1 Peter 4:1-11 - T. CONSTABLE EXPOSITION
THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CHRISTIAN INDIVIDUALLY - CONT'D - 4:1-11: Since Christians have a particular vocation in the world, certain conduct was essential for Peter's suffering readers.
Eventual Vindication 4:1-11
NOTE: Peter previously explained how a Christian can rejoice in his sufferings, having set forth his responsibilities and outlined specific conduct in times of suffering. He next emphasized the inner confidence a Christian can have when experiencing persecution for his or her faith to equip his readers to overcome their sufferings effectively.
3. Living with the promise in view 4:1-6
v. 1: Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. - Peter's present appeal grew out of what he had just said about Christ's victory (1 Peter 3:18; 1 Peter 3:21 c, 22). In view of His example of committing Himself to accomplishing God's will, Peter called his readers to commit themselves to the same purpose (cf. 1 Peter 3:15). Jesus suffered to the extent of dying, and Christians should be willing to suffer to the same extent. Selwyn regarded Peter's statement here as the keystone of his whole doctrinal arch in this epistle.
▪ In the second part of the verse, Peter probably meant that his readers had identified themselves with Christ's suffering and death (in water baptism). They should, therefore, put sin behind them and live a clean life (cf. Romans 6:1-11). Roman Catholic interpreters have seen this verse as support for their doctrine of purgatory. They believe that Peter meant that suffering purifies the life. The aorist participle (Gr. pathon, "has suffered") normally is antecedent in time to the main verb, which here is in the perfect tense (pepantai, "has ceased"). Suffering precedes ceasing, but Peter apparently meant that suffering with Christ should lead to a more holy life (cf. 1 Peter 4:2). It does not inevitably do so.
▪ Since Jesus Christ has gained the victory, Peter urged his readers to rededicate themselves to God's will as long as they might live. He wanted to strengthen their resolve to continue to persevere. He resumed here the exhortation that he broke off in 1 Peter 3:17. Generally speaking, 1 Peter 4:1-3 focus on Christian behavior and 1 Peter 4:4-6 on pagan response.
v. 2: so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. - Peter clarified commitment to God's will in this verse. "Flesh" refers to one's mortal lifetime on earth, not to carnal living (cf. 1 Peter 3:18; 1 Peter 4:6).
▪ 'the flesh' is not used here or anywhere else in 1 Peter (it is used seven times; all but one of them are in 1 Peter 3:18 to 1 Peter 4:6) in the Pauline sense of the sinful nature in human beings (as, e.g., in Romans 7-8), but in the normal Jewish sense of human existence as weak, fallen, and therefore subject to pain and death."
▪ We may not always understand what He [God] is doing, but we know that He is doing what is best for us. We do not live on explanations; we live on promises." [Note: Wiersbe, 2:420.]
v. 3: For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. - Peter's readers had already spent too much time living for self in typically unsaved Gentile practices. Note the prominence of sexual and alcohol related activities here (as in Rom. 13:13-14; Gal. 5:19-21). This verse along with others (e.g., 1 Pet. 1:14; 1 Pet. 2:10) suggests that Peter was writing to a predominantly Gentile audience.
v. 4: In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; - Some of the persecution Peter's readers were experiencing was due to their unwillingness to continue in their old lifestyle with their unsaved friends. This continues to be a common source of persecution for Christians today.
▪ Unsaved people do not understand the radical change that their friends experience when they trust Christ and become children of God. They do not think it strange when people wreck their bodies, destroy their homes, and ruin their lives by running from one sin to another! But let a drunkard become sober, or an immoral person pure, and the family thinks he has lost his mind!" [Note: Ibid.]
v. 5: but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. - Peter reminded his readers that God would condemn their unsaved friends' behavior. Consequently they should not return to it. The Judge was already "ready" to judge (cf. Daniel 3:15; Acts 21:13; 2 Corinthians 12:14). Peter viewed those who slander Christians for their lifestyles as really slandering God, who called us out of darkness into the light.
v. 6: For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God. - Because everyone will give account of his life to God (1 Peter 4:5), Christians preach the gospel. We do so to enable people to give that account joyfully rather than sorrowfully (cf. 1 John 2:28). In Peter's day Christians had preached the gospel to other people who had become Christians and had already died. Even though these brethren had experienced judgment for their sins by dying physically, they lived on in a new spiritual sphere of life since they were believers (cf. 1 Peter 3:18). Physical death is sin's last effect on believers during their earthly lives.
