Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 1 Peter · About this commentary
A Living Hope, an Inheritance Kept
1 Peter 1:3-5
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, · WEB
The inheritance is described by what cannot happen to it, and the same power that guards it is said to be guarding the heirs.
The letter begins its body in praise rather than in instruction, and the reason given is a new birth into a hope that is called living. The adjective is doing work: hope elsewhere can be wishful, and this one is tied to an event that has already happened, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. What makes the hope alive is that its ground is behind the reader rather than ahead.
Verse 4 describes the inheritance almost entirely by negation — incorruptible, undefiled, unfading. Three words, all denials. That is a deliberate way to speak to people whose actual property was insecure: every named threat to an ordinary inheritance is ruled out in turn, and nothing positive is promised about its contents. Where it is kept is the only positive detail, and it is kept somewhere the readers cannot reach.
Verse 5 answers the question that raises. An inheritance safely stored is no use if the heir does not arrive, so the same protection is stated of the heirs: guarded by God's power, through faith. The verb is a military one, of a garrison holding a position.
And the salvation is called ready to be revealed. Not ready to be made — finished already, and waiting on disclosure rather than on completion.
settled What this mark means