:
1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. 7 Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, 8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. 9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. 11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. 13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; 14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. 15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. 17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. 18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. 19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. 21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: 24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
Previous
Next
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 2:1
Wherefore also Peter says: "Laying therefore aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisy, and envy, and evil speaking, as new-born babes, desire the milk of the word, that ye may grow by it to salvation; if ye have tasted that the Lord is Christ."

Source: Clement of Alexandria The Instructor Book I
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 Peter 2:1
This verse upsets the heretics, who like to think that natures are good or bad in themselves and therefore cannot be changed. But what Peter says is fully in line with the words of Jesus: “You must be born again.”

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 2:1
As you have been born again by the Word of the living God, lay aside all malice, for an infant has no malice in him.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 Peter 2:1
These few words say a great deal, for it is unworthy of those who have been born again to an incorruptible life to be ensnared by evil and to prefer things which have no existence to that which truly exists. For evil is not a substance but merely clings to substances as if it were part of them. Peter says that believers ought to be immune to all deceit, pretense, envy and disparagement. Deceit and pretence are the exact opposite of the truth which was preached to you. If envy and disparagement find a home inside you, who are bound by the tie of brotherly love, how will you be able to bear the attacks of the heretics?

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 380] Apostolic Constitutions on 1 Peter 2:2
For you are translated from your former vain and tedious mode of life and have contemned the lifeless idols, and despised the demons, which are in darkness, and have run to the "true light," [John 1:9] and by it have "known the one and only true God and Father," [John 17:3] and so are owned to be heirs of His kingdom. For since you have "been baptized into the Lord's death," [Romans 6:3] and into His resurrection, as "new-born babes," [1 Peter 2:2] you ought to be wholly free from all sinful actions; "for you are not your own, but His that bought you" [1 Corinthians 6:19-20] with His own blood.

Source: Apostolic Constitutions (Book V), Section 3, XVI
[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 2:2
Milk has three forms which can be compared to doctrine, that is, the liquid, cheese and butter. Liquid milk is the literal sense of Scripture, cheese is the moral sense, and butter is the spiritual sense. Find a good teacher and you will soon learn these things.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 Peter 2:2
The divine law wants us to be perfect, but on the way toward perfection it has us first drink milk, as if we were newborn babies, and by that milk we shall grow toward salvation. Paul spoke to the same effect when he said: “Do not be children in understanding, but be innocent in wrongdoing. In understanding be adults.” For it is not possible to advance toward purity, or toward maturity in understanding, or toward adulthood as a worker approved by God, unless you renounce evil and become like an innocent child.

Source: CATENA
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:2
In accordance with the apostolic principle of discretion, to disciples who are still ignorant the priests supply elementary doctrine, which is the rational milk without guile. But they also provide the solid food of more sublime doctrine to those who are more nearly perfect.

Source: On the Tabernacle 2.10.81
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:2
Desire the rational and pure milk, without guile, etc. This precept of desiring the milk of the word pertains to those who come to hear the sacred readings unwillingly and disdainfully, ignorant of that thirst and hunger of which the Lord said: Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matt. V). Therefore, they arrive more slowly at the full growth of salvation, by which they could be refreshed with the solid food of the word, that is, to know the divine mysteries or to do greater good.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 202] Irenaeus on 1 Peter 2:3
The doctrine of the cross; of which if any man "taste"
[AD 379] Basil of Caesarea on 1 Peter 2:3
Everywhere we notice that the various facets of the soul are designated by outward things. Thus when our Lord is described as the true bread and his flesh as the true food, we must understand this as meaning that the pleasure of right reason is like the taste of bread. Just as it is impossible for someone to know what honey is like simply by being told about it, because he must taste it in order to find out, so too the goodness of the heavenly bread is not properly communicated by teaching alone. We must taste the goodness of the Lord by our own experience.

Source: CATENA
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:3
If you have tasted, that the Lord is sweet. In this way (he says), having forgiven and amended the malice and impurity of your heart, desire the vital nourishment of Christ, if you understand how great the multitude of divine sweetness is. For he who tastes nothing of the heavenly sweetness in his soul, it is not surprising if he does not avoid being defiled by earthly enticements. However, the Psalmist rightly advises to taste how sweet the Lord is, because there are some who perceive about God, not what is sweet inwardly, but what resounds outwardly. And though they understand certain secrets by perceiving them, they cannot experience their sweetness. And though they know how things are, they are ignorant, as I said, of how they taste. And since in that same Psalm from which this verse is taken, it is premised: Come to him and be enlightened (Psalm XXXIII), blessed Peter rightly added, saying:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 160] Shepherd of Hermas on 1 Peter 2:4
Of the stones that were dragged out of the depths, they placed in the building just as they were: for they were polished and fitted exactly into the other stones, and became so united one with another that the lines of juncture could not be perceived.
[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 2:4
For "the Lord of Sabaoth hath taken away, among the Jews from Jerusalem," among the other things named, "the wise architect" too, who builds the church, God's temple, and the holy city, and the house of the Lord.

Source: An Answer to the Jews
[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 2:4
And we saw Him, and He had not attractiveness or grace; but His mien was unhonoured, deficient in comparison of the sons of men," "a man set in the plague, and knowing how to bear infirmity: "to wit as having been set by the Father "for a stone of offence," and "made a little lower" by Him "than angels," He pronounces Himself "a worm, and not a man, an ignominy of man, and the refuse of the People.

Source: An Answer to the Jews
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 Peter 2:4
Those who have accepted the gospel and who have been born again of incorruptible seed are an elect and approved race. At the same time they have been made living stones, built on top of the living Stone, who is chosen and honored, the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, in order to build a spiritual house for God toward whom they are being led and to whom spiritual sacrifices are offered.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 Peter 2:4
This refers to the scribes and the Pharisees and the whole body of the Sanhedrin, about whom it was said: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.”

Source: CATENA
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:4
To whom coming, a living stone, etc. And he takes this testimony about the stone from the psalm, where it is written: The stone which the builders rejected, this became the head of the corner (Psalm 117). Lest anyone should think in the Jewish sense that it was sung by the prophet about a material stone, which in the construction of any earthly house would be set against human disposition by divine judgment, he thoughtfully added living: To whom coming, he says, a living stone, to signify that it was said about Christ. He was rightly called a stone, who coming in the flesh, deigned to insert himself for the edification of the holy Church, by which this might be confirmed. However, living, who could say: I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14). Who was rejected by men, when they said: We have no king but Caesar (John 19). But chosen by God, when he himself said: But I am appointed king by him (Psalm 2), and so forth. And honored, when after the death on the cross, God exalted him and gave him a name which is above every name (Philippians 2), and so forth.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 100] Didache on 1 Peter 2:5
But every Lord's day gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one that is at variance with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned.