▪ Some people have incorrectly understood this verse as teaching that after a person dies he or she will have a second chance to believe the gospel. [Note: E.g., Barclay, p. 295.] This interpretation clearly contradicts the revelation of Scripture elsewhere that there is no second chance after death (Hebrews 9:27). [Note: See Millard J. Erickson, "Is There Opportunity for Salvation after Death?" "Peter does not say that the gospel is being preached even to the dead but was preached.
▪ These are not all of the dead who shall face the Judge at the last day but those to whom the gospel was preached prior to Peter's writing (by the gospel preachers mentioned in 1 Peter 4:1; 1 Peter 4:12 [sic 1 Peter 1:12]), who at this writing were already dead [cf. 1 Peter 3:19-20]." [Note: Lenski, p. 186. Cf. Fanning, p. 448.]
The verses in this perspective are a strong encouragement to endure suffering. Christ has assured our ultimate victory, and to turn back is to incur God's punishment.
D. The Importance of Mutual Love in End-Times Living 4:7-11: To prepare his readers to meet the Lord soon, Peter urged them to make the best use of their time now that they understood what he had written about suffering.
v. 7: The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. - Like the other apostles, Peter believed the return of Jesus Christ was imminent (i.e., it could occur at any moment; cf. James 5:8; Romans 13:11; Hebrews 9:28; 1 John 2:18). This fact should have made a practical difference in the way his readers lived. Eschatology has ethical implications. They were to remain clear-headed ("of sound judgment"), self-controlled ("of sober spirit") primarily so they could pray properly.
▪ This statement illustrates the importance of prayer: Prayer is the most gracious and necessary ministry that God entrusts to His children, but it is also the most neglected ministry (cf. 1 Timothy 2:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:17; Hebrews 4:15-16). Jesus' praying in the Garden of Gethsemane may have impressed this truth on Peter (cf. Matthew 26:40-41). Jesus prayed when the end of His life was near. The Greek word Peter used for prayer (lit. prayers, proseuchas) is the general word for prayer and indicates that Peter had all kinds of praying in mind.
▪ Fitting prayer is not an 'opiate' or escape, but rather a function of clear vision and a seeking of even clearer
vision from God. It is only through clear communication with headquarters that a soldier can effectively stand
guard. As committed 'prayer warriors,' we're like soldiers who are staying in contact with headquarters.
▪ To charge Paul or Peter with false prophecy for saying 1900 years ago that the end is near, is to treat them unjustly. They, like us, had to live in constant expectation of Christ's sudden return." [Note: Lenski, p. 193.]
▪ With the Messiah's first advent the reality of the eschatological kingdom broke on human history; but with the King's rejection, His eschatological kingdom was not established. It awaits the day of His return. But that eschatological encounter introduced a new element into the nature of history. Human history now moves under the shadow of the divinely announced eschatological kingdom.
v. 8: Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. - In relation to their fellow Christians, Peter considered it most important that his readers keep their brotherly love at full strength (1 Peter 1:22; Romans 13:8-10; 1 Thessalonians 5:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:15; 1 John 4:7-11). ▪ The same expression occurs in non-biblical Greek to describe a horse at full gallop and a runner straining for the tape at the finish line of a race.
▪ The person with this kind of love is willing to forgive and even covers a multitude of the sins of others committed against himself or herself rather than taking offense (Proverbs 10:12; James 5:20). We cannot compensate for our own sins by loving others. Peter was not saying that. The proper way to deal with our sins is to confess them (1 John 1:9).
▪ Love hides them from its own sight and not from God's sight. Hate is the opposite; it lurks about in order to discover some sin or some appearance of sin in a brother, and then broadcasts and gloats over it [1 Cor. 13:5].
v. 9: Be hospitable to one another without complaint. - Offering hospitality without complaining is one way to demonstrate love for the brethren (cf. Matthew 25:35). In Peter's day, a host might incur persecution by giving hospitality to a known Christian.
