1 Petrus 1:7

1:7 Such trials show the proven character of your faith, ¹  which is much more valuable than gold – gold that is tested by fire, even though it is passing away ²  – and will bring praise ³  and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁴ 

1 Petrus 1:24-25

1:24 For

all flesh ⁵  is like grass

and all its glory like the flower of the grass; ⁶ 

the grass withers and the flower falls off,

1:25 but the word of the Lord ⁷  endures forever. ⁸ 

And this is the word that was proclaimed to you.

1 Petrus 2:8

2:8 and a stumbling-stone ⁹  and a rock to trip over. ¹⁰  They stumble ¹¹  because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. ¹² 

1 Petrus 2:13

Submission to Authorities

2:13 Be subject to every human institution ¹³  for the Lord’s sake, whether to a king as supreme

1 Petrus 3:16

3:16 Yet do it with courtesy and respect, ¹⁴  keeping a good conscience, so that those who slander your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame when they accuse you. ¹⁵ 

1 Petrus 3:18

3:18 ¹⁶ Because Christ also suffered ¹⁷  once for sins,

the just for the unjust, ¹⁸ 

to bring you to God,

by being put to death in the flesh

but ¹⁹  by being made alive in the spirit. ²⁰ 

1 Petrus 3:20

3:20 after they were disobedient long ago ²¹  when God patiently waited ²²  in the days of Noah as an ark was being constructed. In the ark ²³  a few, that is eight souls, were delivered through water.

1 Petrus 4:8

4:8 Above all keep ²⁴  your love for one another fervent, ²⁵  because love covers a multitude of sins. ²⁶ 

1 Petrus 5:9-10

5:9 Resist him, ²⁷  strong in your faith, because you know ²⁸  that your brothers and sisters ²⁹  throughout the world ³⁰  are enduring ³¹  the same kinds of suffering. ³²  5:10 And, after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ ³³  will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. ³⁴ 

1 Petrus 5:12

Final Greetings

5:12 Through Silvanus, ³⁵  whom I know to be a faithful brother, ³⁶  I have written to you briefly, in order to encourage you and testify ³⁷  that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it. ³⁸ 

[1:7]  ¹ tn Or “genuineness,” the result of testing. On the other hand it may denote the process of testing: “that the proving of your faith…may bring praise.”

[1:7]  sn The author is not asserting that the quality of the readers’ faith is in doubt and will be proven by future trials. He declares their faith to be a present reality in v. 5 and 9, so in context v. 8 affirms that their faith is indeed genuine.

[1:7]  ² tn Grk “which is passing away but is tested by fire,” describing gold in a lesser-to-greater comparison with faith’s proven character.

[1:7]  ³ tn Grk “that the testing of your faith…may be found unto praise,” showing the result of the trials mentioned in v. 6.

[1:7]  ⁴ tn Grk “at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (cf. v. 13).

[1:24]  ⁵ sn Here all flesh is a metaphor for humanity – human beings as both frail and temporary.

[1:24]  ⁶ tn Or “a wildflower.”

[1:25]  ⁷ sn The word of the Lord is a technical expression in OT literature, often referring to a divine prophetic utterance (e.g., Gen 15:1, Isa 1:10, Jonah 1:1). In the NT it occurs 15 times: 3 times as ῥῆμα τοῦ κυρίου (rJhma tou kuriou; here and in Luke 22:61, Acts 11:16) and 12 times as λόγος τοῦ κυρίου (logo" tou kuriou; Acts 8:25; 13:44, 48, 49; 15:35, 36; 16:32; 19:10, 20; 1 Thess 1:8, 4:15; 2 Thess 3:1). As in the OT, this phrase focuses on the prophetic nature and divine origin of what has been said.

[1:25]  ⁸ sn A quotation from Isa 40:6, 8.

[2:8]  ⁹ tn Grk “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” The latter phrase uses the term σκάνδαλον (skandalon), denoting an obstacle to faith, something that arouses anger and rejection.

[2:8]  ¹⁰ sn A quotation from Isa 8:14.

[2:8]  ¹¹ tn Grk “who stumble,” referring to “those who do not believe” in vs. 7. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[2:8]  ¹² tn Grk “to which they were also destined.”

[2:13]  ¹³ tn Or “every human being”; Grk “every human creation,” denoting either everything created for mankind (NRSV mg: “every institution ordained for human beings”) or every creature who is human. The meaning of the verb “be subject” and the following context supports the rendering adopted in the text.

[3:16]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “but with courtesy and respect,” continuing the command of v. 15. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[3:16]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “when you are spoken against.”

[3:18]  ¹⁶ sn This passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.

[3:18]  ¹⁷ tc The variants here are legion (B. M. Metzger produces eight variants in a nice layout of the evidence [TCGNT 622]). Most of these variants involve pronouns, prepositions, or word order changes, but the major problem involves whether Christ “suffered” (ἔπαθεν, epaqen) or “died” (ἀπέθανεν, apeqanen). The witnesses that read ἀπέθανεν are Ì⁷² א A C^vid Ψ 0285 33 614 630 945 1241 1505 1739; the witnesses that read ἔπαθεν are B L P 81 Ï. Although the external evidence slightly favors ἀπέθανεν, such may be a secondary reading. Intrinsically, ἔπαθεν both fits the context better, especially the verbal link between v. 17 and v. 18 (note in particular the introductory causal ὅτι [{oti, “because”] and the emphatic καί [kai, “also”]), and fits the author’s style (1 Peter never uses ἀποθνῄσκω [apoqnhskw], but uses πάσχω [pascw] 11 other times, more than any other NT book). However, scribes would most likely realize this, and might conform the verb in v. 18 to the author’s typical usage. It may be argued, however, that scribes tended to alter the text in light of more common NT idioms, and did not have as much sensitivity to the literary features in the immediate context. In this instance, it may not be insignificant that the NT collocates ἀποθνῄσκω with ἁμαρτία (Jamartia, “sin”) seven other times, though only once (1 Cor 15:3) with a meaning similar to what would be demanded here, but collocates πάσχω with ἁμαρτία in only one other place, 1 Pet 4:1, where the meaning also detours from what is seen here. All in all, a decision is difficult, but ἔπαθεν is to be preferred slightly.

