Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Peter 4:12
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
12. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you ] More literally, be not amazed (see, for the word, notes on 1Pe 4:4) at the burning fire among you that comes to you as a test. The “burning fire” (the word is used literally in Rev 18:9; Rev 18:18) is, of course, the symbol, as in chap. 1Pe 1:7, of afflictions and persecutions. The mind of the Apostle once more goes back to these afflictions, as before in chap. 1Pe 1:6-7, 1Pe 2:19-21, 1Pe 3:15-17. He meets the terror which they were likely to cause by the thought that all this was to be expected. Men were to enter into the kingdom of God “through much tribulation” (Act 14:22). All “they that would live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution” (2Ti 3:12). The strange thing would be if it were otherwise. And so the Apostle repeats his “think it not strange,” be not amazed, as the secret of calm endurance. It was for him and those to whom he wrote what the Nil admirari was for the Epicurean poet (Hor. Epp. i. 6). As before, he dwells on the leading character of suffering. It tries faith, and the faith which endures is stronger and purer for the process.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Beloved, think it not strange – Do not consider it as anything which you had no reason to expect; as anything which may not happen to others also.
Concerning the fiery trial which is to try you – Referring, doubtless, to some severe persecution which was then impending. We have not the means of determining precisely what this was. The word rendered fiery trial ( purosei) occurs only here and in Rev 18:9, Rev 18:18; in both of which latter places it is rendered burning. It means, properly, a being on fire, burning, conflagration; and then any severe trial. It cannot be demonstrated from this word that they were literally to suffer by fire, but it is clear that some heavy calamity was before them.
As though some strange thing happened unto you – Something unusual; something which did not occur to others.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Pe 4:12-16
Think it not strange.
Not so strange
Think it not strange! But it does seem strange that the waters of a full cup should be wrung out to the saints, whilst sinners walk on the sunny side of the hedge! Strange to find some of the sweetest and noblest of Gods children racked with agony, dying of cancer, beset with poverty, misunderstanding, and hatred. And yet it would be stranger still if it were not so. Let us look into the considerations which rob suffering of its strange ness.
I. This world is in revolt. Is it to be wondered at that the servants of the Divinely designated Prince should experience rough treatment at the hands of the rebel forces? It could not be otherwise.
II. Along this way the Master went.
III. This is the way home. If we were universally beloved, and no voice were ever raised in hatred or calumny, we might truly question whether we were at all on the heavenward track. As mountain climbers after a snowstorm can tell the path by the line of posts placed at intervals along the mountain side, so may Christians tell that they are on the track of the Church by the antagonism manifested against their religion in Jesus Christ.
IV. There is an object in such suffering. It is carefully designed by the skill of the great Artificer. There may have been many a previous secret prayer for growth in grace and usefulness, and the answer has come in the use of fire, file, and hammer, wielded by God, though furnished by the hatred of the sons of men. There is no other way of eliminating much of the selfish dross of our natures.
V. Herein we partake of Christs sufferings. His life in us meets the same treatment as it did in Him. Ah, it is good to share anything with Him. Sweet things are bitter when He is absent, and bitter things sweet if He is near.
VI. Look on to the end. His glory shall be revealed! His sufferings quicken our anticipations of that blessed day. Too much comfort might make us think ourselves at home, so that we might not so ardently reach out our hands towards our coming glories.
VII. We are compensated for such suffering by the presence of the Spirit of glory. When such suffering lies heavily on the soul, God sees to it that it is no loser. What is lost from without is replenished from within. As water is thrown on the fire from the one side of the wall, a bright angel on the other pours in oil through a tiny aperture, till the flame breaks out as coals of juniper. Ah, what compensations are ours! The Jews who walk the streets of Tangier and other Moorish towns, the hatred of all the people, are said to have exquisitely furnished rooms within their ordinary looking dwellings, where they surround themselves with every luxury. So, as the spiritual man turns from the hatred of man to the special bestowments of God, he is compensated a hundred fold, When we have least human love, we have most of Gods. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
The proper temper of Christians in affliction
I. The sufferings of Christians are neither strange, in themselves, nor so to be reckoned by them.
1. The nature of their principles accounts for opposition from men of the world. These are principles of holiness. They condemn, by contrast, the men of the world. Christians must cease to be what they are, or the world cease to be what it is, for them to escape persecution.
2. The genius of their dispensation renders probable a greater share of outward ills to them than to the saints of the Old Testament. They have a fuller revelation of the mind of God, and are put more upon future hopes, and less upon present things. Prosperity was the promise of the Old Testament; adversity of the New (Mar 10:30).
3. The partial renewal of their character calls for a corrective discipline. The buddings of evil dispositions require nipping frosts to check their growth.
II. All the sufferings of Christians are intended for trials to try them.
1. They detect the presence of sin, as fire brings out the latent dross in metals.
2. They make manifest the sincerity of our profession. Persecutions and afflictions keep the church from being overrun with hypocrites.
3. They purify and improve our Christian virtues.
III. Christians ought to rejoice, notwithstanding all their sufferings, and even because of them. Think it not strange, but rejoice, etc.
1. They increase our spirituality. The overflowing of the Nile distressed Egypt for a time, but when it retired, left behind it fertility and abundance.
2. They furnish ground for the comfortable assurance of a gracious state. If the storm that uproots others leaves us standing, it gives evidence of being well-grounded in faith.
3. They enhance our future glory.
Application:
1. Let this check the over anxiety of some Christians to avoid affliction, or to prevent themselves, if possible, from feeling it.
2. Let the subject correct our judgment respecting affliction.
3. Be brought by affliction to enter more deeply into the sufferings of Christ.
4. Let sympathy with others in their sufferings be promoted by our own. (The Evangelist.)
Trials no strange thing
Men are apt to fancy, in their misfortune, that it exceeds the usual measure, or comes in an extraordinary shape. They aggravate their suffering by surprise and disappointment. They make exaggerated estimates of it by self-tormenting reflections. It is too heavy to bear. We could submit to anything better than this. It is strange that the fiery trial should scorch just in this or that place, or should consume what they were specially anxious to preserve. It is strange that I should be prevented, deprived, disabled. Strange you call it.
1. And this word of yours implies, in the first place, that you are on the whole graciously dealt with; that the order of things which encircles you, and carries you forward, is on the whole merciful. For why else should you find fault with what afflicts you, as if it were a departure from that order? The hand of Providence-how much oftener it is open to give, than clenched to strike! Do you not prove yourselves unreasonable, there fore, if you chide with it, when it withholds your desire or admonishes you with its unwelcome dispensations? And this is one side of our subject that is worthy of attention. But there is another. It is, that the afflictions of life, though few when set by the side of the innumerable kindnesses that are so continuous as to be unregarded, are yet neither uncommon nor light. They form a regular part of the great system of heavenly appointments, in which we, with our changing circumstances and vanishing life, are included. They are more impartial than they are supposed to be. They spare none. They are not to be bought off by the opulent, nor fought off by the strong. Think it not strange, so run the words of the apostle, concerning the fiery trial that is to try you.
2. You there read what is the design in view. It is to prove and not to destroy you. You are tempted by pleasures and prosperity to see if you are weak enough to be seduced. You are searched by hurts and deprivations to see if you are strong enough to endure. If you are sick, secure the inward health that knows neither the fever of passion nor the consumption of care. If you are poor, learn to feel that everything else is destitution, if compared for a moment with the incorruptible wealth of conscious integrity, and the thoughts that turn confidingly towards God, and the substance that no reverses can make less. (N. L. Frothingham.)
Trial no strange thing to the Christian
It is said by the wise man in the book of Ecclesiastes-That which hath been, is now; and that which is to be, hath already been; and God requireth that which is past. The assertion here is, that of there being great uniformity in the dealings of God; so that the history of any one generation is little more than the repetition of that of any other. From such a description of the dealings of God, it would follow that there cannot be anything strange, at least not to those who live in a remote age of the world; for nothing can happen to them, which has not often happened before, and for which therefore they might not have been prepared by due attention to the experience of others. The case is evidently very different with ourselves and the earlier converts to Christianity, the difference being much the same as between the later and the earlier inhabitants of the world. We can appeal to the history of many ages for the workings of Christianity; we can show its predictions fulfilled, and its promises verified, in the progress of events and the experience of the Church. But the first converts were obliged, in a great degree, to take all upon trust. With them the whole was matter of experiment. There was therefore great room, as it would seem, for what was strange in their case, though not in our own. With us, the experience of a Christian may be mapped out beforehand. His own experience may not be an exact copy of that of any one of his predecessors in the faith; but there shall be nothing in it which has not been experienced before, the parallel to which may not be found in the history of any other believer, and therefore nothing which ought to come upon him unexpectedly, or to take him as it were by surprise. But it was not thus with the earlier Christians. They were themselves to furnish experience for those who came after; but had scarcely any power of appealing to the experience of those who went before. And yet in one great particular, it appears from our text that there is no difference betwixt the earliest and the latest converts, so far as the foreknowledge of Gods dealings is concerned. With ourselves it amounts almost to a truism, that they who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, and that through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of heaven. It were expecting God to change the established course of His dealings, to expect Him not to chasten where He loves, and therefore to think it strange concerning the trials which are to try us. But can the same be said of the earliest Christians? Had they not embraced the religion of One, who was promised by the auspicious title of Prince of peace; whom seers of old had beheld in visions, glowing and tranquil and beautiful? And might they not therefore have justly expected that their lot would be one of freedom from trouble? No, saith the apostle; a fiery trial can be no unlooked for thing.
I. Now the first thing which I would argue from this alleged absence of strangeness from the dealings of God, is that there were more points of correspondence than of difference between the Christian and the Jewish dispensations. It is true that they could not co-exist, but not because they were in any measure opposed the one to the other. The dawn and the noon tide cannot co-exist; yet the one does not so much displace the other, as it is that other in a more advanced stage. The Mosaic economy was the Christian in its dawn, or in its bud, presenting the same truths, though in a more shadowy form, and proposing the same way of salvation, though with less clearness and precision. The Christian dispensation superseded the Jewish, but only in the manner in which history supersedes prophecy. And this must necessarily have been the case, if you only consider how God had from the first determined the plan of our redemption, and virtually announced it ere Adam was driven from Paradise. There was not one method of being saved in one age, and another in another, so far as the method of reconciliation is concerned; neither can there be thought to have been any such variation, so far as the method of application is concerned. In all ages there has been the same necessity for a renewal of nature in order to a meetness for the kingdom; and therefore must it be supposed that in all ages the dealings of God with a view to these ends have borne in the main the same features. But undoubtedly God had from the first made sorrow one of His chief engines in weakening attachment to the things of time and sense, and directing the affections towards heaven. Was it therefore for a moment to be expected, that because there came a dispensation of greater light, a dispensation of substance in place of shadow, sorrow was to depart and no longer to be used in preparing men for heaven? And, indeed, without tracing accurately a sameness in the dealings of God, we might venture to say that the discipline of affliction is indispensable in the case of depraved creatures like ourselves. It is not that under this economy, but not under that, sorrow is a wholesome thing for those whose nature is corrupt; it is rather that in every condition and estate, man cannot do without affliction, if he is to be kept up to the task of preferring the future to the present. Hard it may be, bitter it may be, but strange it can never be, that whilst the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, God should constantly verify the saying, Many are the afflictions of the righteous. Are ye not men? might be the address of the messenger of God: are ye not sinners? and is it not your sanctification which is proposed? Oh! then, beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.
II. But possibly these remarks on what we may call the necessity for affliction, and therefore on the truth that it ought never to seem strange, hardly clear up the point which is presented by our text. The case of those addressed by St. Peter is not that of men exposed to trouble in its ordinary sense, but of those on whom was coming a great onset of persecution. The fiery trial which was to try them, was to result from the efforts of the enemies of Christianity to destroy by violence what they could not disprove by argument. What is strange, if it be not strange that heavens best gift should be received with loathing; that the very remedy, which at an immeasurable cost God prepared for the evils which have pressed on this creation, should meet not only with scorn, but hatred; that they whom it is designed to benefit, should agree with themselves to cast it out from the earth? Yet the apostle does not hesitate to tell them in our text, that nothing strange had happened to them, when a fiery trial arose and they had to maintain their profession in the face of persecution and death. We close with this statement of St. Peter, and we wish you to see whether it may not be vindicated by almost self-evident reasons. The results which Christianity proposes, and which beyond all question it is calculated to effect, are those of a widespread peace and a dominant happiness: but the processes, through which it would work out these results, are those of self-denial and restraint, of mortified passions and curbed affections; and they who would be quite in love with the results, may be quite at war with the processes. There is not after all, anything surprising in persecution, whether in the bold shape it assumed in early days, or the more modified which it exhibits in later; it is, we might almost say, but a natural result of the rejection of Christianity-whether of the open rejection of the sceptical, or of the more covert of the indifferent. Doctrines which are not embraced must be disliked, when they are doctrines which would bind us to practices, which conscience secretly pronounces to be right, but which inclination vehemently opposes; and disliking the doctrines, men must also dislike those who hold them, for every believer is a reproach to the unbeliever, condemning by his example those whom it does not excite to imitation; and there is only a step from dislike to persecution. Persecution is but dislike in action the effort to remove what annoys by reproving. Then till Christianity be universal, persecution, in some form or other, is unavoidable. It is not the product of a dark age, rather than of a light; it is the product of human nature-the same in its corruption, acted upon by a system the same in its holiness.
III. But we cannot suppose that St. Peter used these remarkable words, in order merely to correct an erroneous impression which had been made on the minds of the first Christians-an impression as to the likelihood that Christianity would disarm rather than provoke opposition: we may further believe that he designed to offer a topic of consolation and support-to suggest what ought to reconcile the suffering to their lot. You ought not, St. Peter seems to say, to be amazed or confounded; you are called to no affliction which others have not sustained; and where there is nothing but what has been experienced, why should there be surprise, as though it were unexpected? And truly the distressing thing to a believer would be, if he were able to show that Gods dealings with himself were quite different from what Gods dealings with His people had ordinarily been. Suppose the registered course of Gods proceedings had been, that where there was belief in His Word there was comparative freedom from trouble, so that religion and temporal happiness went hand in hand: what fearful thing would it then be, for a Christian to find himself in trouble! It would not be the amount of the trouble, so much as its strangeness, that would overwhelm him. His inference would be-Surely I am not one of the people of God: if I were, He would not deal with me in so unusual a manner. Or, to take what might be thought a more supposable case: let righteousness and peace of mind be almost invariably found together, so that a righteous individual is seldom, if ever, disquieted with doubts and apprehensions: if, then, a Christian feels himself depressed and cast down, his hopes darkened through the suggestions of his great adversary the devil, do you not see that the bitterest thing in his portion would be, not the depression, but the consciousness of this depression being a strange thing in a believer, and therefore almost an evidence of his not being a believer at all? But now take the opposite, which is the actual case, namely, that the Christian has nothing strange to undergo, nothing befalling him but what is common to believers; and do you not perceive that this very circumstance is full of consolation, and ought to do much towards producing in him patience and resignation? The tempest may rage, the sword may glitter, the destroyer may ravage; but he is calm, he is confident, because he can never think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try him, as though some strange thing had happened unto him.
IV. And now, lastly, there is yet another remark which, in a practical point of view, is perhaps of greater importance than the foregoing. It may be questioned whether our translators have given the exact meaning of the original, in saying, Think it not strange. The more literal meaning is, Be not strange in fiery trial. It is not so much an opinion, as a deportment, to which the apostle has respect. What he enjoins on Christians is, that when the fiery trial came, they were not to receive it as an unexpected thing; they were not to be like strangers, but rather to show that they had been waiting the onset, and had prepared themselves to meet it. An old writer justly says, Things certainly fall the lighter upon us when they first fall upon our thoughts. Arm yourselves therefore beforehand; it is hard to have your weapons to seek, when the foe is upon you. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The Christians persecutions
I. The connection of religion with trial-Do not wonder at the burning which is to try you. It is no wonder; it is a natural consequence.
1. Is it likely God would commit the keeping of His honour and glory into the hands of untested witnesses?
2. Is it likely that God would give the work of saving souls to untried emissaries?
3. Is it likely God would admit to His eternal kingdom unproved citizens? By no means.
II. The connection between trial and suffering-The burning. What more potent picture of suffering than that which is expressed by this terrible word?
III. The connection of suffering with joy. Strange apparent inconsistency!-Think it not strange, but rejoice. We may gather-
1. That anything which brings us into harmony with Christ is to be desired. Suffering brings us into sympathy with Him. We appreciate the sacrifice which His atonement entailed when we feel something of its consequences.