Source: The Didache, Chapter 14
[AD 108] Ignatius of Antioch on 1 Peter 2:5
Nevertheless, I have heard of some who have passed on from this to you, having false doctrine, whom ye did not suffer to sow among you, but stopped your ears, that ye might not receive those things which were sown by them, as being stones of the temple of the Father, prepared for the building of God the Father, and drawn up on high by the instrument of Jesus Christ, which is the cross, making use of the Holy Spirit as a rope, while your faith was the means by which you ascended, and your love the way which led up to God.

Source: Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians
[AD 202] Irenaeus on 1 Peter 2:5
For David had been appointed a priest by God, although Saul persecuted him. For all the righteous possess the sacerdotal rank.

Source: Against Heresies Book IV
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 2:5
Peter says, [1 Peter 2:5] "You also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house;" meaning the place of the angelic abode, guarded in heaven. "For you," he says, "who are kept by the power of God, by faith and contemplation, to receive the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

Hence it appears that the soul is not naturally immortal; but is made immortal by the grace of God, through faith and righteousness, and by knowledge.

Source: Fragment from the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 2:5
He dwells on the earth clothed in flesh, and His abode with men is effected by the conjunction and harmony which obtains among the righteous, and which build and rear a new temple. For the righteous are the earth, being still encompassed with the earth; and earth, too, in comparison with the greatness of the Lord. Thus also the blessed Peter hesitates not to say, "You also, as living stones, are built up, a spiritual house, a holy temple, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." [1 Peter 2:5]

Source: Fragments (Clement of Alexandria)
[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 2:5
For this is the spiritual victim which has abolished the pristine sacrifices.

Source: On Prayer
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on 1 Peter 2:5
Even though a man may have departed out of this life insufficiently instructed but with a record of acceptable works, he can be instructed in that Jerusalem, the city of the saints, that is, he can be taught and informed and fashioned into a “living stone,” a stone precious and elect, because he has borne with courage and endurance the trials of life and the struggle for piety.

Source: ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 2.11.3
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on 1 Peter 2:5
We learn from Peter that the church is a body and a house of God built from living stones.

Source: COMMENTARY ON JOHN 10.266
[AD 325] Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius on 1 Peter 2:5
But they are precipitated from the third step, who, though they know the Ambassador of God, who is also the Builder of the divine and immortal temple,
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Peter 2:5
The Lord will repay his faithful followers who are so lovingly, so cheerfully, so devotedly carrying out these works, to the effect that he includes them in the construction of his own building, into which they hasten to fit as living stones, fashioned by faith, made solidly firm by hope, cemented together by charity.

Source: SERMONS 337
[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 2:5
You have been built on a good foundation, that of the apostles, prophets and patriarchs.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on 1 Peter 2:5
This is how Peter describes the way in which those who have been accepted by God are integrated into the church. It is by sharing a common origin, and by being in harmony with one another, by thinking and by saying the same things, by having the same mind and the same thoughts, that we are built into one house for the Lord.

Source: CATENA
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:5
The temple which Christ built is the universal church, which he gathers into the one structure of his faith and love from all the believers throughout the world, as it were from living stones.

Source: Homilies on the Gospels 2.24
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:5
And you, as living stones, etc. He says they are being built upon because without our Lord Jesus Christ, specifically the living stone, no spiritual edifice can stand. For no one can lay another foundation except for Him (1 Cor. 3), by whose participation the faithful are made living stones, who through disbelief had been dead stones, meaning hard and insensible, to whom it is rightly said: I will take the stone heart from you and give you a heart of flesh (Ezek. 36). But as living stones, they are fit for the spiritual edifice, who, through the discretion of a learned teacher with superfluous actions and thoughts cut away, are squared like with the blow of an axe. And as the layers of stones in a wall are carried by one another, so too are the faithful each borne by the preceding just ones in the Church, and they themselves bear the following just ones through doctrine and tolerance until the last just one. He who, being borne by the previous ones, will not have one whom he should bear himself among the following. But He who carries the whole edifice and is not carried by anyone, is the Lord Christ, whence He is also called a precious stone founded on the foundation by the prophet. Likewise, He calls the chosen living stones, to insinuate the effort of their good intention or action, by which, with the grace of God preventing and accompanying, they must always be exercised. For dead, that is, material stones, when they are prepared or placed in the building, can neither assist in the labor of the worker nor can they, except by falling, do anything of themselves, but wherever and however the builder places them, they endure insensibly there or fall away. But the blessed Peter does not want us to imitate the hardness and insensibility of such stones, but to be built upon the foundation of Christ as living stones, so that, with grace aiding us, we may cooperate by living soberly, justly, and piously, according to the example of him who said: And his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all (1 Cor. 15). For he was a living stone in the edification of the holy Church who, lest he should seem to have received the grace of God in vain, strove to labor diligently. And lest he should seem to have attributed any part of this labor to himself, he vigilantly added: Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me (ibid.). Therefore, anyone who is built into His house by Christ, as a living stone, who, by the gift and help of the same, diligently strives to persevere in good works. But whoever, having been incorporated into the holy Church by the grace of regeneration, does not strive to do anything more for his salvation, is, like a dead stone, utterly unworthy of celestial edification, and thus is to be rejected in divine judgment, and another who is worthy is to be placed in his stead, according to the command of Leviticus, where the stones of a leprous house are inspected by the priest and, if found incapable of purification, are to be counted among the unclean and are ordered to be removed from the order of clean stones. Be built into, he says, spiritual houses. He says those houses must be made into spiritual ones since there is one house of Christ made from all the elect angels and men, just as when there is one Catholic Church spread throughout the world, it is frequently called churches in the plural because of the various congregations of the faithful, distinct by various tribes, languages, and peoples. Hence, he says: I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you in the churches. Nor should it be overlooked that some codices have in the singular, Be built into, spiritual house; others: Be built up into a spiritual house. In which, indeed, the unity of the entire holy Church is more openly commended. But when he had said: Be built into spiritual houses, or spiritual house, he added:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:5
Holy priesthood. By this most clearly, he exhorts us to be built up as a holy priesthood, being ourselves upon the foundation of Christ. Therefore, he calls the entire Church a holy priesthood, which only the house of Aaron had the name and office of under the law. For indeed, since we are all members of the high priest, we are all anointed with the oil of gladness, and what he added applies to all:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:5
To offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. He calls our works, alms, and prayers spiritual sacrifices, distinguishing them from the carnal sacrifices of the law. However, what he says in conclusion, through Jesus Christ, pertains to all that he stated previously, because through his grace we are built up in him by wise architects, that is, ministers of the New Testament, and we are made spiritual houses by his Spirit, protected against the rains, winds, and lightning of temptations. And to participate in the holy priesthood and to do something good and acceptable to God, we can only do so through him. For as the branches cannot bear fruit by themselves, unless they remain in the vine; so neither can you (he says) unless you remain in me.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 311] Methodius of Olympus on 1 Peter 2:6
Thou art He who, for our salvation, was made the head stone of the corner, precious and honourable, declared before to Sion.

