This verse gives us a clue as to the readers of the letter: they have not seen Jesus, therefore they were not eyewitnesses of his life here on earth. Despite this, they still love him. The verb for “love” is present tense in the Greek; it could be taken as an imperative, but most probably should be taken as an indicative here, that is, as a statement of a fact, not a command. The present tense indicates that they already love him and continue to do so. There is some manuscript evidence for “known” instead of “seen,” but the evidence for “seen” is more persuasive, and most translations reflect this conclusion (except Moffatt “You never knew him…”).
In a number of languages a so-called concessive clause beginning with a conjunction such as “although” or “even though” must be placed first, and this results in the transposition of two sets of clauses in the first sentence of verse 8, for example, “even though you have not seen him, you love him, and even though you do not now see him, you believe in him.”
The expression you have not seen him must be expressed in some instances as “you have never seen him.”
In a number of languages there are several words which cover different aspects of the semantic domain of “love,” for example, the love of parents for children, the love of children for parents, romantic love of husband and wife, illicit sexual love, and the love between friends. A term from this last category of interpersonal affection is probably the most satisfactory, though in a number of languages the appropriate term for love in this type of context comes from the semantic area of love of children for parents or of parents for children. One must avoid a term which suggests sexual relations or interests.
After stating that his readers had not seen Jesus during his earthly life, Peter now adds that they do not now see him, that is, at the present moment Jesus is not visible to them. Despite this, they nevertheless believe in him. This is not simply a repetition of the first part of the verse, as some translations have taken it to be (for example, New American Bible, New English Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “in trusting him now without seeing him”), but a statement concerning the present moment, as contrasted from the past. Despite the fact that even now Jesus is not visible to them, yet they believe in him. Believe in the Greek is a present participle, and has durative significance: they continue to believe in him. Here believe has the same sense as in 1.5, namely, trust in, and commitment to Christ, or living in union with him. Accordingly, the Biblia Dios Habla Hoy and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translate it this way.
A literal rendering of you do not now see him may seem rather meaningless, since it could be interpreted as “you are not now looking at him,” which of course is something rather self-evident. A more satisfactory rendering is sometimes “you cannot now see him,” meaning that Jesus is invisible.
There is still a further advantage in the shifting of the order of clauses so as to place the concessive clauses first; in this way a more satisfactory connection is to be found between the first sentence and the second sentence of verse 8. This means that the rejoicing is then a more obvious result of the trust in Christ. Otherwise, people might understand the combination of clauses as suggesting that the rejoicing comes as a result of not seeing Christ.
The result of their trusting in Jesus is joy. This joy is so great and glorious that it cannot be expressed in mere words. The Greek for this (literally “unutterable”) is found only here in the whole Bible and conveys the idea that this joy is beyond human expression or description (compare New English Bible “joy too great for words”; Barclay “joy which is beyond words to tell”; Moffatt “unspeakable”).
It is rare that one can speak of “rejoicing with a great and glorious joy,” since “rejoice” and “joy” seem to be a complete duplication. One can, for example, speak of “rejoicing in a great and glorious way” or “rejoicing greatly and gloriously.” It may be possible to speak of this great joy as “you rejoice to such an extent that it is impossible to describe the way you rejoice” or “… so that words cannot be used to talk about the way you rejoice.”
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 .