1 Peter

THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF

PETER

[1] [2]

[3] [4]

[5]

INTRODUCTION

ITS GENUINENESS

is attested by

2Pe 3:1.

On the authority of Second Peter, see the

Introduction.

Also by POLYCARP (in EUSEBIUS

[Ecclesiastical History, 4.14]), who, in writing to the

Philippians, quotes many passages: in the second chapter he quotes

1Pe 1:13, 21; 3:9;

in the fifth chapter,

1Pe 2:11.

EUSEBIUS says of PAPIAS

[Ecclesiastical History, 3.39] that he, too, quotes Peter's

First Epistle. IRENÆUS [Against

Heresies, 4.9.2] expressly mentions it; and in [4.16.5],

1Pe 2:16.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

[Miscellanies, 1.3, p. 544], quotes

1Pe 2:11, 12, 15, 16;

and [p. 562],

1Pe 1:21, 22;

and [4, p. 584],

1Pe 3:14-17;

and [p. 585],

1Pe 4:12-14.

ORIGEN (in EUSEBIUS

[Ecclesiastical History, 6.25]) mentions this Epistle; in

[Homily 7, on Joshua, vol. 2, p. 63], he mentions both

Epistles; and [Commentary on Psalm 3 and on John], he mentions

1Pe 3:18-21.

TERTULLIAN [Antidote to the Scorpion's

Sting, 12], quotes expressly

1Pe 2:20, 21;

and [Antidote to the Scorpion's Sting, 14],

1Pe 2:13, 17.

EUSEBIUS states it as the opinion of those before

him that this was among the universally acknowledged Epistles.

The Peschito Syriac Version contains it. The fragment of the

canon called MURATORI'S omits it. Excepting this,

and the Paulician heretics, who rejected it, all ancient testimony is

on its side. The internal evidence is equally strong. The author

calls himself the apostle Peter,

1Pe 1:1,

and "a witness of Christ's sufferings," and an "elder,"

1Pe 5:1.

The energy of the style harmonizes with the warmth of Peter's

character; and, as ERASMUS says, this Epistle is

full of apostolic dignity and authority and is worthy of the leader

among the apostles.

PETER'S PERSONAL HISTORY.--Simon, Or Simeon, was a

native of Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee, son of Jonas or John. With

his father and his brother Andrew he carried on trade as a fisherman at

Capernaum, his subsequent place of abode. He was a married man, and

tradition represents his wife's name as Concordia or

Perpetua.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA says

that she suffered martyrdom, her husband encouraging her to be faithful

unto death, "Remember, dear, our Lord." His wife's mother was restored

from a fever by Christ. He was brought to Jesus by his brother Andrew,

who had been a disciple of John the Baptist, but was pointed to the

Saviour as "the Lamb of God" by his master

(Joh 1:29).

Jesus, on first beholding him, gave him the name by which chiefly he is

known, indicative of his subsequent character and work in the Church,

"Peter" (Greek) or "Cephas" (Aramaic), a stone

(Mt 4:18).

He did not join our Lord finally until a subsequent period. The leading

incidents in his apostolic life are well known: his walking on the

troubled waters to meet Jesus, but sinking through doubting

(Mt 14:30);

his bold and clear acknowledgment of the divine person and office of

Jesus

(Mt 16:16;

Mr 8:29;

Joh 11:27),

notwithstanding the difficulties in the way of such belief, whence he

was then also designated as the stone, or rock

(Mt 16:18);

but his rebuke of his Lord when announcing what was so unpalatable to

carnal prejudices, Christ's coming passion and death

(Mt 16:22);

his passing from one extreme to the opposite, in reference to Christ's

offer to wash his feet

(Joh 13:8, 9);

his self-confident assertion that he would never forsake his

Lord, whatever others might do

(Mt 26:33),

followed by his base denial of Christ thrice with curses

(Mt 26:75);

his deep penitence; Christ's full forgiveness and prophecy of his

faithfulness unto death, after he had received from him a profession of

"love" as often repeated as his previous denial

(Joh 21:15-17).

These incidents illustrate his character as zealous, pious, and

ardently attached to the Lord, but at the same time impulsive in

feeling, rather than calmly and continuously steadfast. Prompt in

action and ready to avow his convictions boldly, he was hasty in

judgment, precipitate, and too self-confident in the assertion of his

own steadfastness; the result was that, though he abounded in animal

courage, his moral courage was too easily overcome by fear of man's

opinion. A wonderful change was wrought in him by his restoration after

his fall, through the grace of his risen Lord. His zeal and ardor

became sanctified, being chastened by a spirit of unaffected humility.

