With the beginning of chapter 4, we again start with the word “Therefore.” But Peter helps us out, explaining again that Christ should be our model and motive for enduring suffering. While it is fine to emphasize God’s love and mercy in encouraging faithfulness, Peter here reminds of God’s judgment, and wrath can certainly be a good motive for faithful living. There’s some difficult language to translate and extrapolate here, but among the different views, the conclusion ends up the same: Peter is encouraging an audience in the midst of suffering to continue living holy lifestyles, united to Christ and serving one another for the glory of God. Let’s take a look.
1) V1-6 – 1Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. 2As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do – living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. 5But they will have to give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.
Peter is in the midst of encouraging his Gentile audience to keep focused on Christ when enduring suffering for living a holy life. Here in v1, he says that “whoever suffers in the body is done with sin.” He most certainly does not mean that if you suffer for righteousness you won’t sin anymore. More likely, he’s referring to the believers’ union with Christ. We might read it this way: “Therefore, since Christ suffered for your sins though He was innocent, and thereby identified with you, so you should be willing to suffer for righteousness sake, because you have identified with Christ in dying to sin.” Instead of indulging the sin nature, we must “suffer” by living for the Lord instead. It might have some similarity with the concept of fasting. During a fast, you abstain from that which you might otherwise be inclined to enjoy. Likewise, as a Christian, you abstain from that sin which you previously may have done, and even enjoyed, on a regular basis. And there’s an element of pain and suffering in that activity – or lack there of. In that sense, we are “done with sin” and are living “for the will of God.”
V3-5 explain that Peter’s audience, just like those of us with typical conversion experiences, “spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do.” Peter lists six “detestable” sins that are generally linked to sexuality. Perhaps sexual sin, along with internal sin, types of which Peter listed earlier in his letter (1 Peter 2:1), particularly plagued the audience of his day; or more likely, these sins are those which plague humanity most easily in every era and culture. Peter calls it “reckless, wild living” (v4), and he says those who still engage in such activity are surprised that you have called it quits, and they “heap abuse on you” for having stopped behaving that way. That is certainly a type of persecution and suffering that many Christians face on behalf of the glorious gospel of grace, but justice will be served, as they will have to explain their behavior to the Lord in the end (v5). That simple statement is meant to humble everyone, for all people are sinners and will stand before the judgment seat in the end. Thankfully, Christians can stand with Christ as their Mediator and Advocate.
V6 is a tough verse to interpret, but it appears that Peter is saying that the gospel was preached to pagan sinners, and that some responded by grace in faith, but that even some of those who had become believers died between their conversion and the time of his writing, perhaps even as a result of their previous wild and reckless living. (Think of a homosexual person who contracted AIDS from his sinful lifestyle but then repented and came to saving faith in Jesus. Perhaps someone like this stopped acting out in his homosexual lifestyle, but nevertheless died shortly after his conversion. Someone like this may be who Peter is talking about here.) Nevertheless, Christ is still their defender, for even physical death cannot stop Jesus from saving His people from the wrath of God to be revealed in the end. Calvin says, “Death itself brings no loss to their salvation. Though Christ, then, may not appear a deliverer in this life, yet His redemption is not void, or without effect; for His power extends to the dead.”
2) V7-11 – 7The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. 8Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Peter pauses after the challenging words of v3-6 to explain the bleak – or exciting, depending on your perspective – reality that “the end of all things is near” (v7). He says, “Be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.” Prayer is so important in the Christian life, and many of us don’t make time for it. Peter quotes Proverbs 10:12 in v8, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” This is another often-misinterpreted verse. Some people picture a scale with their sins on one side and a single act of what they perceive to be love on the other side outweighing their evil deeds and thereby earning their way to heaven. That’s not what Peter is saying. Neither is he saying that an act of love can right a wrong. Instead, Peter is saying the same thing Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, that love is patient and kind, not envious, boastful, proud, rude, or selfish. Love is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love is not delighted with evil, but it cherishes truth. Love protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres, and never fails. Love is humble, and though trounced on by sin after sin, it perseveres and hopes, patiently waiting to win in the end. In that sense, it covers over a multitude of sins.
Love reveals itself in the life of a Christian, Peter says in v9-11, through hospitality and the appropriate use of spiritual gifts. If you agree to host a Super Bowl Party for your small group, but you grumble about the mess that you know will be coming, you’re not engaged in loving, Christian hospitality. But if you genuinely want to provide a place for fellowship and desire the gathering to enjoy your provision for the glory of God, then it’s out love flowing from the Spirit within you. Likewise, the Spirit has given each of us at least one gift to better serve the Body of Christ. We are to be “faithful stewards of God’s grace” (v10). Peter gives specific examples, such as speaking “the very words of God,” and not avoiding truth to be politically correct in your speaking role, serving in God’s strength and not relying on your own. All of this is to bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. And it prompts a doxology from Peter in closing.
3) V12-19 – 12Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. 14If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. 16However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. 17For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18And, ‘If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner’ [Proverbs 11:31, Septuagint]? 19So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
Once more, Peter reminds his audience, called “dear friends,” about suffering and enduring whatever trial they are enduring. Here, most likely, Peter refers to a specific “fiery ordeal” that may have been related to the Roman aggression against Christians by Emperor Nero in the aftermath of the fire of Rome in 64 AD. (This letter was probably written around that time – certainly between 60-68 AD.) Whatever the case, those who suffer for doing good – not for evildoing – should not think it strange, or inappropriate, especially considering God’s sovereignty and the union believers have with the King of suffering for righteousness, Jesus Christ. V13 ties in with Paul’s teaching again from Romans 8:18. Blessing results from suffering for righteousness; there’s no shame in it (v14,16). V15 reminds us that Christians should not be suffering justly for criminal behavior; we shouldn’t hold our suffering up as glorifying to God if we did something to deserve it! When Peter says that judgment begins with God’s people, he’s again saying not to shy away from enduring persecution for the sake of Jesus, which is especially noteworthy given the author’s triple denial of Jesus so many years beforehand. Peter was a transformed man, a sanctified man patiently and joyfully waiting for the glorification to come. Finally, in v18, Peter quotes Proverbs 11:31, claiming not that it’s hard for God to save a righteous man, but that it’s hard for a believer to endure this struggles of this life. That’s why he concludes in v19 that whatever suffering we endure in this life, we are to give ourselves wholly to God and press on in holiness.
Footnotes
- 4:18 Prov. 11:31
Bible text from Gospelcom.net. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.