Andreas of Caesarea

In his own words on 1 Peter

• 1 Peter 1:1

  This apostle was appointed to preach to those of the circumcision, but he deliberately did not limit his preaching to those who lived in Judea. Instead, by sending this circular letter, he sought to preach to Jews scattered all over the world, to the effect that they must hold onto the faith which they have received, for by keeping it they would inherit many great, good, eternal and heavenly things.

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• 1 Peter 1:2

  See how Peter says that he was called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the foreknowledge of God the Father. Furthermore, he explains what his apostleship is like by saying that it is in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ. Moreover, we who believe in him have also been sanctified by the Spirit, and he sprinkles us too with his blood in order to cleanse us. For how can we not know that God sanctifies us by his own Spirit and cleanses us believers with his own blood? For Christ was God in human flesh.

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• 1 Peter 1:3

  They have received immortality and the hope of eternal life. These good things in heaven are better than human things. For this reason they praise God the Father, who shows his great mercy in doing these things faithfully. When God is the giver, the things given are both better and certain to materialize. The statement also has relevance to the Old Testament, for in it God gave the land of the Canaanites to those who believed in him.

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• 1 Peter 1:5

  Peter says that God has blessed us greatly and that he has done so through his Son. Furthermore, he says that those who receive these things are those who are protected in the power of God, as Christ himself prayed: "Holy Father, protect them." If the inheritance is kept in heaven for believers, some grow cold thinking that it has been left for us in the earthly Jerusalem, assuming that the rewards of the kingdom will be acquired by the appearance of luxury every thousand years. They should be asked why they say that this bodily luxury is immortal and unfading but at the same time they limit it to every thousandth year. They need to be told that these words show that the inheritance is in the kingdom of heaven and that it cannot be known by the senses of mortal beings. We have been assured that we shall receive all these great things by the Father himself, who is the one who gives them. For it is certain by other means also that he will bless us with these things through his own Son, and not simply through the Son but through his resurrection. For if everything has been granted to us, what is there left to give? The inheritance is immortal and unfading, and what is even greater, it is not here on earth but in heaven.

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• 1 Peter 1:6

  Right now we have to suffer for the sake of the preaching, but relief for those who toil is near.

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• 1 Peter 1:11

  The apostle insists that the one who spoke by the prophets was the Holy Spirit of Christ. Nor was Christ a mere man, as the heretics say, but he was the incarnate Son of God, consubstantial with the Father. "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." … For this reason the Savior said: "Many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you are seeing, and they did not see it."

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• 1 Peter 1:13

  Having spoken of the greatness of the blessings of the Father's gift, the sufferings of Christ, the Holy Spirit's prediction concerning him, the prophets' proclamation, the desire of the angels—having said all this, Peter tells us to hold on to them all by faith.

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• 1 Peter 1:15

  Those who seek to imitate the Holy God must be holy themselves.

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• 1 Peter 1:16

  God insists that we become like him. In God's holiness lies our salvation. Therefore those who are truly holy now in Christ are prepared for true life in him.

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• 1 Peter 1:17

  If the Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, what are we to think about this passage? For if it is the Father who is indicated here, how is he a judge, judging everyone according to his work? But if it is the Son who judges, taking all judgment on himself, why does Peter mention the Father? The solution here is that if the Father and the Son are one Godhead, the judgment of the Son is the judgment of the Father also, but the Son can also be called the Father of the creatures, having given them birth by partaking in holiness. For on many occasions he called his disciples his children, and to others he said things like: "Child, your sins are forgiven," and "Daughter, your faith has saved you."

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• 1 Peter 1:21

  Peter did not stop at Christ's death but went on immediately to remember his resurrection as well. Just because you hear that the Father has raised the Son, do not retort that the Son cannot raise himself. For listen to what Christ says: "Destroy this temple and in three days I shall raise it up again" and again: "I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it up again." The apostle says these things in order to teach us that the Father and the Son hold everything in common.

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• 1 Peter 1:23

  The Gospel says: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away, says the Lord Jesus Christ."

