1 Petr. 2, 11-20.
Dear brethren, I exhort you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; and lead a good walk among the heathen, that they which speak evil of you, as of evildoers, may see your good works, and praise God, when it shall come to pass. Be subject to all human order for the sake of the Lord, be it to the king as the ruler, or to the captains as the messengers from him for vengeance on the evildoers, and for praise to the pious. For this is the will of God, that you should plug with good deeds the ignorance of foolish men, as the free, and not as having liberty to cover wickedness, but as the servants of God. Do honor to everyone. Love the brethren. Fear God. Honor the king. Servants, be subject to the lords with all fear, not only to the kind and gentle, but also to the whimsical. For this is grace, if a man, for the sake of his conscience, endures evil in the sight of God, and suffers injustice. For what glory is this, if ye suffer strokes for iniquity? But if you suffer and endure for the sake of good deeds, that is grace with God.
*) Called Jubilate. D. Red.
This epistle also exhorts to good works, or fruits of faith, and goes through almost all classes, what every man's life and works ought to be. But first he exhorts Christians in general to live among the Gentiles, that is, in the unbelieving world, in such a way that nothing can reprove or punish them in truth; This exhortation leads them to remember (as he said before in the first and second chapters) that they were called to a living, immortal hope of an everlasting inheritance in heaven, and of eternal joy and blessedness, and that they are now redeemed and have obtained forgiveness of sins through the precious blood of Christ etc.item, that they have now become a holy nation and royal priesthood, to proclaim and praise God's grace, who before were not God's people and not in grace. This you have now received, he says, through the divine calling and the suffering of your Lord Christ; therefore think that you also now live as those who now belong to heaven and are a holy people of God etc.
(2) For we have heard above how the two things ought to be with one another in a Christian, and to be carried on in Christian doctrine: first, faith, that we are saved from sins by the blood of Christ, and have forgiveness. Second, if we have this, that afterward we should become other people and walk in a new life; for in baptism, or when we begin to believe, we receive not only forgiveness of sin (which is the grace that makes us God's children), but also the gift that is to sweep out and kill the rest of sin. For sin is not forgiven us because we persist in it, says St. Paul Rom. 6:1, as the insolent spirits and despisers of grace pretend; but although sin is purged by Christ's blood, that we may not pay for it nor do enough, and we are now children of grace and have forgiveness, yet sin is not yet entirely purged and put to death in us.
(3) For there are two things, the remission of sins and the putting to death of sins, and both must be done against them that commit them.
For against the first, the pope and many others have taught to obtain forgiveness of sin by their own monkey play of their own chosen and invented works and their own satisfaction; as such error always lasts in the world from Cain, the first, to the end. After that, when such error is put down, false spirits are found on the other side, who have heard and boast of such preaching of grace, and yet get nothing more out of it; just as if it should be enough of that, and forgiveness should get nothing more out of us, except that we should remain as we were before, and afterwards have just as much as before; even as much as we knew nothing everywhere of Christ and the gospel. Therefore those who want to be Christians must also know and learn this, that now they have obtained forgiveness without their merit, that now they must not leave room and place for sin, but resist the former evil sinful lusts, and avoid and flee their works and fruits. This is the summa and opinion of this epistle.
4. Now behold the apostle's word, how this fisherman of Bethsaida now has so much more understanding than before he walked with him before the resurrection of the Lord; For at that time he, together with the other apostles and all the Jewish people, had no other understanding of the kingdom of God or of Christ than that it would be such an earthly kingdom, where they would be rich and blessed peasants, citizens, nobles, counts and lords, so that all the goods of the world would be theirs, and the Gentiles would all be their servants and slaves, and no enemies, war, famine or misfortune would challenge them; but would have peace, good days, joy and gladness enough under their chief king Messiah. This was their hope and waiting, and they were full of sweet thoughts; as they are still drowned and drunk on this day in the same dream.
