1 Peter 1:18

1Pe 1:18-21. Forasmuch as ye know, &c. — That is, be holy in your whole behaviour, because ye know what an immense price your redemption cost; that you were not redeemed with corruptible things — Such as all visible and temporal things are; even silver and gold — Highly as they are prized, and eagerly as they are sought; from your vain conversation — Your foolish, sinful way of life, a way wholly unprofitable to yourselves, and dishonourable to God; received by traditions from your fathers — Which you had been engaged in by the instruction or example of your forefathers. The Jews derived from their fathers that implicit regard for the traditions of the elders, by which they made the law of God of none effect, with a variety of other corrupt principles and practices. In like manner the Gentiles derived their idolatry, and other abominable vices, from the teaching and example of their fathers; for, in general, as Whitby justly remarks, the strongest arguments for false religions, as well as for errors in the true, is that men have received them from their fathers. But with the precious blood of Christ — Blood of immense value, being the blood of the only-begotten Son of God, who had glory with the Father before the world was; as of a lamb without blemish and without spot — See on Lev 22:21-22. The sacrifice of himself, which Christ offered to God without spot, being here likened to the sacrifice of the paschal lamb, and of the lambs daily offered as sin-offerings for the whole nation, we are thereby taught that the shedding of Christ’s blood is a real atonement for the sins of the world. Hence John the Baptist called him the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. And to show the extent of the efficacy of his sacrifice, that it reaches backward to the fall of man, as well as forward to the end of time, he is said (Rev 13:8) to be the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Who verily was foreordained — Προεγνωσμενου, foreknown, before the foundation of the world — Before God called the universe into being; but was manifested — Namely, in the flesh, Joh 1:14; 1Jn 3:8; in these last times — Of the Mosaic economy, or in the times of the gospel, the last dispensation of divine mercy; see note on Heb 1:2; for you — Jews or Gentiles; who by him — Through the virtue of his sacrifice, and the efficacy of his grace; do believe in God — In the one living and true God, as your Friend and Father; that raised him up from the dead — Thereby confirming his doctrine, showing the efficacy of his atonement, procuring for you the Holy Spirit, and assuring you of your resurrection; see on 1Pe 1:3; and gave him glory — Placed him at his own right hand, and invested him with all power in heaven and on earth, for the salvation of his followers, and the destruction of his and their enemies. See Heb 10:13. That your faith and hope might be in God — That you might be encouraged to believe in God as reconciled to you through Christ, that you might hope on good grounds that he will glorify you as he hath done Christ your Head; or, that your faith and hope might terminate in God the Father, or be ultimately fixed on him through the mediation of his Son.

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

1:18 A ransom is paid for the release of a captive. Slaves could sometimes pay a ransom and be released from their master. Christ’s death is the price God paid to release people from captivity to sin (1:19).

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

1Pe 1:18. Οὐ φθαρτοῖς, not with corruptible things) 1Pe 1:23.—ματαίας, vain) A vain course of life, which leaves no fruit behind, when the time has passed away.—πατροπαραδότου, received from the fathers) There is only one Father to be imitated, 1Pe 1:17. There is the same antithesis, Mat 23:9. In religion men too willingly and pertinaciously tread in the footsteps of their fathers, and the Jews in particular.

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

1Pe_1:18. The apostle strengthens his exhortation by reminding his readers of the redemption wrought out for them by the death of Christ. It is an assumption too far-fetched to suppose that this verse serves to show the causal connection between the protasis and the apodosis of 1Pe_1:17 (Schott).

εἰδότες] not: since ye know, but: considering, reflecting; Gerhard: expendentes; cf. 2Ti_2:23 and my commentary on the passage.

ὅτι οὐ] The negation is placed foremost in order the more to give prominence to the position.

φθαρτοῖς, ἀργυρίῳ ἢ χρυσίῳ] φθαρτοῖς is not an adjective here (Luther: with perishable silver and gold), but a substantive: with perishable things; see Winer, p. 491 [E. T. 662].

Benson thinks that by ἀργυρίῳ ἢ χρυσίῳ the apostle alludes to the custom of paying money as a sign of reconciliation, according to Exo_30:12-16; Num_3:44-51; Num_18:16; this is possible, but not probable.

ἐλυτρώθητε] is here used in its strict signification of, to ransom, or redeem by a λύτρον (cf. Mat_20:28), as in Tit_2:14, whilst in Luk_24:21 this definite application is lost sight of; with the thought, cf. 1Co_6:20. The ransom is stated in the following verse.

ἐκ τῆς ματαίας ὑμῶν ἀναστροφῆς] cf. 1Pe_1:14. μάταιος, empty, without real contents, does not occur in an ethical sense in the classics; LXX. Isa_32:6 translation of אָוֶן is not to be limited specially to the idolatry of the heathen (Carpzov, Benson, etc.), still less to the ceremonial service of the Jews (Grotius).[90]

πατροπαραδότου] belongs to the whole idea preceding: ΜΑΤΑΊΑς ὙΜῶΝ ἈΝΑΣΤΡΟΦῆς (see Winer, p. 489 [E. T. 659]). Aretius explains it by innata nobis natura; but this is not appropriate to ἈΝΑΣΤΡΟΦῆς; correctly Erasmus: quam ex Patrum traditione acceperatis; Steiger: by upbringing, instruction, and example (thus also de Wette-Brückner, Wiesinger, Weiss, Schott). This attribute emphatically shows that the ΜΑΤΑΊΑ ἈΝΑΣΤΡΟΦΉ is peculiar, not to the individual only, but to the whole race, and has been from the earliest times, and consequently is so completely master of the individual that he cannot free himself from it.

There is here no special reference to Judaeo-Christian readers (Weiss, p. 181).

