The whole verse is literally “into an inheritance, imperishable, undefiled and permanent, having been kept in heaven for you.” The preposition “into” can either go back to hope (as in Good News Translation), or to new life, or to the resurrection of Jesus Christ (see previous discussion). Most commentaries understand the preposition here as indicating result. If “inheritance” is the result of hope, then one can say “Because we have a living hope, then we can look forward….” If, however, “inheritance” is the result of the new life, then one can say, “Because we have new life, then we can look forward….” Although most commentaries favor the former of these interpretations, a number of modern translations, as we have seen, reflect the latter, either entirely or in a modified sense.
It may not be possible to reproduce the figurative language of we look forward to possessing. The equivalent of this in a number of languages is merely a future, for example, “we will possess.” Sometimes an equivalent may be “we know that we will possess.”
The word “inheritance” is a favorite image to describe God’s gift of salvation to those who trust in him (for example, Gal 4.7; Rom 8.17). This usage has its Old Testament background. The Jews normally talk of the land of Canaan as their “inheritance” from God, since God has promised it to them. Later on, the idea of “inheritance” was spiritualized, with emphasis put not so much on the land itself, but on God’s faithfulness to his promises, together with the rich blessings that he gives (for example, Psa 16.5; 73.26; Col 3.24; 1 Cor 6.9; Heb 1.14; etc.). Since all of these elements are implicit in the use of this term, Good News Translation has restructured the verse to make explicit all these implicit elements. A literal translation would of course give rise to various difficulties arising out of the cultural context of the receptor language. Very often, for instance, “inheritance” is used to describe what someone leaves behind after his death. Since God is the source of this inheritance, then it would logically follow that he died. In most cases, therefore, a restructuring of the metaphor, as Good News Bible has done, is the best way to bring out the meaning of the verse and to avoid misunderstandings.
There may be some confusion in a literal translation of that God keeps for his people, since this might suggest something that God keeps away from his people, that is to say, God protects it all in heaven for his own good and not for other people. It may therefore be better to speak of the rich blessings that God keeps for his people as “the rich blessings which God has promised his people.” The clause that God keeps for his people is an expansion of what occurs in Greek simply as “kept in heaven for you.” The concept of “keeping” is reflected in the following clause, which begins the second sentence of verse 4, namely, He keeps them for you in heaven. It may be important, however, to render He keeps them for you in heaven as “he keeps them safe for you in heaven.”
To make clear that this inheritance should not be understood as material possession, Peter then proceeds to describe them negatively, by using three adjectives. They cannot decay is literally “imperishable” (as in Revised Standard Version; compare Jerusalem Bible “can never be spoilt”; Barclay “immortal”; Knox “incorruptible”). Cannot spoil is literally “undefiled”; in religious language, it has the sense of “pure.” The reference is not to ceremonial defilement, but to the defilement of anything evil, both spiritual and ethical. They cannot fade away is literally “unfading,” which in Greek secular literature is used to describe a flower, the beauty of which never fades. The meaning of all three has been expressed clearly by the paraphrase of one scholar: “untouched by death, unstained by evil, unimpaired by time” (Beare, pages 83-84).
The three expressions which characterize the “inheritance” are not related in the Greek text to the place in heaven, as is suggested by Good News Translation where they cannot decay or spoil or fade away. The location may be implied in the Greek text, but the descriptive phrases are primarily qualifiers of the inheritance and should not be employed in such a way as to suggest that only in heaven the inheritance cannot decay or spoil or fade away.
The expression cannot decay may be expressed in some languages simply as “will not rot” and cannot … spoil may be expressed as “cannot become bad” or “… impure.” Cannot … fade away must often be expressed simply as “cannot disappear” or “will not disappear.”
The last clause in the Greek text “kept in heaven for you” has been transformed by the Good News Translation into an active construction, with God as the agent, and transferred to the beginning of the sentence, indicating the location of the inheritance. As for the word “kept,” two things should be noted. First of all, it denotes the idea that God is watching over the inheritance, and keeping it safe for his people. Some other ways of expressing this idea are “reserved” in heaven (Phillips, Knox “stored up for you in heaven”). Secondly, the word in the Greek is a perfect participle, indicating that the inheritance is a fact that now exists. The Good News Translation captures this idea by using the present tense (compare Barclay “he is keeping”). The word for heaven is plural, and some translations have kept this form (for example, Jerusalem Bible “in the heavens”), however, most commentators agree that the plural has no particular significance here, but simply reflects the Hebrew way of speaking of heaven. Accordingly, most translations simply use the singular form, in accordance with modern language usage.
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The First Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .