A Living Hope: A Commentary on 1 and 2 Peter
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
Robert Mounce demonstrates his scholarship, lucidity, and pastoral heart in this commentary. Pastors and laypersons will find a balanced, effective, and relevant interpretation of Peter’s epistles.
Mounce says that the theme of these letters is hope, but the main purpose is “to encourage believers in Asia Minor to expect and endure hardship as a result of their commitment to the Christian faith” and “to stimulate them to wholesome thinking” to counteract false teachers who had risen within the church.
Although the letters are packed with imperatives, Mounce argues that they do not merely offer simple “lessons for living,” but move freely from doctrine to duty and back again. Thus, the purpose of doctrine is less to instruct than to provide the theological basis for a new way of living. Because Christians have been born anew to a living hope, there is a serious challenge to holy living. Mounce applies these challenges to modern life with chapters such as “How to Get Along With Your Spouse,” “Living in an Alien Society,” and “How to Live in the Family of God.”
Explore more of Mounce’s teachings with the Select Works of Robert H. Mounce (6 vols.).
Key Features
- Presents a balanced, effective, and relevant interpretation of Peter’s epistles
- Emphasizes how the epistles move freely from doctrine to duty and back again
- Applies challenges to holy living to the believer's modern life
Top Highlights
“Peter’s point is that the purpose of the gospel is that although man is marked for death, by responding to the gospel he may live unto God.” (Page 67)
“The Christian faith is not a heady search for new truth, but allegiance to the truth regarding Jesus Christ and what his death and resurrection imply. Jesus Christ is God’s supreme self-revelation (John 1:18; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:1). Who he is and what he did is at the heart of all knowledge. All subsequent revealed truth looks back to its source in Christ.” (Page 113)
“They remind us that being a Christian is not simply a matter of subscribing to a doctrinal statement. To be a Christian means to conduct one’s life in a certain way. Partnership with Christ transforms the way people live, yet this transformation depends upon our full cooperation and personal involvement in the pursuit of high ethical goals.” (Page 108)
“Greek word means ‘to be sober.’ Without balance and full control men are liable to reel back and forth between various intoxicating ideas about doctrine and conduct. The proper response to the grace of God is disciplined self-control.” (Page 18)
“The promises referred to by Peter include such events as the second coming of Christ (1:16; 3:4, 9) and the new heaven and earth in which righteousness will be the order of the day (3:13).” (Page 106)
Praise for the Print Edition
Robert Mounce’s expositions are so clear, concise, devout, and thoughtful that they [should be] within the reach of every Bible student.
—David Allan Hubbard, president, Fuller Theological Seminary
About Robert H. Mounce
Robert H. Mounce is president emeritus of Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington, and a noted New Testament Greek scholar. He is the author of The New American Commentary: Romans and The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Book of Revelation. He also helped produce the NIV, NIrV, NLT, ESV, and HCSB Bible translations.