1 Peter 1:10

Of which salvation; either:

1. The more full and clear manifestation of salvation promised to be at the coming of Christ, when life and immortality should be brought to light through the gospel, 2Ti 1:10; and then this place is parallel to Luk 10:24; or:

2. The salvation of the dispersed Jews, i.e. their public conversion by the gospel, and eternal life following upon it; which (as well as the calling of the Gentiles) was reserved for the times and glory of the Messiah.

The prophets; viz. those under the Old Testament, out of whose writings the faith of New Testament believers is to be confirmed, Joh 5:39; Act 17:11; and whom this apostle therefore mentions, that he might strengthen the faith of the Christian Jews, by assuring them that the doctrine he had delivered to them was no new invention, but the very truth of God revealed of old to the prophets.

Have inquired and searched diligently; the words imply their vehement desire of knowing, as well as great diligence in seeking.

Who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: what he called salvation before, he calls grace here, to intimate their salvation to be merely of grace.

This grace revealed under the gospel, the prophets foretold, but in a more dark way; the Sun of righteousness not being yet risen, the shadows were not gone, and the light was but obscure.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

1Pe_1:10-12

Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently.

Salvation-the central subject of sturdy

I. The prophets as examples to us in the study of salvation.

1. The intensity of their study. The word here translated searched is used by classic authors to describe hounds scouring the country to discover their prey. We read the Bible more from idle frivolous curiosity than from a sincere deep-rooted wish to catch a view of the blessed Messiah moving in Divine stateliness through its histories and doctrines. Another striking similitude is suggested-that of anxious miners excavating for gold. Two young men catch the gold fever; despite the tearful entreaties of parents, they resolve to emigrate to Australia. The first morning after their arrival they rise earlier and with less difficulty than they ever did at home, shoulder their tools, and start eagerly for the much-coveted quarries. They dig, loosen a portion of the rock, pick up the stones. Observe how carefully they examine them to see if there be perceptible a slight golden tinge, just enough to feed hope; and if they discover a grain or two of gold, how the discovery cheers their hearts, nerves their arms, and transfigures their countenances! Similarly the holy men of the Jewish Church dug into the fields of Divine revelation, scanned verse after verse, dissected the sacrifices and analysed the prophecies, in order to possess a few grains of truth, a little refined gold.

2. The subject of their study-salvation. Not after which salvation, but of which, concerning which. This is one difference between heathen philosophers and Jewish prophets: the former inquired after salvation without finding it, whereas the latter possessed salvation to start with, and possessing it they had no need to search after it, but concerning it and into it. And our first concern should be to possess salvation, to be in a state of personal safety through faith in the Redeemer. Then we may at our leisure institute investigations concerning it and into it.

3. The noble spirit of resignation they evinced in presence of intellectual difficulties which they were not able to surmount. They inquired diligently; but they understood but little.

II. The apostles as examples to us in the proclamation of the gospel.

1. The subject matter of their ministry. The things now reported unto you-what things? The sufferings of Christ and the glory which should follow. These are the only things worthy of a Christian pulpit.

2. The manner of their preaching. The things reported. The things invented, devised, imagined? Oh no; the apostles were not inventors, but reporters; not poets, but historians; not philosophers, but witnesses. They were simply reporters, narrating, each one in his own way, the memorable events of that wonderful biography. And do they not furnish us with a much needed example?

3. The power which accompanied their preaching-with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Just as much electricity exists latent in the air on a serene, tranquil day as on a day of tempest when thunders roar and lightnings flash. What, then, is the difference? Not in the amount of electricity, but in the fact that in certain conditions of the atmosphere the electricity flashes into visibility, the latent fire bursts forth into flame. Similarly the Holy Spirit is as truly present in the Church today as in seasons of remarkable revivals, now as in the days of Whitfield, Wesley, and Rowlands. What is wanted is-for the Spirit to make His presence felt, for the Divine electricity to flash forth into lightnings. Pray for His manifestation; and then the weakest preacher among the tribes will be as the house of David, and the house of David as the angel of God.

III. The angels an example to us in the wonder and adoration that should fill our minds in the contemplation of this salvation.

1. What are the things here referred to? The answer is obvious-the same things which the prophets predicted and the apostles proclaimed. The burden of the study as of the song of these celestial beings is-the Lamb that was slain. And if redemption in its various phases receives the attention and homage of angels, is it not deserving of our devout and worshipful meditation?

2. Into these things the angels desire to look. The word, it is said, might be rendered a little differently into which things the angels desire to look, to look askance, to look one side as it were over the shoulder. What, then, is the idea? That salvation fronts not the angels, who consequently have to stretch the neck and look aside, as it were round the corners, to catch a glimpse of its glory. But so enraptured are they with the beauty they behold that they strive to see more and more, crowding into the churches to learn what they may of the manifold-many-coloured-wisdom of God. No; salvation does not front the angels, but it fairly and fully fronts the children of men. Shall we front it? What is our attitude towards it today? Have we our backs or our faces towards this salvation? His face is towards us; are our faces towards Him? (J. C. Jones, D. D.)

The gospel meridian

St. Peter here exalts the nature of that glorious reward which is to be the end of tried and purified faith-the salvation of the soul.

I. Unfulfilled desires. This is a world of desire. We all crave for something we have not got. We crave for possessions and we crave for knowledge.

1. Noblest desires are often unattained. It is not every one who seeks for selfish pleasure. What could have been a more noble aspiration than that of the prophets of old to realise the salvation of which they prophesied? They proclaimed a blessedness which, after diligent search, they discovered was not for themselves to enjoy. How often does God put a limit even to our highest aspirations! One has sought to gain a high knowledge of gospel truth; but his health has broken down. A missionary, in the full possession of manhood and strength, is murdered, and his work apparently crushed. It is the Lords doing, but it seems strange in our eyes.

2. Legitimate curiosity, when exerted, affords scant satisfaction. It might be in accordance with human nature to inquire particularly into the plans and purposes of God; but the prophets of old expended their curiosity in vain. There is little purpose in investigating too closely the hidden purposes of God. God expects us to do His work, and not to inquire very minutely into the motives or ends of that work.

II. Unenlightened instrumentalities. The prophets had to inquire respecting the salvation. We have here brought before us one of the mysteries connected with Divine work.

1. Gods instrumentalities are not perfect, it is not necessary that they should be so. The world expects the ministers of the gospel to explain all Gods purposes, all the Divine plans, and to lay bare the whole current of future events. But even the prophets of old were not altogether wise.

2. Gods instrumentalities do not always possess that which they announce to others.

III. Unappreciated attainment. It is evident that the apostle introduces the desire of the prophets and the desire of the angels to realise the mysteries of revelation, not out of mere aimless illustration, but to remind his people of the little interest they felt, and at the same time to arouse in them a spirit of emulation. But how do we act with regard to them? Do we sell all that we have in order to make them ours? Do we sacrifice every thing else to enjoy them? Alas! the characters, and energy, and desire, and love of those who only had a shadow of good things to come ought to cause us to lie low with shame, and to pray for the stirring influence of the Holy Spirit to prick our thankless and unappreciative souls. (J. J. S. Bird.)

The value of the Old Testament

1. Let me caution you against the ignorant frivolity which, professing to reverence the Scriptures of the New Testament, speaks slightingly of those of the Old. As well may you sever the light of the meridian from its dawn; or, cutting a sunbeam in two, retain only the nearer portion.

2. Another popular conceit of our day is, that there is but little use in studying the prophetic Word of God, or, at least, beyond what lies on the surface. This, you perceive, was not the temper of the prophets: They diligently inquired and searched. Into these things angels long to gaze.

3. If such be the interest felt by all that is wisest and holiest in earth and heaven, in whatever concerns the redemption of man, alas for those to whom this great salvation itself is offered, and who yet choose to live and die in the neglect of it!

4. Let the afflicted children of God take comfort from the consideration of what was foretold, and has been fulfilled, in regard to Gods own Well-Beloved, the Author and Finisher of their faith, to whose image it is Gods purpose, and the dearest ambition of their hearts, that they shall be in all things conformed. (J. Lillie, D. D.)

The Bible as a grand moral painting

I. The extraordinary subject. What is the subject? The sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. Open this Book, spread out its pages, and what have you? A wide-spread canvas, on which is displayed this one great subject in every hue and form. This picture is divided into two parts. At one end you have the sufferings of Christ; at the other end the glory arising out of these sufferings. The side on which the sufferings are depicted is full of incident, yet in dark shade. There you see the Babe. In one part, you see Him lying in a manger; in another, in the temple undergoing the painful rite of circumcision; and in another, in the arms of His affrighted mother fleeing into Egypt. But on the other end of the picture you have a striking contrast. Here is the glory that follows. Here you see Him rising from the grave as the conqueror of death, the Prince of Life, and ascending to heaven amidst the rapturous shouts of an exulting creation. What glory will rise out of these sufferings! What new manifestations of God! What new motives to virtue! What new thrills of joy! Amongst the lessons which this extraordinary picture suggests we may mention three:-

1. The malignant animus of sin. What produced these sufferings of Christ that you see depicted here? Sin.

2. The benign tendency of the Divine government. Glory comes out of these sufferings; good is educed from evil. This is Gods work. As out of sin comes suffering, out of suffering shall come glory.

3. The issue of suffering virtue. The sufferings of Christ were the sufferings of virtue; and they issued in glory. And so it will ever be. Goodness, however persecuted and afflicted, shall yet ascend the throne.

II. The distinguished artists. Who are the men that drew this wonderful picture? The text speaks of two classes; The prophets who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you; and the apostles who reported. The prophets drew the dim and shadowy outline. The other class of artists are the apostles. The things concerning Christ which the prophets did minister, the apostles reported; they reported them when they preached the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. The apostles, as artists, had an advantage over the prophets: they had those outlines of our Saviours history which the old prophets had drawn. And they had in connection with this, the living subject, Christ. He had appeared amongst them, they had seen Him, and talked with Him. They therefore tilled up the outlines of the picture which the old prophets had drawn.

III. The inspiring genius. All real art implies genius. Genius to conceive the true and to embody it-creative and executive genius. Who was the inspiring genius of this painting? Peter tells us that in the prophets case it was the Spirit of Christ that was in them; and in the apostles case, the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. This appears clear from the very nature of the work. Before a being can draw a correct picture of another he must have two things-a correct image of the subject in his own mind, and the proper skill correctly to transfer that image to the canvas.

1. The character of the subject. How did the prophets and apostles get a conception of Him whom they here depict?-a character so thoroughly unique, so entirely adverse to a priori impression and observation too! The highest virtue associated with the greatest suffering; the most despised man in personal connection with God. Things so contrary meeting in the same one life, render the idea of man creating such a history out of his own imagination all but absurd. The Spirit of Christ, within them, gave them an image of some strange personage, but they knew not of whom.

2. The method of execution. A man may form a correct image of a person, and yet lack the artistic skill to transfer it to the canvas. The execution of the subject is, indeed, as unique as the conception. All mere human art is labour; effort is seen in every touch. But these men, in a few simple words about what they saw and heard, present the hero life-like in every point. The Spirit of Christ that was in them, not only drew to their imagination the manifold aspect of His own being, but guided their pencil in every line, to portray the same. In human productions, both in literature and art, the author generally appears, and some times is offensively prominent. But not so here.

IV. The illustrious spectators. Into which things the angels desire to look. But why should they be so interested in it?

1. Because it is suited to excite their intellectual natures. Anything extraordinary has a power to rouse the inquiring faculty.

2. Because it is suited to excite their religious natures. To a devout spirit nothing is more interesting or attractive than a manifestation of God.

3. Because it is suited to excite their benevolent natures.

V. The glorious purpose.

1. Look at the universality of the purpose. Not for themselves, but unto us they did minister these things.

2. Look at the blessedness of the purpose. Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The study of salvation

I. First, that the doctrine of salvation of Gods people is a subject able to fill the contemplation of the divinest and wisest men. The prophets have a subject able to fill them; yea, more than they are able to conceive of to the full, which may serve for two uses. First, for humiliation, that we should be so barren-hearted and able to conceive so little of so Divine a subject. Secondly, for singular consolation to the godly. For by this it appeareth that they have an admirable portion in that such worthy men so much admire it.

II. Secondly, that as any have more grace, so they are more heartily affected with the estimation and desire after the salvation of Gods elect. Certainly, so long as we can admire anything more than the grace of God to His people, our hearts are void of grace.

III. Thirdly, that when we go about anything that concerns salvation, especially our own salvation, we should here learn of the prophets to do it with all diligence. There are three sorts of men Satan doth in the Church bewitch.

1. The first are they that will take no pains at all, nor trouble themselves to study about their religion and what belongs to their souls.

2. The second are they that, though they will study diligently, yet it is in by-studies, as matters of controversy, or the general knowledge of religion, or matter that may fit them for discourse, or the like.

3. Now a third sort there are that will not be drawn aside from the needfulest studies, as repentance, assurance, order of life, etc., but their fault is that they study not these diligently. For they soon give over and finish not their works either of mortification, or sanctification, or illumination, or preparation for salvation. (N. Byfield.)

Salvation explored

I. The party of explorers.

1. Who they were-the prophets.

2. Divinely commissioned. The Lord of Hosts hath spoken it.

3. Divinely guided. What manner of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify.

II. The ground explored. Salvation.

1. The limits of the field. So great salvation. Eternal salvation.

2. The nature and object of their labours. Who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you.

III. The spirit in which the exploration was conducted.

1. A longing to discover salvation.

2. Mental activity. Searched, etc.

3. The work was continuous. Diligently.

4. Scrutiny. Searching what, and what manner of time, etc.

IV. The meritorious centre of this explored salvation. The sufferings of Christ.

1. It centres itself in a person.

2. In a Divine person.

3. In a suffering person.

V. Their explorations carried the prophets to the grand reward of Christs sufferings. And the glory that should follow. (John Edwards.)

The Scriptures sufficient for salvation

A worthy sufferer of the name of Hawkes was under examination before one of Bonners chaplains, of whom he ventured to inquire, Is not the Scripture sufficient for my salvation? Yes, replied the chaplain; it is sufficient for our salvation, but not for our instruction. Well, then, rejoined the honest but quaint martyr, God send me salvation, and take you the instruction.

Searching what … the Spirit of Christ … did signify-

The Spirit of Christ and the prophets

The testimony of the Spirit in the prophets was-

I. To Christ Jesus. While the world sinned and slept, Infinite Love prepared its Saviour.

II. To the sufferings of Christ. The theme of all Spirit-taught ministers.

III. To the glory that should follow (R.V., glories). Christs glories are-

1. The well-earned reward of His griefs.

2. The majestic and fitting con summation of His mediatorial course; incomparable in its humiliation; peerless in its purity; and merging into the splendour of the final glory.

3. They mark the full approbation and delight in Him of the Eternal Father, sealing redemption with sublime approval.

4. They are the consolation of God, angels, and men. We never could have forgiven the Cross if the crown had not followed.

5. The Illuminated Gateway of the saints eternity. With Me where I am, that they may behold My glory.

6. A blessed counterpart to His sorrows. Sufferings balanced with glories. For sin and curse, mediatorial holiness upon essential holiness.

7. They followed and forever follow. When Calvary shall be seen far back like a distant ruddy star, the glory shall still spread around and onward, a measure less sea of brightness. (W. B. Haynes.)

Testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ.

The sufferings of Christ

I. The sufferings of Christ.

1. The person that suffered was God, and also man.

2. The nature and extent of His sufferings. Corporeal and mental.

3. The persons for whom the sufferings of Christ were endured.

4. The design for which Christ suffered. That He might finish transgression, and make an end of sin.

II. The glory that should follow. (The Congregational Pulpit.)

The glory that should follow.-

Three degrees of Christs glory

1. His resurrection.

2. His ascension.

3. He shall one day come unto judgment, and bring all His servants to His glory. (John Rogers.)

Through afflictions believers come to glory

But how shall we come to glory? Even by the same way that our Head hath gone before us, by sufferings. It follows-

1. That afflictions or persecutions are no ill sign, but rather of the way to heaven and glory; it should encourage us to suffer, seeing glory follows; and a great reward ensues thereupon.

