6; 7.16.1–3; 9.10.4; Epictetus, Diatr. 4.7.9. For them, joy could be valuable but not virtuous, whereas virtues could lead to a state of happiness, eudaimonia (Arius Didymus, Epit. 2.7.5b.19–21; 2.7.5c, p. 28.7–9; 2.7.5g, p. 32.1–6; 2.7.5k, p. 34.1; 2.7.6d, pp. 38.34–40.3).

    188. Seneca Y., Lucil. 23; cf. also 27.3–4; Dial. 7; Ben. 7.2.3.

    189. Seneca Y., Lucil. 59.10.

    190. E.g., Wis. 8:16.

    191. E.g., Pesiq. Rab Kah. 27:2; y. Pesaḥ. 10:1; b. Yoma 4b; see further Tannaim in Urbach, Sages, 1:390; Anderson, “Joy.”

    192. E.g., Let. Aris. 261.

    193. Philo, Alleg. Interp. 1.45.

    194. See Apoll. K. Tyre 39; Diogenes Laertius, Lives 2.68; Miccoli, “Spirito festivo”; Rüpke, Religion, 15, 89.

    195. E.g., Neh. 8:10–12; Ps. 42:4; Jub. 16:27, 29; 18:19; 2 Macc. 10:6–7; m. Sukkah 5:1; Sipre Deut. 142.3.1.

    196. E.g., Pss. 2:11; 5:11; 20:5; 27:6; 31:7; 32:11; 33:1, 3; 35:9; 43:4; 47:1; 63:7; 67:4; 68:3–4; 71:23; 81:1; 84:2; 90:14; 92:4; 95:1; 98:4; 132:9, 16; cf. Jub. 36:6; L.A.B. 21:9; Jos. Asen. 3:4.

    197. Euripides, Bacch. 472; Lysias, Or. 6.51, §107; Callimachus, Aet. 3.75.8–9; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Lit. Comp. 25; Dio Chrysostom, Or. 36.56; Pausanias, Descr. 1.14.3; Lucian, Dem. 11; Lex. 10; Fisherman 33; Men. 2; Alciphron, Paras. 26 (Oenochaeron to Rhaphanochortasus), 3.72, ¶1; Apuleius, Metam. 11.23; Apol. 56; Philostratus, Vit. Apoll. 6.11; Iamblichus, Vit. pyth. 31.193–94; 34.246; Burkert, Mystery Cults, 9; Klauck, Context, 87–88, 94, 101. Cf. also Philo, Worse 175–76; Cherubim 48.

    198. Orph. H. 30.3, 7; Iamblichus, Vit. pyth. 18.88; 34.247; m. Ḥag. 2:1; t. Ḥag. 2:1; b. Ḥag. 13a; 14b; b. Šabb. 80b; y. Ḥag. 2:1, §§3–4; Basser, “Merkavah Narrative.”

    199. God’s sacred name (Josephus, Ant. 2.276); perhaps revelation in 2 Cor. 12:4; in magic, PGM 4.2474–90; Klauck, Context, 230; Frankfurter, Religion in Egypt, 233, 254–56.

    200. Cf. divine ineffability, e.g., in Plato, Tim. 28C; Plutarch, Is. Os. 78, Mor. 383A; Apuleius, Apol. 64; God Socr. 123–24; Shibata, “Ineffable.” Philo speaks of the soul’s ineffable delight in the heavenly design (Creation 54).

    201. Hilary of Arles, Comm. 1 Peter (PL Supp. 3:85; Bray, Peter, 72).

    202. Cf., e.g., 1 Pet. 4:17; Libanius, Speech 14.8.

    203. Often, e.g., Musonius Rufus, 7, p. 58.14–15; Arius Didymus, Epit. 2.7.5b3, p. 16.18–19; 2.7.5b5, p. 18.15–17; 2.7.5b5, p. 20.12, 15; 2.7.6a, p. 36.30; 2.7.6b, p. 38.19–21; Marcus Aurelius, Medit. 5.15; Plutarch, Is. Os. 2, Mor. 352A; Diogenes Laertius, Lives 10.131; Proclus, Poet. essay 5, K43.19; K67.20; Porphyry, Ex. Cat. 55.15–18; T. Ash. 1:9; 2:1; T. Benj. 4:1.

