A living hope: 1 Peter 1:3

1551 · John Calvin, Commentary on 1 Peter 1.3

All, indeed, confess that God is the only author of our salvation, but they afterwards invent extraneous causes, which take away so much from his mercy. But Peter commends mercy alone; and he immediately connects the way or manner, by the resurrection of Christ; for God does not in any other way discover his mercy; hence Scripture ever directs our attention to this point. And that Christ’s death is not mentioned, but his resurrection, involves no inconsistency, for it is included; because a thing cannot be completed without having a beginning; and he especially brought forward the resurrection, because he was speaking of a new life.

1647–1657 · Thomas Manton, Works, vol. V An Exposition, with Notes, upon the Epistle of Jude, Verse 20

A believer hath eternal life, John xvii. 3; he beginneth it here. Hope is called ‘a lively hope,’ not only living, but lively, 1 Peter i. 3, because it quickeneth the heart, and maketh us cheerful and sprightly: Rom. v. 2, ‘We rejoice under the hope of the glory of God.’ Joy is for enjoyment and possession; but yet that prepossession which hope getteth causeth all joy; see 1 Peter i. 8. I confess all feel it not in a like degree, because it dependeth upon a sense of grace, which believers always have not, yet all find a sweetness and some comfort, when they think of what they look for. Worldly hope is but the dream of a shadow; there is pain and trouble in the expectation, and no satisfaction in the fruition.

1679 · Thomas Manton, Works, vol. III A Practical Exposition Upon the Firty-third Chapter of Isaiah, The Eighth Verse

There is causal influence from Christ’s resurrection upon our hearts, which is the donation of the Spirit of God upon this act of Christ’s resurrection, to raise us to grace and glory. And therefore we are said, 1 Peter i. 3, to be ‘begotten to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.’ Regeneration cometh from the virtue and influence of it, that passeth into our hearts for the conquering of sin, and begetting the new nature and the raising us to glory. But there is another benefit you are to expect by way of influence from the resurrection of Christ, even the gift of the Spirit, to conform you to your head. Christ by his resurrection being made a fountain of supernatural life, will send out vital influence. Wait for it, then; he will renew and heal you, and he will carry on the work, to the perfection of glory. Head and members must be conformable, as far as the model of the creatures will permit. Therefore, as sure as Christ is risen, you shall be raised with him to holiness here, and to heaven hereafter.

1707 · Isaac Watts, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Book 1: Collected from the Holy Scriptures 26

When from the dead he rais'd his Son, And call'd him to the sky, He gave our souls a lively hope That they should never die. What tho' our inbred sins require Our flesh to see the dust! Yet as the Lord our Saviour rose, So all his followers must. There's an inheritance divine Reserv'd against that day, 'Tis uncorrupted, undefil'd, And cannot waste away. Saints by the power of God are kept Till the salvation come; We walk by faith as strangers here Till Christ shall call us home.

c. 1714 · Zech. Merrill, Commentary on 1 Peter 1.3-5

The right Christian hope is what a man is begotten again unto by the Spirit of God; it is not from nature, but free grace. Those who are begotten to a new and spiritual life are begotten to a new and spiritual hope. (5.) The hope of a Christian has this excellency, it is a living hope. The hope of eternal life in a true Christian is a hope that keeps him alive, quickens him, supports him, and conducts him to heaven. Hope invigorates and spirits up the soul to action, to patience, to fortitude, and perseverance to the end. The delusive hopes of the unregenerate are vain and perishing; the hypocrite and his hope expire and die both together, Job xxvii. 8. (6.) The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the ground or foundation of a Christian's hope. The resurrection of Christ is the act of the Father as a Judge, of the Son as a conqueror. His resurrection demonstrates that the Father accepts his death in full discharge for our ransom, that he is victorious over death, the grave, and all our spiritual enemies; and it is also an assurance of our own resurrection. There being an inseparable union between Christ and his flock, they rise by virtue of his resurrection as a head, rather than by virtue of his power as a Judge. We have risen with Christ, Col. iii. 1. From all this taken together, Christians have two firm and solid foundations whereon to build their hope of eternal life.

