Movatterモバイル変換

Psalm 49:7,8
Noneof them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: …

1 Corinthians 6:20
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

1 Corinthians 7:23
Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

corruptible.

1 Peter 1:7
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

vain.

Psalm 39:6
Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth upriches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

Psalm 62:10
Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heartupon them.

Jeremiah 4:11
At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,

received.

1 Peter 4:3
For the time past ofour life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

Jeremiah 9:14
But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:

Jeremiah 16:19
O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, andthings whereinthere is no profit.

that you were redeemed
The concept of redemption is central to Christian theology, referring to the act of being bought back or liberated from bondage. In the Greco-Roman world, redemption often referred to the freeing of a slave through the payment of a ransom. This imagery would resonate with Peter's audience, illustrating the spiritual liberation from sin and death through Christ's sacrifice. The term "redeemed" connects to the Old Testament practice of redemption, such as the Passover lamb inExodus 12, which prefigures Christ as the ultimate sacrificial lamb.

from the empty way of life
This phrase critiques the futile and meaningless existence apart from God. The "empty way of life" refers to a life lived without the knowledge and purpose found in Christ. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon describes life as "meaningless" without God, which aligns with Peter's description here. The emptiness contrasts with the fullness of life promised inJohn 10:10, where Jesus speaks of giving life abundantly. This highlights the transformation that occurs through redemption, moving from emptiness to purpose.

you inherited from your forefathers
Peter addresses the traditions and beliefs passed down through generations, which, without Christ, are deemed insufficient for salvation. This reflects the Jewish context of the audience, who may have relied on the law and traditions for righteousness. Jesus often confronted the Pharisees about their adherence to human traditions over God's commandments (Mark 7:8-9). The phrase also speaks to the universal human condition of inheriting sin and the need for a new birth, as described inJohn 3:3-7. This inheritance is contrasted with the new identity and inheritance believers receive in Christ, as mentioned in1 Peter 1:4.

• Peter appeals to an informed faith: this is truth believers “know,” not guess (Romans 6:6;1 Corinthians 6:19).

• Knowing brings responsibility; with understanding comes the call to live accordingly (James 4:17).

• The assurance rests on God’s revealed Word, not shifting opinion (2 Timothy 3:16‐17).

• Earth’s most prized metals eventually fade (Matthew 6:19-20).

• God contrasts the temporary with the eternal, as earlier in the chapter: “your faith… more precious than gold that perishes” (1 Peter 1:7).

• No material wealth can purchase a soul (Psalm 49:6-8;Matthew 16:26).

• By stressing what did not redeem us, Peter magnifies what did—the priceless blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:19).

• “Redeemed” means purchased out of bondage. Israel’s Passover prefigured this deliverance (Exodus 6:6).

• The cost: “the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:19), echoed throughout Scripture (Ephesians 1:7;Hebrews 9:12;Titus 2:14).

• Redemption sets believers free for God’s service, no longer slaves to sin (Romans 6:17-18;Galatians 5:1).

• It is complete and final, secured by the Redeemer’s once-for-all sacrifice (Hebrews 10:10).

• “Empty” points to futility—lives chasing meaning yet never finding it (Ecclesiastes 1:2;Ephesians 4:17-19).

• Religious activity without Christ is hollow (Acts 17:22-23).

• Sin’s promises are vain; only in Christ is fullness of life (John 10:10;1 John 5:12).

• Redemption rescues us from purposeless existence and grants a living hope (1 Peter 1:3).

• Tradition alone cannot save (Mark 7:8-9).

• National or family heritage—even Israel’s rich legacy—cannot substitute for personal faith (John 1:12-13;Philippians 3:4-8).

• Each generation needs its own redemption; the gospel transcends cultural lineage (Acts 10:34-35).

• Christ breaks destructive chains passed down through sin’s history (1 Corinthians 15:22;1 Peter 2:9-10).

