Epistola I B. Petri
by Anselm of Laon and his school
Source text: Public Domain. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://migne.app/pl/114/epistola-i-b-petri/
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## THE ARGUMENT.

[0679B]

Simon Peter, the son of Jonas, of the province of Galilee, of the village of Bethsaida, the brother of the apostle Andrew, shows that the disciples of the unconquered Saviour are spread through the whole world and are pilgrims in this age, and persuades them to repent of their past life, and exhorts them, [0679C] with all solicitude, to advance into a new life.

## CHAPTER ONE.

VERS. 1.-- *To the strangers. [n: (Bed.)]* Advenae in Latin, in Greek proselytes, etc., *as far as* having: *Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims.*

*Of the dispersion.* In the year of the ascension Stephen died, and many were scattered through fear. *Of Pontus.* All these provinces of the Greeks are in Asia, but there is also another Bithynia in Europe: from which those Bithynians who are in Asia took their origin. But that Bithynia which is in Asia is called greater Phrygia, which is bounded off from Galatia by the river Hiera.

[0679D]VERS. 2.-- *Grace.* Without the grace of Christ one never comes to the peace of his reconciliation, we are able to have nothing peaceable save through his grace. *And peace be multiplied.* That is, let no adversity draw you back from the praises of God, let every tribulation invite you to praise, because all things are multiplied unto happiness: that what you have well begun, you may perfectly complete.

VERS. 3.-- *He hath regenerated. [n: (Bed.)]* Whereas by our own merits we had been begotten unto death, etc., *as far as* that through cleanness you may be heavens and the seat of God.

VERS. 4.-- *Incorruptible.* The soul is not naturally incorruptible, but by the grace of God, through faith and justice, it is perfected incorruptible in respect of the understanding. *In you.* He who gave to you that believe the power to become the sons of God has placed in you that perseverance [0680B] by which you may receive the inheritance in the heavens, because he who has not kept the discipline of the Father does not merit his inheritance.

VERS. 5.-- *In the power.* No one by the power of his own liberty is able [0680C] to be kept in good things, unless he from whom you have the beginning of a good action bring it to perfection. Labour out of faith through faith, being about to come unto eternal salvation, which, even if it does not now appear, is nevertheless prepared to be revealed, if we shall have been prepared.

VERS. 6.-- *Now, if it be needful.* If, that is, although it be needful. Or, *if it be needful to be made sorrowful,* let us not fail.

VERS. 7.-- *That the trial,* etc., *unto praise.* When the judge, praising your faith, shall say: *And you gave me to eat,* etc [n: (Matth. XXV)].

*More precious than gold. [n: (Bed.)]* The patience of the saints is compared to gold, etc., *as far as* whence he also subjoins: *May it be found,* etc.

[0680D] *Unto praise.* That you may be praiseworthy and glorious through constancy *in the revelation,* that is, in the day of judgment, when it shall be revealed of how great power God is. *And honour,* that it may be said to you: *Come, ye blessed of my Father [n: (Matth. XXV)]*.

VERS. 9.-- *The salvation of souls.* This salvation is much to be loved, because concerning this salvation they sought much, when or in what order eternal salvation should come to the world; whence it is said: *Many prophets and kings have wished to see the things which you see, and have not seen them [n: (Matth. XIII)]*.

VERS. 10.-- *They prophesied.* By speaking openly to men and by expounding those things which they themselves had known in the secrecy of inward contemplation.

VERS. 11.-- *In what or,* etc. What time, that [0681A] is, in what year, or under what prince. Of what kind, warlike or peaceful, or in what order, by the childbearing of a virgin, or in what other manner. *The Spirit of Christ.* He calls archangels and those near him spirits, through whom the Lord works, because they are subject to Christ. *The later glories.* There are two glorifications of the Lord according to the form of the manhood he took upon him. One, by which he rose from the dead, and another, by which he ascended into heaven before the eyes of the apostles. A third remains, and that one shall be in the sight of men, when he shall come in majesty to render to every man according to his works.

