1 Peter 1:5Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

To them apply the words which reveal that our inheritance is in the Kingdom of Heaven. It does not fall under mortal senses, since it is spiritual, that is, intelligible, noete.

Having assured all that we shall receive such great gifts because the Father Himself will bestow them, he assures us in another way that the Father grants them to us through His Son.

He does this not simply through the Son, but through the resurrection of the Son. If the Father gives everything to us through Him, how does the Apostle name what is given?

He calls it an incorruptible and unfading inheritance. And what is greatest of all is that this inheritance is not on earth, but in heaven.

This is in addition to the fact that your treasure itself is safely preserved in heaven. Man himself is also required to keep constant guard and sleepless vigilance over his salvation (Mt 24:42; Mt 25:13 and parallels), and to struggle against its enemies.

Nevertheless, because of human weakness, the almighty power of God is precisely what is needed. It protects him from the many, strong, and cunning enemies of his salvation, and strengthens him in the struggle against them.

This is why the apostle says that believers are kept by the power of God.

As the means of this keeping on man’s part, his faith is indicated. The object of this faith is not designated here. Yet without doubt it is the same object indicated a little later (v. 8), namely the Lord Jesus Christ and the work of mankind’s redemption accomplished by Him.

The almighty power of God keeps the Christian for the inheritance of future good things through his faith in Christ as Redeemer of the world. If a man does not want to have this faith, then the power of God will not keep him.

This faith is both the means by which the inheritance of eternal life is attained and the guard by which the believer is kept for eternal life, or for salvation.

By this word the concepts of inheritance and living hope are more clearly defined (vv. 3-4). This inheritance and the object of living hope is the salvation of believers.

In the general concept of salvation there are two sides: deliverance from destruction and placement in a secure condition. In the concept of salvation in its particular Christian sense, as the salvation of man in Christ, these two sides are defined more precisely.

They are deliverance of fallen man from eternal destruction in separation from God, and his reception into the Kingdom of Christ, or into the Church. Through the Church he is received into eternal blessedness in union with God.

In other words, salvation is deliverance from the power of Satan, sin, and death, and placement in the realm of freedom, righteousness, and truth (Acts 2:40; Acts 4:12; Acts 5:31; Acts 15:11).

Here the latter, positive side of the concept of salvation is taken chiefly. The discourse chiefly concerns the good things, or treasures of the inheritance, kept in heaven.

That is, it speaks of the eternal blessedness of the righteous. This is also indicated by the following expression: “ready to be revealed in the last time.”

The word “revealed” means here, as everywhere, the manifestation of what already is or truly exists, but is still hidden. The word “ready” means the same as destined to be, and moreover in no long time.

This is more closely defined by the following words, “in the last time.” The whole expression means this: the good things of the Kingdom of Heaven, to whose inheritance Christians are called through regeneration, have already been acquired for them by Christ’s redeeming death.

Yet now, for the present life, they are not fully accessible. They are as though hidden and kept in heaven. They will be fully revealed, as the complete blessedness of the righteous, or salvation, in the last time.

By this last time, according to the use of this expression among the New Testament writers, is meant the end of this age (cf. Mt 13:39-40; Mt 24:3; Mt 28:20; 2 Tim 3:1; Jude 18 and parallels).

That is, it means the end of the kingdom of grace and the opening of the kingdom of glory. This will take place at the second coming of Christ for the final judgment of the world.

The apostle does not state directly here when this last time will come. Yet by the expression “ready to be revealed” he gives us to understand that it may come soon, that it is near.

This nearness is understood here, without doubt, in the same sense as among the other apostles. With the first appearing of Christ in the world, the final epoch of the divine economy of human salvation began.

During this epoch one must constantly be ready for the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for judgment.

Here, in few but powerful words, the greatness of redemption and the blessedness of being a Christian are depicted.

This thought is unfolded further as the chief foundation for consolation amid present and future sorrows.

By calling God blessed, the Apostle uses a doxology customary in the Old Testament. There God was called the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Here He is called the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who regenerated us and made us sons of God and heavenly heirs (cf. Gal 4:4-7; Rom 8:16).

Regeneration is placed in special dependence upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ because the Apostle knew from his own experience how it enlivened the hope of believers.

It is also because in Christ’s resurrection the beginning of another existence was revealed. This beginning can pour hope into believers’ hearts and establish the most living hope for eternal heavenly life.

That life is free from all the deficiencies of this life and filled with unending blessedness.

The last time, for which believers are kept by the power of grace and faith, is the time indicated by the Lord. It is the end of the present world and the revelation of the life to come (cf. Mt 24:3; 28:20).

Then the destiny of all will be finally decided, and the righteous will receive the Kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world.

“Israel is My firstborn son” (Ex 4:22), the Lord Himself said to Pharaoh. Happy were the Israelites, having the Lord as Father. Yet New Testament believers are no less happy.

God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who begot Him before all ages, is also the Father of believers in Christ. According to His great mercy, He begot them and granted them new spiritual life in the mystery of baptism.

Those who received the grace of spiritual birth in this mystery received the right to be called children of God. They are those “who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (Jn 1:12-13).

With adoption by God comes the right of inheritance. To Old Testament believers, in the person of their forefather Abraham, the promise was given to inherit the land of Canaan. In due time this promise was fulfilled.

The promise of inheritance is also given to New Testament believers as sons of God by grace. God begot them “unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

By living hope is meant here the object of hope, namely the inheritance of heavenly good things, as is said further on.

As sons of God by the grace of spiritual regeneration, believers in Christ are animated by a living hope of receiving this inheritance promised to them.

The living quality, or unshakable vitality, of this hope is conditioned by Christ’s resurrection. By His resurrection Christ laid the foundation of our resurrection: “Christ has risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor 15:20).

Christ rose in glory and ascended into heaven with a glorified body. Participation in this glory awaits all who truly believe in Christ.

By His resurrection He renewed for them the ascent into heaven, so that in heaven they might receive the promised inheritance of eternal glory and blessedness in communion with Christ (Rom 8:17).

This inheritance is incomparably more precious than the inheritance of earthly promises given to the people of the Old Testament. In contrast to the latter, it is an incorruptible inheritance, because it is eternal.

It is undefiled and pure, because there is no sin in heaven. The promised land, which fell as an inheritance to the chosen people, was defiled by every kind of sin.

It is unfading, because blessedness in heaven will not diminish. It will never be darkened by anything, but will be an inexhaustible source of joy.

This is truly the unfading crown of glory, as the same apostle says in the same epistle (Rom 5:4).

An earthly inheritance, before one receives it, can perish for various reasons: theft, fire, or the dishonesty of guardians. Nothing of this kind can happen to the inheritance in heaven promised to the sons of God.

It is preserved whole and unharmed, without any danger of loss, for those who “are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

It is unknown when the last time will come, the time of the completion of the kingdom of grace and the opening of the kingdom of glory.

Yet it is beyond doubt that sooner or later salvation and blessedness, not only in soul but also in body, must be revealed precisely in that last time for the sons of God who await the inheritance promised to them.

They are kept for this inheritance by the power of God. On the way to this goal they must inevitably meet many obstacles and many temptations, especially from the chief enemy of salvation, the devil.

But they must not lose heart. Faith in the power of God must not leave them for a single minute, for the power of God is made perfect in weakness and protects those who seek support in it from every evil and misfortune.