▪ In certain cultures that are strongly family-oriented, bringing strangers into a house may be somewhat shocking; yet, Christians overcome these attitudes because God's love has made them into one great family.
v. 10: As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. - God has given every Christian at least one gift (ability) that he or she can and should use to benefit other believers and in so doing, serve them. The gift in view is evidently one of the so-called spiritual gifts (cf. 1 Cor. 12-14; Rom. 12; Eph. 4). "Manifold" means many faceted or variegated. God bestows His grace on different people in different ways. The gifts (Gr. charisma) are aspects of God's grace (Gr. charis). ▪ No Christian can claim that he or she has nothing to contribute to the church. The Lord of the church has distributed His bounty of gifts with masterly variety to enable His people successfully to deal with the various trials to which they may be subjected.
v. 11: Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. - Peter offered two basic ways of serving that represent two types of gifts as examples: (1) Those who can share a word from God should do so by presenting what they say as God's Word, not just as their opinion. Obviously God's words are more important, and the way we present them should reflect their significance and (2) Those who can serve by providing some other kind of help or assistance should realize that God has made their service possible.
▪ The reason for acknowledging one's words and works as from God is that God then gets the credit. This is only fitting since He deserves all glory. Looking backward, the verse serves as a kind of postscript: God is 'glorified' in the ministry of Christian believers to one another, just as Peter had earlier envisioned their enemies glorifying God on 'the day of visitation.' Looking ahead, the passage also anticipates on a small scale the issues to be developed more fully in 1 Peter 4:12 to 1 Peter 5:11."
1 Peter 4:1-11 - BARCLAY COMMENTRY
THE OBLIGATION OF THE CHRISTIAN ( 1 Peter 4:1-5 )
4:1-5: Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 3 For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. 4 In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.The Christian is committed to abandon the ways of heathenism and to live as God would have him to do.
Peter says, "He who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin." What exactly does he mean? There are three distinct possibilities.
(i) There is a strong line in Jewish thought that suffering is in itself a great purifier. In the Apocalypse of Baruch the writer, speaking of the experiences of the people of Israel, says, "Then, therefore, were they chastened that they might be sanctified" (13: 10). In regard to the purification of the spirits of men Enoch says, "And in proportion as the burning of their body becomes severe, a corresponding change will take place in their spirit for ever and ever; for before the Lord of spirits there will be none to utter a lying word" (67: 9). The terrible sufferings of the time are described in 2 Maccabees, and the writer says, "I beseech those that read this book that they be not discouraged, terrified or shaken for these calamities, but that they judge these punishments not to be for destruction but for chastening of our nation. For it is a token of his great goodness, when evil-doers are not suffered to go on in their ways any long time, but forthwith punished. For not as with other nations, whom the Lord patiently forbeareth to punish, till the day of judgment arrive, and they be come to the fullness of their sins, so dealeth he with us, lest that, being come to the height of sin, afterwards he should take vengeance on us. And though he punish sinners with adversity, yet doth he never forsake his people" ( 2Ma_6:12-16 ). The idea is that suffering sanctifies and that not to be punished is the greatest punishment which God can lay upon a man. "Blessed is the man whom thou dost chasten, O Lord," said the Psalmist ( Psalms 94:12). "Happy is the man whom God reproves," said Eliphaz ( Job 5:17). "For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives" ( Hebrews 12:6).
If this is the idea, it means that he who has been disciplined by suffering has been cured of sin. That is a great thought. It enables us, as Browning said, "to welcome each rebuff that turns earth's smoothness rough." It enables us to thank God for the experiences which hurt but save the soul. But great as this thought is, it is not strictly relevant here.
(ii) Bigg thinks that Peter is speaking in terms of the experience which his people had of suffering for the Christian faith. He puts it this way: "He who has suffered in meekness and in fear, he who has endured all that persecution can do to him rather than join in wicked ways can be trusted to do right; temptation has manifestly no power over him." The idea is that if a man has come through persecution and not denied the name of Christ, he comes out on the other side with a character so tested and a faith so strengthened, that temptation cannot touch him any more. Again there is a great thought here, the thought that every trial and every temptation are meant to make us stronger and better. Every temptation resisted makes the next easier to resist; and every temptation conquered makes us better able to overcome the next attack. But again it is doubtful if this thought comes in very relevantly here.
