Saints Translation

By Vincent Melli

1 Peter — Greek text and reception

PastorLiving hope

1 Peter 1 — Greek text and reception

Saints Translation: 1 Peter [V2]

Each card preserves the Greek reading and its textual and reception notes. This source provides a Greek study edition; Hebrew counterparts and Hebrew–Greek classifications are not supplied.

Chapter 1

Living hope and a holy life

Greeting to the chosen sojourners

Verse 1:1

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen resident aliens of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: “Chosen” describes the addressees; “resident aliens” preserves the language of displacement. The five regions remain individually named. Reception [R01]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:1-2 below.

Verse 1:2

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification by the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: The three prepositional phrases retain their distinct relations. The phrase “of Jesus Christ” can also connect obedience with Christ, alongside the explicit blood reference. Reception [R01]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:1-2 below.

New birth into a living hope

Verse 1:3

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to His great mercy, has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: The new birth is God's act; resurrection is its stated means, and living hope its goal. Reception [R02]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:3-5 below.

Verse 1:4

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

into an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: All three descriptions of the inheritance and its preservation for the addressees remain. Reception [R02]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:3-5 below. Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Part One, Gutenberg §21 (First Stage, Christian to Obstinate) [B]: Christian explicitly invokes the preserved inheritance in explaining his journey; allegorical reuse.

Verse 1:5

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

who are guarded by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: God's power, faith, and the salvation to be revealed have distinct roles in the sentence. Reception [R02]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:3-5 below.

Verse 1:6

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

In this you rejoice, though now, for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: The conditional qualification “if necessary” and the coexistence of rejoicing and grief remain. Reception [R03]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:6-9 below.

Verse 1:7

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes, though tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: The comparison concerns faith proved through testing. Praise, glory, and honor are retained separately. Reception [R03]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:6-9 below.

Verse 1:8

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; though you do not see Him now, yet believing in Him, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: The earlier absence of sight and the present absence of sight are both expressed. “Full of glory” renders the participle describing the joy. Reception [R03]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:6-9 below. Polycarp, Philippians 1 [P]: quotes unseen faith and glorious joy in commending believers.

Verse 1:9

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: “Outcome” renders telos as the goal reached, without reducing salvation to intellectual knowledge. Reception [R03]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:6-9 below.

Verse 1:10

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace for you searched and investigated,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: Both verbs of diligent inquiry remain. The grace is directed toward the addressees. Reception [R04]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:10-12 below.

Verse 1:11

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

investigating what time or what kind of time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating, as He testified beforehand to the sufferings destined for Christ and the glories after them.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: The compressed phrase tina ē poion kairon is construed as asking when and what sort of time; a personal construal of tina, “what person,” is possible. The plural sufferings and glories remain. Reception [R04]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:10-12 below.

Verse 1:12

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

It was revealed to them that they were serving these things for you, and not for themselves—things now announced to you through those who proclaimed the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: The contrast between the prophets and the addressees, the Spirit's sending, and the angels' desire all remain distinct. Reception [R04]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:10-12 below.

Called to holiness and sincere love

Verse 1:13

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind; be completely sober, and set your hope on the grace being brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: The bodily metaphor is preserved. “Completely” is attached to sobriety, consistent with G's punctuation; it can instead qualify setting one's hope fully on the coming grace. Reception [R05]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:13-16 below. Polycarp, Philippians 2 [P]: reuses girding language in exhorting faithful service.

Verse 1:14

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

As children of obedience, do not conform yourselves to the former desires of your ignorance,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: The familial idiom “children of obedience” and the link between former desires and ignorance remain. Reception [R05]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:13-16 below.

Verse 1:15

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

but, in accordance with the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves in all your conduct,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: Holiness is related to the One who calls and to the whole of the addressees' conduct. Reception [R05]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:13-16 below.

Verse 1:16

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

because it is written, “You shall be holy, because I am holy.”

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: The source has the future “you shall be”; no additional concluding divine title is inserted into the quotation. Reception [R05]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:13-16 below.

Verse 1:17

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

And if you call upon as Father the One who judges impartially according to each person's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your sojourn,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: Fatherhood and impartial judgment are both retained. “Fear” is not silently replaced by a milder paraphrase. Reception [R06]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:17-22 below.

Verse 1:18

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

knowing that you were ransomed from the futile conduct handed down from your ancestors, not with perishable things, silver or gold,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: The ransom is from an inherited manner of life; silver and gold exemplify the perishable means denied. Reception [R06]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:17-22 below.

Verse 1:19

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot—the blood of Christ,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: Both descriptions of the lamb remain. The repeated “blood” makes the final apposition intelligible in English. Reception [R06]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:17-22 below.

Verse 1:20

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

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

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: Foreknowledge and manifestation remain distinct verbs; manifestation is explicitly for the addressees. Reception [R06]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:17-22 below.

Verse 1:21

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

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

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: Christ mediates belief in God; the resurrection and giving of glory are God's acts. Reception [R06]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:17-22 below. Polycarp, Philippians 2 [P]: explicitly reuses belief in God who raised and glorified Jesus.

Verse 1:22

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

Having purified your souls by obedience to the truth for sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from the heart,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: G has “from the heart,” without an adjective meaning pure here. Brotherly love and the command to love one another remain connected but separately expressed. Reception [R06]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:17-22 below.

Text [G]: NA28 reads ἐκ [καθαρᾶς] καρδίας in brackets (SBLGNT omits); the rendering above follows SBLGNT, and NA28 would read "from a pure heart".[G][R06]

Verse 1:23

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

having been born anew, not from perishable seed but from imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: The imperishable seed image is not reduced to a biological claim. “Living and enduring” is attached to “word”; the construction can also be read with God as living and enduring. Reception [R07]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:23-25 below.

Verse 1:24

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

For “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like a flower of grass. The grass withered, and the flower fell,

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: G has “its glory.” The quotation's comparison and its two past-tense verbs are retained. Reception [R07]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:23-25 below.

Verse 1:25

Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)

but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this is the word that was proclaimed to you as good news.

Textual & Reception Notes

Text [G]: The enduring word is identified with the good news proclaimed to the addressees. Reception [R07]: see Calvin’s unit exposition of 1:23-25 below.