2. That the only true way to triumph is through the vale of tears. Christ became Conqueror through submitting.
IV. The connection of joy with glory-For the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. (J. J. S. Bird, B. A.)
The fiery trial which is to try you.–
Afflictions are trials
1. To try whether we have any truth of grace in us, whether we be sound or hollow.
2. To try what measure of grace we have, whether as much or more or less than we thought.
3. To purify and refine that measure of true grace that is in us. In the days of peace and prosperity, the best men are subject to gather soil, as standing waters putrefy, bodies without exercise prove full of gross humours. (John Rogers.)
But rejoice.–
A rejoicing heart
A heart rejoicing in God delights in all His will, and is most surely provided to the most firm joy in all estates; for, if nothing can come to pass beside or against His will, then cannot that soul be vexed that delights in Him, and hath no will but His, but follows Him in all times and in all estates-not only when He shines bright on them, but when they are clouded. That flower that follows the sun, doth so even in cloudy days-when it doth not shine forth, yet it follows the hidden course and motion of it: so the soul, that moves after God, keeps that course when He hides His face; is content, yea, is glad at His will, in all estates, conditions, or events. (Abp. Leighton.)
Partakers of the sufferings of Christ.–
Participation in the sufferings of Christ
It is strange what a power there is in suffering to unite in deepest intimacy those who have nobly borne it together. It would seem as if the affections could never be welded so firmly as when they have been exposed to the fiery solvent of adversity. Perhaps it is that we never so truly understand each other as when great and common trials sound the depths of our nature, and show to each what is in brothers heart. Or it may be that love is strengthened most of all by the trials and hardships endured for the sake of its object. The survivors of the wreck who can recall the days and hours of danger and exposure, of alternating hope and despair, which they bore together; the remnant of the forlorn hope, who have stood side by side while shot and shell were raining death around them; or the few brave and true hearts who together have struggled through the protracted and terrible siege, and whose friendship is cemented by a thousand associations of sympathy and endurance, cannot choose but feel in each other a deeper than common interest. Now, some such thought as this may have been present to the apostles mind when he congratulated his suffering fellow Christians on the fact that they were partakers of the sufferings of Christ. The secret depths of that sorrowing heart they could better understand in virtue of the approximation to His grief which their own hearts had felt, and a fuller appreciation of His ineffable love could be theirs, when by experience they had learnt something of that penalty of suffering and sacrifice which for them He so willingly had paid. Instead, therefore, of regarding it as a strange thing that theirs should be a lot of suffering and trial, it would rather have seemed unnatural had it been otherwise. But it is not all kinds of suffering in which we have community with Jesus. There are sorrows, obviously, of which the infinitely pure and holy Saviour could have no experience, and in the endurance of which no man can appropriate the consolation of fellowship with Christ. Let us endeavour, therefore, to find out what sort of suffering for sin is possible to a pure and holy nature. How far may suffering for sin be really noble and worthy? What elements must we eliminate from suffering caused by sin in forming our ideal of suffering purity?
1. One element of suffering for sin, and that a most bitter one, of which Christ could have no direct experience, is conscious guilt. With all godly sorrow Jesus sympathises, but He knows nothing, and never can, of the sorrow of the world that worketh death.
2. Another element in suffering for sin, of which a perfectly holy nature could have no experience, is a personal sense of Divine wrath. Betwixt the experience of a guilty soul writhing under the frown of God, and His, even in His darkest hour of sorrow, there is an impassable gulf.
3. Nor, finally, though Christ tasted of death for every man, could He ever experience personally that which constitutes to the sinner the very bitterness of death-the fear of what comes after death. On the contrary, death to Jesus was an escape from protracted banishment to endless and unutterable union with His Father. It was the passing from a world in which all had been to Him toil and weariness and woe, to one on which the sweet memories of an eternity of joy were resting.
Death to Jesus, in one word, was but a going home.
1. I now go on to inquire what kind of suffering for sin may be conceived of as noble and worthy, and so not impossible to a pure and holy nature.
(1) Amongst these kinds of suffering I notice, first, that which a pure and holy nature must feel from the mere contiguity of evil. The mere spectacle of sin, the life-long contact of the sinless with the vile-implied on His part bitter suffering. To man or woman of pure mind and tender conscience it would be intolerable to be forced to read through an obscene book; what agony of mind then-what pain and distress of spirit more unendurable than sharpest bodily tortures-would be involved in a similar lifelong contact with sin, not recorded merely, but hideously displayed in act!
(2) Another element of Christs suffering for sin, in which, as we grow in kindred purity of nature, we shall learn to participate, is the reflected or borrowed shame and pain which noble natures feel for the sins of those with whom they are closely connected. Christ was not a mere spectator of the worlds sin, He was deeply implicated in the fortunes of the guilty, related to them by the closest ties of kindred and affection. There is a borrowed humiliation which we feel from the sins of those who are dear to us; there is a keen and cruel pain which pierces a good and generous heart in the contemplation of a brothers wickedness, and which is second only, and in some respects not second, to the agony of personal guilt.
(3) Once more, Christ suffered for sin, not only as bearing relatively its guilt, but also as its victim. In the persons of those He loved, sin transmitted to Him a borrowed humiliation; but it hurt Him more deeply than thus, for it rose up against Him, to hate and assail and destroy Him. And this to such a nature as His was the saddest thing of all. (J. Caird, D. D.)
Participation in Christs sufferings
It has often been said that the Christian faith gives dignity to every kind of suffering. If we may so speak, the light shines from Christs Cross as a fringe of glory upon every cloud which environs human life. You have given up that false notion which belonged rather to the heathen age, that the gods would not visit in pain or suffering those who were their special favourites. It is the other way in Christian conception. According to the Christian, those whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. Think it not strange the fiery trial which is to try you-that is coming for this purpose to put your life to the test, but see how far your faith needs consolidating, how far your love needs being drawn forth as often love only can be in the hours of sorrow. But he rises higher than this. He seems to say: Do not merely look upon suffering as a certain ministry for good, but that he that suffers may be brought into the charmed circle of fellowship with Christ. But we are met at once by the thought: Are not the sufferings of Christ wholly unique in character? Are they not such that none may share them?
I. In what sense is it true that the Christian can have a partnership with the sufferings of Christ? In the first place it is not of the ordinary sorrows of life that the apostle is speaking; because he does not speak respecting the sufferings which Christ shares with us, but rather of certain sufferings which we share with Christ. There is all the difference in the world between those sorrows which are rather the sorrows of humanity, and which Christ, in becoming man, of necessity became a participator in, and those sufferings which belong to the Christian life, and which only Christian lives can share with Christ. And I think that just as those sorrows cannot be in any fair sense called the sufferings peculiarly of Christ, so the whole analogy of similar passages in the New Testament shows us that the apostle is speaking of the sufferings which we suffer as Christians. What, then, does he mean? If we exclude the sorrows of life which are common to all mankind, if we exclude the special sufferings of Christ on the Cross as our Redeemer, what are the sufferings which we are privileged to share with Christ? In one sense the work of Christ was complete; He wrought a perfect and complete work upon the Cross. But, on the other hand, there is a real sense in which the work of Christ is not complete. Christ may, if I may use the figure, be supposed to have formed a great steel plate, on which every line and letter is engraved, but still the work of striking off the impressions is left for the Church of Christ to do. He formed every feature of the Christian character which was to be stamped upon mankind; He wrought all that great and glorious work which was the great picturing of Divine love in the eyesight of man; but having wrought that, He left it to His disciples to carry forth that image to the world, and they were to impress it upon the characters of men; they were, in fact, to work out that which Christ had left them to work. He had given them the rule, they were to work out the examples; He had given them the great completed seed, they were to sow it into the hearts of men. Christs Church is built up in suffering. There is not a truth which is incorporated in our creeds, there is not a single aphorism of Christianity which is dear to your hearts that has not been consolidated by the blood of suffering men and women. But there is another sense in which we may also share the sufferings of Christ. All Christian life is progressive. Against all the knots, and against all the awkward angles of character, the grace of God has to contend, and in contending with these it is purging out the evil and implanting the good. And as Christian life is thus progressive, so the capacity of sharing a certain order of Christs sufferings is growing within us. If a pure-minded person were made by necessity to go through the obscene details of the police records, even physical agony would be preferred to that. And just so he who feels that his spiritual life is growing, that the sanctifying influences of the Spirit make him more enamoured of purity and more hostile to evil, begins to understand what intense pain Christ must have endured in daily contact with sin; and so he becomes a partaker in that degree of the sufferings of Christ. The judiciousness of the apostles language is to be seen in this: he says, Rejoice, in so far as (and no further) you are partakers of the sufferings of Christ. That is to say, he shows to them that their cause of rejoicing can only lie in this-their consciousness that they are suffering with Christ. He who feels that the spiritual life within him is growing may know that in proportion as he is conscious of that pain which sin must bring to the pure in heart he is able to share somewhat in the sufferings of Christ.
II. What, then, are the sources of the joy? These we have partly anticipated. The joy, and that which the apostle wishes the Christian to rejoice in, is precisely the thought that he is suffering with Christ. The faithful servant will feel that the hours are not merely wasted, but are positively dishonestly employed that are not being used in his masters service; and thus the Christian feels that his hours are not, indeed, his own, but belong to his Master; and even if those hours must be employed in pain, if constant conflict against the powers of evil be that which he is called upon to endure, he can rejoice, for it is for his Master. Not that he is indifferent to sorrow, but that he feels the sorrow is glorified by the fact that it is for Christ. And just as thus it is a joy to him to rejoice in suffering for Christ, so also is it so because he sees in it a witness of his own progress. Do I find sin a greater pain, do I find that the presence of it causes more agony than before? Then I am glad, for at least I can so far feel that I am growing in the image of Christ; I would rather feel sin to be ten thousandfold the agony it was before than that I should live a life which is utterly indifferent to Christian progress. And there is yet another reason of joy. The love which the Christian has is that which the apostle assumes. But what is one of the first features of love? Is it not to be linked with the object it loves? We always long to appropriate that which we love, because there is the straining desire of the soul to be drawn nearer to the object of its love. And so the Christian feels that the desire of his love is to be linked with Christ. And where is the link? Look round the world and answer, where can the link with Christ be? Is it in joy? I know no joy as long as sin reigns in the world. Is it to be found in the mere amusements of life? These are impossible. The only law by which the soul of man can be linked with Christ is the law of suffering; it is the very law of our physical being, it is the very law of society, it is the very law of Gods universe, because of the strange distortions which sin has introduced, that all love is a bond in suffering. Not one has suffered; not one has loved without feeling that love and suffering are always co-relatives in life. It was not because your life was easy and smooth together that you loved one another so intensely; it is because you have fought together, because you have struggled together, because you were partners in the same sorrow and in the same care. And not merely thus; those who have suffered the same loss, for example-see what a freemasonry of love that establishes! But it is not merely this; it is more. It is not merely the same loss you are suffering. For the zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached Thee are fallen upon me; but the sorrow which men endure together in establishing the same cause, is not that a link which binds them fast? None have suffered for Christ without loving Christ the more, and none have loved Christ the more without feeling Christs love the more, and none have felt Christs love the more without feeling that He has stooped down to their very side to be near them. (Bp. Boyd Carpenter.)
Let none of you suffer as a murderer.–
Righteous and evil suffering
I. The apostle distinguishes between deserved and undeserved suffering. Many of the early martyrs brought on their own deaths through incautious and foolish utterances, or want of that meekness which ought to characterise a professor of the gospel.
II. The apostle urges the higher responsibilities of professors of the gospel. They possess a higher standard of moral conduct than the worldling.
III. The apostle reminds us of the terrible end of the finally impenitent. The shipwrecked mariner who has lashed himself to a spar, and is striving frantically to reach the shore, is far more likely to be saved than the sailor who stays on the burning vessel. (J. J. S. Bird, B. A.)
A busybody in other mens business.–
The busybody
It is very common to compare ourselves with other men, and to draw flattering conclusions from the fact of their conduct being marked by more of open flagitiousness than our own. Yet it may be the very grossest of self-deceptions. The degree of criminality must evidently depend, not only on the sin committed, but on the amount of temptation and the measure of resistance. I am not necessarily better than another, unless better under precisely the same circumstances; and it is impossible for me to know and to judge what all those circumstances are. It is not necessary that we suppose the busybody to be equally criminal with the murderer and the thief, but at all events there must be much greater criminality in the busybody than we are accustomed to suppose; otherwise an apostle would hardly have so combined offenders as they are combined in our text.
1. Now it is certainly far from the design of the Christian religion to separate us one from another, to shut us up in our individual capacities, and confine our attention to our individual interests. Christianity, on the contrary, enjoins universal brotherhood and love; brotherhood and love, which are entirely at variance with the supposition that we take no concern in the affairs of our neighbour. The great general rule, in this as in every case of Christian casuistry, must evidently be fetched from the motive by which we are actuated. If it be honestly our aim to promote the Divine glory by promoting the good of our fellow men, we can scarcely go wrong, whether in the measure or the manner in which we concern ourselves in the affairs of other men. Whensoever there is opportunity of doing good to another, whensoever, more especially, his soul may be benefited through our instrumentality, then and there indeed it were worse than absurd to suppose it playing the busybodys part to concern ourselves in his affairs. Let no one, therefore, think to shelter himself under the plea that non-interference is a duty, and thus excuse himself from all public endeavour at discountenancing vice, defending truth, relieving misery, or propagating Christianity. It is at a far remoter point that interference becomes sinful. And we may begin our investigation by stating that probably St. Peter had respect to a species of meddling, which is sufficiently common, though hardly thought criminal. The one compound word in the Greek (for there is but one), which is rendered by us a busybody in other mens matters, might be more literally rendered-a bishop in another mans diocese; as though what the apostle specially wished to denounce were that interference with constituted authorities, whether civil or ecclesiastical, which in those days and countries exposed men to punishment Just because those in power bring not forward the precise measures which these men think the best, they will break at once into injurious expressions; as though they must be better judges of what is good for an empire, who have no means of looking into all the intricacies of the machine, than others who are placed at the wheel, and have the power of observing the most secret springs. But it is a more private sort of meddling with which the busybody is generally occupied; he, or she, is prying into family secrets, as well as into state, and presuming to adjust the affairs of neighbours as well as the intricacies of government. The man who, unasked, obtrudes his opinions on others in matters in which they alone have any concern, who infringes the liberty of others where they have undoubted right to follow their own inclination, who sets up on every occasion for a teacher of others, as though he must be wiser and better informed, who is always for adjusting his neighbours business, and is so disinterested that he will do it at the neglect of his own: such an one-one who is guilty whether in any or in all of these particulars-is emphatically a busybody in other mens matters. The woman who plays the spy upon her neighbours, as though she were the constituted inspector of themselves and their households, who is not easy except she knows every particular of their domestic arrangements, who, if she have a visit to pay, is sure to talk over the affairs of the family she last left, only leaving herself time to find out something to tell at the house to which she goes next, who is critical alike upon character and upon dress, so that she will pronounce with equal fluency what people ought to do and what they ought to wear: such a woman is undeniably a busybody in other mens matters.
2. But now you will inquire what great criminality, after all, attaches to the busybody, or with what show of justice he can be associated with those whom even human laws sternly reprobate and punish.
(1) The busybody violates justice; because, by meddling with other mens affairs, does his best to deprive them of their office, which is certainly to manage their own business.
(2) The busybody, again, is conspicuous in arrogance; for he who is always obtruding his advice is always proclaiming himself wiser than others.
(3) The busybody neglects himself, and those affairs which are specially his own.
(4) And who does more harm than the busybody? Half the dissensions in a neighbourhood are his or her work. The parties into whose affairs the busybody pries are naturally incensed or irritated by the interference; and in this feeling is evidently laid the foundation of enmity. Besides, what is found out by the inquisitiveness of the busybody is sure to be propagated by the industriousness of the tale bearer; so that the secrets of families become public talk, and chief friends are separated by injurious reports of things which were perhaps never done, or remarks which were perhaps never made. There is another assassin besides he who kills the body-he who wounds the reputation; and who does this more than the busybody? (H. Melvill, B. D.)
A hint to meddlers
Some people do not understand how to cooperate for public ends without interfering with the privacy of domestic life. The seals teach a good lesson in this respect. They can work together at proper times; but they honour the sanctity of home. They live sociably, and in great numbers frequent the same localities. Although, in the sea, these animals cooperate in numerous herds, and protect and valiantly defend each other, once emerged from their favourite element they regard themselves on their peculiar rock as in a sacred domicile, where no comrade has a right to intrude upon their domestic tranquillity. If one of them approach this family centre, the chief-or, shall we say the father?-prepares to expel by force what he considers a foreign aggression; and there invariably takes place a terrible combat, which only ends in the death of the lord of the rock, or in the compulsory retreat of the indiscreet stranger. This proceeding is well worth the attention of every busybody. It is full of sense, and shows a discrimination between public cooperation for the common good, and officious interference in private life, which would do credit to even human beings. (Scientific Illustrations.)
Mind your own business
Come, hurry up! said the second hand of a clock to the minute hand; youll never get round in time if you dont. See how fast Im going, continued the fussy little monitor, as it fretted round on its pivot. Come, hurry up! said the minute to the hour hand, utterly oblivious of being addressed by the second hand. If you dont be quick youll never be in at the stroke of one. Well, thats just what our young friend there has been saying to you. At this point the clock pealed forth the hour as the hour hand continued, You see were all in time-not one of us behind. You take my advice: Do your own work in your own way, and leave others alone. Moral-Mind your own business. (Great Thoughts.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial] . The burning. The metaphor is old, but noble; it represents the Christians at Pontus as having fire cast upon them for the trying of their faith, as gold is tried by fire, 1Pet 1:7, to which the apostle alludes.-Macknight.
St. Peter returns here to what he had often touched upon in this epistle, namely, to exhort the Christians to behave with patience and integrity under their present severe persecution; to which purpose he uses the following arguments:-
First, He intimates that it was not a strange or unusual thing for the people of God to be persecuted.
Secondly, That if they suffered here as Christ did, they should hereafter be glorified with him.
Thirdly, Besides the prospect of that future glory; they had at present the Spirit of God for their support and comfort.
Fourthly, That it was an honour for any of them to suffer, not as a malefactor, but as a Christian.
Fifthly, Though the afflictions began with the Christians, yet the weight of the storm would fall upon the unbelievers. From these considerations he exhorted them to persevere in their duty, and trust all events with God. See Dodd.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Think it not strange; be not offended or troubled at persecution, as at a thing unusual or never heard of; it implies that they should reckon upon it beforehand, that they might not be surprised with it when it comes. The same word is used, 1Pe 4:4.
Concerning the fiery trial; the heat or burning, whereby he means great afflictions, especially those that are for rightesusness sake, as appears, 1Pe 4:14, which are often compared to fire, as being alike painful and grievous to them as fire is to mens bodies; and because men are tried by them as metals are by fire, Psa 66:10; Isa 48:10.
Which is to try you: this he adds as the reason why they should not think strange of persecutions, viz. because they were sent by God, not for their destruction, but for the trial and exercise of their graces.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. strangethey might thinkit strange that God should allow His chosen children to be soretried.
fiery triallike thefire by which metals are tested and their dross removed. The Greekadds, “in your case.”
which is to try youGreek,“which is taking place for a trial to you.” Instead of its”happening to you” as some strange and untowardchance, it “is taking place” with the graciousdesign of trying you; God has a wise design in itaconsolatory reflection.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial,…. By which may be meant either the destruction of Jerusalem, which was at hand, and of which the apostle may be thought to give the Jews he writes to notice of before hand; that they might be prepared for it, and not be overwhelmed with consternation and amazement when they should hear of it; who, though in other countries, must be affected with it, and would be a trying dispensation to them: or else the afflictions and persecutions which daily come upon them, for the sake of Christ and his Gospel; signified by “fire” or “burning”, because grievous to the flesh, and gave great uneasiness, distress, and pain to it; and because of the fury of men, and the violence and fierceness of their rage, expressed thereby; as also because the people of God under them are sometimes ready to conceive that the wrath of God is poured out, like fire, upon them. But the apostle would not have these saints entertain any such thoughts, and therefore he calls them “beloved”; that is, of God, as they were notwithstanding all the fiery trials and afflictions which were brought upon them; or he means, that they were beloved by him, and dear unto him, and other saints, though they were ill treated and reproached by the world: the Syriac and Arabic versions read, “my beloved”; and the Ethiopic version, “our brethren”: and the apostle exhorts them not to look upon their afflictions that either did or should attend them as strange and uncommon things; since afflictions, of whatsoever kind, are not things of chance, and do not rise up out of the dust, but are by the appointment, and according to the will of God; and are also the common lot of the people of God in all ages, from the beginning of the world, the same afflictions are accomplished in others; yea, Christ himself endured the same hatred, reproach, and contradiction of sinners, against himself; and they are what he has given his people reason to expect, having told them of them before hand, that they might not be offended at them; and as they lay in his way to glory, it need not seem strange that the saints also should, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom. Moreover, this fiery dispensation, be it what it will, was not to destroy them, but to try them, and that for their good, profit, and advantage; just as gold and silver are tried in the fire, and lose their dross, and become purer and brighter:
which is to try you; afflictions try the graces of the saints; as their faith in Christ, which becomes thereby much more precious than of gold that perisheth; and their love to him, by which it appears that no tribulation can separate them from it, nor many waters and floods of afflictions drown it; and their hope of eternal life, which grows more lively and strong, and is as an anchor, sure and steadfast, amidst the greatest storms. These try a man’s profession of religion, whether it is took up on good principles, and without sinister views; since, if it is not, when persecution, because of the word, comes, he is offended and gone; and likewise what a man’s principles are, whether worth suffering for or not; and whether they will bear him up, and he abide by them, when called to suffer for them; and therefore, since such ends are answered by fiery trials, they should not be looked upon as strange and unusual things: as though some strange thing happened unto you; which was never known and heard of before; and as if useless, and of no service, and as foreign to the characters, cases, and circumstances of the saints in this world. The apostle in this verse returns to his former argument, to animate and encourage the saints in suffering afflictions patiently for righteousness sake.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Fortitude and Circumspection; Advice to Suffering Christians. | A. D. 66. |
12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. 16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. 17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
The frequent repetition of counsel and comfort to Christians, considered as sufferers, in every chapter of this epistle, shows that the greatest danger these new converts were in arose from the persecutions to which their embracing Christianity exposed them. The good behaviour of Christians under sufferings is the most difficult part of their duty, but yet necessary both for the honour of Christ and their own comfort; and therefore the apostle, having extorted them in the former part of this chapter to the great duty of mortification, comes here to direct them in the necessary duty of patience under sufferings. An unmortified spirit is very unfit to bear trials. Observe,
I. The apostle’s kind manner of address to these poor despised Christians: they were his beloved, v. 9.
II. His advice to them, relating to their sufferings, which is,
1. That they should not think them strange, nor be surprised at them, as if some unexpected event befel them; for,
(1.) Though they be sharp and fiery, yet they are designed only to try, not to ruin them, to try their sincerity, strength, patience, and trust in God. On the contrary, they ought rather to rejoice under their sufferings, because theirs may properly be called Christ’s sufferings. They are of the same kind, and for the same cause, that Christ suffered; they make us conformable to him; he suffers in them, and feels in our infirmities; and, if we be partakers of his sufferings, we shall also be make partakers of his glory, and shall meet him with exceeding joy at his great appearing to judge his enemies, and crown his faithful servants, 2 Thess. i. 7, c. Learn, [1.] True Christians love and own the children of God in their lowest and most distressing circumstances. The apostle owns these poor afflicted Christians, and calls them his beloved. True Christians never look more amiable one to another than in their adversities. [2.] There is no reason for Christians to think strange, or to wonder, at the unkindnesses and persecutions of the world, because they are forewarned of them. Christ himself endured them and forsaking all, denying ourselves, are the terms upon which Christ accepts of us to be his disciples. [3.] Christians ought not only to be patient, but to rejoice, in their sharpest sorest sufferings for Christ, because they are tokens of divine favour; they promote the gospel and prepare for glory. Those who rejoice in their sufferings for Christ shall eternally triumph and rejoice with him in glory.
(2.) From the fiery trial the apostle descends to a lower degree of persecution–that of the tongue by slander and reproach, v. 14. He supposes that this sort of suffering would fall to their lot: they would be reviled, evil-spoken of, and slandered for the name or sake of Christ. In such case he asserts, Happy are you, the reason of which is, “Because you have the spirit of God with you, to fortify and comfort you; and the Spirit of God is also the Spirit of glory, that will carry you through all, bring you off gloriously, and prepare and seal you up for eternal glory. This glorious Spirit resteth upon you, resideth with you, dwelleth in you, supporteth you, and is pleased with you; and is not this an unspeakable privilege? By your patience and fortitude in suffering, by your dependence upon the promises of God, and adhering to the word which the Holy Spirit hath revealed, he is on your part glorified; but by the contempt and reproaches cast upon you the Spirit itself is evil-spoken of and blasphemed.” Learn, [1.] The best men and the best things usually meet with reproaches in the world. Jesus Christ and his followers, the Spirit of God and the gospel, are all evil-spoken of. [2.] The happiness of good people not only consists with, but even flows from their afflictions: Happy are you. [3.] That man who hath the Spirit of God resting upon him cannot be miserable, let his afflictions be ever so great: Happy are you; for the Spirit of God, c. [4.] The blasphemies and reproaches which evil men cast upon good people are taken by the Spirit of God as cast upon himself: On their part he is evil-spoken of. [5.] When good people are vilified for the name of Christ his Holy Spirit is glorified in them.
2. That they should take care they did not suffer justly, as evil-doers, <i>v. 15. One would think such a caution as this needless to such an excellent set of Christians as these were. But their enemies charged them with these and other foul crimes: therefore the apostle, when he was settling the rules of the Christian religion, thought these cautions necessary, forbidding every one of them to hurt the life or the estate and property of any one, or to do any sort of evil, or, without call and necessity, to play the bishop in another man’s charge, or busy himself in other men’s matters. To this caution he adds a direction, that if any man suffer for the cause of Christianity, and with a patient Christian spirit, he ought not to account it a shame, but an honour to him; and ought to glorify God who hath thus dignified him, v. 16. Learn, (1.) The best of men need to be warned against the worst of sins. (2.) There is very little comfort in sufferings when we bring them upon ourselves by our own sin and folly. It is not the suffering, but the cause, that makes the martyr. (3.) We have reason to thank God for the honour if he calls us out to suffer for his truth and gospel, for our adherence to any of the doctrines or duties of Christianity.
3. That their trials were now at hand, and they should stand prepared accordingly, 1Pe 4:17; 1Pe 4:18.
(1.) He tells them that the time had come when judgment must begin at the house of God. The usual method of Providence has been this: When God brings great calamities and sore judgments upon whole nations, he generally begins with his own people, Isa 10:12; Jer 25:29; Eze 9:6. “Such a time of universal calamity is now at hand, which was foretold by our Saviour, Mat 24:9; Mat 24:10. This renders all the foregoing exhortations to patience necessary for you. And you have two considerations to support you.” [1.] “That these judgments will but begin with you that are God’s house and family, and will soon be over: your trials and corrections will not last long.” [2.] “Your troubles will be but light and short, in comparison of what shall befal the wicked world, your own countrymen the Jews, and the infidels and idolatrous people among whom you live: What shall the end be of those who obey not the gospel of God?” Learn, First, The best of God’s servants, his own household, have so much amiss in them as renders it fit and necessary that God should sometimes correct and punish them with his judgments: Judgment begins at the house of God. Secondly, Those who are the family of God have their worst things in this life. Their worst condition is tolerable, and will soon be over. Thirdly, Such persons or societies of men as disobey the gospel of God are not of his church and household, though possibly they may make the loudest pretensions. The apostle distinguishes the disobedient from the house of God. Fourthly, The sufferings of good people in this life are demonstrations of the unspeakable torments that are coming upon the disobedient and unbelieving: What shall the end be of those that obey not the gospel? Who can express or say how dreadful their end will be?
(2.) He intimates the irremediable doom of the wicked: If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear, v. 18. This whole verse is taken from Prov. xi. 31, Behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth; how much more the wicked and the sinner? This the LXX. translates exactly as the apostle here quotes it. Hence we may learn, [1.] The grievous sufferings of good people in this world are sad presages of much heavier judgments coming upon impenitent sinners. But, if we take the salvation here in the highest sense, then we may learn, [2.] It is as much as the best can do to secure the salvation of their souls; there are so many sufferings, temptations, and difficulties to be overcome, so many sins to be mortified, the gate is so strait and the way so narrow, that it is as much as the righteous can do to be saved. Let the absolute necessity of salvation balance the difficulty of it. Consider, Your difficulties are greatest at first; God offers his grace and help; the contest will not last long; be but faithful to the death, and God will give you the crown of life, Rev. ii. 10. [3.] The ungodly and the sinner are unquestionably in a state of damnation. Where shall they appear? How will they stand before their Judge? Where can they show their heads? If the righteous scarcely be saved, the wicked must certainly perish.
4. That when called to suffer, according to the will of God, they should look chiefly to the safety of their souls, which are put into hazard by affliction, and cannot be kept secure otherwise than by committing them to God, who will undertake the charge, if we commit them to him in well-doing; for he is their Creator, and has out of mere grace made many kind promises to them of eternal salvation, in which he will show himself faithful and true, v. 19. Learn, (1.) All the sufferings that befal good people come upon them according to the will of God. (2.) It is the duty of Christians, in all their distresses, to look more to the keeping of their souls than to the preserving of their bodies. The soul is of greatest value, and yet in most danger. If suffering from without raise uneasiness, vexation, and other sinful and tormenting passions within, the soul is then the greatest sufferer. If the soul be not well kept, persecution will drive people to apostasy, Ps. cxxv. 3. (3.) The only way to keep the soul well is to commit it to God, in well-doing. Commit your souls to God by solemn dedication, prayer, and patient perseverance in well-doing, Rom. ii. 7. (4.) Good people, when they are in affliction, have great encouragement to commit their souls to God, because he is their Creator, and faithful in all his promises.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Think it not strange ( ). Prohibition with and the present passive imperative of , for which verb see 4:4. “Be not amazed.”
Concerning the fiery trial among you ( ). Instrumental case, “by the among you burning,” metaphorical sense of old word (since Aristotle), from , to burn ( fire). See 1:7 for the metaphor. See Rev 18:9; Rev 18:18 only other N.T. examples. It occurs in Pr 27:21 for the smelting of gold and silver and so in Ps 56:10 (LXX 65:10): “Thou didst smelt us as silver is smelted” ( ).
Which cometh upon you ( ). Present middle participle of (already coming) with dative case .
To prove you ( ). “For testing.”
As though a strange thing happened unto you ( ). Genitive absolute with , giving the alleged reason, and , dative case with (present active participle of , to go together, to happen (Mr 10:32), agreeing with (strange, Heb 13:9).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Think it not strange [ ] . i e., alien from you and your condition as Christians. Compare 1Pe 5:4.
Fiery trial [] . The word means burning. In Pro 27:21 (Sept.), it is rendered furnace. In Psalms 45 (Sept.), 46 (A. V.), we read, “Thou, O God, hast proved us : thou hast smelted us, as silver is smelted.” Compare Zec 13:9.
Which is to try you [ ] . The A. V. thus makes the trial a thing of the future; mistranslating the Greek present participle, which is taking place. This participle, therefore, represents the trial as actually in progress. The Rev. does not give this force by its which cometh upon you. To try you [ ] . Lit., for trial or probation.
Strange thing [] . Compare think it not strange, above.
Happened [] . Again the present participle. Better, perhaps, were happening; by chance, instead of with the definite purpose indicated by “taking place with a view to probation.” See above.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Beloved think it not strange. (G reek agapetoi) “beloved ones” — These brethren of five specific localities, evidently in local churches, were advised (Greek ksenizesthe) “be not surprised.”
2) “Concerning the fiery trial.” (te purosei) at the fiery testings or trials 2Co 8:2; Php_1:12-14.
3) “Which is to try you.” Which is designed to test, discipline, or try you. God often permits Satan to try the believer to strengthen him for later greater battles, Rom 5:3-4.
4) “As though some strange thing happened unto you.” The mature Christian learns that suffering, trials and tribulations are designed to work patience in him that he may learn God cares and that he is to be content in whatsoever station in life he may be Paul did. Php_4:11; Heb 13:5; Rom 8:28.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
12 Beloved, think it not strange, or, wonder not. There is a frequent mention made in this Epistle of afflictions; the cause of which we have elsewhere explained. But this difference is to be observed, that when he exhorts the faithful to patience, he sometimes speaks generally of troubles common to man’s life; but here he speaks of wrongs done to the faithful for the name of Christ. And first, indeed, he reminded them that they ought not to have deemed it strange as for a thing sudden and unexpected; by which he intimates, that they ought by a long mediation to have been previously prepared to bear the cross. For whosoever has resolved to fight under Christ’s banner, will not be dismayed when persecution happens, but, as one accustomed to it, will patiently bear it. That we may then be in a prepared state of mind when the waves of persecutions roll over us, we ought in due time to habituate ourselves to such an event by meditating continually on the cross.