[90] Although ματαία ἀναστροφὴ πατροπαράδοτος does not necessarily apply to the heathen (Schott), yet the expression more aptly characterizes their mode of life than the Jewish.

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 1:18 . Amplification of Isa 52:3 f., Δωρεὰν ἐπράθητε καὶ οὐ μετὰ ἀργυρίου λυτρωθήσεσθε ( cf. Isa 45:13 … εἰς Αἴγυπτον κατέβη ὁ λαός μου τὸ πρότερον παροικῆσαι ἐκεῖ . The deliverance from Babylon corresponds to the deliverance from Egypt. To these the Christians added a third and appropriated to it the descriptions of its predecessors. οὐ φθαρτοῖς , κ . τ . λ . The preceding negative relief to positive statement is characteristic of St. Peter, who here found it in his original (Isa. l.c. ). φθαρτοῖς echoes ἀπολλυμένου and is probably an allusion to the Golden Calf of which it was said These be thy gods O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt (Exo 32:14 ). According to Sap. 14:8, it is the proper name for an idol: τὸ δὲ φθαρτὸν θεὸς ὠνομάσθη . So the dative represents the agent and not only the instrument of the deliverance. ματαίας supports the view taken of φθ ., for the gods of the nations are vanity , μάταια הבל (Jer 10:3 , etc.). πατροπαραδότου , ancestral, hereditary . The adjective indicates the source of the influence, which their old way of life patrius mos, patriritus still exercised over them. The ancient religion had a strength not merely vis inertiae which often baffled both Jewish and Christian missionaries: “to subvert a custom delivered to us from ancestors the heathen say is not reasonable” (Clem. Ac. Protr. x.). This power of the dead hand is exemplified in the pains taken by the Stoics and New Pythagoreans to conserve the popular religion and its myths by allegorical interpretation. Among the Jews this natural conservatism was highly developed; St. Paul was a zealot for the ancestral laws . But the combination of patriarch and tradition does not prove that the persons addressed were Jewish Christians. The law, according to which the Jews regulated their life, was Divine, its mediator Moses; and there is a note of depreciation in the words not that it is derived from Moses only from the Fathers (Joh 7:22 ). πατρο is contrasted with πατέρα (17) as παραδότου with the direct calling.

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

An exhortation, wherein he setteth forth the excellency and greatness of the benefit of God the Father, in sanctifying us by the death of his own Son. And he partly setteth the purifyings of the Law against the thing itself, that is, against the blood of Christ, and partly also men’s traditions which he condemneth as utterly vain and superstitious, be they never so old and ancient.

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

Another motive to reverential, vigilant fear (Pe1 1:17) of displeasing God, the consideration of the costly price of our redemption from sin. Observe, it is we who are bought by the blood of Christ, not heaven. The blood of Christ is not in Scripture said to buy heaven for us: heaven is the "inheritance" (Pe1 1:4) given to us as sons, by the promise of God.

corruptible--Compare Pe1 1:7, "gold that perisheth," Pe1 1:23.

silver and gold--Greek, "or." Compare Peter's own words, Act 3:6 : an undesigned coincidence.

redeemed--Gold and silver being liable to corruption themselves, can free no one from spiritual and bodily death; they are therefore of too little value. Contrast Pe1 1:19, Christ's "precious blood." The Israelites were ransomed with half a shekel each, which went towards purchasing the lamb for the daily sacrifice (Exo 30:12-16; compare Num 3:44-51). But the Lamb who redeems the spiritual Israelites does so "without money or price." Devoted by sin to the justice of God, the Church of the first-born is redeemed from sin and the curse with Christ's precious blood (Mat 20:28; Ti1 2:6; Tit 2:14; Rev 5:9). In all these passages there is the idea of substitution, the giving of one for another by way of a ransom or equivalent. Man is "sold under sin" as a slave; shut up under condemnation and the curse. The ransom was, therefore, paid to the righteously incensed Judge, and was accepted as a vicarious satisfaction for our sin by God, inasmuch as it was His own love as well as righteousness which appointed it. An Israelite sold as a bond-servant for debt might be redeemed by one of his brethren. As, therefore, we could not redeem ourselves, Christ assumed our nature in order to become our nearest of kin and brother, and so our God or Redeemer. Holiness is the natural fruit of redemption "from our vain conversation"; for He by whom we are redeemed is also He for whom we are redeemed. "Without the righteous abolition of the curse, either there could be found no deliverance, or, what is impossible, the grace and righteousness of God must have come in collision" [STEIGER]; but now, Christ having borne the curse of our sin, frees from it those who are made God's children by His Spirit.

vain--self-deceiving, unreal, and unprofitable: promising good which it does not perform. Compare as to the Gentiles, Act 14:15; Rom 1:21; Eph 4:17; as to human philosophers, Co1 3:20; as to the disobedient Jews, Jer 4:14.

conversation--course of life. To know what our sin is we must know what it cost.

received by tradition from your fathers--The Jews' traditions. "Human piety is a vain blasphemy, and the greatest sin that a man can commit" [LUTHER]. There is only one Father to be imitated, Pe1 1:17; compare Mat 23:9, the same antithesis [BENGEL].

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 18. Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things] To redeem, λυτροω, signifies to procure life for a captive or liberty for a slave by paying a price, and the precious blood of Christ is here stated to be the price at which the souls of both Jews and Gentiles were redeemed; is was a price paid down, and a price which God's righteousness required.

Corruptible things mean here any thing that man usually gives in exchange for another; but the term necessarily includes all created things, as all these are corruptible and perishing. The meaning of the apostle is, evidently, that created things could not purchase the souls of men, else the sacrifice of Christ had not been offered; could any thing less have done, God would not have given up his only-begotten Son. Even silver and gold, the most valuable medium of commerce among men, bear no proportion in their value to the souls of a lost world, for there should be a congruity between the worth of the thing purchased and the valuable consideration which is given for it; and the laws and customs of nations require this: on this ground, perishable things, or things the value of which must be infinitely less than the worth of the souls of men, cannot purchase those souls. Nothing, therefore, but such a ransom price as God provided could be a sufficient ransom, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the world.

