NT Text: 1 Peter 2:22
OT Source(s):
Source: Beale & Carson (eds.), Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (2007); Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Direct Quotation
Connection Method(s): Promise-Fulfillment
Anchor Text: Isa 52:13-53:12 — The Suffering Servant
Significance: Peter quotes Isaiah 53:9 almost verbatim — "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth" — reproducing the LXX (hos hamartian ouk epoiēsen oude heurethē dolos en tō stomati autou) with only the change of pronoun to fit his sentence. In Isaiah the clause supplies the legal ground of the Servant's innocence: though "assigned a grave with the wicked" (53:9a), he had done no violence and spoke no deceit, so his death was wholly undeserved and therefore available as a substitute. Peter presses this exact point to suffering household servants (2:18-21): Christ's flawless innocence under unjust suffering is both the pattern they are to follow and the basis on which his suffering could be redemptive rather than merely exemplary. The sinlessness is not abstract perfection but the courtroom verdict the Servant Song already pronounced — the Lamb without blemish. The telos is not a stoic call to endure injustice but the sight of a Savior whose spotless integrity under abuse purchased our healing; beholding such a Christ, the abused servant is freed to entrust himself to "Him who judges justly" (2:23) because the innocent Sufferer has already won the verdict.