VERS. 12.-- *But unto you they ministered.* He says this for this reason, that he may admonish them to take care of the salvation offered, which the former saints so loved.

*By the Holy Ghost. [n: (BEDA.)]* The Spirit in the prophets, the Spirit [0681B] in the apostles, so it appears, that the prophets and the apostles announce the same salvation. They announced one to come, these one fulfilled. And so there is one Church, part of which went before the coming of Christ, and part follows.

VERS. 13.-- *Wherefore.* Because so great a grace has been promised to you, that you may see unveiled that which the angels now see, take care to be so much the more worthy, that you may be able to receive it. *Hope.* Await secure in mind, and chaste in body. For he who knows not that he pleases the Lord, deservedly lacking the hope of good things, fears lest it come the sooner.

VERS. 14.-- *Children.* And that you may be able to await securely, be children obedient to the Father who chastises.

VERS. 15.-- *Holy.* That is, sanctified and sanctifying you, that in all conversation you may be [0681C] holy: whence: *Be ye also perfect,* etc. [var: Vulg. Matt. 5:48 *Estote ergo vos perfecti*, "Be ye therefore perfect"]

VERS. 17.-- *In fear,* etc. [n: (HIER.)] I, defiled with all the filth of sins, day and night await with trembling to pay the last farthing. And the time when it shall be said to me, Jerome, come forth.

*Of your sojourning.* That you may be able to be holy, have your conversation in fear, in the time of your sojourning, so long as you are in the exile of this world. *For blessed is he that is always fearful,* [var: Vulg. Prov. 28:14 *Beatus homo qui semper est pavidus*, "Blessed is the man that is always fearful"] this I say if you call upon God, as if he should say: You do not truly call upon God, unless you be solicitous and fearful.

VERS. 19.-- *But with the precious blood.* The order of the letter is: but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb uncontaminated and unspotted. Here he touches upon the Levitical and [0681D] priestly celebrations. And he signifies the clean soul, through justice, which is offered to God.



## CHAPTER II.

VERS. 1.-- *Wherefore laying aside all malice.* What is malice? what but the love of doing harm? What is guile? what but to do one thing and to feign another? What is flattery? what but seduction by deceitful praise? What is envy? what but hatred of another's happiness? What is detraction? what but a reproof more biting than truthful? Malice delights in another's evil. Guile doubles the heart. Flattery doubles the tongue. Detraction wounds a good name.

VERS. 2.-- *As newborn babes. [n: (BEDA.)]* Because you have been so born again, and made eternal sons, be such through the pursuit [0682A] of a good conversation as newly born infants are through the nature of their age.

*Reasonable.* Be infants through malice put away, yet reasonable through wisdom: and let no reasoning draw you to the craftinesses of the world, but be without guile; whence: *Be ye wise as serpents [n: (Matth. X)]*, etc.

*Desire milk. [n: (BEDA.)]* He touches upon those who come fastidious to the hearing of the sacred lessons, ignorant of that thirst and hunger of which the Lord says: *Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice [n: (Matth. V)]*. And therefore they come the more slowly to the perfect increases of salvation, whereby they might be able to be refreshed with the solid food of the word, that is, to know the divine secrets, or to do greater goods. *That you may grow thereby.* That also by learning well you may come, through the sacred things of the Lord's incarnation, [0682B] to the contemplation of the divine majesty.

VERS. 3.-- *If so be you have tasted. [n: (ID.)]* In this manner, the malice of the heart being purged, desire the life-giving nourishment of Christ, if you have a savour of how great the divine sweetness is. For he who tastes nothing of his sweetness, it is no wonder if he does not avoid to defile this man with earthly desires.

VERS. 5.-- *As stones, men.* [cj: *viri*; read *vivi*, "living"] Through unbelief indeed hard and insensible, but through discernment instructed, they are made alive and are fit to be joined together by charity in the building of God.

*Be ye built up.* Unto the offering of good works, alms, prayers, and your own selves. *Through Jesus Christ.* This is referred to all, you are built up, you are priests, [0682C] you offer, and all this, through Jesus Christ, by whose grace you have all things.