Vain conversation] Empty, foolish, and unprofitable conduct, full of vain hopes, vain fears, and vain wishes.

Received by tradition from your fathers] The Jews had innumerable burdens of empty ceremonies and useless ordinances, which they received by tradition from their fathers, rabbins, or doctors. The Gentiles were not less encumbered with such than the Jews; all were wedded to their vanities, because they received them from their forefathers, as they had done from theirs. And this antiquity and tradition have been the ground work of many a vain ceremony and idle pilgrimage, and of numerous doctrines which have nothing to plead in their behalf but this mere antiquity. But such persons seem not to consider that error and sin are nearly coeval with the world itself.

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

18 Forasmuch as ye know, or, knowing. Here is another reason, drawn from the price of our redemption, which ought always to be remembered when our salvation is spoken of. For to him who repudiates or despises the grace of the gospel, not only his own salvation is worthless, but also the blood of Christ, by which God has manifested its value. But we know how dreadfully sacrilegious it is to regard as common the blood of the Son of God. There is hence nothing which ought so much to stimulate us to the practice of holiness, as the memory of this price of our redemption.

Silver and gold For the sake of amplifying he mentions these things in contrast, so that we may know that the whole world, and all things deemed precious by men, are nothing to the excellency and value of this price.

But he says that they had been redeemed from their vain conversation, in order that we might know that the whole life of man, until he is converted to Christ, is a ruinous labyrinth of wanderings. He also intimates, that it is not through our merits that we are restored to the right way, but because it is God’s will that the price, offered for our salvation, should be effectual in our behalf. Then the blood of Christ is not only the pledge of our salvation, but also the cause of our calling.

Moreover, Peter warns us to beware lest our unbelief should render this price void or of no effect. As Paul boasts that he worshipped God with a pure conscience from his forefathers, (2 Timothy 1:3,) and as he also commends to Timothy for his imitation the piety of his grandmother Lois, and of his mother Eunice, (2 Timothy 1:5,) and as Christ also said of the Jews that they knew whom they worshipped (John 4:22,) it may seem strange that Peter should assert that the Jews of his time learnt nothing from their fathers but mere vanity. To this I answer, that Christ, when he declared that the way or the knowledge of true religion belonged to the Jews, referred to the law and the commandments of God rather than to the people; for the temple had not to no purpose been built at Jerusalem, nor was God worshipped there according to the fancies of men, but according to what was prescribed in the Law; he, therefore, said that the Jews were not going astray while observing the Law. As to Paul’s forefathers, and as to Lois, Eunice, and similar cases, there is no doubt but that God ever had at least a small remnant among that people, in whom sincere piety continued, while the body of the people had become wholly corrupt, and had plunged themselves into all kinds of errors. Innumerable superstitions were followed, hypocrisy prevailed, the hope of salvation was built on the merest trifles; they were not only imbued with false opinions, but also fascinated with the grossest dotages; and they who had been scattered to various parts of the world, were implicated in still greater corruptions. In short, the greater part of that nation had either wholly fallen away from true religion, or had much degenerated. When, therefore, Peter condemned the doctrine of the fathers, he viewed it as unconnected with Christ, who is the soul and the truth of the Law.

But we hence learn, that as soon as men depart from Christ, they go fatally astray. In vain is pretended in this case the authority of the Fathers or an ancient custom. For the Prophet Ezekiel cried to the Jews,

“Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers.” (Ezekiel 20:18.)

This ought also to be no less attended to by us in the present day; for, in order that the redemption of Christ may be effectual and useful to us, we must renounce our former life, though derived from the teaching and practice of our fathers. Thrice foolish, then, are the Papists, who think that the name of Fathers is a sufficient defense for all their superstitions, so that they boldly reject whatever is brought forward from the Word of God.

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.

(18) Forasmuch as ye know.—This correctly paraphrases the simple original knowing. Security, which is the opposite of the fear of the Father, is incompatible with knowing by whose and what anguish alone the inheritance could be purchased for us.

Corruptible things.—St. Peter’s contempt for “silver and gold” is shown early in his history (Act_3:6; comp. 1Pe_3:4). Gold and silver will come to an end with everything else that is material. Observe that, by contrast, the “blood of Christ” is implied to be not corruptible; and that, not because of the miraculous incorruption of Jesus Christ’s flesh, but because the “blood of Christ” of which the Apostle here speaks is not material. The natural blood of Jesus was only the sign and sacrament of that by which He truly and inwardly redeemed the world. (See Isa_53:12, “He poured out His soul unto death,” and Heb_10:9-10.)