Source: Methodius Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Peter 2:6
Without the cornerstone which is Christ, I do not see how men can be built into a house of God, to contain God dwelling in them, without being born again, which cannot happen before they are born the first time.

Source: LETTERS 187.31
[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on 1 Peter 2:6
Peter calls our Lord Jesus Christ a chosen and precious stone, fashioned by the glory and splendor of divinity. He calls it the cornerstone, because through one faith it binds together in unity the two peoples, Israel and the Gentiles.

Source: CATENA
[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 2:6
Everything in this prophecy is written about Christ. There are many living stones in God’s temple, but here we are contemplating only the One.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:6
For this reason, Scripture says: Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, etc. He cites this testimony from Isaiah to confirm what he had previously stated: To whom coming as to a living stone, establishing and affirming that the Lord Savior is called a stone by the prophets because of his firmness. And he added:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:6
And everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. Because of this, he states what he said: And you, as living stones, are being built up. It fittingly agrees with the apostle's words: coming to a living stone or believing in him, you will not be put to shame; and with the verse from the psalm, where it is said: Draw near to him and be enlightened (Psalm 34), immediately followed by, And your faces shall not be ashamed (Ibid.). Similar to what John says: And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming (1 John 2).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:6
This is made the cornerstone. Because just as a cornerstone joins two walls, the Lord united the Jewish people and the Gentiles in one society of faith. And immediately he adds about the unbelievers:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 Peter 2:7
Just as the Lord is the true light who has come into the world for judgment, so that at his coming he may give sight to the blind and blind those who see in the wrong way, so he is also a chosen cornerstone, giving honor to those who join themselves to him in faith and revealing himself to them as a reliable foundation, but to those who do not believe he is not precious but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, considered worthless by the builders who have rejected him. These builders are the scribes and the Pharisees.

Source: CATENA
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on 1 Peter 2:7
These words refer to Christ, who himself prophesied in the Gospels, saying: “Have you not read, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner?’ ”

Source: CATENA
[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 2:7
Those of you who believe in Christ are more than just stones—you are sons of God!

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:7
Therefore, to you who believe belongs honor. Certainly this honor, that you may not be put to shame by him at his coming, but as he said: If anyone serves me, my Father will honor him (John 12).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:7
However, for those who do not believe, the stone which the builders rejected. So that as they rejected him while building their deeds, refusing to place him in the foundation of their hearts, they themselves may be rejected by him at his coming, when he will refuse to accept as part of his heavenly house those who rejected him. And this distinction of honor for the believers and the rejection of the unbelievers extends thus far. Hence, speaking again of the believers, he says:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 2:8
Was it because Christ was both a rock and a stone? For we read of His being placed "for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence." I omit the rest of the passage.

Source: Against Marcion Book IV
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 Peter 2:8
The position in which they find themselves is one which they have chosen, for it starts with their unbelief. For just as the world, which has been placed under evil, is not evil by nature but has attained this position by its own desire, so also those who are being talked about here have been so placed because of their own unwillingness to believe, for they are cousins of those who have been handed over to the wickednesses of their desires. For God was very patient with those who despised his goodness and mercy, but in the end he left them to follow their own will.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 Peter 2:8
They stumble because of their wicked mind and because they were chosen for damnation. For it is that which has brought them to this position.

Source: CATENA
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:8
And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense. Hence Paul also says: But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and to the Gentiles foolishness (1 Cor. 1).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:8
To those who stumble at the word, etc., They stumble at the word itself because it happens that they hear the word of God. They stumble in thought when they refuse to believe what they hear. Highlighting their foolishness, he added: And they do not believe in what they were destined for. Because they were destined for this, that is, by nature men are made to believe in God and to obey his will. Solomon testifies to this when he says: Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man (Eccles. 12). That is, every man is by nature made for this, to fear God and obey his commandments. Some manuscripts have: In which they were placed, which is understood according to what Paul says about God: For in him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 Peter 2:8
God is not to be held responsible for this, for no cause of damnation can come from him who wants everyone to be saved. It is they who have made themselves into vessels of wrath, and unbelief has followed naturally from that. Therefore they have been established in the order for which they have prepared themselves. For if a human being is made with free will, that free will cannot be forced, nor can anyone accuse him who has decreed their fate of having done anything to them which they did not fully deserve as a result of their own actions.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 108] Ignatius of Antioch on 1 Peter 2:9
Blessed, then, are ye who are God-bearers, spirit-bearers, temple-bearers, bearers of holiness, adorned in all respects with the commandments of Jesus Christ, being "a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people," on whose account I rejoice exceedingly, and have had the privilege, by this Epistle, of conversing with "the saints which are at Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus." I rejoice, therefore, over you, that ye do not give heed to vanity, and love nothing according to the flesh, but according to God.

Source: Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians
[AD 165] Justin Martyr on 1 Peter 2:9
Being vehemently inflamed by the word of His calling, we are the true high priestly race of God, as even God Himself bears witness, saying that in every place among the Gentiles sacrifices are presented to Him well-pleasing and pure. Now God receives sacrifices from no one, except through His priests.

Source: Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter 116
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 2:9
"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood." [1 Peter 2:9] That we are a chosen race by the election of God is abundantly clear. He says royal, because we are called to sovereignty and belong to Christ; and priesthood on account of the oblation which is made by prayers and instructions, by which are gained the souls which are offered to God.

Source: Fragment from the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 2:9
That we are a chosen people is clear enough, but Peter said that we are a royal people because we have been called to share Christ’s kingdom and we belong to him. We are a priesthood because of the offering which is made in prayers and in the teachings by which souls which are offered to God are won.

Source: ADUMBRATIONS
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on 1 Peter 2:9
Because you are a priestly race you are able to approach the sanctuary of God.

Source: SERMONS ON LEVITICUS 9.9
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on 1 Peter 2:9
If you want to exercise the priesthood of your soul, do not let the fire depart from your altar.

Source: SERMONS ON LEVITICUS 4.6
[AD 304] Victorinus of Pettau on 1 Peter 2:9
"And He made us a kingdom and priests unto God and His Father." That is to say, a Church of all believers; as also the Apostle Peter says: "A holy nation, a royal priesthood."

Source: Victorinus Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John
[AD 311] Methodius of Olympus on 1 Peter 2:9
Hail, thou people of the Lord, thou chosen generation, thou royal priesthood, thou holy nation, thou peculiar people-show forth His praises who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light; and for His mercies glorify Him.

Source: Methodius Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna
[AD 380] Apostolic Constitutions on 1 Peter 2:9
Hear this, you of the laity also, the elect Church of God. For the people were formerly called "the people of God," [Exodus 19:5-6] and "an holy nation." [Hebrews 12:23] You, therefore, are the holy and sacred "Church of God, enrolled in heaven, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people," [1 Peter 2:9] a bride adorned for the Lord God, a great Church, a faithful Church.