VERS. 6.-- *Wherefore* it must be established that the Lord, by reason of his firmness, is rightly called a stone, etc.

VERS. 7.-- *To you therefore that believe there is honour to them that believe not,* etc., *whom the builders rejected.* [var: Vulg. 1 Pet. 2:7 *Vobis igitur honor credentibus: non credentibus autem lapis*, "To you therefore that believe, honour: but to them that believe not, a stone"] So rejected by these as by those, and that stone here, that is to them that believe, *is made the head of the corner,* and to the unbelieving is made *a stone of stumbling and a rock of scandal.*

VERS. 8.-- *And a stone of stumbling.* Whereas Christ is a stone in which the good are upheld and rest secure, to the unbelieving he shall be a cause of stumbling in the present, to them that believe not in him, and therefore they are falling from vice to [0682D] vice. In the time to come he is a rock of scandal, because against that stone, Christ, whom they trod upon as lowly, their steps shall be dashed, and they shall fall into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels. *They stumble at the word.* He stumbles at the word who does so by this, that he has heard the word; he stumbles in mind, while he does not believe what he has heard, whose foolishness he aggravates. *Nor do they believe in that wherein they are set:* by nature men were made unto this, that they should believe God and obey his will.

VERS. 9.-- *But you are a chosen generation.* This testimony of praise, once given to the ancient people through Moses, the Apostle gives to the Gentiles who believe in Christ: who, as a corner stone, gathered the nations into that salvation which [0683A] Israel had had in itself. *A kingly priesthood.* United to the body of the high priest, who were bound to hope for a kingdom, and to offer to God the victims of an unspotted conversation. *Of acquisition,* in the blood of his redemption, as the people of Israel was once redeemed out of Egypt by the blood of the lamb. Whence also in the following verse he mystically calls to mind the ancient history, and teaches that it was fulfilled specially in one people.

*That you may declare. [n: (BEDA.)]* As they that were delivered out of Egypt sang a song of triumph to the Lord, so we, after the darkness was dissolved, after the remission received through Christ who leads us to the country of the supernal brightness, ought to repay to God thanks worthy of the heavenly benefits.

VERS. 10.-- *Who in time past. [n: (ID.)]* Hence it is proved [0683B] that he writes this epistle to those who had come to the faith from among the Gentiles. These verses are taken from the prophecy of Osee, in which the calling of the Gentiles is treated of.

VERS. 11.-- *Dearly beloved. [n: (ID.)]* Thus far he has instructed the Church generally, etc., *as far as* the liberty of a laxer life to bear the greater perils of tickling allurements. *As strangers.* Set your mind under earthly things so much the less, as you remember that you have a country in the heavens. The reprobate have their country here, after whose desires they gape, and therefore they shall be banished into perpetual exile, lacking their pleasures.

VERS. 12.-- *Considering by your good works. [n: (ID.)]* It has for the most part come to pass that pagans who used to disparage the faith of Christians, afterwards considering their good conversation, began to praise Christ.

[0683C]VERS. 13.-- *Be ye therefore subject to every human creature for God's sake, whether it be to the king,* etc. And that your conversation may please all, resist not any dignity of men, any person, any principality to which God has willed you to be subject, because there is no power but from God, and he who resists the power resists the ordinance of God. And he expounds the creature by its parts, *saying, whether to the King,* etc.

VERS. 14.-- *As sent by him.* Many a time God permits some evil man to exercise tyranny, that both the evil may be confounded, and the good the more proved.

*Unto the punishment. [n: (BEDA.)]* This he says, yet not so that it should always come to pass, but he simply relates what the action of a ruler ought to be, who even if he condemns the good; what he does pertains no [0683D] less to their praise, if the good patiently bear his wickedness, and wisely resist his cunning.

