1Pe 4:1-6 | Barnes | STEP | I PETER CHAPTER IV. ANALYSIS OF THE CHAPTER. THIS chapter relates principally to the manner in which those to whom the apostle wrote ought to bear their trials, and to the encouragements to a holy life, notwithstanding their persecutions. He had commenced the subject in the preceding chapter, and had referred them particularly to the example of the Saviour. His great solicitude was, that if they suffered, it should not be for crime, and that their enemies should not be able to bring any well-founded accusation against them. He would have them pure and harmless, patient and submissive; faithful in the performance of their duties, and confidently looking forward to the time when they should be delivered. He exhorts them, therefore, to the following things: (a.) To arm themselves with the same mind that was in Christ; to consider that the past time of their lives was enough for them to have wrought the will of the flesh, and that now it was their duty to be separate from the wicked world, in whatever light the world might regard their conduct --remembering that they who calumniated them must soon give account to God, . (b.) He reminds them that the end of all things was at hand, and that it became them to be sober, and watch unto prayer, . (c.) He exhorts them to the exercise of mutual love and hospitality--virtues eminently useful in a time of persecution and affliction, . (d.) He exhorts them to a performance of every duty with seriousness of manner, and fidelity--whether it were in preaching, or in dispensing alms to the poor and needy, . (e.) He tells them not to think it strange that they were called to pass through fiery trials, nor to suppose that any unusual thing had happened to them; reminds them that they only partook of Christ's sufferings, and that it was to be regarded as a favour if any one suffered as a Christian; and presses upon them the thought that they ought to be careful that none of them suffered for crime, . (f.) He reminds them that the righteous would be saved with difficulty, and that the wicked would certainly be destroyed; and exhorts them, therefore, to commit the keeping of their souls to a faithful Creator, . Verse 1. Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh . Since he as a man has died for us. . The design was to set the suffering Redeemer before them as an example in their trials. Arm yourselves likewise with the same mind . That is, evidently, the same mind that he evinced--a readiness to suffer in the cause of religion, a readiness to die as he had done. This readiness to suffer and die, the apostle speaks of as armour , and having this is represented as being armed . Armour is put on for offensive or defensive purposes in war; and the idea of the apostle here is, that that state of mind when we are ready to meet with persecution and trial, and when we are ready to die, will answer the purpose of armour in engaging in the conflicts and strifes which pertain to us as Christians, and especially in meeting with persecutions and trials. We are to put on the same fortitude which the Lord Jesus had, and this will be the best defence against our foes, and the best security of victory. For he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin . Comp. . To "suffer in the flesh" is to die . The expression here has a proverbial aspect, and seems to have meant something like this: "when a man is dead, he will sin no more;" referring of course to the present life. So if a Christian becomes dead in a moral sense--dead to this world, dead by being crucified with Christ ( )--he may be expected to cease from sin. The reasoning is based on the idea that there is such a union between Christ and the believer that his death on the cross secured the death of the believer to the world. Comp. . (*) "then" "Since then" (a) "same mind" (b) "he that"

1 Peter 4:1-6

I PETER CHAPTER IV.

ANALYSIS OF THE CHAPTER.

THIS chapter relates principally to the manner in which those to whom the apostle wrote ought to bear their trials, and to the encouragements to a holy life, notwithstanding their persecutions. He had commenced the subject in the preceding chapter, and had referred them particularly to the example of the Saviour. His great solicitude was, that if they suffered, it should not be for crime, and that their enemies should not be able to bring any well-founded accusation against them. He would have them pure and harmless, patient and submissive; faithful in the performance of their duties, and confidently looking forward to the time when they should be delivered. He exhorts them, therefore, to the following things:

(a.) To arm themselves with the same mind that was in Christ; to consider that the past time of their lives was enough for them to have wrought the will of the flesh, and that now it was their duty to be separate from the wicked world, in whatever light the world might regard their conduct --remembering that they who calumniated them must soon give account to God, 1Pet 4:1-6.

(b.) He reminds them that the end of all things was at hand, and that it became them to be sober, and watch unto prayer, 1Pet 4:7.

(c.) He exhorts them to the exercise of mutual love and hospitality--virtues eminently useful in a time of persecution and affliction, 1Pet 4:8,9.

(d.) He exhorts them to a performance of every duty with seriousness of manner, and fidelity--whether it were in preaching, or in dispensing alms to the poor and needy, 1Pet 4:10,11.

