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And this is that which should be the top and sum of Christian desires—to have, or want any other thing indifferently, but to be resolved and resolute in this, to seek a share in this grace, the free love of God, and the sure evidences of it within you, the fruit of holiness, and the graces of His Spirit.
But most of us are taken up with other things. We will not be convinced how basely and foolishly we are busied, though in the best and most respected employments of the world, as long as we neglect our noblest trade of growing rich in grace, and the comfortable enjoyment of the love of God.
Our Savior tells us that one thing is needful, signifying that all other things are comparatively unnecessary, by-works, and mere impertinences: Men who are altogether profane do not think about it at all. Some others possibly deceive themselves thus, and say, When I am finished with business I am engaged in, then I will sit down seriously to this, and bestow more time and pains on these things, which are undeniably greater and better, and more worthy of it.
The Trial of Your Faith. While often quoting from the early Church fathers, the eloquent bishop provides his readers with the results of his vast learning in a very readable form. Fear of Judgment to Come, and of Redemption Accomplished. The Influence of Food on Spiritual Growth. The motivation for being properly equipped, 1 Peter 4: What we have been redeemed from. He sees all things from the beginning of time, to the end of it, and beyond to all eternity, and from all eternity He foresaw them.
But this is a neglect that is in danger to undo us. What if we never finish that business, but die before it? Or if we do not, yet some other business may step in after that. Thus, by such delays, we may lose the present opportunity, and in the end, our own souls. While many say, Who will show us any good?
Few set in with David in his choice-- Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon me, and this shall rejoice my heart more than the abundance of corn and wine. This is that light which can break into the darkest dungeons, from which all other lights and comforts are shut out; and without this all other enjoyments are, what the world would be without the sun—nothing but darkness.
Happy are those who have this light of Divine favor and grace shining into their souls, for by it they shall be led to that city, where the sun and moon are unnecessary; for the glory of God lightens it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. Godliness is profitable unto all things , says the Apostle, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come ; all other blessings are the attendants of grace, and follow upon it.
This blessing which the Apostle here, as Paul also in his Epistles, joins with grace , was, with the Jews, of so large a sense, as to include all that they could desire; they wished peace , they meant all kind of good, all welfare and prosperity. And thus we may take it here for all kind of peace; yes, and for all other blessings; but especially that spiritual peace, which is the proper fruit of grace, and so intrinsically flows from it.
We may and ought to wish outward blessings for the Church of God, and particularly outward peace—as one of the greatest, so one of the most valuable favors of God: But that Wisdom which does what He will, by what means He will, and works one contrariety out of another, brings light out of darkness, good out of evil—can and does turn tears and troubles to the advantage of His Church; but certainly, in itself, peace is more suitable to its increase, and, if not abused, it proves so too.
As in the Apostolic times, it is said, The Church had peace, and increased exceedingly. We should also wish for ecclesiastical peace for the Church, so that she might be free from dissensions and divisions. These readily arise, more or less, as we see in all times, and haunt religion, and the reformation of it. Paul had this to say to his Corinthians, though he had given them this testimony, that they were enriched in all utterance and knowledge, and were lacking in no gift, yet, presently after, I hear that there are divisions and contentions among you.
An enemy has done this , as our Savior speaks; and this enemy is no fool, for, by Divine permission, he works to his own end very wisely; for there is not one thing that does on all hands choke the seed of religion so much, as thorny debates and differences. Profane men not only stumble, but also fall and break their necks upon these divisions.
Thus these offenses prove a mischief to the profane world, as our Savior says, Woe unto the world because of offences! Then those on the erring side, who are taken with new opinions and fancies, are altogether taken up with them, their main thoughts are spent upon them; and thus the sap is drawn from that which should nourish and prosper in their hearts, sanctified useful knowledge, and saving grace.
It is also a loss, even to those who oppose errors and divisions, that they are forced to spend their time in that way; for the wisest and godliest of them find and such are sensible of it that disputes in religion are no friends to that which is far sweeter in it, but hinder and abate it—namely, those pious and devout thoughts that are both more useful and truly delightful. As peace is a choice blessing, so this is the choicest peace, and is the peculiar inseparable effect of this grace with which it is here jointly wished— Grace and Peace; the flower of peace growing upon the root of grace.