His love to the Lord was, if possible, increased, while his mode of

manifesting it now was in doing and suffering for His name, rather than

in loud protestations. Thus, when imprisoned and tried before the

Sanhedrim for preaching Christ, he boldly avowed his determination to

continue to do so. He is well called "the mouth of the apostles." His

faithfulness led to his apprehension by Herod Agrippa, with a view to

his execution, from which, however, he was delivered by the angel of

the Lord.

After the ascension he took the lead in the Church; and on the descent

of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, he exercised the designed power of

"the keys" of Christ's kingdom, by opening the door of the Church, in

preaching, for the admission of thousands of Israelites; and still more

so in opening (in obedience to a special revelation) an entrance to the

"devout" (that is, Jewish proselyte from heathendom) Gentile,

Cornelius: the forerunner of the harvest gathered in from

idolatrous Gentiles at Antioch. This explains in what sense

Christ used as to him the words, "Upon this rock I will build my

Church"

(Mt 16:18),

namely, on the preaching of Christ, the true "Rock," by connection with

whom only he was given the designation: a title shared in common on the

same grounds by the rest of the apostles, as the first founders of the

Church on Christ, "the chief corner-stone"

(Eph 2:20).

A name is often given in Hebrew, not that the person is actually

the thing itself, but has some special relation to it; as Elijah means

Mighty Jehovah, so Simon is called Peter "the rock," not that he

is so, save by connection with Jesus, the only true Rock

(Isa 28:16;

1Co 3:11).

As subsequently he identified himself with "Satan," and is therefore

called so

(Mt 16:23),

in the same way, by his clear confession of Christ, the Rock, he became

identified with Him, and is accordingly so called

(Mt 16:18).

It is certain that there is no instance on record of Peter's having

ever claimed or exercised supremacy; on the contrary, he is represented

as sent by the apostles at Jerusalem to confirm the Samaritans

baptized by Philip the deacon; again at the council of Jerusalem, not

he, but James the president, or leading bishop in the Church of that

city, pronounced the authoritative decision:

Ac 15:19,

"My sentence is," &c. A kind of primacy, doubtless (though

certainly not supremacy), was given him on the ground of his age, and

prominent earnestness, and boldness in taking the lead on many

important occasions. Hence he is called "first" in enumerating the

apostles. Hence, too, arise the phrases, "Peter and the Eleven," "Peter

and the rest of the apostles"; and Paul, in going up to Jerusalem after

his conversion, went to see Peter in particular.

Once only he again betrayed the same spirit of vacillation through fear

of man's reproach which had caused his denial of his Lord. Though at

the Jerusalem council he advocated the exemption of Gentile converts

from the ceremonial observances of the law, yet he, after having

associated in closest intercourse with the Gentiles at Antioch,

withdrew from them, through dread of the prejudices of his Jewish

brethren who came from James, and timidly dissembled his conviction of

the religious equality of Jew and Gentile; for this Paul openly

withstood and rebuked him: a plain refutation of his alleged

supremacy and infallibility (except where specially

inspired, as in writing his Epistles). In all other cases he showed

himself to be, indeed, as Paul calls him, "a pillar"

(Ga 2:9).

Subsequently we find him in "Babylon," whence he wrote this First

Epistle to the Israelite believers of the dispersion, and the Gentile

Christians united in Christ, in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and

Bithynia.

JEROME [On Illustrious Men, 1] states that

"Peter, after having been bishop of Antioch, and after having preached

to the believers of the circumcision in Pontus, &c. [plainly inferred

from

1Pe 1:1],

in the second year of Claudius went to Rome to refute Simon Magus, and

for twenty-five years there held the episcopal chair, down to the last

year of Nero, that is, the fourteenth, by whom he was crucified with

his head downwards, declaring himself unworthy to be crucified as his

Lord, and was buried in the Vatican, near the triumphal way." EUSEBIUS [Chronicles, Anno 3], also asserts his

episcopate at Antioch; his assertion that Peter founded that Church

contradicts

Ac 11:19-22.

