1 Peter — Greek text and reception
Choose a chapter to explore the source readings and their notes. Original references, source labels, and review records are retained.
Source guide and review record
SAINTS TRANSLATION
1 Peter
V2 • Working translation draft • Sep 13, 2026
Complete working translation draft, V1, Sep 8, 2026: all 105 source verses independently translated from the directly read Greek running text and reviewed for clause coverage, negatives, grammatical person, and sequence. Selected reception passages were directly consulted in the identified English presentations. No critical-apparatus, manuscript, NA28/UBS, or Hebrew–Greek collation is claimed. Independent human specialist review remains outstanding.
5 chapters • 105 translation rows
Reader’s guide
The three columns identify the verse, give its literal-smooth English translation from the declared Greek, and distinguish textual observations from attributed reception.
SBLGNT numbering: 5 chapters, 105 source verses, 105 translation rows. Every source verse appears once, in source order. Sentences may continue across rows; pericope titles are editorial navigation aids. No Hebrew parallel or LXX counterpart is invented for this New Testament book; the five comparison classifications do not apply.
Source basis and review scope
Michael W. Holmes, ed., The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition (Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010), official Faithlife/SBLGNT electronic running text, repository version 1.2 (Jul 10, 2023), accessed Sep 8, 2026.
Sources, Method & Decisions
Source register
[G] Michael W. Holmes, ed., The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition (Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010), official Faithlife/SBLGNT electronic running text, repository version 1.2 (Jul 10, 2023), accessed Sep 8, 2026.. Complete 1 Peter Greek running text, all 105 verses. Publisher-maintained Greek transcription, directly read in full; editorial variant-boundary signs observed, apparatus not collated. Source [G]. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
[LIC] SBLGNT version history and Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Publisher version and licensing declaration, also checked at SBLGNT license. Publisher repository and license metadata. Source [LIC]. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
[A88] Augustine, Tractates on the Gospel of John 88.1; English John Gibb, NPNF First Series 7 (1888), New Advent presentation. Direct citation of First Peter two twenty-one: Christ’s patient example and His assistance in following it. Direct reading of the identified English presentation of the ancient author; not a manuscript collation. Source [A88]. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
[A164] Augustine, Letter 164 to Evodius, sections 1–2 and 10–11; New Advent English presentation. Augustine’s expressly unresolved questions about First Peter three eighteen to twenty-one and four six. Direct reading of the identified English presentation of the ancient author; not a manuscript collation. Source [A164]. Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
Contextual term record
παρεπίδημοι / πάροικοι → resident aliens / aliens and sojourners. Preserves the recurring language of temporary residence and displacement without deciding every addressee’s legal status.
ἀναγεννάω → give new birth / be born anew. Keeps divine agency and the birth metaphor in chapter one.
ψυχή → soul. Retains the same term across personal salvation, inner life, and the eight persons in the ark; contextual reference to a whole person is not excluded.
λογικὸν ἄδολον γάλα → pure spiritual milk. Spiritual renders logikon; unadulterated is the literal force of adolon. A relation to the word of the preceding chapter is interpretive, not an additional noun.
ἱεράτευμα → priesthood. Collective term in two five and two nine; retains the corporate description.
οἰκέται / δοῦλοι → household slaves / slaves. The ancient condition is represented explicitly, including metaphorical slavery to God.
χάρις → grace. In two nineteen and twenty the sense includes favor or credit; the source’s lexical continuity is retained.
ξύλον → tree. Preserves the source’s image for the instrument on which Christ bore sins.
ἐπίσκοπος / ἐπισκοπέω → Overseer / exercise oversight. Related shepherding vocabulary; does not import a fully defined later ecclesiastical structure.
πνεῦμα → Spirit / spirit. Divine Spirit is capitalized where clear; flesh/spirit contrasts in three eighteen and four six retain lower-case spirit because the precise reference is not settled by typography.
ἐπερώτημα → appeal. In three twenty-one, pledge or answer is also possible. The relation of good conscience to the action remains a question for further review.
κλῆροι → those allotted to you. Literally lots or allotted portions; the flock context guides the personal rendering.
συνεκλεκτή → chosen together with you. Feminine in five thirteen; the translation preserves the unstated feminine referent rather than adding church.
Material decisions
Greek base text copyright 2010 Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license). This independent English translation adapts that Greek text and includes new editorial notes; it is not the publishers’ English translation and implies no publisher endorsement. The source is supplied without warranties under the license.
Initial V1 translation follows the main text of source G without an intentional eclectic departure. Embedded apparatus boundary signs are editorial markers rather than translated words.
Translation preserves G’s explicit readings in one twenty-two, two two, two twenty-one, three fifteen and eighteen, four fourteen and sixteen, and the final greetings; no familiar longer forms are silently supplied.
Flesh/spirit contrasts, the spirits in prison, the dead receiving good news, and baptism’s saving statement remain in the text with interpretive alternatives reserved for notes.
The household instructions preserve ancient slave/master and wife/husband language, together with commands of honor, fellow inheritance, good conduct, and the prohibition on domineering; no new social theory is inserted.