2. That those who will suffer no affliction nor persecution for Christ and the gospel, but shifting themselves therefrom, aim at the glory of the world, are not in the way to glory, but shame hereafter will be their portion. (John Rogers.)

Not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister.-

Unselfish ministry

Such is the Divine interpretation of the prophets work. Their ministry was not for themselves, but for a later age. They must bear the burden of perplexity and disappointment, of hope deferred and doubts unresolved, in the sure confidence that others would enter into their labours. And, indeed, such confidence brings all the light which we need for courageous endurance. The crown of service is to know that the service, barren, perhaps, for the moment, will bear fruit in after time. Thus the words of the apostle are a voice of encouragement to all who catch a distant and interrupted vision of the later fulfilment of Gods will. Not unto themselves, but unto you this is the judgment which history addresses to us in recording the toils and aims of those to whom we owe our splendid inheritance in our national Church. They gave their best in thought and deed to the cause of God, and left the using to His wisdom. Now I wish to speak of our debt to the future. For, as we contemplate our gathered treasures, we cannot but ask to what use we shall put them, and so we pass on to the wider question of the office which we are called to fulfil for our children. The progress of human life imposes the duty of large forethought on each such succeeding generation with ever-increasing force. Thought advances with accelerated motion. We may check or we may further the expression of the vital energy. We may, by wilful and impatient self-assertion, delay the end which even in our ignorance we desire; or we may by wise humility become in perfect devotion fellow workers with God. Under this aspect the work of the Church is prophetic. Its ministers are set to provide that under every change of circumstances the Divine idea of life shall be presented in confortuity with the circumstances under which it must be realised; to watch with dispassionate regard the currents of popular thought that they may prepare a natural welcome for fresh voices of the spirit; to guard, to develop that which in the Divine order will be the ruling idea of the next generation.

1. There is, I say, already among us a final perception of the unity of creation which it will be the health of our children to realise-a unity in Christ. Many of us have watched from the beginning the progress of the physical conceptions of the conservation and transformation of energy. We have apprehended with increasing clearness that nothing in the universe is isolated, and that we ourselves enter into all of which we are conscious.

2. There is again among us a growing acknowledgment of the unity of society which it will be the strength of our children to realise-a unity in Christ. Every one speaks of the present tendency towards democracy. The idea of democracy is not, if we look below the surface, so much a form of government as a confession of human brotherhood. It is the confession of common duties, common aims, common responsibilities.

3. There is yet more among us a feeling after a unity of humanity, a vaster, fuller, enduring human life, which it will be the joy of our children to realise-a unity in Christ. Such thoughts as these of an unrealised unity felt to be attainable, felt to correspond with the idea of creation given back to us in redemption, answer to the spirit of the age. They are in the air. They foreshow, that is, the truths which in the fulfilment of the Divine order are offered to us by the Holy Spirit. It is for the Church in the fulfilment of its prophetic office, even with imperfect and troubled knowledge, to welcome them, to give them shape, and to transmit them to the next age for the guidance and inspiration of its work. The truths lie, as I have said, in the gospel of the Incarnation. The urgent problems, the very dangers which rise before us, disclose in the central fact of all life-the Word became flesh-new depths of wisdom and consolation. We do not yet know the end-we have no power to know it-but we know the way-even Christ, who is able to subdue all things unto Himself. In that Presence we confess that the world is not a factory, or a warehouse, or a paradise of delights, but a sanctuary in which Gods glory can be recognised and His voice still heard. But in spite of every burden of toil, of ignorance, of weariness, of suffering laid on sinful man, it is a sanctuary, full of the glory of God, in which each believer offers the worship of life and the sacrifice of his whole being. This light, this larger significance of things, this heavenly splendour of earth, this sense of opportunity, is even now borne in upon us on many sides, and it is the prophetic office of the Church to discern the signs of the fresh dayspring from on high, and prepare her sons to use the lessons of the new order. (Bp. Westcott.)

Living for future generations

Sometimes in worldly things this thought of living for a future generation comes with startling effect upon a worldly man. What am I toiling and moiling for? I shall soon be dead and gone, and these houses, lands, estates, debentures, shares, what not, will be for others! Even in this there may be some far off touch of the Divine; for such men sometimes live in this respect unselfish lives-not for them the enjoyment of those soft luxuries they are gathering about them, but for their children and childrens children. Not to themselves they minister-and so far we say there may be some soul of good even in this; only let us all remember that the best heritage we can ever leave to our children is that of a wise, pious, charitable example. (T. C. Finlayson.)

Unselfish ministries self-remunerative

The true preachers of the gospel, though their ministerial gifts are for the use of others, yet that salvation they preach they lay hold on and partake of themselves, as your boxes wherein perfumes are kept for garments and other uses, are themselves perfumed by keeping them! (T. Leighton.)

Which things the angels desire to look into.-

The doctrine of salvation, the study of angels

I. The nature of the truth affirmed.

1. The object of inquiry is-salvation and its concomitants: a salvation which consists in deliverance from condemnation, from the love and power of sin, and in restoration to peace and happiness; a salvation revealed in the Scriptures; a salvation the subject of prophecy; a salvation which, both in respect to its nature and the time of its accomplishment, engaged the most serious attention of the prophets; a salvation which rests, not on the merit or power of many, but on the grace of God; a salvation effected by the sufferings, death, and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. The persons engaged in this inquiry. The angels do not partake of body, nor organic eye, nor ear, nor other sense, yet they have powers equivalent to these faculties, even increased and extended; for they are represented as knowing the interior as well as the surface of things. They are as powerful as they are wise. They have been corrupted by no apostasy from God. They are true, just, benevolent, devout, they glorify God, and thereby completely answer the ends of their creation. They are, at the same time, as happy as they are good; they feel no pain, know no want; their perceptions are all pleasant, thoughts all elevated, employments all dignified.

3. The manner in which they conduct this inquiry. They desire to look into them. Looking is a species or modification of seeing. It implies seeing, but it includes more. In seeing, the mind is often in a considerable degree passive; an object is brought before the eye, and it must be seen, although it may not be considered or attended to. In looking, the mind is not only active, but it puts forth all its powers with energy. The object is not brought to it, but it is sought for; and when it is found the eye is directed towards it, and kept fixed upon it, to the exclusion of other objects. When we speak of seeing, as applied to the mind, it means apprehension or discovery. Nothing is so laborious and fatiguing to the mind as fixed, intense thought; and very great must be the importance or charms of an object which can engage it. But such is the importance and such are the charms of the things of salvation to angels, that they not only bend their capacious minds to this subject, and prosecute it with fixed, intense, and eager thought, but they consider it as an object of pleasure; for they not only look, but they desire to look into the things which pertain to salvation.

II. The credibility of this truth. It naturally excites surprise when we are told that angels, who have no immediate connection with salvation, should leave their native employments to investigate it with so much earnestness and solicitude. This, however, upon reflection, will be found to be a fact as reasonable as it is true.

1. The things which pertain to salvation form an object the contemplation of which is peculiarly adapted to the capacities of angels. In the salvation of Christ there is a new revelation of God; a new display of Divine character and attributes; not to be discovered in any other thing or in any other way within the whole compass of the universe of God. An object so completely adapted to the talents and to the duties of angels imposes obligations upon them to inquire into its nature and properties, which without blame, they could not neglect.

2. The things which pertain to salvation form an object which is peculiarly calculated to attract the notice of angels. They, in visiting, age after age, the utmost bounds of the creation of God, must have seen mighty wonders unknown to man; yet, after all, there is something, if I may so express myself, in the nature and texture, in the magnitude and utility of salvation, which has not its equal in the whole universe of God. It is this, therefore, that justly attracts their notice, and leads them to bend their mighty minds to the investigation of a subject so singularly astonishing.

3. The things which pertain to salvation form an object the knowledge of which will be highly beneficial to angels. It reveals to them new attributes, and discovers new glories in the Divine character; it increases their piety and devotion; it will afford them new employments, and add to their usefulness; it will enable them to discharge better the duties of their high office of ministering to the heirs of salvation; and it will give them a sweeter voice and a loftier tone in performing the heavenly song, which ascribes blessing and power and dominion to Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb forever and ever.

4. The things which pertain unto salvation form an object in attending to which angels serve God. When angels trace in salvation evidences of wisdom, power, and glory, far superior to those which appear in the other works of God; when they admire the wonderful events of the incarnation, atonement, and redemption, these new things which have happened in the earth, their reverence and love towards the Divine Being are thereby increased; they render homage to the Son of God; and, in so doing, they obey the commandment which God hath given; for when He brought His First Begotten into the world, He said, Let all the angels of God worship Him; and thus they serve Him with increasing diligence and zeal.

III. The utility of this truth.

1. It is calculated to rescue the doctrine of salvation from unworthy treatment, Yes! angels are captivated by the doctrines of salvation which men presume to neglect.

2. It should give the doctrine of salvation dignity in the eyes of men.

3. It indicates the manner in which the doctrine of salvation should be studied.

4. It should encourage perseverance in endeavouring to attain the knowledge of the doctrine of salvation.

5. The greatness of the privileges of those to whom the knowledge of salvation is offered. Jesus Christ is emphatically styled in the Scriptures the unspeakable gift of God; and surely to attain the knowledge of salvation through Him, must be the most important privilege that possibly can be enjoyed. (J. C. Jones. D. D.)

Redemption, a study to the angels

It cannot but be deemed remarkable that we should be so isolated from the rest of the universe. Here are millions of orbs brought within the range of our vision by the telescope. We cannot doubt that they are the abodes of rational creatures. Yet of the races that tenant these countless worlds we know absolutely nothing. One race only besides our own is introduced to us: and of that, the notices are quite too meagre to satisfy us. We see just enough of the angels to wish to see a great deal more. We desire to look into their affairs, as they into ours. We are on safe ground in ascribing to them superior intelligence and ample knowledge. But the knowledge of a creature, whatever his rank, must necessarily be progressive. The angels, like ourselves, must learn things by the event-excepting when God may have been pleased to reveal His purposes to them. But, except through some special revelation, of which we have no hint, it was impossible they should foresee the extraordinary transactions which were to distinguish this orb from all the others scattered through the wide fields of space. From the very first, however, the Divine procedure on this planet would arrest their attention. How would it astonish them to witness the temptation. They had seen Satan and his fellow apostates cast down to hell: and yet he is now permitted to come to this newborn world, and to appropriate one of the lower animals to the atrocious purpose of seducing the happy pair from their allegiance. Is it fanciful to imagine that this event would fill the angels with amazement? that they would say one to another, How can these things be? But something no less inexplicable would now inflame their curiosity. They had heard the threatening, In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. It came from lips which could not lie. And yet Adam and Eve do not die,-i.e., they do not, on their transgression, return to the dust, nor are they banished into outer darkness. Whether this was intelligible to them we do not know. The fall occurred before the birth of Cain. We are not certain that the angels had ever seen an infant. Among their own race we may with confidence affirm they had not. The difference between our race and their own, in this particular, could not fail to interest them. They were all created in the full maturity of their powers. In some way the seed of this woman is to bruise the serpents head. Obscure as this intimation must have been, as well to the angels as to the guilty pair, it would unveil to them a new attribute of the Godhead. Up to this period, it would seem, they had known nothing of the Divine mercy. Its absence could be no defect in their eyes, for the idea of mercy was not yet born into the universe of creatures. What a discovery was this which now broke upon them! Truth, justice, goodness, holiness-with these attributes they were familiar. But of mercy they had never heard. Enfolded in the depths of His own infinitude, she had been from eternity awaiting the appointed day of her epiphany, her glorious manifestation to heaven and earth get even now that the period has come, she does not rise full-orbed upon the world, but mild and gentle, like the dawn, as befits the quality of mercy. But this shall suffice for angelic eyes. Though mercy never spake before, she needs no interpreter. These occurrences could not fail to stimulate the curiosity of the angels. They would watch with deep solicitude the course of the Divine administration towards our world. They would treasure every fresh intimation of the future deliverance to be effected by the seed of the woman. The presumption is, that during those forty centuries it was a perpetual study to them; and that as the beneficent scheme was gradually developed, it only increased their desire to look into its unfathomable mysteries.

1. The first and chief of these is, to quote St. Pears own words, the sufferings of Christ: by which we may understand His entire work of humiliation from Bethlehem to Calvary. We must believe that the angels knew, long before the advent, that the Second Person of the Trinity was to be the Redeemer of the world. But it is not certain that they had any distinct conception of the Incarnation. Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh. How could they have penetrated this mystery beforehand? There was neither precedent nor analogy to aid them in resolving it. Accustomed as they were to render co-equal honours to the Trinity, and especially to adore the Son in the possession of the glory which He had with the Father before the world was, how could they think of Him as stooping to be born of a woman, as coming into this revolted world as an infant, blending His Divinity and our humanity in an indissoluble unity? Imagine what a season of suspense those thirty years must have been to them which Jesus passed at Nazareth. How often would they visit the favoured village. In what vast encampments would they spread around it. As He emerged from His seclusion to enter upon His public ministry, their interest would become deeper and deeper still, until it found its culmination in the Cross.

2. Not only would the angels desire to look into the sufferings of Christ, but into the application of redemption also. They were familiar with two types of character, perfect holiness and unmitigated depravity; and with two conditions of being, unalloyed happiness and absolute misery. Neither their own history nor, so far as we are informed, the annals of any other sphere supplied them with any example of a character in which these elements were commingled, or afforded any hint of a possible transition from one state to the other. They knew nothing of forgiveness, nothing of renewal. The sacrifice on Calvary now opens to them a new world, on earth as well as in heaven. They had, indeed, seen something of this before, for the efficacy of the great expiation reached backward to the fall. But its triumph was reserved for the new dispensation. And here they see His miracles of mercy-not less marvellous in their effects upon the souls of men than had been those of the Messiah upon their bodies. There must be much in the history of individual believers to awaken their sympathies, but still more in the general welfare of the Church. We may be sure that things have not always gone as they expected: that events have constantly occurred which were well nigh as inexplicable to them as to us. Must it not be a marvel to them that the Church, the purchase of Christs blood, should have made its way so slowly and so painfully in the world? that at one time it should be poisoned With error; at another, frozen with formalism; at a third, debauched with secularity; at a fourth, fissured and rent with internal strife?

3. Here, in fact, is another of the themes which stimulate the curiosity of the angels, the glories which should follow. They have seen the sufferings of Christ: they would fain see His glory. They have seen-they see now-the sufferings of His Church: they would see its glory. They can, no doubt, frame a better conception of them than we can. And this very circumstance must increase their solicitude to witness the final result. They saw the first faint lineament of the august plan in Eden. They see also the preparation for it which is going on in heaven. No wonder that they long for its sublime consummation. If we inquire whence this curiosity on their part, we may easily conjecture some of the motives which prompt it.

(1) Without dwelling upon that simple craving after knowledge which pertains to every created intelligence, we may refer to the aid which the angels derive from redemption in their study of the character and government of God. To any creature the knowledge of the Creator is the most important of all knowledge. To holy beings, no study can be so attractive. The angels, as already observed, have signal advantages for this study. But there is no volume open to them which yields so much information concerning God as redemption. Heaven cannot lack for evidences of the Divine wisdom; but if it would see this attribute in its glory, it must come down to earth. Its grand achievement is redemption. And what we affirm of His wisdom we claim also for His other moral attributes. Here mercy and truth meet together, righteousness and peace kiss each other. Nowhere else has the Deity made so full, so august, so grateful, a revelation of Himself.