(e.) He tells them not to think it strange that they were called to pass through fiery trials, nor to suppose that any unusual thing had happened to them; reminds them that they only partook of Christ's sufferings, and that it was to be regarded as a favour if any one suffered as a Christian; and presses upon them the thought that they ought to be careful that none of them suffered for crime, 1Pet 4:12-16.

(f.) He reminds them that the righteous would be saved with difficulty, and that the wicked would certainly be destroyed; and exhorts them, therefore, to commit the keeping of their souls to a faithful Creator, 1Pet 4:18,19.

Verse 1. Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh. Since he as a man has died for us. 1Pet 3:18. The design was to set the suffering Redeemer before them as an example in their trials.

Arm yourselves likewise with the same mind. That is, evidently, the same mind that he evinced--a readiness to suffer in the cause of religion, a readiness to die as he had done. This readiness to suffer and die, the apostle speaks of as armour, and having this is represented as being armed. Armour is put on for offensive or defensive purposes in war; and the idea of the apostle here is, that that state of mind when we are ready to meet with persecution and trial, and when we are ready to die, will answer the purpose of armour in engaging in the conflicts and strifes which pertain to us as Christians, and especially in meeting with persecutions and trials. We are to put on the same fortitude which the Lord Jesus had, and this will be the best defence against our foes, and the best security of victory.

For he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin. Comp. Rom 6:7. To "suffer in the flesh" is to die. The expression here has a proverbial aspect, and seems to have meant something like this: "when a man is dead, he will sin no more;" referring of course to the present life. So if a Christian becomes dead in a moral sense--dead to this world, dead by being crucified with Christ (Gal 2:20)--he may be expected to cease from sin. The reasoning is based on the idea that there is such a union between Christ and the believer that his death on the cross secured the death of the believer to the world. Comp. 2Ti 2:11, Col 2:20, 3:3.

(*) "then" "Since then" (a) "same mind" Php 2:5 (b) "he that" Rom 6:2,7 Verse 2. That he no longer should live. That is, he has become, through the death of Christ, dead to the world and to the former things which influenced him, in order that he should hereafter live not to the lusts of the flesh. 2Cor 5:15.

The rest of his time in the flesh. The remainder of the time that he is to continue in the flesh; that is, that he is to live on the earth.

To the lusts of men. Such lusts as men commonly live for and indulge in. Some of these are enumerated in the following verse.

But to the will of God. In such a manner as God commands. The object of redemption is to rescue us from being swayed by wicked lusts, and to bring us to be conformed wholly to the will of God.

(c) "he no longer" 2Cor 5:15 Verse 3. For the time past of our life may suffice us. "We have spent sufficient time in indulging ourselves, and following our wicked propensities, and we should hereafter live in a different manner." This does not mean that it was ever proper thus to live, but that, as we would say, "we have had enough of these things; we have tried them; there is no reason why we should indulge in them any more." An expression quite similar to this occurs in Horace--Lusisti satis, edisti satis, atque bibisti. Ternpus abire tibi est, etc.--Epis, ii. 213.

To have wrought the will of the Gentiles. This does not mean to be subservient to their will, but to have done what they willed to do; that is, to live as they did. That the Gentiles or heathen lived in the manner immediately specified, Rom 1:21, seq.

When we walked in lasciviousness. When we lived in the indulgence of corrupt passions--the word walk being often used in the Scriptures to denote the manner of life. On the word lasciviousness, Rom 13:13. The apostle says we, not as meaning that he himself had been addicted to these vices, but as speaking of those who were Christians in general. It is common to say that we lived so and so, when speaking of a collection of persons, without meaning that each one was guilty of all the practices enumerated. 1Thes 4:17, for a similar use of the word we. The use of the word we in this place would show that the apostle did not mean to set himself up as better than they were, but was willing to be identified with them.

Lusts. The indulgence of unlawful desires. Rom 1:24.

Excess of wine. The word here used (οινοφλυγια) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It properly means overflowing of wine, (οινος), wine, and φλυω, to overflow; then wine-drinking; drunkenness. That this was a common vice need not be proved. Multitudes of those who became Christians had been drunkards, for intemperance abounded in all the heathen world. Comp. 1Cor 6:9-11. It should not be inferred here from the English translation, "excess of wine," that wine is improper only when used to excess, or that the moderate use of wine is proper. Whatever may be true on that point, nothing, can be determined in regard to it from the use of this word. The apostle had his eye on one thing--on such a use of wine as led to intoxication; such as they had indulged in before their conversion. About the impropriety of that, there could be no doubt. Whether any use of wine, by Christians or other persons, was lawful, was another question. It should be added, moreover, that the phrase "excess of wine" does not precisely convey the meaning of the original. The word excess would naturally imply something more than was needful; or something beyond the proper limit or measure; but no such idea is in the original word. That refers merely to the abundance of wine, without any reference to the inquiry whether there was more than was proper or not. Tindal renders it, somewhat better, drunkenness. So Luther, Trunkenheit.

