The Expositor's Bible: The Epistles of St. PeterLumby, J. Rawson (Joseph Rawson)
Religion
The Expositor's Bible: The Epistles of St. Peter
Lumby, J. Rawson (Joseph Rawson)
Bible. Peter -- Commentaries
manifested in us. Sinful men were the material chosen for the display
of the Divine love, and God sent His only-begotten Son into the world
that we might live through Him. It was of God's ordinance and the
Son's obedience that redemption was thus purchased. That we might
live, the sinless Christ must die, and ere He died must be put to
grief by the opposition of those whom He came to save; must lament and
be hindered in His works of mercy by the want of faith among His own
kindred, by the persistent sins of those cities in which His mightiest
works were wrought; must shed tears of anguish over the city of David,
which would know nothing of the things which belonged unto her peace.
This was the chastisement of the innocent to gain peace for the
guilty, that God might thus commend His love to men, and Christ might
bring them back to the Father. And this bringing back is not the mere
action of a guide. This He is, but He is far more: He helps those who
are coming at every step, and as they draw near they find through Him
that the Father's house and the Father's welcome are waiting for their
return. Shall men complain, nay shall they not be lost in praise, if
God will at all consent to use their trials to extend His kingdom and
His glory, and thus make them partakers of the sufferings of Christ?
Such a lot had been welcome to St. Peter: "They departed from the
presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to
suffer dishonour for the name" (Acts v. 41); and here in his epistle
he publishes the joy of such shame, publishes it that others through
all ages may suffer gladly, trusting their God to use the pains He
sends to magnify His glory. The lesson is for all men at all times.
Christ suffered for sins once; but once here means once for all, and
proclaims to each generation of sinners that Jesus bore His cross for
them.
[10] The LXX. translators use the word θέλω very frequently
to translate such expressions as "to delight in," "to have pleasure
in." Cf. Deut. xxi. 14; 1 Sam. xviii. 22; 1 Kings x. 9.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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