1 Pedro 1
Didymus the Blind · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
1 Pedro 1:1
Why does Peter, an apostle to the Jews, write to those who are scattered in the dispersion, when most of them were still living in Judea at that time? To understand his meaning, we have to compare what he says with texts like "I am a pilgrim and stranger on earth, as were all my forefathers." The souls of all are like strangers who are joined to bodies for as long as they dwell in time. If these souls were thought to be the substance of the body, they would be natives on earth. But these souls are concealed in a covering of flesh and are in fact like strangers on earth. They feel the pains of the flesh because they are quite assimilated into natural bodies. This is why terrors are brought on the inhabitants of the earth, which affect both the things which are earthly in themselves and the souls which are covered in an earthly image. — COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
1 Pedro 1:2
What Peter says agrees with the statements of Paul, such as: "He has chosen us in himself before the foundation of the world, to be holy and spotless before him in love, predestinating us to be adopted as sons." … Foreknowledge is not to be regarded as anything other than the contemplation of the future. It becomes knowledge as the things which are foreseen come to pass. Therefore, although the people to whom Peter was writing had once been chosen according to God's foreknowledge, by the time he was writing to them their election had already taken place. — COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
1 Pedro 1:4
In order to show how the inheritance of the blessed will continue forever, Peter calls it incorruptible and unfading, demonstrating by this that it is a pure and divine inheritance which will remain uncontaminated in the eyes of those who care nothing for their present wealth, knowing that they have something better and eternal waiting for them. — COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
1 Pedro 1:6
Those who are afflicted in various ways because of Christ and who persevere to the end have their faith tested and proved. They ought therefore to rejoice, even if some of their labor appears to be involuntary. Peter calls this kind of labor grief, a word which he uses in one of the two meanings described by the apostle Paul, who said that there is one grief which leads to death and another which leads to repentance. Obviously it is the second of these which is meant here. — COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
1 Pedro 1:10
Some say that the promises and the salvation of the saints who lived before the coming of the Savior was inferior to those given to people who came afterwards and who saw Jesus in the flesh, who heard his teaching and beheld the miracles he did in his body. We must however show that this opinion is false. Christ comes in two ways. One is through the intellect, by which God is received as a divine Word. The other is through the senses, by which he appears as a historical person coming out of the womb of Mary. But the first way is more purely divine than the second, which was made necessary by the sinful behavior of mankind. For God comes to all the saints through the intellect and by his word, whether they lived before or after the coming of Christ, sanctifying each one according to his deeds. Those who lived before the coming of Christ were less informed, not because of their wickedness but because of God's dispensation of time. Therefore it is said that the prophets examined how and at what time the salvation of their souls would be fulfilled by the sufferings of Christ and his subsequent glory. They preached these things, knowing that they were not going to be revealed directly to them but would appear at some future time. Therefore it is wrong to say that their sanctification was somehow inferior to ours. — COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
1 Pedro 1:15
Since God, who called us to salvation by the gospel, is holy, those who obey his calling must also become holy in all their thoughts and behavior, especially since he who calls us to this also provides the necessary sanctification himself. — COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
1 Pedro 1:17
If the one whom we call the Father is also our judge, and if he pays no attention to classes of persons, let us hasten to do our best in the time of our sojourn here on earth, with all fear and holy behavior. In this way we shall recognize that the same Father is the one who gives us promises, and we shall persevere without any punishment. — COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
1 Pedro 1:23
Peter uses the words regeneration and restitution to signify the introduction of birth after the destruction of the first generation of mankind. For how could that not have been destroyed, seeing that it is corrupt, in order to make room for the incorruptible which is coming and which will remain forever? For there is a first birth, in the descent of Adam, which is mortal and therefore corruptible, but there is also a later birth which comes from the Spirit and the ever-living Word of God. — COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER