1 Peter 1:9

Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(9) Receiving the end of your faith.—The “end of our faith” means, the object to which our faith is directed, the thing we believed for. And “faith” catches up the “believing” of last verse, so that, in reading, the accent of the sentence falls on “end,” not on “faith;” and the whole clause is added to justify the statement that we rejoice with a joy which has already attained its full perfection. The reason is, he says, because we receive already, in the present life, the object of all this trusting without sight; we need not wait till the next world to attain our glorification.

The salvation of your souls.—It might be simply, salvation of souls, including other men’s besides our own, but the context is against it, and the absence of articles is characteristic of St. Peter. It seems at first sight not a very exalted object for our faith to work to, the deliverance, or safety, of our own souls. And yet our Lord fully recognises the instinct of the higher self-preservation as that to which the ultimate appeal must be made (Matthew 16:25-26). He could give His own soul a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28); He could save others and not Himself (Matthew 27:42); St. Paul could wish himself accursed from Christ for his brethren’s sake, “that they might be saved” (Romans 9:3; Romans 10:1); Moses could ask to be “blotted out of the book” (Exodus 32:32); and yet the fact remains, that in seeking our own welfare, in the highest sense, we are fulfilling a primal law of our being, imposed upon us by the Creator. We are bound to make that our first object, if it were only to gratify Him who has no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, even if we could possibly divest ourselves of all “selfish” interest in the matter.

“A charge to keep I have,

A God to glorify;

A never-dying soul to save,

And fit it for the sky.”

The Buddhist longing for Nirvana is as far as possible removed from the healthy spirit of Christianity. “Salvation” here seems to have widened its meaning since 1Peter 1:5; while there the main thought was final deliverance from the afflictions of life, here the salvation is said to be received in the very midst of all these afflictions. The addition of the word “souls,” appears to make the difference. For the soul, there is present salvation, because persecutions, &c., do not touch it, and it is capable of the most complete emancipation from the evils of sin (Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:69; Luke 1:71; Luke 1:75; Romans 6:14; Romans 7:24-25.) Salvation, then, is the restoration of man to the ideal excellence from which he was fallen: it contains—here, at any rate—no allusion to “damnation” as an opposite.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:1-9 This epistle is addressed to believers in general, who are strangers in every city or country where they live, and are scattered through the nations. These are to ascribe their salvation to the electing love of the Father, the redemption of the Son, and the sanctification of the Holy Ghost; and so to give glory to one God in three Persons, into whose name they had been baptized. Hope, in the world's phrase, refers only to an uncertain good, for all worldly hopes are tottering, built upon sand, and the worldling's hopes of heaven are blind and groundless conjectures. But the hope of the sons of the living God is a living hope; not only as to its object, but as to its effect also. It enlivens and comforts in all distresses, enables to meet and get over all difficulties. Mercy is the spring of all this; yea, great mercy and manifold mercy. And this well-grounded hope of salvation, is an active and living principle of obedience in the soul of the believer. The matter of a Christian's joy, is the remembrance of the happiness laid up for him. It is incorruptible, it cannot come to nothing, it is an estate that cannot be spent. Also undefiled; this signifies its purity and perfection. And it fadeth not; is not sometimes more or less pleasant, but ever the same, still like itself. All possessions here are stained with defects and failings; still something is wanting: fair houses have sad cares flying about the gilded and ceiled roofs; soft beds and full tables, are often with sick bodies and uneasy stomachs. All possessions are stained with sin, either in getting or in using them. How ready we are to turn the things we possess into occasions and instruments of sin, and to think there is no liberty or delight in their use, without abusing them! Worldly possessions are uncertain and soon pass away, like the flowers and plants of the field. That must be of the greatest worth, which is laid up in the highest and best place, in heaven. Happy are those whose hearts the Holy Spirit sets on this inheritance. God not only gives his people grace, but preserves them unto glory. Every believer has always something wherein he may greatly rejoice; it should show itself in the countenance and conduct. The Lord does not willingly afflict, yet his wise love often appoints sharp trials, to show his people their hearts, and to do them good at the latter end. Gold does not increase by trial in the fire, it becomes less; but faith is made firm, and multiplied, by troubles and afflictions. Gold must perish at last, and can only purchase perishing things, while the trial of faith will be found to praise, and honour, and glory. Let this reconcile us to present afflictions. Seek then to believe Christ's excellence in himself, and his love to us; this will kindle such a fire in the heart as will make it rise up in a sacrifice of love to him. And the glory of God and our own happiness are so united, that if we sincerely seek the one now, we shall attain the other when the soul shall no more be subject to evil. The certainty of this hope is as if believers had already received it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls - The result or object of your faith; that is, what your faith is designed and adapted to secure. Compare the notes at Romans 10:4. The word rendered receiving is used here as indicating that they would surely obtain that. They even now had such peace and joy in believing, that it furnished undoubted evidence that they would be saved; and such that it might be said that even now they were saved. The condition of one who is a true Christian here is so secure that it may even now be called salvation.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9. Receiving—in sure anticipation; "the end of your faith," that is, its crowning consummation, finally completed "salvation" (Peter here confirms Paul's teaching as to justification by faith): also receiving now the title to it and the first-fruits of it. In 1Pe 1:10 the "salvation" is represented as already present, whereas "the prophets" had it not as yet present. It must, therefore, in this verse, refer to the present: Deliverance now from a state of wrath: believers even now "receive salvation," though its full "revelation" is future.