(2) A second reason is to be found in their personal concern in the results of redemption. It is an opinion sanctioned by many eminent names in theology, that the good angels owe their confirmation in holiness in some way to the mediation of Christ. We read, e.g., of the elect angels. We are told that God gathers together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him. And that all power is given Him in heaven and in earth. There is another respect in which they are interested in this work. In the revolt of their associates, they become no less their enemies than the enemies of God. In all the plots and counterplots, the assaults and repulses, the victories and defeats, of this war of centuries, they have taken a conspicuous part. Their immediate personal concern in it, then, is a cogent reason why they should desire to look into the mystery which infolds it.

(3) And this imports that their own happiness is involved in the issue. Merely to glance at this point, the benevolence of the angels must attract them to the study of redemption. They know what the happiness of heaven is. Here is a race whose destiny is undecided, the only race which is in this anomalous condition. Whatever the issue, it must be irreversible. The fate of millions of souls hangs upon the trembling balance. Is it for an angel to look upon such a scene with indifference?

Reflections-

1. Let us borrow from this scripture a single ray of light to set forth the quality of that scepticism which men of cultivated minds sometimes cherish respecting Christianity. Now, as of old, the gospel is to the Jew a stumbling block and to the Greek foolishness. You stigmatise it as not only oppressive in its demands, but even irrational in its principles. Go to the angels for a lesson of humility.

2. There is a keen rebuke in this scripture for those who are living in the neglect of the gospel. (H. A. Boardman, D. D.)

Salvation-mysterious and glorious

I. Mysterious, and therefore a subject of angelic study.

1. From its novelty.

2. From the moral character of the race to be redeemed.

3. From the manner of its accomplishment.

4. From the mode of its promulgation.

5. From the manner in which the tidings of this salvation, even when preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, are received by the children of men.

II. Infinitely glorious.

1. In its exhibition of the Divine character.

2. In its transforming efficacy.

3. In its diffusive nature.

4. In the freeness with which its blessings are offered.

(1) To all indiscriminately.

(2) In perfect sincerity.

(3) On terms easy, and within the reach of every individual.

5. In the perpetuity and fulness of its blessings. (James Floy, M. A.)

The angels attitude towards the redemptive plan

I. Close attention.

II. Deep amazement.

III. Warm admiration.

IV. High delight. (A. Roberts, M. A.)

Redemption the subject of admiration to the angels

I. First, we are to mention those circumstances in the mystery of redemption which are probably the subject of adoring inquiry, or perhaps holy astonishment, to the angels of God.

1. The first thing I shall mention is the Incarnation of the Son of God; the union of the Divine and human nature, by the Words being made flesh. It is probable that this discovery was made to the angels gradually, as it was to men. There is one circumstance in the Incarnation itself, which is certainly as astonishing as any, That He was not only made flesh, but sent in the likeness of sinful flesh. What so opposite to the nature of God as sin? And what so surprising, as that the Son of God, though without sin, yet should in all respects outwardly be like to sinners? that He should be taken for a sinner, treated as a sinner, and at last crucified as more than ordinary sinner?

2. Another circumstance which must afford matter for adoring inquiry to the celestial spirits, is the substitution of an innocent person in the room of the guilty, and His suffering from the hand of God. The angels had always hitherto seen innocence and holiness attended with peace and felicity, and they had seen the apostate spirits laid under an irreversible sentence of condemnation. What astonishment, then, must it have given them, what new views of the boundless sovereignty and unsearchable wisdom of the Most High must it have opened to them, when they heard Him saying, Deliver him from going down into the pit, I have found a ransom! How often must they have been put to a stand, what to think of the severity and persecution, the contempt and opposition which Christ met with from those very sinners whom He came to save! But above all, how must they have been at a loss to comprehend His being exposed, not only to the contempt of man, but to the wrath of God! For it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, He hath put Him to grief.

3. Another circumstance in the plan of redemption through Christ, which will afford matter of wonder to the celestial spirits, is the free justification of sinners, and their acceptance with God, through the imputed righteousness of Christ. Must not this appear a new and extraordinary plan to the angels, who, by personal and perfect obedience, retain the favour of their Creator, and who had been hitherto strangers to the influence and intercession of a mediator? who had seen no such thing take place when their brethren sinned (Heb_2:16). The holy angels will rather say, Let us step aside and see this great sight. They will then see that there is no way more proper for maintaining the dignity of the Divine Government; nay, that it is the only way by which those who have been sinners can be received into favour. They will see and confess that there is no circumstance whatever that tends more to level the pride of the sinners heart, and bring him to universal submission, and absolute subjection to the sovereignty of God.

4. Another circumstance in the mystery of the gospel which will be matter of wonder to the angels, is the application of redemption, or the manner and means of translating sinners from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.

II. Practical improvement.

1. What you have heard will contribute, I hope, to show the guilt of those who despise the gospel, and serve to remove the offence of the Cross.

2. You may learn from what has been said the encouragement that is given to sinners to return to God through Christ.

3. From what hath been said upon this subject, you may examine your title to partake of the holy ordinance of the Lords Supper; or, in other words, your right to the favour of God and to eternal life. No disposition more suitable, none more necessary at a communion table than a grateful and admiring sense of redeeming love;

4. From what has been said, learn what is your most proper employment at the Lords table. Adore and contemplate the riches of redeeming grace, that great theme which the angels desire to look into. (J. Witherspoon, D. D.)

Angels, students in the mysteries of redemption

I. What those things are which the angels look into. They must of necessity be the things which the apostle had been speaking of, especially in the three preceding verses: the things of Christ.

1. The Incarnation of Christ, or His coming into this world (1Ti_3:16)

2. The life of Christ. That perfect pattern of all that was excellent is often before their eyes.

3. The death of Christ. The love of it, in His dying for sinful man, must be to them subject of perpetual wonder and praise.

4. The doctrines of Christ. His admirable lessons of piety and virtue; His wise precepts and instructions; His wonderful revelations of the Divine will must be highly entertaining to them (Rev_14:6).

5. The promises of Christ.

II. The manner in which the angels look into these things.

1. With wonder.

2. With the closest attention.

3. With reverence.

4. With delight.

5. With praise.

III. The proof or reason of their doing so.

1. The angels being employed so much about these things, seems to show that they desire to look into them.

2. These things concern angels as well as men. God is their Father as well as ours, and the portion of both.

3. God is glorified in and by these things. Their work is to glorify Him (Rev_7:11; Psa_148:2).

4. They are for the highest good of man, and therefore the angels desire to look into them. They have a generous concern for our welfare.

5. The subject matter of these things is such, as that the angels must needs desire to look into them. Never were greater things than those which Christ has revealed to us.

Application:

1. Since the angels look into these things, do you look more into them?

2. Since the angels look into these things, do you put a higher value upon them?

3. Since the angels look into these things, see that you have a saving interest in them, otherwise the angels that look into them will witness against you. (T. Hannam.)

The angelic sturdy of redemption

In order to ascertain what Peter means by the phrase which things, we must look back to the antecedent context. It is plain, therefore, that the matters of angelic solicitude here referred to, are just the same as those of prophetic study; that is to say, the salvation of the gospel; or, as it is more minutely described in the eleventh verse, the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. The text farther declares in what manner the angels study these subjects. In the holy of holies, the most secret shrine of the Jewish temple, stood the ark of the covenant, an apparatus in whose interior was deposited the canon of the Mosaic law, the blessings and the curses, the promises and the threatenings, of Gods most holy word. Over the top of this ark was laid a covering or lid of massive gold, which was denominated the Mercy seat. It was a symbol of our Saviours propitiation. Now, above the mercy seat were figures of cherubim, whose expanded wings overshadowed its circumferences, and whose many faces were all bent down in silent gaze upon the emblems underneath. They looked down, in the attitude of eager gladness and adoring wonder, upon the interposing medium which annihilated the presence and the power of the law. These cherubim, as the prophecies clearly show, represent the heavenly angels; and therefore we have here found, in the typical emblems of the Jewish economy, a literal picture of the doctrine of the apostle, that the pure spirits of the upper world bend down, in the attitude of learners, to explore the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. But once more our text indicates not merely the posture but the spirit with which the angels engage in this contemplation. They desire to look into it. They are anxious, warm, eager, ardent in the matter. Their hearts, as well as their eyes, are bent on it; and, with intent, assiduous, and persevering zeal, they devote themselves to scrutinise it in all its depth, though it is unfathomable, and in all its extent, though it is limitless.

I. We remark that the angels desire to look into the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that shall follow, not by any means in consequence of ignorance in reference to the grand facts of the scheme of redemption. When Adam was expelled from Paradise, and an angel stationed at its gate to deter the guilty rebel from ever approaching the place whose sanctity he had profaned, we may imagine that that angel was aware of the hopes and consolations sealed up in the great promise, and knew man was not accursed forever. Angels visited in his tent the Father of the faithful, and knew that unto his off spring God had promised eternal blessings. Choirs of angels welcomed the incarnation of the Lord with strains of heavenly music. Doubtless, these blessed spirits knew the subject of which they sang so sweetly. Heavens heralds knew they were greeting the human nature of Heavens eternal King. However, it is proper to take notice of a text, which, at first sight, will rather appear to demonstrate that the angels are not deeply versed in the matters of fact connected with the redemption of Christ (Eph_3:9-10). But this passage by no means implies that it is the Church alone which enlightens the heavenly host in the glorious dispensation of the Gospel of Christ. The assertion of the passage is not that the heavenly host were in ignorance of that subject till the Church instructed them, but that they never learned the subject through the Church till the Church received, and professed, and obeyed the truth. The angels knew the mystery of redemption before the apostles went forth on the theatre of the world to preach salvation to every creature. But it was not till, from their lofty dwelling place in heaven, they saw the Gentile and the Jew alike being gathered into one fold of the one great Shepherd, that they knew, by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God.

II. We remark that the angels desire to look into the sufferings and glory of Christ, because there they obtain the brightest display of the divine perfections.

III. The angels desire to look into the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, because the eternal interests of mankind depend on these things, and because these eternal interests are at stake. When we analyse the motive which impels the angels to look into the mystery of redemption, it resolves itself not only into a reverential desire of studying the Divine perfections, but also into an anxious concern for the salvation of sinners. This concern is itself twofold, depending partly on the desire of the angels to see Christ glorified in the salvation of sinners, and partly on the benevolent affection of the angels to these sinners, whom they see in such imminent danger of everlasting destruction.

IV. The angels desire to look into the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow, in other words, into the progress of the work of redemption, because the issue of that work will be the elevation of the church triumphant over the angelic race, in dignity, glory, and power. What strange and striking thoughts it must suggest to an angelic being to look upon a human creature, depraved, condemned, absorbed in the pleasures of sin, and at last falling a prey to death, who yet, in virtue of a previous union to Christ by faith, shall rise above the fetters of mortality, shall be elevated to the holiness and happiness of heaven. (Alex. Nisbet.)

The angels desire to look into salvation

It is thought to be a sign of weakness to bow down before the Cross. The context teaches a different lesson. The prophets, who were men of great mental gifts, were deeply interested in this salvation. The apostle goes a step beyond. He declares that the angels desired to look into these sublime truths.

I. The nature of these angels. The Scriptures have revealed but little about them. The Bible was not given us to reveal their nature, but to make known to us the plan of salvation. Yet there is something about the nature of angels which we may know by the study of ourselves.

1. We have memory. History has a meaning to us. Our memories, at best, are very imperfect, but there are some things we never forget. Now, the memory of any one thing implies the possibility of a memory that will never forget. Now, angels, no doubt, have memories far more tenacious than ours. How this will add to their knowledge.

2. Then we have the power of connecting cause and effect, and the power of pure reason; and we have that still more marvellous power, imagination. Whither cannot imagination go? How much better are angels fitted by powers far more perfect than these to gather knowledge.

3. Then, again, we are hindered by our bodies-one-third of our time is taken up in eating and sleeping. Angels are free from all this.

4. Then consider how much more we know than we did fifty years ago. Yet the angels witnessed the birth of the worlds and systems of worlds. All history lays open before them. They know of Gods providence. How much then these angels must know of God; I had almost said what do they not know of Him?

II. Consider, that notwithstanding all this knowledge the angels were not satisfied because they did not understand the plan of salvation. They heard of this plan and were deeply interested. They desire to look into it. With all their powers of investigation, with all their vast knowledge, here was a matter that they had not fathomed, and that they greatly desired to know. Yet scientists sometimes feel that they are so busy as to have no time to study this salvation. They are busy at studying the structures of crystals. Why angels know all about them. They saw the particles taking their positions. These men are busy in investigating the strata of the rocks. Why, the angels saw the upheaval of the rooks which so diversified and distorted the strata. They were there at the formation of the earth and have witnessed all the changes. All these things, which so deeply concern these scientists, are plain as A B C to these angels, who nevertheless, so desire to see into the plan of salvation, that subject which the scientists deem of so little importance.

III. It is not revealed to us how angels sought to understand this matter. The visions concerning it came to the prophets, doubtless, as pictures. They did not fully understand all they saw. Moses, when he desired to see God, was told that no one could see the face of God and live. Another prophet saw a different picture, he saw Christ as a lamb led to the slaughter. Others saw still different pictures. Now I imagine that the angels, as the prophets traced the pictures they saw, would look over their shoulders to study this marvellous salvation. That word which is translated in the text, look into, is a wonderful word. It means to look down into. It implies eagerness to see the bottom. (Bishop Simpson.)

Angels studying redemption

I. The things which the angels contemplate.

1. Salvation.

2. The grace of the gospel.

3. The sufferings of Christ.

4. The glory that should follow.

II. The manner in which the angels contemplate these things.

1. Attentively.

2. Humbly and reverentially.

3. With eager and prevailing desire.

III. The instructions and admonitions which their contemplation of these things affords to us. The desire which angels manifest to look into these things, teaches-

1. The dignity and the glory of the Son of God, who has furnished them with such subjects of contemplation,

2. The magnitude and importance of the work of redemption.

3. The means which we must use, in order to be influenced by them ourselves. We must look into them-we must make them the subject of devout and studious contemplation.

4. The propriety and the duty of making them known to all mankind.

5. The criminality of those persons who treat the same things with indifference and neglect. (J. Alexander.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Pe 1:10-11. Of which salvation — That is, concerning the nature and extent of it, and the way and means of attaining it, namely, by believing and obeying the gospel, to be preached among all nations: (see the margin:) the prophets have inquired — Εξεζητησαν, sought with accuracy, or were earnestly inquisitive about; and searched diligently — (Like miners searching for precious ore,) after the meaning of the prophecies which they delivered; who prophesied — Long ago; of the grace of God toward you — Of his abundant overflowing grace to be bestowed on believers under the dispensation of the Messiah: searching what, or what time — What particular period; and what manner of time — By what marks to be distinguished; or in what age of the world, and what events should then take place. From this it appears that in many instances the prophets did not understand the meaning of their own prophecies, but studied them, as others did, with great care, in order to find it out. See Dan 7:28; Dan 12:8. This care they used more especially in examining the prophecies which they uttered concerning Christ. The Spirit of Christ which was in them — The Holy Spirit, as a Spirit of prophecy communicated to them by Christ, who therefore then existed, and that not as a creature, for no creature can give the Holy Ghost but a person properly divine. Here then we learn that the inspiration of the Jewish prophets was derived from Christ; it was his Spirit (see Gal 4:6) which spoke in them. The same Spirit he promised to the apostles, Joh 16:7; Joh 16:13. Wherefore, the prophets and apostles being inspired by one and the same Spirit, their doctrine must be, as in fact it is, the same. When it testified beforehand — Moved them to foretel and show; the sufferings of Christ, (see the margin,) and the glory that should follow — Τας μετα ταυτα δοξας, the glories that should succeed these sufferings; namely, the glory of his resurrection, ascension, exaltation, and the effusion of his Spirit; the glory of the last judgment, and of his eternal kingdom; and also the glories of his grace in the hearts and lives of true believers.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. The ancient prophets studying their predictions of the coming Christ, 1Pe_1:10-12.

This doctrine was not then newly heard of, but had been known, foretold, and earnestly studied by God’s prophets of former ages.