Redeemed . . . from your vain conversation.—We have to notice (1) what the “redemption” means, and (2) what the readers were redeemed from. Now (1) the word “redeem” is the same which is used in Luk_24:21 (“We used to hope that He was the person destined to redeem Israel”), and in Tit_2:14 (“Gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity”), and nowhere else. The substantive appears in Luk_1:68; Luk_2:38; Heb_9:12, to represent the action of redeeming; and in Act_7:35, of Moses, to represent the person who effects such a redemption. Properly it means to ransom a person, to get them out of slavery or captivity by paying a ransom (Mat_20:28; Mar_10:45; comp. 1Ti_2:6). The notion of an actual ransom paid, however, was apt to slip away, as in the case of Moses just quoted, who certainly gave nothing of the nature of an equivalent to Pharaoh for the loss of his serfs. So that here, as in all passages relating to the Atonement, we must be very careful not to press the metaphor, or to consider it as more than a metaphor. The leading notion here is not that of paying an equivalent, but to call closer attention to the state in which the readers were before. It was a servitude like that of Egypt, or a captivity like that of Babylon, from which they needed a “ransomer” like Moses or Zerubbabel. What then was that condition? (2) St. Peter describes it as a “vain conversation traditional from the fathers.” The word “conversation” again catches up 1Pe_1:15; 1Pe_1:17, “be holy in your conduct; let it be a conduct of fear; for your old vain conduct needed a terrible ransom before you could be set at liberty from it.” The question is, whether a Gentile or Jewish mode of life is intended. If it meant merely as regards religious worship, it would suit either way, for it was of the essence of Roman state “religion” that it should be the same from generation to generation. (See Act_24:14.) But “conversation” or “manner of life” is far too wide a word to be thus limited, and at the same time the word “tradition” implies (in the New Testament) something sedulously taught, purposely handed down from father to son as an heirloom, so that it could not be applied to the careless, sensual life of Gentiles, learned by example only. On the other hand, among the Jews “tradition” entered into the minutest details of daily life or “conversation.” (See Mar_7:3-4—the Petrine Gospel.) It was a matter of serious “tradition” how a cup was to be washed. “Vain” (i.e., frivolous) seems not an unnatural epithet to apply to such a mode of life, especially to one who had heard Mar_7:7. It would seem, then, that the readers of this Letter were certainly Jews by birth. But would the Apostle of the Circumcision, the supposed head of the legal party in the Church, dare to call Judaism a “vain conversation,” to stigmatise it (the single compound adjective in the Greek has a contemptuous ring) as “imposed by tradition of the fathers,” and to imply that it was like an Egyptian bondage? We have only to turn to Act_15:10, and we find him uttering precisely the same sentiments, and calling Judaism a slavish “yoke,” which was not only so bad for Gentiles that to impose it upon them was to tempt God, but also was secretly or openly felt intolerable by himself, by all the Jews there present, and even by the fathers who had imposed it. Judaism itself, then, in the form it had then assumed, was one of the foes and oppressors from which Christ came to “ransom” and “save” His people. (See Notes on 1Pe_1:9-10, and comp. Act_13:39.)

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

18. as ye know that ye were not redeemed …] The idea of a ransom as a price paid for liberation from captivity or death, suggests the contrast between the silver and gold which were paid commonly for human ransoms, and the price which Christ had paid. In the word itself we have an echo of our Lord’s teaching in Mat_20:28, Mar_10:45. In this instance, it will be noted, stress is laid on the fact that the liberation effected by the ransom is not from the penalty of an evil life, but from the evil life itself.

from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers] Better, as before, vain conduct. It has been somewhat rashly inferred from these words that the Apostle is speaking mainly, if not exclusively, of the converts from heathenism who were to be found in the Asiatic Churches. His own words, however, in Act_15:10, yet more the condemnation passed by our Lord on the traditions of the elders (Mat_15:2-6, Mar_7:3-13), and St Paul’s reference to his living after the traditions of the fathers (Gal_1:14), are surely enough to warrant the conclusion that he is speaking here of the degenerate Judaism of those whom he addresses, rather than turning to a different class of readers, or, at the least, that his words include the former.

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.

Forasmuch as ye know,.... From the Scriptures of truth, by the testimony of the Spirit, by his work upon the soul, and by the application of the benefits of redemption, such as justification, pardon, adoption, and sanctification; see Job 19:25,

that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold. The redemption of a soul, which is of more worth than a world, requires a greater price than gold and silver; and those who have the largest share thereof, can neither redeem their own souls with it, nor the souls of others. The soul is immortal and incorruptible, but these are corruptible things, which may be cankered, or wear away, and perish by using; and therefore, seeing redemption is not obtained by anything corruptible, nothing corrupt in principle, or practice should be indulged. The allusion is to the redemption of the people of Israel, and of the firstborn, by shekels, Exo 30:12. Gold and silver do not mean pieces of gold and silver, but gold and silver coined; for only by such could redemption of anything be obtained (d) but these are insufficient for the redemption of the soul; which is a deliverance from the slavery of sin, the bondage, curse, and condemnation of the law, the captivity of Satan, and from a state of poverty, having been deep in debt, and sold under sin. It here follows,

from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; meaning not the corruption of nature, which is propagated from father to son by natural generation, and lies in the vanity of the mind, and is the spring and source of an evil conversation; though the saints, as they are redeemed from all sin, so from this, that it shall not be their condemnation; not Gentilism, which lay in vain philosophy, in idolatry and superstition, and in evil and wicked conversation, encouraged by the example of their ancestors; but Judaism, and either regards the ceremonial law, which was delivered by Moses to the Jewish fathers, and by them handed down to their posterity; and which was vain, as used and abused by them, and was unprofitable to obtain righteousness, life, and salvation by, and therefore was disannulled by Christ, who has redeemed and delivered his people from this yoke of bondage; or rather the traditions of the elders, which our Lord inveighs against, Mat 15:3 &c. and the Apostle Paul was brought up in, and zealous of, before conversion, Gal 1:14 as the Pharisees were. These were the inventions and decrees of them they called "fathers", to whose dogmas and decisions they paid the utmost respect. These made up their oral law, which the Jews say (e) Moses received from Sinai, and delivered to Joshua; and Joshua to the elders; and the elders to the prophets; and the prophets to the men of the great synagogue, the last of which was Simeon the just; and from him it was delivered to another; and so from one to another to the times of Christ and his apostles and afterwards; and which consisted of many vain, useless, and unprofitable things; to walk according to which must be a vain conversation; and the saints now being redeemed by a greater price than that of silver and gold, and which is after mentioned, they ought not therefore to be the servants of men, no, not of these fathers, but of God and Christ,

(d) Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Beracot, c. 7. sect. 1. (e) Pirke Abot, c. 1. sect. 1, 2, &c.