1 Peter 1:18 reminds believers that salvation is anchored in a priceless, imperishable ransom—the blood of Christ—not in fading wealth or human tradition. This redemption frees us from an empty, inherited way of life and calls us into purposeful, obedient living grounded in the certainty of God’s enduring Word.

Corruptible things.--St. Peter's contempt for"silver and gold" is shown early in his history (Acts 3:6; comp.1Peter 3:4). Gold and silver will come to an end with everything else that is material. Observe that, by contrast, the "blood of Christ" is implied to benot corruptible; and that, not because of the miraculous incorruption of Jesus Christ's flesh, but because the "blood of Christ" of which the Apostle here speaks isnot material. The natural blood of Jesus was only the sign and sacrament of that by which He truly and inwardly redeemed the world. (SeeIsaiah 53:12, "He poured outHis soul unto death," andHebrews 10:9-10.)

Redeemed . . . from your vain conversation.--We have to notice (1) what the "redemption" means, and (2) what the readers were redeemed from. Now (1) the word "redeem" is the same which is used inLuke 24:21 ("We used to hope thatHe was the person destined to redeem Israel"), and inTitus 2:14 ("Gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity"), and nowhere else. The substantive appears inLuke 1:68;Luke 2:38;Hebrews 9:12, to represent theaction of redeeming; and inActs 7:35, of Moses, to represent theperson who effects such a redemption. Properly it means to ransom a person, to get them out of slavery or captivity by paying a ransom (Matthew 20:28;Mark 10:45; comp.1Timothy 2:6). The notion of an actual ransom paid, however, was apt to slip away, as in the case of Moses just quoted, who certainly gave nothing of the nature of an equivalent to Pharaoh for the loss of his serfs. So that here, as in all passages relating to the Atonement, we must be very careful not to press the metaphor, or to consider it as more than a metaphor. The leading notion here is not that of paying an equivalent, but to call closer attention to the state in which the readers were before. It was a servitude like that of Egypt, or a captivity like that of Babylon, from which they needed a "ransomer" like Moses or Zerubbabel. What then was that condition? (2) St. Peter describes it as a "vain conversation traditional from the fathers." The word "conversation" again catches up1Peter 1:15;1Peter 1:17, "be holy in your conduct; let it be a conduct of fear; for your old vain conduct needed a terrible ransom before you could be set at liberty from it." The question is, whether a Gentile or Jewish mode of life is intended. If it meant merely as regards religious worship, it would suit either way, for it was of the essence of Roman state "religion" that it should be the same from generation to generation. (SeeActs 24:14.) But "conversation" or "manner of life" is far too wide a word to be thus limited, and at the same time the word "tradition" implies (in the New Testament) something sedulously taught, purposely handed down from father to son as an heirloom, so that it could not be applied to the careless, sensual life of Gentiles, learned by example only. On the other hand, among the Jews "tradition" entered into the minutest details of daily life or "conversation." (SeeMark 7:3-4--the Petrine Gospel.) It was a matter of serious "tradition" how a cup was to be washed. "Vain" (i.e.,frivolous) seems not an unnatural epithet to apply to such a mode of life, especially to one who had heardMark 7:7. It would seem, then, that the readers of this Letter were certainly Jews by birth. But would the Apostle of the Circumcision, the supposed head of the legal party in the Church, dare to call Judaism a "vain conversation," to stigmatise it (the single compound adjective in the Greek has a contemptuous ring) as "imposed by tradition of the fathers," and to imply that it was like an Egyptian bondage? We have only to turn toActs 15:10, and we find him uttering precisely the same sentiments, and calling Judaism a slavish "yoke," which was not only so bad for Gentiles that to impose it upon them was to tempt God, but also was secretly or openly felt intolerable by himself, by all the Jews there present, and even by the fathers who had imposed it. Judaism itself, then, in the form it had then assumed, was one of the foes and oppressors from which Christ came to "ransom" and "save" His people. (See Notes on1Peter 1:9-10, and comp.Acts 13:39.) . . .