1 Peter 1

Therefore heaven is called entering into the joy of our Lord (Matthew 25:21). The seeing of God, the loving of God, and being beloved of God, will cause a jubilation of spirit, and create such holy raptures of joy in the saints, as is unspeakable and full of glory (1 Peter 1:8).…

Quest. To what has Christ redeemed us? Resp. He has redeemed us to a glorious inheritance (1 Peter 1:4): To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you. 1. To an inheritance.] Christ has not only redeemed us out of prison, but…

Christ's life, says Chrysostom, was brighter than the sunbeams. Let us be like him in this (1 Peter 1:16). Be holy in all manner of conversation.

Resp. By law, and by love: 1. He rules by law. It is one of the Iura Regalia, the flowers of the crown, to enact laws; Christ as King makes laws, and by his laws he rules: the law of faith, Believe in the Lord Jesus; the law of sanctity (1 Peter 1:15), Be holy in all manner of c…

Quest. From what does God call men? Resp. 1. From sin; he calls them from their ignorance and unbelief (1 Peter 1:14). By nature the understanding is enveloped with darkness, God calls men from darkness to light (Ephesians 5:8), as if one should be called out of a dungeon to beh…

Question 1. How many ways may a Christian be said to grow in grace? Response 1. He grows Vigore, in the exercise of grace; his lamps are burning and shining; therefore we read of a lively hope (1 Peter 1:3). Here is the activity of grace; the Church prays for the blowing of the…

In Deo quadam dulcedine delectatur anima immo rapitur; the love of God drops such infinite suavity into the soul as is unspeakable and full of glory. If there be so much delight in God, when we see him only by faith (1 Peter 1:8), what will the joy of vision be when we shall see…

The apostles seldom speak of the new creation, but they join some thankful praises with it. 1 Peter 1:3: Blessed be God, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a lively hope. Colossians 1:12: Giving thanks to the Father, who has made us meet for the inherit…

May you not set up your Ebenezer? God has kept your grace hitherto as a spark in the main ocean, and is not he able still to keep your grace, (1 Peter 1:5). We are kept by the power of God, etc.

We were all involved in guilt, none of us could plead, Not Guilty; and being guilty we lay under a sentence of death; now that the judge himself should find out a way to justify us, and the creditor himself contrive a way to have the debt paid, and not distress the debtor; this…

1 Peter 1:2. Grace to you, and peace be multiplied. Having spoken of the first fruit of sanctification, assurance, I proceed to the second, namely peace — peace be multiplied.

1 Peter 1:5. Who are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation. The fifth and last fruit of sanctification is perseverance in grace.

1 Peter 1:5. Who are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation. Use 1. See the excellency of grace, it perseveres: Other things are but [in non-Latin alphabet], for a season; health and riches are sweet, but they are but for a season, but grace is a blossom of eternity.

Or how should God wipe away the tears from their eyes in heaven, if on earth they shed none? Doubtless God sees there is need that his children should be sometimes in the House of Bondage (1 Peter 1:6). [reconstructed: in non-Latin alphabet], If need be, you are in heaviness.

Such as scoff at holiness shall be cast out of heaven. Use 2. of Exhortation: Is God so infinitely holy, then let us endeavor to imitate God in holiness (1 Peter 1:16): "Be holy for I am holy." There's a twofold holiness: a holiness of equality, and a holiness of similitude.

3. Nor could any angel in Heaven be the author of Scripture. Because 1. the angels pry and search into the abyss of gospel mysteries (1 Peter 1:12), which implies their nescience of some parts of Scripture; and sure they cannot be authors of that book which themselves do not ful…

He has a perfect idea of wisdom in himself: He knows the fittest means to bring about his own designs; the angels light at his lamp. In particular, this is one branch of his wisdom, that he knows what is best for us: An earthly parent knows not in some intricate cases how to adv…

Weeds grow of themselves, flowers are planted. Sanctification is a flower of the Spirit's planting, therefore it is called, the Sanctification of the Spirit (1 Peter 1:2). 2. Sanctification is an intrinsic thing; it lies chiefly in the heart.

In the creation there was but speaking a word (Psalm 148:5). In the redeeming us there was shedding of blood (1 Peter 1:18-19). The creation was the work of God's fingers (Psalm 8:3).

Only the pure in heart shall see God. Get your souls inlaid and enameled with holiness (1 Peter 1:16). It is not enough that we cease to do evil (which is all the evidence some have to show) — this is to lose heaven by short shooting; but we must be inwardly sanctified.

To have a chaste body, but an unclean soul, is like a fair face with bad lungs; or a gilt chimney-piece, that is all soot within. (1 Peter 1:16) Be you holy, for I am holy. The soul cannot be lovely to God, till it has Christ's image stamped upon it, which image consists in righ…

It is of divine inspiration (2 Timothy 3:16). The oracles of Scripture must be surer to us than a voice from heaven (1 Peter 1:18). Unbelief enervates the virtue of Scripture, and renders it ineffectual.

It is better, because it is surer; it is made in Christ, and cannot be reversed; Christ has engaged his strength to keep every believer. In the first covenant we had à posse stare, a power of standing: in the second we have à non posse cadere, an impossibility of falling finally…

(2.) Faith. Faith ends in salvation (1 Peter 1:9). Receiving the end of your faith, salvation.

We may as well quarrel with the works of creation, as the works of providence. 3. Consideration, which may make us humbly to submit to God's will is, that there is a necessity of affliction (1 Peter 1:6): (If need be) you are in grief. It is needful some things be kept in brine.