of … souls—The immortal soul was what was lost, so "salvation" primarily concerns the soul; the body shall share in redemption hereafter; the soul of the believer is saved already: an additional proof that "receiving … salvation" is here a thing present.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Receiving; either this word is to be taken improperly, and by an enallage, the future being put for the present tense; q.d. Being about to receive; or rather properly, in the present tense, and then it intimates the certainty of the thing spoken of.

The end of your faith; i.e. the scope to which faith tends, or the reward of faith.

The salvation; either:

1. Salvation more generally taken, which is begun in this life, Ephesians 2:8 Titus 3:5; or rather:

2. Complete final salvation in the other, as 1 Peter 1:5: and then the sense is, either, ye rejoice that ye shall certainly receive the full salvation of your souls, or, ye rejoice that ye do receive that salvation, viz. in the promises of it, in those graces of the Spirit wrought in you, which begin this salvation, and are the pledges of it, and in the certain assurance of it.

Of your souls; i.e. by a usual synecdoche, the salvation of your persons.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Which is a just and sufficient ground of joy and rejoicing. "Salvation" intends spiritual and eternal salvation; that which God appointed his people to from all eternity, which is obtained by Christ, applied by the Spirit, and will be fully enjoyed in heaven: this is the salvation "of souls": which are of more worth than a world; and the redemption of which is precious, and requires a great price, and for which a great price is paid, as in 1 Peter 1:18. It is rightly supplied in our version by "your", as in the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions; though the Vulgate Latin version only reads, "the salvation of souls"; and which is to be understood, not to the exclusion of bodies, for God has designed the salvation of them; and Christ has procured the redemption of them; and these will be preserved unto the coming of Christ, being united to him; and will be raised by him, and with their souls enjoy everlasting happiness with him; though, in the present state of things, salvation rather takes place in the soul than in the body, which is exposed to various labours, afflictions, and diseases; but the chief design of the phrase is, to distinguish this salvation from a corporeal and temporal one: and so the Jews use the phrase , "the salvation of the soul" (z), in opposition to, and distinction from, a mere bodily one; and it intends a salvation from sin, Satan, the law, and its curses; from hell, the second death, and wrath to come, and every spiritual enemy: which is the end of faith; or, as the Syriac version renders it, "the reward of faith"; not that faith is the cause of salvation, or meritorious of it; for that itself is the gift of God, and is rather a part of salvation, and, at most, but the means of perceiving an interest in it, and of enjoying the comfort of it; and is what will issue in it, and in the full enjoyment of it; when faith will both have its end and scope, and be at an end, being exchanged for fruition; just as a reward is given at the end of a man's labours: hence it is called "the end", Proverbs 23:18 and even now salvation is the end of faith, in like sense as Christ is the end of the law: as the law has its full accomplishment, and all its ends answered in Christ, so faith has its end, and all it looks for, desires, and wants, in salvation by Christ: and which is now "receiving"; for the saints not only shall receive, and enjoy the full possession of it hereafter, but they have it now; it is not only appointed to them, and wrought out for them, but is brought near, set before them, and applied to them, and put into the hands of faith by the Spirit of God; they have it in faith and hope, by which they are already saved; and in Christ their head and representative, in whom they are set down in heavenly places; and besides, they have the beginning, firstfruits, earnest, and pledge of it in their own hearts, as well as a right unto, and a meetness for the perfect possession of it hereafter; all which is matter of joy unspeakable, and full of glory,

