Didymus the Blind

In his own words on 1 Peter

• 1 Peter 1:1

  Why does Peter, an apostle to the Jews, write to those who are scattered in the dispersion, when most of them were still living in Judea at that time? To understand his meaning, we have to compare what he says with texts like "I am a pilgrim and stranger on earth, as were all my forefathers." The souls of all are like strangers who are joined to bodies for as long as they dwell in time. If these souls were thought to be the substance of the body, they would be natives on earth. But these souls are concealed in a covering of flesh and are in fact like strangers on earth. They feel the pains of the flesh because they are quite assimilated into natural bodies. This is why terrors are brought on the inhabitants of the earth, which affect both the things which are earthly in themselves and the souls which are covered in an earthly image.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER

• 1 Peter 1:2

  What Peter says agrees with the statements of Paul, such as: "He has chosen us in himself before the foundation of the world, to be holy and spotless before him in love, predestinating us to be adopted as sons." … Foreknowledge is not to be regarded as anything other than the contemplation of the future. It becomes knowledge as the things which are foreseen come to pass. Therefore, although the people to whom Peter was writing had once been chosen according to God's foreknowledge, by the time he was writing to them their election had already taken place.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER

• 1 Peter 1:4

  In order to show how the inheritance of the blessed will continue forever, Peter calls it incorruptible and unfading, demonstrating by this that it is a pure and divine inheritance which will remain uncontaminated in the eyes of those who care nothing for their present wealth, knowing that they have something better and eternal waiting for them.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER

• 1 Peter 1:6

  Those who are afflicted in various ways because of Christ and who persevere to the end have their faith tested and proved. They ought therefore to rejoice, even if some of their labor appears to be involuntary. Peter calls this kind of labor grief, a word which he uses in one of the two meanings described by the apostle Paul, who said that there is one grief which leads to death and another which leads to repentance. Obviously it is the second of these which is meant here.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER

• 1 Peter 1:10

  Some say that the promises and the salvation of the saints who lived before the coming of the Savior was inferior to those given to people who came afterwards and who saw Jesus in the flesh, who heard his teaching and beheld the miracles he did in his body. We must however show that this opinion is false. Christ comes in two ways. One is through the intellect, by which God is received as a divine Word. The other is through the senses, by which he appears as a historical person coming out of the womb of Mary. But the first way is more purely divine than the second, which was made necessary by the sinful behavior of mankind. For God comes to all the saints through the intellect and by his word, whether they lived before or after the coming of Christ, sanctifying each one according to his deeds. Those who lived before the coming of Christ were less informed, not because of their wickedness but because of God's dispensation of time. Therefore it is said that the prophets examined how and at what time the salvation of their souls would be fulfilled by the sufferings of Christ and his subsequent glory. They preached these things, knowing that they were not going to be revealed directly to them but would appear at some future time. Therefore it is wrong to say that their sanctification was somehow inferior to ours.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER

• 1 Peter 1:15

  Since God, who called us to salvation by the gospel, is holy, those who obey his calling must also become holy in all their thoughts and behavior, especially since he who calls us to this also provides the necessary sanctification himself.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER

• 1 Peter 1:17

  If the one whom we call the Father is also our judge, and if he pays no attention to classes of persons, let us hasten to do our best in the time of our sojourn here on earth, with all fear and holy behavior. In this way we shall recognize that the same Father is the one who gives us promises, and we shall persevere without any punishment.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER

• 1 Peter 1:23

  Peter uses the words regeneration and restitution to signify the introduction of birth after the destruction of the first generation of mankind. For how could that not have been destroyed, seeing that it is corrupt, in order to make room for the incorruptible which is coming and which will remain forever? For there is a first birth, in the descent of Adam, which is mortal and therefore corruptible, but there is also a later birth which comes from the Spirit and the ever-living Word of God.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER

• 1 Peter 2:1

  This verse upsets the heretics, who like to think that natures are good or bad in themselves and therefore cannot be changed. But what Peter says is fully in line with the words of Jesus: "You must be born again."

  COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER

• 1 Peter 2:4

  Those who have accepted the gospel and who have been born again of incorruptible seed are an elect and approved race. At the same time they have been made living stones, built on top of the living Stone, who is chosen and honored, the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, in order to build a spiritual house for God toward whom they are being led and to whom spiritual sacrifices are offered.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER

• 1 Peter 2:7

  Just as the Lord is the true light who has come into the world for judgment, so that at his coming he may give sight to the blind and blind those who see in the wrong way, so he is also a chosen cornerstone, giving honor to those who join themselves to him in faith and revealing himself to them as a reliable foundation, but to those who do not believe he is not precious but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, considered worthless by the builders who have rejected him. These builders are the scribes and the Pharisees.