Reception is selective. Every verse row now points to a verified Calvin commentary unit; additional Polycarp, Clement, Augustine, Eusebius and Bunyan passages are attributed where checked. Augustine’s initial uncertainty and his later proposal are distinguished. Their received scriptural wording does not replace G’s Greek main text. See the final review register below for source links and limits.
Open questions and remaining review
Further specialist review should consider the time/person question at one eleven and the placement of “completely” at one thirteen.
The indicative or imperative construction of two five and the force of human ktisis at two thirteen merit comparative lexical review.
The referent of spirit and the identity of the imprisoned spirits at three eighteen to twenty remain open; no single later account is imposed.
The appeal/pledge construction at three twenty-one, the cessation from sin at four one, and the dead at four six require detailed interpretive review beyond this working translation.
The unnamed feminine sender in five thirteen and Babylon’s referent remain unstated in the translation.
Version record
V1: First working translation of the declared scope under the updated Saints Translation reference.
Final review and reception register
Review date: Sep 11, 2026
All 105 verses of the selected SBLGNT running text and the inherited textual notes have been reviewed in complete literary units. The reading wording is retained: no correction or eclectic departure was warranted. Every verse row above has a textual observation and a pointer to a verified commentary unit; a unit pointer does not mean separate exposition of every verse. Additional early Christian and later reception is identified where checked. The accessed patristic presentations are English translations, not original-language manuscript witnesses. Calvin’s Reformed exposition is distinguished from John Owen’s editorial notes. Bunyan’s section numbers are Gutenberg editorial divisions. No verse-specific C. S. Lewis association was verified for this review; none is supplied. This is a source and editorial review, not independent specialist certification or an exhaustive reception census. No critical apparatus or manuscripts were collated.
Verified reception passages
R01 — Calvin on 1:1-2. Calvin connects election with the observable calling and sanctification of believers, and distinguishes renewed obedience from cleansing by Christ’s blood. His interpretation addresses the greeting as a whole.
R02 — Calvin on 1:3-5. Calvin reads the opening blessing as encouragement to endure present troubles. He pairs the inheritance kept in heaven with believers guarded on earth by God’s power through faith.
R03 — Calvin on 1:6-9. Calvin describes testing as both refining faith and proving its genuineness. Faith in the unseen Christ kindles love, while salvation’s promised outcome sustains joy amid affliction.
R04 — Calvin on 1:10-12. Calvin distinguishes the prophets’ real participation in salvation from the fuller manifestation after Christ’s coming. He treats their Spirit-guided inquiry as a model of disciplined attention to revelation.
R05 — Calvin on 1:13-16. Calvin explains girding the mind through the practical preparation of ancient clothing for work or travel. He joins adoption to obedience and God’s holiness to the conduct of those He calls.
R06 — Calvin on 1:17-22. Calvin links holiness to the cost of redemption, interprets the lamb through sacrificial and Passover imagery, and presents Christ as mediator of faith in God. His comment on verse 22 includes a Spirit phrase absent from SBLGNT; that wording is not adopted here.
R07 — Calvin on 1:23-25. Calvin connects new birth with a changed life and the enduring efficacy of God’s word. He contrasts human frailty in Isaiah’s grass image with the life communicated through that word.
R08 — Calvin on 2:1-5. Calvin contrasts the former vices with the sincerity of a new life, distinguishing Peter’s milk image from permanent immaturity. He joins the living stones into one temple, united through mutual love and offering themselves to God through Christ.
R09 — Calvin on 2:6-8. Calvin takes the scriptural stone citations as reassurance when Christ is rejected. In his reading, stumbling occurs through resistance to the proclaimed word; this exposition is not an added explanation of the appointment clause.
R10 — Calvin on 2:9-10. Calvin connects the collective titles with Exodus 19:6 and the people-and-mercy contrast with Hosea. He understands gathering in Christ as renewed peoplehood; his historical identification of the recipients remains interpretation.
R11 — Calvin on 2:11-12. Calvin distinguishes inward resistance to corrupt desires from outward good conduct. He argues that conduct among unbelievers should remove grounds for slander and help draw others toward God.
R12 — Calvin on 2:13-16. Calvin reads civic submission within good conduct and denies that Christian freedom licenses harm to neighbors. At verse 14 he takes the sending agent as God, unlike the reading text’s contextual reference to the king.
R13 — Calvin on 2:17. Calvin distinguishes regard for every person from the particular bond among believers. He insists that special love for the brotherhood should not prevent love from extending to humanity generally.
R14 — Calvin on 2:18-20. Calvin acknowledges the harsh condition of ancient household slaves and distinguishes bearing deserved punishment from enduring unjust injury with consciousness of God. This is historical exposition of the slave/master instructions.
R15 — Calvin on 2:21-23. Calvin extends the example of Christ’s innocent suffering beyond the immediate address to slaves. He reads the refusal to retaliate as the particular conduct believers should imitate.
