Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Ver. 14. That he might redeem us] God will have the price of Christ's blood out; he will thoroughly purge us.
A peculiar people] Gr. A people that comprehend all that God sets any store by, that contain all his gettings; called elsewhere the people of acquisition, περιουσιος, 1 Peter 2:9. The word here used Jerome saith he sought for among human authors, and could not find it. Therefore some think the Septuagint feigned this, and επιουσιον, used also in the Lord's prayer. Theophylact saith it signifieth such a people as are conversant about their master's business, procuring of wealth and riches for him.
Zealous of good works] Give God thine affections, else thine actions are stillborn, and have no life in them. Now zeal is the extreme heat of all the affections, when they are seething or hissing hot, as the apostle's word is, Romans 12:12, when we love God and his people out of a pure heart fervently, ζεοντες. Non amat qui non zelat, saith Austin, he loveth not at all in God's account, whose love is not ardent, desires eager, delights ravishing, hopes longing, hatred deadly, anger fierce, grief deep, fear terrible, voice, eyes, hands, gestures, actions, all lively, as in holy Bucholcer, Luther, Laurentius, Athanasius, Ignatius, Paul, Baruch: Nehemiah 3:20, he earnestly fortified, seipsum accendit; he burst out into a holy heat, he wrought with a kind of anger against himself and others, because the work went on no faster. He was not of his temper that said, Deum colo, uti par est, I go as far for God as in discretion it is fit. Religiosum oportet esse, sed non religantem; such and such are more precise than wise. The reserved professor never shows himself but at halt-light; he follows Christ but afar off, as Peter, or as the people followed Saul (they tremble after him, 1Sa 13:7); he is afraid of every new step, saying as Caesar at Rubicon, Yet we may go back. Carnal discretion controls his fervency, cools his courage, keeps him that he cannot be zealous of good works, which he doth at the best in a loose, lazy, perfunctory strain, like the pace the Spaniard rides, like Adonikam, that was the last that set foot forward toward the return of the captives, and therefore had his lot below his brethren, Ezra 8:13. Where is now our ancient zeal, heating and whetting (saith a reverend zealot)? Oh, how cold and careless, how dissolute, and dilute are we! May it not be said of most of our hearts and houses, as Isaiah 47:14, there is not a coal to warm at? May not the old complaint be well renewed, "There is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee?" Isaiah 64:7. Let God's love in the work of our redemption be duly pondered (as here), and it will fire us up to a holy contention in godliness.
These things speak and exhort] Lest men should think we should only preach of Christ and grace, preach thou obedience and zeal, saith the apostle.