This spiritual peace has two things in it. The quarrel, and matter of enmity, you know, between God and man, is, the rebellion, the sin of man; and he being naturally altogether sinful, there can proceed nothing from him, but what foments and increases the hostility. It is grace alone, the most free grace of God, that contrives, and offers, and makes the peace, else it had never been; we would have universally perished without it. Now in this is the wonder of Divine grace, that the Almighty God seeks agreement, and entreats for it--with sinful clay, which He could wholly destroy in a moment.
Jesus Christ, the Mediator and Purchaser of this peace, bought it with His blood, and killed the enmity by His own death. And therefore the tenor of it in the Gospel runs still in His name: We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul expresses it in his salutations, which are the same with this, Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. As the free love and grace of God appointed this means and way of our peace, and offered it—so the same grace applies it, and makes it ours, and gives us faith to apprehend it.
And from our sense of this peace, or reconciliation with God, arises that which is our inward peace--a calm and quiet temper of mind. This peace which we have with God in Christ, is inviolable; but because the sense and persuasion of it may be interrupted. You hid your face, said David, and I was troubled. But when these eclipses are over, the soul is revived with new consolation, as the face of the earth is renewed and made to smile with the return of the sun in the spring; and this ought always to uphold Christians in the saddest times, namely, that the grace and love of God towards them depends not on their sense, nor upon anything in them, but is still in itself incapable of the smallest alteration.
It is natural for men to desire their own peace, the quietness and contentment of their minds: The persuasion of that alone makes the mind clear and serene, like your fairest summer days. My peace I give unto you, says Christ, not as the world gives. Let not your heart be troubled. All the peace and favor of the world cannot calm a troubled heart; but where this peace is which Christ gives, all the trouble and disquiet of the world cannot disturb it.
When he gives quietness--who then can make trouble? All outward distress to a mind thus at peace, is but as the rattling of the hail upon the rooftop, to him who sits within the house at a sumptuous feast. A good conscience is called so, and with an advantage that no other feast can have, nor could men endure it. A few hours of feasting will weary the most professed epicure; but a conscience thus at peace is a continual feast , with continual unwearied delight. What makes the world take up such a prejudice against religion--as a sour unpleasant thing?
They see the afflictions and griefs of Christians--but they do not see their joys, the inward pleasure of mind that they can possess in a very hard estate. Have you not tried other ways enough? Has not he tried them who had more ability and skill for it than you, and found them not only vanity but vexation of spirit? If you have any belief of holy truth, put but this once upon the trial, seek peace in the way of grace. This inward peace is too precious a liquor to be poured into a filthy vessel.
A holy heart, that gladly entertains grace, shall find that it and peace cannot dwell asunder. An ungodly man may sleep to death in the lethargy of carnal presumption and impenitence; but a true, lively, solid peace, he cannot have. There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked. And if He says there is none, speak peace who will, if all the world with one voice should speak, it shall prove none. This the Apostle wishes for them, knowing the imperfection of the graces and peace of the saints while they are here below; and this they themselves, under a sense of that imperfection, ardently desire.
Those who have tasted the sweetness of this grace and peace--call incessantly for more. This is a disease in earthly desires, and a disease incurable by all the things desired; there is no satisfaction attainable by them. But this avarice of spiritual things is a virtue, and by our Savior is called Blessedness, because it tends to fullness and satisfaction. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness: 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, Verse 4.
To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away. It is a cold lifeless thing to speak of spiritual things upon mere report: They cannot mention them, but their hearts are straight taken with such gladness, as they are forced to vent in praises. Thus our Apostle here, and Paul, Eph.
So teaching us, by their example, what real joy there is in the consolations of the Gospel, and what praise is due from all the saints to the God of those consolations. This is such an inheritance, that the very thoughts and hopes of it are able to sweeten the greatest griefs and afflictions. What then shall the possession of it be, where there shall be no severance, nor the least drop of any grief at all?
The main subject of these verses is that, which is the main comfort that supports the spirits of the godly in all conditions. Their Assurance of it, namely, a holy or lively hope.
The title which the saints have to their rich inheritance is of the most valid and most unquestionable kind, namely, by birth. Not by their first natural birth, by that we are all born to an inheritance indeed, but we find what it is, Children of wrath--heirs apparent of eternal flames. It is an everlasting inheritance too, but so much the more fearful, being of everlasting misery, or, so to speak, of immortal death: But it is by a new and supernatural birth that men are both freed from their engagement to that woeful inheritance, and invested into the rights of this other here mentioned, as full of happiness as the former is of misery: God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, has begotten us again.