His journey to Rome to oppose Simon Magus arose from

JUSTIN'S story of the statue found at Rome (really

the statue of the Sabine god, Semo Sanctus, or Hercules,

mistaken as if Simon Magus were worshipped by that name, "Simoni Deo

Sancto"; found in the Tiber in 1574, or on an island in the Tiber in

1662), combined with the account in

Ac 8:9-24.

The twenty-five years' bishopric is chronologically impossible, as it

would make Peter, at the interview with Paul at Antioch, to have been

then for some years bishop of Rome! His crucifixion is certain from

Christ's prophecy,

Joh 21:18, 19.

DIONYSIUS OF CORINTH (in

EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 2.25])

asserted in an epistle to the Romans, that Paul and Peter planted both

the Roman and Corinthian churches, and endured martyrdom in Italy at

the same time. So TERTULLIAN [Against

Marcion, 4.5, and The Prescription Against Heretics, 36,

38]. Also Caius, the presbyter of Rome, in

EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 2.25]

asserts that some memorials of their martyrdom were to be seen at Rome

on the road to Ostia. So EUSEBIUS

[Ecclesiastical History, 2.25, and Demonstration of the

Gospel, 3.116]. So LACTANTIUS [Of the

Manner in Which the Persecutors Died, 2]. Many of the details are

palpably false; whether the whole be so or not is dubious,

considering the tendency to concentrate at Rome events of interest

[ALFORD]. What is certain is, that Peter was not

there before the writing of the Epistle to the Romans

(A.D. 58), otherwise he would have been mentioned

in it; nor during Paul's first imprisonment at Rome, otherwise he would

have been mentioned in some one of Paul's many other Epistles written

from Rome; nor during Paul's second imprisonment, at least when he was

writing the Second Epistle to Timothy, just before his martyrdom. He

may have gone to Rome after Paul's death, and, as common

tradition represents, been imprisoned in the Mamertine dungeon, and

crucified on the Janiculum, on the eminence of St. Pietro in Montorio,

and his remains deposited under the great altar in the center of the

famous basilica of St. Peter. AMBROSE

[Epistles, 33 (Edition Paris, 1586), p. 1022] relates that St.

Peter, not long before his death, being overcome by the solicitations

of his fellow Christians to save himself, was fleeing from Rome when he

was met by our Lord, and on asking, "Lord, whither goest Thou?"

received the answer, "I go to be crucified afresh." On this he returned

and joyfully went to martyrdom. The church called "Domine quo

vadis" on the Appian Way, commemorates the legend. It is not

unlikely that the whole tradition is built on the connection which

existed between Paul and Peter. As Paul, "the apostle of the

uncircumcision," wrote Epistles to Galatia, Ephesus, and Colosse, and

to Philemon at Colosse, making the Gentile Christians the persons

prominently addressed, and the Jewish Christians subordinately so; so,

vice versa, Peter, "the apostle of the circumcision," addressed the

same churches, the Jewish Christians in them primarily, and the Gentile

Christians also, secondarily.

TO WHOM HE ADDRESSES THIS EPISTLE.--The heading,

1Pe 1:1,

"to the elect strangers (spiritually pilgrims) of the

dispersion" (Greek), clearly marks the Christians of the

Jewish dispersion as prominently addressed, but still including

also Gentile Christians as grafted into the Christian Jewish

stock by adoption and faith, and so being part of the true Israel.

1Pe 1:14; 2:9, 10; 3:6; 4:3

clearly prove this. Thus he, the apostle of the circumcision, sought to

unite in one Christ Jew and Gentile, promoting thereby the same work

and doctrine as Paul the apostle of the uncircumcision. The provinces

are named by Peter in the heading in the order proceeding from

northeast to south and west. Pontus was the country of the Christian

Jew Aquila. To Galatia Paul paid two visits, founding and confirming

churches. Crescens, his companion, went there about the time of Paul's

last imprisonment, just before his martyrdom. Ancyra was subsequently

its ecclesiastical metropolis. Men of Cappadocia, as well as of

"Pontus" and "Asia," were among the hearers of Peter's effective sermon

on the Pentecost whereon the Spirit decended on the Church; these

probably brought home to their native land the first tidings of the

Gospel. Proconsular "Asia" included Mysia, Lydia, Caria, Phrygia,

Pisidia, and Lyaconia. In Lycaonia were the churches of Iconium,

founded by Paul and Barnabas; of Lystra, Timothy's birthplace, where

Paul was stoned at the instigation of the Jews; and of Derbe, the

birthplace of Gaius, or Caius. In Pisidia was Antioch, where Paul was

the instrument of converting many, but was driven out by the Jews. In

Caria was Miletus, containing doubtless a Christian Church. In Phrygia,

Paul preached both times when visiting Galatia in its neighborhood, and

in it were the churches of Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colosse, of which

