1 Peter 1:5 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Who are kept Who, though now surrounded with many apparent dangers, are not left defenceless, but are guarded, kept as in a garrison, as the word φρουρουμενους signifies; by the power of God Which worketh all in all; or secured from all real harm, under the observation of his all-seeing eye, and the protection of his almighty hand; through faith Through the continued exercise of that faith, by which alone salvation is both received and retained. The clause is very emphatical: “It represents,” says Macknight, “believers as attacked by evil spirits and wicked men, their enemies, but defended against those attacks by the power of God, through the influence of their faith, (1 John 5:4,) just as those who remain in an impregnable fortress are secured from the attacks of their enemies by its ramparts and walls.” Ready Ετοιμην, prepared, to be revealed In all its glory; in the last time The time of Christ's second coming; the grand period, in which all the mysteries of divine providence shall beautifully and gloriously terminate. Some have thought that by the salvation here spoken of, the apostle meant the preservation from the destruction brought on the Jewish nation by the Romans, which preservation the disciples of Christ “obtained, by observing the signs mentioned in their Master's prophecy concerning that event. For, when they saw these signs take place, they fled from Jerusalem to places of safety, agreeably to their Master's order, Matthew 24:16. But what is said, 1 Peter 1:9-12, concerning this salvation; that it is a salvation, not of the body, but of the soul, to be bestowed as the reward of faith; that the prophets, who foretold this salvation, searched diligently among what people, and at what time, the means of procuring it were accomplished; that it was revealed to the prophets that these means were to be accomplished, not among them, but among us; and that these things were to be preached by the apostles as actually come to pass: I say, the above- mentioned particulars concerning the salvation to be revealed in the last time, do not agree to the deliverance of the Christians from the destruction of Jerusalem, but are applicable only to the salvation of believers in general from eternal death, by a resurrection to an immortal life in heaven, at the time of Christ's coming, when this salvation is to be revealed; and that time is called the last time, because it will be the concluding scene of God's dispensations relating to our world.” Macknight.