And thus are the regenerate the children of an immortal Father, and, as such, entitled to an inheritance of immortality: If children, then heirs; heirs of God; and this sonship is by adoption in Christ; therefore it is added, Joint-heirs with Christ. We, adopted; and He, the only begotten Son of God, by an eternal, ineffable generation. And yet, this our adoption is not a mere outward designation, as adoption is among men; but accompanied with a real change in those who are adopted, a new nature and spirit being infused into them, because of which, as they are adopted to this their inheritance in Christ, they are likewise begotten of God, and born again to it, by the supernatural work of regeneration.
This is that great mystery of the kingdom of God which puzzled Nicodemus; it was darkness to him at first, until he was instructed in that night, under the cover of which he came to Christ. Nature cannot conceive of any generation or birth, but that which is within its own compass: It is sometimes ascribed to the subordinate means—to Baptism, called therefore the washing of regeneration: For though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you have not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel.
But all these means have their vigor and efficacy in this great work from the Father of spirits, who is their Father in their first creation and infusion, and in this their regeneration, which is a new and second creation: If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Divines have reason to infer from the nature of conversion thus expressed, that man does not bring anything to this work himself. It is true he has a will, as his natural faculty; but that this will embraces the offer of grace, and turns to Him who offers it, is from renewing grace, which sweetly and yet strongly, strongly and yet sweetly, inclines it.
Nature cannot raise itself to this, any more than a man can give natural being to himself. A moral man in his changes and reformations of himself, is still the same man. Though he reforms so far that men, in their ordinary phrase, shall call him quite another man, yet in truth, till he is born again, there is no new nature in him. The sluggard turns on his bed as the door on the hinges, says Solomon. Thus the natural man only turns from one custom and posture to another.
But the Christian, by virtue of this new birth, can say indeed--I am not the same man I was.
You who are nobles, aspire to this honorable condition; add this nobleness to the other, for it far surpasses it; make it the crown of all your honors and advantages. And you who are of ignoble birth, or if you have any crack or stain in your birth, the only way to make up and repair all, and truly to ennoble you, is this—to be the sons of a King, yes, of the King of kings, and this honor have all his saints.
To as many as received Him, He gave this privilege to be the sons of God. Unto a lively hope. Now are we the sons of God , says the Apostle, and it does not yet appear what we shall be. These sons are heirs, but all this lifetime is their under-age; yet, even now, being partakers of this new birth and sonship, they have a right to it, and in the assurance of that right, this living hope; as an heir, when he is capable of those thoughts, has not only right of inheritance, but may rejoice in the hope he has of it, and please himself in thinking about it.
But hope is said to be only of an uncertain good: But the hope of the sons of the Living God is a living hope. That which Alexander said when he dealt liberally about him, that he left hope to himself, the children of God may more wisely and happily say, when they leave the hot pursuit of the world to others, and despise it--portion is hope. But then it is said to be lively , not only objectively, but effectively; enlivening and comforting the children of God in all distresses, enabling them to encounter and surmount all difficulties in the way.
And then it is formally so; it cannot fail—it dies not before accomplishment. Worldly hopes often mock men, and so cause them to be ashamed; and men take it as a great blot, and are most of all ashamed of those things that reveal weakness of judgment in them. Now worldly hopes do thus—they put the fool upon a man: They are not living, but lying hopes, and dying hopes; they die often before us, and we live to bury them, and see our own folly and unhappiness in trusting to them.
But at the utmost, they die with us when we die, and can accompany us no further. But the Christian hope answers expectation to the full, and much beyond it, and deceives no way but in that happy way of far exceeding it. A living hope —living in death itself! The world dares say no more for its device, than ' While I breathe I hope'—but the children of God can add by virtue of this living hope, 'While I breathe my last, I hope.
Thus says Solomon of the wicked: When he dies, then die his hopes; many of them before , but at the utmost then --all of them! But the righteous has hope in his death.
Death, which cuts the sinews of all other hopes, and turns men out of all other inheritances, alone fulfils this hope, and ends it in fruition; as a messenger sent to bring the children of God home to the possession of their inheritance. By the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This refers both to begotten again by His resurrection, and having this living hope by His resurrection: First, then, of the birth; next, of the hope. Therefore this new birth in the conception is expressed by the forming of Christ in the soul; and His resurrection particularly is assigned as the cause of our new life.