5 But here you hear St. Peter preaching the contradiction. Dear Christians," he says, "who have been baptized and called and brought to the kingdom of Christ, both royal and priestly, I want to give you a lot of advice.
say more than you and I have thought and dreamed before. We are citizens, counts and lords in this kingdom, since Christ is the supreme king over all kings and lords, and in it there is all riches, joy and happiness, without end: but it does not go in a worldly way, as with earthly kings and lords. For you must also know that you are not such lords and sovereigns according to the world (just as Christ is not a king according to the world, and the kingdom of the world has no rhyme with his); but you must esteem yourselves strangers and sojourners in the kingdom of the world. Therefore I also exhort you, after you have become Christians and brothers of this eternal, heavenly kingdom, that you send yourselves into it and live for it as those who are no longer of this earthly world kingdom; and do not look upon this life on earth differently than a pilgrim looks upon the land where he passes through and his lodging place where he lies overnight: For there he thinketh not to abide, neither to be a mayor, nor a citizen; but taketh his meat and his supper, and thinketh to go out of the gate, when he is at home. In the same way, he says, you must look at your lives. For ye were not made Christians, that ye should reign and dwell here in the earth, as the Jews dream; for there dwelleth, and there are citizens, and there are rulers with Christians elsewhere, not in this world: therefore think, and be ye directed, as pilgrims in the earth, unto another land and possession, where ye shall be masters, and have a dwelling, where there shall be no strife, no calamity, etc. such as ye must suffer here in this inn.
Now, how does this happen in this life? Soon after, he says: "Be subject to all human order, be it to the king or to the captains"; item: "You servants, be subject to your masters, even to the unruly" etc. How do the two rhyme together, living in the regiment of kings and lords, and yet being pilgrims here on earth? How can we at the same time live here on earth with wife and child, house and farm, citizenship, authority, and yet not be at home here? Well, as I said, this difference was difficult for the dear apostles themselves, but for the Christians it should be,
especially now, will be easy. For Christ and the apostles do not want to reject the outward human life and rule, which St. Peter here calls human order, but let it stand and remain as it is, even let them remain under it and use it.
(7) But this is the difference, if we live here in such states and beings, that we nevertheless do not let this life be our kingdom and main treasure, as if we should have nothing more of it and wait for no better than we have here; as both the Jews and the Turks, who nevertheless believe in the resurrection of the dead, nevertheless dream so carnally of it, that there will be just such a life as now, without that there will be no more misfortune, persecution etc. in peace, pleasure and joy (the pope has an advantage, he believes with his holy Epicureans and sows nothing everywhere): but that every Christian in his state, be it lord or servant, prince or subject etc., and needs what God has given him, land, people, house and farm, wife and child, money and goods, food and drink; but not differently minded, that he is a guest here, when he takes his morsel of bread or short lunch, and keeps himself in this inn as a pious guest. So that he may be a king and lord, and lead his regiment and office with diligence and faithfulness, and yet say: I do not build anything on this being, for I do not think to stay here: I am now in foreign lands, and sit well at the head of the table in this inn; but he who sits down there has just as much here and there as I, for we are both guests here at the same time. But he who has appointed me to this business, to carry out his command, has commanded me to live piously and honorably in this inn, as befits a guest.
(8) So also the Christians in all the outer classes, masters, wives, servants, maidservants, shall keep themselves that they eat and drink on earth as guests, have and need clothes and shoes, house and yard, as long as God wills; but so that they may be skillful and ready to continue their staff when all this falls, and so pass through as the guest.
through a house or town, where he is not at home; but so that he keeps himself honest and peaceful with those with whom he is, and is not too close to anyone; for it does not rhyme that a guest would want to live and rumble in a foreign house of his liking and courage; but it is said: If you want to be a guest, then you must also keep yourself peaceful and hospitable, or they will soon show you the gate or the tower (Thurn).