1745 · Philip Doddridge, The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul 6.8

“The King,” amidst all the splendor and dignity in which he shall them appear, “shall say unto those on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world!” (Matt. 25:34) And “where the word of a king is, there is power” indeed. (Eccles. 8:4) And these words have a power which may justly animate the heart of the humble Christian under the most overwhelming sorrow, and may fill him “with joy unspeakable and fall of glory.” (1 Pet. 1:8) To be pronounced the blessed of the Lord! to be called to a kingdom! to the immediate, the everlasting inheritance of it; and of such a kingdom! so well prepared, so glorious, so complete, so exquisitely fitted for the delight and entertainment of such creatures, so formed and so renewed that it shall appear worthy the eternal counsels of God to have contrived it, worthy his eternal love to have prepared it, and to have delighted himself with the views of bestowing it upon his people: behold a blessed hope indeed! a lively, glorious hope, to which we are “begotten again by the resurrection of Christ from the dead,” (1 Pet. 1:3) and formed by the sanctifying influence of the Spirit of God upon our minds.

1754 · John Wesley, Explanatory Notes on 1 Peter 1.3

Who hath regenerated us to a living hope - An hope which implies true spiritual life, which revives the heart, and makes the soul lively and vigourous. By the resurrection of Christ - Which is not only a pledge of ours, but a part of the purchase price. It has also a close connection with our rising from spiritual death, that as he liveth, so shall we live with him.

1770 · John Gill, A Body of Practical Divinity Chapter 8. Of the Grace of God

Secondly, it is also a “lively” or “living” one (1 Pet. 1:3). So called, Because the subject of it is a living man, one spiritually alive: a man dead in trespasses and sins is without hope; but a man regenerated and quickened by the Spirit of God is begotten again to a lively hope. Because it has for its object eternal life: one that is justified by the grace of God, is made an “heir according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7). Has for its ground and foundation a living Christ, and not dead works; as faith lives upon a crucified Christ, hope receives its virtue and vigor from the resurrection of Christ; Christ, as risen, and at the right hand of God, greatly encourages to seek and hope for things above, where he is.

1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Romans 4.25

his resurrection is the main-spring of all our hopes, and of all our efforts to be saved. Life and immortality are thus brought to light, 2Ti 1:10. God "hath begotten us again to a lively hope (a living, active, real hope), by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead," 1Pe 1:3. Thus, the fact that he was raised becomes the ground of hope that we shall be raised and accepted of God.

1870 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 16 (1870) 948

The hope of the greatest monarch has been crushed before our eyes. He set up the standard of victory too soon, and has seen it trailed in the mire. There is no unwaning hope beneath the changeful moon—the only imperishable hope is that which climbs above the stars, and fixes itself upon the Throne of God and the Person of Jesus Christ. The hope which God has given to His truly quickened people is a lively hope, however, because it deals with life.

1870 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 16 (1870) 948

No, my Brethren, we have a living hope, a lively hope. Charles Borromeo, the famous bishop of Milan, ordered a painter who was about to draw a skeleton with a scythe over a sepulcher, to substitute for it the golden key of Paradise. Truly this is a most fitting emblem for a Believer's tomb—for what is death but the key of Heaven to the Christian?

1870 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 16 (1870) 948

One of the first displays of Divine mercy which we experience is being begotten again. Our first birth gave us the image of the first Adam—"earthly." Our second birth, and that alone, gives us the image of the second Adam, which is "heavenly." To be begotten once may be a curse—to be begotten again is everlastingly and assuredly a blessing. To be born once may be a subject for eternal bewailing—to be born a second time will be the theme of a joyful and unending song. My Brethren, saints are "begotten again unto a lively hope" in the hour of their regeneration, when they are "born again from above."

1872 · John Wesley, Sermons on Several Occasions 18

A Second scriptural mark of those who are born of God, is hope. Thus St. Peter, speaking to all the children of God who were then scattered abroad, saith, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope.” (1 Peter 1:3.) elpida zosan, a lively or living hope, saith the Apostle; because there is also a dead hope, as well as a dead faith; a hope which is not from God, but from the enemy of God and man; — as evidently appears by its fruits; for, as it is the offspring of pride, so it is the parent of every evil word and work; whereas, every man that hath in him this living hope, is “holy as He that calleth him is holy:” Every man that can truly say to his brethren in Christ, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and we shall see him as he is,” “purifieth himself, even as He is pure.” 2. This hope implies, First, the testimony of our own spirit or conscience, that we walk “in simplicity and godly sincerity;” Secondly, the testimony of the Spirit of God, “bearing witness with,” or to, “our spirit, that we are the children of God,” “and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.”