10. Prophets—As on the Pentecost, St. Peter here, too, grounds his doctrine on the Old Testament prophecy. He then quoted Joel and David, (Act_2:16-21; Act_2:25-31.) Later, after citing Moses, he said, “All the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.” Act_3:24. Their great subject was the grace that God had determined to show the world in the gift of salvation. The full import of their prophecies they did not themselves understand. They therefore inquired—earnestly sought—and searched diligently—comparing prophecy with prophecy, to learn their full depth of meaning.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1 Peter

CHRIST AND HIS CROSS THE CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE

1Pe 1:10-12

I have detached these three clauses from their surroundings, not because I desire to treat them fragmentarily, but because we thereby throw into stronger relief the writer’s purpose to bring out the identity of the Old and the New Revelation, the fact that Christ and His sufferings are the centre of the world’s history, to which all that went before points, from which all that follows after flows; and that not only thus does He stand in the midst of humanity, but that from Him there ran out influences into other orders of beings, and angels learn from Him mysteries hitherto unknown to them. The prophets prophesy of the grace which comes in the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, and the same Spirit which taught them teaches the preachers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They that went before had for their deepest message the proclamation, ‘He will come’; they that follow after have for their deepest message, ‘He has come.’ And angels listen to, and echo, the chorus, from all the files that march in front, and all that bring up the rear, ‘Hosanna! Blessed be Him that cometh in the name of the Lord.’

My purpose, then, is just to try to bring before you the magnificent unity into which these texts bind all ages, and all worlds, planting Jesus Christ and His Cross in the centre of them all. There are four aspects here in which the writer teaches us to regard this unity: Jesus and the Cross are the substance of prophecy, the theme of Gospel preaching, the study of angels, and presented to each of us for our individual acceptance. Now, let us look briefly at these four points.

I. First, then, Christ and His Cross is the substance of prophecy.

Now, of course, we have to remember that general statements have to be interpreted widely, and without punctilious adherence to the words; and we have also to remember that great mischief has been done, and great discredit cast, on the whole conception of ancient revelation by the well-meaning, but altogether mistaken, attempts of good people to read the fully developed doctrine of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice into every corner of the ancient revelation. But whilst I admit all that, and would desire to emphasise the fact, I think that in this generation, and to-day, there is a great deal more need to insist upon the truth that the inmost essence and deepest purpose of the whole Old Testament system is to create an attitude of expectance, and to point onwards, with ever-growing distinctness, to one colossal and mysterious figure in which the longings of generations shall be fulfilled, and the promises of God shall be accomplished. The prophet was more than a foreteller, as is being continually insisted upon nowadays. There were prophets who never uttered a single prediction. Their place in Israel was to be the champions of righteousness, and--I was going to say--the knights of God, as against law and ceremonial and externalism. But, beyond that, there underlie the whole system of prophecy, and there come sparkling and flashing up to the surface every now and then, bright anticipations, not only of a future kingdom, but of a personal King, and not only of a King, but a sufferer. All the sacrifices, almost all the institutions, the priesthood and the monarchy included, had this onward-looking aspect, and Israel as a whole, in the proportion in which it was true to the spirit of its calling, stood a-tiptoe, as it were, looking down the ages for the coming of the Hope of the Covenant that had been promised to the fathers. The prophets, I might say, were like an advance-guard sent before some great monarch in his progress towards his capital, who rode through the slumbering villages and called, ‘He comes! He comes! The King cometh meek and having salvation,’ and then passed on.

Now, all that is to be held fast to-day. I would give all freedom to critical research, and loyally accept the results of it, so far as these are established, and are not mere hypotheses, with regard to the date and the circumstances of the construction of the various elements of that Old Testament. But what I desire especially to mark is that, with the widest freedom, there must be these two things conserved which Peter here emphasises, the real inspiration of the prophetic order, and its function to point onwards to Jesus. And so long as you keep these truths, as long as you believe that God spoke through prophets, as long as you believe that the very heart of their message was the proclamation of Jesus Christ, and that to bear witness to Him was the function, not only of prophet, but of priest and king and nation, then you are at liberty to deal as you like with mere questions of origin and of date. But if, in the eagerness of the chase after the literary facts of the origin of the Old Testament, we forget that it is a unity, that it is a divine unity, that it is a progressive revelation, and that ‘the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy’ then I venture to say that the most uncritical, old-fashioned reader of the Old Testament that found Jesus Christ in the Song of Solomon, and in the details of the Tabernacle, and in all the minutiæ of worship and sacrifice, was nearer to the living heart of the thing than the most learned scholar that has been so absorbed in the inquiries as to how and when this, that, and the other bit of the Book was written, that he fails to see the one august figure that shines out, now more and now less dimly, and gives unity to the whole. ‘To Him gave all the prophets witness.’ And when Peter declared, as he did in my text, that ancient Israel, by its spokesmen and its organs, testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, he is but echoing what he had learned from his Master, who turns to some of us with the same rebuke with which He met His disciples after the Resurrection: ‘O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.’ The Old and the New are a unity, and Christ and His Cross are the substance and the centre of both.

II. Note here Christ and His Cross, the theme of Gospel preaching.

If you will glance at your leisure over the whole context from which I have picked these clauses as containing its essence, you will find that the Apostle speaks of the things which the prophets foretold as being the same as ‘those which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.’ I must not take for granted that you are all referring to your Bibles, but I should like to point out, as the basis of one or two things that I wish to say, the remarkable variety of phrase employed in the text to describe the one thing. First, Peter speaks of it as ‘salvation,’ then he speaks of it in the next clause as ‘the grace that should come unto you.’ Then, in the next phrase, he designates it more particularly as ‘the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.’ Now, if we put these designations together--salvation, grace, Christ’s sufferings, the subsequent glory--we come to this, that the facts of Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension are the great vehicle which brings to men God’s grace, that that grace has for its purpose and its effect man’s salvation, and that these facts are the Gospel which Christian preachers have to proclaim.

Now notice what follows from such thoughts as these. To begin with, the Gospel is not a speculation, is not a theology, still less a morality, not a declaration of principles, but a history of fact, things that were done on this earth of ours, and that the Apostle’s Creed which is worked into the service of the Anglican Church is far nearer the primitive conception of the Gospel than are any of the more elaborate and doctrinal ones which have followed. For we have to begin with the facts that Christ lived, died, was buried, rose again from the dead ... ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God. Whatever else the Gospel is, that is the kernel and the basis of it all. Out of these facts will come all manner of doctrines, philosophies of religion, theologies, revelations about God and man. Out of them will come all ethics, the teaching of duty, the exhibition of a pattern of conduct, inspiration to follow the model that is set before us. Out of them will come, as I believe, guidance and light for social and economical and political questions and difficulties. But what we have to lay hold of, and what we preachers have to proclaim, is the story of the life, and eminently the story of the death.

Why does Peter put in the very centre here ‘the sufferings of Christ’? That suggests another thought, that amongst these facts which, taken together, make the Gospel, the vital part, the central and the indispensable part, is the story of the Cross. Now what Christ said, not what Christ did, not what Christ was, beautiful and helpful as all that is, but to begin with what Christ bore, is the fact that makes the life of the Gospel. And just as He is the centre of humanity, so the Cross is the centre of His work. Why is that? Because the deepest need of all of us is the need to have our sins dealt with, both as guilt and as power, and because nothing else in the whole story of Christ’s manifestation deals with men’s sins as the fact of His death on the Cross does, therefore the sacrifice and sufferings are the heart of the Gospel.

And so, brethren, we have to mark that the presentation of Christian truth which slurs over that fact of the Sacrifice and Atonement of Jesus Christ, has parted with the vital power which makes the story into a gospel. It is no gospel to tell a man that Jesus Christ died, unless you go on to say He ‘died for our sins according to the Scriptures.’ And it is no gospel to talk about the beauty of His life, and the perfectness of His example, and the sweetness of His nature, and the depth, the wisdom, and the tenderness of His words, unless you can say this is ‘the Lamb of God,’ ‘the Word made flesh,’ ‘who bare our sins, and carried our sicknesses and our sorrows.’ Strike out from the gospel that you preach ‘the sufferings of Christ,’ and you have struck out the one thing that will draw men’s hearts, that will satisfy men’s needs, that will bind men to Him with cords of love. ‘I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.’ So, wherever you get what they call an ethical gospel which deals with moralities, and does not impart the power that will vitalise moralities, and make them into thankful service and sacrifices, in return for the great Sacrifice; wherever you get a gospel that falters in its enunciation of the sufferings of Christ, and wherever you get a gospel that secularises the Christian service of the Sabbath, and will rather discuss the things that the newspapers discuss, and the new books that the reviewers are talking about, and odds and ends of that sort that are thought to be popular and attractive, you get a gospel minus the thing that, in the Old Testament and in the New alike, stands forth in the centre of all. ‘We preach Christ crucified’; it is not enough to preach Christ. Many a man does that, and might as well hold his tongue. ‘We preach Christ crucified.’ And the same august Figure which loomed before the vision of prophets, and shines through many a weary age, stands before us of this generation; ay! and will stand till the end of the world, as the centre, the pivot of human history, the Christ who has died for men. The Christ that will stand in the centre of the development of humanity is the Christ that died on the Cross. If your gospel is not that, you have yet to learn the deepest secret of His power.

III. Once more, here we have Christ and His Cross as the study of angels.

‘Which things the angels desire to look into.’ Now, the word that Peter employs there is an unusual one in Scripture. Its force may, perhaps, be best conveyed by referring to one of the few instances in which it is employed. It is used to describe the attitude of Peter and John when they stooped down and looked into the sepulchre. Perhaps there may be a reference in Peter’s mind to that incident, when he saw the ‘two angels ... sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.’ Perhaps, also, there floats in his mind some kind of reference to the outspread wings and bended heads of the brooding cherubim who sat above the Mercy-seat, gazing down upon the miracle of love that was manifested beneath them there. But be that as it may, the idea conveyed is that of eager desire and fixed attention.

Now I am not going to enlarge at all upon the thought that is here conveyed, except just to make the one remark that people have often said, ‘Why should a race of insignificant creatures on this little globe of ours be so dignified in the divine procedure as that there should be the stupendous mystery of the Incarnation, and the Death for their sakes?’ Not for their sakes only, for the New Testament commits itself to the thought that whilst sinful men are the only subjects of the redeeming grace of Jesus Christ, other orders of creatures do benefit thereby, and do learn from it what else they would not have known, of the mystery and the miracle and the majesty of the Divine love. ‘To the principalities and the powers in heavenly places He hath made known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God.’ And we can understand how these other orders--what we call higher orders, which they may be or they may not--of being, learn to know God as we learn to know Him, by the manifestation of Himself in His acts, and how the crown of all manifestations consists in this, that He visits the sinful sons of men, and by His own dear Son brings them back again. The elder brethren in the Father’s house do not grudge the ring and the robe given to the prodigals; rather they learn therein more than they knew before of the loving-kindness of God.

Now all that is nowadays ignored, and it is not fashionable to speak about the interest of angels in the success of Redemption, and a good many ‘advanced’ Christians do not believe in angels at all, because they ‘cannot verify’ the doctrine. I, for my part, accept the teaching, which seems to me to be a great deal more reasonable than to suppose that the rest of the universe is void of creatures that can praise and love and know God. I accept the teaching, and think that Peter was, perhaps, not a dreamer when he said, ‘The angels desire to look into these things.’ They do not share in the blessings of redemption, but they can behold what they do not themselves experience. The Seer in the Revelation was not mistaken, when he believed that he heard redeemed men leading the chorus to Him that had redeemed them by His blood out of all nations, and then heard the thunderous echo from an innumerable host of angels who could not say ‘Thou hast redeemed us,’ but who could bring praise and glory to Him because He had redeemed men.

IV. And now my last point is that Christ and His Cross is, by the Gospel, offered to each of us.

Notice how emphatically in this context the Apostle gathers together his wider thoughts, and focusses them into a point. ‘The prophets have inquired and searched diligently ... of the grace that should come to you.... To them it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you.’ And so he would take his wide thoughts, as it were, and gather all together, to a point, and press the point against each man’s heart.

Dear brethren, these wide views are of no avail to us unless we realise the individual relation which Christ bears to each one of us. He bears a relation, as I have been saying, to all humanity. All the ages belong to Him. ‘He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.’ From His Cross there flash up rays of light into the heavens above, and out over the whole rolling series of the centuries, from the beginning to the end. Yes; but from His Cross there comes a beam straight to your heart, and the Christ whom angels desire to look into, of whom prophets prophesy and Apostles proclaim His advent, who is the Lord of all the ages, and the Lover of mankind, comes to thee and says ‘I am thy Saviour,’ and to thee this wide message is brought. Every eye has the whole sunshine, and each soul may have the whole Christ. His universal relations in time and space matter little to you, unless He has a particular relation to yourself.

And He will never have that in its atoning power, unless you do for yourself and by yourself the most individual and solitary act that a human soul can do, and that is, lay your hand on the head of ‘the Lamb ... that takes away the sin of the world,’ and put your sins there. You must begin with ‘my Christ,’ which you can do only by personal faith. And then afterwards you can come to ‘our Christ,’ the Christ of all the worlds, the Christ of all the ages. Go to Him by yourself. You must do it as if there were not any other beings in the whole universe but you two, Jesus and you. And when you have so gone, then you will find that you have ‘come to the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly, and Church of the first born.’ Christ and His Cross are the substance of prophecy, the theme of the Gospel, the study of the angels. What are they to me?

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chapter 3

THE UNITY AND GLORIOUSNESS OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION

1Pe_1:10-12

THE message of the Gospel unlocks the treasures of Old Testament revelation. Evangelists and Apostles are the exponents of the prophets. The continuity of Divine revelation has never been broken. The Spirit which spake through Joel of the Pentecostal outpouring had spoken to men in the earlier days, to Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and David, and was now shed forth upon the first preachers of the Gospel, and bestowed abundantly for the work of the newly founded Church of Christ. St. Peter, himself a chief recipient of the gift, here proclaims the oneness of the whole of revelation; and more than this, he bears witness to the oneness of the teaching of the whole body of Christian missionaries. St. Paul and his fellow-laborers had spread the glad tidings first of all among these Asian converts; but there is no thought in St. Peters mind of a different gospel from his own. Those who preached the Gospel to them in the first instance were, even as himself, working in and by the same Holy Spirit.

In the preceding verses of the chapter the thoughts of the Apostle have been dwelling on the future, on the time when the hope of the believer shall attain its fruition, and faith shall be lost in sight. He now turns his glance backward to notice how the promise of salvation has been the subject of revelation through all time. To those among the converts who had studied the Jewish Scriptures such a retrospect would be fruitful in instruction. They would comprehend with him how the truths which they now heard preached had been gradually shadowed forth in the Divine economy. That first proclamation of the seed of the woman to be born for the overthrow of the tempter, but who yet must Himself be a Sufferer in the conflict, was now become luminous, and in outline presented the whole scheme of redemption. The study of the development of that scheme would beget a full trust in their hearts for the future as they contemplated the stages of its foreshadowing in the past.

"Concerning which salvation," he says, "the prophets sought and searched diligently." The Divine revelation could only be made as men were able to bear it, and the sentences of old must needs be dark. At first Gods love was set forth by His covenants with the patriarchs. Then the wider scope of mercy was proclaimed in the promises given to Abraham and repeated to his posterity. In their seed, it was declared, not the chosen race alone, but all the nations of the earth, should be blessed. Here all through the history was ground enough for diligent searching among the faithful. How could these things be, Abraham solitary and aged, Isaacs sons at feud with each other, Jacob and his posterity in captivity? Even at their best estate these seemed little fitted for the destiny which had been foretold to them. But throughout the Mosaic history some clung to their faith, and their great leader foresaw that the promise would be fulfilled in its time through One of whom he was but a feeble representative. But to so wide a vision only a few attained.

