The most puzzling part of the
verse consists in the final four words (ἀγάπη καλύπτει πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν). While the notion that love covers sin is common in the
Bible and early Christian literature, the closeness of this formulation to the
Hebrew of Prov 10:12b and its almost identical form in Jas 5:20 point to the
proverbial status of this phrase, a status probably antedating both uses in the
NT.
What is not clear is whose sins
are covered. There are four possibilities: (1) the sins of the one who loves
the other are covered by that love; (2) the sins of the one loved are covered
by the one who loves; (3) the sins of both the one loving and the loved are
covered; (4) the sins of the one loved, which causes that person to repent, are
thereby covered. While some have argued for (3) and some for (4), the first two
possibilities have claimed the widest support.
1. The proverb can be taken to
mean that one who loves contributes to the divine forgiveness of his or her own
sins. Some of those who find this interpretation persuasive see a similar
meaning in Luke 7:47 or find here an extrapolation of Matt 6:14–15. It is also
the meaning assumed in 2 Clem. 16.4,
Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Tertullian. Such an interpretation finds in
a person’s love for others a kind of “secondary atonement,” an interpretation
rendered questionable by the assertion of our author that sins against God have
been taken away by Christ (1:18–19; 2:24, 3:18).
2. The proverb can be understood
to mean that the one who loves another overlooks by that act that other
person’s offenses, whether against the one loving or against others in the
community, and thus “covers” them. Additional support for this interpretation
is found in the fact that that is also the point of Prov 10:12, and reflects
the thrust of Matt 18:21–22 and 1 Cor 13:4–7. It is also the interpretation of
the proverb in 1 Clem. 49.5. The
context within which this proverb appears, with its strong emphasis on
mutuality both in the first part of this verse (εἰς ἑαυτοῦς), as well as in vv. 9 (εἰς ἀλλήλους) and 10 (εἰς ἑαυτοῦς),
argues persuasively for this second interpretation. In order to maintain a
strong Christian community in the face of the pressures that the author will
discuss in the passages following these verses, there must be mutual love and
forgiveness within the community itself. Only in that way will they continue to
exist as the kind of community whose life can bring glory to God and to Jesus
Christ (v. 11b) (Paul J. Achtemeier, 1 Peter: A Commentary on First
Peter [Hermeneia—a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible;
Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996], 295-96)
