THESE two epistles are of a practical nature, addressed to the sojourners in the dispersion, that is, to Jewish Christians who were scattered throughout the provinces mentioned in the opening verse of the first epistle.

Chapter 1:2. "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied."

Here the Holy Spirit is mentioned as He who sets the believer apart for a certain action. Israel as a nation was set apart externally and by ordinances; the believer's sanctification, or setting apart, is through the Spirit. The setting apart by the Spirit is unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. He sets the believer apart unto the obedience of Christ to obey as He obeyed, as well as the sprinkling of the blood, which cleanses from all sin and gives confidence before God, as well as liberty and power to practice the obedience of Christ.

Chapter 1:11-12. The Spirit of Christ was in the prophets and testified through them beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Our Lord said to the Jews "Search the Scriptures . . . for they are they which testify of Me." The Spirit of God revealed in the Old Testament the sufferings and the glory of Christ. But it was only when the Holy Spirit was sent down from heaven that the full salvation was made known.

Chapter 1:22. Obeying the truth is through the energy of the Spirit of God.

Chapter 3:18. This much misunderstood passage mentions the Holy Spirit. The false doctrines of Rome are built upon 1 Peter 3:18-20. Many Protestant teachers also believe in a literal descent of Christ into Hades. The text is fully examined and explained in Volume IX of the Annotated Bible. The question is what does "quickened by the Spirit" mean? Those who believe that Christ between death and resurrection descended into the lower regions believe that He went there in His human spirit and therefore they hold that it was His human spirit which was quickened. But if His human spirit was quickened, that is received life, after His body died on the cross, His Spirit whom He commended into the hands of the Father, must have also died, for if His Spirit had not died, it needed no quickening. But this is an unsound doctrine, for the teaching of the Word of God is that only His body died. This is what we read here, "He was put to death in the flesh." The word quickened applies to His physical resurrection. The Spirit of God quickened Him (Rom.8:11). The same Spirit also was in Noah and preached through him during the days while the ark was preparing, in which only eight souls were saved, while the unbelieving mass of that day are now the spirits in prison.

Chapter 4:6. This verse does not teach that the gospel is preached to the dead now, but that the gospel was preached to them, who are now dead, that is, when they were living. They heard the preaching that they might either live according to God in the Spirit, or be judged as men responsible for what they had done in the flesh.

Chapter 4:14. "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you; on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified." This is a blessed comforting promise. Whenever a believer is reproached for the name of Christ, the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon him. If Christians were more separated, more faithful, more loyal and devoted, they would also suffer more reproach outside of the camp and then know more of the presence and power of the Spirit of glory.

In the second epistle of Peter the Spirit of God is mentioned in only one passage, chapter 1:21. "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." It is not without meaning that in the epistles of Peter and in the epistle to the Hebrews the Holy Spirit is repeatedly revealed as the author of the Old Testament Scriptures. In Hebrews we read in the very beginning of the epistle that God hath spoken unto the fathers by the prophets. As we have pointed out the phrase is used in quoting in that epistle from the Old Testament "the Holy Spirit saith." Peter in his first epistle declares that the Spirit of Christ was in the prophets, and in this passage he shows that prophecy came as holy men were moved by the Holy Spirit. These epistles are Hebrew-Christian epistles, the original documents were sent to believers among the Jews, which does not mean that they have less authority for us. It shows that the Hebrews believed that the Old Testament is God-breathed, that the Holy Spirit is the author.