Source: Apostolic Constitutions (Book II), Section 4, XXV
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 Peter 2:9
Under the old dispensation, the priesthood and the kingship were two different things. No one could be both a king and a priest. But afterwards came the gospel, which united these two offices in Christ. From this it follows that the people whom he has chosen will be both royal and priestly at the same time. Some people wonder how it is possible, seeing that we are called from all the nations on earth, for us to be regarded as one holy people. The answer to this is that although we are from many different nations, the fact that we have all repented of our sins and accepted a common will and a common mind gives those who have repented one doctrine and one faith. When there is a soul and heart common to all believers, then they are called one people.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 400] Pseudo-Clement on 1 Peter 2:9
For all who see you will "acknowledge that you are the seed which the Lord has blessed;" [Isaiah 61:9] in very deed a seed honourable and holy, and "a priestly kingdom, a holy people, the people of the inheritance," [1 Peter 2:9] the heirs of the promises of God; of things which do not decay, nor wither; of "that which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and which has not come up into the heart of man; of that which God has prepared for those who love Him and keep His commandments." [1 Corinthians 2:9]

Source: Two Epistles on Virginity
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Peter 2:9
In ancient times only one high priest was anointed, but now all Christians are anointed.

Source: SERMONS 198A
[AD 461] Leo the Great on 1 Peter 2:9
All who have been born again in Christ are made kings by the sign of the cross and consecrated priests by the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Source: SERMONS 4
[AD 538] Severus of Antioch on 1 Peter 2:9
As believers in Christ we have received exactly the same things as he already has. Since he is of the royal tribe and became a high priest, so too have we been enriched by these gifts. Having them, we have become a holy nation and a people for safekeeping, that is, for being kept apart from the world; for we have entered into his rest.

Source: CATENA
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 Peter 2:9
We are royal from the fact that Christ is a king, and we are a priesthood from the fact that he is a priest. Furthermore, we are also a holy people, so called by the one who is called holy in himself.

Source: CATENA
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, etc. This testimony of praise was once given to the ancient people of God through Moses, which the apostle Peter now rightly gives to the Gentiles because they have believed in Christ, who as the cornerstone has united the Gentiles in that salvation which Israel had in him. He calls them a chosen race because of their faith, to distinguish them from those who, by rejecting the living stone, have themselves become reprobates. And a royal priesthood, because they are united to His body, who is the supreme king and true priest, granting His kingdom to His followers as a king, and as a pontiff cleansing their sins by the sacrifice of His own blood. He names them a royal priesthood, so that they may remember both to hope for an eternal kingdom and to always offer sacrifices of spotless conduct to God. They are also called a holy nation and a people for his possession, in accordance with what the apostle Paul, expounding the sentiment of the prophet, says: But my just one shall live by faith; and if he draws back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him; but we are not of those who draw back unto perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul (Hebrews 10). And in the Acts of the Apostles: The Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood (Acts 20). Therefore, we have been made a people for his possession by the blood of our Redeemer, which was formerly the people of Israel redeemed by the blood of the lamb from Egypt. Hence also, in the following verse, reminding mystically of the old history, he teaches the new people of God to fulfill it spiritually, saying:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:9
That you may declare His virtues, etc. For just as those who were freed from Egyptian bondage through Moses sang a triumphal song to the Lord after the crossing of the Red Sea and the drowning of Pharaoh's army, so it is also proper for us, after receiving in baptism the remission of sins, to repay worthy thanks for heavenly benefits. For the Egyptians, who afflicted the people of God, and who are also interpreted as darkness or tribulations, aptly signify our sins, which are erased in baptism. The liberation of the children of Israel and their leading to the promised homeland aligns with the mystery of our redemption, through which we strive towards the light of the heavenly dwelling place, illuminated and guided by the grace of Christ. The light of this grace was also shown by the pillar of cloud and fire, which protected them from the darkness of the nights throughout their entire journey and led them on an indescribable path to the promised homeland's seats.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 2:10
But what is the "people" which was ignorant of God, but ours, who in days bygone knew not God? and who, in the hearing of the ear, gave heed to Him, but we, who, forsaking idols, have been converted to God? For Israel-who had been known to God, and who had by Him been "upraised" in Egypt, and was transported through the Red Sea, and who in the desert, fed forty years with manna, was wrought to the semblance of eternity, and not contaminated with human passions, or fed on this world's meats, but fed on "angel's loaves" -the manna-and sufficiently bound to God by His benefits-forgot his Lord and God, saying to Aaron: "Make us gods, to go before us: for that Moses, who ejected us from the land of Egypt, hath quite forsaken us; and what hath befallen him we know not." And accordingly we, who "were not the people of God" in days bygone, have been made His people, by accepting the new law above mentioned, and the new circumcision before foretold.

Source: An Answer to the Jews
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on 1 Peter 2:10
O people of God, chosen to expound the virtues of the Lord: take up the circumcision worthy of the Word of God in your ears, on your lips, in your heart and in the foreskin of your flesh, as well as in every part of you.

Source: SERMONS ON GENESIS 3.5
[AD 311] Methodius of Olympus on 1 Peter 2:10
And hence they sing the Lord's song in a strange land, explaining the law by distorting and degrading it, expecting a sensual kingdom, and setting their hopes on this alien world, which the Word says will pass away,

Source: Methodius Discourse III. Thaleia
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 Peter 2:10
This verse means that Gentiles who were not God’s people before they believed have now been called by him and have come to him. Some people think that Peter is talking about a mixture of beings who are both good and bad by nature, but their interpretation comes up against many serious objections. You cannot say of spiritual beings that there was once a time when they were not a people and when they lacked mercy, nor can you say of earthly beings that they have been turned into a people or received mercy. Therefore I believe that that is the wrong interpretation of this verse.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 Peter 2:10
When people from different races and nations are called to abandon all their differences and to take on one mind, drawing near to him by one faith and one teaching, by which the soul and the heart become one, they are one holy people.

Source: CATENA
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:10
Who were once not a people of God, but now are a people of God, etc. He explicitly indicates through these verses that he wrote this Epistle to those who had come to faith from among the Gentiles, who were once alienated from the conversation of the people of God, but now by the grace of faith are united to His people, and have obtained the mercy which they did not know to hope for (Ephes. II). He takes them from the prophet Hosea, who, foretelling the vocation of the Gentiles, says: "I will call those who were not My people, My people, and her who had not received mercy, one who has received mercy. And it shall be, in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' there they will be called children of the living God" (Hosea I, II).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 100] Didache on 1 Peter 2:11
Abstain thou from fleshly and worldly lusts.