VERS. 15.-- *But the praise of the good. For so it is.* Truly the godly, whatsoever rulers may do, obtain praise: because God wills this, who uses even evil men unto good, whence do you also use even them unto good, whether they be good or evil, *making to be silent, of imprudent and ignorant men.* [var: Vulg. 1 Pet. 2:15 *ut benefacientes obmutescere faciatis imprudentium hominum ignorantiam*, "that by doing well you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men"] That in whatsoever way you may use them unto good, and through them may merit praise, and that they themselves may not find what to blame in you, while you honour and bear with even them, although they be unclean.

VERS. 16.-- *Not as a cloak. [n: (BEDA.)]* Not having [0684A] your liberty for a cloak of malice, etc., *as far as* whence he adds: *But as the servants of God.*

VERS. 17.-- *Love the brotherhood. [n: (ID.)]* And among all things, love as brethren in Christ even those who by a temporal condition are subject to you.

VERS. 18.-- *Servants, being subject.* Thus far he has exhorted the free to subjection, now he speaks to servants, that they also may be subject to their masters. *Not only to the good.* Another version: *Not only to the good and gentle: but also to the more difficult. To the froward.* That is, to the undisciplined. Schola in Greek, in Latin a place, in which they used to come together to hear the masters of the liberal arts, whence schola is interpreted leisure, because there they were at leisure for their studies. Scholastics therefore are the learned. Dyscoli are the untaught and rustic. See how above he was admonishing that men be subject [0684B] to human creature for God's sake.

VERS. 19.-- *If for conscience towards God.* If, for God who knows a good intention, some patient man is unjustly beaten by his lord, though he serve him well, and endures it, that is, accounts his sorrows light, this is grace, and by this he is made pleasing to God, and this the grace of faith requires.

*Suffering wrongfully.* If you suffer unjustly, you acquire the grace of God. For if you patiently bear the punishments inflicted by your masters, you, I say, sinning by refusing to obey them, and buffeted by those same masters, that is, often corrected by them, that through buffetings you may be led to obey, what grace will you have thereby? Nothing, on this account shall you receive from God.

VERS. 21.-- *For unto this you are called.* He greatly glorifies [0684C] the condition of servants, whom, well-doing and beaten without fault by cruel and wicked masters, he affirms to be imitators of the Lord's passion.

*Because Christ also. [n: (BEDA.)]* Whereas above he instructed servants specially, now he instructs the whole Church, that he may recall to the memory of masters also what their author endured for their salvation or deliverance.

VERS. 23.-- *But he delivered himself to him that judged him unjustly.* To those judging according to an unjust law, being himself just. Or, he delivered to God the Father those judging unjustly, that is, those who most wickedly condemned him, and pressed for his death, that by undergoing punishments they might be instructed. He touches upon the evangelical parable, where it is said that the good shepherd, leaving ninety-nine sheep in the desert, came to visit the one that had perished.

[0684D]VERS. 25-- *And the bishop.* Or the visitor, which is the same thing. For a bishop, that is, an overseer, because *the eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and his ears unto their prayers.* And, *The Orient from on high hath visited us.*



## CHAPTER III.

VERS. 3.-- *Whose let it not be.* The order of the words is this: whose adorning let it not be the plaiting of the hair, or gold encircling, or let it not be the adorning of the raiment of clothing, that is, let there not be festive garments wherewith they are clothed. But let your adorning be the inward man of the heart, known to God alone, in the incorruptibility of the spirit: of a spirit, I say, quiet from the assault of vices and modest, that it be not proud, which spirit, though it lies not open to men, is nevertheless rich in the sight of God.

[0685A]VERS. 7.-- *Ye husbands.* As if he should say: as I have commanded wives, that by their holy conversation they may gain their husbands, and may serve them, in like manner I command you, O husbands, that by your conversation the women may be gained, and keep ye them, you, I say, dwelling with them, rendering the debt. And this according to conscience, not in the passions of desire, but as we understand God to will, namely that you may beget sons unto the worship of the one God, you, I say, giving honour to the woman's vessel, as to the weaker, and providing for them in clothing and in the other things needful for them: and if it sometimes please them to cease from intercourse, bestow honour, because they are the weaker. Bestow it also as upon co-heirs of the grace given in the present by God, and of the life to be given in the future, or of the life to be given for grace.