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• 1 Peter 1:25

  God foresaw and forewarned us about all the above, but although he sees our great disobedience, the Lord of all persists in guiding us toward salvation.

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• 1 Peter 2:2

  The divine law wants us to be perfect, but on the way toward perfection it has us first drink milk, as if we were newborn babies, and by that milk we shall grow toward salvation. Paul spoke to the same effect when he said: "Do not be children in understanding, but be innocent in wrongdoing. In understanding be adults." For it is not possible to advance toward purity, or toward maturity in understanding, or toward adulthood as a worker approved by God, unless you renounce evil and become like an innocent child.

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• 1 Peter 2:4

  This refers to the scribes and the Pharisees and the whole body of the Sanhedrin, about whom it was said: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone."

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• 1 Peter 2:8

  They stumble because of their wicked mind and because they were chosen for damnation. For it is that which has brought them to this position.

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• 1 Peter 2:9

  We are royal from the fact that Christ is a king, and we are a priesthood from the fact that he is a priest. Furthermore, we are also a holy people, so called by the one who is called holy in himself.

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• 1 Peter 2:10

  When people from different races and nations are called to abandon all their differences and to take on one mind, drawing near to him by one faith and one teaching, by which the soul and the heart become one, they are one holy people.

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• 1 Peter 2:11

  As always, the apostle turns to ethical matters after he has dealt with doctrine. After saying what good things are available because of Christ, he now calls us to lead the right kind of life.

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• 1 Peter 2:13

  By "every human authority" Peter means those which have been ordained by rulers. We are called to submit to them for the Lord's sake, because he himself said: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's," but if they command something which is not God's will we must not obey them.

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• 1 Peter 2:15

  Peter said this because there were some subversive people who were saying that Christ had come to overthrow the state, teaching us that we should despise every earthly power. But when they see us submitting to them because it is God's will, then they are silenced, because they realize that they were wrongly trying to tear the kingdom of Christ in two.

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• 1 Peter 2:17

  It is wrong to be insubordinate and disobedient to earthly authorities. Let no one say that we have been set free from the world because we have become citizens of heaven. Are you still insisting that we should obey earthly powers? Yes, says Peter, but obey them as free people, which is to say, in obedience to the one who has set you free and who has commanded you to do this. That way you will not glory in your freedom as if it were a cloak to cover up your evil thoughts, that is, of insubordination and disobedience.

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• 1 Peter 2:18

  The person who says that servants ought to obey their masters out of abject fear is mad and ought to be regarded as a dumb animal, for the fear which they ought to have is based on knowledge and reason and is properly known as respect. For the servant who fears his master for Christ's sake and because of his teaching will submit to him out of respect.… And there is another aspect to this, for Peter is also telling women to respect their husbands in godly fear, for that is fully consonant with the Holy Scriptures.

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• 1 Peter 2:21

  Having told servants to put up with unjust suffering, which was a bitter pill for them to swallow, Peter now comforts them by referring to Christ's longsuffering. It is as if he were saying: "I am not trying to persuade you to put up with injustice simply by arguments. Rather stand back and look at your master as freemen in Christ, and you will be comforted."

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• 1 Peter 3:8

  Here Peter moves on from husband and wife and sets out the law of love for everyone. Every virtue is based on it—compassion, mercy, humility, and so on.

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• 1 Peter 3:9

  What is humility? It is to bear the insults of others, to accept sins against oneself, to bear punishments. Indeed this is not just humility, but prudence as well.

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• 1 Peter 3:12

  It is not those who are still in their sins who are worthy of such divine oversight, but those who have been cleansed from them. The phrase "the eyes of God" is a metaphor for those divine powers which see everything. It is they who watch over the righteous, but his ears are also ready to hear their prayers. If you want to enjoy this experience, however, you must first turn your eyes away from evil. God never distances himself from the righteous. Whenever the hand of a righteous man does mercy, it has the eye of God watching over it. And whenever his tongue prays, it inclines the divine ear to hear, as for example the prayer of Cornelius was rewarded.

