Chapter # 3 Paragraph # 3 Study # 3
May 9, 2010
Lincolnton, N.C.
1769 Translation:
8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:
9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.
10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:
11 Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
1901 ASV Translation:
8 Finally, be ye all likeminded, compassionate, loving as brethren, tenderhearted, humbleminded:
9 not rendering evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but contrariwise blessing; for hereunto were ye called, that ye should inherit a blessing.
10 For, He that would love life, And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips that they speak no guile:
11 And let him turn away from evil, and do good; Let him seek peace, and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, And his ears unto their supplication: But the face of the Lord is upon them that do evil.
- I. Peter's Summary Exhortations.
- A. In positive terms.
- 1. Likeminded [See notes for Study # 1 of Paragraph # 3<056>].
- 2. Suffering together [See notes for Study # 2<057>].
- 3. Brother loving [See notes for Study # 2<057>].
- 4. Good emotioned.
- a. Peter's term is used by Paul in Ephesians 4:32, but that is the only other use of it in the New Testament.
- b. Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon says that when the word is used literally it means "to have healthy bowels". In the realms of metaphor the claim is that it means "being compassionate".
- c. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament says that by the time the word was used in the New Testament it had become a "forceful" word for the entire person because it had been used metaphorically to refer to the "instant passions" or those reactions that had little, or no, thoughtfulness behind them.
- d. Taking these perspectives together, it seems that Peter is adding "a healthy inner person" to the prior issues of humility, suffering, and emotional linkage and the following issue of a commitment to right understanding.
- 1) This notion of "a healthy inner person" seems to be pretty comprehensive. Since the "health" of the inner person is dictated by right attitudes toward the issues involved in being a "person", the major idea seems to be one wherein the actions of others do not upset the basic fixation of the believer upon Christ as his "Life".
- 2) The understanding that the actions that others take might be significantly upsetting may well be at the root of what Peter is addressing. In a context of "submission" with its overtones of dominion by the ungodly, this is no small matter. It is no small thing to be "subject" to the actions of others, given the fact that so much of the time our quality of experience is, inadvertently, tied to those actions rather than the promises of God. At root, the reason the Bible is so adamant about "faith" is that the quality of life is directly tied to what is embraced as "true" and very little of what happens can, in any sense, be divorced from "what is true".
- 5. Humble minded.
- a. Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon says Peter's word (translated "courteous" by the AV) means "of a kindly, or cheerful, temper".
- b. The root of the origins of the word combine "phileo" to "phran" and mean to be emotionally invested in proper understanding (see the only use of "phran" in the New Testament at 1 Corinthians 14:20 where it means "to have the experience and understanding to accomplish").
- c. "Humble minded" does not communicate what Peter seems to have had in mind: he is very much "into" getting his readers to respond to ungodly treatment in a way that adorns the Gospel. The only way this can happen on a regular basis is if the readers actually "love" getting things "right" in the way they think.
- B. In negative terms.
- 1. Not returning evil for evil.
- 2. Not returning railing for railing.
- C. In contrasting terms.
- 1. Returning "blessing".
- 2. Being called to inherit a "blessing".