(9) Christians should know this, so that they can send themselves rightly into this life, and not sit down in it as if they wanted to stay here, or, like the monks, avoid the worldly positions and offices and flee, and run away from the world. For against all this, St. Peter says that we should not run one from another and live each one for himself; but remain with one another in all ranks, as we are joined together by God, and serve one another; and yet regard such a life as such a business, since we are not citizens nor native, but as a pilgrimage or journey, since we lie with one another in an inn overnight, eat and drink, and then have to leave again.
(10) For he who is in the lower or lower estate, a servant, a maidservant, or a subject of the authorities, let him not thus paw: Why should I trouble myself with the unpleasant housework or the work of the fields, and with heavy service? for I am not at home here, and can have it better: therefore I will leave everything and have good days (as the monks and priests in their estate have finely withdrawn from the world, and yet have mostly drowned themselves in carnal pleasures). No, it is not so; for if you would not suffer and bear such things as a guest must do in the inn and among strangers, you would not have to eat or drink with them. Likewise, he who is in the higher or lordly estate should not lie down here and strive to live according to his desires in vain pleasures and tranquility (because he has it better than others), as if he wanted to remain here forever; but rather think: This life is fleeting, and must be a journey and a wandering until we come to the right fatherland. But because God wants everyone to live here with
I will do what is required of me, faithfully serve my subjects, neighbors, wife and child, because I can, even if I have to leave this hour, and leave everything that is on earth. For even if I should die already now, I know, praise God, where I belong, since I am at home; but since I am still traveling here, I shall and will do what belongs to this citizenship on earth, and thus live with them, as is the right of this place, even until the hour when I shall step over the threshold, so that I may depart with honor and leave no complaint behind me.
(11) Behold, this is what St. Peter says should be the nature and conduct of every Christian on earth, that he may first know his true home or fatherland, which is through faith in Christ, by which we have become God's children and heirs of eternal life and citizens of heaven, as we also sing about: Now we ask the Holy Spirit for the right faith etc. when we go home from this misery. Which is consistent with this text, since it calls us pilgrims or pilgrims, who are here in misery, and now desire to go home and think out of the gate. Secondly, because we must be in this misery and are not yet at home, we must do the host all honor and the inn its right, and take for good what befalls us.
12 Thus Jeremiah the prophet exhorted his Jews, who were at Babylon in misery, and longed with great desire to return home, and almost despaired that they should be so long in misery and strangers, when many of their brethren were at home, and other prophets comforted and strengthened them, that they should soon come home, and therefore set about building the land, and seeking their food. To these he writes Jer. 29:10, 5, 6, 7: that they should have patience; for they would not soon return home, but after more than seventy years. But, saith he, do to him thus: Though ye be in misery and imprisonment, build ye houses to dwell in; plant ye gardens, that ye may eat the fruit thereof; take wives, and beget sons and daughters;
Take wives also for your sons, and give husbands to your daughters, that they may beget sons and daughters; that yours may not be few, but may be many; seek the best of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away, and pray to the Lord for it: for when it prospereth, it prospereth you also. This was a vexatious sermon to them from this prophet, that they should still build houses there in their misery, and sit down as citizens of Babylon, and also marry and beget children, yea, even forgive their children, as if they would even remain there; And more shamefully, that they should pray also for the city and kingdom which held them captive; when they should rather have prayed that they might be delivered from them; as they hoped (put off by other prophets) that they would come home again about the second year.
13 Now how were they to do this? Those who were devout and faithful had to hope and wait that they would be redeemed and return home to their kingdom, and they could have neither joy nor pleasure in this misery; as they also testify and lament in the 137th Psalm at the waters of Babylon. Psalm by the waters of Babylon, how they wept and cried there, and could not rejoice one hour when they thought of going home, and for seventy whole years their hearts were always at the gate, so that they could not ask how they might build house and field and garden, and beget wife and child; And yet the prophet calls them to do all that a citizen there should and must do, and also to pray for their landlords (as for their neighbors and fellow citizens), that God may give peace and happiness to the city etc.
(14) Christians are also divided into two kinds of life or regiment. Here on earth we are not citizens, since the world dwells and has its home and kingdom of heaven. "But our citizenship," says St. Paul, "is with Christ in heaven," Phil. 3:20, that is, in that life of which we wait and hope to be redeemed, like those of Babylon, and to come to where we shall remain citizens and lords forever. But because we must remain in this misery and in our Babylon as long as God wills; so we shall
We shall do as they commanded, that we should live here with the people, eat and drink, keep house, cultivate the land, govern, and keep peace with them, praying also for them, until such time as the hour comes that we should depart thence.
(15) He who can thus order and distinguish between these things also knows how to deal with all kinds of evil spirits, who, against these things, create an abominable being, and either want to run away from the world and cannot get along with anyone, or begin to rumble against the worldly rule and order and tear everything apart, or, as the pope has done, even want to weave themselves into the world's rule under the appearance and name of Christianity and want to be lords in the world. For if we, as Christians, have forgiveness of sin, and are now God's people and the children of the kingdom, who no longer belong in this Babylon, but in heaven, we should also know that, because we have to live here among the strangers, we must keep godly, honest, chaste, common civil and domestic peace, and serve and benefit with our counsel and help, even the wicked and ungrateful; and in this always think and strive for our inheritance and kingdom, where we are to go.
16. summa, a Christian should be such a man, says St. Paul 1 Cor. 7, 29. 30. 31. who has need of the world, and yet does not abuse it; who buys, and possesses, as if he did not possess it; who has wife and children, as if he did not have them; who builds, as if he did not build etc. How does this rhyme? So that one distinguishes between Jewish and Turkish (yes, also Papal), and Christian faith, that a Christian lives this earthly life, builds, buys, trades and walks with the people, and does everything that belongs to this life; but not differently, than as a guest, who does what the host wants him to do, and the country, city or inn's right and custom is, but does not set his date on it, but to stay with it and have no better. And so he goes through everything that is here on earth in the right way, that he has and yet does not have, needs and yet does not cling to it, and so deals with the temporal that he does not want the eternal.
I do not want to lose that, but to leave it behind and forget it, and to always strive for it as the set goal.
17 Therefore these are great, foolish men, who pretend to run away from the world into a desolate or wild forest, and do not want to be nor live in your host, which they cannot do without, and yet must become their own hosts; for they must eat and drink, have clothes and a blanket, which they cannot ever escape, though they run away from all people. Nor is it to leave the world and flee, as they dream; but be thou in whatever state, life, and nature thou wilt (for thou must be, because thou livest on earth; so God hath not cast thee from men, but from among men, for every man was created and born for another's sake); wherefore, I say, and in whatever state thou art found, thou shalt flee the world.
18 How? Not by putting on a cap and crawling into a corner or wilderness, for in this way you do not escape the devil and sin, he will find you in the desert in a gray cap as well as in the market in a red skirt: but you must flee with your heart, so that it remains undefiled by the world, as the epistle Jacobi Cap. 1, 27. That is, that you do not cling to such worldly things, but hold to this doctrine of faith in Christ and wait for the eternal inheritance from heaven, and out of such faith and hope do your commanded office and work, which you have to do here; and yet say next to it: This is not yet my treasure and my chief good, for which I live (as the world, the Jews, the Turks, the papacy live for this alone); but I hold this temporal thing all as an inn, and flee it as a sojourner his lodging, who needs well his meat, his meat, and his lodging, and yet always flees his heart, and thinks from thence, since he belongs at home. But who would suffer such fools, who would go thus: I will not eat nor drink here, and will only act strangely, break windows, and throw everything over a heap; for I have no abiding here. etc. Yes, that is why
You shall use this inn, and take what is given you, that you may come again whither you think.