    204. E.g., Epictetus, Diatr. 1.20.15; 4.8.12.

    205. E.g., Matt. 24:6, 13–14; Mark 13:7, 13; 1 Cor. 15:24; Phil. 3:19; Rev. 2:26.

    206. Sib. Or. 3:282 (probably from the second century BCE).

    207. So, rightly, Feldmeier, Peter, 87–92, pace the majority of commentators.

    208. On ancient usage of “soul” language, see Keener, Mind, 267–78 (appendix).

    209. As in, e.g., 1 Pet. 3:20; LXX Gen. 32:31 (ET 32:30); 1 Sam. 19:11; Pss. 3:2 (ET 3:3); 34:3 (ET 35:3); Amos 2:14–15; 1 Macc. 9:9; or Mark 3:4. Wypadlo (“Wasser”) demurs, esp. on 1 Pet. 3:20.

    210. Cf. Acts 2:16, 30; 3:22–23; 2 Pet. 3:2; false prophets in 2:1, 15–16; see further Bénétreau, “Évangile”; Himes, “Word.”

    211. Intensive forms may, but need not always, imply more intensive meanings. Cf. the term’s use even for spying in LXX Judg. 18:2; but the verb’s more common form, exereunaō, though including this sense (1 Chron. 19:3; cf. ereunaō in 2 Sam. 10:3), has wider usage. Without the intensive stem, this verb appears alongside Peter’s other verb for searching (ekzēteō) in 1 Macc. 9:26; they belong to the same semantic domain (often observed, e.g., Selwyn, Peter, 133; Beare, Peter, 64). Together they reflect Peter’s characteristic piling up of words with related meanings (see comment on 1 Pet. 1:7) and alliteration, in this case.

    212. Not simply to seeking how to be saved, as with the cognates in Barn. 4:1.

    213. These are OT prophets (see, rightly, Kelly, Peter, 58–59), neither early Christian ones (pace Selwyn, Peter, 265) nor OT plus Christian ones (cf. Gleaves, “Identity”). Cf. Justin, Dial. 7.

    214. The sense of the noun may be less related in 2:19–20.

    215. On grace in 1 Peter, see also Howe, “Grace.”

    216. E.g., b. Šabb. 63a; Tg. Jon. on 2 Sam. 23:1, 3; Tg. Jon. on 1 Kings 5:13; Urbach, Sages 1:686.

    217. R. Hiyya b. Abba, in the name of third-century rabbi Johanan.

    218. b. Ber. 34b; b. Sanh. 99a; b. Šabb. 63a. The same rabbi claimed other matters on which “all the prophets prophesied only” (b. Ber. 34b; b. Sanh. 99a), and other sages also had other such claims (Gen. Rab. 82:2; cf. Mek. Pisha 1.135ff., 166; Pesiq. Rab. 17:2). For similar hyperbole, cf. Mek. Pisha 1, lines 111–13, summarizing lines 105–11.

    219. 1QpHab 7.1–2, on Hab. 2:1–2. Cf. further pesher or pishro in 1QpHab 1.2 (cf. 1.6, 8, 11, 13, 15); 2.5, 8, 12 (cf. 2.1, 15); 3.4, 7 (cf. 3.9); 4.5, 10, 14; 5.3, 7, 9 (cf. 5.16); 6.3, 6, 10 (cf. 6.16); 7.4, 7, 10, 15; 8.1, 8, 16; 9.4, 9 (cf. 9.16); 10.3, 9, 15; 11.4, 12; 12.2, 7, 12; 13.1. The writers did not deny a historical meaning relevant to an earlier generation (e.g., 1QpHab 2.3–4; cf. 4Q166 cols. 1–2) but insisted that it also held a special meaning relevant to the final generation—i.e., their own time (e.g., 1QpHab 2.5–6; cf. 4Q167 frg. 2); some pesharim actually inverted the original sense of the text (see Silberman, “Unriddling,” 342). On pesher exegesis, see, e.g., Brooke, “Pesharim”; cf. Harris, “Trends”; even with reference to dreams, Finkel, “Pesher.” Such applications are not exclusive to Qumran sectarians; some (Wright, “Midrash,” 418–22; Brooke, “Pesher”) note similarities to rabbinic midrash, although (see Horgan, “Prophecies,” 251) there are some clear differences. On pesher-type exegesis in 1 Peter, see Longenecker, Exegesis, 99, 201.

    220. Longenecker, Exegesis, 30–31, 100–101. Paul’s letters do, however, read christocentrically; see, e.g., Wagner, “Paul and Scripture,” 168.

    221. Cf. Longenecker, Exegesis, 105; Hays, Reading, 78–79.

    222. More common is the form ereunaō (over ten times in the LXX, including for searching hearts in Prov. 20:27). Its cognate exereunaō can also include searching Scripture (LXX Ps. 118:2, 34, 69, 115, 129 [ET 119:2, 34, 69, 115, 129]), wisdom (Prov. 2:4).