This new birth is called our resurrection; and that in conformity to Christ, yes, by the virtue and influence of His. His resurrection is called a birth , He the first begotten of the dead , and that prophecy, You are my Son; this day have I begotten you , is applied to His resurrection as fulfilled in it. God has fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he has raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second Psalm, You are my Son, this day have I begotten you. Not only is it the exemplar, but the efficient cause of our new birth. Thus, in the sixth chapter of Romans, and often elsewhere.
And thus likewise it is the cause of our living hope —that which indeed inspires and maintains life in it. Because He has conquered death, and has risen again, and that is implied which follows, He has sat down at the right hand of God , has entered into possession of that inheritance—this gives us a living hope, that, according to His own request--that where He is, there we may be also.
Thus this hope is strongly underpinned, on the one side, by the resurrection of Christ; on the other by the abundant mercy of God the Father. Our hope does not depend on our own strength or wisdom nor on anything in us; for if it did, it would be short-lived, would die, and die quickly! This makes this hope not to imply, in the notion of it, uncertainty, as worldly hopes do; but it is a firm, stable, inviolable hope--an anchor fixed within the veil. According to his abundant mercy. Mercy is the spring of all this; yes, great mercy, and manifold mercy; "for as Bernard says great sins and great miseries need great mercy; and many sins and miseries need many mercies.
Well may the Apostle say, Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God! The world knows us not because it knew not Him.
Those who have not seen the father of a child cannot know that it resembles him. Now the world knows not God, and therefore discerns not His image in His children, so as to esteem them for it. But whatever be their opinion, this we must say ourselves, Behold what love! This now is the order of the government of grace, that it holds first with Christ our Head, and in Him with us. So He says, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God; which, as Cyril of Jerusalem, in his Catechism, observes, shows us not only our communion with Him—that might have been expressed thus, I go to my God and Father —but the order of the covenant, first my Father and my God, and then yours.
Thus ought we, in our consideration of the mercies of God, still to take in Christ, for in Him they are conveyed to us: He blesses us really. He blesses by doing us good. We bless Him by acknowledging His goodness. And this we ought to do at all times, I will bless the Lord at all times: All this is far below Him and His mercies. What are our lame praises compared to His love? Nothing, and less than nothing! But love will stammer, rather than be silent. Those who are among His children begotten again , have, in the resurrection of Christ, a lively hope of glory: This leads them to observe and admire that rich mercy whence it flows; and this consideration awakes them, and constrains them to break forth into praises.
To an inheritance incorruptible. As he who takes away a garment in cold weather, and as vinegar upon niter, so is he who sings songs to a heavy heart. Worldly mirth is so far from curing spiritual grief, that even worldly grief, where it is great and takes deep root, is not allayed--but increased by it. The more a man who is full of inward heaviness is surrounded by mirth, the more it exasperates and enrages his grief; like ineffective weak medicine, which removes not the disease, but stirs it up and makes it more agitated.
But spiritual joy is seasonable for all conditions; in prosperity, it is pertinent, to crown and sanctify all other enjoyments, with this which so far surpasses them; and in distress, it is the only cordial of fainting spirits: This holy mirth makes way for itself, which other mirth cannot do. These songs are sweetest in the night of distress. Therefore the Apostle, writing to his scattered afflicted brethren, begins his Epistle with this song of praise, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The matter of this joy is, the joyful remembrance of the happiness laid up for them, under the name of inheritance. Now this inheritance is described by the singular qualities of it. The certainty of its attainment. The former in these three, Incorruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away; the latter, in the last words of this verse, and in the verse following: God is bountiful to all—gives to all men all that they have--health, riches, honor, strength, beauty, and wit: Upon others He looks, as well as upon His beloved children; but the inheritance is peculiarly theirs.
When we see a man rising in preferment or estate, or admired for excellent gifts and endowments of mind, we think--'there is a happy man'. But we consider not, that within a while he is to be turned out of all, and if he has not something beyond all those to look to, he is but a miserable man, and so much the more miserable, that once he seemed and was reputed happy. There is a certain time when heirs come to possess: There is mention made by the Apostle of a perfect man—unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. And though the inheritance is rich and honorable, yet the heir, being young, is held under discipline, and possibly dealt with more strictly than the servants—sharply corrected for that which is overlooked in them; but still, even then, considering that which he is born to, his condition is much better than theirs, and all the correction he suffers harms him not, but prepares him for his inheritance.