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

18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;

Ver. 18. Ye were not redeemed with silver and gold] These are poor things to purchase a soul with (more likely they are to drown it in perdition and destruction, 1Ti 6:9). Our Saviour, who only ever went to the price of souls, tells us that one soul is more worth than a world, Mat 16:26.

Received by tradition] Children are very apt to follow their parents’ example, whether of good or evil. Me ex ea opinione quam a maioribus accepi de cultu Deorum, nullius unquam movebit oratio, saith Cicero, I will never forsake that way of di vine service that I have received from my fore fathers.

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.

Forasmuch as ye know - This is an argument for a holy life, derived from the fact that they were redeemed, and from the manner in which their redemption had been effected. There is no more effectual way to induce true Christians to consecrate themselves entirely to God, than to refer them to the fact that they are not their own, but have been purchased by the blood of Christ.

That ye were not redeemed - On the word rendered “redeemed,” (λυτρόω lutroō,) see the notes at Tit 2:14. The word occurs in the New Testament only in Luk 24:21; Tit 2:14, and in this place. The noun (λύτρον lutron) is found in Mat 20:28; Mar 10:45, rendered ransom. For the meaning of the similar word, (ἀπολύτρωσις apolutrōsis,) see the notes at Rom 3:24. This word occurs in Luk 21:28; Rom 3:24; Rom 8:23; 1Co 1:30; Eph 1:7, Eph 1:14; Eph 4:30; Col 1:14; Heb 9:15, in all which places it is rendered redemption; and in Heb 11:35, where it is rendered “deliverance.” The word here means that they were rescued from sin and death by the blood of Christ, as the valuable consideration on account of which it was done; that is, the blood, or the life of Christ offered as a sacrifice, effected the same purpose in regard to justice and to the maintenance of the principles of moral government, which the punishment of the sinner himself would have done. It was that which God was pleased to accept in the place of the punishment of the sinner, as answering the same great ends in his administration. The principles of his truth and justice could as certainly be maintained in this way as by the punishment of the guilty themselves. If so, then there was no obstacle to their salvation; and they might, on repentance, be consistently pardoned and taken to heaven.

With corruptible things, as silver and gold - On the word “corruptible,” as applicable to gold, see the notes at 1Pe 1:7. Silver and gold usually constitute the price or the valuable consideration paid for the redemption of captives. It is clear that the obligation of one who is redeemed, to love his benefactor, is in proportion to the price which is paid for his ransom. The idea here is, that a price far more valuable than any amount of silver or gold had been paid for the redemption of the people of God, and that they were under proportionate obligation to devote themselves to his service. They were redeemed by the life of the Son of God offered in their behalf; and between the value of that life and silver and gold there could be no comparison.

From your vain conversation - Your “vain conduct, or manner of life.” See the notes at 1Pe 1:15. The word “vain,” applied to conduct, (ματαίας mataias,) means properly “empty, fruitless.” It is a word often applied to the worship of idols, as being nothing, worthless, unable to help, Act 14:15; 1Ki 16:13; 2Ki 17:15; Jer 2:5, Jer 2:8,Jer 2:19 and is probably used in a similar sense in this place. The apostle refers to their former worship of idols, and to all the abominations connected with that service, as being vain and unprofitable; as the worship of nothing real (compare 1Co 8:4, “We know that an idol is nothing in the world’), and as resulting in a course of life that answered none of the proper ends of living. From that they had been redeemed by the blood of Christ.

Received by tradition from your fathers - The mode of worship which had been handed down from father to son. The worship of idols depends on no better reason than that it is that which has been practiced in ancient times; and it is kept up now in all lands, in a great degree, only by the fact that it has had the sanction of the venerated people of other generations.

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

From your vain conversation of the tradition of your fathers. St. Peter teacheth what St. Paul repeats in many places, that it was in vain for them to hope to be saved by the ceremonies and precepts of the former law, to which their forefathers had added many unnecessary and groundless traditions. They could only hope for salvation by believing in Christ, by the price of whose precious blood they were redeemed from their sins, as they had heard by the word of the gospel preached to them. His doctrine is the same with that of St. Paul, of St. James, of St. John, and of the other apostles, that to be saved it is not enough to have faith or hope in Christ, but it must be a faith joined and working by charity, obeying the law of Christ in the spirit of charity with a sincere and brotherly love of every one, without setting our hearts upon the vanities and corruptible things of this world, remembering that all flesh is as grass, or the flowers of the field, which wither and pass away in a very short time. Thus presently vanish all riches, honours, pleasures, and all the glory of this life, but the word of God and his promises will bring us to happiness which will last for ever. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Forasmuch as ye know; considering that ye were, &c.

That ye were not redeemed with corruptible things: see Tit 2:14. This implies them to have been in a servile condition, and in bondage to their own errors, till they were converted to Christ.

As silver and gold; the most precious things, of greatest esteem among men.

From your vain, because unprofitable to, and insufficient for, righteousness and salvation, conversation, viz. in your Judaism, wherein you were so much addicted to uncommanded rites and ceremonies, as to have little respect for God’s law.

Received by tradition; and so not only by their example and practice, but by their doctrine and precepts, Mat 15:3, &c.; Mar 7:7, &c. See likewise Gal 1:14.

From your fathers; either your ancestors, as Eze 20:18, or doctors and instructors, who are sometimes called fathers, 1Co 4:15.

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

18. A second argument for fear is based upon the price of redemption.

Know—And should bear in mind.

Redeemed—By the payment of a ransom to the righteous Lawgiver and Judge, whose curse is upon all transgression. This legally opens the way for the actual deliverance of the ransomed. Both are here meant. Because of the ransom, they had been delivered from the vain, profitless life in which their idolatrous fathers had taught their children.

