When all shall dwell together,
One Shepherd and one fold.
Let every idol perish,
To moles and bats be thrown
And every prayer be offered
To God in Christ alone.
Let Jew and Gentile, meeting
From many a distant shore
Around one altar kneeling,
One common Lord adore.
Let all that now divides us
Remove and pass away,
Like shadows of the morning
Before the blaze of day.
Let all that now unites us
More sweet and lasting prove
A closer bond of union,
In a blest land of love.
Let war be learned no longer,
Let strife and tumult cease,
All earth His blessed kingdom
The Lord and Prince of Peace.
O long expected dawning,
Come with thy cheering ray!
When shall the morning brighten,
The shadows flee away?
O sweet anticipation!
It cheers the watchers on
To pray, and hope, and labor,
Till the dark night be gone.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) was an American philosopher, essayist, and transcendentalist poet. Although he is best known for his humanist writings, such as “Self‐Reliance,” he was deeply interested in spirituality and ethics (biography.com website). Emerson was intensely interested in the “Spirit’s involvement in the New Testament writings” (1992: 269–270). At the dedication of the Second Church vestry in Boston, Mass. on February 28, 1831, he specifies that one of the purposes of the dedicated hall was to provide a place for the work of the “Spirit of the New Testament, not the letter.” The attraction of the gospel, according to Emerson, is the love that “glows in its pages … when it teaches the humble believers that God is love … that God dwelleth with the humble [Mt 18.4; Js 4.6 and 1 Pet 5.5] … that we should be holy as he is holy [1 Pet 1.16]. ”
The Interest of Angels (v.12b)
From an early time, a number of church writers have commented on the curious notion that angels themselves are intrigued by Christ’s work of redemption. Clement of Alexandria is one of the earliest leaders to comment on the role of angels in 1 Peter; these angels are not the fallen angels, but “angels who desire to obtain the advantage of that perfection” (Adumbrations: FC: ccel.org). Irenaeus says, “There is one Son who accomplished the Father’s will and one human race in which the mysteries of God are accomplished, which angels long to behold” (Against Heresies 5.36.3: LCC 1: 379).
Hilary of Arles has the perspective that the angels are interested because of their great love (Intro. Comm. on 1 Peter., PLS 3:86). Niceta of Remesiana (335–414) asks, “If the angels desire to look upon him, should not [human beings] be all the more afraid to despise him?” (Power of the Holy Spirit, 19. FC: 7:39: ccel.org).
The issue slightly shifts by the time of the Reformation; for example, Calvin approaches this subject from a different angle:
The meaning of this passage [about the angels] can be … either that the treasure we have in the Gospel fills the angels with a desire to see it … or that they anxiously desire to see the kingdom of Christ. (Comm., 1963: 242)
In the Middle Ages there was a strong interest in angels, particularly in the Catholic tradition. St. Thomas Aquinas in fact did so much work on angels that he became known as the “doctor of angels” (Catholic Encyclopedia online). He explains angels’ desire to know about salvation in terms of potentiality and actuality:
An angel’s intellect can be in potentiality with regard to things learnt by natural knowledge; for he is not always actually considering everything that he knows by natural knowledge. But as to the knowledge of the Word … he is always actually beholding the Word, and the things he sees in the Word. (ST FP Q [64] A [1])
St. Francis de Sales, showing some influence by St. Thomas, explains the interest of angels (1 Pet. 1:12): “The angels who see the Redeemer and in him all the mysteries of our salvation, do yet desire to see him.” They see him continually, “with a view so agreeable and delightsome” that although they are satisfied, their desire does not diminish; in fact, it increases (PC).
Pelikan and Hotchkins suggest that the biblical tradition of angels as messengers and servants of God eventually became linked to Jewish speculations about angels and the gnostic cosmologies which understood aeons and daimons as mediators between God and humans (2003: 133).
Consequences of the Transformed Life: Hope, Holiness, and Love (1:13–23)
Overview
Although this text has been read in a variety of ways, the early issue had to do with the nature of the life to which we are called; Peter’s audience has been called from their past lives of “ignorance” of God and “emptiness” into the fulfillment of their hope. This, in turn, necessitates a certain kind of behavior – the holiness of God is a model for the conduct of the readers. Peter uses two participles to convey the urgency of the needed action: be prepared (anazosamenoi) and be alert (nephontes). They must be holy because the God who called them is holy.
The theme of hope, characterized as “living hope,” is continued here from the introduction. This section is composed of two parts: first the ethical implications of hope, as expressed in a series of imperatives and participles, and second, the celebration of the ethical implications of this hope, in spite of present afflictions. Inherent within this hope is the life of holiness. It is meaningful that the word “hope” is used as both a noun and a verb (Michaels, 1988: 52). As a noun, it cuts to the very core of the gospel, addressing our behavior now, so that our present earthly existence is as important as our commitment to the anticipated future. Indeed, the content of this hope is holiness (vv.14–17) and reverent fear of God (v.17). As a verb, it is typified by mental alertness and readiness for action; it is not merely the expectation of good or bad (as it was for the Greeks), rather it is directed toward God’s promise of salvation. Hence, hope is linked not only to the future (ultimate salvation), but also its nature and content dynamically affect the present. Green (2007: 43) insightfully shows that “living hope” incorporates both “now and not yet;” it is a consequence of transformed lives, yet anticipates ultimate rejoicing at the end‐time.
Ancient Receptions
Two main themes are of interest here – the readers’ ignorance of God in their past lives, and the alertness to which Peter urges them. The part that most modern scholars agree on is that the use of “ignorance” sheds light on the nature of Peter’s readers, but there is considerable ambiguity about its deeper implications. It can mean that they are Gentiles who do not know God at all, or Jews who failed to recognize Jesus as Messiah, or a mixture of both. When we consider this entire passage, however, we realize that Peter here is not addressing the classical