Moreover, he proves that the cross is useful to us by two arguments, — that God thus tries our faith, — and that we become thus partakers with Christ. Then, in the first place, let us remember that the trial of our faith is most necessary, and that we ought thus willingly to obey God who provides for our salvation. However, the chief consolation is to be derived from a fellowship with Christ. Hence Peter not only forbids us to think it strange, when he sets this before us, but also bids us to rejoice. It is, indeed, a cause of joy, when God tries our faith by persecution; but the other joy far surpasses it, that is, when the Son of God allots to us the same course of life with himself, that he might lead us with himself to a blessed participation of heavenly glory. For we must bear in mind this truth, that we have the dying of Christ in our flesh, that his life may be manifested in us. The wicked also do indeed bear many afflictions; but as they are separated from Christ, they apprehend nothing but God’s wrath and curse: thus it comes that sorrow and dread overwhelm them.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE TRAITS OF THE TRUE SERVANT
1Pe 4:12 to 1Pe 5:11.
OUR tenth study in this Epistle begins as did our second, Beloved. It is a word of which the Apostle Peter is fond. And a beautiful word it is, expressing endearment without adulation, fraternity without flattery, fellowship without fawning, and a sense of brotherhood without blandishment.
There are few words in that vocabulary, which is particularly Christian, that expresses so well the relationship that is felt between believers, and yet retains perfect dignity, as does this term, Beloved. Peter makes it the medium of communicating his own spirit, and commanding the attention of his readers.
The sentences with which he follows it, reminds his brothers of at least three things, namely, that they are to be Partakers of Christs Sufferings, Participants in Christs Service, and Opponents of Christs Adversary.
PARTAKERS IN CHRISTS SUFFERINGS
Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you (1Pe 4:12).
How much is involved in that sentence! The Christian is not called to a soft life, to flowery beds of ease. The fires fall upon him to prove, or refine him, and they fall not by chance; it is no mere happening. God marks his steps and appoints all his experiences. In this fact there is more than consolation; there is a call to couragethe only call to which men care to make response. The one mistake that is constantly made by the Church of God is that of attempting to smooth the way before the feet of converts. Sometimes the minister says to the man under conviction for sin, yet unwilling to surrender all and take up his cross: The cross is not heavy; the Christian life is not characterized by sacrifices; its way is prosperous, and all its paths are peace.
Such speech is the proclamation of a falsehood; and defeats its own intent. Men do not care to respond to calls that require no courage; nor to serve causes that demand no sacrifices.
Jesus said to the rich young ruler,
Go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, * * and come and follow Me.
To those who found it difficult to break from the pagan faith of the family, Jesus said,
I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
And a mans foes shall be they of his own household.
He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
To all men Jesus says,
He that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me.
He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it (Mat 10:35-39).
When Garibaldi wanted an army he promised them privation, hardship, possible starvation and death. Yet the true patriots of his land rallied at once to that call. When Napoleon had a forlorn hope to be led, and asked for a hundred men to volunteer to undertake the same, the entire regiment rang their muskets at his feet. Jesus Christ showed Himself a master in psychology when He associated with His call for followers the plain promise of privation, suffering and death.
Peter had a right then to say to believers,
Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.
And I dare not preach this morning any other gospel than that proclaimed by Christ and His Apostles, namely, that:
Saints are appointed to suffer! You cannot make a church of cowards; nor a conquering host of pain-fearing souls. Lieut. Commander Gilmore describes a battle with Filipinos, in which a young man by the name of Venville attempted to fix the disabled lock of a rifle. While about it a bullet went through the flesh of his neck. I am hit, Mr. Gilmore, he said. But not stopping to stanch the blood, he wrought away at the rifle. Shortly a second bullet pierced his breast, coming out at the arm pit. I am hit again, he remarked, as his face writhed with the pain; but he ceased not from his endeavor to revamp the injured gun. The third bullet cut a furrow in the left side of his forehead. Mr. Gilmore, they hit me again, as he wiped the blood from his brow. Three minutes later a bullet crashed into his ankle, the most painful of the wounds. Leaping up from his position, he said, They have hit me the fourth time; but I have fixed the gun!
That lad of seventeen was an ensample to Christians. The like of him conquers on battle fields. The Church of God was never called to defeat!
Saints should rejoice to suffer for Christs sake.
Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
If ye be reproached for the Name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.
There is no good cause that does not involve suffering. Men are not accustomed to draw back on that account; but rather to rejoice in it. A mother suffers to bring her child to birth, sacrifices for its breeding; a father suffers in the maintenance of his family, and yet delights in it none the less. Not a high political office, in which a man really serves his constituents, but he does it by fatigue of body, much worriment of mind, and often anguish of spirit as well. Good men delight to pay these prices in the service of a noble cause.
Demosthenes affirmed concerning Philip of Macedon, that he had seen him covered with wounds, his collar-bone broken, maimed both in his hands and his feet, face the most imminent danger, ready to deliver up to Fortune any other part of his body that she might desire, provided he might live honorably and gloriously with the rest of it.
Shall the Christian be willing to undertake less for his Lord than warriors have undertaken in the interests of conquest or in the Service of State? Shall he rejoice less in .the privilege of sacrifice for the noblest Name, than sinners have rejoiced in making a name for themselves? Over the bier of a sleeping saint I heard Arthur Pierson say, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. Blessed, that word can seldom be employed in description of our state while living.
And yet, Peter employs it here to express the privileges of those who are partakers in Christs sufferings, and are reproached for Christs sake.
Saints should guard against suffering for unrighteousness.
Let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other mens matters.
Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the House of God.
There is no more sore reproach to the Church of God than to have one who has taken its vows fall into such sins as are here described. Mark you, Peter couples with the murderer and the thief, the evildoer and busybody in other mens matters,
There is no joy for those who suffer on account of their own sins. When self adds its tongue to that of the public criticism, painful indeed is his condition, and if that one be professedly a Christian, the cause of God suffers reproach. The need of the world, as surely as the interests of the Church, are embodied in a blameless life, in a consecration that justifies every profession.
A converted Indian said to a visitor, The white men used to come and tell us about Christianity, about the Great Spirit and Heaven, and about Jesus Christ. But we looked at the white men and they drank like us Indians, and they cheated us, and we did not believe their doctrine. But one day Henry Ranch came among us, and after telling us about the Great Spirit, and Jesus Christ, he lay down among us with my bow and tomahawk beside him, and without a fear slept, knowing that I could kill him. He wakened and lived among us like ourselves, shared our hardships, did everything good. We saw as we looked at him that his doctrine was true, and that is why we became Christian Indians.
Phillips Brooks once referred to the custom oI Christian pilgrims going to the Jordan to be baptized there, in a pure white robe, which was then laid aside to be used again for the purpose of their burial. They were to be robed in it again when dead. After all the sins and miseries and vicissitudes of life were over, they would come back at last and meet that symbol of purity with which they started in the new life. Then he remarks, Often with that robe laid up at home they must stop in the midst of some evil passage of their lives and remember how white it is, and be humiliated. You may have been baptized in the black robe, and you may be buried in the same; but your baptism was the symbol of professed death to the old life and of resurrection to walk worthy before the world. How does your conduct compare with that profession?
Let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other mens matters.
Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. * *
Let them that suffer * * commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
PARTICIPANTS IN CHRISTS SERVICE
In the opening of the fifth chapter Peter says:
The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight, etc.
The superior exhorts to service as if he were only an equal.
The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder.
Peter could have reminded them of his authority; yea, even of his infallibility. He could have said, I, who am over you in authority, have a right to exhort, yea, even to command you. He did say nothing of the sort, I exhort, who am also an elder. That was as high an honor as Peter ever held; and doubtless as high an honor as he ever desired. The crown of his exaltation was in the fact that he had been a witness of the sufferings of Christ. That was a delicate reference to his appointment as an Apostle, but involves no claim of lordship over his brethren. The Apostle here refers to his own vision of the crucifixion. If any of you have ever looked upon that great panorama, Jerusalem on the Day of Crucifixion, which was once on exhibition in Chicago, you remember that Peter is pictured as in a cleft of the rock beyond the brow of the hill, weeping out his soul, yet looking through his tears on his dying Lord. In the memory of that vision he exhorts these brethren to loyalty in service; and, in the same speech, takes his place on a level with the elders of the Church.
One of the greatest preachers in this country, a man famed the world over for what he has accomplished, said awhile since, God give us humility. I think it is the prayer I covet most that God will keep my spirit low and broken. Them that honour Me I will honour, and he that exalteth Me shall be exalted.
Superiors are set as ensamples; not as masters.
Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
Neither as being lords over Gods heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
One cannot think of conceit as manifested in the folk who have most of it, without marveling as much at its experience as at its expression. What is the ground of this great opinion of ones self? Undoubtedly ignorance, as well as pride! We never listen to a man prate about the voices of the latest scholarship, about being abreast of the age, and in the same breath discredit Gods Word, despising Gods Prophets, taking issue with the Apostles of Jesus, if not with the Son of Man Himself; we never meet a little man who believes himself to be some great one, but we are reminded of what Phillips Brooks once said, The White Mountains have never seen the Alps; and Mount Washington and Mount Jefferson looking down on their lower peaks must think they are the summits of the world. It is surprising how small men can make their world, so that the petty supremacy of the school-room, or a shop counter (he might have added, the little knoll of pulpit eminence) is enough to kill out humility.
Then he goes on to show how the smallest man will keep his egoism by picking out some weakness of his superior, and comparing it with his best point of natural strength. But says Brooks, See God; lift your eyes to Him; at once all is changed. It is as if you took the brown-rugged hill, and towered up into the sky beyond it the white, starry, topless Alpine mountains. All question of feet and inches departs, and in the consciousness of its loftiness that which had counted itself great does homage to the truly great.
The one reason, beloved, why Peter was solicitous that men should not be puffed up; that elders should not be self-constituted bosses, nor yet grow great through their own greed, rested in the fact that he had once been in the presence of Christ, and as he stood there, he saw himself as he was, and on his face cried, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man.
If any of us have been tempted to be lords, at the feet of the Lord of lords we will find out our true office, namely, servants. And if we would attain to more, then, ensamples to the flock. That is the highest eminence possible. It is also the greatest honor that can be bestowed upon a human life.
Humility is the mark of all true servants.
Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time:
Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.
Michelet, speaking of Joan of Arc, says, In the space of a few years before and after the Pucelle every Province had its saint, either a Pierette, a Breton peasant girl, who holds converse with Jesus Christ, or a Marie of Avignon, a Catherine Rochelle, or a poor shepherd such as Saiutrailles, brings up from his own country, who had stigmata on feet and hands, and who sweats blood on the holy days.
Aye; but those are not the distinguishing marks of the true saint. Humility is that mark. Peter wants it to characterize all since God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. And if one remembers that he is regenerated by the grace of God, and is kept by the Divine care, what place is left for pride?
Paul reminds us that he might have been proud of his birth, his family, his tribe, his sect, his education, his office, but these he counted loss for Christ.
OPPONENTS OF CHRISTS ADVERSARY
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal Glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.
The saints, in soberness, must watch against the adversary. Peter never debated the doctrine of a personal devil. No other inspired man ever did. That poor business was left to the speculators of the twentieth century; the false prophets and prophetesses of the latter times. Peter knew nothing of the sentence, The devil is not. A lie is all the Satan there is. The Adversary was the devil who as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.
Saints do well to watch against him in all soberness. The lion roars not while in search of prey, but stalks the land with stealthy, yea even noiseless step. Shall the frontier settler gather in the calves and fold the sheep at night, lock his own door while he sleeps, and warn his children to be careful at broad-day because there are wild beasts abroad, and yet men take no interest in guarding their souls against the adversary who once struck down the Son of God, and who seeks now to destroy every subject of His grace in death and hell?
Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear Him, who after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear Him.
The saints, in faith, must withstand the adversary.
Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
The longer I live the more am I convinced not only of the personality of the devil, but of his influence upon the character of those who fellowship with him. Men become like their comrades; and you must have taken note of the character of the children of the devil. The one person in all the world most stealthy in his movements, most conscienceless in his covered conduct, most treacherous in his character, is the man who has once named the Name of Christ, but afterward become the victim of the adversary. The only way to meet this man is to withstand him steadfastly. Along with the traits before mentioned there goes, always and everywhere, the additional one of cowardice. If you flee before his face, he will follow, assault, and destroy; if you meet him with unflinching courage he will cower, retract, and retreat. You may be certain that the same traits make up the character of the adversary, hence it is written, Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Canon Farrar, speaking to young men who had already surrendered too often to the adversary, said, Oh, if any of you have lost the drawbridge, in Gods Name drive back the enemy from the wall; if he has reached the wall, fight for the portcullis; if he has carried the portcullis rally every shattered power and wounded energy, and die rather than admit him at the gate! And dont have any tears or any parleying; dont stop even to bury your dead! But he should have added, Your victory will depend, after all, not in any power that is natural: but be won by being stedfast in the faith. They that trust the Lord shall not be put to shame.
By the grace of God shall the saint be established and rewarded.
The God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal Glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.
These are marvelous words, perfect, stablish, strengthen. It is not enough to make a man perfect; the flower is that; but it is not established; it soon passes away. It is not enough to make a man perfect, and stablish him; I have known characters that were fixed, and yet were without strength. They held to the faith which was once delivered unto the saints unflinchingly, but they held as an untaught bather, who has waded beyond his depths, hangs to the rope that has been cast him. They have no power to rise against the waves, and propel themselves ashore. We need perfection, we need establishment, but oh, how we need strength! And, we can have it, for to Christ belongs our victory for ever and ever; and the man in Christ has the right to say with Paul, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
If you will, permit me to turn back for just a moment, to say that the suffering, serving saints are not only perfected, established, and strengthened, but they are rewarded by the Son of God.
For when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
Once in his life, Peter became solicitous concerning what he should receive for the sacrifices that he had made for Christ. Peter answers that now. The Lord had told him already, but as he is nearing the end of life, he has had by the Spirit visions of the crown of glory that was to be his portion. Have you never been impressed with the fact that he employs exactly the same words that Paul uses, when in his dungeon prison, he peered through the eternal gates, saying as he looked,
I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His Appearing.
I shall not attempt to-day to tell you what the reward of faithful servants will be; nor to picture the felicity of the final state of the saved. Such description is impossible, hence the great silences of Apostle and Prophet concerning the same. But true believers will abide the hour, knowing that when we come home we shall be satisfied.
Do you remember how Garibaldi, when the war between Austria and Sardinia broke out, went forth in his countrys interests. He left his plain farm place Caprera. After an absence of two years the bloody tyrant of Naples had been driven from his throne; Sicily had been delivered from oppression; nine millions of subjects had been added to the dominion of Victor Emmanuel. All Italy had been made one nation excepting the dominions of the Pope and the province of Venetia! And it all came about through the work of Garibaldi. The fire of his patriotism had wrought these marvels! His biographer says, The grateful king desired to bestow upon him some splendid reward, which Garibaldi firmly refused. And so the king set about a splendid surprise. November, 1860, Garibaldi was making his way to Caprera to spend the winter in repose at his plain farm place. When he approached it, he saw no object that he could recognize. His rough and tangled farm had been changed as if by enchantment into elegant grounds, with roads, paths, lawns, gardens, shrubbery and avenues. His cottage was gone, and in its place stood a villa, replete with every convenience within and without. As he walked from room to room, wondering what magician had worked this transformation, he observed a full-length portrait of King Victor Emmanuel, and the mystery was explained.
In the days of battle he had never thought of reward. The question big in his breast was, How can I serve my country? In that work he forgot himself, and in the demand of the present, despised all problems of the future. But his king forgot him not. Shall the true servants of our Victor Emmanuel, even Christ, be forgotten? Nay, nay, servants of God; your future home is now taking form under His direction, and at the touch of His own magic hand! And when the battle is finished, and your feet, weary with the long warfare, turn toward it, the sight that shall greet your eyes will ravish your hearts with joy, and intoxicate your minds with the splendor which He hath prepared for them that loved and served Him!
Peter sent his message to his readers by the hand of Silvanusor SilasA faithful brother and included in it salutations from the Church in Babylon, and from John Mark, the Evangelist. May the Spirit of God bear to you what I have spoken, and know ye that with it come the salutations of Godthe Father, and of His SonJesus, the True EvangelPeace be with you all that are in Christ.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
1Pe. 4:12. Strange.Do not be surprised, as if something unreasonable had happened. No form of suffering can come to Christians as accident. God, with a purpose of grace, is behind all. Fiery trial.Burning fire. R.V. among you, which cometh upon you to prove you. Whether fiery is intimation of intensity, or strictly descriptive, does not appear. The word as a symbol is more probable. Martyrdoms by fire may not have begun so early.