Revellings, Rendered rioting in Rom 13:13. Rom 13:13. The Greek word (κωμος) occurs only here, and in Rom 13:13, and Gal 5:21. It means feasting, revel; "a carousing or merry-making after supper, the guests often sallying into the streets, and going through the city with torches, music, and songs in honour of Bacchus," etc.--Robinson, Lex. The word would apply to all such noisy and boisterous processions now--scenes wholly inappropriate to the Christian.

Banquetings. The word here used (ποτος) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It means properly drinking; an act of drinking; then a drinking bout; drinking together. The thing forbidden by it is an assembling together for the purpose of drinking. There is nothing in this word referring to eating, or to banqueting, as the term is now commonly employed. The idea in the passage is, that it is improper for Christians to meet together for the purpose of drinking--as wine, toasts, etc. The prohibition would apply to all those assemblages where this is understood to be the main object. It would forbid, therefore, an attendance on all those celebrations in which drinking toasts is understood to be an essential part of the festivities, and all those where hilarity and joyfulness are sought to be produced by the intoxicating bowl. Such are not proper places for Christians.

And abominable idolatries. Literally, unlawful idolatries; that is, unlawful to the Jews, or forbidden by their laws. Then the expression is used in the sense of wicked, impious, since what is unlawful is impious and wrong. That the vices here referred to were practised by the heathen world is well known. Rom 1:26", seq. That many who became Christians were guilty of them before their conversion, is clear from this passage. The fact that they were thus converted shows the power of the gospel, and also that we should not despair in regard to those who are indulging in these vices now. They seem indeed almost to be hopeless, but we should remember that many who became Christians when the gospel was first preached, as well as since, were of this character. If they were reclaimed; if those who had been addicted to the gross and debasing vices referred to here, were brought into the kingdom of God, we should believe that those who are living in the same manner now may also be recovered. From the statement made in this verse, that "the time past of our lives may suffice to have wrought the will of the Gentiles," we may remark that the same may be said by all Christians of themselves; the same thing is true of all who are living in sin.

(1.) It is true of all who are Christians, and they feel it, that they lived long enough in sin.

(a) They made a fair trial--many of them with ample opportunities; with abundant wealth; with all that the fashionable world can furnish; with all that can be derived from low and gross indulgences. Many who are now Christians had opportunities of living in splendour and ease; many moved in gay and brilliant circles; many occupied stations of influence, or had brilliant prospects of distinction; many gave indulgence to gross propensities; many were the companions of the vile and the abandoned. Those who are now Christians, take the church at large, have had ample opportunity of making the fullest trial of what sin and the world can furnish.

(b.) They all feel that the past is enough for this manner of living. It is "sufficient" to satisfy them that the world cannot furnish what the soul demands. They need a better portion; and they can now see that there is no reason why they should desire to continue the experiment in regard to what the world can furnish. On that unwise and wicked experiment they have expended time enough; and satisfied with that, they desire to return to it no more.

(2.) The same thing is true of the wicked--of all who are living for the world. The time past should be regarded as sufficient to make an experiment in sinful indulgences; for

(a.) the experiment has been made by millions before them, and has always failed; and they can hope to find in sin only what has always been found--disappointment, mortification, and despair.

(b.) They have made a sufficient experiment. They have never found in those indulgences what they flattered themselves they would find, and they have seen enough to satisfy them that what the immortal soul needs can never be obtained there.

(c.) They have spent sufficient time in this hopeless experiment. Life is short. Man has no time to waste. He may soon die-- and at whatever period of life any one may be who is living in sin, we may say to him the he has already thrown away enough of probation in a fruitless attempt to find happiness where it can never be found. For any purpose whatever for which any one could ever suppose it to be desirable to live in sin, the past should suffice. But why should it ever be deemed desirable at all? The fruits of sin are always disappointment, tears, death, despair.