(z) Tzeror Hammor, fol. 168. 4.

Geneva Study Bible

Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

1 Peter 1:9. κομιζόμενοι τὸ τέλος κ.τ.λ.] gives the reason of that joy; the participle links itself simply on to ἀγαλλιᾶσθε, “inasmuch as ye obtain,” etc., and supplies confirmation that what is here spoken of is not present, but future joy. It is arbitrary to interpret, with de Wette and Brückner: “inasmuch as ye are destined to obtain;” or with Steiger: “inasmuch as even now in foretaste ye obtain.” Joined with the future present ἀγαλλιᾶσθε, the participle must also be in the present.[67] Cf. with this passage, more especially chap. 1 Peter 5:4.

ΚΟΜΊΖΕΙΝ: “obtain” (cf. chap. 1 Peter 5:4), is in the N. T. frequently used of the obtaining of what will be assigned to man at the last judgment; 2 Peter 2:13; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Ephesians 6:8; Colossians 3:25. Steinmeyer incorrectly explains the word: secum portare.

τὸ τέλος, not “the reward” = ΜΙΣΘΌς (Beza, Vorstius, etc.), neither is it “the reward of victory” (Hofmann);[68] but it is the end of faith, that to which it is directed; see Cremer, s.v.

τῆς πίστεως ὑμῶν] refers back to πιστεύοντες, 1 Peter 1:8.

σωτηρίαν ψυχῶν] The salvation is indeed one already present; but here is meant the Christians’ completed salvation, of which they shall be partakers, ἐν καιρῷ ἐσχάτῳ (1 Peter 1:5).

On ψυχῶν, Bengel remarks: anima praecipue salvatur: corpus in resurrectione participat; cf. Jam 1:21; John 12:25; Luke 21:19.

[67] Winer, in the 5th ed. (p. 403), gives the same interpretation as de Wette; in the 6th (p. 306 [E. T. 429]) and the 7th (p. 330), on the other hand: “as receiving (they are that already in the assurance of faith).” Schott: “since ye are about to, or on the way to, gather in(!) like a harvest the end of your faith.” Schott is clearly wrong when he asserts that if the apostle had had the future joy in his mind, he must have written κομισάμενοι on account of the δεδοξασμένῃ, “because the attaining of the end of salvation, which is still in the act of being accomplished, could not be placed parallel with the final glorification which has already taken place,” since there is nothing unreasonable in the idea that the joy of the Christians is glorified when they receive the end of their salvation.

[68] The expression κομίζειν indeed shows that Peter pictured to himself the τέλος of faith as a trophy, but not that τέλος literally means: “trophy.”