1Pe. 4:13. Rejoice.In one point of view of the sufferings, they bring you into the experience which led to the sanctifying and glorifying of Christ. It will lead through to yours also. Inasmuch as.Better, in as far as. We get the true blessing of affliction only so far as we enter into the mind of the suffering Christ.
1Pe. 4:14. If ye be.This form of expression hints that they had been, were, and might be. Slander and reproach are often harder to bear than suffering in body or in circumstance Spirit of glory.Of glory and of power and of God. The spirit which marks you out as an heir of glory. The argument is, that reproach for the name of Christ is a proof of glory in reserve, or rather, already belonging to the man. On their part.This closing part of the verse is omitted in R.V. The words are an undoubted interpolation. They are not found in the best MSS. and Versions (see Variorum Bible.).
1Pe. 4:15. The word translated busy-body is a peculiar one, and seems to have been coined by St. Peter,lit. Bishops of other mens matters, claiming rights in matters with which he has no proper concern. Interference is a fruitful source of trouble in all religious, as well as other communities.
1Pe. 4:16. Christian.St. Peter recognises this as the known name of the sect. This fact helps to date the epistle. On this behalf.In this matter, or in this name; in being counted worthy to suffer in this name.
1Pe. 4:17. Judgment must begin.Compare 1Pe. 4:5; 1Pe. 4:7. Just about to begin. House of God.See 1Ti. 3:15 : 1Pe. 2:5. End be.Not the final doom, but the end of the judgment dispensations that St. Peter knew were about to begin.
1Pe. 4:18 Scarcely.With difficulty. Keep association with the calamities immediately coming, which would centre round the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. Apostles thought of this as Gods judgment on the wicked. Illustrate by the singing of the Christians, headed by Olynthus, when the fires of Vesuvius were destroying Pompeii, as given by Bulwer Lytton:
Woe to the proud ones who defy Him;
Woe to the wicked who deny Him;
Woe to the wicked, woe!
1Pe. 4:19. According to the will of God.Recognised as permitting, over-ruling, and even apportioning, our suffering lot. Suffering borne for God is sanctified by God. Stress is laid upon the attribute, or act of creation, as the ground of confidence. He who made the soul is also He who hateth nothing that He hath made.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.1Pe. 4:12-19
Christian Suffering No Surprise.The burning fire is the symbol of afflictions and persecutions. The mind of the apostle goes back once more to those afflictions which the Christians of the Dispersion were, at that time, called to endure (1Pe. 1:6-7, 1Pe. 2:19-21, 1Pe. 3:15-17). All who profess the faith in Christ must take into full account the fact that only through much tribulation can any man enter the kingdom.
The path of sorrow, and that path alone,
Leads to the place where sorrow is unknown.
Christian suffering should be no surprise because
I. It is needed for proving us.The fiery trial cometh upon you to prove you. That is not precisely the same thing as to discipline you. The cases of Abraham, Job, and the Lord Jesus, show that proving the good, by suffering experiences, is the condition of advance in spiritual life and power. The poet learns in suffering what he teaches in song. And the Christians power to serve is a product of his trying experiences.
II. It does but bring us into the line of Christ.We have solved the mystery of our sufferings when we have solved the mystery of His. Though He were a son, yet learned He obedience by the things that He suffered. He was made perfect through suffering to be a bringer on of sons to glory. Moral power cannot be gained, save in Christs way.
III. It is the medium for conveying special grace to us (1Pe. 4:14).The Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you. These afflictions are the special agencies of the Spirit, and signs of unusual interest in you, concern for you, and purposes for you.
IV. It is best seen as part of the Divine judgment on the race.Which you are bearing vicariously, in order that you may be ministers of the Divine mercy that always blends with judgment.
V. It may be difficult to endure these afflictions well.The righteous is scarcely saved. You must put your whole heart and effort into the enduring, since the perils are so extreme. Life well-nigh masters everybody, with its strain and stress. Only the grace of God, sanctifying the most constant and careful watchfulness, gets even the righteous man through. Christian living is no easy thing.
VI. Suffering in well-doing can only be borne to right issues when there is full trust in God, and the absolute committal of ourselves to Him in well-doing.In the acceptance of sufferings as being according to the will of God, much more is meant than the mere submission to an inevitable destiny. If we really think of pain and persecution as working out Gods will, permitted and controlled by Him, we know that that will is righteous and loving, planning nothing less than our completeness in holiness (1Th. 4:3), the will of which we daily pray that it may be done on earth as it is in heaven (Dean Plumptre).
A. J. Mason, in Ellicotts Commentary, paraphrases 1Pe. 4:19 thus: Consider the mildness of these trials compared with the terrors overhanging the sinful. Even if the worst should come to the worst, and you must die a martyrs death, it is but the execution of Gods plan for you. View your life as a deposit lay it confidently in His hands, to be returned to you again when the time comes, and you will find Him faithful to what a Creator ought to be. The will of God, in accordance with which they suffer, is part of the act of creation. The term faithful Creator contains the idea that the act of creation mposes duties and responsibilities on the Creator. In the Greek the words in well-doing are made emphatic by being placed last in the sentence. Punishment is the word for suffering which attends on wrong-doing. Discipline is the word for suffering which comes to frail-doing. Sanctifying is the proper word for suffering which is associated with well-doing.
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
1Pe. 4:15. Busybodies.It is but one word in the original (meaning), as bishops in anothers diocese, as pryers into other mens matters, as pragmatical persons that meddle with other mens concernments, without cause or call. It is not suffering for evil-doing, but suffering for well-doing, that carries the crown (2Ti. 2:12). It is not just, but unjust suffering, that hath the recompense of reward annexed to it (1Pe. 3:14; 1Pe. 4:14). It is not sufferers for the evil of sin, nor sufferers of the evil of sin; but sufferers of the evil of punishment, for the avoiding of the evil of sin, whose cause is good.Brooks.
Bishops of Those Without.Others, through excess of zeal, declaimed aloud against the Pagans, and cast their vices in their teeth. Their more sensible brethren humorously called them bishops, or overseers of those who are without (Renan). Such is, indeed, the meaning of the droll word which St. Peter here gives: except that, instead of bishops of those without, it means bishops of other mens matters. It denotes those prying and self-important people, who fancy they can. set everything to rights, and that everybody they come across is under their personal jurisdiction. Such persons would tend to make Christianity unpopular among the unbelievers, and in case of persecution would be the first to suffer (i.e., to be picked out for martyrdom); and while flattering themselves for the boldness with which they had spoken out, they would incur St. Peters censure, and their martyrdom would be reckoned no martyrdom by the Church. Cruel mishaps, continues M. Renan, befell them; and the wise directors of the community, so far from extolling them, told them pretty plainly that it did but serve them right.A. J. Mason, M.A.
1Pe. 4:17-19. The Time of Visitation.A new reason is here introduced why Christians should suffer gladly for their Lords sake. He will deliver them from the terrible judgments which are about to burst on the ungodly, and their souls will find rest in God, to whom they commit themselves as to a faithful Creator.
I. The visitation of judgment.
1. Its beginning. When St. Peter wrote, the city and temple of Jerusalem were still standing, but were threatened. The coming visitation affected believers as discipline, before it affected the ungodly as judgment.
2. Its progress. What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God. If the sons are chastised, what have the rebels to expect? Not with impunity shall any one, on any grounds whatever, disobey the gospel of God.
3. Its results. The righteous are saved with difficulty. In consequence of the severity of the trial, and their own weakness, they barely escape the judgments of the Most High (illustrated by the haste of the escape of the Christians to Pella). The ungodly are those who care not for God; sinners are those who make a trade of sin. What will be their doom?
II. The lesson to believers.Drawn from these facts:
1. An exhortation to those who suffer according to the will of God. They never suffer but when God wills, and He will not always chide, nor lay upon them more than they are able to bear.
2. What are such sufferers to do? Commit the keeping of their souls to God, and put all their strength into well-doing.
3. The encouragement to do this arises from the fact that He is a faithful Creator.Thornley Smith.
Suffering a Common Experience.All Christians are not tried as the Christians to whom Peter wrotethe Christians at the close of the Jewish dispensation; but all Christians meet with afflictions, and meet with afflictions because they are Christians; all suffer, and all suffer as Christians. We must never think ill of a cause merely because it is persecuted, nor indulge dark thoughts respecting the spiritual state and prospects of men merely because they are very severely afflicted. The absence of trial is a worse sign than what we may be disposed to think the excess of trial. It is not exposure to trial, but the endurance of trial, in a patient continuance in well-doing, that is a characteristic mark of those who obey the gospel of God.Dr. J. Brown.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 4
1Pe. 4:16. The Name Christian.There are only three places in the New Testament where the name Christian occurs. It is plain that for a long time there was no commonly recognised term of this kind. Hence they are called variously, they that believed (Act. 2:44), the disciples (Act. 6:1), those of the way (Act. 9:2), etc. Again, the name of Nazarenes was applied to them by the Jews, as a term of reproach, but plainly arose before the extension of the faith to the Gentiles. It was at Antioch that the large accession of Gentiles first made it impossible to look upon them merely as a Jewish sect, and required the use of some more distinctive title. It was natural, therefore, that the use of such a title should first prevail at Antioch. When the book [Acts of the Apostles] was written, towards the close of Pauls imprisonment at Home, the formation of churches in the chief cities of almost every province would awaken inquiry as to the origin of this new name, that was already in every ones mouth. How suitable, then, would be this passing remark of the historian (Act. 11:26), to show when and where it began to be current!Birks.
Called Christians.The word , used by St. Luke (they were called), implies the thing to have been done by some public and solemn act and declaration of the whole Church; such being the use of the word in the imperial edicts and proclamations of those times, the emperors being said to style themselves, when they publicly proclaimed by what titles they would be called. Such being the general acceptation of the word, St. Luke (who was himself a native of this city) makes use of it to express that solemn declaration whereby the disciples of the religion entitled themselves to the name of Christians.Cave.
1Pe. 4:17. The Danger of Unbelief.In one of the popular books of the present day there is a story told of The Sunken Rock. A vessel, named the Thetis, was cruising in the Mediterranean, in search of a shoal or bank, or something of that kind, said to exist beneath the treacherous waters. The captain, after he had adopted all the means he thought necessary, having failed, abandoned the enterprise, declaring that the reported danger was all a dream. An officer on board formed a different judgment, went out by himself on an expedition afterwards into the very same latitude and longitude, and there discovered a reef of rocks, which he reported to the Admiralty, and it was inserted in the charts, the discoverer being rewarded with a high appointment. The intelligence came to the captains ears; he would not believe in the discovery. He was a shrewd, clever, practical man, but unscientific, incredulous, and obstinate. The whole thing is a falsehood, he exclaimed; adding, If ever I have the keel of the Thetis under me in those waters again, if I dont carry her clean over where the chart marks a rock, call me a liar and no seaman. Two years after, he was conveying in the same vessel the British Ambassador to Naples. One windy night he and the master were examining the chart on deck by the light of the lantern, when the latter pointed out the sunken rock on the map. What! exclaimed the old seaman, is this invention to meet me in the teeth again? No; I swore I would sail over that spot the first chance I had, and Ill do it. He went down into the cabin, merrily related the story to the company, and said, Within five minutes we shall have passed the spot. There was a pause. Then, taking out his watch, he said, Oh, the time is past. We have gone over the wonderful reef. But presently a grating touch was felt on the ships keel, then a sudden shock, a tremendous crashthe ship had foundered. Through great exertions most of the crew were saved, but the captain would not survive his own mad temerity, and the last seen of him was his white figure, bareheaded, and in his shirt, from the dark hull of the Thetis, as the foam burst round her bows and stem, He perished, a victim of unbelief. So perish multitudes.
1Pe. 4:18. Scarcely Saved.There is such a fate as being saved, yet so as by fire, going into the brightness with the smell of fire on your garments.A. Maclaren, D.D.
CHAPTER 5
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
1Pe. 4:12-13 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trials among you, which cometh upon you to prove you, as though a strange thing happened unto you: but insomuch as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of His glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy.
Expanded Translation
Loved ones, you must not be surprised (amazed, astonished, shocked) concerning the fiery trial among you, which comes upon you to prove (test, try) you: as though something strange, unexpected, or surprising is happening to you: But insomuch as you are sharers (partners, partakers) in the sufferings of Christ, rejoice! that you may also rejoice greatly and exceedingly at the revelation (disclosure, appearance) of His glory when He comes again.
_______________________
Note the close similarity of 1Pe. 1:6-9, 1Pe. 3:17-18, 1Pe. 4:1-2.
Beloved, think it not strange
The trial was already upon them, and evidently to become more severe (1Pe. 4:7). They were not to be surprised or amazed at this, but should rather have expected it as a natural consequence of living the Christ-like life. (Think it strange (xenidzo) is defined in 1Pe. 4:4.)
concerning the fiery trial among you
i.e., trying, severe, and difficult trials. Fire is painful, but fire is also necessary in the refining process.
which cometh upon you to prove you
See comments, 1Pe. 1:7.
as though a strange thing happened unto you
We should be mentally and spiritually prepared for such tests (see under 1Pe. 1:13). Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2Ti. 3:12).
but insomuch as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings, rejoice
Christ was without fault of any kind, yet He suffered (1Pe. 2:21-23). He suffered as a result of living righteously. We should suffer for the same reason as our Master. A servant is not greater than his Lord, Jesus told His disciples. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you . . . (Joh. 15:20).
We cannot return to the hill of Calvary and agonize with our Lord there. Yet our fellowship with Him is not as it should be until we are so living from day to day so that times of suffering similar to His are our lot. For as the sufferings of Christ abound unto us, even so our comfort also aboundeth through Christ (2Co. 1:5). Paul not only wanted to know the power of Christs resurrection, but the fellowship of His sufferings (Php. 3:10).
When our suffering is a result of patterning our behavior after His Divine example, then we may truly have reason for rejoicing. Our consoling thought may then be, Because I am acting like Christ, I am being treated like Christ.
that at the revelation of His glory
When He comes the second time. No one will welcome that day more than those who have suffered (and are suffering) for Him! The hope of His coming and the joys to follow have sustained and encouraged these Christians through life. But their faith and hope will then become sight! Those in trial and affliction, above all people, are qualified to be looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God (2Pe. 3:12).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(12) Beloved.See Note on 1Pe. 2:11.
Think it not strange.The same word as in 1Pe. 4:4. It means, literally, to feel like people in a strange country, lost and bewildered. It is. further explained by the clause as though some strange thing were (by bad luck) happening unto you. These Hebrew Christians felt at first it was not what was to be expected, that those who attached themselves to the Messiah should have a life of sorrow and persecution in the world.
The fiery trial which is to try you.This rendering is not only slovenly, but conveys a false impression, for the fiery trial was not future, but actually present. Literally it runs, Be not bewildered at the conflagration among you taking place for a trial to you. Already, then, the Asiatic Christians are enduring a fierce persecution. The word which describes it is only found besides in Rev. 18:9; Rev. 18:18, burning. (Comp. 1Pe. 1:7.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(12-19) EXHORTATION TO COURAGE AND STEADFASTNESS IN PERSECUTION.All ought to be prepared for persecution. It is a blessed and glorious thing to have to bear it. A criminals death and a Christian martyrdom are the exact opposites of each other. Vengeance is speedily coming.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Special consideration of the persecution then imminent, with warnings as to the conduct appropriate, 1Pe 4:12-19.
Returning to the general subject introduced at 1Pe 3:13, the apostle reminds his readers that (1) they should expect to share Christ’s glory as well as his sufferings, 12, 13; (2) they should see to it that their sufferings are really for his sake, and not for crime, 14-16; and (3) that they will know but the beginning of God’s judgments, the terrible weight of which will fall on the ungodly, 17, 18.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
12. Think it not strange Be not surprised. The heathen were surprised (1Pe 4:4) at the life of Christians, but Christians need not be at persecution by the heathen.
Fiery trial The word means a burning, a being on fire, and the trying of metals by fire. It may mean here an actual suffering by fire, though perhaps only some severe trial which would be as if by fire. Bloomfield thinks there is an allusion to the questio, a torment by fire.
Try you See notes on chap. 1Pe 1:7. The Greek shows that those addressed were then passing through trials, but the whole passage points to an increase in their severity. The Neronian persecution began A.D. 64.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you, which is coming on you to prove you, as though a strange thing happened to you, but in as much as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory also you may rejoice with exceeding joy.’