[0685B]VERS. 9.-- *Not rendering.* Not only cease ye to render evil for evil, but also for a curse give a blessing.

*Because unto this. [n: (BEDA.)]* Because he had forbidden to render evil for evil, etc., *as far as* that we also shall receive a crown for their salvation (for which we were praying). *That a blessing.* The judge saying: *Come, ye blessed of my Father, to possess the kingdom [n: (Matth. XXV)]*. [var: Vulg. Matt. 25:34 *possidete paratum vobis regnum a constitutione mundi*, "possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world"] Or the blessing is understood by which the saints in the life to come shall bless God. What therefore each one desires to come to pass in the future, let him busy himself to meditate and to do in the present, let him bless his Maker and his brother, and render himself worthy of a brother's blessing.

VERS. 13.-- *And who is he. [n: (BEDA.)]* Therefore you are bound [cj: *debitis*; read *debetis*, "you ought"] to turn aside from evil and to do good, because no one can [0685C] draw you back from the good, nor from the crown, if you shall have willed to persist, nay rather they profit you while they wish to harm.

VERS. 14.-- *But the fear.* In the future you shall be blessed, but in the present *fear ye not their fear,* that is, those things in them which can seem to be feared, such as royal power, and the like.

VERS. 15.-- *But the Lord.* The holiness of Christ; behold with the inmost affection of the heart of how incomprehensible a glory it is, and so sanctify Christ himself in you, that he depart not from the memory, not from the love. He who does not consider this holiness fails before the snares of the enemy. *To every one that asketh.* To him that is willing to receive reasonable moneys on loan, let us not refuse. Whence Paul: *Walk in wisdom for the sake of them that are without, knowing how it behoveth to answer every one.* [var: Vulg. Col. 4:5–6 *In sapientia ambulate ad eos, qui foris sunt … ut sciatis quomodo oporteat vos unicuique respondere*, "Walk in wisdom towards them that are without … that you may know how you ought to answer every man"] For they that are without, [0685D] that is, they that are not yet faithful, wish to know something of the hope which is in you. He therefore who presides over the ecclesiastical teaching, let him teach those that are patient, let him stop the mouths of those that resist.

VERS. 16.-- *But with modesty.* [var: Vulg. 1 Pet. 3:16 *Sed cum modestia*, the ablative where Migne prints a genitive] In the very knowledge of doctrine he admonishes that the manner of teaching be observed, that humility may be shown both in living and in speaking.

VERS. 17.-- *It is better. [n: (BEDA.)]* So ought you to bear with your slanderers and to confound them, etc., *as far as* he is removed and is prepared for eternal vengeance.

VERS. 18.-- *He might offer to God. [n: (ID.)]* Because even then, if any had been willing to believe at the preaching of the Lord (which they set forth through the life of the faithful), he rejoiced to offer them to God the Father. But if any disparaged the [0686A] good as though they were evildoers, at the imminence of the flood they were confounded.

VERS. 19.-- *In prison. [n: (ID.)]* They who have their sense darkened with shadows are rightly said to be shut up in prison even in this life, and in this inward prison of the mind they are weighed down by unjust works, until, loosed from the flesh, they are cast into the exterior darkness of eternal damnation. The just also have a prison here, but one of tribulations, whereas the reprobate have one of vices.

VERS. 20.-- *When they waited for the patience of God.* When the patience of God invited them to repentance, sparing them for the hundred years in which Noe was building the ark, by which was shown what was to come to pass in the world. They therefore did not use the patience of God unto repentance, but awaited it as though it were going to endure [0686B] for ever. *Noe.* Noe is interpreted rest, and signifies Christ who gives to his faithful the rest of souls.

*When the ark was a building. [n: (BEDA.)]* As the ark was built of planed timbers, so the Church of the gathering of faithful souls: and as, when the world was perishing, few were saved by water: so, in comparison with those that perish, small is the number of the elect, because narrow is the way which leads to life, and few there are that find it.

