1 Peter, Chapter 3, verses 10-22

⁸ exhorting all men to unity and love, ¹⁴ and to suffer persecution, ¹⁹ He declareth also the benefits of Christ toward the old world

¹⁰For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:

¹¹Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.

¹²For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

¹³And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?

¹⁴But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;

¹⁵But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

¹⁶Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.

¹⁷For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.

¹⁸For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

¹⁹By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

²⁰Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

²¹The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

²²Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

Read more:1 Peter, Chapter 4

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3:10 For he that desireth to love life, and to see good days - That would make life amiable and desirable. Psa 34:12, etc

3:11 Let him seek - To live peaceably with all men.And pursue it - Even when it seems to flee from him.

3:12 The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous - For good.Anger appears in the whole face; love, chiefly in the eyes.

3:13 Who is he that will harm you - None can.

3:14 But if ye should suffer - This is no harm to you, but a good. Fear ye not their fear - The very words of the Septuagint, Isa 8:12-13. Let not that fear be in you which the wickedfeel.

3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts - Have an holy fear, and a full trust in his wise providence. The hope - Of eternal life. With meekness - For anger would hurt your cause as well as your soul. And fear - A filial fear of offending God, and a jealousy over yourselves, lest ye speak amiss.

3:16 Having a good conscience - So much the more beware of anger, to which the very consciousness of your innocence may betray you. Join with a good conscience meekness and fear, and you obtain a complete victory. Your good conversation in Christ - That is, which flows from faith in him.

3:17 It is infinitely better, if it be the will of God, ye should suffer. His permissive will appears from his providence.

3:18 For - This is undoubtedly best, whereby we are most conformed to Christ. Now Christ suffered once - To suffer no more.For sins - Not his own, but ours. The just for the unjust - The word signifies, not only them who have wronged their neighbours, but those who have transgressed any of the commands of God; as the preceding word, just, denotes a person who has fulfilled, not barely social duties, but all kind of righteousness. That he might bring us to God - Now to his gracious favour, hereafter to his blissful presence, by the same steps of suffering and of glory. Being put to death in the flesh - As man. But raised to life by the Spirit - Both by his own divine power, and by the power of the Holy Ghost.

3:19 By which Spirit he preached - Through the ministry of Noah. To the spirits in prison - The unholy men before the flood, who were then reserved by the justice of God, as in a prison, till he executed the sentence upon them all; and are now also reserved to the judgment of the great day.

3:20 When the longsuffering of God waited - For an hundred and twenty years; all the time the ark was preparing: during which Noah warned them all to flee from the wrath to come.

3:21 The antitype whereof - The thing typified by the ark, even baptism, now saveth us - That is, through the water of baptism we are saved from the sin which overwhelms the world as a flood: not, indeed, the bare outward sign, but the inward grace; a divine consciousness that both our persons and our actions are accepted through him who died and rose again for us.

3:22 Angels and authorities and powers - That is, all orders both of angels and men.

Mark, Chapter 11, verses 11-23

¹ Christ rideth with triumph into Jerusalem, ¹² curseth the fruitless leafy tree, ¹⁵ purgeth the temple, ²⁰ exhorteth his disciples to steadfastness of faith, and to forgive their enemies

¹¹And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.

¹²And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:

¹³And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.

¹⁴And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.

¹⁵And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;

¹⁶And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.

¹⁷And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.

¹⁸And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.

¹⁹And when even was come, he went out of the city.

²⁰And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.

²¹And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.

²²And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

²³For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

Read more:Mark, Chapter 11

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11:11 Mat 21:10, Mat 21:17.

11:12 Mat 21:18.

11:13 For it was not a season of figs - It was net (as we say) a good year for figs; at least not for that early sort, which alone was ripe so soon in the spring. If we render the words, It was not the season of figs, that is,the time of gathering them in, it may mean, The season was not yet: and so (inclosing the words in a parenthesis, And coming to it, he found nothing but leaves) it may refer to the former part of the sentence, and may be considered as the reason of Christ's going to see whether there were any figs on this tree. Some who also read that clause in a parenthesis, translate the hollowing words, for where he was, it was the season of figs. And it is certain, this meaning of the words suits best with the great design of the parable, which was to reprove the Jewish Church for its unfruitfulness at that very season, when fruit might best be expected from them.

11:15 Mat 21:12; Luk 19:45.

11:16 He suffered not that any should carry a vessel through the temple - So strong notions had our Lord, of even relative holiness!And of the regard due to those places (as well as times) that are peculiarly dedicated to God.

11:17 Isa 56:7; Jer 7:11.

11:18 They feared him - That is, they were afraid to take him by violence, lest it should raise a tumult; because all the people was astonished at his teaching - Both at the excellence of his discourse, and at the majesty and authority with which he taught.

11:20 Mat 21:20.

11:22 Have faith in God - And who could find fault, if the Creator and Proprietor of all things were to destroy, by a single word of his mouth, a thousand of his inanimate creatures, were it only to imprint this important lesson more deeply on one immortal spirit?


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Orthodox readings for 12 January 2016

1 Peter, Chapter 3, verses 10-22

Mark, Chapter 11, verses 11-23