[3:18]  ¹⁸ sn The reference to the just suffering for the unjust is an allusion to Isa 53:11-12.

[3:18]  ¹⁹ tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two phrases more than can be easily expressed in English.

[3:18]  ²⁰ sn Put to death in the flesh…made alive in the spirit. The contrast of flesh and spirit is not between two parts of Christ’s person (material versus immaterial) but between two broader modes of existence: the realm of unregenerate earthly life versus eternal heavenly life. The reference may not be to the Holy Spirit directly, but indirectly, since the Spirit permeates and characterizes the spiritual mode of existence. However, ExSyn 343 (n. 76) states “It is often objected that the Holy Spirit cannot be in view because the two datives of v 18 (σαρκί, πνεύματι [sarki, pneumati]) would then have a different syntactical force (sphere, means). But if 1 Pet 3:18 is a hymnic or liturgical fragment, this can be no objection because of ‘poetic license’: poetry is replete with examples of grammatical and lexical license, not the least of which is the use of the same morpho-syntactic categories, in parallel lines, with entirely different senses (note, e.g., the dat. expressions in 1 Tim 3:16).”

[3:20]  ²¹ tn This reflects a Greek participle, literally “having been disobedient formerly,” that refers to the “spirits” in v. 19. Many translations take this as adjectival describing the spirits (“who had once been disobedient”; cf. NASB, NIV, NKJV, NLT, NRSV, TEV), but the grammatical construction strongly favors an adverbial interpretation describing the time of the preaching, as reflected above.

[3:20]  ²² tn Grk “the patience of God waited.”

[3:20]  ²³ tn Grk “in which,” referring to the ark; the referent (the ark) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:8]  ²⁴ tn The primary verb of v. 8 is a participle (“having”) but it continues the sense of command from v. 7.

[4:8]  ²⁵ tn Or “constant.”

[4:8]  ²⁶ sn The statement of v. 8b, love covers a multitude of sins, is proverbial: It is quoted from Prov 10:12 (cf. Jas 5:20). It speaks of the forbearance that comes with love: Christian love is patient and forgiving toward the offenses of a fellow Christian (Matt 18:21-22; 1 Cor 13:4-7).

[5:9]  ²⁷ tn Grk “whom,” referring to the devil in v. 8. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[5:9]  ²⁸ tn Grk “knowing,” a participle that usually denotes a reason for the related action.

[5:9]  ²⁹ tn Grk “your brotherhood.” The Greek term “brotherhood” is used in a broad sense to connote familial relationships within the family of God (cf. BDAG 19 s.v. ἀδελφότης 1). Another alternative translation would be “your fellow believers,” though this would weaken the familial connotations. This same word occurs in 2:17; there it has been translated “family of believers.”

[5:9]  ³⁰ tn Grk “your brotherhood in the world,” referring to the Christian community worldwide.

[5:9]  ³¹ tn This verb carries the nuance “to accomplish, complete,” emphasizing their faithful endurance in suffering. The verb is passive in Greek (“suffering is being endured by your brotherhood”), but has been translated as an active to give a smoother English style.

[5:9]  ³² tn Grk “the same things of sufferings.”

[5:10]  ³³ tc ‡ A few important mss (א B 614 630 1505 pc) lack “Jesus” after “Christ,” while the majority include the name (Ì⁷² A P Ψ 33 1739 Ï latt). However, the inclusion is a natural and predictable expansion on the text. NA²⁷ includes ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou, “Jesus”) in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity. .

[5:10]  ³⁴ tn The pronoun “you” is not used explicitly but is clearly implied by the Greek.

[5:12]  ³⁵ sn The phrase Through Silvanus means either that Silvanus was the secretary (amanuensis) who assisted Peter in writing or composing the letter (cf. Rom 16:22) or that he carried the letter to the churches. The latter sense is more likely since this is the meaning of the Greek wording when it is used elsewhere (cf. Acts 15:23; Ignatius, Letter to the Romans 10:1; Letter to the Philadelphians 11:2; Letter to the Smyrnaeans 12:1; Polycarp, Letter to the Philippians 14), though it is perhaps possible that both ideas could be incorporated by this expression. For a detailed argument regarding this issue, see E. R. Richards, “Silvanus Was Not Peter’s Secretary: Theological Bias in Interpreting διὰ Σιλουανοῦ…ἔγραψα,” JETS 43 (September 2000): 417-32.

[5:12]  ³⁶ tn Grk “the faithful brother, as I think.”

[5:12]  ³⁷ tn These are participles (“encouraging and testifying”) showing purpose. The pronoun object “you” is omitted in Greek but implied by the context.

[5:12]  ³⁸ tn Grk “in which stand fast.” For emphasis, and due to constraints of contemporary English, this was made a separate sentence in the translation.