SEV Biblia, Chapter 1:17
Y si invocis por Padre a aquel que sin acepcin de personas juzga segn la obra de cada uno, conversad en temor todo el tiempo de vuestra peregrinacin,
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 Peter 1:17
Verse 17. And if ye call on the Father] Seeing ye invoke the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and your Father through Christ, and profess to be obedient children, and sojourners here below for a short time only, see that ye maintain a godly reverence for this Father, walking in all his testimonies blameless. Who without respect of persons] God is said to be no respecter of persons for this reason among many others, that, being infinitely righteous, he must be infinitely impartial. He cannot prefer one to another, because he has nothing to hope or fear from any of his creatures. All partialities among men spring from one or other of these two principles, hope or fear; God can feel neither of them, and therefore God can be no respecter of persons.
He approves or disapproves of men according to their moral character. He pities all, and provides salvation for all, but he loves those who resemble him in his holiness; and he loves them in proportion to that resemblance, i.e. the more of his image he sees in any, the more he loves him; and e contra. And every man's work will be the evidence of his conformity or nonconformity to God, and according to this evidence will God judge him.
Here, then, is no respect of persons; God's judgment will be according to a man's work, and a man's work or conduct will be according to the moral state of his mind. No favouritism can prevail in the day of judgment; nothing will pass there but holiness of heart and life. A righteousness imputed, and not possessed and practiced, will not avail where God judgeth according to every man's work. It would be well if those sinners and spurious believers who fancy themselves safe and complete in the righteousness of Christ, while impure and unholy in themselves, would think of this testimony of the apostle.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 17. And if ye call on the Father , etc.] Of Christ, and of all the saints; or seeing ye do. This is a fresh argument, engaging to holiness of life and conversation. Invocation of God includes the whole worship of him, the performance of every outward duty, and the exercise of every inward grace, particularly it designs prayer; and whoever are concerned in one, or the other, God will be sanctified by all them that draw nigh unto him: or the phrase may here intend an asserting God to be their Father, under the influence of the spirit of adoption; and all such that do claim so near a relation to God ought to honour and obey him, and to be followers of him: whoever call God their Father, and themselves his children, ought to be careful that they do not blaspheme, or cause to be blasphemed, that worthy name by which they are called: who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work .
This is another reason why men should be holy, taken from the general judgment; for this God that is a Father, is also a judge. There is a judgment after death, which is sure and certain, and reaches to all persons and things; and though the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son, yet he will judge everyone by that man Christ, whom he has ordained to be the Judge of quick and dead: before his judgment seat all must stand, where they will be impartially, and without respect of persons, tried; no account will be had of what nation and place they are, whether Jews or Gentiles, or of this, or the other country, unless to aggravate or lessen their condemnation; for it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, for Sodom and Gomorrah, than for such who have been favoured with a Gospel revelation, and believe it not; nor from what parents they have descended, for the soul that sins, that shall die; nor of what age and sex they are, small and great shall stand before him; nor of what state and condition, rich or poor, high or low, bond or free; or of what religious sect and denomination, or whether they have conformed to some external things or not; no regard will be had to any outward appearance or profession. The Judge will not judge according to the sight of the eyes, and outward view of things; for he looks on the heart, and knows the secret springs of all actions; and according thereunto will he judge and pass the sentence; and therefore what manner of persons ought men to be, in all holy conversation and godliness? Hence it follows, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear ; the people of God in this world are sojourners, as all their fathers were; they are not natives of the place in, which they are; though they are in the world, they are not of it; they were natives of it by their first birth, but by their second they are born again from above, and so, belong to another place; they are of another country, even an heavenly one; are citizens of another city, a city which, has foundations, whose builder and maker is God, their citizenship is in heaven; and there is their Father's house, which is not made with