The strength of Peter’s feelings now comes out in his addressing them again as ‘beloved’ (compare 1Pe 2:11 where he had reached a similar peak). As he thinks of their self-giving, self-sacrificial lives lived out in Christ in the face of difficulties his warm heart goes out to them, especially as he returns to the theme with which he began the chapter, ‘Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves therefore with the same mind’. For he loves them fervently too. It is because those who have suffered in the flesh with Christ have ceased from sin that such a life as he has described can be possible as they live their lives out in the will of God (1Pe 4:1-2).
Thus they are not to think it strange that they are outwardly having such a hard time. As we know from 1Pe 1:7 this is part of his central message, for there also he spoke of the fiery trial that was to prove their faith. But such fiery trial is necessary if they are to be presented perfect before Him. It is this fiery testing that will help to rid them of all the dross that mars their lives, and will bring them fully into the obedience of Christ as ‘children of obedience’ (1Pe 1:14). It is when His judgments are in the world that people learn righteousness.
Unlike the Jews, ex-Gentiles would not be used to religious persecution. To them it was indeed ‘strange. For it arose specifically from their worship of God and of Christ as the only God exclusive of all others. The Gentiles did not mind others having a different religion, but when that religion began to claim uniqueness it was a different matter. Thus Christians specifically suffered for the Name of Christ (compare Mat 5:11).
There is nothing in this language to necessitate more than local persecution of a kind revealed in Acts. The trial is ‘fiery’ because it acts like a refining fire (1Pe 1:7), not necessarily because actual fire is seen as at work, although the burning of people’s houses has often been the reaction of the mob, even back to ancient times (Jdg 15:6). But whatever happens they are to recognise that in suffering as Christians they are becoming partakers of Christ’s sufferings, and are to rejoice. Then when His full glory is revealed their rejoicing will be beyond measure. We can compare here Mat 5:10-12. ‘Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in Heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you’.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Persecution Is A Necessary Result Of Their Being United With Christ In His Sufferings For It Is The First Stage In The Judgment That Is Coming On All ( 1Pe 4:12-19 ).
Peter still has his eye firmly fixed on the fact that Judgment is coming for all men (1Pe 4:18). And he sees what is happening to God’s people through persecution as the beginnings of that judgment (1Pe 4:17). Through this judgment they will be spared the greater judgment, for it will purify and establish their faith (1Pe 1:6-7). But they must be careful to ensure that it comes on them for the right reasons, for His sake (1Pe 4:14).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Exhortation to Endure Suffering for Christ’s Sake 1Pe 4:12-19 serves as a closing exhortation to persevere until the end despite suffering for Christ’s sake based upon our future reward in Heaven.
The Neronian Persecutions – The fires of persecution had already begun in Rome under Nero, where Peter was writing this epistle (1Pe 5:13). This first surge of Roman persecutions would take the lives of the apostles Peter and Paul. These fiery waves of persecutions would continue for the next few centuries until Constantine became emperor (A. D. 312) and offered “toleration and Imperial favor” towards Christianity. [111]
[111] “Constantine the Great,” in The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, second edition, revised, ed. F. L. Cross (Oxford University Press, c1957, 1983), 338.
1Pe 5:13, “The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.”
1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:12
1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1Pe 4:13
Pro 11:31, “Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.”
1Pe 4:13 Illustration – We find an illustration of praise in the midst of persecutions when Paul and Silas sang praises after having been beaten and cast into prison in Act 16:19-25.
Act 16:25, “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.”
1Pe 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
1Pe 4:14
Mat 5:10-12, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
1Pe 4:15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.
1Pe 4:15
BDAG tells us that the meaning of this word “has not been determined with certainty.” He suggests from the context of 1Pe 4:15 that a more figurative meaning of “a concealer of stolen goods, a spy or informer” is appropriate. Goodspeed (a revolutionist), RSV (a mischief-maker).
This word is used only one time in the New Testament. Thayer tells us that it is found once outside the Scriptures (Dionysius the Areopagite, Epistolae 8) ( PG 3), where it means, “one who intrudes into another’s office.”
1Pe 4:16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
1Pe 4:16
In 1Pe 4:16 the author was not asking these believers to something that he himself had not already learned to do. In Acts 4:40-42 Peter and other apostles were beaten by the Jewish leaders for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.
Act 5:41, “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.”
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:17
[112] Rick Joyner, The Call (Charlotte, North Carolina: Morning Star Publications, 1999), 43-4.
He goes on to say that if God’s people would judge themselves before the Day of Judgment, that day will be glorious for them. If they do not live by God’s judgments, they will experience the sorrow that the world is about to know. His judgments are the same, for the saint, or for the sinner. If His judgments were partial and different for the church, then they would not be true judgments. For example, Jesus wrote epistles to the seven churches of Asia Minor in order to prepare them for His Second Coming and deliverance from the Great Tribulation (Revelation 2-3).
1Pe 4:18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:18
1Pe 4:18 Old Testament Quotes in the New Testament – Peter is quoting this verse from Pro 11:31 in the LXX.
Brenton, “If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
1Pe 4:18 Illustration – Noah and Lot were delivered (2Pe 2:5-8).
1Pe 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
1Pe 4:19
Comments – Note similar verses that teach us this same concept of entrusting ourselves into the Lord’s hands:
Act 14:23, “And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord , on whom they believed.”
Rom 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
2Ti 1:12, “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”
1Pe 5:7, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
Comments – This is a good definition of what it is to “live by faith.”
1Pe 4:19 “as unto a faithful Creator” Comments – Note other verses regarding God’s faithfulness:
1Co 10:13, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
2Ti 2:13, “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.”
Heb 10:23, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Final Exhortation (Application of Sermon) (Glorification): The Believer Can Rejoice in the Midst of Persecutions in Light of This Blessed Hope Once we have been enlightened to our blessed hope of the Heavenly Father (1Pe 1:3-12), and make the choice to sanctify ourselves by growing in the Word of God through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit (1Pe 1:13 to 1Pe 2:10), and we are living obedient to Jesus Christ with good works by submitting to authority (1Pe 2:11 to 1Pe 4:11), Peter then shows us how to apply our blessed hope to this life. We are to make the final choice of fulfilling our duties through perseverance by learning to rejoice in the midst of persecutions (1Pe 4:12 to 1Pe 5:9). The basis of our joy is the blessed hope we have reserved in Heaven for us in our future glorification. On the basis of our future glory with Christ in Heaven we are exhorted to be willing to suffer like Him (1Pe 4:12-19), and serve others as He served us (1Pe 5:1-9).
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. Exhortation to Endure Suffering 1Pe 4:12-19
2. Submission to Authority within the Church 1Pe 5:1-9
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Christians partakers of Christ’s sufferings:
v. 12. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you;
v. 13. but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
v. 14. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon you; on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. This section marks the beginning of the third and last part of the letter, in which the apostle once more returns to the theme of the suffering of the Christians: Beloved, do not think it strange because of the ordeal which is in your midst for your testing, as if something strange befell you. St. Peter purposely addresses his readers in the language of intimate friendship, in order to make his words all the more impressive. They should not be surprised or taken aback, they should not look upon it as unusual or strange, that they were just then passing through an ordeal which tried them very sorely. It was just as though the heat of tribulation had become so great in their midst as to cause a fierce fire, an experience which certainly was unpleasant to the flesh. For in reality these experiences were not foreign or strange to them, but were necessary for the proper testing of their faith.
And even more the apostle expects of them: But in the measure as you are partakers of the sufferings of Christ, rejoice, in order that also in the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. The sufferings of the Christians which come upon them as Christians are the same sufferings which struck their Lord and Master, since they are hated and persecuted by the children of the world. For a Christian it is a mark of distinction, and therefore a reason for rejoicing and being happy, to know that he has been counted worthy to follow in his Master’s footsteps also in this respect, Act 5:41. The Christians should have this feeling, that their inner happiness must increase to the very point of exultation as their sufferings increase, the culmination being reached on the day when their Lord will be revealed in glory and their everlasting enjoyment of His glory in heaven will begin. This was the secret of the patience, of the steadfastness, of the endurance of the martyrs, this was the power which sustained them in the midst of the most cruel and inhuman sufferings, their joy in the Lord, their certainty that they would become partakers of His glory on the last day.
From the revelation of the last day the apostle returns to the consideration of the present situation: But if you are reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you, for the spirit of glory and of God Himself is resting upon you; with them He is blasphemed, but with you He is glorified, That is the fate of the believers in this world: they are denounced, they are reproached because they bear the name of Christ, because they belong to Him, Mat 5:11. This scorn and contempt of the world is often more difficult to bear than oppression and persecution. The Christians are ostracized and regarded as narrow-minded fools, whose low state of intelligence does not permit men of learning to associate with them. And yet the Christians are blessed in the sight of God, and should consider themselves fortunate, because the Spirit of Glory, the Spirit of God Himself, has made His abode with them, is resting upon them. This Spirit had been promised by the Lord as the great Comforter, who was to give the disciples that assistance which they needed over against the enmity and hatred of the world, Joh 15:26-27; Joh 16:1-4. The Spirit, whom we have received by faith, in Baptism, rests upon us like a protecting hand, which reduces, in a measure, the fierceness of tribulation. He is the Spirit of Glory and therefore always increases the assurance of the believers with regard to their eventual possession of the heavenly glory, Rom 8:23; Eph 1:14. And He is the Spirit of the Father, He knows the heart and mind of the Father, He assures the Christians ever and again that God is still on their side. Thus it is a blessed advantage which the Christians have from their sufferings in the world, and they are brought into closer communion with their heavenly Father with every new day, praising the Holy Spirit as their Comforter and Friend, even though He be blasphemed by the children of the world.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
1Pe 4:12. St. Peter here returns to what he has often touched upon in this epistle; namely, to exhort the Christians to behave with patience and integrity under their present severe persecution. To which purpose he uses the following arguments: first, He insinuates that it was not a strange or unusual thing, for the people of God to be persecuted: secondly, Though they suffered here as Christ did, they should hereafter, if faithful, be glorified with him: thirdly, Besides the prospect of that future glory, they had at present the Spirit of God for their support and comfort: fourthly, That it was an honour for any one of them to suffer, not as a malefactor, but as a Christian: fifthly,Thoughafflictionsbegan with the Christians, yet the weight of the storm would fall upon the unbelievers.From these considerations he exhorted them to persevere in their duty, and trusts all events with God, 1Pe 4:12-19.
Think it not strange, &c. See on 1Pe 4:4. By serious and frequent meditations Christians should be prepared for the cross, and then they would not think persecution a strange thing: it would not then terrify or surprise them. See ch. 1Pe 1:6 1Pe 2:21. 1Th 3:3-4. By , fire or burning, is meant that trial as it were by fire, or that hot and fiery persecution of the Christians, which had then proceeded chieflyfrom the unbelieving Jews. The image is the same here as in ch. 1Pe 1:7 where see the note. This may help to explain Mat 24:7-9. For this fiery trial was a literal and exact accomplishment of that part of our Lord’s prophecy, then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, &c. This fiery persecution happened only for a trial of the Christians. It was not to burn them up, or a fire kindled to their destruction; but it was to prove them, whether they would conceal or deny the truth; whether they would give up Christianity, or continue true to their profession.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Pe 4:12 . Exhortation with reference to the sufferings under persecution. ] see chap. 1Pe 2:11 .
] cf. 1Pe 4:4 ; Nicol. de Lyra translates incorrectly: nolite a fide alienari; Luther correctly: “ let it not astonish you .”
] The construction cum dat. occurs also in classical Greek; , besides in this passage, to be found only in Rev 18:9 ; Rev 18:18 , where it is equal to, incendium. The LXX. translate and even by ; the substantive, Pro 27:21 , is an inexact translation of in the sense of “refining furnace;” Oec. correctly: , . The word, however, does not in itself contain the reference to purification, this is introduced only in what follows; Gualther: confert crucem igni, nos auro.
] “among, with you;” not equal to “affecting some in your midst” (de Wette), but “the readers are regarded as a totality, and the . as present in the midst of them” (Wiesinger).
The definite purpose of the is brought out in the subsequent words: . here means the trial with intent to purify (elsewhere it has also the secondary signification of designed temptation to sin); cf. chap. 1Pe 1:7 .
] points back to . Luther: “as though some strange thing happened unto you;” i.e. something strange to your destination, unsuited to it. [252]
[252] Schott here again supposes that in consequence of persecutions the leaders had become perplexed as to the moral truth of their state of salvation. This the context in no way justifies. What causes astonishment is rather the fact that the church belonging to the glorified Christ is exposed to the obloquy of the world.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
1Pe 4:12-19
Analysis:Further exhortation to readiness of suffering and becoming conduct in suffering. They are to consider suffering as inseparable from following Christ, as necessary to their trial, and instrumental toward their future glory, as rendering them partakers of the power of the Spirit, and as delivering them from the last judgment. But they should never lose sight of maintaining their difference from unbelievers
12Beloved,28think it not strange concerning29the fiery trial which is to try you,30as 13though some strange thing31happened unto you: But rejoice,32inasmuch as ye are partakers33 of Christs sufferings;34that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also35with exceeding joy.3614If ye be reproached for37the name of Christ, happy38 are ye;39for the Spirit of glory and40 of God resteth upon you:41on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.4215But let none of you suffer as a murderer, 16or as a thief, or as an evil doer, or as a43busybody in other mens matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God 44on this behalf.4517For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God:46and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 18And if the righteous47scarcely be saved48, where shall the ungodly and 19the sinner appear? Wherefore,49let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing,50as unto a faithful Creator.51
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The exhortations to readiness of suffering are repeated, but urged on different grounds.
1Pe 4:12. Beloved.This address, as in 1Pe 2:11, denotes the Apostles heart-felt sympathy with them in the sufferings concerning which he is consoling them.
Be not astonished at.If the heathen think the behaviour of Christians strange, Christians need not be surprised if unbelievers persecute them on that account, 1Pe 1:7, Steiger. . =burning, ignition, kindling, fire while burning, from , 2Pe 3:12; Rev 18:9; Pro 27:21; LXX. Zec 13:9. It is a simile of great tribulations, which burn like fire, but conduce to proof.[Cf. also Psa 66:10 in LXX. Oecumenius says, , .M.] , may mean which you feel within yourselves, better, which is among you.As the potter or the goldsmith adjusts the furnace to the earthen vessel or to the gold, so that it be neither too hot nor too cold, so God adjusts temptation (trial) to the strength of man and to the grace which He grants him, and suffers him not to be tempted beyond his ability to bear. Ephrem. , cf. 1Pe 1:7; Jam 1:2. Not unto perdition, but unto salvation. Even this moderates the pain of the heat. .Perhaps you consider the suffering accidental, interfering with Gods purpose concerning you, and putting you back in your Christianity, but know that it has been decreed from all eternity, it has been repeatedly foretold in the Scriptures, it has been the common experience of all believers from the beginning, and it is absolutely necessary for the mortification of the old man. That cannot be displeasing which is dealt by the hand of a friend. Gerhard.
1Pe 4:13. In as far as ye are partakers with the sufferings of Christ. .It is a great consolation that the believer is permitted to consider his sufferings as a partaking with the sufferings of Christ; but it is a greater consolation that he is permitted to infer his communion with the glory of Christ from his communion with His sufferings. denotes, at once the reason and the measure of the sufferings.
The sufferings of Christ, as in 1Pe 1:11; cf. 1Pe 2:21; 1Pe 3:18, not such as affect Him in His members, but such as He Himself endured in the days of His incarnation. Christians partake with them, if, for the sake of truth and righteousness, their experience of the worlds sin is similar to that of Christ. They are in Christ, and the hatred shown to them is really shown to Him, cf. Rom 8:17; Rom 8:29; 2Ti 2:11.
That ye may also at the revelation of His glory rejoice, exulting. , otherwise the day of the revelation of Christ would be to you a day of terror., as you now rejoice already in hope. , in contrast with the darkness of suffering, 1Pe 1:5; 1Pe 1:7; 1Pe 1:11., cf. 1Pe 1:8. The joy of the saints will be inward and outward, bodily and spiritual. Huss. The connection is, as given by Weiss: Only he who suffers with Christ and for His cause, is a true disciple of Christ. Such an one may cherish the expectation of the heavenly reward of partaking with His glory, even as Christ has promised again and again, Mat 10:38-39; Mat 16:24-25; Luk 9:23-24; Luk 14:27; Joh 12:26; Joh 14:3; Joh 17:24; Mat 5:12; Luk 6:22-23. The real life-communion with Christ, as we find it described in the writings of Paul, is not affirmed here.
1Pe 4:14. If ye are reproached in (German, for) the name of Christ. . , often like =revealed being (revelation of the being, i. e., nature and existence). Joh 17:6; Joh 17:26; Joh 1:12; Act 3:16; Act 4:12; Heb 2:12, also=order, command. Here in its proper sense =the name and whatever it involves. Mar 9:41 contains the best key to the exposition. The passage reads: For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. As the benefactions of others may be the result of their belonging to Christ, so it may be with their hatred. They reproach you because you confess, call upon and bear the name of Christ, which they hate. cf. 1Pe 4:16. , and Mat 5:11; Luk 6:22. Christ is to the world a hateful name; if one preaches it, he must suffer. The reproaches cast at their persons and conversation probably proceeded from unbelieving Jews, who blasphemed the name of Christ, Jam 2:7.
Blessed are yeresteth upon you., cf. 1Pe 3:14. Their state of bliss is inferred from the glory already existing, although invisible to ordinary eyes. Spirit of glory denotes the Holy Spirit, because, as Calov explains it, He brings glory and seals it in suffering. This Spirit being given to you with the communion of Christ, you are even now, by faith and hope, partakers of future glory, you anticipate it in the Spirit, and therefore you are blessed, cf. 1Pe 1:8. Hence Paul, in the further development of this thought, called the Spirit the earnest of the inheritance, Eph 1:14. , this second predicate is added by way of explanation. It is not the spirit of Elijah, or of an angel, but the Spirit of God. This is to the Apostle so great and so blessed a thing, that though the world is against them, God is for them, as their shield and exceeding great reward. Wiesinger. .The reference appears to be to Isa 11:2; cf. 2Ki 2:15. Luk 10:6. , with the Accus., denotes the descent of the Spirit on them., according to Olshausen, contains the idea of an abiding that cannot be overthrown, even by doubts and temptations. It is cognizable to those whose spiritual vision has been rendered acute, and is evinced chiefly in a meek spirit of suffering.
[Wordsworth:The glory and happiness of suffering for God in the fire of persecution might also well occur to his mind at Babylon, where he is writing, and where he would be cheered by a remembrance of the three faithful children walking unhurt in the fiery furnace with the Son of God. (Dan 3:1-25.)M.]
On their partglorified.[See note 14 in Appar. Critic.M.] With and among them, the children of the world, as is their nature and wont, He is evil spoken of; they traduce the spirit of suffering as a degrading and slavish spirit, and humility as cowardice. These invectives fall back on the Spirit Himself.Others connect with , which is rather a forced construction. Among you it is glorified by the consolations, the quietness and peace which it brings to you; thus it evinces its Divine power, and excites your praise and gratitude. The passage gives a good sense, and it would be a pity if it were spurious [as the authorities declare it to be.M.]
1Pe 4:15. For let none of youpryer into other mens matters.Here the Apostle takes up the preceding blessedness (, 1Pe 4:14), and in the form of exhortation emphatically declares that the value of such patient suffering depends on the condition that those who endure it must be innocent sufferers, 1Pe 2:20; 1Pe 3:17. This is expressed first negatively, then positively. Here is an evident allusion to Mat 5:11, if they say all manner of evil against you falsely (lying). .The reference is not to real accusations which had been brought against them, but to the possibility that such offences might occur among them, as Paul warns the Ephesians against stealing, Eph 4:28., cf. 1Pe 2:12; 1Pe 2:14; 1Pe 3:16-17, in a general, moral sense, not as denoting political offences, as if this had been the official description of Christians, according to Suetonius, Vita Neronis, c. 16, which cannot be proved. See Weiss, p. 367., a term unknown to the Greeks. It denotes one arrogating to himself the oversight of matters with which he has no concern. Such indiscreet zeal is not uncommon, as Hottinger remarks, among new religious communities. This may have been a frequent temptation to the primitive Christians, owing to their consciousness of more enlightened views. It is more than , 2Th 3:11. Cyprian: alienas euros agens, cf. 1Ti 5:13; 1Th 4:11; Luk 12:14. [ . Hanc explicationem probat 1, ipsa vocis compositio 2, veterum expositio, Tert. Cypr. Aug. 3, temporis et loci circumstantia. Procul dubio quidam Christiani, ex incogitantia, temeritate et levitate, in actiones infidelium utpote vicinorum suorum curiosius inquirebant, eas propria arbitrio redarguebant ac judices eorum esse volebant, quod non pertinebat ad eorum vocationem. Gerhard.M.]
1Pe 4:16. But if (he suffer) as a Christian.The name Christian appears at that time to have been adopted by believers, Act 11:26; Act 26:28. In the opinion of their enemies, the name was infamous, and so we must understand it here, cf. 1Pe 4:14. With the Jews it was tantamount to sectary, renegade and rebel; with the heathen it was equal to atheist.
Let him not be ashamed.Cf. Rom 1:16 : 2Ti 1:8; 2Ti 1:12. Such sufferings conduce not to shame, but to honour; they are precious jewels in the sight of God. Calov. Act 5:41.
But let him glorify God in this part.On account of the antithesis, Peter might have said: Let him rather glory; but he teaches that the glory must be ascribed to God. Bengel. Let him glorify God by patience, by good courage, confessing the faith, and by joyful praises and thanksgiving. .(Lachmann and Tischendorf read at because of the name of Christ. Others render, less aptly; matter, case). [See Appar. Crit., 1Pe 4:16, note 17. M.]Steiger:In this lot which falls to him. It is difficult to prove this use of . It is rather to be taken as 1Pe 3:16. , they were to glorify God in the very thing for which they were slandered, viz.: their faith in Christ.
1Pe 4:17 introduces a new ground why Christians should gladly suffer for Christs sake. Possessed of such a mind (the mind of suffering gladly for Christs sake), they will be delivered from the near and inevitable judgment of God which is about to burst on unbelievers, but begins at the Church of God in the persecutions that are coming on her. The former will feel the whole weight of the judgment, the latter its first beginnings only, whereby they are saved.
It is time.As it is the inflexible purpose of God that we must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God, and as it is a well-known law of the Divine kingdom that judgment must begin at the city and house of God, Jer 25:29; Jer 10:13; Jer 14:18-19; Jer 49:12; Amo 3:14; Eze 9:6; Eze 21:4; Heb 12:6, as manifested in the troubles of Israel in Egypt and in the wilderness, so now is the season of the judgment, for the end of all things is at hand, 1Pe 4:7.
The judgment.To believers it is a paternal chastisement, contemplating their deliverance from unknown and unrepented sins, in order that they may not be condemned with the world 1Co 11:28; 1Co 11:31; it is to them a judgment of mercy, but to unbelievers a judgment of wrath, revealing the punitive justice of God. The one leads to salvation, the other to perdition, cf. Luk 23:30; Mat 25:41; Rev 6:15-17; Rev 9:11-15; Rom 2:5; 2Th 1:6.
At the house of God.Cf. 1Pe 2:5; 1Ti 3:15. The Church of the Lord. Steiger has several quotations from the Rabbis stating that the judgment will begin with the righteous.
What will be the end of them?What will be their final state? If the sons are chastised, what have the most malicious slaves to expect? How will it fare with the unrighteous before Thee, if Thou dost not even spare Thy believing children, in order to exercise and instruct them? Augustine.Cf. Luk 23:31; Jer 49:12; Psa 1:6..Cf. 1Pe 2:8; 1Pe 3:20; Joh 16:8-9. [Bengel:Judicium, initio tolerabilius, sensim ingravescit. Pii sua parte perfuncti cum immunitate spectant miserias impiorum: impii dum pios affligunt, suam mensuram implent et discunt quua ipsorum portio futura sit: sed id melius sciunt pii, quare patientes sunt.M.].
1Pe 4:18. If the righteous hardly is saved.The thought of 1Pe 4:17 is verified and strengthened by the verbatim quotation of Pro 11:31 in the LXX. The Apostle may also have remembered the accounts which Christ Himself gave of the great perils of the last temptations, Mat 24:12-13; Mat 24:22; Mat 24:24., with difficulty, with hard pains and not without suffering. , Psa 1:4-5, describes the ungodly as chaff which the wind scattereth away.=, one who as a believer leads a life well-pleasing and acceptable to God, is justified and follows after righteousness. The opposite, and = sc., unto life eternal. The opposite, to be lost, to fall hopelessly into perdition.
1Pe 4:19. Whereforewell-doings.General conclusion from the entire exhortation. If suffering according to the purpose of God is so necessary, if it contemplates such glorious ends, we ought patiently to submit to this Divine necessity (German:gttlichem Muss), 1Pe 1:6; 1Pe 5:9, commit our soul to Him, on whom we have a firm and sacred hold, and never lose sight of the equal necessity that we continue in well-doing. Some take it as in 1Pe 3:14; others join it with , although it is never used to strengthen . Better follow Wiesinger: The end and aim of every thing should be the glory of God, 1Pe 4:11, hence also suffering. Those also who do not suffer are to commit their souls to the faithful Creator.
According to the will of God.1Pe 3:17; 1Pe 4:17. This contains a consolation and a reason for the following exhortation. .He has not only created our souls originally, but also created them anew in Christ. Inasmuch as He is faithful, it is His blessed will to finish the good work He has begun, and to make good all His promises. As our Creator, He has the first claim upon us, Act 4:24. [Oecumenius: .M.].As Christs dying words were: Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit, Luk 23:46; cf. 1Pe 1:9.He is the most trusty Guardian of our souls, Psa 31:6; Ecc 12:7, and our bodies also are in the hands of God. Without His will, not a hair of His children can be hurt. As the most faithful, He will preserve them, as the most mighty He can do it. Gerhard..In well-doings. The apposition goes back to 1Pe 4:15 and 1Pe 4:16. Trust in God and well-doing must be in-dissolubly united. Only inasmuch as faith restores the primal spiritual relation of Creator and creature, man is warranted to rejoice over this faithfulness of the Creator. Steiger. Cf. Mat 10:28; 1Co 10:13; 2Pe 2:9; Psa 138:8; Psa 103:14.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. There is no reward attached to suffering as such; it is only the patience and constancy with which, for Christs sake, suffering is borne, to which reward is mercifully promised.
2. The Holy Ghost who rests upon saints, protects them, shines forth from them, is called the Spirit of Glory because, says Roos, He is holy, and causes His holiness to radiate, and because He is worthy of being glorified by men and all other creatures.
3. The fire of trial belongs to Christianity, it is the rule, not the exception. Richter.
4. Why does judgment begin at the house of God? 1. There is one law for the Church as a whole, and for the individual members of it. Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, Heb 12:6. A father, if he is earnestly opposed to evil, chastises first his children, afterward his household. He is first severe to the former, afterward also to the latter. Since cleansing from sin is the end contemplated, enlightened believers recognize a merciful provision in being judged now that they may be saved hereafter. Hence it is one of the prerogatives of the house of God that it is destined to pass through the judgment of grace in time, in order that it may be saved from the future judgment of wrath. 2. Because thereby the accuser of our souls and censurer of Gods ways, and his followers, are silenced and deprived of all objections against the justice of God.
5. 1Pe 4:17 is not in conflict with Joh 3:18. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already; all that is necessary is to distinguish the judgment of grace from the judgment of wrath, and temporal punishment from eternal.
6. The words, It is time that judgment should beginsupply a hint concerning the date of this Epistle. The destruction of Jerusalem could not have taken place when the author wrote this passage.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The cross, the fire-proof of faith.Why ought we not to be astonished at the heat of tribulation? a. It comes from God. b. It is designed to put us to the test. c. It is meet that the flesh should suffer and that sinners should have trouble, d. The way of Christ goes through sufferings to glory, e. Suffering with Christ is a token of the state of grace and an earnest of future glory. f. Sufferings are no disgrace but an honour, g. They are attended by a sense of blessedness in the foretaste of expected glory, h. The patience which we exhibit saves us from the judgment of wrath, which overtakes the ungodly, i. Not even the smallest injury can befall believers without the will of God, and all things must conduce to their salvation.What is suffering with Christ? a. Not to do any wrong that renders us liable to just punishment, b. To suffer innocently for righteousness sake. c. To suffer for Christs sake, and in communion with Him.
Zeller: Like as our secular princes distinguish faithful and constant servants and victorious generals with the badge of some order, so the Lord of lords distinguishes His faithful servants and victors with crosses of suffering in order to prepare them a joy, as with a cross of honour and a token and assured expectation of the great honour that, as those, who with Christ continue patient in suffering, they shall be blessed hereafter with joy and gladness when at His second and even at His third coming, He shall reveal the glory of His power, and raise them to participation in the glory of His kingdom.
Besser: As our Lord at His first coming began with the purifying of the Temple, so it is the token of the commencement of His second coming that He refines His house as with a refiners fire. Mal 3:2.
Starke: Little pain, great refreshing. Both with Christ, how glorious! What is taken from thee, for which thou dost not receive a million-fold reward? What boots then, thy complaining and weeping? Let us look upon the future and sweeten therewith the present. Marks [German Moles Maalzeichen.M.] of Christ are tokens of honour. Disgrace before the world is exaltation before God and His angels.Peter had made experience both of being astonished at the heat of tribulation, Mat 16:22, and of rejoicing in suffering with Christ, Act 5:41.Partners in the fight, partners in the coronation. As surely as thou art suffering for Christs sake, so surely thou wilt be eternally clothed with joy and glory.Art thou faint-hearted and timid in the state of temptation, observe where thou art suffering for Christs sake, and rejoice, for this is to thee an infallible token that thou art the Lords, Joh 15:19. Thou sayest: I have to suffer much; examine thyself, if it is not thine own fault; if it is, do not complain, but repent and amend. Lam 3:39.If a Christian, who is neither in the magistracy nor the ministry, is unable to do anything towards the improvement of much that is disorderly, it is enough for him to sigh, to desire and to commit it to God, Eze 9:4.They call thee, and thou art a Christian; then remember thy Head from whom thou hast thy name, thy anointing which thou hast received from Him, 1Jn 2:27, and thy duty, to follow Him, Mat 10:38.The wrath of God is no jest. Fear, whosoever thou art, for sin which cannot stand before the judgment seat, cleaves to thee, Job 34:11.Many sorrows shall be to the wicked, Psa 32:10, while the godly simply hold and taste the cup of God, the ungodly have to drink the very dregs, Psa 75:9.Unbelief is the greatest sin and the real cause of the temporal and eternal judgments of God, Mar 16:16.Let none envy the prosperity of the wicked: alas! it will fare ill with them in eternity, unless they repent, Psa 73:12.A true Christian ought neither to cause his own sufferings, nor wish for them, but commit everything to the will of God, 1Sa 3:18.Whoso committeth his soul to God must be in a state of grace and holiness, otherwise all his committing is lost and in vain. Job 16:17.The soul, if we die a happy death, will surely go to God, who will preserve it as an immortal spirit, and the more so because it has been saved by Christ and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, Joh 5:24.
Roos: God decrees punishment on the righteous on account of their probable indolence, on account of their abuse of His grace and means of grace, or also on account of other disorders and failures, which, unless they are checked, might lead us to positive falling away from grace.The word of God announces loving severity and wholesome strictness; God is very exact with His family.
Lisco: Blessed are innocent sufferers.The hidden glory of the sharers of Christ reign. The different import of sufferings, a, in the house of God; b, in sinners.
Stier: How Christians ought to submit to suffering.
Kapff: The school of the cross, the school of heaven; 1, There is no way to heaven without the cross; 2, Heaven is opened in the cross; 3, The crown of the cross is in heaven.
[Leighton:
1Pe 4:12. In these fires, as faith is tried, the word on which faith relies is tried, and is found all gold, most precious, no refuse in it. The truth and sweetness of the promises are much confirmed in the Christians heart upon his experiment of them in his sufferings; his God is found to be as good as His word, being with him when he goes through the fire, Isa 43:2, preserving him that he loses nothing except dross, which is a gainful loss, leaving only his corruption behind him.
1Pe 4:13. I remember what that pious duke is said to have declared at Jerusalem, when they offered to crown him king there, Nolo auream, ubi Christus spineam.
1Pe 4:14. Here what the Apostle had said, concerning suffering in general, he specifies in the particular case of suffering reproaches; but this expression seems not to come up to the height of that which he has used before; he spoke of fiery trial, but this of reproach seems rather fit to be called an airy trial, the blast of vanquishing words. Yet upon trial it will be found to be (as it is here accounted) a very sharp, a fiery trial, cf. Jam 3:6.M.]
[Macknight:
1Pe 4:12. The metaphor is old but noble: it represents the Christians at Pontus as having fire cast upon them, for trying of their faith, as gold is tried by fire, 1Pe 1:7, to which the Apostle alludes.M.]