Source: The Didache, Chapter 1
[AD 155] Polycarp of Smyrna on 1 Peter 2:11
The lusts that are in the world, since "every lust warreth against the spirit; "
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 2:11
Qu circa admirabilis quoque Petrus: "Charis Simi, inquit, obsecro vos tanquam advernas et peregrinos, abstinete vos a carnal bus desideriis, quae militant ad versus animam, conversationem vest ram inter gentes habentes bonam: quoniam sic est voluntas Dei, ut bene facientes obmutescere faciatis imprudentium hominum ignorant am; quasi liberi, et non quasi velamen habentes malitiae libertatem, sed ut servi Dei."
[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 Peter 2:11
And similarly Peter exhorts: "As strangers "says he, "and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles; that whereas they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify the Lord."
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 Peter 2:11
Those who are worthy of love because of their godliness are called “beloved” not because they are that way by nature but because they have received love. The writer of this letter urges such people to abstain from carnal desires which attack the soul. The flesh and the soul have different natures. A soul which is uncorrupted and immortal will desire that kind of thing, whereas the flesh, which is both corrupt and dissolute, desires things which are wicked and vile. But when the two are joined together, the soul naturally feels the passions of the flesh. When it distances itself from bodily passions, it is preserved pure and glorious, with a saving understanding of the way it should act, with a will to behave in that way, with a love for God and with a desire to know him.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Peter 2:11
God’s people occupy the middle ground. They are to be compared neither with those who think that the only good is to enjoy earthly delights nor with those sublime inhabitants of heaven, whose sole delight is in the heavenly bread by which they were created. Between the people of heaven and those of earth, the apostle was suspended in the middle, heading toward heaven, though he was not yet there, but at the same time separated from others here below.

Source: SERMONS 400.2
[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 2:11
Evil desires are called “carnal” because they operate through the flesh, but in reality they are spiritual, because they come from the soul.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 Peter 2:11
As always, the apostle turns to ethical matters after he has dealt with doctrine. After saying what good things are available because of Christ, he now calls us to lead the right kind of life.

Source: CATENA
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:11
Dearest ones, I beseech you as sojourners and travelers, etc. Thus far, blessed Peter has generally instructed the Church, explaining both the benefits by which divine mercy has called us to salvation and the gifts by which, at times the Jews, but now also us, have been deemed worthy of honor. Hence, he earnestly exhorts the diverse persons of the faithful, lest by living carnally, they render themselves unworthy of such great grace of the Holy Spirit. Lest those who are distinguished by the royal and priestly title, subjugated by the malice of vices, degenerate from the glory of the nobility once promised to them. Therefore, first, he addresses servants and free persons, then women and men specifically, and after the general exhortation, he also shows how the elders and young people should conduct themselves. He suitably teaches the free persons to abstain from carnal desires, because the freedom of a more relaxed life tends to endure greater dangers of titillating temptations, which wage war against the soul. For while the flesh, dulled by concupiscence, is being delicately subdued, indeed, the army of vices is being more firmly armed against the soul. He appropriately calls them sojourners and travelers, so that the less they subject their soul to earthly things, the more they remember they have a home in the heavens. For this is what customarily distinguishes the elect from the reprobates in this life; that the elect, now travelers and exiles, expect their homeland in the future, and thus enjoy the fleeting pleasures of the present less, as they hope to receive joys without end in the future and to reign eternally with Christ. But indeed the reprobates have their homeland here, whose soil they know how to long for with the desires of life, and therefore they will be relegated to eternal exile after this life, where, deprived of all pleasures, they will suffer adversities in torment alone.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 155] Polycarp of Smyrna on 1 Peter 2:12
Having your conduct blameless among the Gentiles"
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 2:12
Above all, we are to keep in mind what was spoken sacredly: "Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles; that, whereas they speak against you as evil-doers, they may, by the good works which they behold, glorify God."

Source: Clement of Alexandria The Instructor Book III
[AD 400] Pseudo-Clement on 1 Peter 2:12
For the beams of their light illumine the whole creation even now by good works, as those who are truly "the light of the world," [Matthew 5:14] giving light to "those who sit in darkness," that they may arise and go forth from the darkness by the light of the good works of the fear of God, "that they may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven."

Source: Two Epistles on Virginity
[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 2:12
As the head of the church Peter lays down rules for everyday behavior, and by doing so he unites all the members of the church in one overall harmony.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 2:12
The day of visitation will be like the time when God visited Egypt through an angel and slew all the firstborn children. Similarly he will visit the lands of the earth and will cut off the firstfruits of all evil works.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 500] Desert Fathers on 1 Peter 2:12
Hyperichius said, ‘He who teaches others by his life and not his speech is truly wise.’

Source: The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:12
So that in what they detract from you, etc. It frequently happened that the pagans who disparaged the faith of the Christians, because they had abandoned their gods, later, considering their chaste conduct and unbeaten heart in Christ, would stop maligning them, and rather begin to glorify and praise God, who was proven to be good and just by the goodness and justice of His worshippers. He says, "Let them glorify God on the day of visitation," that is, in the time of retribution, let the unbelievers now already recognize how great a glory through God is to be given to you, when they see that you constantly follow Him amid opposing dangers.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 Peter 2:12
Peter presents the pagans as people who disparage us. Anyone who doubts the truth of this should read what Irenaeus wrote about the martyrs Sanctus and Blandina. Stated briefly, when the Gentiles discovered servants of these Christians, who were learned in the sacred mysteries, they tortured them in order to find out some secret evil about them. But since the servants had nothing to say which would please them, beyond the fact that they had heard their masters talk about the holy communion as the body and blood of Christ, which they took to mean real flesh and blood, they gave that answer to the inquisitors. The Gentiles seized on that apparent cannibalism as if it were something practiced by Christians and tortured Sanctus and Blandina as a result. Blandina replied to them freely and intelligently as follows: “How can people who do not touch meat because of their devotion to the study and contemplation of God do such things?” The day of visitation is the day on which worldly people like those Gentiles will be judged. For when our lives are laid bare, it will become apparent that the truth is the very opposite of what they suspected, and not only will they be ashamed, they will also be punished, and God will be glorified.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 2:13
Pray for kings, because when the kingdom is shaken, all its other members are shaken with it, and even if we stay aloof from tumults we shall have some part in the resulting misfortune.

Source: APOLOGY 1.31
[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 2:13
Therefore, as to what relates to the honours due to kings or emperors, we have a prescript sufficient, that it behoves us to be in all obedience, according to the apostle's precept, "subject to magistrates, and princes, and powers; " but within the limits of discipline, so long as we keep ourselves separate from idolatry.

Source: On Idolatry
[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 2:13
Then he goes on also to show how he wishes you to be subject to the powers, bidding you pay "tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom," that is, the things which are Caesar's to Caesar, and the things which are God's to God; but man is the property of God alone. Peter, no doubt, had likewise said that the king indeed must be honoured, yet so that the king be honoured only when he keeps to his own sphere, when he is far from assuming divine honours; because both father and mother will be loved along with God, not put on an equality with Him.