The love of our heavenly Father is beyond the love of mothers in tenderness; and also beyond the love of fathers, who are usually said to love more wisely, in point of wisdom. He will not undo His children, His heirs, with too much indulgence. It is one of His heavy judgments upon the foolish children of disobedience, that ease shall slay them, and their prosperity shall prove their destruction.
While the children of God are childish and weak in faith, they are like some great heirs before they come to years of understanding: But as they grow up in years, they come, little by little, to be aware of those things, and the nearer they come to possession, the more apprehensive they are of their quality, and of what does answerably befit them to do.
And this is the duty of those who are indeed heirs of glory—to grow in the understanding and consideration of that which is prepared for them, and to fit themselves, as they are able, to those great hopes. This is what the Apostle Paul prays for, on behalf of his Ephesians, The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.
This would make them holy and heavenly, to have their conversation in heaven, from where they look for a Savior. That we may, then, the better know something of the dignity and riches of this inheritance, let us consider the description which is here given us of it. And, first, it is—. Although this seems to be much the same with the third quality, That fades not away , which is a borrowed expression for the illustrating of its incorruptibleness, yet, I think that there is some difference, and that in these three qualities there is a gradation.
Thus it is called incorruptible; that is, it perishes not, cannot come to nothing, is an estate that cannot be spent. But though it were abiding, yet it might be such as that the continuance of it were not very desirable; it would be but a misery at best, to continue always in this life. Plotinus thanked God that his soul was not tied to an immortal body. Then, undefiled ; it is not stained with the least spot: It does not only abide, and is pure, but both together; and it abides always in its purity and integrity.
And lastly, it fades not away ; it does not fade nor wither at all, is not sometimes more, sometimes less pleasant, but ever the same, still like itself; and that is the immutability of it. As it is incorruptible, it carries away the palm from all earthly possessions and inheritances; for all those epithets are intended to signify its opposition to the things of this world, and to show how far it excels them all; and thus comparatively we are to consider it.
We cannot tell you what it is, but we can say so far what it is not, as it is unspeakably above all the most excellent things of the inferior world and this present life. It is by privatives, by removing imperfections from it, that we describe it, and we can go no further —Incorruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away. All things that we see, being compounded, may be dissolved again. The very visible heavens, which are the purest piece of the material world, notwithstanding the pains the philosopher takes to exempt them, the Scriptures teach us that they are corruptible, They shall perish, but you shall endure: And from thence the Apostle to the Hebrews, and our Apostle, in his other Epistle, use the same expression.
But it is unnecessary to fetch too great a compass, to evince the corruptibility of all inheritances. Besides what they are in themselves, it is a shorter way to prove them corruptible in relation to us and our possessing them--by our own corruptibility and corruption, or perishing out of this life in which we enjoy them. We are here — perishing among perishing things; the things are passing which we enjoy, and we are passing who enjoy them. An earthly inheritance is so called in regard of succession; but to everyone it is at the most but for the term of life.
As one of the kings of Spain replied to one of his courtiers, who, thinking to please his master, wished that kings were immortal. If that had been, said he--I would never have liked to be a king.
When death comes, that removes a man out of all his possessions to give place to another; therefore are these inheritances decaying and dying in relation to us--because we decay and die; and when a man dies, his inheritances and honors, and all things here, are at an end, in respect of him; yes, we may say the world ends to him. Now, although the earth abides, yet, because man abides not on the earth to possess it, but one age drives out another, one generation passes, and another comes — as wave is driven on by wave, therefore, his rest and his happiness cannot be here.
All possessions here are defiled and stained with many other defects and failings—still somewhat lacking, some damp on them or crack in them; fair houses, but sad cares flying about the gilded and ceiled roofs; stately and soft beds, and a full table, but a sickly body and queasy stomach. As the fairest face has some mole or wart in it, so all possessions are stained with sin, either in acquiring or in using them, and therefore they are called, mammon of unrighteousness.