    223. Still, some times and seasons (cf. Dan. 2:21) remain ambiguous until their fulfillment (Acts 1:7; 1 Thess. 5:1). At least in later sources, some Jewish interpreters envisioned the future time as unknown (e.g., 2 Bar. 21:8; b. Pesaḥ. 54b, bar.; b. Sanh. 97a; Num. Rab. 5:6; Tg. Eccl. on 7:24; see Moore, Judaism, 2:231; Daube, New Testament and Judaism, 289–90), though some viewed it as dependent on Israel’s merit (b. Sanh. 94a; b. B. Bat. 10a; b. B. Meṣ. 85b; b. Nid. 13b, bar.; y. Taʿan. 1:1, §7; Deut. Rab. 6:7; Song Rab. 2:5, §3; 8:14, §1). For medieval interpreters, the only situation changed from that of OT prophets was the time: now believers looked back on the fulfillment rather than forward to it (Levy, “Introduction,” 3–4).

    224. Michaels, Peter, 42, following Hort, Peter, 51.

    225. Michaels, Peter, 42, notes further Hab. 2:1 (as applied to end time in 1QpHab 7.1–8); 4 Ezra 4:33, 45, 51; 13:15.

    226. Commenting on Num. 11:16, Philo speaks of “the Divine Spirit of prophecy” (Flight 186).

    227. 1 En. 91:1 (trans. Knibb, Ethiopic Book of Enoch, 217; Isaac, OTP 1:72, is similar, with “the spirit”).

    228. Jub. 31:12 (trans. Wintermute, OTP 2:115); see likewise Jub. 25:14.

    229. 1QS 8.15–16. For the Spirit of prophecy in the Scrolls, cf. also 1Q34bis frg. 3.ii.7; 4Q381 frg. 69, line 4; cf. CD 2.12; perhaps 4Q266 frg. 2.ii.12; 4Q270 frg. 2.ii.14; see further Bruce, “Spirit in Qumran Texts,” 51; Johnston, “Spirit,” 33–40. The Spirit also granted insight to God’s mysteries; 1QS 9.3; 1QHa 5.36; 6.24; 20.14–16; 4Q213a frg. 1.14; 4Q504 frg. 4, line 5; cf. Menzies, Development, 84–87.

    230. Josephus, Ant. 6.166 (AT); David prophesying is Josephus’s addition to the biblical text; cf. Ant. 6.56, 222–23; 8.408. Isaacs (Spirit, 47–48) provides a number of other examples that illustrate Josephus’s association of pneuma in the LXX with prophecy, and prophecy in the LXX with pneuma. Best (“Pneuma,” 222–25) suggests that Josephus almost always uses theion pneuma only for the Spirit of prophecy and oracular speech; the one exception he finds is Ant. 1.27 (= Gen. 1:2, too important to change), and he finds the usage restricted to the biblical period. For a more recent survey of Josephus’s adaptations about the Spirit, see Levison, “Interpretation.”

    231. L.A.B. 28:6 (trans. Harrington, OTP 2:341; cf. Kisch, p. 195, for the Latin version).

    232. 4 Ezra 14:22 (trans. Metzger, OTP 1:554).

    233. See, e.g., Chevallier, Ancien Testament, 27–29; Wright, Holy Spirit, 63–86; Ma, Spirit, 30–32, 202–3, 206–7; Keener, “Spirit,” 486–87.

    234. See, e.g., T. Job 48:3; Menzies, Empowered, 49–101; Menzies, Development, 53–112; Turner, Power, 86–104 (including inspired wisdom and praise); Davies, “Spirit in Mekilta,” 98; Keener, Spirit, 10–13, 31–33.

    235. Philo, Flight 186; Heir 265; Moses 1.175, 277; 2.265; Decalogue 175; Spec. Laws 4.49; see further Isaacs, Spirit, 47.

    236. Sipre Deut. 22.1.2; t. Pesaḥ. 2:15. Hillel allegedly associated the Spirit with Israel as a whole and said they were disciples of the prophets (t. Pesaḥ. 4:14).

    237. Mek. Shir. 7, lines 17–18 (Lauterbach, 2:55). For another reference to the Spirit of prophecy, cf., e.g., Mek. Pisha 1, lines 150ff. (Lauterbach, 1:14).

    238. 1QS 8:16: “what the prophets revealed by his Holy Spirit”; Josephus, Ag. Ap. 1.37; 4 Ezra 14:22; 1 Clem. 47:3; Barn. 9:2; 14:2, 9; Herm. 43:9; Justin, Dial. 25. In the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha in general, see Büchsel, Geist, 57–58.

