The “unspeakable” or inexpressible joy of v.8 has been memorialized in song, for example, “Joy Unspeakable and Full of Glory” by Barney E. Warren, published in 1900, captures the spirit of joy expressed in these verses. In 2012, “Joy Unspeakable and Full of Glory” is used as the title of a book detailing the life and ministry of the young eighteenth‐century pastor Samuel Pearce and his wife Sarah (Classics of Reformed Spirituality). Their lives express the sense of this passage: although he died at 33 years old, his biographer remarks that according to many of his contemporaries he “condensed a lifetime of holy and joyful ministry into a single decade” (back cover of the book, amazon.com).
(Refrain) It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
Full of glory, full of glory,
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
Oh, the half has never yet been told.
I have found His grace is all complete,
He supplieth ev’ry need;
While I sit and learn at Jesus’ feet,
I am free, yes, free indeed.
I have found the pleasure I once craved,
It is joy and peace within;
What a wondrous blessing! I am saved
From the awful gulf of sin.
I have found that hope so bright and clear,
Living in the realm of grace;
Oh, the Savior’s presence is so near,
I can see His smiling face.
I have found the joy no tongue can tell,
How its waves of glory roll!
It is like a great o’erflowing well,
Springing up within my soul.
I’ve found a Savior dear to me,
More precious than gold;
He saved my soul and made me free,
There’s joy in my soul!
Consequences of the Transformed Life: Suffering Related to the Suffering of Christ (1:11–12)
Overview
Here, Peter sets his argument on suffering into a larger context: the trials his readers are experiencing are not random or unintentional on God’s part. They are directly connected to the suffering and glory of Christ himself, foretold by the prophets. Most likely, these are Jewish figures (including apocalyptic ones) as well as Christian ones in the church at the time. For Peter, the salient point is that they “made diligent and careful inquiry” into these things. These two words are linked in Ps. 118[119]:2, LXX, and convey the sense of “searching out” the testimonies of the Lord and “seeking out” the Lord himself (Michaels, 1988: 40). Peter is emphasizing the devotional intensity with which the prophets pursued knowledge and understanding of God’s promised plan, as revealed by the “Spirit of Christ.” According to Peter, this revelation has to do with the sufferings and ultimate glorification of Christ. Even though the prophets knew they would not see the fulfillment of these promises, they ardently sought to understand them.
In our author’s time, many of these promises had already taken place, but more is to come. There is the “grace to be given you when at the end of time Jesus Christ is revealed” (vv.11, 13). This grace goes beyond the salvation they experience in the present. Both terms (“salvation” sought by the prophets and the “grace” yet to come) are in a similar grammatical construction, with the preposition peri, indicating that they are to be taken together. Assuredly, Peter expects the final revelation of Christ to be in an eschatological context (vv.5, 9). The mysterious nature of this revelation is further highlighted in that, while the prophets intensely searched to understand it, the angels themselves “long to look into these things” (v.12).
Ancient Receptions
One of the issues which interests the early writers is whether the belief of the Old Testament prophets in the promises of God is as inspired as those who lived at the time of Jesus. Clement of Alexandria considered the Old Testament prophets to be foundational to understanding the New Testament work of Christ; he adds: “the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, and … [it] is declared by this that the prophets spoke with wisdom, and that the Spirit of Christ was in them, according to the possession of Christ, and in subjection to Christ” (Adumbrations: FC: ccel.org).
Oecumenius also understands the Old Testament prophecies as the work of the Spirit of Christ: “The Spirit of Christ predicted his sufferings to Isaiah (Isa. 53:7), and he predicted the resurrection to Hosea” (Hos. 6:3) (Comm. on 1 Peter, PG 119: 520: my tr.).
Andreas concurs (Catena, CEC 44). Didymus the Blind explains that at his time (fourth century) this was a debated issue, and explicitly remarks that the opinion held by many that the promises and salvation of the Old Testament prophets were inferior to those of the ones who saw Jesus in the flesh “is false.” He explains further that Christ comes in two ways. One is by the intellect as Divine Word; the other is through the senses as when he appeared on earth historically (Comm. on 1 Peter, PG 39: 1757–1758).
Theodoret of Cyr (393–458/466) agrees and states emphatically: “Peter says that whatever was announced to you through the proclamation of the Holy Spirit [through the prophets] was sent from heaven” (Catena, CEC: 45–6: my tr.). Ambrose of Milan (c. 340–397) agrees (Letters to Laymen 66: FC: ccel.org).
Reformation
Later, for Luther, the issue continues to focus on the relation between the Old and New Testaments:
Thus the books of Moses and the prophets are the Gospel, since they have first preached and written of Christ that which the Apostles afterward preached and wrote. Yet there is a distinction between them [the Old and New Testaments]. For although both … have been written out on paper, yet … the New Testament, cannot be said so properly to be written, but to have consisted in the living voice which published it. (Luther, Comm.: ccel.org)
Calvin similarly takes a positive view of the prophets and the Old Testament:
This passage [1 Peter 1:10‐12] has been strangely perverted by fanatics, so as to exclude the fathers, who lived under the Law, from the hope of eternal salvation … but [It] teaches us that … they indeed by faith tasted those things which the Lord has passed on by their hands. (Comm., 1963: 241)
Other Interpretations
The writers of the French Confession (1559, 1571) affirm that “the word contained in these [Old Testament] books has proceeded from God” (Pelikan II, IV: 376).
In 1869, Jane Borthwick (1813–1897) communicated this relation of the prophets to the fulfillment and the ultimate unity that results in Christ (1:10) in the words of the hymn, “Hasten the Time Appointed.” The hymn concludes with the joy anticipated in the future:
Hasten the time appointed,