(25) The word which by the gospel is preached.--An incorrect rendering of the original tense. It literally runs, And this is the word which was preached unto you. The whole magnificent peroration of this paragraph, as of the last, leads up to this: that, in the opinion of St. Peter, the Gospel, as delivered by St. Paul and his followers--the Gospel of equality, or rather of unity between Jew and Gentile in Jesus Christ--was the living and supreme abiding revelation of the will of God! Well may the Tbingen school wish to disprove the genuineness of this Epistle!
Verse 25. - But the Word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you. In this verse, both in the quotation and in the apostle's comment, the Greek equivalent for "word" is not λόγος, as in ver. 23, but ῤῆμα. Ῥῆμα is "an utterance, the word uttered," more concrete than λόγος; yet in some pus-sages, as Ephesians 6:18; Hebrews 6:4 and Hebrews 11:3, it seems to be used as equivalent to λόγος, and the variation here may possibly be owing to the quotation. Compare the transition from λόγος to ῤῆμα in St. Peter's speech recorded in Acts 10:36, 37. The Revised Version renders the last half of the verse, And this is the Word of good tidings which was preached unto you; literally, This is the Word which was preached as good tidings. Here St. Peter recognizes the gospel which had been preached in Asia Minor as the Word of the Lord which abideth for ever. St. Paul and his companions were the missionaries from whom those provinces had heard the Word of God. St. Peter gives his formal testimony to the teaching of St. Paul, as he had already done at Jerusalem (Galatians 2:1-9).
1:17-25 Holy confidence in God as a Father, and awful fear of him as a Judge, agree together; and to regard God always as a Judge, makes him dear to us as a Father. If believers do evil, God will visit them with corrections. Then, let Christians not doubt God's faithfulness to his promises, nor give way to enslaving dread of his wrath, but let them reverence his holiness. The fearless professor is defenceless, and Satan takes him captive at his will; the desponding professor has no heart to avail himself of his advantages, and is easily brought to surrender. The price paid for man's redemption was the precious blood of Christ. Not only openly wicked, but unprofitable conversation is highly dangerous, though it may plead custom. It is folly to resolve, I will live and die in such a way, because my forefathers did so. God had purposes of special favour toward his people, long before he made manifest such grace unto them. But the clearness of light, the supports of faith, the power of ordinances, are all much greater since Christ came upon earth, than they were before. The comfort is, that being by faith made one with Christ, his present glory is an assurance that where he is we shall be also, Joh 14:3. The soul must be purified, before it can give up its own desires and indulgences. And the word of God planted in the heart by the Holy Ghost, is a means of spiritual life, stirring up to our duty, working a total change in the dispositions and affections of the soul, till it brings to eternal life. In contrast with the excellence of the renewed spiritual man, as born again, observe the vanity of the natural man. In his life, and in his fall, he is like grass, the flower of grass, which soon withers and dies away. We should hear, and thus receive and love, the holy, living word, and rather hazard all than lose it; and we must banish all other things from the place due to it. We should lodge it in our hearts as our only treasures here, and the certain pledge of the treasure of glory laid up for believers in heaven.
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever,.... Though men die, and ministers of the word too, and everything in the world is uncertain, unstable, fleeting, and passing away, and whatever change has been in the ordinances of divine service; yet the word of the Lord, the Gospel of Christ, is settled for ever, and will never pass away:
and this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you; this is the apostle's application of the passage in Isaiah, showing that the word of the Lord there is the same with the Gospel preached by him, and the other apostles, at that present time; and is no other than that good tidings Zion is said to bring; see Isaiah 40:9 the selfsame Gospel the Prophet Isaiah preached the apostles did, though with greater clearness, and more success; see Romans 10:8.
and this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you; this is the apostle's application of the passage in Isaiah, showing that the word of the Lord there is the same with the Gospel preached by him, and the other apostles, at that present time; and is no other than that good tidings Zion is said to bring; see Isaiah 40:9 the selfsame Gospel the Prophet Isaiah preached the apostles did, though with greater clearness, and more success; see Romans 10:8.