Source: Scorpiace
[AD 380] Apostolic Constitutions on 1 Peter 2:13-14
Be subject to all royal power and dominion in things which are pleasing to God, as to the ministers of God, and the punishers of the ungodly. Render all the fear that is due to them, all offerings, all customs, all honour, gifts, and taxes. For this is God's command, that you owe nothing to any one but the pledge of love, which God has commanded by Christ.

Source: Apostolic Constitutions (Book IV), Section 2, XIII
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 Peter 2:13
The proclaimers of the truth take all opportunity for wrongdoing away from us by describing how we should behave toward those who are in power in such a way that the gospel and its teaching will not be hindered by us through our unwillingness to do what they require of us and by telling us to be subject to them when it is clear that they are doing something in accordance with just laws. Nor should we be worried if they do not act in the way appointed by God, because he is in charge of them and will judge them accordingly.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 Peter 2:13
By “every human authority” Peter means those which have been ordained by rulers. We are called to submit to them for the Lord’s sake, because he himself said: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,” but if they command something which is not God’s will we must not obey them.

Source: CATENA
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:13
Be subject therefore to every human creature for God’s sake. He says, to every human creature, to all human dignity, to every person, to every authority, to which divine disposition wished us to be subjected. For this is what he says: For God’s sake, because there is no power but from God. And he who resists authority, resists the ordinance of God (Rom. XIII). Which creature he subsequently explains, adding:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:13
Whether to the king as excelling, etc. Therefore, he speaks only of the king and leaders, but not of masters, because in this place he particularly instructs, as we have said before, those who are masters of slaves. Subsequently, he also admonishes servants how they should serve their masters. He thus teaches the faithful servants of the eternal King also to be subjected to worldly powers, lest even in this the faith and religion of Christ be disparaged, that through it the rights of the human condition should be disturbed. For it can also rightly be understood what is said, to every human creature, to signify both faithful and unbelieving masters of things.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:14
For the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of those who do good. Not that all kings or leaders indeed know how either to punish evildoers or to praise those who do good, but he narrates simply what the action of a good judge ought to be, that is, to restrain evildoers and reward those who act well. And even if a judge acts unjustly by condemning the good, nonetheless it pertains to the praise of those who endure his wickedness patiently, and resist his foolishness patiently. "Do you want," he says, "not to fear the power? Do good, and you will have praise from it" (Ibid.). He does not say "from that," but "from it," because even if human power does not praise, indeed if it even persecutes, if it kills with the sword like Paul, if it crucifies like Peter, you will have praise from it, since from the fact that it wrongs you, just and innocent, the patience of your virtue earns a crown of praise. For the following words teach that blessed Peter aimed at this sentiment, where it is said:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on 1 Peter 2:14
Peter calls those magistrates who are appointed by kings “human creatures.” Sometimes Scripture describes appointments as creations [as in Ephesians 2:15]: “God’s purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two.”

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 Peter 2:15
Peter said this because there were some subversive people who were saying that Christ had come to overthrow the state, teaching us that we should despise every earthly power. But when they see us submitting to them because it is God’s will, then they are silenced, because they realize that they were wrongly trying to tear the kingdom of Christ in two.

Source: CATENA
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:15
"Because this is the will of God, that by doing good, etc." This is therefore the praise of the good, to which he says leaders sent by the king, while using the ignorance of unwise leaders, the good act well to their own perpetual praise.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 202] Irenaeus on 1 Peter 2:16
Referring both to the liberty of man, in which respect "all things are lawful"God exercising no compulsion in regard to him.
[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 2:16
If we have a form of religion on the outside but inside we are opposed to the rulers of the church as well as to kings and princes, we are using our faith as a pretext for evil.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:16
As free people, and not as those who have freedom as a veil for malice. Truly free people do good, who, the greater the freedom they enjoy among men, the more strictly, or rather more freely, they are subjected to divine servitude. But those also act as truly free who, in the example of the patriarch Joseph, although they are oppressed by human servitude, are compelled by no art to be slaves of vices. But indeed, they turn their freedom into a veil for malice, who, the less they are restrained by the yoke of human servitude, are the more widely enslaved by the dominion of sins; and when they serve their vices with impunity, they call it freedom, covering their guilt with this name. However, it can be understood generally according to that statement of the Apostle Paul: "You were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh" (Gal. V). For we are rightly called free, who through baptism are freed from the bonds of sins; who, redeemed from demonic servitude, because made sons of God, have not received a greater faculty or license of sinning by such a gift of freedom; rather, if we sin, we immediately, having lost freedom, become slaves of sin. And whoever thinks that he is freed by the Lord for this reason, that he may sin more licentiously, such a person changes his freedom into a veil for malice. But blessed Peter wishes us to be free from the servitude of faults, so that we may be able to remain good and faithful servants of our Creator; whence he subsequently adds:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:16
But as servants of God. Honor everyone, etc. Therefore, he urges to give due honor to all, and, according to the command of the Lord, to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's (Luke XX). And it is commendable that he commands the free also to love the brethren, so that they likewise remember that those who are subject to them by temporal condition have been made their brothers in Christ, invoking the Father together with them who judges without partiality.

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 Peter 2:16
We have been set free from the world. We have become citizens of heaven. This verse does not imply, according to John Chrysostom, that the apostle now wants us to be subject once again to earthly powers and to obey them. No, we are to obey them as free people, honoring the one who has delivered us and who has told us to do this for his sake. Similarly you must not have any kind of evil in your mind, like disobedience or hardness of heart. You must not use your freedom as a pretext for refusing to obey. We might add that someone who is free according to the Lord would never do anything absurd or foolish.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 99] Clement of Rome on 1 Peter 2:17
Full of holy designs, you did, with true earnestness of mind and a godly confidence, stretch forth your hands to God Almighty, beseeching Him to be merciful unto you, if you had been guilty of any involuntary transgression. Day and night you were anxious for the whole brotherhood, [1 Peter 2:17] that the number of God's elect might be saved with mercy and a good conscience.

Source: Letter to the Corinthians (Clement)
[AD 155] Polycarp of Smyrna on 1 Peter 2:17
Stand fast, therefore, in these things, and follow the example of the Lord, being firm and unchangeable in the faith, loving the brotherhood.

Source: Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians
[AD 180] Tatian the Assyrian on 1 Peter 2:17
Does my master command me to act as a bondsman and to serve, I acknowledge the serfdom. Man is to be honoured as a fellow-man;
[AD 330] Arnobius of Sicca on 1 Peter 2:17
That name, how can we but give them even the greatest honour, since we have been taught by the commands which have especial power over us,
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 Peter 2:17
The fear of God must come first and govern all the rest.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Peter 2:17
How is it proved that we love the fellowship? Because we do not split unity; because we keep love.

Source: TRACTATES 2.3.2
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Peter 2:17
Do not say to yourself: “What have I got to do with the emperor?” … The apostle intended that emperors should be served, and he wanted kings to be honored.