Saint Paul who had a vision of glory, and Saint John who was carried away in the Spirit, and saw the holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven, having the glory of God in it (Revelation 21:11), how did the world after appear in an eclipse to them. (2.) The meditation of the heaven…

1. That he offered himself a sacrifice to God, to make atonement for our sins, and that in his death and sufferings (Isaiah 53:10): "When you shall make his soul an offering for sin" (John 1:29): "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (Ephesians 5:2): "Chr…

Chap. 3:4. For every house is builded by some man, but he that built all things is God. 1 Pet. 1:11. Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signifie. Chap. 3:18, 19. But Christ also has once suffered for sinners, being put to death in t…

And hereby it came to pass that the obedience of Christ was of greater worth by far, than the obedience of all the world could have been, because he was a divine Person that did it. And from hence it came to pass that there was enough in it to merit for a great many, even a whol…

(2) John 20:21, 22, 23; Galatians 1:1; Ephesians 2:20; Revelation 21:14; Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5, 7. (3) Matthew 28:18, 19, 20; 2 Corinthians 11:28; Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 1:2; Colossians 4:17. (4) 1 Corinthians 12:28, 29, 30.

The first way is unlawful, and destructive both of the office and duty of a Pastor. For as Elders are ordained in, and to the Churches respectively that they are to take care of (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5), and their office power consists in a relation to the Church that they are se…

(2) 1 Timothy 3:5; Colossians 4:17; 2 Corinthians 10:4, 8. (3) 1 Timothy 4:11; Titus 2:15; 1 Peter 1:2, 3, 4, 5. Explication.

Q. But when was he manifested in the flesh? A. In respect of his manifestation in the flesh, he was given in the fullness of time in these latter days (1 Peter 1:20; Galatians 4:4; 1 Timothy 2:6). Q. What is the effect and benefit of his mediatorship?

Q. Do you mean then that a true believer can never totally nor finally fall away, but shall persevere in grace to the end? A. Yes, I mean so indeed; this perseverance of believers in the state of grace being plainly and plenteously taught in the holy Scriptures (1 Peter 1:5; Luk…

Q. What ought to be the life of them that are in Christ? A. A course of holy obedience, and service to God all the days of their life (Luke 1:74, 75; 1 Peter 1:14, 15, 16, 17; Titus 3:8; Ephesians 2:10). Q. What is the general rule of obedience?

Q. When were all these things decreed by God? A. Before the world was created, even from everlasting (1 Corinthians 2:7; Ephesians 1:4; 3:11; 1 Peter 1:20; 2 Timothy 1:9). Q. What was the cause of God's decrees?

First, this is certain: there is no grace God tries more than this grace of faith. Therefore in 1 Peter 1:7: 'You are in heaviness through manifold trials, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold which perishes though it is tried in the fire, might be…

God out of a temporary anger chastising them for a moment, as with a temporary favor he shines upon the other. That as they for a season rejoice in that light (John 5:35), so God's dearest children may be for a season in much heaviness (as the apostle speaks, 1 Peter 1:6) and wa…

But God's name and his Son's name, rested upon, will never fail you. Lean on these — not by halves in distress — but trust perfectly, as the apostle says (1 Peter 1:13), on that mercy you hear is in God, upon that grace revealed. That is: throw and cast your whole soul, your who…

If God uses his children thus, 'Curse God and die,' says Job's wife, as the foolish men and women of the world do. Fourth, pass your sojourning here in fear and serve him with fear (1 Peter 1:17), for 'even our God is a consuming fire' (Hebrews 12). Keep your heart in awe with t…

Though a Mother should forget her Child, yet he will not forget them, for he has graven them upon the palm of his hand (Isaiah 49:15-16). Therefore he will confirm them to the end (1 Corinthians 1:8), and by his power keep them to salvation (1 Peter 1:5). He will love them const…

Moreover he distinguishes the decree into two acts: foreknowledge, whereby he does acknowledge some men for his own, before the rest; and predestination, whereby he has determined from eternity to make them like to Christ. In like manner Peter teaches (1 Peter 1:2), where he say…

Where we see this end of temptation set down, To manifest the gift of patience wrought in the heart. And Saint Peter says to the Church of God, That they were in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of their faith being much more precious than gold that perishe…

Now, his will herein he brings thus to pass; All must be perfected in Christ: But he will not have Christ to come and suffer, till the fullness of time came, in these last days, Hebrews 1:2 (as the Apostle speaks) that the believers living in these last days, might have time of…

Secondly, the state of the Elect in heaven, is not only sure, but everlasting; that is, without end: Psalm 37:18. the Inheritance of holy men is perpetual: And therefore Saint Peter, 1 Peter 1:4, says, that the inheritance reserved in heaven for us is immortal, and not fading aw…

3. Let us consider the signification of the Passover. For the Paschal Lamb was a sign of Christ the true Lamb of God, shadowing out diverse things worthy our observation: as first the Lamb; for the Passover was to be a Lamb of a year old, without spot or blemish: which signified…

And that holds the Gospel faith: namely, that they believe in a crucified, dead, and risen Jesus (through whom they obtain remission of sins) whom God has exalted to be Lord, and Christ, namely eternal King, Priest, and Prophet, and head of the body of his Church (Ephesians 1:22…

And this should teach us with what diligence, with what reverence, with what subjection of soul, and resignation of our understandings to the will and wisdom of God, all divine revelations are to be inquired into. So dealt in this matter the holy men and prophets of old (1 Peter…

(2) The Lord Christ intercedes that this faith may never fail, or be utterly lost (John 17:8, 11, 15, &c.). (3) The power of God is engaged in the preservation of it (2 Peter 1:3; 1 Peter 1:5; Ephesians 1:19, 20). (4) The promises of the covenant are expressly multiplied to this…

The common course of reading the Scripture, nor the common help of expositors, who for the most part go in the same track, and scarce venture one step beyond those that are gone before them, will not suffice, if we intend a discovery of these hid treasures. This diligent search…