last Church Philemon and Onesimus were members, and Archippus and

Epaphras leaders. In Lydia was the Philadelphian Church, favorably

noticed in

Re 3:7,

&c.; that of Sardis, the capital, and of Thyatira, and of Ephesus,

founded by Paul, and a scene of the labors of Aquila and Priscilla and

Apollos, and subsequently of more than two whole years' labor of Paul

again, and subsequently censured for falling from its first love in

Re 2:4.

Smyrna of Ionia was in the same quarter, and as one of the seven

churches receives unqualified praise. In Mysia was Pergamos. Troas,

too, is known as the scene of Paul's preaching and raising Eutychus to

life

(Ac 20:6-10),

and of his subsequently staying for a time with Carpus

(2Ti 4:13).

Of "Bithynia," no Church is expressly named in Scripture elsewhere.

When Paul at an earlier period "assayed to go into Bithynia"

(Ac 16:7),

the Spirit suffered him not. But afterwards, we infer from

1Pe 1:1,

the Spirit did impart the Gospel to that country, possibly by Peter's

ministry, In government, these several churches, it appears from this

Epistle

(1Pe 5:1, 2,

"Feed," &c.), were much in the same states as when Paul addressed the

Ephesian "elders" at Miletus

(Ac 20:17, 28,

"feed") in very similar language; elders or presbyter-bishops ruled,

while the apostles exercised the general superintendence. They were

exposed to persecutions, though apparently not systematic, but rather

annoyances and reproach arising from their not joining their heathen

neighbors in riotous living, into which, however, some of them were in

danger of falling. The evils which existed among themselves, and which

are therefore reproved, were ambition and lucre-seeking on the part of

the presbyters

(1Pe 5:2, 3),

evil thoughts and words among the members in general, and a want of

sympathy and generosity towards one another.

HIS OBJECT seems to be, by the prospect of their

heavenly portion and by Christ's example, to afford consolation to the

persecuted, and prepare them for a greater approaching ordeal, and to

exhort all, husbands, wives, servants, presbyters, and people, to a due

discharge of relative duties, so as to give no handle to the enemy to

reproach Christianity, but rather to win them to it, and so to

establish them in "the true grace of God wherein they stand"

(1Pe 5:12).

However, see on

1Pe 5:12,

on the oldest reading. ALFORD rightly argues that

"exhorting and testifying" there, refer to Peter's exhortations

throughout the Epistle grounded on testimony which he bears

to the Gospel truth, already well known to his readers by the

teaching of Paul in those churches. They were already introduced

"into" (so the Greek,

1Pe 5:12)

this grace of God as their safe standing-ground. Compare

1Co 15:1,

"I declare unto you the Gospel wherein ye stand." Therefore he

does not, in this Epistle, set forth a complete statement of this

Gospel doctrine of grace, but falls back on it as already known.

Compare

1Pe 1:8, 18,

"ye know";

1Pe 3:15;

2Pe 3:1.

Not that Peter servilely copies the style and mode of teaching of Paul,

but as an independent witness in his own style attests the same truths.

We may divide the Epistle into: (I) The inscription

(1Pe 1:1, 2).

(II) The stirring-up of a pure feeling in believers as born again of

God. By the motive of hope to which God has regenerated us

(1Pe 1:3-12);

bringing forth the fruit of faith, considering the costly price

paid for our redemption from sin

(1Pe 1:14-21).

Being purified by the Spirit unto love of the brethren as

begotten of God's eternal word, as spiritual priest-kings, to whom

alone Christ is precious

(1Pe 1:22; 2:10);

after Christ's example in suffering, maintaining a good

conversation in every relation

(1Pe 2:10; 3:14),

and a good profession of faith as having in view Christ's

once-offered sacrifice, and His future coming to judgment

(1Pe 3:15; 4:11);

and exhibiting patience in adversity, as looking for

future glorification with Christ, (1) in general as Christians,

1Pe 4:12-19;

(2) each in his own sphere,

1Pe 5:1-11.