VERS. 21.-- *Whereunto you also of the like form.* Baptism makes men safe, baptism, I say, *of the like form,* that is, likened in all things to that ark, because whatsoever is there done carnally, here is done spiritually.

*Not the putting away of the flesh,* etc. I do not say that that baptism [0686C] saves where there is only *a putting away of the filth of the flesh,* that is, where the flesh only is washed outwardly (which the heretics had), but where there is *the examination of a pure conscience,* [var: Vulg. 1 Pet. 3:21 *conscientiae bonae interrogatio*, "the examination of a good conscience"] that is, where a good conscience of him that is to be baptized is asked and required by the baptizer: because such a baptism saves, another kills; the examination has been made tending unto God, that through a good conscience he may be made one with God.

VERS. 22.-- *Swallowing up death. [n: (BEDA.)]* What we swallow down, we bring it about that, taken into our bodies, it nowhere appears: so the Lord utterly consumed death, that it might avail nothing against him, and, the appearance of a true body remaining, the stain of the ancient frailty was absent. Which is promised to us also, whence he adds, *that we also might be made heirs of eternal life. The angels being made subject to him.* We do not doubt that the angels were always subject [0686D] to the Son of God, but he here makes mention of the subjection for this reason, that he might show the assumed humanity so exalted in the resurrection that it is preferred before every power of angelic dignity. Whence, *thou hast subjected all things under his feet [n: (Psal. VIII)]*.



## CHAPTER IV.

VERS. 1.-- *Because he that hath suffered. [n: (BEDA.)]*. He who by the fear of the heavenly judgments extinguishes carnal concupiscences in his mind is already like to Christ crucified, being as it were dead to sins. He lives for the service of God alone.

VERS. 4.-- *Blaspheming. [n: (ID.)]* And if they blaspheme you as separated from their perfidy, yet, seeing in your [0687A] conversation the works of justice and piety, they marvel, and in a manner venerate the faith.

VERS. 6.-- *For this cause was the gospel preached also to the dead. [n: (BEDA.)]* So great is God's care that we be mortified in the flesh, etc., *as far as* that their own reason may condemn the evils in the ungodly.

VERS. 7.-- *Of all things.* Because he had said that the living and the dead were to be judged in the judgment, lest any should flatter himself concerning the remoteness of the judgment to come, he advisedly admonishes, because although the coming of the last crisis is uncertain, yet it is certain to all that we cannot long subsist in this life.

*Watch in prayers. [n: (BEDA.)]* Let not the mind think anything beyond that alone which it prays for. When we stand to pray, let every carnal thought depart, [0687B] let the sincere intention of the heart pray to God not with the sound of the voice, but with the sense of the mind.

VERS. 8.-- *Having a continual charity. [n: (ID.)]* He who through charity admonishes his neighbour, rebukes him, etc., *as far as* although in public it is not always, able to be shown.

VERS. 11.-- *If any man speak.* If any man has the knowledge of speaking, let him impute it not to himself, but to God: let him fear lest he teach his brother beside the will of God, or the authority of the holy Scriptures, or beside what is useful, and what ought to be said, let him not keep silent.

*If any man minister. [n: (BEDA.)]* When you shall have done all things well and according to his will, attribute it not to your own merits, but to his grace, that others, seeing your good works, may glorify your Father who is in [0687C] heaven.

VERS. 12.-- *Dearly beloved, be ye not as strangers.* If you suffer the heat of tribulations which are brought against reason for your trial and glory, do not for that reason think yourselves to be exiles from the members of Christ, and do not wonder at the evils brought upon you, that through them God may tempt and prove you, because it is an ancient and frequent thing that the elect of God, for eternal salvation, suffer adversities in the present.

VERS 14.-- *You shall be blessed,* etc. He who suffers for the name of Christ is blessed; for you ought not to believe that you suffer without reward, as those do who suffer for their own crimes, and are punished against their will.

*His Spirit resteth upon you.* Because they shall rest upon you that suffer, both in the present in part unto working well, and in the future perfectly unto rewarding.