Expositor's Greek Testament

1 Peter 1:9. The connexion with mention of persecution suggests that the writer is here thinking of the saying, in your patience ye shall win your souls and perhaps also of the contrast between the persecuton who has only power over the body. Whatever happen to the body the conclusion—the consummation of their faith—is assured them.—κομιζόμενοι implies that already they are receiving what is due to them (cf. 1 Peter 5:4) and therefore they rejoice with Hannah in God the Saviour. In the Attic Orators who use a refined form of colloquial Greek the verb is common in the sense of recovering debts, as in Matthew 25:27, ἐκομισάμην ἂν τὸ ἐμόν. St. Paul applies it to future recompense (2 Corinthians 5:10, ἵνα κομίσηται ἕκαστος τὰ διὰ τοῦ σώματος; Ephesians 6:8; Colossians 3:25; cf. 2Ma 8:33, τὸν ἄξιον τῆς δυσσεβείας ἐκομίσατο μισθόν); in Hebrews 3:4, it is used of receiving promises.—τὸ τέλος. The common meaning fulfilment or consummation gives a fair sense but the connection with κομιζόμενοι is thus somewhat strange. The parallel of 1 Peter 1:4, taken with Pindar, Ol. x(xi.) 81, Δόρυκλος δʼ ἔφερε πυγμᾶς τέλος, suggests as a possible rendering because ye receive the reward. The Septuagint, again (Numbers 31:28, etc.), uses τ. to translate מבס = proportion to be paid, tax. And this use is well established in Greek literature for τὰ τέλη, cf. λυσιτελεῖν, etc. Accordingly Suidas defines τέλος as τὸ διδόμενον τοῖς βασιλεῦσι. The particular connotations can hardly be pressed here but these uses give some colour of support to the Syriac rendering recompense and the mercedem of Augustine; cf. Romans 6:22.—σωτηρίαν ψυχῶν ͂ = σωτηρίαν above. ψυχῶν is added to console the readers for their sufferings in accordance with Mark 8:35, ὃς δʼ ἂν ἀπολέσει τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἕνεκεν τοῦ εὐαγγελίου σώσει αὐτήν = John 12:25; cf. Luke 21:19; Jam 1:21. The soul for St. Peter is the self or personality as for Jesus Himself.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9. receiving the end of your faith] The question has been raised whether these words refer to the present or the future. It has been urged on the one hand that the word for “receiving” applied in 2 Corinthians 5:10, and perhaps in Hebrews 10:36, Ephesians 6:8, to the ultimate issue of God’s judgment, excludes the former. On the other hand, it may be replied that it is arbitrary to limit the last two passages to the final judgment, and that the tense both of “rejoice” and “receiving” is definitely present. On the whole therefore there is no adequate reason against taking the words in their natural and obvious meaning. Those to whom the Apostle wrote were thought of as already receiving, very really, though not, it might be, in its ultimate fulness, that which was the “end” or “goal” of their faith, and that goal was found in the “salvation” of their “souls”—the deliverance of their moral being (in this instance the word includes “spirit,” though elsewhere it is distinguished from it) from the burden of guilt, the sense of condemnation, the misery and discord of alienation from God.

Bengel's Gnomen

1 Peter 1:9. Κομιζόμενοι, receiving) now, at present.—τῆς πίστεως, of faith) 1 Peter 1:8.—ψυχῶν, of your souls) It is the soul especially which is saved: the body shares in the resurrection.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 9. - Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. The present participle "receiving" (κομιζόμενοι) implies that the believer realizes the deep blessing of salvation gradually while he is being saved as one of οἱ σωζόμενοι (Acts 2:47). Salvation is present as well as future. "By grace ye are saved through faith" (Ephesians 2:8); "According to his mercy he saved us" (Titus 3:5). God's elect receive it in various measures now; in its blessed fullness it will be manifested hereafter. It is the end which faith ever holds in view, pressing towards it as the prize of the high calling. It is the salvation especially of souls; for, as Bengel says," Anima praecipue salvatur; corpus in resurreetione participat." 1 Peter 1:9

Vincent's Word Studies

Receiving (κομιζόμενοι)

The verb originally means to take care of or provide for; thence to receive hospitably or entertain; to bring home with a view to entertaining or taking care of. Hence, to carry away so as to preserve, to save, rescue, and so to carry away as a prize or booty. Generally, to receive or acquire. Paul uses it of receiving the awards of judgment (2 Corinthians 5:10; Ephesians 6:8; Colossians 3:25). In Hebrews it is used of receiving the promise (Hebrews 10:36; Hebrews 11:39), and of Abraham receiving back Isaac (Hebrews 11:19). Peter uses it thrice, and in each case of receiving the rewards of righteousness or of iniquity. See 1 Peter 5:4; 2 Peter 2:13.