"The title "Beloved" marks the separation of the second part from the

first,

1Pe 2:11;

and of the third part from the second,

1Pe 4:12"

[BENGEL]. (III). The conclusion.

TIME AND PLACE OF WRITING.--It was plainly before

the open and systematic persecution of the later years of Nero

had begun. That this Epistle was written after Paul's Epistles, even

those written during his imprisonment at Rome, ending in A.D. 63, appears from the acquaintance which Peter in

this Epistle shows he has with them. Compare

1Pe 2:13

with 1Ti 2:2-4;

1Pe 2:18

with Eph 6:5;

1Pe 1:2

with Eph 1:4-7;

1Pe 1:3

with Eph 1:3;

1Pe 1:14

with Ro 12:2;

1Pe 2:6-10

with Ro 9:32, 33;

1Pe 2:13

with Ro 13:1-4;

1Pe 2:16

with Ga 5:13;

1Pe 2:18

with Eph 6:5;

1Pe 3:1

with Eph 5:22;

1Pe 3:9

with Ro 12:17;

1Pe 4:9

with Php 2:14;

Ro 12:13

and Heb 13:2;

1Pe 4:10

with Ro 12:6-8;

1Pe 5:1

with Ro 8:18;

1Pe 5:5

with Eph 5:21;

Php 2:3, 5-8;

1Pe 5:8

with 1Th 5:6;

1Pe 5:14

with 1Co 16:20.

Moreover, in

1Pe 5:13,

Mark is mentioned as with Peter in Babylon. This must have been after

Col 4:10

(A.D. 61-63), when Mark was with Paul at Rome, but

intending to go to Asia Minor. Again, in

2Ti 4:11

(A.D. 67 or 68), Mark was in or near Ephesus, in

Asia Minor, and Timothy is told to bring him to Rome. So that it is

likely it was after this, namely, after Paul's martyrdom, that Mark

joined Peter, and consequently that this Epistle was written. It is not

likely that Peter would have entrenched on Paul's field of labor, the

churches of Asia Minor, during Paul's lifetime. The death of the

apostle of the uncircumcision, and the consequent need of someone to

follow up his teachings, probably gave occasion to the testimony given

same truth. The relation in which the Pauline Gentile churches stood

towards the apostles at Jerusalem favors this view. Even the Gentile

Christians would naturally look to the spiritual fathers of the Church

at Jerusalem, the center whence the Gospel had emanated to them, for

counsel wherewith to meet the pretensions of Judaizing Christians and

heretics; and Peter, always prominent among the apostles in Jerusalem,

would even when elsewhere feel a deep interest in them, especially when

they were by death bereft of Paul's guidance. BIRKS [Horæ Evangelicæ] suggests that

false teachers may have appealed from Paul's doctrine to that of James

and Peter. Peter then would naturally write to confirm the doctrines of

grace and tacitly show there was no difference between his teaching and

Paul's. BIRKS prefers dating the Epistle A.D. 58, after Paul's second visit to Galatia, when

Silvanus was with him, and so could not have been with Peter (A.D. 54), and before his imprisonment at Rome, when Mark

was with him, and so could not have been with Peter (A.D. 62); perhaps when Paul was detained at

Cæsarea, and so debarred from personal intercourse with those

churches. I prefer the view previously stated. This sets aside the

tradition that Paul and Peter suffered martyrdom together at Rome.

ORIGEN'S and EUSEBIUS'

statement that Peter visited the churches of Asia in person seems very

probable.

The PLACE OF WRITING was doubtless Babylon on the

Euphrates

(1Pe 5:13).

It is most improbable that in the midst of writing matter-of-fact

communications and salutations in a remarkably plain Epistle, the

symbolical language of prophecy (namely, "Babylon" for Rome)

should be used. JOSEPHUS [Antiquities,

15.2.2; 3.1] states that there was a great multitude of Jews in

the Chaldean Babylon; it is therefore likely that "the apostle of the

circumcision"