(d) "time past" 1Cor 6:11, Tit 3:3 Verse 4. Wherein they think it strange. In respect to which vices, they who were once your partners and accomplices now think it strange that you no longer unite with them. They do not understand the reasons why you have left them. They regard you as abandoning a course of life which has much to attract and to make life merry, for a severe and gloomy superstition. This is a true account of the feelings which the people of the world have when their companions and friends leave them and become Christians. It is to them a strange and unaccountable thing, that they give up the pleasures of the world for a course of life which to them seems to promise anything but happiness. Even the kindred of the Saviour regarded him as "beside himself," (Mk 3:21,) and Festus supposed that Paul was mad, Acts 26:24. There is almost nothing which the people of the world so little comprehend as the reasons which influence those with ample means of worldly enjoyment to leave the circles of gaiety and vanity, and to give themselves to the serious employments of religion. The epithets of fool, enthusiast, fanatic, are terms which frequently occur to the heart to denote this, if they are not always allowed to escape from the lips. The reasons why they esteem this so strange, are something like the following:

(1.) They do not appreciate the motives which influence those who leave them. They feel that it is proper to enjoy the world, and to make life cheerful, and they do not understand what it is to act under a deep sense of responsibility to God, and with reference to eternity. They live for themselves. They seek happiness as the end and aim of life. They have never been accustomed to direct the mind onward to another world, and to the account which they must soon render at the bar of God. Unaccustomed to act from any higher motives than those which pertain to the present world, they cannot appreciate the conduct of those who begin to live and act for eternity.

(2.) They do not, yet see the guilt and folly of sinful pleasures. They are not convinced of the deep sinfulness of the human soul, and they to think it strange that others should abandon a course of life which seems them so innocent. They do not see why those who have been so long accustomed to these indulgences should have changed their opinions, and why they now regard those things as sinful which they once considered to be harmless.

(3.) They do not see the force of the argument for religion. Not having the views of the unspeakable importance of religious truth and duty which Christians now have, they wonder that they should break off from the course of life which they formerly pursued, and separate from the mass of their fellow-men. Hence they sometimes regard the conduct of Christians as amiable weakness; sometimes as superstition; sometimes as sheer folly; sometimes as madness; and sometimes as sourness and misanthropy. In all respects they esteem it strange. "Lions and beasts of savage name

Put on the nature of the lamb,

While the wide world esteems it strange,

Gaze, and admire, and hate the change."

That ye run not with them. There may be an allusion here to the well-known orgies of Bacchus, in which his votaries ran as if excited by the furies, and were urged on as if transported with madness. See Ovid, Metam. iii. 529, thus translated by Addison:

"For now, through prostrate Greece, young Bacchus rode,

Whilst howling matrons celebrate the god;

All ranks and sexes to his or orgies ran,

To mingle in the pomp and fill the train."

The language, however, will well describe revels of any sort, and at any period of the world.

To the same excess of riot. The word rendered excess (αναχυσις) means, properly, a pouring out, an affusion; and the idea here is, that all the sources and forms of riot and disorder were poured out together. There was no withholding, no restraint. The most unlimited indulgence was given to the passions. This was the case in the disorder referred to among the ancients, as it is the case now in scenes of midnight revelry. On the meaning of the word riot, Eph 5:18, Tit 1:6.

Speaking evil of you. Gr., blasphemy. Mt 9:3. The meaning here is, that they used harsh and reproachful epithets of those who would not unite with them in their revelry. They called them fools, fanatics, hypocrites, etc. The idea is not that they blasphemed God, or that they charged Christians with crime, but that they used language fitted to injure the feelings, the character, the reputation of those who would no longer unite with them in the ways of vice and folly.

(a) "evil" Acts 13:45 Verse 5. Who shall give account. That is, they shall not do this with impunity. They are guilty in this of a great wrong, and they must answer for it to God.

That is ready to judge. That is, "who is prepared to judge"-- τωετοιμωςεχοντι. See the phrase used in Acts 21:13: "I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem." 2Cor 12:14 "The third time I am ready to come to you." Compare the word ready--ετοιμος in Mt 22:4,8, 24:44, 25:10, Lk 12:40, 22:33, 1Pet 1:5. The meaning is, not that he was about to do it, or that the day of judgment was near at hand--whatever the apostle may have supposed to be true on that point--but that he was prepared for it; all the arrangements were made with reference to it; there was nothing to hinder it.

To judge the quick and the dead. The living and the dead; that is, those who shall be alive when he comes, and those in their graves. This is a common phrase to denote all who shall be brought before the bar of God for judgment. Acts 10:42. 1Thes 4:16; 1Thes 4:17; 2Ti 4:1. The meaning in this connexion seems to be, that they should bear their trials and the opposition which they would meet with patiently, not feeling that they were forgotten, nor attempting to avenge themselves; for the Lord would vindicate then when he should come to judgment, and call those who had injured them to an account for all the wrongs which they had done to the children of God.

