John Calvin Commentary 1 Peter 1:5

"who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." — 1 Peter 1:5 (ASV)

Who are kept by the power of God. We are to notice the connection when he says that we are kept while in the world, and at the same time our inheritance is reserved in heaven. Otherwise, this thought would immediately creep in: “What does it avail us that our salvation is laid up in heaven when we are tossed here and there in this world as in a turbulent sea? What can it avail us that our salvation is secured in a quiet harbor when we are driven to and fro amidst a thousand shipwrecks?” The apostle, therefore, anticipates objections of this kind when he shows that, though we are in the world exposed to dangers, we are yet kept by faith, and that, though we are thus near to death, we are yet safe under the guardianship of faith. But as faith itself, through the infirmity of the flesh, often falters, we might always be anxious about tomorrow if the Lord did not aid us.

And indeed, we see that under the Papacy a diabolical opinion prevails: that we ought to doubt our final perseverance because we are uncertain whether we will be in the same state of grace tomorrow.

But Peter did not leave us in suspense in this way, for he testifies that we stand by the power of God, so that no doubt arising from a consciousness of our own infirmity should disquiet us. However weak we may then be, yet our salvation is not uncertain, because it is sustained by God’s power.

Therefore, as we are begotten by faith, so faith itself receives its stability from God’s power. Hence its security, not only for the present but also for the future.

Unto salvation. As we are by nature impatient of delay and soon succumb to weariness, he therefore reminds us that salvation is not deferred because it is not yet prepared, but because the time of its revelation has not yet come. This doctrine is intended to nourish and sustain our hope.

Moreover, he calls the day of judgment the last time, because the restitution of all things is not to be expected before then, for the intervening time is still in progress. What is elsewhere called the last time is the whole period from the coming of Christ; it is so called from a comparison with the preceding ages. But Peter was referring to the end of the world.