(Ga 2:7, 8)

would at some time or other visit them. Some have maintained that the

Babylon meant was in Egypt because Mark preached in and around

Alexandria after Peter's death, and therefore it is likely he did so

along with that apostle in the same region previously. But no mention

elsewhere in Scripture is made of this Egyptian Babylon, but

only of the Chaldean one. And though towards the close of Caligula's

reign a persecution drove the Jews thence to Seleucia, and a plague

five years after still further thinned their numbers, yet this does not

preclude their return and multiplication during the twenty years that

elapsed between the plague and the writing of the Epistle. Moreover,

the order in which the countries are enumerated, from northeast to

south and west, is such as would be adopted by one writing from the

Oriental Babylon on the Euphrates, not from Egypt or Rome. Indeed,

COSMAS INDICOPLEUSTES, in the

sixth century, understood the Babylon meant to be outside the

Roman empire. Silvanus, Paul's companion, became subsequently Peter's,

and was the carrier of this Epistle.

STYLE.--Fervor and practical truth, rather than

logical reasoning, are the characteristics, of this Epistle, as they

were of its energetic, warm-hearted writer. His familiarity with Paul's

Epistles shown in the language accords with what we should expect from

the fact of Paul's having "communicated the Gospel which he preached

among the Gentiles" (as revealed specially to him) to Peter among

others "of reputation"

(Ga 2:2).

Individualities occur, such as baptism, "the answer of a good

conscience toward God"

(1Pe 3:21);

"consciousness of God" (Greek),

1Pe 2:19,

as a motive for enduring sufferings; "living hope"

(1Pe 1:3);

"an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away"

(1Pe 1:4);

"kiss of charity"

(1Pe 5:14).

Christ is viewed less in relation to His past sufferings than as at

present exalted and hereafter to be manifested in all His majesty.

Glory and hope are prominent features in this Epistle

(1Pe 1:8),

so much so that WEISS entitles him "the apostle of

hope." The realization of future bliss as near causes him to regard

believers as but "strangers" and "sojourners" here. Chastened fervor,

deep humility, and ardent love appear, just as we should expect from

one who had been so graciously restored after his grievous fall. "Being

converted," he truly does "strengthen his brethren." His fervor shows

itself in often repeating the same thought in similar words.

In some passages he shows familiarity with the Epistle of James, the

apostle of special weight with the Jewish legalizing party, whose

inspiration he thus confirms (compare

1Pe 1:6, 7

with Jas 1:2, 3;

1Pe 1:24

with Jas 1:10;

1Pe 2:1

with Jas 1:21;

1Pe 4:8

with Jas 5:20,

both quoting

Pr 10:12; 5:5

with Jas 4:6,

both quoting

Pr 3:34).

In most of these cases Old Testament quotations are the common ground

of both. "Strong susceptibility to outward impressions, liveliness of

feeling, dexterity in handling subjects, dispose natures like that of

Peter to repeat afresh the thoughts of others" [STEIGER].

The diction of this Epistle and of his speeches in Acts is very

similar: an undesigned coincidence, and so a mark of genuineness

(compare

1Pe 2:7

with Ac 4:11;

1Pe 1:12

with Ac 5:32;

1Pe 2:24

with Ac 5:30; 10:39;

1Pe 5:1

with Ac 2:32; 3:15;

1Pe 1:10

with Ac 3:18; 10:43;

1Pe 1:21

with Ac 3:15; 10:40;

1Pe 4:5

with Ac 10:42;

1Pe 2:24

with Ac 3:19, 26).

There is, too, a recurrence to the language of the Lord at the last

interview after His resurrection, recorded in

Joh 21:15-23.

Compare "the Shepherd . . . of . . . souls,"

1Pe 2:25;

"Feed the flock of God," "the chief Shepherd,"

1Pe 5:2, 4,

with Joh 21:15-17;

"Feed My lambs . . . sheep"; also "Whom . . . ye

love,"

1Pe 1:8; 2:7,

with Joh 21:15-17;

"lovest thou Me?" and

2Pe 1:14,

with Joh 21:18, 19.

WIESINGER well says, "He who in loving impatience

cast himself into the sea to meet the Lord, is also the man who most

earnestly testifies to the hope of His return; he who dated his own

faith from the sufferings of his Master, is never weary in holding up

the suffering form of the Lord before his readers to comfort and

stimulate them; he before whom the death of a martyr is in assured

expectation, is the man who, in the greatest variety of aspects, sets

forth the duty, as well as the consolation, of suffering for Christ; as

a rock of the Church he grounds his readers against the storm of

present tribulation on the true Rock of ages."