(iii) The third explanation is most probably the right one. Peter has just been talking about baptism. Now the great New Testament picture of baptism is in Romans 6:1-23. In that chapter Paul says that the experience of baptism is like being buried with Christ in death and raised with him to newness of life. We think that this is what Peter is thinking of here. He has spoken of baptism; and now he says, "He who in baptism has shared the sufferings and the death of Christ, is risen to such newness of life with him that sin has no more dominion over him" ( Rom 6:14). Again we must remember that this is the baptism of the man who is volun-tarily coming over from paganism into Christianity. In that act of baptism he is identified with Christ; he shares his sufferings and even his death; and he shares his risen life and power, and is, therefore, victor over sin. When that has happened, a man has said good-bye to his former way of life. The rule of pleasure, pride and passion is gone, and the rule of God has begun. This was by no means easy. A man's former associates would laugh at the new puritanism which had entered his life. But the Christian knows very well that the judgment of God will come, when the judgments of earth will be reversed and the pleasures that are eternal will compensate a thousandfold for the transitory pleasures which had to be abandoned in this life.
THE ULTIMATE CHANCE ( 1 Peter 4:6 )
4:6: For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.
This very difficult passage ends with a very difficult verse. Once again we have the idea of the gospel being preached to the dead. At least three different meanings have been attached to dead. (i) It has been taken to mean those who are dead in sin, not those who are physically dead. (ii) It has been taken to mean those who died be re the Second Coming of Christ; but who heard the gospel before they died and so will not miss the glory. (iii) It has been taken to mean quite simply all the dead There can be little doubt that this third meaning is correct; Peter has just been talking about the descent of Christ to the place of the dead, and here he comes back to the idea of Christ preaching to the dead.
THE APPROACHING END ( 1 Peter 4:7 a)
4:7a: The end of all things is near;
Here is a note which is struck consistently all through the New Testament. It is the summons of Paul that it is time to wake out of sleep, for the night is far spent and the day is at hand ( Romans 13:12). "The Lord is at hand," he writes to the Philippians ( Php_4:5 ). "The coming of the Lord is at hand," writes James ( James 5:8). John says that the days in which his people are living are the last hour ( 1 John 2:18). "The time is near," says the John of the Revelation, and he hears the Risen Christ testify: "Surely I am coming soon" ( Revelation 1:3; Revelation 22:20).
(i) We may hold that the New Testament writers were in fact mistaken. They looked for the return of Christ and the end of the world in their own day and generation; and these events did not take place. The curious thing is that the Christian Church allowed these words to stand although it would not have been difficult quietly to excise them from the New Testament documents. It was not until late in the second century that the New Testament began to be fixed in the form in which we have it today; and yet statements such as these became unquestioned parts of it. The clear conclusion is that the people of the early church still believed these words to be true.
(ii) There is a strong line of New Testament thought which, in effect, holds that the end has come. The consummation of history was the coming of Jesus Christ. In him time was invaded by eternity. In him God entered into the human situation. In him the prophecies were all fulfilled. In him the end has come. Paul speaks of himself and his people as those on whom the ends of the ages have come ( 1 Corinthians 10:11). Peter in his first sermon speaks of Joel's prophecy of the outpouring of the Spirit and of all that should happen in the last days, and then says that at that very time men were actually living in those last days ( Acts 2:16-21).
If we accept that, it means that in Jesus Christ the end of history has come. The battle has been won; there remain only skirmishes with the last remnants of opposition. It means that at this very moment we are living in the "end time," in what someone has called "the epilogue to history." That is a very common point of view; but the trouble is that it flies in the face of facts. Evil is as rampant as ever; the world is still far from having accepted Christ as King. It may be the "end time," but the dawn seems as far distant as ever it was.
(iii) It may be that we have to interpret near in the light of history's being a process of almost unimaginable length. It has been put this way. Suppose all time to be represented by a column the height of Cleopatra's Needle with a single postage stamp on top, then the length of recorded history is represented by the thickness of the postage stamp and the unrecorded history which went before it by the height of the column. When we think of time in terms like that near becomes an entirely relative word. The Psalmist was literally right when he said that in God's sight a thousand years were just like a watch in the night ( Psalms 90:4). In that case near can cover centuries and still be correctly used. But it is quite certain that the Biblical writers did not take near in that sense, for they had no conception of history in terms like that.
(iv) The simple fact is that behind this there is one inescapable and most personal truth. For everyone of us the time is near. The one thing which can be said of every man is that he will die. For every one of us the Lord is at hand. We cannot tell the day and the hour when we shall go to meet him; and, therefore, all life is lived in the shadow of eternity.