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

Forasmuch as ye know; literally, knowing, considering. That ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold. The order in the original gives mere emphasis: "That not with corruptible things, silver and gold, were ye redeemed." Afford notes here that the diminutives (ajrguriw h] crusiw) stand generally (not always) for the coined or wrought metal. The word ejlutrwqhte, "ye were ransomed," seems to point back to the great saying of our Lord, "The Son of man came to give his life a ransom for many (lutron ajnti pollwn)" (Matthew Mar_10:45; comp. 1Ti_2:6) Doubtless no human language can adequately express the mystery of the atonement. That stupendous fact transcends human reason, and cannot be exactly defined in human words. But the Lord himself describes it as a ransom" a ransom for many," given in their stead. Reverence keeps us from pressing the illustration in all its details. It may be that the correspondence between the atonement and the redemption of a slave from an earthly master is not exact in all points. But the illustration comes from the Lord himself, who is the Truth; it must be true as far as human language permits, as far as human reason can comprehend. It teaches, as plainly as words can express, the doctrine of vicarious satisfaction: he gave his life, not only in behalf of us, but also instead of us a ransom for our sins. Compare the use of the word ajgorazein, (1Co_6:20) "Ye are bought with a price;", (2Pe_2:1) "The Lord that bought them;" also ejxagorazein, (Gal_3:13) "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law." From your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; literally, out of your vain manner of life or conduct. The word here rendered "vain" is used of idolatry in Act_14:15, and also the corresponding verb in Rom_1:21. St. Peter seems to be thinking mainly of Gentile Christians; he would scarcely describe the sinful conversation of Israelites as "handed down from your fathers" (Revised Version) without some qualification. Habits are transmitted from fathers to children; habitual custom is made an excuse for many shortcomings, but "unus Pater imitandus" (Bengel).

Vers. 18, 19.

The scope, means, and purpose of redemption.

The immediate connection of these words is with the solemn exhortation to habitual" fear a reverential awe of our Father-Judge, and a consequent dread of sin which disturbs our filial relation and incurs his judicial displeasure. The consciousness of the purpose and price of our redemption is here urged as a motive to such fear. Love and thankfulness, joy and confidence, are its fruits. But nonetheless certainly will the adequate sense or" that great sacrifice in its costliness and its purpose lead to our passing the time of our sojourning here in fear. The gospel of redemption is not meant to produce carelessness, or a light estimate of the holiness of God or of the heinousness of sin, but to make conscience more sensitive, and to lead to anxious scrupulousness in avoiding all conduct which would be condemned by the judgment of God. The apostle appeals to that consciousness as familiar and certain. He presupposes the distinct and developed teaching of the sacrificial death of Christ, and of its redemptive efficacy, as well known and universally received. The tone of his reference establishes the existence of that teaching as the fundamental doctrine of the gospel in all the Churches to which his letter was addressed. And the use which he makes of that truth, as the great motive to practical holiness, is in accordance with all New Testament teaching, which ever regards Christ"s sacrifice in its practical aspect as the foundation in us of all goodness. We have here three great aspects of redemption what it is from; what it is by; what it is for.

I WHAT WE ARE REDEEMED FROM. The original idea of "redemption" is, of course, purchase from slavery. Here we have no reference to what is prominent in other places of Scripture the deliverance by Christ"s blood from guilt and condemnation. That aspect of redemption is involved in more than one place in this Epistle, and underlies it all. It must first be experienced before we can be redeemed from the love and practice of evil. But the purpose which the apostle has here in view leads him to dwell on the other side of the complex idea of redemption the deliverance from the bondage of sin, holding will and affections in thraldom. "Ye are redeemed," says he, "from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers." Now, that expression is a pregnant description of the whole course of godless life. "Conversation," we perhaps need not observe, is equivalent to conduct.

1. The implication that all godless life is slavery lies in the very word "redemption." If we consider how sin masters a man, ratters his will, and binds him with iron chains of habit, which hold him in spite of conscience, and in mockery of resolutions and efforts, we can understand the deep truth in our Lord"s paradoxical words, "He that committeth sin is the slave of sin." Do a wrong thing, and it is your master, as you will soon discover if you try to efface its consequences and to break away from its dominion. But besides this implication that all sin is slavery, which lies in the idea of redemption, we have here, secondly, the thought that all sin is empty and profitless.

2. There is a whole world of meaning in that epithet "vain." It is the condensation into one little monosyllable of the experience of all the generations. All sin is empty. As one of the Hebrew words for it literally means, it is a missing of the mark. It is always a blunder no man gets the good which he expected by his sin, or, if he does, he gets something else which spoils it. "It is as when a hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and is faint." Sin is vain, for it yields no results correspondent to the nature of man, and so does not satisfy him. It produces none corresponding to his obligations, and so in the eyes of God, or what is the same thing, in reality, a godless life is a wasted and barren life, however full of fruit it may appear. It produces none that abides. All are annihilated by the judgment of God, and survive only in remorse and pain. The devil always plays with loaded dice. A godless life is a vain life. "The man who lives it sows much and brings home little," and "the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

3. This vain life is the fatal gift from generation to generation. A twofold application of the fact that it is transmitted from father to son may be made. This godless course of life has no higher source and sanction than men"s notions. It is a poor miserable account for a responsible being to give of his moral conduct and judgments to say, "My father did so and thought so before me." In that view this clause exposes the hollowness and weakness of the foundation on which many a godless life is unthinkingly and almost mechanically built. Or the apostle"s purpose may rather be to signalize the strength of evil derived from that solemn fact of its transmission from parent to child. "Heredity" is a new word to express an old truth. A man"s ancestors live again in him. Moral qualities descend as plainly as physical peculiarities. And besides the strain in the blood which affects the moral nature, example and habit tell in the same direction. Thus the evil becomes generic and wraps the whole race in its folds. Hence, too, the need for a new power acting from without if men are to be redeemed from it. There must be a new beginning from an untainted source if the hitter waters are to be healed. He who is to redeem the race must come from outside the race, and yet must work within it.