  CATENA

• 1 Peter 2:8

  The position in which they find themselves is one which they have chosen, for it starts with their unbelief. For just as the world, which has been placed under evil, is not evil by nature but has attained this position by its own desire, so also those who are being talked about here have been so placed because of their own unwillingness to believe, for they are cousins of those who have been handed over to the wickednesses of their desires. For God was very patient with those who despised his goodness and mercy, but in the end he left them to follow their own will.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER

• 1 Peter 2:9

  Under the old dispensation, the priesthood and the kingship were two different things. No one could be both a king and a priest. But afterwards came the gospel, which united these two offices in Christ. From this it follows that the people whom he has chosen will be both royal and priestly at the same time. Some people wonder how it is possible, seeing that we are called from all the nations on earth, for us to be regarded as one holy people. The answer to this is that although we are from many different nations, the fact that we have all repented of our sins and accepted a common will and a common mind gives those who have repented one doctrine and one faith. When there is a soul and heart common to all believers, then they are called one people.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER

• 1 Peter 2:10

  This verse means that Gentiles who were not God's people before they believed have now been called by him and have come to him. Some people think that Peter is talking about a mixture of beings who are both good and bad by nature, but their interpretation comes up against many serious objections. You cannot say of spiritual beings that there was once a time when they were not a people and when they lacked mercy, nor can you say of earthly beings that they have been turned into a people or received mercy. Therefore I believe that that is the wrong interpretation of this verse.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER

• 1 Peter 2:11

  Those who are worthy of love because of their godliness are called "beloved" not because they are that way by nature but because they have received love. The writer of this letter urges such people to abstain from carnal desires which attack the soul. The flesh and the soul have different natures. A soul which is uncorrupted and immortal will desire that kind of thing, whereas the flesh, which is both corrupt and dissolute, desires things which are wicked and vile. But when the two are joined together, the soul naturally feels the passions of the flesh. When it distances itself from bodily passions, it is preserved pure and glorious, with a saving understanding of the way it should act, with a will to behave in that way, with a love for God and with a desire to know him.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER

• 1 Peter 2:13

  The proclaimers of the truth take all opportunity for wrongdoing away from us by describing how we should behave toward those who are in power in such a way that the gospel and its teaching will not be hindered by us through our unwillingness to do what they require of us and by telling us to be subject to them when it is clear that they are doing something in accordance with just laws. Nor should we be worried if they do not act in the way appointed by God, because he is in charge of them and will judge them accordingly.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER

• 1 Peter 2:17

  The fear of God must come first and govern all the rest.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER

• 1 Peter 2:21

  The praises referred to here are those of a person who is good, not by nature but by grace, and who invites us to join him in praising the One who is good by nature.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER

• 1 Peter 2:23

  Jesus did not curse those who insulted him but handed them over to God, who is a just judge. For although the divine union of God and man in Christ is holy and undivided, yet there is a distinction to be made between the mind of the man assumed and the mind of the person assuming him.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER

• 1 Peter 3:6

  Peter commands women to imitate their holy forebears, and in particular Sarah. He urges them to submit to their husbands just as she submitted to Abraham and says that they have become her children by their good behavior. For just as a man who does the works of Abraham and has his faith becomes his child, so also believing women who do good have Sarah as their mother.

  CATENA

• 1 Peter 3:15

  We must be so well instructed in the knowledge of our faith that whenever anyone asks us about it we may be able to give them a proper answer and to do so with meekness and in the fear of God. For whoever says anything about God must do so as if God himself were present to hear him.

  CATENA

• 1 Peter 3:22

  Just as all rational creatures are made by the Son of God, who is the Word, or Reason, so too is their salvation brought about by him. For those who possess holiness not by nature but by grace, because they are creatures, must be cleansed by him in order to obtain goodness.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER

• 1 Peter 4:17

  When the time comes for God's judgment to begin, it will start with the best and work its way downwards, that is to say, it will commence with those who believe and belong to the church of God. Just think—if the examination of our lives begins with those who belong to God's household, what will it be like by the time it gets to those who have rejected the gospel? God sends great suffering and fear on believers so that they may learn that he is the judge to whom they must answer, and on unbelievers he sends the same fear, saying that they will not escape the great punishments which are their lot.

  CATENA