Passage

1 Peter 1.20

Book: 1 Peter · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

18. knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; 19. but with precious blood, as of a lamb without spot, even the blood of Christ:

20. who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was manifested at the end of times for your sake,

who through him are believers in God, that raised him from the dead, and gave him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God. 22. Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently: (1 Peter 1:18-22, ASV)

WEB

18. knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, 19. but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ;

20. who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in this last age for your sake,

who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead, and gave him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God. 22. Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from the heart fervently: (1 Peter 1:18-22, WEB)

KJV

18. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19. But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

20. Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. 22. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: (1 Peter 1:18-22, KJV)

YLT

18. having known that, not with corruptible things, silver or gold, were ye redeemed from your foolish behaviour delivered by fathers, 19. but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and unspotted, Christ's

20. foreknown, indeed, before the foundation of the world, and manifested in the last times because of you,

who through him do believe in God, who did raise out of the dead, and glory to him did give, so that your faith and hope may be in God. 22. Your souls having purified in the obedience of the truth through the Spirit to brotherly love unfeigned, out of a pure heart one another love ye earnestly, (1 Peter 1:18-22, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Peter, writing through Silvanus (5:12)
Audience: scattered believers across five Roman provinces of Asia Minor, described as sojourners and exiles and facing social hostility rather than state persecution
Location: written from "Babylon" (5:13), most likely a designation for Rome
Time period: c. AD 62 to 64, before the Neronian persecution

Theological reading

Who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was manifested at the end of the times for your sake.

The verse sets a pre-creation purpose beside a datable appearance, and both halves carry weight.

Foreknown renders proegnosmenou, from proginosko. The dispute is whether the word means merely knowing in advance or something closer to choosing beforehand. In biblical usage ginosko frequently carries relational and elective force rather than bare information, as in Amos 3:2 where God says of Israel you only have I known. Applied to Christ, the weaker reading yields little, since God's advance knowledge of his own Son is trivial. The stronger reading, that Christ was appointed to this role before creation, is what the sentence appears to be for.

The consequence is that the redemption of 1:18-19 is not a repair. It belongs to the purpose of God prior to the world that needed repairing, which is the same claim Paul makes at Ephesians 1:4 and Titus 1:2, and Revelation 13:8 in its disputed rendering.

Manifested at the end of the times. Phanerothentos is disclosure of something already real. Peter locates his readers in the era after that disclosure, which is why he can speak of the last times as present.

The two halves together give the letter its frame: an eternal plan, a historical event, and a small congregation in Asia Minor as its stated beneficiaries.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G2889 - kosmos, kosmos, Strong's G2889

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.