II So we have here, WHAT WE ARE REDEEMED BY. The apostle employs his favorite epithet in speaking of the blood of Christ. It is "precious." What a profound sense of the worth of that wondrous sacrifice lies in that one simple word, more eloquent and full of feeling than a crowd of superlatives! Our Lord"s death is evidently regarded here as sacrificial. The "lamb without blemish and without spot" distinctly refers to the requirement of the Mosaic Law in reference to the sacrifice. It is not merely the sinless purity of our Savior"s life, but that purity as fitting Him to be the Sacrifice for the world"s sin, which comes into view here. We cannot do justice to the thought unless we recognize the sacrificial character of Christ"s death as the teaching of this passage. At the same time, we have to remember that redemption here is regarded as deliverance from the love and practice of evil rather than from its guilt and punishment. But while this is true, these two aspects of redemption are inseparable. Christ redeems us from the former by redeeming us from the latter. The sense of guilt and the fearful looking for of judgment bind men to sin, and the only way to wean them from it begins with the assurance of pardon and the removal of the burden of guilt. Unless we have a gospel of atonement to preach, we have no gospel of deliverance from the bondage of sin. Christ makes us free because he dies for us, and in one shedding of his blood at once annihilates guilt and brings pardon and destroys the dominion of sin. That death, too, is the one means for so influencing men"s hearts that they shall no longer love evil, but delight to do his will, and by love and fellowship grow like their Lord. Sin"s reign has its fortress in our will and affections, and Christ"s death believed and trusted changes the set and current of these, casts out the usurper, and enthrones Jesus as our rightful Lord. Again, Christ"s death procures for us the Divine Spirit who dwells in our hearts, and by his presence "makes us free from the law of sin and death." So by setting us in new relations to the Divine Law, by taking away the sense of guilt, by bringing to bear a new motive, by procuring a Spirit to give a new life, the sacrificial death of the sinless Christ redeems us from the power of sin.

III WHAT WE ARE REDEEMED FOR. The text is a motive urged by the apostle to enforce his previous exhortation: "Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear." The consciousness of our redemption and the fact of our redemption should lead, not to easy confidence or indifference, but to reverential awe and dread of" receiving the grace of God in vain." The more clearly the purpose of our redemption to be our complete emancipation from all sin be seen, and the more profoundly we value the tremendous price at which God has thought it worth while to buy us hack for his own, the more we shall dread every sin. Surely no motive can so powerfully commend the solemn comprehensive command, "Be ye holy as I am holy," or so strongly impel to that wholesome fear without which it can never be obeyed, as the contemplation of the precious blood shed for our sakes. That awful sacrifice is in vain so far as we are concerned, the blood of Jesus has poured out for naught, unless it has not only availed to stilt our fears and bring us pardon, but also to "cleanse us from all sin," and make us love and do righteousness. We are redeemed from sin by the blood of Christ, that we may be the lambs of his flock without blemish and without spot, like the Shepherd-Lamb. A.M.

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

Your vain conversation - Your foolish, sinful way of life.

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

redeemed

(See Scofield "Rom 3:24").

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

Still our apostle is pressing Christians to the love and practice of holiness, and a reverential fear of God, by fresh arguments and motives, particularly from their redemption; saying, that they could not but be sensible that they were redeemed with a very costly price, not with silver and gold, which yet would ransom kings, but by the precious blood of Christ, whom the paschal lamb typified, and who was from eternity fore-ordained to the office of a mediator, though he was not manifested in the flesh till these last days, for the good and benefit of those who by him do believe in God that raised Christ from the dead, and gloriously exalted him at his right hand, upon which account their faith and hope may safely and comfortably rest in God.

Note here, 1. The thraldom, bondage, and slavery, of our sinful state before we were redeemed.

Note, 2. The impotency and inability of all outward things, be they never so rich, precious, and costly, to redeem and ransom an enslaved sinner. Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold. All the gold and silver in the world was no ransom for one soul, nay, the blood of all the creatures in the world offered up in sacrifice to the justice of God, could have been no sufficient compensation.

Note, 3. That the redemption of every soul cost no less than the precious blood of the Son of God, that spotless Lamb, who by the sacrifice of his death atoned divine displeasure.

Note, 4. That God the Father fore-ordained Jesus Christ his Son to this blessed office of a Redeemer before the foundation of the world, though he was not manifest in the flesh till these last times.

Note, 5. That by Christ the Redeemer we are taught to know God, and to believe in him who raised Christ from the dead.

Here observe, How the Socinians wrest and misapply this text, where we are said by Christ to believe in God. Thus they argue, "He by whom we believe in God, is not that God in whom we believe, because the means of faith can never be the object of faith; but Christ is he: the apostle says here, by whom we believe in God, therefore Christ is not God."

Ans. Christ, considered in his human nature, in which he died, and was raised for us, is he by whom we believe in God, that is, own him to be able to raise us from the dead; but this hinders not his being God according to his divine nature, by which he did actually raise himself from the dead, Joh 10:18.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18. Ye were not redeemed. Gold or earthly wealth could never have wrought our redemption. From your vain conversation. Vain and profitless manner of life. Handed down from your fathers. This was true of Jewish Christians, but still more true of the heathen who had been converted.

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.

you have been redeemed

This can be stated in active form. AT: "God has redeemed you" (See: Active or Passive)

the precious blood of Christ

Here "blood" stands for Christ's death on the cross. (See: Metonymy)

like a lamb without blemish or spot

Jesus died as a sacrifice so that God would forgive people's sins. AT: "like the lambs without blemish or spot that the Jewish priests sacrificed" (See: Simile)

without blemish or spot

Peter expresses the same idea in two different ways to emphasize Christ's purity. AT: "with no imperfections" (See: Doublet)

translationWords

perish

silver

gold

redeem

fool

ancestor

blood

Christ

lamb

blemish

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

18. εἰδότες. The thought of what their deliverance has cost increases the responsibility of Christians to “walk worthily.”

