<p>1:8 <i>Whom you love though you have not seen him- </i>Peter almost implies that His very invisibility is what makes us love Him, through His revelation to us in Scripture, in the way He seeks us to. We believe in Him because He is presently invisible to us; for faith is belief in what cannot be seen (Heb. 11:1-3). Yet Peter surely had his mind on the Lord's words of Jn. 20:29: &quot;Blessed are they that have not seen yet have believed&quot;. Here Peter parallels believing in Jesus with loving Him. Belief in Him therefore involves far more than accepting His historical existence. It involves emotion and relationship which arise from that.</p><p><i>On whom you believe</i><i>, though now you do not see him</i><i>- </i>The language of first faith and conversion, alluding to the Lord&rsquo;s promise of blessing for those who had not seen but had believed. Remember that Peter had baptized his audience at Pentecost. But believing on or into Jesus is an ongoing process.</p><p><i>And rejoice greatly with joy inexpressible and full of glory</i>- This joy was far deeper than emotion; see on :6. They were saddened and distressed as refugees; but they were inexpressibly happy. But inexpressible joy <i>and fullness of glory</i> suggests the joy of final acceptance at the last day. The awesome message is that we can experience that right now.</p>