R16 — Calvin on 2:24-25. Calvin reads Christ’s bearing of sins as sacrificial expiation and connects the passage with Isaiah. This is an attributed theological interpretation of the bearing and healing imagery, not additional translated wording.
R17 — Calvin on 3:1-4. Calvin interprets the wives’ conduct as a means of drawing unbelieving husbands toward faith. He contrasts bodily ornament with cultivation of the inner person and the lasting quality of a gentle spirit.
R18 — Calvin on 3:5-6. Calvin presents the earlier holy women as examples for the conduct just described. He discusses fear in connection with Sarah’s daughters and the household relation; his social assumptions remain those of his exposition.
R19 — Calvin on 3:7. Calvin makes honor essential to married friendship: contempt undermines love. His exposition insists that the husband’s conduct requires prudence and respect, within the household framework he assumes.
R20 — Calvin on 3:8-9. Calvin reads the qualities as sustaining friendship and mutual care. He treats blessing an offender as active prayer and kindness, extending beyond merely refraining from revenge.
R21 — Calvin on 3:10-15. Calvin connects the Psalm citation with patient goodness and pursuing peace even when others refuse it. God’s care supports endurance; he expressly allows that innocent believers can nevertheless suffer.
R22 — Calvin on 3:15-16. Calvin emphasizes that the confession of hope must be given without pride or contentious display. Reverence for God and gentleness should govern the manner of speaking about divine mysteries.
R23 — Calvin on 3:17-18. Calvin reads Christ’s suffering as comfort for innocent sufferers and as a call to consecrated living: the stated purpose is to bring people to God, not to excuse wrongdoing.
R24 — Calvin on 3:19-22. Calvin relates the proclamation to Christ’s life-giving power reaching the dead. He treats Noah’s deliverance as corresponding to baptism and Christ’s heavenly session as assurance of His saving sovereignty. This is unit exposition, not identification supplied by the Greek.
R25 — Calvin on 4:1-5. Calvin connects conformity to Christ’s suffering with the putting away of the former life. Recollection of past excess should prompt repentance, while hostile surprise should not draw believers back into that conduct.
R26 — Calvin on 4:6-11. Calvin takes the announcement to the dead as assurance that death cannot defeat Christ’s saving power. He joins watchfulness to prayer, hospitality to willing kindness, and gifts to stewardship of what God has entrusted for others.
R27 — Calvin on 4:12-17. Calvin distinguishes suffering for Christ from ordinary affliction and from wrongdoing. He treats the Spirit’s presence as consolation under reproach and Christian suffering as a reason to glorify God.
R28 — Calvin on 4:17-19. Calvin connects judgment beginning with God’s people to endurance under His care. He understands entrusting one’s life to God as confidence in divine protection; his preferred rendering of ktistēs differs from the retained “Creator.”
R29 — Calvin on 5:1-4. Calvin reads elders as pastors charged with feeding the Church. He rejects domineering power, understands the allotted charges as congregations, and directs discouraged pastors toward the Chief Shepherd’s promised appearing.
R30 — Calvin on 5:5-7. Calvin connects humility toward God with kindness and teachability toward others. Trust in God’s care answers the fear that humility will merely expose a believer to injury.
R31 — Calvin on 5:8-11. Calvin explains sobriety and watchfulness as resistance to spiritual lethargy, and firm faith as the ground of resistance to the adversary. He turns the closing assurance into an exhortation for ministers to accompany teaching with prayer.
R32 — Calvin on 5:12-14. Calvin interprets Silvanus as a messenger reinforcing the written exhortation and the kiss as an outward expression requiring inward sincerity. He favors literal Babylon; Eusebius’s different identification is recorded at verse 13.
Additional sources
Calvin: Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles, translated and edited by John Owen (1855), accessed in CCEL. Each R-code links to its exact commentary unit. These are later Reformed interpretations; neither their biblical wording nor their historical assumptions replace the selected Greek text.
[G] Michael W. Holmes, ed., The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition (Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010), official Faithlife/SBLGNT electronic running text, repository version 1.2 (Jul 10, 2023).
[P] Polycarp, Epistle to the Philippians, chapters 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 10.
[A88] Augustine, Tractates on the Gospel of John 88.1.
[A164] Augustine, Letter 164 to Evodius, §§1–2, 10–11, 15–20.
[CL] Clement of Rome, First Letter to the Corinthians 49.
[E] Eusebius, Church History 2.15.2.
[B] John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Part One, Gutenberg editorial §§21, 96, 319.
Collation against Nestle–Aland 28
[B]On 13 September 2026 every verse of this book where the SBLGNT and NA28 differ was identified from the edition marks of Tyndale House's Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible, CC BY 4.0) and the SBLGNT apparatus, and the rendering above was read at each one. 10 verses differ; 4 of them would read differently in English if NA28 were translated instead of the SBLGNT, and each of those carries a note above beginning "NA28". The collation is against TAGNT's edition marks and the SBLGNT apparatus; a printed NA28 apparatus has not been consulted, and NA28's square brackets are inferred, not recorded.
[B]At no place was the rendering found to follow a reading other than the SBLGNT it declares.