In the evil days which followed, the hope of the people must often have dwindled down; but yet at times, as to Gideons diminished army, it was made manifest that the Lord could do great things for His people: and the thought of the seed of the woman promised as a Deliverer lingered in many hearts, and enabled them to sing in thankfulness how the adversaries of the Lord should be broken in pieces, how out of heaven the Lord should thunder upon them, and prove Himself the Judge of all the ends of the earth, giving strength unto His king and exalting the horn of His anointed. In such wise the prophetic teaching, which had advanced from the blessing of an individual to the choice and exaltation of a chosen family, was expanded in the noblest spirits to the conception of a kingdom of God among all mankind, and assumed a more definite form when the promise was made to the Son of David that His throne should be established forever.

But how imperfectly Gods design was comprehended by the best among them we can see from the last words of David himself. {2Sa_23:1-7} In them we have an instance of the searching which must have occupied other hearts beside that of the king of Israel. The Spirit of the Lord had spoken by him, and a promise of future glory had been made, when all should be brightness, every cloud dispersed. But the vision tarried. The house of David was not so with God. Yet he still held firmly to the everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, a covenant of salvation, though as yet God made it not to grow. David may be numbered among those "who prophesied of the grace that should come" hereafter; and his words are shaped by a power above his own, to suggest the advent "of Him who was to be the dayspring from on high."

He and the other enlightened Israelites who have left us their thoughts and aspirations in the Psalter felt that the history of the chosen people was from first to last a grand parable, {Psa_78:2} and that the present could always be learning from the leading and discipline of the past. The miracles and the chastisements which they recite were all tokens of the sure promise, tokens that the people were not forgotten, but constantly aided by instruction, warning, and reproof. So that another psalmist, though still searching for the fuller meaning of the parables and dark sayings through which he was conducted, could sing, "God shall redeem my soul from the hand of the grave, for He shall take me". {Psa_49:15} There is a confidence in the words, a confidence enough to sustain amid many trials. To such a man the present was not all. There was a life to come where God should be and rule, and his heart had not seldom gone forth to the questioning at what time and in what form the promises should be fulfilled. Like Abraham, such men had seen the day of Christ in vision and rejoiced over it, and the "Spirit of Christ was within them" to sustain them. But the things which they had heard and known, and of which their fathers had told them, supplied cause for deep searchings as "to the time and the manner of time unto which the Spirit pointed." The strength of the Lord and His wondrous works were to be rehearsed to the coming generations, that among them the hope might live, by them the searching be continued. And as time went on the vision was widened, for in no small number of the Psalms we find the promised blessedness described as the portion not of Israel only, but through Israel grace was to be extended to the ends of the earth. "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands," is no solitary invocation.

And when we turn to those prophets whose writings we possess, we recognize that in them the Spirit of Christ was working and pointing forward to the coming redemption. But long before the days of Isaiah and Micah the Spirit of the Lord had come mightily upon His servants, and that picture of a glorious future which both those seers have given to us was not improbably the utterance of some earlier servant of the Lord: "It shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it". {Isa_2:2 Mic_4:1} Thus far had they attained, but the search was not ended. "The last days!" When these should come was known to God alone; and they spake only as they were moved by Him, standing on their towers of spiritual elevation, hearkening, what the Lord would say to them, and delivering His message with all the fullness they could command. But they were sure of the final bliss.

Of the same character are those words of Joel, which St. Peter quoted in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, "It shall come to pass afterward." {Act_2:17-21} Beyond this was not yet revealed. But it was the voice of God which spake through the prophet: "In those days I will pour out My Spirit." And the Divine voice spake of visitations of another kind. It "testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow them." We feel sure that here St. Peter had in mind Isaiah 53, which the New Testament has taught us to apply in its fullest sense to our blessed Lord. But the language of St. Peter in this clause deserves special notice. He does not use the ordinary words by which the personal sufferings of Christ would generally be expressed, but he says rather, "the sufferings which pertain unto Christ." And here we may well consider whether the variation of phrase be not designed. St. Paul uses the simple direct expression, {2Co_1:5} and so does St. Peter himself; {1Pe_4:13} and in those passages the Apostles are speaking of the sufferings of Christ as shared by His people. It would almost seem as if St. Peters phrase in the verse before us were intended to convey this sense more fully. The sufferings pertain unto Christ, were specially borne by Him; but they fall also upon those who are, and have been, His people, both before and after the Incarnation.

Those prophecies of Isaiah which speak of the sufferings of the servant of the Lord had long been expounded as meant of the Jewish nation, and with such interpretation St. Peter was doubtless familiar. Hence may have come his altered phrase, capable of being interpreted, not only of Christ Himself, but of the sufferings of those who, like these Asiatic converts, were for the Lords sake exposed to manifold trials. This double application of the words, to Christ and to His servants also, explains, it may be, the unique use of the word "glories" in the clause which follows: the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow them. For the glories may be taken to signify not only that honor and glory which the Father has given unto Christ, but also the glory in which they shall share who have taken up their cross to follow Him. Nowhere else in the New Testament does this plural word occur. To draw a sense like this from. it would minister no small comfort to the Christians in their trials; and just before St. Peter has described the joy which they should experience as "glorified," or "full of glory" (1Pe_1:8). In like manner St. Paul speaks {Rom_8:18} of the sufferings of this present time as not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us in the resurrection.

It would also serve as consolation to the sufferers, who were thus pointed on to the future for Christs best gifts, to know that a similar forward glance had been the lot of the prophets under the ancient dispensation. One here and there had felt, as Malachi, {Mal_3:1} that the Lord whom they were seeking was soon to come; but we know of none before the aged Simeon to whom it had been made known that they should not die till they had seen the Lords Christ. To the former generations "it was revealed," says the Apostle, "that not unto themselves, but unto you, did they minister these things." They beheld them, and greeted them, but it was afar off. They spake often one to another of a bliss that was to come; yet though praying, longing, and hoping for it, they saw it only with the eye of faith. The psalmists supply many illustrations of this forward projection of the thoughts which dwelt on the Messianic hope. Thus in Psa_22:30-31, while rejoicing over his own rescue from suffering, the speaker recognizes that this is but a foreshadowing of another suffering and another deliverance, even the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow. "It shall be told of the Lord unto the next generation. They shall come; they shall declare His righteousness to a people that shall be born, that He hath done it," and again in another place, "This shall be written for the generation to come, and a people which shall be created shall praise the Lord". {Psa_102:18} And these anticipations are ever coupled with the thought of the wider extension of the kingdom, of God, with the time when "all the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord," "when the nations shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth His glory."

But the things which prophets and psalmists ministered "have now been announced unto you through them that preached the Gospel unto you." You, St. Peter would say, are now not heirs expectant, but possessors of the blessings which former ages of believers foresaw and foretold, just as in his pentecostal address he testifies, "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel." And those who have preached these glad tidings unto you, he continues, have not done so without warrant. They are joined by an unbroken link to the prophets who went before them. In those the Spirit of Christ wrought at such times as He found fit instruments for raising a little the veil that lay over the purposes of God. The preachers of the Gospel have the same Spirit, and speak unto you "by the Holy Ghost sent forth from heaven." These (and of St. Peter is this specially true) had witnessed the sufferings of Christ, and been made partakers of the glories of the outpoured Spirit. The promise of the Father had been fulfilled to them, and they had received a mouth and wisdom which their adversaries were not able to resist. The risen Lord, the assurance of a life to come, the guidance by the Spirit into all truth-these were now realities for them, and were to be made real for the rest of the world by their testimony.

And that he may further magnify that salvation which he has been describing as published in part under the Law and now assured by the message of the Gospel, he adds, "which things angels desire to look into." Of the whole Divine plan for mans redemption the angels could hardly be cognizant. Of Gods love for man they had been made conscious, had been employed as His agents in the exhibition of that love, both under the old and under the new covenant. Their ministry, we know, was exercised in the lives of Abraham and Lot; they watched over Jacob and over Elijah in their solitude and weariness. One of their host was sent to deliver Daniel and to instruct the prophet Zechariah. At a later day they, who stand above mankind in the order of creation, and are pure enough to behold the presence of the Most High, were made messengers to announce how the Son of God had deigned to assume, not their nature, but the nature of humanity, and would by His suffering lift up the race from its slavery to sin. They proclaimed the birth of the Baptist, and brought the message of the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin. They heralded the birth of Christ to the shepherds of Bethlehem, and a multitude of their glorious company sang the song of glory to God in the highest. They tended the God-Man at His temptation, strengthened Him in His agony, were present at His sepulcher, and gave the news of the Resurrection to the early visitants. Nor were their services at an end with Christs ascension, though they were present on that occasion also.

To Cornelius and to Peter angels were made messengers, and our Lord has told us that their rejoicing is great over even one sinner that repenteth.

These immortal spirits whose home is before Gods throne, and whose great office is to sing His praise, yet find in those ministrations to mankind in which they have been employed matter for admiration, matter which kindles in them fervent desire. They long to comprehend in all its fullness that grace which they are conscious God is shedding forth upon mankind. They would scan all the workings of His love and His forbearance towards sinners. These things are to them a subject of admiration, even as was the empty tomb of Jesus to the disciples after the Resurrection; and from their high estate the angelic host would fain stoop down to gaze their fill upon what Gods goodness has wrought and is working out for mankind. They feel that this knowledge would add a new theme to the songs around the throne, would give them still greater cause to extol that grace which manifests its noblest features in showing mercy and pity. And if such be the aspiration of angels, sinless beings who feel not the need of rescue, shall the tongues of men be dumb, men who know, each from the experience of his own heart, how great is the evil of sin in which they are entangled, how hopeless without Christs death was their deliverance from its thraldom; who know how constant and how undeserved is the mercy of which they are partakers, how true to Himself God has been in their case? "I am Jehovah; I change not: therefore ye children of men are not destroyed."

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

1:10-12 Our salvation is very great: The Old Testament prophets predicted it, and angels long to investigate it.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1Pe 1:10. Περὶ ἧς σωτηρίας, of which salvation) A great argument for the truth arises from the prophecies and eagerness of the prophets.—ἐξεζήτησαν καὶ ἐξηρεύνησαν, inquired and searched diligently) There is great emphasis in the two compound words, ἐκζητεῖν, to seek out, to attain to by seeking: ἐξερευνᾶν, to search through, to attain to by searching. The simple word ἐρευνῶντες, searching, occurs in 1Pe 1:11. What they attained to by inquiring and searching, is expressed and defined in 1Pe 1:12. Ἐρευνῶντες, searching, refers to the first and principal searching respecting Christ Himself: ἐξεζήτησαν καὶ ἐξηρεύνησαν, they inquired and searched diligently, to a further and more advanced searching respecting Christians.—προφῆται, prophets) with the other righteous men: Mat 13:17; Joh 8:56. The omission of the article gives weight to the sentence, as is often the case with the Germans: for it has the effect of calling away the attention of the hearer from the particular consideration of individuals to the genus itself. So 1Pe 1:12, angels. A gradual rise of subject.—εἰς ὑμᾶς, unto you) who live in this age.—χάριτος, grace) The grace of the New Testament, 1Pe 1:13. True grace, ch. 1Pe 5:12. Comp. Joh 1:17.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Pe_1:10. περὶ ἧς σωτηρίας ἐξεζήτησαν καὶ ἐξηρεύνησαν προφῆται] The σωτηρία, to which the search of the prophets was directed, is, as the connection: περὶ ἧς σωτ., shows, the previously mentioned σωτηρία ψυχῶν, which is the τέλος of faith. Wiesinger and Schott extend the idea so as to include within it the present salvation. This is correct thus far, that the future salvation is only the completion of the present; but it is precisely to the completion that the apostles glance is directed. De Wette is wrong in understanding by σωτηρία the work of salvation.

Both verbs express the earnest search. ἐξερευνᾷν is in the N. T. ἅπ. λεγ. (LXX. 1Sa_23:23 : חָפַשׂ; 1Ch_19:3 : תָקַר). The prefixed ἐκ serves to intensify the idea, without hinting that the prophets selected the right time from among different periods (Steiger); see the other passages in the N. T. where the verb ἐκζητεῖν occurs. The aim of their search is more precisely defined in 1Pe_1:11. Luthers translation is inexact: after which salvation; περί means rather: in respect to, with regard to.

Calvin justly remarks: quum dicit prophetas sciscitatos esse et sedulo inquisivisse, hoc ad eorum scripta aut doctrinam non pertinet, sed ad privatum desiderium quo quisque aestuavit. A distinction is here drawn between the individual activity put forth on the basis of the revelation of which they had been made partakers, and that revelation itself (Wiesinger, Schott, Hofmann).[69] To προφῆται is subjoined the nearer definition: οἱ περὶ τῆς εἰς ὑμᾶς χάριτος προφητεύσαντες] by which some prophets are not distinguished from others, as Hofmann thinks, but all are characterized according to their function. Bengel: Articulus hic praeter-missus grandem facit orationem, nam auditorem a determinata individuorum consideratione ad ipsum genus spectandum traducit; sic 1Pe_1:12 : angeli.

ἡ εἰς ὑμᾶς χάρις] either from the prophets standpoint: destined for you (de Wette, Brückner), or from that of the apostles: the grace of which ye have been made partakers (Wiesinger, Schott). The first is the preferable view. χάρις is not to be taken as identical with σωτηρία (as opposed to Wiesinger), but the difference in expression points to a distinction in idea. χάρις denotes both the present and the future, σωτηρία only the future. Hofmann attaches particular importance to the fact that ὑμᾶς and not ἡμᾶς is here used; assuming that by ὑμᾶς the readers must be understood to be heathen-Christians. This is, however, incorrect, since Peter nowhere in his epistle makes a distinction between heathen and Jewish-Christians; by ὑμᾶς the readers are addressed not as heathen-Christians, but as Christians in general; cf. also 1Pe_1:3-4 : ἀναγεννήσας ἡμᾶς … τετηρημένους εἰς ὑμᾶς.

[69] Steinmeyer denies this distinction, and says, interpreting τίνα ἢ ποῖν καιρόν, ver. 11, by de sola inde indole temporis: neminem latebit, eos saepenumero de crescente piorum hominum desiderio nec non de aucta improborum protervitate verba fecisse; … ecce τὰ σημεῖα τοῦ μέλλοντος καιροῦ, quae indagata praedicarunt. According to this, ἐκζητεῖν and ἐξερευνᾷν would be indagata praedicare(!).

1Pe_1:10-12. The design of this paragraph is not to prove the truth of the apostolic doctrine by its agreement with that of the prophets (Gerhard), but to bring prominently forward the glory of the σωτηρία before spoken of, by presenting it as the object of prophetic search. Calvin: salutis hujus pretium inde commendat, quod in eam toto studio intente fuerunt prophetae. Wiesinger also; in such a way, however, that he holds the real tendency to be this, that the readers should recognise themselves as those favoured ones who, by the preaching of the gospel, had been made partakers of the salvation foretold in the O. T. Schott thinks that here the position of the Christians is compared very favourably with that of the prophets, since the latter had to cling to a bare word referring to an indefinite time; the former, on the other hand, have in their possession of salvation the pledge of a blessed futureindeed, in a certain sense even possess it.

But how much is here introduced!

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Pe 1:10-12 . The ancient prophets prophesied concerning the grace which was destined for you and enquired diligently about this salvation. They were the unconscious instruments of the revelation of God and their first duty done continued to pore over the inspired descriptions of the sufferings and subsequent glories of the Messiah. They asked themselves to whom does this refer and when shall these things be. And to them the revelation was made that they were only the administrators of an estate which others you in fact should enjoy. The subjects of their prophecies have now been proclaimed to you by your Christian teachers who, like the prophets, were inspired by the Holy Spirit with this difference that now the Spirit has been sent from heaven whereas of old He dwelt only in minds of a few. And these are the mysteries into which angels long to peep.