"The end of all things is near," said Peter. The early thinkers may have been wrong if they thought that the end of the world was round the corner, but they have left us with the warning that for every one of us personally the end is near; and that warning is as valid today as ever it was.
THE LIFE LIVED IN THE SHADOW OF ETERNITY ( 1 Peter 4:7 b-8)
4:7b-8: therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. 8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
When a man realizes the nearness of Jesus Christ, he is bound to commit himself to a certain kind of life. In view of that nearness Peter makes four demands.
(i) He says that we must be steady in mind. We might render it: "Preserve your sanity." The verb Peter uses is sophronein ( G4994) ; connected with that verb is the noun sophrosune ( G4997) , which the Greeks derived from the verb sozein ( G4982) , to keep safe, and the noun phronesis ( G5428) , the mind. Sophrosune ( G4997) is the wisdom which characterizes a man who is preeminently sane; and sophronein ( G4993) means to preserve one's sanity. The great characteristic of sanity is that it sees things in their proper proportions; it sees what things are important and what are not; it is not swept away by sudden and transitory enthusiasms; it is prone neither to unbalanced fanaticism nor to unrealizing indifference. It is only when we see the affairs of earth in the light of eternity that we see them in their proper proportions; it is when God is given his proper place that everything takes its proper place.
(ii) He says that we must be sober in mind. We might render it: "Preserve your sobriety." The verb Peter uses is nephein ( G3525) which originally meant to be sober in contradistinction to being drunk and then came to mean to act soberly and sensibly. This does not mean that the Christian is to be lost in a gloomy joylessness; but it does mean that his approach to life must not be frivolous and irresponsible. To take things seriously is to be aware of their real importance and to be ever mindful of their consequences in time and in eternity. It is to approach life, not as a jest, but as a serious matter for which we are answerable.
(iii) He says that we must do this in order to pray as we ought. We might render it: "Preserve your prayer life." When a man's mind is unbalanced and his approach to life is frivolous and irresponsible, he cannot pray as he ought. We learn to pray only when we take life so wisely and so seriously that we begin to say in all things: "Thy will be done." The first necessity of prayer is the earnest desire to discover the will of God for ourselves.
(iv) He says that we must cherish for each other a love that is constant and intense. We might render it: "Preserve your love." The word Peter uses to describe this love is ektenes ( G1618) which has two meanings, both of which we have included in the translation. It means outstretching in the sense of consistent; our love must be the love that never fails. It also means stretching out as a runner stretches out. As C. E. B. Cranfield reminds us it describes a horse at full gallop and denotes "the taut muscle of strenuous and sustained effort, as of an athlete." Our love must be energetic. Here is a fundamental Christian truth. Christian love is not an easy, sentimental reaction. It demands everything a man has of mental and spiritual energy. It means loving the unlovely and the unlovable; it means loving in spite of insult and injury; it means loving when love is not returned. Bengel translates ektenes ( G1618) by the Latin vehemens, vehement. Christian love is the love which never fails and into which every atom of man's strength is directed. The Christian, in the light of eternity, must preserve his sanity, preserve his sobriety, preserve his prayers and preserve his love.
THE POWER OF LOVE ( 1 Peter 4:7 b-8 continued)
"Love," says Peter, "hides a multitude of sins." There are three things which this saying may mean; and it is not necessary that we should choose between them, for they are all there.
(i) It may mean that our love can overlook many sins. "Love covers all offences," says the writer of the Proverbs ( Proverbs 10:12). If we love a person, it is easy to forgive. It is not that love is blind, but that it loves a person just as he is. Love makes patience easy. It is much easier to be patient with our own children than with the children of strangers. If we really love our fellow-men, we can accept their faults, and bear with their foolishness, and even endure their unkindness. Love indeed can cover a multitude of sins.
(ii) It may mean that, if we love others, God will overlook a multitude of sins in us. In life we meet two kinds of people. We meet those who have no faults at which the finger may be pointed; they are moral, orthodox, and supremely respectable; but they are hard and austere and unable to understand why others make mistakes and fall into sin. We also meet those who have all kinds of faults; but they are kind and sympathetic and they seldom or never condemn. It is the second kind of person to whom the heart more readily warms; and in all reverence we may say that it is so with God. He will forgive much to the man who loves his fellow-men.
