Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
Wherefore. Seeing that the prophets ministered unto you in these high Gospel privileges which they did not themselves, though 'searching,' fully share in, and seeing that even angels "desire to look into" them, how earnest and watchful you ought to be!
Gird up the loins. Christ's own words (Luke 12:35): an image from the Israelites eating the Passover with the loose outer robe girded up about the waist with a girdle, as for a journey. Workmen, pilgrims, runners, wrestlers, warriors (all types of the Christian), so gird themselves up, both to prevent the garment impeding motion, and to brace up the body for action. The believer is to have his mind collected, and always ready for Christ's coming. Sobriety - i:e., self-restraint, lest one be overcome by the allurements of the world and sense, and enduring waiting hope for Christ's revelation, are the true 'girding up the loins of the mind.'
To the end, х teleios (G5046)] - 'perfectly,' so that there be nothing deficient in your hope; no casting away of confidence. Still, there is an allusion to the "end" (1 Peter 1:9). Hope so perfectly as to reach the end х telos (G5056)] of your faith and hope-namely, 'the grace that is being brought unto you in х feromeneen (G5342) en (G1722)] the revelation of Christ.' As grace shall then be perfected, so do you hope perfectly (1 Peter 1:3). Christ's two appearances are but different stages of the ONE great revelation, comprising the New Testament from beginning to end.