St. Peter has utilised a saying of Jesus to explain the great problem of unfulfilled prophecy and expounded it. Among the prophets he includes the so-called apocalyptic writers like Daniel and his successors. Gradually the coming of the Messiah and the dawn of the new age had been pushed further and further back until the inspired prophets realised that as the Christians held he Messiah would only come just before the end of all. The Messiah was not Hezekiah despite the Rabbis, nor yet the best of the Hasmonean house as Enoch hoped. ἀπεκαλύφθη . Such was the revelation or Apocalypse from which the latest of the prophets derive their common name; and St. Peter credits all the line with the curiosity which characterised the last of them and his own contemporaries; cf. Act 2 . and Heb 11:13 ff. The saying in question on which St. Peter builds is reported differently: According to Mat 13:17 , Jesus said, πολλοὶ προφῆται καὶ δίκαιοι ἐπεθύμησαν … according to Luk 10:24 , προφῆται καὶ βασιλεῖς ἠθέλησαν … according to St. Peter προφῆται (10) καὶ ἄγγελοι . The mention of the righteous derives support from Heb 11:13-16 , and Joh 8:56 , and an original ישרים “the righteous” would easily be altered in the course of transmission into שרים = princes earthly or heavenly ( cf. Dan 10:21 ; LXX, Μιχαὴλ ὁ ἄγγελος ). The motive which prompted the interpretation ἄγγελοι is due to the influence of the Book of Enoch (see note below) which explains the writer’s conception of the prophets.

1Pe 1:10 . The prophets were concerned with the Messianic salvation and searched their own writings and those of their predecessors for definite information about it. They are honoured by the Christians who realise that as a matter of fact they prophesied concerning the grace which was destined for the Christian Church. τῆς εἰς ὑμᾶς χάριτος , the grace which belongs to you, cf. τὰ εἰς χριστὸν παθ . (11).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He putteth a difference between true faith, that is to say, that faith which only hath an eye to the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles, and false faith: Afterward he maketh two degrees of one and the selfsame faith, according to the manner of the divers revelations, when as indeed it is but one only faith: Thirdly, he saith, that the preaching of the Apostles is the fulfilling of the preaching of the Prophets, although the latter end of it be as yet looked for of the very Angels.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The apostle having described the persons to whom he wrote, and declared to them the excellent advantages they were under, goes on to show them what warrant he had for what he had delivered; and because they were Jews, and had a profound veneration for the Old Testament, he produces the authority of the prophets to convince them that the doctrine of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ was no new doctrine, but the same which the old prophets did enquire and search diligently into. Note,

I. Who made this diligent search - the prophets, who were persons inspired by God either to do or to say things extraordinary, above the reach of their own studies and abilities, as foretelling things to come, and revealing the will of God, by the direction of the Holy Spirit.

II. The object of their search, which was salvation, and the grace of God which should come unto you; the general salvation of men of all nations by Jesus Christ, and more especially the salvation afforded to the Jews, the grace that should come to them from him who was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. They foresaw glorious times of light, grace, and comfort, coming upon the church, which made the prophets and righteous men desire to see and hear the things which came to pass in the days of the gospel.

III. The manner of their enquiry: they enquired and searched diligently. The words are strong and emphatic, alluding to miners, who dig to the bottom, and break through not only the earth, but the rock, to come to the ore; so these holy prophets had an earnest desire to know, and were proportionably diligent in their enquiries after the grace of God, which was to be revealed in the days of the Messiah: their being inspired did not make their industrious search needless; for, notwithstanding their extraordinary assistance from God, they were obliged to make use of all the ordinary methods of improvement in wisdom and knowledge. Daniel was a man greatly beloved and inspired, yet he understood by books and study the computations of time, Dan 9:2. Even their own revelation required their study, meditation, and prayer; for many prophecies had a double meaning: in their first intention they aimed at some person or event near at hand, but their ultimate design was to describe the person, sufferings, or kingdom of Christ. Observe, 1. The doctrine of man's salvation by Jesus Christ has been the study and admiration of the greatest and wisest of men; the nobleness of the subject, and their own concern in it, have engaged them, with most accurate attention and seriousness to search into it. 2. A good man is much affected and pleased with the grace and mercy of God to others, as well as to himself. The prophets were highly delighted with the prospects of mercy to be shown both to Jews and Gentiles at the coming of Christ. 3. Those who would be acquainted with this great salvation, and the grace that shines therein, must enquire and search diligently into it: if it was necessary for an inspired prophet to do so, much more for persons so weak and injudicious as we are. 4. The grace that came by the gospel excels all that was before it; the gospel dispensation is more glorious, evident, intelligible, extensive, and effectual, than any dispensation that ever did precede it.

IV. The particular matters which the ancient prophets chiefly searched into, which are expressed in Pe1 1:11. Jesus Christ was the main subject of their studies; and, in relation to him, they were most inquisitive into,

1. His humiliation and death, and the glorious consequences of it: The sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow. This enquiry would lead them into a view of the whole gospel, the sum whereof is this, that Christ Jesus was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification.

2. The time, and the manner of the times, wherein the Messiah was to appear. Undoubtedly these holy prophets earnestly desired to see the days of the Son of man; and therefore, next to the thing itself, their minds were set upon the time of its accomplishment, so far as the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, had signified any thing towards that purpose. The nature of the times was also under their strict consideration, whether they would be quiet or troublesome times, times of peace or times of war. Learn, (1.) Jesus Christ had a being before his incarnation; for his Spirit did then exist in the prophets, and therefore he whose that Spirit then was must be in being also. (2.) The doctrine of the Trinity was not wholly unknown to the faithful in the Old Testament. The prophets knew that they were inspired by a Spirit that was in them; this Spirit they knew to be the Spirit of Christ, and consequently distinct from Christ himself: here is a plurality of persons, and from other parts of the Old Testament a Trinity may be collected. (3.) The works here ascribed to the Holy Ghost prove him to be God. He did signify, discover, and manifest to the prophets, many hundred years beforehand, the sufferings of Christ, with a multitude of particular circumstances attending them; and he did also testify, or give proof and evidence beforehand, of the certainty of that event, by inspiring the prophets to reveal it, to work miracles in confirmation of it, and by enabling the faithful to believe it. These works prove the Spirit of Christ to be God, since he is possessed of almighty power and infinite knowledge. (4.) From the example of Christ Jesus learn to expect a time of services and sufferings before you are received to glory. It was so with him, and the disciple is not above his Lord. The suffering time is but short, but the glory is everlasting; let the suffering season be ever so sharp and severe, it shall not hinder, but work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

V. The success with which their enquiries were crowned. Their holy endeavours to inform themselves were not slighted, for God gave them a satisfactory revelation to quiet and comfort their minds. They were informed that these things should not come to pass in their time, but yet all was firm and certain, and should come to pass in the times of the apostles: Not unto themselves, but to us; and we must report them, under the infallible direction of the Holy Ghost, to all the world. Which things the angels, etc.

You have here three sorts of students, or enquirers into the great affair of man's salvation by Jesus Christ: - 1. The prophets, who searched diligently into it. 2. The apostles, who consulted all the prophecies, and were witnesses of the accomplishment of them, and so reported what they knew to others in the preaching of the gospel. 3. The angels, who most attentively pry into these matters. Learn, (1.) A diligent endeavour after the knowledge of Christ and our duty will certainly be answered with good success. The prophets are answered with a revelation. Daniel studies, and receives information: the Bereans search the scriptures, and are confirmed. (2.) The holiest and best of men sometimes have their lawful and pious requests denied. It was both lawful and pious for these prophets to desire to know more than they were permitted to know about the time of the appearance of Christ in the world, but they were denied. It is lawful and pious for good parents to pray for their wicked children, for the poor to pray against poverty, for a good man to pray against death; yet, in these honest requests, they often are denied. God is pleased to answer our necessities rather than our requests. (3.) It is the honour and practice of a Christian to be useful to others, in many cases, rather than to himself. The prophets ministered to others, not unto themselves. None of us liveth to himself, Rom 14:7. Nothing is more contrary to man's nature nor to Christian principles than for a man to make himself his own end, and live to himself. (4.) The revelations of God to his church, though gradual, and given by parcels, are all perfectly consistent; the doctrine of the prophets and that of the apostles exactly agree, as coming from the same Spirit of God. (5.) The efficacy of the evangelical ministry depends upon the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. The gospel is the ministration of the Spirit; the success of it depends upon his operation and blessing. (6.) The mysteries of the gospel, and the methods of man's salvation, are so glorious that the blessed angels earnestly desire to look into them; they are curious, accurate, and industrious in prying into them; they consider the whole scheme of man's redemption with deep attention and admiration, particularly the points the apostle had been discoursing of: Which things the angels desire to stoop down and look into, as the cherubim did continually towards the mercy-seat.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The magnitude of this "salvation" is proved by the earnestness with which "prophets" and even "angels" searched into it. Even from the beginning of the world this salvation has been testified to by the Holy Spirit.

prophets--Though there is no Greek article, yet English Version is right, "the prophets" generally (including all the Old Testament inspired authors), as "the angels" similarly refer to them in general.

inquired--perseveringly: so the Greek. Much more is manifested to us than by diligent inquiry and search the prophets attained. Still it is not said, they searched after it, but concerning (so the Greek for "of") it. They were already certain of the redemption being about to come. They did not like us fully see, but they desired to see the one and the same Christ whom we fully see in spirit. "As Simeon was anxiously desiring previously, and tranquil in peace only when he had seen Christ, so all the Old Testament saints saw Christ only hidden, and as it were absent--absent not in power and grace, but inasmuch as He was not yet manifested in the flesh" [CALVIN]. The prophets, as private individuals, had to reflect on the hidden and far-reaching sense of their own prophecies; because their words, as prophets, in their public function, were not so much their own as the Spirit's, speaking by and in them: thus Caiaphas. A striking testimony to verbal inspiration; the words which the inspired authors wrote are God's words expressing the mind of the Spirit, which the writers themselves searched into, to fathom the deep and precious meaning, even as the believing readers did. "Searched" implies that they had determinate marks to go by in their search.

the grace that should come unto you--namely, the grace of the New Testament: an earnest of "the grace" of perfected "salvation . . . to be brought at the (second) revelation of Christ." Old Testament believers also possessed the grace of God; they were children of God, but it was as children in their nonage, so as to be like servants; whereas we enjoy the full privileges of adult sons.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired] The incarnation and suffering of Jesus Christ, and the redemption procured by him for mankind, were made known, in a general way, by the prophets; but they themselves did not know the time when these things were to take place, nor the people among and by whom he was to suffer, c. they therefore inquired accurately or earnestly, εξεζητησαν, and searched diligently, εξηρευνησαν, inquiring of others who were then under the same inspiration, and carefully searching the writings of those who had, before their time, spoken of these things. The prophets plainly saw that the grace which was to come under the Messiah's kingdom was vastly superior to any thing that had ever been exhibited under the law; and in consequence they made all possible inquiry, and searched as after grains of gold, hidden among sand or compacted with ore, (for such is the meaning of the original word,) in order to ascertain the time, and the signs of that time, in which this wondrous display of God's love and mercy to man was to take place; but all that God thought fit to instruct them in was what is mentioned 1Pet 1:1; 1Pet 1:12.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He hence commends the value of salvation, because the prophets had their minds intensely fixed on it; for it must have been a great matter, and possessing peculiar excellency, which could have thus kindled in the prophets a spirit of inquiry respecting it. But still more clearly does God’s goodness toward us shine forth in this case, because much more is now made known to us than what all the prophets attained by their long and anxious inquiries. At the same time he confirms the certainty of salvation by this very antiquity; for from the beginning of the world it had received a plain testimony from the Holy Spirit.

These two things ought to be distinctly noticed: he declares that more has been given to us than to the ancient fathers, in order to amplify by this comparison the grace of the gospel; and then, that what is preached to us respecting salvation, cannot be suspected of any novelty, for the Spirit had formerly testified of it by the prophets. When, therefore, he says that the prophets searched and sedulously inquired, this does not belong to their writings or doctrine, but to the private desire with which every one boiled over. What is said afterwards is to be referred to their public office.

But that each particular may be more evident, the passage must be arranged under certain propositions. Let the first then be this, — that the Prophets who foretold of the grace which Christ exhibited at his coming, diligently inquired as to the time when full revelation was to be made. The second is, — that the Spirit of Christ predicted by them of the future condition of Christ’s kingdom, such as it is now, and such as it is expected yet to be, even that it is destined that Christ and his whole body should, through various sufferings, enter into glory. The third is, — that the prophets ministered to us more abundantly than to their own age, and that this was revealed to them from above; for in Christ only is the full exhibition of those things of which God then presented but an obscure image. The fourth is, — that in the Gospel is contained a clear confirmation of prophetic doctrine, but also a much fuller and plainer explanation; for the salvation which he formerly proclaimed as it were at a distance by the prophets, he now reveals openly to us, and as it were before our eyes. The last proposition is, — that it hence appears evident how wonderful is the glory of that salvation promised to us in the Gospel, because even angels, though they enjoy God’s presence in heaven, yet burn with the desire of seeing it. Now all these things tend to shew this one thing, that Christians, elevated to the height of their felicity, ought to surmount all the obstacles of the world; for what is there which this incomparable benefit does not reduce to nothing?

10 Of which salvation Had not the fathers the same salvation as we have? Why then does he say that the fathers inquired, as though they possessed not what is now offered to us? The answer to this is plain, that salvation is to be taken here for that clear manifestation of it which we have through the coming of Christ. The words of Peter mean no other thing than those of Christ, when he said,

“Many kings and prophets have desired to see the things which ye see, and have not seen them.” (Matthew 13:17.)

As then the prophets had but a limited knowledge of the grace brought by Christ, as to its revelation they justly desired something more. When Simeon, after seeing Christ, prepared himself calmly and with a satisfied mind for death, he shewed that he was before unsatisfied and anxious. Such was the feeling of all the godly.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(10) Now St. Peter brings his doctrine home to the hearts of his readers of the Dispersion, by showing them how scriptural it is. Surely they will not “draw back” (Heb_10:39), but believe on to the purchasing of their souls, when they consider that all the prophets looked forward with envy to the prize now in their hands.

(10) Of which salvation.—The “of” stands for “concerning,” “with regard to”; and the salvation which formed the subject of investigation to the prophets was the present deliverance of the believing soul from sin and gloom, as well as the salvation yet future. It is difficult not to believe that the song of Zacharias was in St. Peter’s mind when he thus wrote; the theme of that song is precisely the glory of present salvation through Christ, and the fulfilment of prophecy thereby: “Blessed be the Lord God . . . who hath raised up a horn of salvation for us . . ., as He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets,—salvation from our enemies . . ., that we might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days; and thou too, little child, shalt be called a prophet . . . to give knowledge of salvation unto His people.”

Have enquired and searched diligently.—Rather, did inquire; for our present version tends to convey the notion that the prophetic writings which we now possess are the result of the inquiry. This would be wrong. Calvin rightly says: “When he states that the prophets inquired and examined, this refers not to their writings or teaching, but to the private longing with which each was fired.” In fact, St. Peter goes on to say that the writings which the Holy Spirit impelled them to make were actually the text on which their longings were the comment: they endeavoured to understand what they themselves had written. The two Greek words give a much more lively picture than the English, of the intense eagerness of the search, and of the depth to which it penetrated. If these great prophets took such pains to understand our present salvation, we ought to take heed not to “let it slip.” Precisely the same argument is used for precisely the same purpose by our Lord in Mat_13:16-17.

Who prophesied of the grace.—This is a description of the prophetic scriptures. The whole subject of the Old Testament is the bounty of God under the New; and this was what the prophets tried to realise.