(*) "quick" "Living" Verse 6. For, for this cause. The expression, "For, for this cause," refers to an end to be reached, or an object to be gained, or a reason why anything referred to is done. The end or reason why the thing referred to here, to wit, that "the gospel was preached to the dead," was done, is stated in the subsequent part of the verse to have been "that they might be judged," etc. It was with reference to this, or in order that this might be, that the gospel was preached to them.

Was the gospel preached also to them that are dead. Many, as Doddridge, Whitby, and others, understand this of those who are spiritually dead, that is, the Gentile, and suppose that the object for which this was done was that "they might be brought to such a state of life as their carnal neighbours will look upon as a kind of condemnation and death." --Doddridge. Others have suppose that it refers to those who had suffered martyrdom in the cause of Christianity; others, that it refers to the sinners of the old world, (Saurin.) expressing a hope that some of them might be saved; and others, that it means that the Saviour went down and preached to those who are dead, in accordance with one of the interpretations given of 1Pet 3:19. It seems to me that the most natural and obvious interpretation is to refer it to those who were then dead, to whom the gospel had been preached when living, and who had become true Christians. This is the interpretation proposed by Wetstein, Rosenmuller, Bloomfield, and others. In support of this, it may be said,

(1.) that this is the natural and obvious meaning of the word dead, which should be understood literally, unless there is some good reason in the connexion for departing from the common meaning of the word.

(2.) The apostle had just used the word in that sense in the previous verse.

(3.) This will suit the connexion, and accord with the design of the apostle. He was addressing those who were suffering persecution. It was natural, in such a connexion, to refer to those who had died in the faith, and to show, for their encouragement, that though they had been put to death, yet they still lived to God. He therefore says, that the design in publishing the gospel to them was, that though they might be judged by men in the usual manner, and put to death, yet that in respect to their higher and nobler nature, the spirit, they might live unto God. It was not uncommon nor unnatural for the apostles, in writing to those who were suffering persecution, to refer and example an argument for fidelity and perseverance. Compare 1Thes 4:13, Rev 14:13.

That they might be judged according to men in the flesh. That is, so far as men are concerned, (καταανθρωπους), or in respect to the treatment which they received from men in the flesh, they were judged and condemned; in respect to God, and the treatment which they received from him, καταθεον, they would live in spirit. Men judged them severely, and put them to death for their religion; God gave them life, and saved them. By the one they were condemned in the flesh--so far as pain, and sorrow, and death could be inflicted on the body; by the other they were made to live in the spirit--to be his, to live with him. The word judged her, I supposed, therefore, to refer to a sentence passed on them for their religion, consigning them to death for it. There is a particle in the original--μεν indeed--which has not been retained in the common translation, but which is quite important to the sense: "that they might indeed be judged in the flesh, but live," etc. The direct object or design of preaching the gospel to them was not that they might be condemned and put to death by man, but this was indeed or in fact one of the results in the way to a higher object.

But live according to God. In respect to God, or so far as he was concerned. By him they would not be condemned. By him they would be made to live--to have the true life. The gospel was preached to them in order that so far as God was concerned, so far as their relation to him was concerned, so far as he would deal with them, they might live. The word live here seems to refer to the whole life that was the consequence of their being brought under the power of the gospel;

(a.) that they might have spiritual life imparted to them;

(b.) that they might live a life of holiness in this world;

(c.) that they might live hereafter in the world to come. In one respect, and so far as men were concerned, their embracing the gospel was followed by death; in another respect, and so far as God was concerned, it was followed by life. The value and permanence of the latter, as contrasted with the former, seems to have been the thought in the mind of the apostle in encouraging those to whom he wrote to exercise patience in their trials, and to show fidelity in the service of their Master.

In the spirit. In their souls, as contrasted with their body. In respect to that--to the flesh--they were put to death; in respect to their souls--their higher natures--they were made truly to live. The argument, then, in this verse is, that in the trials which we endure on account of religion, we should remember the example of those who have suffered for it, and should remember why the gospel was preached to them. It was in a subordinate sense, indeed, that they might glorify God by a martyr's death; but in a higher sense, that in this world and the next they might truly live. The flesh might suffer in consequence of their embracing the gospel that was preached to them, but the soul would live. Animated by their example, we should be willing to suffer in the flesh, if we may for ever live with God.

(+) "cause" "end" (a) "judged" Mt 24:9 (b) "live according" Rev 14:13