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• 1 Peter 3:15

  Just as magnifying God cannot add anything to his greatness and glorifying him does not make him any more glorious, so sanctifying the Lord does not mean that there is any addition to his existing holiness. Rather we are called to sanctify him in our hearts, and if we form a clear understanding of his holiness, then we do not sanctify him on one occasion only, but rather by doing this we have a better understanding of what his holiness is and something of it is implanted in our hearts. Likewise someone who magnifies God receives a share of his greatness, and someone who glorifies him is glorified in turn. It is a prophetic voice which says that there should be no fear in you which might prevent you from confessing Christ in your hearts. You should sanctify him there also. For this confession is sanctification both for the soul and for the body. Some people wonder why the Savior said: "Do not worry about what you will say," but here the apostle writes: "Be ready to give an explanation." However, there is no contradiction. Jesus was speaking about bearing witness, whereas Peter is talking about teaching others the faith.

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• 1 Peter 3:17

  Once again, Peter exhorts us not to grieve over unjust suffering, if that is God's will for us. He teaches us that we suffer for the specific purpose of being trained for what we are meant to be according to the mercy of God.

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• 1 Peter 3:18

  Again Peter expounds Christ's death and resurrection. Notice how he proclaims the mystery to us. For by saying that he died in the flesh and that he was made alive again in the Spirit, what he is really saying is that he died for the sake of our flesh, which is under the power of corruption, but that he rose again as God, for the word spirit means "God" in this instance.

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• 1 Peter 3:21

  The water of the flood is a type of baptism because it both punished evil people and saved the good, just as baptism expels evil spirits and saves those who turn to Christ. This shows the great power of baptism, and how much we need it.

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• 1 Peter 3:22

  Look how clearly the dispensation of grace is set out for us. Peter recalls Christ's death and resurrection and then goes on to mention his ascension as well, and the fact that he sits at the right hand of the Father, lest you imagine that when he suffered he lost something of his glory.

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• 1 Peter 4:5

  Some people say that the soul is living and the body dead, but it is impossible for a soul to come to judgment without its own body. Rather here Peter calls the righteous "living," because they do the works of the life to come, and the unrighteous he calls "dead," because they are dead in their transgressions and dead works. But the gospel has been preached to both the righteous and the unrighteous, even to those who are dead in their sins, so that they may judge themselves by casting their vote against themselves.

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• 1 Peter 4:6

  Here Peter uses "dead" to refer to the Gentiles, who are dead because of their insurmountable sins and whom he wants to see turn to Christ. Such sinners, after they accept his commandments, judge themselves in the flesh according to their human understanding, by mortifying it in fasting, prostrations, tears and other forms of suffering. They do this in order that they may live in the spirit as God wants them to, being inspired by the word of the apostle Paul, who said: "If our outer man is being destroyed, our inner man is being renewed day by day."

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• 1 Peter 4:10

  It is not merely that the rich man is obliged to meet the needs of those who are less well off than he is but also that each one of us must use the gifts which we have received either by nature or by the Holy Spirit, so that no one may say that we are keeping these things to ourselves and refusing to share them with our neighbors.

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• 1 Peter 5:7

  Peter tells us that we have a guide and leader and that if we act according to his instructions, we shall keep ourselves pure and spotless.

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• 1 Peter 5:10

  See how the beginning and the end of the epistle are the same. At the beginning Peter said that the Father has mercy on us through the Son and here he once again says that the Father has called us into his eternal glory through Jesus Christ.

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• 1 Peter 5:11

  It is ultimately the role of the Father and of the Son to proclaim the mystery of faith, because the glory and power belong to them, although they condescend to make use of us and of our preaching.

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• 1 Peter 5:13

  Peter calls Rome Babylon in a metaphorical sense. The woman who is chosen along with us is the church of Christ established in that city. He also mentions Mark the Evangelist, whom he calls his son in Christ and to whom he entrusted the task of writing the Gospel.

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