The grace that should come unto you.—Perhaps the words in italics might be with advantage changed into, “the grace in reserve for you:” the word is the same as in 1Pe_1:4. “Grace” here seems to mean little more than “favour” or “bounty,” not the ordinary theological sense. The “favour” consists in our salvation.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently] The words require a slight correction before we proceed to explain them. The noun “prophets” is without the article and the verbs are in the aorist and not the perfect. We translate accordingly, of which salvation prophets enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied. The words have commonly been taken as referring exclusively to the Old Testament prophets, and it is at least right to set before the reader the interpretation of the passage in detail based upon that assumption. Those prophets, it is said, saw the future sufferings of Christ and the after glory but not the time of their accomplishment. The Spirit which taught them was, though they knew it not, the Spirit of Christ, one with that which proceeds from Him and which He bestows on His people. The sufferings appointed for Christ (this, rather than “sufferings of Christ,” is the true rendering) were such as those indicated prophetically in Isaiah 53, typically in Psalms 22. The glories were those of His Eternal Kingdom. It was revealed to the prophets that they were ministering these things (the verb is in the tense that implies continuous action) not for themselves (comp. the parallel language of Heb_11:13; Heb_11:39) but for “you” (some MSS. giving “us”), i.e. for the whole body of future believers in Christ. And these things, the sufferings of Christ and the glories of the future kingdom, were now, St Peter adds, “reported” by the preachers of the Gospel, those preachers being themselves also inspired by the Holy Ghost sent down, as on the day of Pentecost, to fit them for their work; the Gospel which was so preached including, on the one hand, the sufferings of Christ, as they are recorded in the written Gospels, and embodying all that had been revealed to the writers, of the future glory. And these things, he adds, “angels (the word is again without the article, as emphasizing the contrast between them as a class and prophets as a class) ‘desire to look into,’ yet do not see them with the clearness with which the true believer in Christ contemplates them.”

Having thus stated with, it is believed, adequate fulness what may be called the received interpretation of the words, it remains to give that which seems, on the whole, to be truer to the meaning of the words, and which presents a solution of phenomena which the other leaves unsolved. The basis of this other explanation lies in the belief that St Peter is speaking mainly, though perhaps not exclusively, of the prophets of the Apostolic Church. The position of those prophets was, we must remember, as prominent as that of the Apostles (Eph_2:20; Eph_3:5; Eph_4:11; 2Pe_3:2). Among those with whom St Peter had been brought into personal contact were Barnabas, the “son of consolation,” or, as the Hebrew might be interpreted, the “son of prophecy” (Act_4:36), Agabus (Act_11:28; Act_21:10), Judas, and Silas or Silvanus (Act_15:32). In 2Pe_1:19 we have sufficient proof of the importance attached to the “prophetic word” as a light giving guidance amidst the darkness and perplexities of the time. In 2Pe_3:1-13 we see that they spoke of the glories of the new heaven and the new earth after a time of darkness and distress In 1Co_2:9-10 we read how the things which “eye had not seen nor ear heard” had been revealed to prophets by the Spirit, and in Rom_16:25-26, in like manner, that “the mystery which had been kept secret since the world began was now made manifest in prophetic writings,” just as in Eph_3:5 St Paul speaks of the same mystery as now “revealed unto the Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit.” All this is enough, it is believed, to warrant, if only at first, tentatively, the assumption that the prophets of the New Testament are those of whom St Peter speaks. It will be seen how far the detailed examination of what follows falls in with the hypothesis.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Of which salvation the prophets have inquired,.... They greatly desired the coming of the Saviour, and to see him; they longed after the salvation to be accomplished by him, and expressed their wishes for him, and that; and inquired into the nature of it, and gave an account thereof, according to the measure of light and knowledge communicated to them; they pointed out Christ as a Redeemer of his people, and his salvation as spiritual and eternal:

and searched diligently; in the use of means; by prayer and supplication; by reading the prophecies that went before; by observing the types, shadows, and sacrifices of the law; and by waiting upon the Lord for the inspiration of his Spirit. This last clause is omitted in the Syriac version, but rightly retained in all others:

who prophesied of the grace; that should come unto you; Jews, and also the Gentiles. They prophesied both of Christ, who is the unspeakable gift of God's free grace, who is full of grace, and by whom it comes; and also of the several blessings of grace through Christ, as of redeeming grace from sin, Satan, death, and the grave; of justifying grace, through his righteousness, he being the Lord our righteousness, in whom all the seed of Israel shall be justified, and glory; for though his righteousness is revealed without the law, yet it is witnessed to by law and prophets; of pardoning grace, as with God, and as a blessing of the new covenant, and as received through faith in Christ, to which give all the prophets witness; of adopting grace, both to Jews and Gentiles, signifying, that where they were not called the people of God, they should be called the sons of God; of regenerating and sanctifying grace, in giving a new heart and Spirit, in sprinkling with clean water, in writing the laws of God in the inward parts, and pouring out the Spirit in a plenteous manner on all sorts of men; of persevering grace, intimating that they that fear the Lord shall not depart from him, and that his loving kindness shall never depart from them; and of eternal life and glory, as God's free gift, which is that everlasting salvation, they say, Israel shall be saved in the Lord with.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:

Ver. 10. The prophets have inquired] This highly sets forth the weight and worth of it, since such men took such pains upon it. Base spirits are busied about light matters; as Domitian spent his time in catching flies, Artaxerxes in making knife hafts; not so Caleb, "who had another spirit, and followed God wholly," Num 14:24. So did the ancient prophets, as Isaiah: while the merry Greeks were taken up at their Olympic games in the year 1590 from the Flood, the prophet Isaiah seeth that heavenly vision of Christ sitting on his throne, and heareth that thrice happy Trisagion, Isa 6:1-3. (Buchol. Chron.) And in this disquisition and scrutiny, the prophets with singular desire and industry exercised themselves, as the two compound Greek words, εκζητειν, εξερευναν, used in the next verse, do import.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Of which salvation - Of the certainty that this system of religion, securing the salvation of the soul, would be revealed. The object of this reference to the prophets seems to be to lead them to value the religion which they professed more highly, and to encourage them to bear their trials with patience. They were in a condition, in many respects, far superior to that of the prophets. They had the full light of the gospel. The prophets saw it only at a distance and but dimly, and were obliged to search anxiously that they might understand the nature of that system of which they were appointed to furnish the comparatively obscure prophetic intimations.

The prophets - This language would imply that this had been a common and prevalent wish of the prophets.

Have enquired - This word is intensive. It means that they sought out, or scrutinized with care the revelations made to them, that they might understand exactly what was implied in that which they were appointed to record in respect to the salvation which was to be made known through the Messiah. See the following places where the same word is used which occurs here: Luk 11:50-51; Act 15:17; Rom 3:11; Heb 11:6; Heb 12:17.

And searched diligently - ἐξερευνάω exereunaō. Compare Dan 9:2-3. The word used here means to search out, to trace out, to explore. It is not elsewhere used in the New Testament, though one of the words from which this is compounded (ἐρευνάω ereunaō) occurs. See Joh 5:39, (Notes) Joh 7:52; Rom 8:27; 1Co 2:10; Rev 2:23. The idea is, that they perceived that in their communications there were some great and glorious truths which they did not fully comprehend, and that they diligently employed their natural faculties to understand that which they were appointed to impart to succeeding generations. They thus became students and interpreters for themselves of their own predictions. They were not only prophets, but men. They had souls to be saved in the same way as others. They had hearts to be sanctified by the truth; and it was needful, in order to this, that truth should be applied to their own hearts in the same way as to others. The mere fact that they were the channels or organs for imparting truth to others would not save them, any more than the fact that a man now preaches truth to others will save himself, or than the fact that a sutler delivers bread to an army will nourish and support his own body.

Who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you - Of the favor that should be shown to you in the gospel. Though the predictions which they uttered appeared to the people of their own times, and perhaps to themselves, obscure, yet they were in fact prophecies of what was to come, and of the favors which, under another dispensation, would be bestowed upon the people of God. The apostle does not mean to say that they prophesied particularly of those persons to whom he was then writing, but that their prophecies were in fact for their benefit, for the things which they predicted had actually terminated on them. The benefit was as real as though the predictions had been solely on their account.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently; rather, prophets inquired and searched. There is no article, and the verbs are aorist. St. Peter illustrates the glory and greatness of our salvation (mark how he loves to repeat the word) by showing that it was the subject of the searching study of prophets and of the contemplation of angels. St. Peter was a diligent student of the prophetic books, and constantly quotes them, both in his Epistles and in his speeches recorded in the Acts. Here he gives us a very remarkable glimpse into the conditions of the prophetic consciousness. The scheme of our salvation was in some way revealed to the prophets; the mode of the revelation, whether by vision or otherwise, is not made known to us. Every point of contact between the infinite and the finite is enveloped in mystery; we can only know the fact there was such a revelation. That salvation was so magnificent a prospect that it concentrated upon itself the rapt attention and deepest interest of those to whom the promise was revealed. Prophets inquired and searched diligently. The revelation was real, but it was not complete, not distinct in its details. God revealed so much of the coming salvation as was sufficient to support his servants in their trials, and to quicken their faith in the Messiah. Prophets searched diligently, as miners seeking treasure; they prayed, and thought, and meditated, and exercised all their intellectual energies in the effort to comprehend the revelation which had been vouchsafed to them. Daniel was a remarkable example of this searching. (Dan_7:16 Dan_9:2, Dan_9:3) The revelation came to the prophet from God; the prophet received it, but could not comprehend it in all its depth and height he searched diligently.

Thoughts beyond their thoughts To those high bards were given. ("Christian Year. ) (Compare the song of Zacharias, Luk_1:68-79) Who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you? He defines the prophets, of whom he speaks as those who prophesied of the favor of God manifested in the redemption of mankind through his blessed Son. "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ". (Joh_1:17) St. Paul loved to dwell on the grace of God; so did St. Peter.

Vers. 10-12.

The work of Christ the central fact of the universe.

The salvation which is secured by the work of Christ, and the work which secures it, are the center-point of the creation. "They that go before and they who follow after cry, Hosanna! blessed be he that cometh!" The calendar of civilized nations proclaims that he is the Lord of the ages which are to be reckoned as "before Christ" or as "years of the Lord "preparatory to or the development of his work. As for all time, so for all orders of being, the cradle and the cross are the center. There were angels in the heavens when there where shepherds in the fields, and not only Wise Men from the East but "bright, harnessed" seraphs came as pilgrims to Bethlehem. There were angels in the tomb while weeping women stood without. Prophets heralded his coming; evangelists told that he had come; and both were taught by the Spirit, whose chiefest office in the past and in the present is to take of the things of Christ, and to show them to us. Thus round him move all ages; to him turn all eyes; of him speaks all revelation; for man"s salvation is the crowning work of God, and Christ effects man"s salvation. Note, then, in this grand utterance four sets of persons, all concerned in that great work.

I THE PROPHET-HERALDS. It has become fashionable now to speak doubtfully of Messianic prophecy. But any one who believes that Christ is what Peter knew him to be, the Son of God who died for all men, will feel it fitting that he should be heralded by the long series of predictions, and that before the King"s chariot should be many outriders. The view of Old Testament prophecy given here is remarkable. Its main theme is declared to be the sufferings which were destined for the Messiah, and his subsequent glories. Precisely that suffering Messiah which had been such a difficulty to Peter himself and has ever been so to his nation, and which so many scholars now cannot see in the Old Testament, is here regarded as the center of prophecy; not that the whole body of Jewish prophecy is concerned with him, but that "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." The stratum crops out at many points, but is continuous, even where not exposed. The whole system has a forward look. Institutions and persons, ritual and kings, the very nation itself in its high vocation and its many sorrows, witnessed of One to come, whose personality should be all and more than all which these shadowed. And all this light of prophecy is gathered into certain bright points, such as Isaiah 53. and Psalm 22., in which that mystery finds speech, of the Messiah who suffers and then conquers and reigns. That thought is the center of the Old Testament, The criticism which does not group it all round the suffering Messiah has missed the shaping principle which moulds it all, and in its perplexity has turned order into chaos. Again, the relation of the prophets to their message is taught here in a remarkable fashion. It is an axiom with some critics that prophecy must be interpreted in the sense in which the speaker and his hearers understood it. But Peter thinks that the prophetic inspiration sometimes left the speaker ignorant of the full meaning of his own predictions, so distinctly was it the utterance of a higher power. The period of fulfillment, in its date ("what") and characteristics ("what manner of time"), were not necessarily known by the prophet. Another axiom of modern philosophizers upon prophecy is that predictions must have had a bearing, consolatory or menacing, upon their first hearers. But Peter thinks that a prophecy may have been spoken which was only to be fulfilled long centuries after, and could only have gladdened the hearers with a far-off hope. Yet the prophet was not a mere machine or pipe through which the breath of inspiration blew. His heart throbbed in sympathy with his message, and he pondered it with all his force of thought. Peter"s theory of prophetic inspiration is equally far from the naturalistic and from the mechanical theories.

II THE ANSWERING CHOIR OF EVANGELISTS. The same truths were the theme of prophet and of preacher. The word "reported" and that rendered "preached the gospel" are both compounds of one root. To tell that message which prophets foretold is to preach the glad tidings to the world; and the whole business of the Christian teacher is to proclaim the joyful facts. So we have here:

1. The full identity of the message of the prophet and the preacher. The main difference is in the tense of their verbs. The one speaks in the future; the other, in the present; but the verbs are the same and the nominative is the same. The bud and the flower are one. Prophecy is condensed, outlined gospel. Gospel is expanded, specialized prophecy. Rays which were parted in the prophet"s utterance are united in the evangelist"s message. Anticipations are ever less definite than realities. But the theme is one, though prophecy touched with but a light hand the mysterious nature of the Messiah whom it proclaimed.

2. The essential substance of the gospel is the proclamation of historical facts. It is not a philosophy, nor directly a theology, still less is it a system of morality. It is the record of what has happened on this solid earth.

Philosophy and theology and morality will all be evolved from these facts, but the first form of the gospel is history. Only it is to be remembered that the fact that Jesus has lived and died is not the gospel; but the fact that Christ has died for our sins is. The more plainly Christian teachers deliver their message, not as the product of their own thoughts, but as the message given to them, and the more they center their energy on setting forth the fact of Christs sufferings in the past and glories in the present, the better for their success and for the world.

III THE LISTENING, GAZING ANGELS. "To look into" is literally" to bend the body so as to gaze upon an object," as the apostles did at the sepulcher. This graphic figure may, perhaps, be a reminiscence of the quiet forms which sat the one at the head and the other at the foot where the body of Jesus had lain, as gazing upon a mystery and guarding a holy place, or it may even recall the cherubim bending with outstretched and meeting wings above the mercy-seat. At all events, it speaks of the remoter and yet earnest interest which other orders of beings in other worlds take in the story of redemption. Men have the honor of proclaiming it, whether as prophets or evangelists. To them it belongs. He helped not angels, but he helped the "seed of Abraham? Therefore they do not speak of it, but stand around, like spectators in some great arena, all silent and all eyes. Three great truths concerning angelic natures are here. They are capable of learning. They too know God by his work which excites in them wonder and interest as it unfolds. The life and death of Christ, with the resulting salvation, are a revelation of God to angels no less than to men, and, though they have no share in the redemption, they have a share in the knowledge which the cross brings to them as to us. From it far-darting beams of light shoot earthwards and upwards. It is the crowning manifestation of the Divine nature for all worlds and orders of being, as for all ages.

