John Wesley

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the elect who are exiles of the Dispersion throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen

“Through Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia - He names these five provinces in the order wherein they occurred to him, writing from the east. All these countries lie in the Lesser Asia.”

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

“Election, in the scripture sense, is God's doing anything that our merit or power have no part in. The true predestination, or fore-appointment of God is, 1. He that believeth shall be saved from the guilt and power of sin.”

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus…

“They who receive the precious gift of faith, thereby become the sons of God; and, being sons, they shall receive the Spirit of holiness to walk as Christ also walked. Throughout every part of this appointment of God, promise and duty go hand in hand.”

who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

“Through faith - Through which alone salvation is both received and retained. Ready to be revealed - That Rev. is made in the last day. It was more and more ready to be revealed, ever since Christ came.”

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials

“If need be - For it is not always needful. If God sees it to be the best means for your spiritual profit.”

trying to determine the time and setting to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.

“And what manner of time - By what marks to be distinguished. The glories that were to follow - His sufferings; namely, the glory of his resurrection, ascension, exaltation, and the effusion of his Spirit; the glory of the last judgment, and of his eternal…”

It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, when they foretold the things now announced by those who preached the gospel to you by the…

“Which things angels desire to look into - A beautiful gradation; prophets, righteous men, kings, desired to see and hear what Christ did and taught. What the Holy Ghost taught concerning Christ the very angels long to know.”

Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him; and so your faith and hope are in God.

“Who through him believe - For all our faith and hope proceed from the power of his resurrection. In God that raised Jesus, and gave him glory - At his ascension.”

For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,

“All flesh - Every human creature is transient and withering as grass. And all the glory of it - His wisdom, strength, wealth, righteousness. As the flower - The most short-lived part of it.”

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,

“Desire - Always, as earnestly as new born babes do, chap. i, 3. The milk of the word - That word of God which nourishes the soul as milk does the body, and which is sincere, pure from all guile, so that none are deceived…”

As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight,

“There is a wonderful beauty and energy in these expressions, which describe Christ as a spiritual foundation, solid, firm, durable; and believers as a building erected upon it, in preference to that temple which the Jews accounted their highest glory. And St.”

you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

“Are built up - In union with each other. A spiritual house - Being spiritual yourselves, and an habitation of God through the Spirit. An holy priesthood - Consecrated to God, and "holy as he is holy."”

When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.

“In all these instances the example of Christ is peculiarly adapted to the state of servants, who easily slide either into sin or guile, reviling their fellowservants, or threatening them, the natural result of anger without power.”

He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”

“That we being dead to sin - Wholly delivered both from the guilt and power of it: indeed, without an atonement first made for the guilt, we could never have been delivered from the power. Might live to righteousness - Which is one only.”

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair or gold jewelry or fine clothes,

“Three things are here expressly forbidden: curling the hair, wearing gold, (by way of ornament,) and putting on costly or gay apparel. These, therefore, ought never to be allowed, much less defended, by Christians.”

but from the inner disposition of your heart, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God’s sight.

“"I do not regard these things," is often said by those whose hearts are wrapped up in them: but offer to take them away, and you touch the very idol of their soul.”

just as Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him lord. And you are her children if you do what is right and refuse to give way to fear.

“Whose children ye are - In a spiritual as well as natural sense, and entitled to the same inheritance, while ye discharge your conjugal duties, not out of fear, but for conscience' sake.”

Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as a delicate vessel, and with honor as fellow heirs of the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers…

“That your prayers be not hindered - On the one part or the other. All sin hinders prayer; particularly anger.”

Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

“Be courteous - To all men. Courtesy is such a behaviour toward equals and inferiors as shows respect mixed with love. Ye are called to inherit a blessing - Therefore their railing cannot hurt you; and, by blessing them, you imitate God, who blesses you.”

But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be shaken.”

“But if ye should suffer - This is no harm to you, but a good. Fear ye not their fear - The very words of the Septuagint, Isaiah viii, 12, 13. Let not that fear be in you which the wicked feel.”

But in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you.

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts - Have an holy fear, and a full trust in his wise providence. The hope - Of eternal life. With meekness - For anger would hurt your cause as well as your soul.”

keeping a clear conscience, so that those who slander you may be put to shame by your good behavior in Christ.

“Having a good conscience - So much the more beware of anger, to which the very consciousness of your innocence may betray you. Join with a good conscience meekness and fear, and you obtain a complete victory.”

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

“Now Christ suffered once - To suffer no more. For sins - Not his own, but ours. The just for the unjust - The word signifies, not only them who have wronged their neighbours, but those who have transgressed any of the commands of God…”

in whom He also went and preached to the spirits in prison

“By which Spirit he preached - Through the ministry of Noah. To the spirits in prison - The unholy men before the flood, who were then reserved by the justice of God, as in a prison, till he executed the sentence upon them all; and…”

who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.

“When the longsuffering of God waited - For an hundred and twenty years; all the time the ark was preparing: during which Noah warned them all to flee from the wrath to come.”