1872 · John Wesley, Sermons on Several Occasions 47

The persons to whom the Apostle here speaks were also full of a living hope. For thus he speaks, (1 Pet. 1:3, ) “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again,” — me and you, all of us who are “sanctified by the Spirit,” and enjoy the “sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” — “unto a living hope, unto an inheritance,” — that is, unto a living hope of an inheritance, “incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away.” So that, notwithstanding their heaviness, they still retained an hope full of immortality. 4. And they still “rejoiced in hope of the glory of God.”

1872 · John Wesley, Sermons on Several Occasions 72

If he inject doubts whether you are a child of God, or fears lest you should not endure to the end; “take to you for a helmet the hope of salvation.” Hold fast that glad word, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a living hope of an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away.” You will never be overthrown, you will never be staggered by your adversary, if you “hold fast the beginning of” this “confidence steadfast unto the end.”

1886 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 32 (1886) 1909

O you begotten of God, see that you live as such! You are twice-born men! Live not the low life of the merely natural man. You are of the blood royal, you are descended from the King of Kings—degrade not your descent! You are born, not to death, as you were at your first birth, but unto life! Though you pass through the grave, you shall not remain there.

1889 · Marcus Dods, The Expositor's Bible: The First Epistle to the Corinthians Chapter XXI. The Resurrection of Christ

If Jesus rose from the dead, then the world into which He is gone is a real world, in which men can live more fully than they live here. If He rose from the dead, then there is an unseen Spirit mightier than the strongest material powers, a God who is seeking to bring us out of all evil into an eternally happy condition. Quite reasonably is death invested with a certain majesty, if not terror, as the mightiest of physical things. There may be greater evils; but they do not affect all men, but only some, or they debar men from certain enjoyments and a certain kind of life, but not from all. But death shuts men out from everything with which they have here to do, and launches them into a condition of which they know absolutely nothing. Any one who conquers death and scatters its mystery, who shows in his own person that it is innocuous, and that it actually betters our condition, brings us light that reaches us from no other quarter. And He who shows this superiority over death in virtue of a moral superiority, and uses it for the furtherance of the highest spiritual ends, shows a command over the whole affairs of men which makes it easy to believe He can guide us into a condition like His own. As Peter affirms, it is "by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead we are begotten again unto a lively hope."

1893 · J. Rawson Lumby, The Expositor's Bible: The Epistles of St. Peter The First Epistle of St. Peter, II. The Heavenly Inheritance

Here we may taste the joy of our calling, may learn something of the Father's love, of the Saviour's grace, of the Spirit's help; but our best expectations centre ever in the future. The Apostle terms these expectations a lively, or rather a living, hope. The Christian's hope is living because Christ is alive again from the dead. It springs with ever-renewed life from that rent tomb. The grave is no longer a terminus. Life and hope endure beyond it. And more than this, there is a fresh principle of vitality infused into the soul of the new-born child of God. The Spirit, the Life-giver, has made His abode there; and death is swallowed up of victory.

1899 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 45 (1899) 2653

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And, truly, this is a blessing beyond all comparison or imagination, that we have been begotten again by the Divine Father unto a "living" hope, for that is a better rendering than, "lively." Our first birth brought us into sin and sorrow, but our second birth brings us into purity and joy. We were born to die—now are we born never to die, "begotten again" unto a life that shall remain in us forevermore—a life which shall even penetrate these mortal bodies and make them immortal, "by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

1900 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 46 (1900) 2707

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in Heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Oh, what a blessed hope this is—that though we fall asleep, we shall surely wake again—and when we awake, it will be in the likeness of the great Head of the family and we ourselves shall be heirs of an inheritance in which there will be no sin and no corruption! That inheritance is kept for us and we are kept for it!

1930–1933 · A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament: 1 Peter 1.3

The Pharisees cherished the hope of the resurrection (Ac 23:6 ), but the resurrection of Jesus gave it proof and permanence (1Co 15:14,17 ). It is no longer a dead hope like dead faith (Jas 2:17,26 ). This revival of hope was wrought "by the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (δια αναστασεως). Hope rose up with Christ from the dead, though the disciples (Peter included) were slow at first to believe it.

c. 1714 · Zech. Merrill, Commentary on 1 Peter 1.3-5

"Reserved in heaven for you," which expression teaches us, [1.] That it is a glorious inheritance, for it is in heaven, and all that is there is glorious, Eph. i. 18. [2.] It is certain, a reversion in another world, safely kept and preserved till we come to the possession of it. [3.] The persons for whom it is reserved are described, not by their names, but by their character: for you, or us, or every one that is begotten again to a lively hope. This inheritance is preserved for them, and none but them; all the rest will be shut out for ever.