hands, and is eternal; and there lies their estate, their inheritance; and though they dwell here below, neither their settlement nor their satisfaction are here; they reckon themselves not at home while they are on earth, and are strangers in it, to the men of the world, and they to them; with whom they have not, or at least ought not to have, any fellowship. It is indeed but for a time, that they are sojourners, not an eternity; which time is fixed, and is very short, and will be quickly gone; it is but a little while, and Christ wilt come and take them home to his Father's house, where they shall be for ever with him; for it is only here on earth that they are pilgrims and strangers: and while they are so they should spend their time in fear; not of men nor of devils, nor of death and judgment, hell and eternal damnation; for such a fear is not consistent with the love of God shed abroad in the heart, and is the effect of the law, and not encouraged by the Gospel; is in natural men, yea, in devils themselves; but in the fear of God, and which springs from the grace of God, and is increased by it; is consistent with the strongest acts of faith, and with the greatest expressions of spiritual joy; is opposite to pride and self-confidence, and includes the whole worship of God, external and internal, and a religious conversation, in humility and lowliness of mind.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 17-25 - Holy confidence in God as a Father, and awful fear of him as a Judge agree together; and to regard God always as a Judge, makes him dear to us as a Father. If believers do evil, God will visit them with corrections. Then, let Christians not doubt God's faithfulness to his promises, nor give way to enslaving dread of his wrath, but let the reverence his holiness. The fearless professor is defenceless, an Satan takes him captive at his will; the desponding professor has n heart to avail himself of his advantages, and is easily brought to surrender. The price paid for man's redemption was the precious bloo of Christ. Not only openly wicked, but unprofitable conversation i highly dangerous, though it may plead custom. It is folly to resolve, will live and die in such a way, because my forefathers did so. God ha purposes of special favour toward his people, long before he mad manifest such grace unto them. But the clearness of light, the support of faith, the power of ordinances, are all much greater since Chris came upon earth, than they were before. The comfort is, that being by faith made one with Christ, his present glory is an assurance tha where he is we shall be also, Joh 14:3. The soul must be purified before it can give up its own desires and indulgences. And the word of God planted in the heart by the Holy Ghost, is a means of spiritual life, stirring up to our duty, working a total change in the dispositions and affections of the soul, till it brings to eterna life. In contrast with the excellence of the renewed spiritual man, a born again, observe the vanity of the natural man. In his life, and in his fall, he is like grass, the flower of grass, which soon withers an dies away. We should hear, and thus receive and love, the holy, livin word, and rather hazard all than lose it; and we must banish all othe things from the place due to it. We should lodge it in our hearts a our only treasures here, and the certain pledge of the treasure of glory laid up for believers in heaven __________________________________________________________________
Greek Textus Receptus
και 2532 ει 1487 πατερα 3962 επικαλεισθε 1941 5731 τον 3588 απροσωποληπτως 678 κρινοντα 2919 5723 κατα 2596 το 3588 εκαστου 1538 εργον 2041 εν 1722 φοβω 5401 τον 3588 της 3588 παροικιας 3940 υμων 5216 χρονον 5550 αναστραφητε 390 5649
Vincent's NT Word Studies
17. If ye call on the Father - judgeth. More correctly, Rev., If ye call on him as Father; the point being that God is to be invoked, not only as Father, but as Judge.
Without respect of persons (aproswpolhmptwv). Here only. Peter, however, uses proswpolhmpthv, a respecter of persons, Acts x. 34, which whole passage should be compared with this. Paul and James also use the kindred word swpolhmyia, respect of persons. See Rom. ii. 11; Jas. ii. 1. James has the verb proswpolhmptew, to have respect of persons. The constituents of the compound word, proswpon, the countenance, and lambanw, to receive, are found in Gal. ii. 6; and the word is the Old-Testament formula to accept or to raise the face of another; opposed to making the countenance fall (Job xxix. 24; Gen. iv. 5). Hence, to receive kindly, or look favorably upon one (Gen. xix. 21; xxxii. 20, etc.). In the Old Testament it is, as Bishop Lightfoot observes, "a neutral expression involving no subsidiary notion of partiality, and is much oftener found in a good than in a bad sense. When it becomes an independent Greek phrase, however, the bad sense attaches to it, owing to the secondary meaning of proswpon, a mask; so that proswpon lambanein signifies to regard the external circumstances of a man, his rank, wealth, etc., as opposed to his real, intrinsic character." Sojourning (paroikiav). Compare sojourners, ver. 1.
