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1:10-11
They expected a Davidic Messiah to break into history at a specific God-appointed time. Like us, they “looked through a glass darkly” (cf. 1 Cor. 13:9-13)." (Utley)
Even though Peter does not identify them as a fixed group (as if they were “the prophets”) known to his readers and connection with either Jewish history or the Canon of scripture, he appears to have at least some specific examples in mind. (Michaels, p 40)
Ancient Jewish prophets and contemporary Gentile believers are coparticipants in one great redemptive plan. (Michaels, p 40)
Although he is referring to Jewish prophets, Peter does not designate them as such, either directly or indirectly; he does not wish to distinguish them in this way from the Gentile readers, whom he consistently regards as no less “Jews” in the sight of God. (Michaels, p 39)
“He [Peter], who wanted to hear nothing of it [Christ’s sufferings] during the lifetime of Jesus, made Jesus’ suffering and death the very centre of his explanation of Jesus’ earthly work.”[69]
Many Christians do not realize that God intends our experience as well to include both suffering and glory. (Constable)
These verses clearly distinguish, by the way, between the divine author and the human writers of Scripture. The prophets were not simply religious geniuses. They were people through whom God spoke (2 Pet. 1:21). At times they knew that they did not fully comprehend what they were communicating, so they “made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know” (vv. 10-11) these things. At other times they probably thought that they understood what they communicated, but they did not completely see the full significance of it (cf. Dan. 9; 12:5-13; Hab. 2:1-4). They did not know the time when or how many messianic prophecies would be fulfilled either. (Constable)
Few passages have more to tell us about how the prophets wrote and about how they were inspired. (Barclay)
… we [are] thereby throw into stronger relief the writer’s purpose to bring out the identity of the Old and the New Revelation, the fact that Christ and His sufferings are the centre of the world’s history, to which all that went before points, from which all that follows after flows; and that not only thus does He stand in the midst of humanity, but that from Him there ran out influences into other orders of beings, and angels learn from Him mysteries hitherto unknown to them. (MacLaren)
Further, this passage tells us that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, was always operative in this world. Wherever men have glimpsed beauty, wherever they have laid hold on truth, wherever they have had longings for God, the Spirit of Christ was there. Never has there been any time in any nation when the Spirit of Christ was not moving men to seek God and guiding them to find him. Sometimes they have been blind and deaf, sometimes they have misinterpreted that guidance, sometimes they have grasped but fragments of it, but always that revealing Spirit has been there to guide the searching mind. (Barclay)
“Why is he so vague about something of which he could easily have spoken more concretely?” Micheals sees intentionality here. He wrote, “The effect of such a style is to allow full scope either to the reader’s knowledge of biblical and postbiblical history or to their imaginations.” (Michaels, p 40)
10:12
This is literally “to stoop over to see” as in John 20:5,11. (Utley)
Peter teaches through chiastic structure in vv 10-12.
a. Inquiries of prophets in the past (… vv 10-12).
b. Divine revelation to the prophets in the past (… v 12a).
b. Divine announcements to Christians in the present (… v 12b).
a. Inquiries of angels in the present (… v 12c). (Michaels, p 39)
The curiosity of “prophets” (v 10) and "angels " (v 12) underscores the mystery of the divine plan: God in his sovereignty has long kept secret the salvation soon to be revealed to his chosen ones (cf. Eph 3:4-6). (Michaels, p 38)
The prophets did understand, however, that God would not fulfill all of their inspired revelations in their own days but in the future. God had fulfilled the prophecies about Messiah’s sufferings in Peter’s day, but He had not yet fulfilled the prophecies of Messiah’s glorification.[71] Even the angels are waiting to see how and exactly when God will fulfill them (cf. Heb. 1:5—2:18). (Constable)
“The Church is God’s university for angels.”[72]
The Holy Spirit has a ministry of illumination as well as inspiration. He enables others to understand God’s revelation as they read it, as preachers and teachers explain it, and, of course, as they hear it in other ways. (Constable)
Peter’s point in verses 10-12 seems to be that his readers could rejoice in their sufferings even though they could not see exactly how or when their present trials would end. The readers should find encouragement by looking at the prophets’ limited understanding of their own prophecies dealing with the suffering and glorification of Messiah. God would bring their own experiences to a glorious completion just as surely as He would do the same for Messiah, though in both cases the details of fulfillment were not yet clear. (Constable)
He adds the interesting statement that the angels long to look into these things. We should presume that angels are ignorant of certain things…, and that they long to know more as they see the fulfillment of God’s purposes… The remark underlines how fortunate are those living to see and experience personally the fulfillment of the prophecies… (Marshall, p 47)
Marshall, I. Howard. 1 Peter. The IVP New Testament Commentary Series, Ed. Grant Osborne, et al., InterVarsity Press, 1991.
Michaels, J. Ramsey. Word Biblical Commentary: 1 Peter. Ed. David Hubbard, et al., Word Publishers, 1988.
Most Works Cited. Please click here to access the web-page for all of the works cited, save those above–if any. Most of the works cited on the linked web-page correspond to the verses they are outlined with. In the case of background information and other general reference citations, one will find cited material with the Bible books the citations are associated with.
1.3