ἐλυτρώθητε, ye were ransomed. The word is used of deliverance from slavery or from exile, e.g. of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt (Exo 6:6; Exo 15:13, etc.). So St Stephen speaks of Moses as λυτρωτής. Again Isa 52:3, speaking of the deliverance from Babylon, says, οὐ μετὰ ἀργυρίου λυτρωθήσεσθε. In Luk 2:38 Anna “spake of Jesus to all those that were looking for the redemption (λύτρωσιν) of Jerusalem” (R.V.), referring to the Messianic kingdom as the deliverance from foreign rule; cf. Luk 24:21, “We hoped that it was He which should redeem (λυτροῦσθαι) Israel.” Similarly Christians are to welcome the signs of the coming of the Son of Man as a token that their redemption draweth nigh, i.e. their deliverance, Luk 21:28. So sin is regarded as a state of slavery from which man needs deliverance, and in Eph 1:7, Col 1:14, St Paul defines ἀπολύτρωσις as ἄφεσις παραπτωμάτων or ἁμαρτιῶν, letting go free from sins, and in Tit 2:14 he says that “Christ Jesus gave Himself on our behalf that he might redeem (λυτρώσηται) from all iniquity and purify unto himself a people for his own possession,” just as Israel were made God’s “peculiar people” by being “purchased and redeemed of old.” So here St Peter regards the old heathen life of his readers as a state of slavery from which they have been ransomed. But besides the mere idea of rescue or deliverance the word λυτροῦσθαι suggests also deliverance by the payment of a ransom by another, and the ransom given for man’s deliverance from the slavery of sin was the life-blood of Christ Himself; cf. Mat 20:28; Mar 10:45, “The Son of Man came … to give His life a ransom for many” (λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν); cf. 1Ti 2:6, ὁ δοὺς ἑαυτὸν ἀντίλυτρον ὑπὲρ πάντων. So here the blood, as representing the surrendered life, is the ransom; cf. Rev 1:5, “to him that loosed us (λύσαντι, not λούσαντι = washed, as T.R.) from our sins (ἐν τῷ αἵματι αὐτοῦ) at the price of his own blood.” We must not, however, over-press the metaphor and ask to whom the ransom was paid. Most of the early Fathers regarded the ransom as paid to the devil as being the slave-owner. Such a thought is abhorrent to us, yet the other suggested alternative that the price was paid to the Father would imply that the Father’s pardon required to be bought, whereas “God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son,” and in one passage (Act 20:28) the Father Himself seems to be described as the ransomer or purchaser. Cf. Rev 14:3-4.

ἐκ τῆς ματαίας ὑμῶν ἀναστροφῆς. This is the state of slavery out of which (ἐκ) they were rescued.

ματαίας. The adjective is used in 1Ki 16:13, 2Ki 17:15, of idolatry; so in Act 14:15 Paul and Barnabas speak of turning ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν ματαίων, i.e. idolatrous practices, and St Paul speaks of the heathen as walking ἐν ματαιότητι, Eph 4:27.

μάταιος = aimless, purposeless, and describes the futility of life without God.

πατροπαραδότου. This word has been used as an argument that the readers had been Jews, whose παράδοσις is frequently spoken of disparagingly in the N.T., but the word would be equally applicable to Gentiles. Their ancestral heathenism was intensified by the accumulated habits of centuries.

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.

18.] knowing (being aware: this argument enhances the duty of godly fear by the consideration of the inestimable price at which they were redeemed. This consideration is urged through vv. 18-21) that not (emphatic) with corruptible things (φθαρτοῖς subst.; not, as Luther, agreeing with ἀργυρ. ἢ χρυσίῳ), silver or gold (notice ἀργυρίῳ ἢ χρυσίῳ, not ἀργύρῳ ἢ χρυτῷ. The diminutive forms stand generally (not always, cf. Palm and Rost in χρυσίον) for the coined or wrought metal: and such a sense would be applicable here), were ye redeemed (bought out of, by the payment of a λύτρον, presently to be specified: see reff., and cf. ἀγοράζεσθαι, 1Co 6:20; 1Co 7:23; ἐξαγοράζεσθαι, Gal 3:13) out of your vain conversation (ματαίας ἀναστρ., “vana vivendi ratio, quæ, ubi tempus præteriit, nil reliqui fructus habet.” Beng.) delivered to you from your fathers (“unus Pater imitandus ver. 17: idem antitheton, Mat 23:9.” Bengel. This again makes it probable that the persons here more especially addressed are Gentile Christians. The Apostle, himself a Jew, would hardly speak of the vain ungodly lives of Jews as πατροπαράδοτα, without more explanation.

Benson, in loc., imagines that there is an allusion to the Jewish practice of paying down money as a ransom for life, Exo 21:30; Exo 30:11-16: Num 3:44-51; Num 18:15: but there does not seem any ground for this view here: the words following on ἐλυτρώθητε do not give countenance to it, but rather favour the view that it is the buying out of captivity which is in the Apostle’s mind: see below),—

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

Ye were redeemed [ελυτρωθητε] . The verb occurs only in two other passages, Luk 24:21; Tit 2:14. It carries the idea of a ransom - price (lutron, from luw, to loose).

With silver or gold [αργυριω η χρυσιω] . Lit., with silver or gold money; the words meaning, respectively, a small coin of silver or of gold. Conversation. Rev., manner of life. See on ver. 15.

Received by tradition from your fathers [πατροπαραδοτου] . A clumsy translation; improved by Rev., handed down from your fathers. The word is peculiar to Peter.

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