[0687D]VERS. 17.-- *For the time,* etc. [n: (BEDA.)] Therefore must we suffer for the name of Christ, etc., *as far as* but the reprobate now *lead their days in their own good things, and in a moment they shall go down to hell [n: (Job. XXI)]*. [var: Vulg. Job 21:13 *Ducunt in bonis dies suos, et in puncto ad inferna descendunt*, "They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to hell"]

VERS. 18.-- *And if the just man,* etc. [n: (ID.)] This is taken from the Proverbs according to the old edition. In ours, which is according to the Hebrew verity, it stands thus: *If the just man receive in the earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner?* that is, if so great is the frailty of the moral life that not even the just (who are to be crowned in heaven) pass through it without tribulations, by reason of the innumerable stain of a corrupted nature: how much more do they who are without part in the heavenly glory look upon the certain destruction of their perpetual damnation!

[0688A] [n: (AUG.)] You ask the cause: why can the just man scarcely be saved in the judgment of God, and why? what but because it is certain that the justice of God is so great, that sometimes those things which in men seem to our judgment to be just, are found unjust in the judgment of God, according to that saying: *Man seeth in the face, but God beholdeth the heart [n: (I Reg. XVI)]*. [var: Vulg. 1 Kings 16:7 *homo enim videt ea quae parent, Dominus autem intuetur cor*, "man seeth the things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart"]

[n: (BEDA.)] It is not laborious to God to free the just man; but that it may be shown that the whole human nature was deservedly condemned, God himself does not will to free easily from so great an evil: wherefore both sins are easy and justice laborious, save to them that love: but the charity which makes men to love is from God.

VERS. 19.-- *Let them commend their souls,* etc. And because judgment begins at the house of the Lord, and through many tribulations one must enter into the kingdom of God, therefore [0688B] this remains for them that are to suffer: that when they suffer according to what God wills, that is, for justice' sake, they commend their souls to God, presuming nothing of themselves, that both here he may cleanse them according to what he wills, and in the future beatify them, because he is faithful in rendering good things to those whom he created. They suffer, I say, *in well-doing,* not for their sins.

## CHAPTER V

VERS. 1.-- *The ancients.* Whereas above he had distinctly admonished the free and servants, husbands and the women themselves, after a common exhortation had been interposed, he thus addresses the old and the young.

VERS. 2.-- *Not by constraint.* Do not preach the Gospel that you may be able to live of the Gospel, *but voluntarily according to God,* that is, only with a view to the reward above.

VERS. 5.-- *In like manner, ye young men. [n: (BEDA.)]* After [0688C] the ancients, how they should preside, etc., *as far as* he immediately subjoins, admonishing generally:

*And all of you insinuate humility one to another,* the old indeed by teaching, the young by following after.

VERS. 6.-- *Be ye humbled. [n: (BEDA.)]* What the grace is which God confers on the humble, etc., *as far as* there follows the fitting reward of exaltation.

VERS. 8.-- *As a roaring lion,* etc. As the roaring of a lion hinders the ears, that they may not take in any other sound, so the devil, by terrifying the minds of the faithful and by suggesting unlawful things, turns them away from the way of truth, that they may not hear the voice of Christ.

VERS. 9.-- *Knowing. [n: (BEDA.)]* Have so much the greater confidence, etc., *as far as* let it shame you that you alone before all others are not able to suffer.

[0688D]VERS. 12.-- *I have written.* To you, he says, *I have written* not as commanding, but beseeching and testifying by the authority of the Scriptures that this is the true grace which I preach in writing, because there is salvation in no other, in whom it behoves you to be saved. Or, beseeching you that this grace in which you stand, and with which you have been imbued, you may make to be your true grace, and may hold it as profiting you. He who spurns grace does not diminish grace, but renders it not his own, that is, not useful to himself.

VERS. 13.-- *In Babylon. [n: (BED.)]* He calls Rome Babylon because of the confusion of manifold idolatry, etc., *as far as* it cannot be free from the pressure of the devil.
