ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

1 Peter 1.21

Book: 1 Peter · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

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,

21. 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.

  1. 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: 23. having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth. (1 Peter 1:19-23, ASV)
WEB

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,

21. 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.

  1. 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: 23. having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and remains forever. (1 Peter 1:19-23, WEB)
KJV

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,

21. 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.

  1. 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: 23. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (1 Peter 1:19-23, KJV)
YLT

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,

21. 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.

  1. 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, 23. being begotten again, not out of seed corruptible, but incorruptible, through a word of God, living and remaining, to the age; (1 Peter 1:19-23, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Peter the apostle, writing with the help of Silvanus (1 Pet 5:12).
  • Audience: Christians described as "those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia" (1 Pet 1:1), five Roman provinces in northern and central Asia Minor. The audience is largely Gentile (1 Pet 1:18, a futile way of life inherited from their forefathers; 4:3-4).
  • Location: Written from "Babylon" (1 Pet 5:13), which the great majority of interpreters read as a cipher for Rome, as in Revelation 17:5.
  • Time period: c. AD 62-64 on the traditional authorship, before or at the very beginning of the Neronian persecution. The hostility the letter addresses is social and local, slander, exclusion, and abuse, rather than empire-wide legal prosecution.

Theological reading

"...who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God."

Faith reaches God through Christ. The phrase di' autou pistous eis theon, through Him believers in God, describes the readers' monotheism as Christ-mediated. For Gentile converts from idolatry (verse 18; 1 Thessalonians 1:9), coming to the God of Israel had happened by way of Jesus, and Peter states that as the normal shape of Christian belief rather than an anomaly.

The resurrection as God's act. "Who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory." Peter consistently presents the resurrection as the Father's vindication of the Son (1 Peter 1:3; Acts 2:24 in his Pentecost sermon), which is the standard early formulation and appears in the pre-Pauline material at 1 Corinthians 15:4 and Romans 10:9.

"So that your faith and hope are in God." The purpose clause locates the point of the resurrection in the readers' confidence. Peter is not arguing for the resurrection here; he is telling a suffering church what it is for. The same move is made at 1 Peter 1:3, where the new birth is "to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

Faith and hope together. In this letter the two are nearly interchangeable, both oriented forward, both grounded in an event that has already happened. That combination, a past event producing a future expectation, is the structure of Christian hope throughout the New Testament. See Biblical Hope.

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.

Quoted in

Lexicon:

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.