(iii) It may mean that God's love covers the multitude of our sins. That is blessedly and profoundly true. It is the wonder of grace that, sinners as we are, God loves us; that is why he sent his Son.
CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY ( 1 Peter 4:9-10 )
4:9-10: Be hospitable to one another without complaint. 10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Peter's mind is dominated in this section by the conviction that the end of all things is near. It is of the greatest interest and significance to note that he does not use that conviction to urge men to withdraw from the world and to enter on a kind of private campaign to save their own souls; he uses it to urge them to go into the world and serve their fellow-men. As Peter sees it, a man will be happy if the end finds him, not living as a hermit, but out in the world serving his fellow-men.
(i) First, Peter urges upon his people the duty of hospitality. Without hospitality the early church could not have existed. The travelling missionaries who spread the good news of the gospel had to find somewhere to stay and there was no place for them to stay except in the homes of Christians. Such inns as there were were impossibly dear, impossibly filthy and notoriously immoral. Thus we find Peter lodging with one Simon a tanner ( Acts 10:6), and Paul and his company were to lodge with one Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple ( Acts 21:16). Many a nameless one in the early church made Christian missionary work possible by opening the doors of his house and home.
Not only did the missionaries need hospitality; the local churches also needed it. For two hundred years there was no such thing as a church building. The church was compelled to meet in the houses of those who had bigger rooms and were prepared to lend them for the services of the congregation. Thus we read of the church which was in the house of Aquila and Priscilla ( Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:19), and of the church which was in the house of Philemon ( Philemon 1:2). Without those who were prepared to open their homes, the early church could not have met for worship at all.
It is little wonder that again and again in the New Testament the duty of hospitality is pressed upon the Christians. The Christian is to be given to hospitality ( Romans 12:13). A bishop is to be given to hospitality ( 1 Timothy 3:2); the widows of the Church must have lodged strangers ( 1 Timothy 5:10). The Christian must not forget to entertain strangers and must remember that some who have done so have entertained angels unawares. ( Hebrews 13:2). The bishop must be a lover of hospitality ( Titus 1:8). And it is ever to be remembered that it was said to those on the right hand: "I was a stranger, and you welcomed me" while the condemnation of those on the left hand was: "I was a stranger, and you did not welcome me" ( Matthew 25:35; Matthew 25:43).
In the early days the Church depended on the hospitality of its members; and to this day no greater gift can be offered than the welcome of a Christian home to the stranger in a strange place.
(ii) Such gifts as a man has he must place ungrudgingly at the service of the community. This again is a favourite New Testament idea which is expanded by Paul in Romans 12:3-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:1-31. The Church needs every gift that a man has. It may be a gift of speaking, of music, of the ability to visit people. It may be a craft or skill which can be used in the practical service of the Church. It may be a house which a man possesses or money which he has inherited. There is no gift which cannot be placed at the service of Christ.
The Christian has to regard himself as a steward of God. In the ancient world the steward was very important. He might be a slave but his master's goods were in his hands. There were two main kinds of stewards, the dispensator, the dispenser, who was responsible for all the domestic arrangements of the household and laid in and divided out the household supplies; and the vilicus, the bailiff, who was in charge of his master's estates and acted as landlord to his master's tenants. The steward knew well that none of the things over which he had control belonged to him; they all belonged to his master. In everything he did he was answerable to his master and always it was his interests he must serve.
The Christian must always be under the conviction that nothing he possesses of material goods or personal qualities is his own; it all belongs to God and he must ever use what he has in the interests of God to whom he is always answerable.
THE SOURCE AND OBJECT OF ALL CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR ( 1 Peter 4:11 )
4:11: Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so
as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Peter is thinking of the two great activities of the Christian Church, preaching and practical service. The word he uses for sayings is logia. That is a word with a kind of divine background. The heathen used it for the oracles which came to them from their gods; the Christians used it for the words of scripture and the words of Christ. So Peter is saying, "If a man has the duty of preaching, let him preach not as one offering his own opinions or propagating his own prejudices, but as one with a message from God." It was said of one great preacher: "First he listened to God, and then he spoke to men." It was said of another that ever and again he paused, "as if listening for a voice." There lies the secret of preaching power.