    239. E.g., Sipra V. D. Dened. par. 1.1.3.3; 5.10.1.1; Šem. Mek. d. 94.5.12; Behuq. pq. 6.267.2.1; Sipre Deut. 355.17.1–3; 356.4.1 (repeating 355.17.2). See further, e.g., Isaacs, Spirit, 51; Foerster, “Geist,” 117.

    240. See the data in Schäfer, “Geist,” 306–7: Neofiti and the Fragment Targum always have “Holy Spirit,” Onqelos always has “Spirit of Prophecy” (except in one instance), and Pseudo-Jonathan uses both about equally. For a collection of some of the relevant targumic texts, see Schäfer, Vorstellung, 23–26.

    241. Rabbis thought that most OT prophets did not know what they prophesied (Lee, Thought, 118, citing Mekilta on Exod. 15:17; Aune, Prophecy, 139, following Strack and Billerbeck, Kommentar, 2:546); less broadly, ʾAbot R. Nat. 43, §118 B; cf. Exod. Rab. 45:6.

    242. Luke presumably elucidates the exegesis and analogies he has in mind in subsequent speeches such as Acts 2:17–35; 3:22–25; 7:37; and 13:17–23, 33–37.

    243. The idea is common in early Christianity, but glory language appears with this term for suffering (pathēma) elsewhere only in Rom. 8:18 and Heb. 2:9–10, and nowhere in the LXX, Philo, or Josephus. With the verb paschō (“suffer”), however, as in 1 Pet. 5:10, see Luke 24:26, where Jesus grounds his suffering and subsequent exaltation in Scripture.

    244. The plural of “glory” in the Greek text of 1 Pet. 1:11 (Selwyn, Peter, 137) might possibly allude to this, though it also corresponds to the plural sufferings that precede.

    245. For the latter, see Horsley, Documents 3, §2, pp. 10–12.

    246. E.g., Pseudo-Diogenes, Ep. 23.

    247. Cf., e.g., Horsley, “Assembly,” 386; Wright, “Messiahship,” 23.

    248. Cf., e.g., Nock, “Vocabulary,” 132. Some see both imperial and biblical language behind the term; Hultgren, Romans, 72; Wright, Founder, 42–43; Wright, Pauline Perspectives, 80–87; Wright, Faithfulness, 915.

    249. See, e.g., Pss. Sol. 11:1.

    250. Cf. also Wis. 1:6; Acts 15:8; T. Jud. 20:5.

    251. On the Spirit and preaching, cf., e.g., Cantalamessa, “Preaching Ministry.”

    252. On commissioning, see discussion in Keener, John, 310–15. “Heaven” was sometimes a surrogate title for God (e.g., Dan. 4:26; Luke 15:18, 21; Rom. 1:18; 1 En. 6:2; 13:8; 1QM 12.5; 3 Macc. 4:21; m. ʾAbot 1:3, 11; 2:2, 12; t. B. Qam. 7:5; Sipra Behuq. pq. 6.267.2.1; Sipre Deut. 79.1.1; 96.2.2). The textual uncertainty of the preposition en in 1 Pet. 1:12 does not alter the instrumental sense of the dative pneumati.

    253. Cf. also Berding, Polycarp and Paul, 42. Cf. Exod. Rab. 45:6 (trans. Lehrman, Midrash Rabbah, 2:524), though it is very late: “The prophets beheld the banquet prepared [for the righteous] in Paradise, but they did not behold the reward they would receive” (citing Isa. 64:3; cf. 1 Cor. 2:9).

    254. For exaltation over angels eschatologically, see 1 Cor. 6:3. For limitations on angels’ eschatological knowledge (although these apply also to everyone else but the Father), see Mark 13:32; possibly 4Q402 f4.14–15 (but this is quite fragmentary).

    255. Jub. 1:25 (trans. Wintermute, OTP 2:54). Angels may diligently seek truth in 4Q418 f55.8–9, but the text is fragmentary.

    256. 2 En. 24:3, recension A (trans. Anderson, OTP 1:143); recension J (p. 142) is similar.

    257. 3 En. 4:7–9.

    258. b. Ḥag. 14b.

    259. b. Sanh. 93a (Soncino trans., 621). R. Johanan’s reasoning is that Dan. 3:25 mentions the angel last. On Israel being more loved than angels, see also Exod. Rab. 30:6 (cf. y. Roš Haš. 1:3, §28); on humanity being more loved because God gave them the Torah, Exod. Rab. 51:8; on humans being more valued than angels, Sent. Sextus 32. Later Jewish Christians felt that Jesus’s descent was hidden from the angels (Daniélou, Theology, 206–14).

    260. y. Šabb. 6:9, §3 (trans. Neusner, 11:215).

    ↑ Back to top

    ↑