c. 1714 · Zech. Merrill, Commentary on 1 Peter 1.3-5

This inheritance being described as future, and distant both in time and place, the apostle supposes some doubt or uneasiness yet to remain upon the minds of these people, whether they might not possibly fall short by the way. "Though the happiness be safe in heaven, yet we are still upon earth, liable to abundance of temptations, miseries, and infirmities. Are we in such a safe state that we shall certainly come thither?" To this he answers that they should be safely guarded and conducted thither; they should be kept and preserved from all such destructive temptations and injuries as would prevent their safe arrival at eternal life. The heir to an earthly estate has no assurance that he shall live to enjoy it, but the heirs of heaven shall certainly be conducted safely to the possession of it. The blessing here promised is preservation: You are kept; the author of it is God; the means in us made use of for that end are our own faith and care; the end to which we are preserved is salvation; and the time when we shall see the safe end and issue of all is the last time.

1754 · John Wesley, Explanatory Notes on 1 Peter 1.4

To an inheritance - For if we are sons, then heirs. Incorruptible - Not like earthly treasures. Undefiled - Pure and holy, incapable of being itself defiled, or of being enjoyed by any polluted soul. And that fadeth not away - That never decays in its value, sweetness, or beauty, like all the enjoyments of this world, like the garlands of leaves or flowers, with which the ancient conquerors were wont to be crowned. Reserved in heaven for you - Who "by patient continuance in welldoing, seek for glory and honour and immortality."

1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: 1 Peter 1.4

To an inheritance - Through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus we now cherish the hope of that future inheritance in heaven. On the word inheritance, see the Act 20:32 note; Eph 1:11, Eph 1:14, Eph 1:18 notes; Col 1:12 note. Christians are regarded as the adopted children of God, and heaven is spoken of as their inheritance - as what their Father will bestow on them as the proof of his love. Incorruptible - It will not fade away and vanish, as that which we inherit in this world does. See the word explained in the notes at 1Co 9:25. The meaning here is, that the inheritance will be imperishable, or will endure forever.

1858 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 4 (1858) 222

Do I not expect that yet again my songs shall mount to heaven; and even now through the thick darkness do not the sparks of my joy appear, when I remember that I have still upon me the blood of Jesus, and still about me the glorious righteousness of the Messiah? But the great and cheering comfort of the apostle is, that we are elect unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us. And here, brethren, is the grand comfort of the Christian. When the child of God is sore-stricken and much depressed, the sweet hope, that living or dying, there is an inheritance incorruptible, reserved in heaven for him, may indeed make him greatly rejoice.

1861 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 7 (1861) 358

Ephesians 1:13,14. SO then, Heaven, with all its glories, is an inheritance! Now, an inheritance is not a thing which is bought with money, earned by labor, or won by conquest; if any man has an inheritance, in the proper sense of that term, it came to him by birth; it was not because of any special merit in him, but simply because he was his father's son, that he received the property of which he is now possessed. So is it with Heaven. The man who shall receive this glorious heritage will not obtain it by the works of the Law, nor by the efforts of the flesh; it will be given to him as a matter of most gracious right, because he has been "begotten again unto a lively hope, by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead," and has thus become an heir of Heaven by blood and birth.

1871 · A. R. Fausset, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on 1 Peter 1.4

reserved—kept up (Col 1:5, "laid up for you in heaven," 2Ti 4:8); Greek perfect, expressing a fixed and abiding state, "which has been and is reserved." The inheritance is in security, beyond risk, out of the reach of Satan, though we for whom it is reserved are still in the midst of dangers. Still, if we be believers, we too, as well as the inheritance, are "kept" (the same Greek, Joh 17:12) by Jesus safely (1Pe 1:5).

1895 · Andrew Murray, Absolute Surrender 8

We are begotten again to an inheritance kept in Heaven for us; and we are kept here on earth by the power of God. We see there is a double keeping—the inheritance kept for me in Heaven, and I on earth kept for the inheritance there.

1899 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 45 (1899) 2653

To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in Heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Joy, my Brothers and Sisters, in the glorious inheritance which is prepared for you—unstained, uncorrupted, perfectly pure and, therefore, to last forever because the elements which produce decay are not in it! It is without sin and, therefore, it shall be without end.

1910 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 56 (1910) 3223

See, further, to what you have been born—"to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away." See, also, how that inheritance is entailed upon you, for it is "reserved in Heaven for you." And see, too, how you are kept for it, for you "are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."