Peter goes on to say that if a Christian is engaged in practical service, he must render that service in the strength which God supplies. It is as if he said, "When you are engaged in Christian service, you must not do it as if you were conferring a personal favour or distributing bounty from your own store, but in the consciousness that what you give you first received from God." Such an attitude preserves the giver from pride and the gift from humiliation.
The aim of everything is that God should be glorified. Preaching is not done to display the preacher but to bring men face to face with God. Service is rendered not to bring prestige to the giver but to turn men's thoughts to God. E. G. Selwyn reminds us that the motto of the great Benedictine Order of monks is four letters--I-O-G-D--which stand for the Latin words (ut) in omnibus glorificetur Deus (in order that in all things God may be glorified). A new grace and glory would enter the Church, if all church people ceased doing things for themselves and did them for God.
EW Commentary - 1 Peter 4:1-11
A. Attitudes for Suffering in the Flesh.
1. (4:1-2) Christians should have an attitude of commitment.
1 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
a. Since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind: The commitment God calls us to have is nothing greater than the commitment Jesus had in enduring suffering for our salvation. In the last days we need to have a commitment to God that will endure through great struggles.
i. Jesus communicated the same idea when He told us that anyone who would come after Him must take up his cross and follow (Matthew 16:24). Taking up the cross meant that you were absolutely committed and not looking back.
ii. Arm yourself with the same mind: Many of us are defeated in our battle against sin because we refuse to sacrifice anything in the battle. We only want victory if it comes easily to us. Jesus called us to have the kind of attitude that would sacrifice in the battle against sin (Matthew 5:29-30).
b. He who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin: When a person suffers physical persecution for the sake of Jesus, it almost always profoundly changes their outlook regarding sin and the pursuit of the lusts of the flesh. That one is more likely to live the rest of his time in the flesh not for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
i. "Whoever has suffered for doing right, and has still gone on obeying God in spite of the suffering it involved, has made a clear break with sin." (Grudem)
ii. Hiebert observes that the phrase has ceased from sin "Depicts the spiritual state of the victorious sufferer. It carries a note of triumph; he has effectively broken with a life dominated by sin. It need not mean that he no longer commits any act of sin, but that his old life, dominated by the power of sin, has been terminated."
iii. If we have not physically suffered for following Jesus Christ, we can still connect ourselves by faith to Jesus, who has suffered for us in the flesh. "I beg you to remember that there is no getting quit of sin - there is no escaping from its power - except by contact and union with the Lord Jesus Christ." (Spurgeon)
. He no longer should live the rest of his time: Peter gave us two time references that are helpful in having the right attitude in our following of Jesus Christ.
2. (4:3-6) Christians should live with an attitude of wisdom.
3 For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. 4 In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.
a. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles: Peter realized we have all spent enough time living like the world. Now we are called to live like Christians. It is a profound and foolish waste of time for Christians to live like the world, and we must simply stop being double-minded and start living as Christians.
i. Sadly, many Christians (in their heart of hearts) think that they have not spent enough time doing the will of the ungodly. They want to experience more of the world before they make a full commitment to godliness. This is a tragic mistake and takes a path that leads away from eternal life.
b. Lewdness: This word begins a list of sins that Peter understood should only mark the past life of Christians and not the present. This word means to live without any sense of moral restraint, especially in regard to sexual immorality and violence.
i. Lewdness "denotes excesses of all kinds of evil. Involving a lack of personal self-restraint, the term pictures sin as an inordinate indulgence of appetites to the extent of violating a sense of public decency." (Hiebert)
ii. When we look at this list (lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries), we see just how little fallen man has progressed in the last 2,000 years. These problems have not been solved in the time since Peter wrote this letter.
c. They think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation: When the world looks at our godly living, they think it strange that we do not follow them in their flood of dissipation (wastefulness). If life lived after the flesh is anything, it is a waste.
i. Speaking evil of you: When we don't participate in the sin around us, we convict those who practice their sin, and they don't like that - so they speak evil of us.
ii. "It does not matter how your good deeds are received by men. If you are like God, you will find them received with contempt and ingratitude." (Meyer)
iii. "Since heathen religious ceremonies were part and parcel of ordinary life (e.g., all civic and national activities were bound up with them) the Christians were compelled to avoid what would have seemed to their fellows a wholly innocuous co-operation and to go much further than merely separate themselves from actual heathen worship." (Best, cited in Hiebert)
d. They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge: When this account is required, all who live in the sins Peter described will clearly see how foolish they have been. Even if one seems to live the "good life" living by the world's rules, his life will be a waste in the measure of eternity.