Source: TRACTATES 6.26.1
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 Peter 2:17
It is wrong to be insubordinate and disobedient to earthly authorities. Let no one say that we have been set free from the world because we have become citizens of heaven. Are you still insisting that we should obey earthly powers? Yes, says Peter, but obey them as free people, which is to say, in obedience to the one who has set you free and who has commanded you to do this. That way you will not glory in your freedom as if it were a cloak to cover up your evil thoughts, that is, of insubordination and disobedience.

Source: CATENA
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 2:18
For as it is enjoined on them, "to be subject to their masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward"

Source: Clement of Alexandria The Instructor Book III
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 2:18
Impartiality, patience and kindness are very appropriate qualities for a master to possess.

Source: THE TEACHER 3.11.74
[AD 380] Apostolic Constitutions on 1 Peter 2:18-20
But as to servants, what can we say more than that the slave bring a good will to his master, with the fear of God, although he be impious and wicked, but yet not to yield any compliance as to his worship? And let the master love his servant, although he be his superior. Let him consider wherein they are equal, even as he is a man. And let him that has a believing master love him both as his master, and as of the same faith, and as a father, but still with the preservation of his authority as his master: "not as an eye-servant, but as a lover of his master; as knowing that God will recompense to him for his subjection." In like manner, let a master who has a believing servant love him as a son or as a brother, on account of their communion in the faith, but still preserving the difference of a servant.

Source: Apostolic Constitutions (Book IV), Section 2, XII
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 Peter 2:18
The person who says that servants ought to obey their masters out of abject fear is mad and ought to be regarded as a dumb animal, for the fear which they ought to have is based on knowledge and reason and is properly known as respect. For the servant who fears his master for Christ’s sake and because of his teaching will submit to him out of respect.… And there is another aspect to this, for Peter is also telling women to respect their husbands in godly fear, for that is fully consonant with the Holy Scriptures.

Source: CATENA
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:18
Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle but also to the crooked, etc. He calls the crooked undisciplined, using a term derived from Greek speech. For in Greek, schola is called the place where young men usually devote themselves to literary studies and to listening to teachers; thus, schola is interpreted as leisure. Finally, in the psalm where we sing, "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46), for that which we say "be still," the Greek has σχολάζετε. The learned in Greek are called scholars, and the unlearned and rustic are called uncultured. But he wishes the subjects to obey both, explaining more clearly how he commanded us to be subject to every human creature. Another translation has "difficult" for "crooked." And the holy bishop Fulgentius in his treatises puts it this way: "Serving with fear not only the good and gentle but also the harsher."

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 Peter 2:18
The fear which is spoken of here is something which comes as the result of knowledge and conscience. It is not some wild emotion produced by the unknown. It is the same kind of fear by which we come into the presence of God, the perfect fear with which we approach Christ.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 2:19
You will be approved by God if you suffer unjustly, because you know that that is exactly what he did.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 2:20
To whom would He have rather made known the veiled import of His own language, than to him to whom He disclosed the likeness of His own glory-to Peter, John, and James, and afterwards to Paul, to whom He granted participation in (the joys of) paradise too, prior to his martyrdom? Or do they also write differently from what they think-teachers using deceit, not truth? Addressing the Christians of Pontus, Peter, at all events, says, "How great indeed is the glory, if ye suffer patiently, without being punished as evildoers! For this is a lovely feature, and even hereunto were ye called, since Christ also suffered for us, leaving you Himself as an example, that ye should follow His own steps." And again: "Beloved, be not alarmed by the fiery trial which is taking place among you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.

Source: Scorpiace
[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 2:20
Peter shows here that those who deserve punishment receive no mercy or grace from God if they perish.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:20
But if you suffer for doing good, etc. Note carefully how greatly he glorifies the condition of servants, whom he declares to be imitators of the Lord's passion by doing good and, without fault, receiving punishment from cruel and wicked masters. Indeed, you hear that he suffered for us, and rejoice that he died for you; consider what follows:

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 155] Polycarp of Smyrna on 1 Peter 2:21
For He has set us this example

Source: Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians
[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 Peter 2:21
He follows Christ who stands in His precepts, who walks in the way of His teaching, who follows His footsteps and His ways, who imitates that which Christ both did and taught; in accordance with what Peter also exhorts and warns, saying, "Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example that ye should follow His steps."
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 Peter 2:21
The praises referred to here are those of a person who is good, not by nature but by grace, and who invites us to join him in praising the One who is good by nature.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Peter 2:21
In this sentence the apostle Peter appears to have realized that Christ suffered for those who follow in his footsteps and that Christ’s passion profits none but those who follow in his footsteps.

Source: SERMONS 304.2
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Peter 2:21
Christ taught you to suffer, and he did so by suffering himself. Words would not be enough unless example were added. And how, precisely did he teach us, brothers and sisters? He was hanging on the cross, and the Jews were raging … he was hanging there, yet at the same time he was healing them.

Source: SERMONS 284.6
[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 Peter 2:21
Having told servants to put up with unjust suffering, which was a bitter pill for them to swallow, Peter now comforts them by referring to Christ’s longsuffering. It is as if he were saying: “I am not trying to persuade you to put up with injustice simply by arguments. Rather stand back and look at your master as freemen in Christ, and you will be comforted.”

Source: CATENA
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:21
Leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. An example of tribulations, not of delights, of insults, scourges, pains, reproaches, thorns, the cross, wounds, death. In the psalm it is written: "Because of the words of your lips I have kept hard ways" (Psalm 17). Because of which words of God's lips, if not those by which he promises eternal life?

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 155] Polycarp of Smyrna on 1 Peter 2:22
"who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth"
[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 2:22
Therefore He did not maledictively adjudge Christ to this passion, but drew a distinction, that whoever, in any sin, had incurred the judgment of death, and died suspended on a tree, he should be "cursed by God," because his own sins were the cause of his suspension on the tree. On the other hand, Christ, who spoke not guile from His mouth, and who exhibited all righteousness and humility, not only (as we have above recorded it predicted of Him) was not exposed to that kind of death for his own deserts, but (was so exposed) in order that what was predicted by the prophets as destined to come upon Him through your means might be fulfilled; just as, in the Psalms, the Spirit Himself of Christ was already singing, saying, "They were repaying me evil for good; " and, "What I had not seized I was then paying in full; " They exterminated my hands and feet; " and, "They put into my drink gall, and in my thirst they slaked me with vinegar; " "Upon my vesture they did cast (the) lot; " just as the other (outrages) which you were to commit on Him were foretold,-all which He, actually and thoroughly suffering, suffered not for any evil action of His own, but "that the Scriptures from the mouth of the prophets might be fulfilled.

