The Problem with the MacArthur Study Bible’s Commentary on 1 Peter 1:2

The MacArthur Study Bible’s commentary on 1 Peter 1:2 introduces a significant theological error because it collapses the biblical and Reformed distinctions between the Mosaic Covenant and the New Covenant, and thereby redefines justifying faith in a way the Reformation rejected as fatal to sola fide. By importing a works-principle from Sinai into the grace-principle of the New Covenant inaugurated by Christ, the Study Bible’s notes misconstrue both covenant theology and the nature of saving faith itself.

1. Misreading Exodus 24:3–8 and Misapplying the Mosaic Covenant

Scripture presents the Mosaic Covenant as a genuine administration of the Covenant of Grace. It contains the sacrificial system, priesthood, tabernacle, and gospel promises in types and shadows. Israel’s salvation was always by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ (to come) alone, not by law.

Yet within this gracious structure, the Mosaic Covenant uniquely introduces a subservient, typological works principle—a republication of the covenant of works—governing Israel’s temporal life in the land (see Sacred Bond, pp. 133–134). This works-character does not offer eternal life but earthly blessing. Israel’s obedience was required for:

• remaining in the land,
• enjoying covenant blessings, and
• escaping covenant curses.

This republication served several purposes:

• showing the continuity of God’s law (WCF 19.2),
• exposing Israel’s sin and driving them to the true Mediator, and
• foreshadowing Christ, the last Adam, who would obey perfectly.

Thus, the Mosaic Covenant is both:

1. Gracious, because it is an administration of the Covenant of Grace; and
2. Typologically works-based, because it revives the works principle for Israel’s earthly inheritance, not for eternal salvation.

The MacArthur Study Bible collapses this distinction. It treats Exodus 24—the oath-bound, works-principle ratification of Israel’s national covenant—as the paradigm for Christian entrance into the New Covenant. The Study Bible claims:

“sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. This phrase is based on Moses' sprinkling sacrificial blood on the people of Israel as a symbol sealing their covenant as they promised to obey God's Word (see notes on Ex. 24:3-8). Likewise, in the New Covenant, faith in the shedding of Christ's blood on the cross not only activates God's promise to give the believer perfect atonement for sin, but also brings the believer into the covenant by one's promise of obedience to the Lord and His Word” (p. 1939).

This interpretation mistakes what is earthly and typological for what is heavenly and eschatological. It confuses a subservient works-principle tied to Israel’s national life with the unilateral, grace-based structure of the New Covenant. Scripture explicitly distinguishes the New Covenant as “not like the covenant I made with their fathers”(Jer. 31:32).

MacArthur’s notes apply Sinai’s conditionality to Calvary’s finality—a fundamental covenantal error.

2. Redefining Justifying Faith by Blending Faith and Works

The New Covenant is grounded entirely in Christ’s obedience, received through faith alone, apart from works (Rom. 3:28; Gal. 2:16). Faith is the open hand that receives Christ; it is not a promise of obedience rendered to God as a condition of covenant entrance.

The MacArthur Study Bible asserts that:

• “obedience,”
• “repentant surrender,” and
• the believer’s “promise of obedience”

are defining components of saving faith and necessary for entering the covenant.

This collapses the biblical distinction between justification (resting in Christ’s righteousness) and sanctification (living out the fruit of grace). It turns faith into a work and imports human obedience into the instrument of justification.

Where Scripture says, “sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ,” the Study Bible adds a condition Scripture never adds: “one’s promise of obedience.” This transforms the New Covenant into a bilateral compact dependent on human performance, undermining its unilateral character and threatening the believer’s assurance.

3. The Reformed Confessions Explicitly Reject This Interpretation

Westminster Confession of Faith 11.1

Justification is:

• “not for anything wrought in them,”
• nor “by infusing righteousness in them,”
• but solely by “faith…receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness.”

Heidelberg Catechism Q.60

We are righteous before God because:

• “I embrace such benefit with a believing heart,”

even though:

• “I have grievously sinned,”
• “and am still inclined to all evil.”

No vow of obedience is required.

Article XI of the Thirty-Nine Articles

“We are justified by sola fide,” and:

• “not for our own works or deservings.”

Belgic Confession, Article 22

Faith is “only an instrument” that “embraces Jesus Christ.”

The MacArthur Study Bible stands opposed to these doctrinal standards.

4. The New Covenant Is Grounded in Christ’s Obedience Alone

Where the Mosaic Covenant required Israel’s obedience for life in the land, the New Covenant is anchored in Christ’s obedience for our eternal inheritance. Believers enter this covenant not by promising obedience but by being sprinkled with Christ’s blood—an act of God, not of man.

To require a human vow for covenant entrance is to:

• confuse law and gospel,
• make Christ’s work insufficient,
• transfer covenantal weight back onto the sinner, and
• undermine the comfort and assurance the New Covenant is designed to give.

The Reformed tradition expresses this distinction with clarity in the Westminster Shorter Catechism:

Q. 33. What is justification?
A. Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein He pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.

Q. 35. What is sanctification?
A. Sanctification is a work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.

Thus:

• Justification is a once for all act of God’s free grace, grounded entirely in Christ’s righteousness imputed.
• Sanctification is an ongoing work of God’s free grace, transformative and Spirit-empowered.

The MacArthur Study Bible collapses these categories and endangers the believer’s assurance.

5. Summary of the Error

The MacArthur Study Bible’s note on 1 Peter 1:2:

1. Treats the Mosaic Covenant as if it were the paradigm for salvation.
2. Misreads a typological, subservient works principle as if it were salvific.
3. Redefines faith by importing obedience into its essence.
4. Requires a human promise of obedience for covenant entrance.
5. Blends sanctification into justification, erasing the Reformation’s central distinction.
6. The result is a doctrine contrary to the gospel of grace.

Pastoral Conclusion: The True Ground of Christian Assurance

Peter writes to suffering believers—not to unsettle their hearts, but to anchor their assurance in the Triune God. In 1 Peter 1:2:

• The Father foreknows His people in electing love.
• The Spirit sanctifies and sets them apart.
• The Son sprinkles them with His own blood.

And this is precisely where the MacArthur Study Bible’s commentary goes astray. The “sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” does not reenact Israel’s oath-bound obedience at Sinai. Whereas Moses sprinkled the people as they entered a typological covenant containing a subservient works principle for life in the land (Ex. 24:3–8), the New Covenant is entirely different.

Here is how the statement should read according to Scripture and covenant theology:

The sprinkling of Christ’s blood does not call the believer to activate the covenant by a promise of obedience. It signifies that God Himself cleanses, claims, and consecrates His people by grace alone. Believers enter the New Covenant not by their vow, but by Christ’s finished work—received by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Obedience is the grateful fruit of salvation, not the condition of covenant entrance.

This is why the believer can have true assurance: the saving work of the Triune God does not shift with our failures or depend on the strength of our surrender. It rests securely on Christ, whose once-for-all sacrifice establishes a covenant of grace that He alone mediates, upholds, and perfects. Where Christ has sprinkled His people with His blood, they are eternally secure.

That is the comfort of 1 Peter 1:2. And that is the gospel Reformation Anglicans boldly confess.