e. For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead: Peter also says that because of this eternal judgment the gospel was preached to the dead. The righteous dead know and live on in constant awareness of the reality of eternity - and are rewarded by this understanding as they live according to God in the spirit.
i. Peter has already told us that Jesus preached to the spirits in prison, preaching a message of judgment (1 Peter 3:19). Apparently during this same time Jesus also preached a message of salvation to the faithful dead in Abraham's Bosom (Luke 16:22) who anticipated the work of the Messiah for them. This preaching to those who are dead was not the offer of a second chance, but the completion of the salvation of those who had been faithful to God under their first chance.
ii. In doing this, Jesus fulfilled the promised that He would lead captivity captive (Psalm 68:18 and Ephesians 4:8) and He would "proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound" (Isaiah 61:1 and Luke 4:18).
iii. It may also be that Peter here had in mind those in the Christian community who had already died, perhaps even dying as martyrs. If this is the case then Peter used their heroic example as a way to encourage his suffering readers to also be faithful.
3. (4:7) Christians should live with an attitude of serious prayer.
7 The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.
a. The end of all things is near: If we really believe that we live in the last days, it is all the more appropriate that we give ourselves to prayer (therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers).
i. "The assertion that the end of the age does indeed stand near and may break in at any time well represents the view of the early church." (Hiebert)
ii. Many Christians who believe that Jesus is coming soon based on prophecy charts and political events fail to apply that belief in the proper way. They fail to apply themselves to more diligent prayer.
b. Therefore be serious... in your prayers: We must give ourselves to serious prayer. As we see the weight of eternity rushing towards us, we dare not take the need for prayer lightly.
c. Therefore be... watchful in your prayers: We must give ourselves to watchful prayer, primarily having our hearts and minds watching and ready for the return of Jesus Christ. But this also means watching ourselves and watching this world, measuring our readiness for Jesus' coming.
4. (4:8-11) In the last days, Christians should live with an attitude of love.
8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint. 10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
a. Above all things have fervent love for one another: If these are the last days, then it is important for us to love those we are going to spend eternity with. In light of eternity, we must have fervent love for one another.
b. For "love will cover a multitude of sins": Love does cover a multitude of sins, both the sins of the one loving and the sins of the one who is being loved.
i. "Where love abounds in a fellowship of Christians, many small offences, and even some large ones, are readily overlooked and forgotten. But where love is lacking, every word is viewed with suspicion, every action is liable to misunderstanding, and conflicts about - to Satan's perverse delight." (Grudem)
c. Be hospitable to one another without grumbling: Love will show itself in hospitality. Christians should often open their homes to others and doing it all without grumbling.
i. "'Without grumbling' is a frank recognition that the practice of hospitality could become costly, burdensome, and irritating. The Greek term denotes a muttering or low speaking as a sign of displeasure. It depicts a spirit that is the opposite of cheerfulness." (Hiebert)
d. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another: Love will show itself as we give to the church family what God has given us as gifts. As we do so, we are good stewards of the many-faceted (manifold) grace of God given to us.
i. In 1 Corinthians 15:10 Paul makes it clear that he was what he was only by God's grace. But at the same time, "His grace toward me was not in vain" because Paul put his own God-inspired efforts to work with God's grace. The idea is that if we are bad stewards of the manifold grace of God, it is as if that grace was given to us in vain. That grace is wasted, because it only comes to us and doesn't move through us.
ii. "Manifold grace is many-coloured grace. As when a ray of light breaks into a spray of many hues, so each of us receives God's grace at a different angle, and flashes it back broken up into some fresh colour."
e. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies: Every part is important; each has its job to do. Even the smallest, seemingly least important part of the body of Christ is important.
i. A man was rebuilding the engine to his lawn mower, and when he finished, he had one small part left over, and he couldn't remember where it went. He started the engine and it ran great, so he figured that the part was useless - until he tried to stop the lawn mower, and it wouldn't stop! Even the smallest, seemingly least important part of the body of Christ is important.
ii. As we serve one another, we do it with the strength God provides, the ability which God supplies - so that to Him belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever.