Iniquity is so involved in the notion of riches, that it can very hardly be separated from them. Jerome says, To me it appears, that he who is rich is either himself an unjust man, or the heir of one. Foul hands pollute all they touch; it is our sin which defiles all that we possess! It is sin that burdens the whole creation, and presses groans out of the very frame of the world. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.
Sin is the leprosy which defiles our houses, the very walls and floors, our food and drink, and all we touch; polluted when alone, and polluted in society; our meetings and conversations together being for the greatest part nothing but an interchange of sin and vanity. We breathe up and down in an infected air, and are very receptive of the infection by our own corruption within us. We readily turn the things we possess here to occasions and instruments of sin, and think there is no liberty nor delight in their use, without abusing them.
How few are those who can carry, as they say, a full cup without spilling; who can rightly use great wealth and estates; who can bear notoriety without pride, and riches without covetousness, and ease without luxury! Then, as our earthly inheritances are stained with sin in their use, so what grief and strife, and contentions about obtaining or retaining them!
Does not matter of possession, this same—mine and yours—divide many times the affections of those who are knit together in nature, or other strict ties, and prove the worst cause of strife between nearest friends? If we trace great estates to their first original, how few will be found that owe not their beginning either to fraud, or rapine, or oppression!
Are not these defiled inheritances? A borrowed speech, alluding to the decaying of plants and flowers, which bud and flourish at a certain time of the year, and then fade and wither, and in winter are as if they were dead. The excellence, then, of our heavenly inheritance is, that it is free from all those evils. It falls not under the stroke of time, comes not within the compass of its scythe, which has so large a compass, and cuts down all other things. There is nothing in it weighing it towards corruption. It is immortal, everlasting; for it is the fruition of the immortal, everlasting God, by immortal souls; and the body rejoined with it shall likewise be immortal, having put on incorruption , as the Apostle speaks.
It fades not away. No spot of sin nor sorrow there; all pollution wiped away, and all tears with it; no envy nor strife; not as here among men, one supplanting another, one pleading and fighting against another, dividing this point of earth with fire and sword. This inheritance is often called a kingdom, and a crown of glory. This word may allude to those garlands of the ancients; and this is its property, that the flowers in it are all Amaranthes as a certain plant is named , and so it is called, A crown of glory that fades not away.
No change at all there, no winter and summer: The grief of the saints here, is not so much for the changes of outward things, as of their inward comforts. Sweet the hour--but short the tarrying. Sweet presences of God they sometimes have, but they are short and often interrupted; but there no cloud shall come between them and their Sun--they shall behold Him in His full brightness forever.
As there shall be no change in their beholding, so no weariness nor abatement of their delight in beholding. They sing a new song, always the same, and yet always new. The sweetest of our music, if it were to be heard but for one whole day, would weary those who are most delighted with it. What we have here cloys, but satisfies not; the joys above never cloy, and yet always satisfy. We should here consider the last property of this inheritance, namely, the certainty of it— Reserved in heaven for you ; but that is connected with the following verse, and so will be fitly joined with it.
Now for some use of all this. If these things were believed, they would persuade for themselves; we would not need to add any entreaties to move you to seek after this inheritance. Have we not experience enough of the vanity and misery of corruptible things? And are not a great part of our days already spent among them? Is it not time to consider whether we are provided with anything surer and better than what we have here? Whether we have any inheritance to go home to after our wandering? If these things gain our assent while we hear them, yet it dies so easily.
An Obedient and Patient Faith: An Exposition of 1st Peter. Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Peter. A Commentary on I Peter. The First Epistle of St. A Commentary on 1 and 2 Peter. First and Second Peter. First and Second Peter, and Jude. Offering real joy on our journey through this world. Straight to the Heart of Peter, John and Jude: The Letters of St. Commentary, Notes and Study Questions. James and 1 and 2 Peter. The Letters of Peter and Jude.
Early Christian Letters for Everyone: James, Peter, John and Judah. First Epistle of Peter. Courage in Times of Trouble. Exploring the New Testament. Volume 2, The Letters and Revelation. Exploring the New Testament: New Heavens, New Earth. Wisdom from James, Peter, John, and Jude. The Epistles of 2 Corinthians and 1 Peter: Theology of Work Bible Commentary: A Handbook on the First Letter from Peter. James, Peter, Jude. The First Letter of Peter: A Commentary on the Greek Text.
An Exegetical Summary of 1 Peter. A Handbook on the Greek Text. Faith, Suffering, and Knowledge.