1 Peter 1:8
whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
Truth to Learn
Faith without visual evidence produces joyful rejoicing.
Behind the Words
“Having not seen” is translated from the Greek words ouk eidontes. The fist word, ouk is the absolute negative and eidontes is from eidō, meaning “to see with perception.” It is expressed as an aorist participle, meaning “in the past you did not see.”
The expression “now you do not see” is translated from the words mē orōntes. The word mē is a relative negative and orōntes of a form of the verb horaō, which also means “to see with perception.” Even though this is a different root word from eidō, it is generally used in the present tense where eidō is used for the aorist tense (past, point-in-time action). It is used here as a participle so this could be translated as “you are not seeing.”
The word translated “inexpressible” is aneklalētos, a double compound word made up of the privative a, meaning “not” or “without,” ek, meaning “out” or “out of,” and a form of laleō, meaning “to speak” or “to utter a sound.” Hence, aneklalētos refers to something which is “not utterable,” or inexpressible.
“Full of glory” is the translation of doxadzō. The root of this word is dokeō, meaning “to recognize in a favorable manner.” We see then, that doxadzō refers to that favorable recognition, or glory. It is expressed here in the perfect tense, meaning past completed action with an ongoing effect, the emphasis being on the effect. Hence we could translate this word as “glorious,” that is, something which now has ongoing glory.
Meaning Explained
Since this epistle is believed to have been written sometime between 58 and 65 AD, some of those reading it would have been alive when Christ was alive. It is unlikely, however, that very many of them, if any, actually saw Jesus. This letter was written to the chosen ones scattered throughout Asia Minor and, therefore, Peter can confidently say that they had not seen him.
The point that Peter is making is that in spite of the fact that they had not seen Jesus, they loved Him. This same message is clearly given to us today. Though none of us has seen him we still love him. A common expression in the world today is “seeing is believing,” but Peter is saying, in effect, “believing is seeing.” The result of this belief, as he has said in several of the previous verses, is that we rejoice with a joy that is both glorious and indescribable. Have you ever tried to explain the joy of salvation to an unbeliever? It’s impossible isn’t it? The joy we have, even in the midst of trials, is difficult for us to explain and impossible for an unbeliever to understand.
Application
We may not be able to see our Savior today, but that doesn’t stop us from believing in Him and in the gift of eternal life through His blood. That salvation should give joy to us all.
Let us express that joy in our worship and our praise of Him!
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2008 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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