Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Peter 1:4

"unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you," — 1 Peter 1:4 (ASV)

To an inheritance.—This is structurally parallel to and explanatory of the clause into a living hope. We are, as the saying is, born to an estate. This notion of an “inheritance,” or property that we have come to possess, is particularly Hebrew, occurring very frequently in the Old Testament. The Pontine dispersion had lost their “inheritance” in Palestine, but there is a better one in store for them.

Incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away—Exuberant description of the excellencies of the new Canaan. The first epithet contrasts its imperishable nature (2 Timothy 1:10) with the fleeting tenure of the earthly Canaan. The second speaks of its freedom from pollutions such as those that desecrated the first “Holy Land.” Perhaps it may especially mean that the new Holy Land will never be profaned by Gentile incursions and tyrannies. The third, and most poetical of all (which is otherwise only found in Wisdom 6:12), conveys the notion of the unchanging beauty of that land—no winter in the inheritance to which the Resurrection brings us (Song of Solomon 2:11).

Reserved—The perfect tense, which has been reserved for you, i.e., either in the temporal sense—“kept all this time until you came,” or “with you in mind.” (Compare Hebrews 11:40.) He now adds explicitly that it is no earthly, but a heavenly possession.