IV THE ONE SPIRIT DWELLING IN PROPHETS AND EVANGELISTS. Not only is the theme the same, but the animating impulse also. The power by which the prophet saw all the wonder that should be is the same as the power which sat in cloven tongues of fire on the heads of all the Church on Pentecost, and has ever since been the strength of every evangelist and of every Christian. Inspiration is not a past phenomenon, but the permanent possession of the Church. Nay, the Spirit which of old came for special purposes on selected men and. tarried not with them, is now, as it were, a denizen of earth, for it is "sent down from heaven" once for all, to abide among us, touching all lips which humbly and prayerfully speak Christ"s Name among men. And it was the "Spirit of Christ" which dwelt in the prophets, and which they ever called "the Spirit of the Lord." From the beginning the Word was God; the manifested Jehovah of the old covenant is the Jesus Christ of the new. He is the Lord and Sender of that Spirit which spoke through all the prophets; he is the Medium of all revelation, the Self-manifestation of God from eternity. It is Christ who binds all the ages into one, filling the past, the present, and the future. It is Christ who binds all worlds and beings into one, revealing and ruling for angels and men. It is Christ who is the Theme and the Inspiration of all prophets and all teachers. To him cherubim and seraphim turn with eager gaze. The goodly fellowship of prophets speak of him; of him speak the great company who publish the Word. Let us, too, yield to the attraction of the cross, which binds all things in heaven and earth in golden unity. Let us gaze on those wonders of Divine pity and righteousness and love which have given to heaven a new conception of God. Let us open our spirits to that Spirit of Christ whose dwelling in our hearts shall set us free from sin and death. Let us cleave to that message which, in the history of his incarnation, death, and royal glories, brings to our hearts the good news that sheds light over all the darkest places of our human experience, and endows us with full salvation. A.M.

Vers. 10-12.

Salvation a matter of universal interest.

Christ is given in order to awaken faith, and faith is exercised with a view to the possession of salvation. This being so, it must be impossible to overestimate the importance of a blessing to secure which is the purpose of this great and Divine economy. In these verses the interest in salvation is represented as extending through the past ages of time and through the whole universe of God.

I SALVATION WAS MATTER OF PROPHETIC STUDY. The prophets were not so occupied with the repetition and enforcement of the Law which had been given by Moses as to the uninterested in a future dispensation. The grace that was to come engaged their thoughts. The Spirit of Christ led them to anticipate the sufferings and the glory of the Messiah. The very time of the coming dispensation and age, was of the deepest interest to these inspired men, who looked forward to the further manifestation of the purposes of God.

II SALVATION WAS MATTER OF APOSTOLIC REPORT. What the prophets had looked forward to, the apostles looked back upon. Peter and his colleagues had a gospel good tidings to proclaim. To benevolent minds no employment could be more congenial than to convey, upon Divine authority, declarations of God"s favor, promises of Divine mercy, to the sinful and pitiable sons of men.

III SALVATION IS MATTER OF ANGELIC INQUIRY. The present is not the only passage in which it is intimated that the unfallen intelligences who, not having sinned, need for themselves no salvation, are nevertheless students of the Divine plan for the recovery of sinful men. It is through the Church that principalities and powers learn additional lessons concerning the wisdom and the love of God.

IV SALVATION IS FOR THE APPROPRIATION AND REJOICING OF INDIVIDUAL RELIEVERS. The grace, says the apostle, comes unto you; unto us these things were ministered. It is instructive to know how prophets, apostles, and angels have been affected by the gospel of God"s grace. Yet that gospel is for the hearers of the Word for men of every rank and every character. And surely it deserves and demands that those who may most benefit by it should give it their most reverent and grateful attention. If the gifted and the holy find a sacred joy in pondering the provisions of God"s love and mercy, how urgently does it become the sinful and the helpless to give heed to tidings which offer to them a gracious pardon, a spiritual cleansing, and a deathless life! J.R.T.

Vers. 10-12.

The certainty and greatness of Divine salvation.

The tone of the whole letter shows that its readers were entering on a season of severe trial (vers. 6, 7; 1Pe_2:19-23 1Pe_3:13-18 1Pe_4:12-14 1Pe_5:10) and one object of the writer was to sustain and encourage them.

Now, what is his method? what is the Divine way of consolation? How well should we be able to minister to the tried if we knew how God would minister to them! His method is to bring before them the wonderful blessings of that salvation of which, in Christ, they partake. That is what we have here. As we read from the third verse, we seem to hear the apostle saying the blessings of salvation are the true solace for the distressed believer. He begins with an outburst of praise for their great hope; but he goes on to say their joy is not in the future only; then comes this paragraph on the substance of their salvation in Christ.

I SALVATION THROUGH CHRIST THE SUBJECT OF OLD TESTAMENT PREPARATION. The work of the prophets was not so much for their own day and dispensation as for this; they knew there was a deeper meaning in what they were impelled to say than they were conscious of intending; it was clear to them that they, centuries beforehand, were really working for New Testament times. That is, Christianity is no modern invention; it is not a step in the upward movement of the race dating back to Jesus of Nazareth, and now to he left behind as the race advances beyond it; to say nothing of appearances being against such a theory, for there are no traces that Christianity is not still infinitely above what any of the race has reached, its fundamental idea is false; Christianity dates from the beginning, its basis is a Divine work of preparation carried on through all the ages that were before it, and "when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son." Our text, however, does not take us further than this that salvation was the subject of Old Testament preparation. It is no heresy of the modern Church; it did not originate with Paul; it is not an idea of Jesus; it dates back through all the Old Testament that the world"s redemption should spring from a Savior suffering and then glorified.

1. Old Testament events were but steps leading up to it. Promised in Eden, again to Noah, again with additions to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob, etc. Prepared for in the work of Moses, in the calling out and training of Israel, to the choice of their land, in their being made the depositary of Divine truth, in the lives of David, Solomon, and the prophets, in the scattering of the Jews, in their connection with Roman power and Greek literature; all these were but, like the Baptist, preparing the way of the Lord.

2. Old Testament prophecies were but the heralds of salvation through Christ. Whatever the origin of sacrifice by blood, it goes back to the first family; and since they were accepted by God and it would be strange indeed for man to anticipate this great method of salvation we regard them as prefigurings of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Later on they were developed in the elaborate Jewish ritual atonement, high priest; mediation, entrance into the holiest, sprinkling of blood, etc. In the psalmists and prophets there is a yet further development of this the nature, the date, the birthplace, the character, the work, the death, the resurrection, the universal reign of the Messiah, are drawn in outline, so that "beginning at Moses and all the prophets," etc. Salvation in Christ, therefore, is the termination of a wondrous system promoted from the beginning, and was, after being worked out, "the mystery which from the beginning hath been hid in God according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

II SALVATION THROUGH CHRIST THE SUBJECT OF DIVINE REVELATION, The prophets taught through "the Spirit of Christ which was in them." So much for the Old Testament. The apostles that have preached the gospel unto you have done this "with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." So much for the New Testament.

1. The Spirit of Christ, therefore, is the author of Sacred Writ. Inspiration was the operation of the Divine Spirit on the minds of men so that they were led to utter infallible truth. It sometimes consisted simply in power to narrate facts and discourses accurately; but sometimes it included the suggestion of the very thoughts they should express, and of the very words they should use. So in listening to prophets and apostles we listen to God himself.

2. Consider the evidence of the Divine inspiration of Scripture. The great central witness to this is Christ. The Old Testament of his time and ours is identical; he always regarded it as the authoritative voice of God; we accept its Divine inspiration because we accept him. As to the New Testament, the apostles claim an inspiration equal to that of the Old, e.g. 1Co_2:12, 1Co_2:13. And unless that claim be true, how can Christ"s words be fulfilled? as e.g. to Peter as the representative of the twelve, "I will give unto thee the keys," etc., or after his resurrection, "As the Father hath sent me, so send I you; receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye remit," etc. Thus "the Church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ," etc.

3. Then in Scripture we have the infallible declaration of the most high God. In all Scripture. We must take the whole, or we have no Divine warrant for any part. There is no power which can be trusted to discriminate between what therein is Divine and what not; those who affirm such discrimination to be needful differ among themselves as to the test. Here God has deigned to speak; what is here is certain truth; here God has declared salvation; then that salvation is real.

III SALVATION THROUGH CHRIST THE SUBJECT OF ANGELIC RESEARCH. "Which things the angels," etc. Another evidence of the sublimity of the salvation offered in this book. The word is a graphic one, descriptive of the idea of bending down and fixing an intense, searching gaze on something, as when John stooped down and looked into the sepulcher; Peter may have been thinking of that.

1. The angels have vast privileges, yet they seem to envy the knowledge granted to us. They have all the blessings of a sinless state in God"s presence, but they look down on the mysteries of grace revealed to us, as though coveting the revelation.

2. The angels have great acquaintance with God, yet apparently they discern the greatest revelation of him here. They are familiar with nature and heaven, but

God in the person of his Son Hath all his mightiest works outdone.

"To the principalities and powers in heavenly places may be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God.

3. The angels have wonderful faculties of insight, yet there is more here than they can fathom. Such is the fullness of the gospel that they are still far from comprehending it. C.N.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Of which salvation - So far beyond all that was experienced under the Jewish dispensation. The very prophets who prophesied long ago of the grace of God toward you - Of his abundant, overflowing grace to be bestowed on believers under the Christian dispensation. Inquired - Were earnestly inquisitive. And searched diligently - Like miners searching after precious ore, after the meaning of the prophecies which they delivered.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

salvation

(See Scofield Rom 1:16).

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The revelation concerning God’s gift:

v. 10. Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you;

v. 11. searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.

v. 12. Unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

The apostle now places the proper emphasis on the greatness of the salvation which the believers confidently expect: Concerning which salvation even prophets searched and enquired, they that prophesied of the grace intended for you. The very men who, by the inspiration of the Spirit, revealed the gracious and good will of God, preached of the grace of God as it was intended for all men, these men were, for their own persons, so earnestly concerned about this promised salvation that they searched most eagerly and assiduously how they might become partakers of it, how they might understand its glorious import more fully. Of this the apostle writes: Pondering in reference to whom and what time the Spirit of Christ in them revealed, testifying in advance of the sufferings that were to come upon Christ and of the subsequent glories. Here it is plainly shown that the holy men of God did not put down their own philosophy, their own ideas; for they themselves pored over, and studied, the prophecies which the Spirit of Christ made known through their preaching and writing. Christ, who was thus in existence also during the time of the Old Testament, used His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, to bear witness in advance of the Passion of the Messiah and of His exaltation to the glories of heaven, also according to His human nature. The prophets themselves tried to find out to whom these sayings would apply and at what time their fulfillment was to be expected. Thus Jesus Christ, the Savior, is the theme of the Old Testament prophecy, as the apostle indicates in this very letter by quoting Psa 2:7; Psa 118:22, and Isa 53:1-12 as Messianic passages. Note that the searching of the prophets presupposes the existence of documents containing these prophecies.

The apostle continues by stating concerning the office of the Old Testament prophets: To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to you they might minister these things, which are now proclaimed to you through those that preach the Gospel to you in the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, into which the angels longed to get a glimpse. While the prophets of old were searching the Scriptures regarding the coming of the Messiah, the Lord continued to make known to them, and through them to the people, the facts concerning the Messiah, fixing the time with sufficient accuracy for their knowledge, Isa 2:2; Mic 4:2; Hos 3:5; Jer 31:1. All this was done for the sake of the New Testament believers; for through their writings the prophets conveyed the revelations granted to them for our benefit, through their ministry we have become acquainted with the facts of the salvation of men as set forth in the prophecies of old, the grace and salvation intended for us long before the coming of Christ has been transmitted and imparted to us. And the same facts are now, in the present dispensation, declared to us by the men whom God has given us to preach the Gospel to us, the apostles. These men, as the teachers of the New Testament, were inspired by the Holy Spirit given to them from heaven, by the exalted Christ, on the Day of Pentecost. This testimony of the Spirit is present to this day in the word of the apostles, which is therefore able to work in us the certain conviction of our salvation. So great and glorious is this salvation that, as the apostle says, the very angels long to get a glimpse into its transcendent beauties. Although the angels are blessed spirits, living before God in eternal happiness, yet the world to come is not put in subjection to them, Heb 2:5, they cannot possibly feel the unspeakable joy which is the portion of sinners that have been saved by the blood of the Lamb. That is a bliss which is reserved for the perfected saints.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10–12. Of which salvation the prophets have enquired. This passage implies that the prophets used words and symbols, at the dictation of the Spirit, of which they did not comprehend the full meaning. They spoke of Christ and salvation, and then diligently inquired what the Spirit of Christ in them did signify by these words.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

10. Plumptre (Camb. Bible, 1 Pet., p. 98) and others would explain the passage which follows as referring to New Testament prophets or preachers of the first days of the Church, who constantly uttered inspired warnings of a coming time of persecution for Christians which would be followed by glory. Such persecution however did not come immediately, and so the prophets gradually realized that their message was not for their own generation. Now however their warnings are being fulfilled in the Neronian persecution. In support of this view it is urged that “the Spirit of Christ” would be more appropriate to Christian prophets than to those of the O.T. and that τὰ εἰς Χριστὸν παθήματα means sufferings of Christians as members of Christ which pass on to Him as their Head. But this interpretation is somewhat unnatural; moreover St Peter had himself been one of the earliest preachers of the Church, and he distinctly contrasts the ministry of the prophets with the proclamation which is now made by the Mission of the Holy Spirit. The reference is probably to the numerous passages in the O.T., especially in the later prophets, which predicted the admission of the Gentiles (τῆς εἰς ὑμᾶς χάριτος, the free favour of God as reaching unto you Gentiles).

χάρις (see Robinson, Eph. pp. 221 ff.) is specially used by St Paul (a) in connexion with his own mission as the apostle to the Gentiles, (b) of the Gentiles as the recipients of the Universal Gospel.

So in Acts it is used eight times in passages which deal with the extension of the Gospel to the Gentiles. “The surprising mercy of God, by which those who had been wholly outside the privileged circle were now the recipients of the divine favour, seems to have called for a new and impressive name which might be the watchword of the larger dispensation.”

It is in this sense that St Peter uses the word here. He may have in mind the numerous O.T. passages quoted by St Paul (Romans 9, 10, 15) to shew that the inclusion of Gentiles was always contemplated.

Such predictions were accompanied by solemn asseverations of sufferings destined for the (coming) Messiah, τὰ εἰς Χριστὸν παθήματα, yet each prophecy of suffering was crowned with a prophecy of subsequent glory; cf. Luk 24:26, “Behoved it not the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory” was the lesson which our Lord expounded from the Scriptures to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.

ἐκζητεῖν, to seek out; ἐξεραυνᾷν, to search by minute investigation.

προφῆται. Even prophets, despite their divine mission, were less privileged than Christians. They sought and searched for the full meaning of God’s messages which they delivered. Now that meaning is fully proclaimed, cf. Mat 13:17.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10-12.] The weightiness of this salvation, as having been the object of earnest enquiry of Prophets, by whom it was announced, and even of angels.

10.] Concerning which salvation (its time especially, as explained below, but its manner and issue also) sought earnestly and examined earnestly (the prep. ἐξ both times strengthens the verb) prophets (προφῆται—ἄγγελοι, both times generic, to exalt the greatness of the σωτηρία. The οἱ περὶ … limits the assertion and defines the Prophets intended. Some take προφῆται as = οἱ προφ., as in ch. 5:1 (rec.), πρεσβυτέρους τοὺς ἐν ὑμῖν: but placed as the word is here parallel with ἄγγελοι, the other way seems better. So Bengel, “Articulus hic prætermissus grandem facit orationem, nam auditorem a determinata individuorum consideratione ad ipsum genus spectandum traducit: sic, ver. 12, angeli”), they who prophesied concerning the grace that was (destined) for you (we cannot fill up τῆς εἰς in English without defining the tense of the verb substantive, which here may be twofold: as above, or ‘that hath come unto you.’ The specification of ὑμᾶς makes this latter more probable: the whole cast of the sentence, the former. For we are considering what the Prophets felt, and looking forward with them: and the ὑμᾶς is not inconsistent with this. In matter of fact, in God’s purposes it was you, for whom the salvation was destined, though you as individuals were not in their view),

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Have inquired and searched diligently [εξεζητησαν - εξηρευνησαν] . Rev., properly, renders the aorists sought and searched diligently. The ejx in composition has the force of out, searched out, and is rendered by diligently.

Sought. Used of Esau 's seeking carefully for a place of repentance, in Heb 12:17.

Searched. Used nowhere else in the New Testament. Compare Septuagint, 1Sa 23:23, of Saul 's searching out David.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.