(19) So Christians also ought to think of the world for and out of this life, though they have house and home, wife and child; but only for this life, that they do it its due, and say beside it, Today I am here, tomorrow another; now I need this lodging, tomorrow another needs it; for I think not to abide here all. As St. Peter also says in the beautiful sermon on the day of Pentecost, about David, who was a holy king. "David", he says, "did not go to heaven, but having served the will of God, he fell asleep" etc. For he does not want to reproach his office and rule, as if he had done wrong in it; but adorns it with honest words: "He was a king, and did not throw away his crown and royal glory, but kept it; and thus kept it as an office, which God commanded him to administer, and thus served God; as a pious lord and every one in his office and position should do, so that he thinks: He is not set to live and do as he pleases, but only to serve God in it while he is here, since he does not have his permanent being, as a stranger who comes among other guests, and lives to serve and please them, and does as they do, and where there is danger or need, runs to help save and defend.
20 Thus King David kept his kingdom, and all that God had given him, not for his proper glory, but for his service and ministry in this his pilgrimage; and in all this he remains a sojourner, as one who thinks to leave all this and seeks another. Therefore he also says Ps. 39, 13: "I am both your pilgrim and your citizen, like all my fathers." How? Shall such a glorious king speak thus? Is this a sojourner who sits in a royal throne, a lord over land and people, of whom over twelve times an hundred thousand men were numbered by him? Well, he says he serves God in his kingdom, as a sojourner on earth, placed there by God; but besides this also
God's citizen is in another being and life, which he considers more glorious and better than his crown and all the glory on earth.
(21) This then is the sermon of St. Peter, that he may exhort Christians to Christian life and works, now that they have been called and have come to glory, that they have become through Christ a royal priesthood, and such a people as are God's own and citizens in heaven; that they may also so live as sojourners here, and seek another eternal kingdom, that is, abstain from all fleshly or worldly lusts, and lead a good walk in all good works. And this is for two reasons: first, so that we do not lose what is spiritual and eternal by being carnal and following lusts; and second, so that God's name and our glory, which we have in Christ, may not be blasphemed among the heathen and the adversaries, but may be glorified by our good works. These are the most important reasons why and for what one should do good works, which should also admonish and stimulate us to do so most strongly.
22 For the first thing he saith, Let them therefore abstain from the lusts of the flesh, that they should war against the soul: wherefore he showeth that if a man resist not them, but will follow them, the treasure and inheritance which we have in that life shall be lost. For it does not add up, and cannot add up, that thou shouldest be called and be a sojourner on earth, seeking after another better, and yet live in these fleshly lusts, no otherwise than as if thou wouldest abide with the world for ever. Nay, it is said, If thou wilt have one thing, thou must leave the other; but if thou shalt forget thy country, and lie drowned in this fleshly life (as
the world and the Gentiles live, without faith and hope of eternal life), you will not come to that either, because you despise it yourself and throw it away. Therefore here must be a controversy, that the lusts of the flesh may be resisted: for they also, saith he, fight against the soul, that is, against the faith and good conscience of man; that where they prevail, the spirit and faith are lost; but if thou wilt not be overcome, thou must also manfully resist them, and think that thou mayest overcome, and obtain thy spiritual eternal good. This is one cause of our own distress.
23. the other is that God's glory is also in our life on earth, namely, that the mouths of the enemies are not opened for the sake of it and cause is given to blaspheme God's word and name; but that we with our confession and whole life praise him, so that others may also come to it, and together with us recognize and honor him; as Christ Matth. 5:16: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
(24) Therefore St. Peter goes on to tell of some good works of Christians in all ranks, especially of those who are subjects or servants of the authorities, as servants and maids, as it was at that time that Christians had to be subjects and servants of pagan and unbelieving lords. And exhort them to live in such a way that God's name may be praised. And where they have to suffer violence and injustice, that they have patience and do not do evil again, as we have heard in the next Sunday epistle that follows this one. But all the pieces of this narrative of good works would now go on too long.