Source: An Answer to the Jews
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Peter 2:22
Note that the apostle holds this statement that Christ did no sin sufficient to prove that there was no sin in him. He who did not sin could not have had sin in him.… Certainly the adult man would have committed sin if there had been sin in the infant. Apart from him there is no one who has not committed sin after reaching his majority, and the reason for this is that there is no one who is without sin at the beginning of infancy.

Source: AGAINST JULIAN 5.15.57
[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on 1 Peter 2:22
Since human flesh became that of the Word of God, its subjection to corruption has come to an end. He put an end to the sickness of loving pleasure. The only-begotten Word of God has not done this for himself, for his motive is not his own pleasure, but obviously he has done it for us.

Source: SERMONS 45.9
[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on 1 Peter 2:22
Christ was nailed to the cross, paying the penalty not for his own sins but paying the debt of our nature. For our nature was in debt after transgressing the laws of its maker. And since it was in debt and unable to pay, the creator himself in his wisdom devised a way of paying the debt. By taking a human body as capital, he invested it wisely and justly in paying the debt and thereby freeing human nature.

Source: ON DIVINE PROVIDENCE 10.26
[AD 108] Ignatius of Antioch on 1 Peter 2:23
Let us make them brethren by our kindness. For say ye to those that hate you, Ye are our brethren, that the name of the Lord may be glorified. And let us imitate the Lord, "who, when He was reviled, reviled not again ; " when He was crucified, He answered not; "when He suffered, He threatened not ; " but prayed for His enemies, "Father, forgive them; they know not what they do." If any one, the more he is injured, displays the more patience, blessed is he. If any one is defrauded, if any one is despised, for the name of the Lord, he truly is the servant of Christ. Take heed that no plant of the devil be found among you, for such a plant is bitter and salt. "Watch ye, and be ye sober," in Christ Jesus.

Source: Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians
[AD 202] Irenaeus on 1 Peter 2:23
This he does not utter to those alone who wish to hear: Do not err, .
he book of the Father, or to behold Him, with the exception of the Lamb who was slain, and who redeemed us with His own blood, receiving power over all things from the same God who made all things by the Word, and adorned them by

Source: Against Heresies Book III
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 2:23
"Who, when He was reviled," he says, "reviled not; when He suffered, threatened not." The Lord acted so in His goodness and patience. "But committed Himself to him that judged Him unrighteously:" whether Himself, so that, regarding Himself in this way, there is a transposition. He indeed gave Himself up to those who judged according to an unjust law; because He was unserviceable to them, inasmuch as He was righteous: or, He committed to God those who judged unrighteously, and without cause insisted on His death, so that they might be instructed by suffering punishment.

Source: Fragment from the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus
[AD 380] Apostolic Constitutions on 1 Peter 2:23
We command that a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon who strikes the faithful that offend, or the unbelievers who do wickedly, and thinks to terrify them by such means, be deprived, for our Lord has nowhere taught us such things. On the contrary, "when Himself was stricken, He did not strike again; when He was reviled, He reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not."

Source: Apostolic Constitutions (Book VIII), Section 5, XLVII.28
[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 Peter 2:23
Jesus did not curse those who insulted him but handed them over to God, who is a just judge. For although the divine union of God and man in Christ is holy and undivided, yet there is a distinction to be made between the mind of the man assumed and the mind of the person assuming him.

Source: COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 155] Polycarp of Smyrna on 1 Peter 2:24
Let us then continually persevere in our hope, and the earnest of our righteousness, which is Jesus Christ, "who bore our sins in His own body on the tree"

Source: Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians
[AD 202] Irenaeus on 1 Peter 2:24
The ass was the type of the body of Christ, upon whom all men, resting from their labours, are borne as in a chariot. For the Saviour has taken up the burden of our sins.

Source: Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenaeus
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 2:24
Addressing those who have believed, he says, "For by His stripes we were healed."

Source: Clement of Alexandria Stromata Book II
[AD 339] Eusebius of Caesarea on 1 Peter 2:24
He bore the blows and wounds in his body, he was beaten and scourged and thrashed, his head was bruised with a reed. But his wounds became our saviors, for “by his stripes we are healed.” For who are we, but those who were once deceived and who did not recognize him, nor were we aware of who he was?

Source: CATENA
[AD 379] Basil of Caesarea on 1 Peter 2:24
By the blood of Christ, through faith, we have been cleansed from all sin, and by water we were baptized into the death of our Lord. We have sworn in effect that we are dead to sin and to the world but alive unto righteousness.

Source: ON BAPTISM 1.3
[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on 1 Peter 2:24
This is a new and strange kind of healing. For in this case it is the doctor who receives the honor but the patient who is healed.

Source: CATENA
[AD 538] Severus of Antioch on 1 Peter 2:24
The one who offered himself for our sins had no sin of his own. Instead he bore our transgressions in himself and was made a sacrifice for them. This principle is set out in the law, for what sin did the lamb or the goat have, which were sacrificed for sins and which were even called “sin” for this reason?

Source: CATENA
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:24
He himself bore our sins, etc. Whereas previously he spoke specifically to servants, now he admonishes in general that even masters be reminded of what God and the Lord endured for them. Indeed, he instructs the whole Church on what the Maker endured for its liberation. For he did not say "your sins," but also added himself: "He bore our sins in his body on the tree."

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 2:25
Error has three causes—darkness, loneliness and ignorance. The Gentile sheep were wandering among idols because of their foolish ignorance, and they found themselves lost in the darkness of sin and in the loneliness of a strange nation. Peter goes on to add that now they have turned to the guardian [bishop] of their souls, because although there are many guardians around who care about the things of the flesh, there are few who can look deep into the soul and take care of it.

Source: INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:25
For you were like sheep gone astray. How is it that he calls both sheep and gone astray, when those who lead a life in error are rather called by the name of goats than sheep, unless because the Lord knows who are his, who also endures many living wrongly for a long time, who he nevertheless foresees to be saved in the number of his sheep?

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 2:25
But now you have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. He touches on the evangelical parable, where the pious Shepherd, having left ninety-nine sheep in the desert, came to visit the one that had gone astray. For what was said there, that having found it, he placed it on his shoulders rejoicing, this here the blessed Peter has stated beforehand, saying: Because he himself bore our sins in his body on the wood. Because indeed he wished to redeem us in such a way that the wood on which he would take away our sins, he had to hang upon, bearing it on his shoulders. Therefore, he says, to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Shepherd, namely, because he grants us the pastures of eternal life, he provides pastures of temporal grace in the present. Truly, overseer of your souls, because the Orient from on high has visited us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death (Luke 1). He visits daily the very light in us that he has granted, so that it does not fail by preserving, but rather grows by aiding. Certain Manuscripts have the very Greek: To the shepherd and bishop of your souls. However, bishop in Latin is said to mean "superintendent." Because indeed the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are towards their prayers, so that out of all their tribulations he may deliver them. (Psalm 34).

Source: Commentary on the Catholic Epistles