[1Pe 4:17. In Bava Kama, fol. 60, 1. the following passage occurs: God never punishes the world but because of the wicked, but He always begins with the righteous first. The destroyer makes no difference between the just and the unjust: only he begins first with the righteous.M.]
Footnotes:
[28]1Pe 4:12. [ , Pass., see 1Pe 4:4, be not astonished at. On the construction of this Verb with the Dative, see Winer, p. 222.M.]
[29]1Pe 4:12. [, literally, burning, figuratively, trial by fire; the rendering of E. V. must be regarded as very felicitous, =which is taking place among you (or as Alford renders, in your case) for a trial to you.M.]
[30]1Pe 4:12. [=as if.M.]
[31]1Pe 4:12. [ =some strange thing were happening to you.M.]
[32]1Pe 4:13. [ is supported by A. B. K. L., Rec. and many others; , a less authentic reading; translate in as far as, (Alford) or in the degree to which (German); cf. Rom 8:26; 2Co 8:12.M.]
[33]1Pe 4:13. [ . . .=ye are partakers with the sufferings of Christ.M.]
[34]1Pe 4:13. [Translate, In order that ye may also at (=in) the revelation of his glory rejoice.M.]
[35]1Pe 4:13. [=exulting, Participle.M.]
[36]1Pe 4:14. [If ye are reproached, with Indicative.M.]
[37]1Pe 4:14. [ =in the name of Christ, cf. Mat 5:11; 1Pe 3:14.M.]
[38]1Pe 4:14. [=blessed are ye.M.]
[39]1Pe 4:14. [=because, it gives the reason why they are blessed.M.]
[40]
1Pe 4:14. [On the Article with attributives, see Winer, p. 144. Translate: the Spirit of glory, and that of Godthe Spirit of Glory, who is none else than Gods Spirit Himself. For classical illustrations, see Winer.M.]
[A. (Griesbach, Scholz and Lachmann insert after , ); so Sinait.; but (Tischendorf rejects the addition).M.]
[41]1Pe 4:14. [ , . This clause stands in Recept., K. L. and others,] but is wanting in A. B., Sinaitic. and many MSS. Lachmann and Tischendorf, also Alford reject it. [It is in all probability a gloss.M.]
[42]1Pe 4:15. [=for.M.]
[43]1Pe 4:15. [, a , denoting overseeing other peoples affairs, prying into them. Alford: Pryer into other mens matters. De Wette: an impertinent; but see note below.M.]
[44]1Pe 4:16. [ . Rec. reads instead of , with K. L.; but the former reading has more weighty authorities, and is sustained by Lachmann, Tischendorf and Alford. Translate: in this name, i. e., the name of .M.]
[45]1Pe 4:17. [ =because it is the season, Alford; (because) it is time, German.M.]
[46]1Pe 4:17. [Translate: of the judgment beginning at the house of God, but if (it begin) first at us, what (will be) the end of them that are disobedient to the Gospel of God?M.]
[47]1Pe 4:18. [=with difficulty, hardly (German).M.]
[48]1Pe 4:18. [=is saved. Translate, to bring out the force of the Greek: the ungodly and the sinner where shall he appear? Alford.M.]
[49]1Pe 4:19. [ . . .=wherefore let also them who suffer, etc.M.]
[50]1Pe 4:19. Tischendorf reads , a more authentic reading than .
[51]1Pe 4:19. is omitted in A. B., Sinait., and by Lachmann [and Alford; it is inserted in Rec., with K. L. and others.M.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 2408
PERSECUTION FOR CHRISTS SAKE
1Pe 4:12-16. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil-doer, or as a busy-body in other mens matters. Yet, if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
THE quiet and repose which Christians enjoy at this day, may seem to render a discourse on the subject of persecution quite uninteresting. But the whole New Testament abounds with warnings to expect it, encouragements to endure it, and directions how to conduct ourselves under it: nor is there any intimation given that this state of things was to be confined to the first ages, when Christianity was new in the world; or that the offence of the cross should ever cease. On the contrary, we are taught to expect, that they who are born after the flesh only, will hate those who are born after the Spirit; and that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. The circumstance of Christianity having become the national religion, may justly be supposed to have abated somewhat of the fury of persecutors; whilst the protection afforded by the laws of the land keeps within bounds their hostility against those whom they hate for righteousness sake. But I am not sure that much of our repose may not be ascribed to the low state of religion amongst us: and I cannot but think, that, if God were to pour out his Spirit upon us as he did on the primitive Church, and our light were to burn as bright as theirs, there would yet be found much the same rancour in the hearts of men against vital godliness now, as there was in former days: for there are not wanting at this hour many proofs of what men would do to suppress real piety, if the toleration accorded to us by the laws did not restrain them. At all events, we know not what trials we ourselves personally may be called to endure, even though the Church at large should still continue to enjoy tranquillity: and for these we ought to be prepared. The words before us are admirably calculated to fortify our minds against all that at any time may come upon us; since, whilst they teach us to expect persecution for righteousness sake, they shew us,
I.
In what light we should view it
We should not think it strange, as though some strange thing happened unto us
[God has seen fit to ordain that his people should be subjected to fiery trials, not only for the discovery of their graces, but also for the improvement of them. To them he has given a new nature, altogether different from that which they brought into the world with them,a nature, which for its excellence may be compared to gold: but there still remains in them much dross, which must be purged away: and, as gold is both ascertained and purified by the action of fire, so must these be tried and purified in the furnace of affliction. Of course, their persecutors have no such object in view: they seek only to suppress the piety that offends them: but God has other, and very opposite, ends to accomplish: He seeks their advancement in the divine life, and will suffer no heavier trial to assault them than what he has strengthened them to bear, and will overrule for their eternal welfare. True it is that, notwithstanding he has taught us to expect these things, we are ready to account them strange: we think it strange that such trials should come upon us, and from such quarters, and on us who have done so little to deserve them. But we should remember, that the same trials are accomplished also in our brethren who are in the world [Note: 1Pe 5:9.]; and that none have come upon us but what are common to man, nor any which God will not enable us to sustain [Note: 1Co 10:13.]: and under this conviction we should receive them as our appointed lot, and submit to them as dispensations ordained by God for our eternal good.]
We should rather regard it as a ground of joy
[On this subject there is but one testimony throughout all the Holy Scriptures. Our blessed Lord says, If ye be persecuted for righteousness sake, rejoice ye, and leap for joy. St. Paul tells us, that the true Christian will glory in tribulations [Note: Rom 5:3.]: and that he himself actually took pleasure in them from the consideration that Christs strength would thereby be displayed and glorified [Note: 2Co 12:10.]. St. James bids us count it all joy when we fall into divers temptations: and gives it as his deliberate judgment, We count them happy that endure [Note: Jam 1:2; Jam 5:11.]. St. Peter, as this whole epistle informs us, had the same view of the subject: and therefore we feel warranted in saying to all of you, If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye.]
In confirmation of this sentiment, I proceed to shew,
II.
What reason we have for viewing it in that light
Certainly it appears strange and paradoxical that the most cruel persecution for Christs sake should be considered as a ground of joy. But this view of it is just: for, when we suffer for Christs sake,
1.
We are made partakers of Christs sufferings
[We all know, that if any part of the human body suffer, whether the head or members, the whole participates in the pain. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is the head of his mystical body, and we are the members: and when he suffered on the cross, we suffered with him; as it is written, We are crucified with Christ; we died with him; we were buried with him [Note: Gal 2:20. Rom 6:4; Rom 6:8.]. So when we suffer, he suffers, as it were, with us: as he said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me [Note: Act 9:4.]? In all our afflictions he is afflicted [Note: Isa 63:9.]: and he who toucheth us, toucheth the apple of his eye [Note: Zec 2:8.]. As far as respects an atonement made for sin, he suffered alone: but, that we may be conformed to his image in all things, he has ordained that his Church should complete and fill up the measure of his sufferings: so that, though in his own person he is beyond the reach of mans cruelty, he is still enduring much from it in the persons of his people. In truth, it is not on their own account that his people suffer any tiling. If we would but renounce our allegiance to him, the world would find no more occasion against us. It is for His sake that they hate us. They hate not us, but Christ in us: nor do they persecute us, but Christ in us. Therefore our sufferings are his; and, in enduring them, we are truly partakers of his sufferings.
Now then I would ask, If when he drank the bitter cup even to the dregs, and left, as it were, but a drop for us to taste, shall we account it a hard matter to put it to our lips for his sake? No: we should rather rejoice that an opportunity is afforded us of so testifying our love to him.]
2.
The Spirit of God descends into our bosom, to support and comfort us
[The Spirit is here called The Spirit of glory and of God; as being one with the Father, who is the God of glory [Note: Act 7:2.]; and one with the Son, who is the Lord of glory [Note: 1Co 2:8.]. His office it is to descend and dwell with the saints, as their Comforter [Note: Joh 14:16.]. And when we really suffer for Christs sake, it is both an evidence that he does rest upon us, and a pledge that he will be with us in a more abundant measure. If the Holy Spirit had not already wrought faith in our hearts, and put somewhat of the image of Christ upon our souls, the world would have suffered us to rest in peace: for if we were of the world, the world would love its own; but because we are not of the world, but Christ has chosen us out of the world, therefore the world hateth us [Note: Joh 15:19.]. But the enmity of the world on account of what we have received from this divine Agent, only serves to call down upon us yet richer communications, even such as shall be sufficient to bear us up under our trials, and to make us conquerors over all our enemies.
And shall not this reconcile us to sufferings? Or, should any trials be deprecated, which are productive of so great a benefit? If the loss of Christs bodily presence was a proper ground of joy to the Disciples, because of the presence of the comforter, who would come to them in his stead [Note: Joh 16:6-7.], much more may any loss or any trials be welcomed by us, if they may but lead to a more abundant effusion of this divine Spirit upon our souls.]
3.
God is particularly glorified in us
[Doubtless, on the part of the persecutors, God is dishonoured and blasphemed; but on the part of the sufferers he is glorified. Behold a man enduring sufferings for righteousness sake: what does he say to all who behold him? In respect of words, he may be silent, as a lamb before its shearers: but by his actions, he proclaims in accents that cannot be misunderstood, My Lord is worthy of all this: never can I shew my love to him sufficiently: if I had a thousand lives, they would be well disposed of in his service: I am ready to bear any thing for him; and am so far from regretting that my love is thus put to the test, that I am thankful for it, inasmuch as it gives me an opportunity of evincing my sense of his excellency, and the ardour of my love towards him.
In another view, too, his sufferings advance the glory of God; because they shew how powerful that grace must be, which enables a poor feeble worm to bear them, yea, and to rejoice and glory in them. Many persecutors have been perfectly amazed at the patience of the saints under the most cruel torments that could be inflicted on them: and have been led by the very conduct of the sufferers, not only to embrace the principles which were so mighty in operation, but even to subject themselves to the same torments which they themselves had inflicted upon them.
How does divine grace triumph on such occasions as these! And who would not be willing to suffer, if only Christ might be so magnified, and the efficacy of his grace be so displayed [Note: Php 1:20. 2Co 4:10-11.]?]
4.
Our eternal happiness is augmented
[Soon will that Saviour who once died upon the cross come again in his glory to judge the world. Then will he gather together his elect from every quarter of the world; and bestow on them that recompence of reward, to which, whilst suffering for his sake, they had looked forward. He had told them beforehand, that if they suffered with him, they should also be glorified together. He had told them, that their light and momentary afflictions should work for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Even whilst they were in this life, he had given them an hundred-fold for all that they had lost or endured for his sake: but then will be the time for their full reward.
Tell me then, I pray you, Will Moses in that day regret that he had esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt? Or will those feel any regret, who, when tortured, would not accept deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection? Will any of the Apostles regret that they sealed the truth with their blood? Or will any of you regret that you were faithful unto death, when God shall put upon your heads the crown of life? No: one moment of that joy will far overbalance whole years of pain. What then will not be our triumph through all eternity?]
But, as this subject may be misapplied, let me shew you,
III.
What we should especially guard against, in relation to it
We must not bring trials on ourselves by any misconduct of our own
[It is possible enough, that a wild enthusiast may fancy himself at liberty to disregard all human laws, and, whilst suffering for the violation of them, may conceive himself to be bearing the cross of Christ. Even war itself has been waged, under the idea of its being a service acceptable to God: and within our own memory has a spirit of insubordination and rebellion been too lightly cherished under the cloak of religion. But when persons reap the just reward of such conduct, so far are they from honouring God, that they greatly dishonour him, and expose religion itself to hatred and contempt. The being a busy-body in other mens matters, is no uncommon character amongst those who profess religion; and who indulge an assuming, prying, officious spirit, under the idea of rendering a service to God and man. We may also yet more commonly see amongst professors a neglect of their own proper calling; an intrusion into the callings of others; a substitution of services which do not belong to them, in the place of others which are proper to their situation; an impatience of reproof; an unbecoming pertness towards their superiors; and a self-will, that knows no bounds. Ah, brethren! if ye suffer for such conduct as this, think not that ye are to expect any recompence at the hands of God: the cross which you are called to bear is not Christs, but your own: and what is inflicted on you by man is only a prelude of a yet sorer punishment that shall be inflicted on you by God, even by that God whom you profess to serve, but whose name you dishonour, and whose displeasure you incur.]
But, if we suffer really as Christians, we may rejoice in all that we endure
[Our enemies may think that they load us with disgrace: but shame in such a cause is no shame: it is honour: and we may take it up, and bind it on us as a diadem. The Apostles, when imprisoned and scourged for the truths sake, went out from their persecutors, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ. And thus may we do, turning the very indignities that are cast upon us into an occasion of praise to God. Thus out of the eater we shall bring forth meat, and out of the strong we shall bring forth sweetness.]
Two hints, as rising from this subject, I would beg leave to suggest:
1.
In embracing religion, be deliberate
[Religion, sooner or later, will subject you to trials: for our Lord has plainly warned us, that, if we will be his disciples, we must deny ourselves, and take up our cross, and follow him. He tells us farther, that, if we hate not father and mother, and even life itself, for his sake, we cannot be his disciples. Then, before we profess ourselves his people, we should count the cost: we should consider, whether we are willing to part with all for the pearl of great price. To what trials we may be subjected, we know not; but we must be prepared for the worst. For I have no hesitation in saying, that it were better never to follow Christ at all, than to follow him for a season, and then turn back from him: It were better never to have known the way of righteousness, than, after having known it, to turn away from it: for the last end of such a man is worse than his beginning.]
2.
In maintaining it, be firm
[If persecution arise for righteousness sake, you must not be thinking how you may escape it, so much as how you may glorify God under it. I mean not to say, that, if persecuted in one city, you may not flee to another; for that liberty was conceded by our Lord himself to his Disciples: but this I mean; that you should not for a moment think of conciliating your enemies by any sinful concession. Your duty to God must be paramount to every other consideration. Your great concern must be, to approve yourselves faithful to him. The Hebrew Youths with the fiery furnace in their view, and Daniel in expectation of the den of lions, thought of nothing but their duty to their God. So you must fear God, and God only. And, if it please God that you should be called to martyrdom itself, be content to go through much tribulation in your way to the kingdom; and to ascend to heaven in a chariot of fire.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: (13) But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. (14) If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. (15) But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. (16) Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. (17) For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? (18) And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? (19) Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
It is probable the Apostle had in view the ruin of Jerusalem when he thus spake; which, according to our Lord’s prophecy concerning it, was then drawing nigh, and which was afterwards most awfully accomplished. All that is here said of their being reproached for Christ, and the time being come of judgment, beginning at Jerusalem, in the temple, that is, the house of God, literally took place. But the directions will, in a greater or lesser degree, suit the Church of Christ in all ages. And our holy faith hath the sweetest, and most complete consolations in Jesus himself, for the support of all his people. I do not think it necessary in this place to go over them again, or to offer any other. But I shall beg to dwell upon one of the Apostles observations in this paragraph, which, perhaps may not be so generally understood, but which may be profitable, under grace to regard.
The Apostle, having stated some of the very trying exercises which he foresaw would take place in the Church, and among the Lord’s people, observes, that if such be the chastisements of God on his redeemed, which were all to sanctify, and not to expiate; he demands, in a solemn manner, what must be the awful destruction of the despisers of the Gospel, on whom these punishments would fall in a way of judgment, unmingled with mercy? For, saith he, And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? It is this passage I would beg the Reader to indulge me with offering a few observations upon.
In the Proverbs of Solomon, we find somewhat similar, in a comparative statement, of the godly, and the irreligious; from whence, it is probable, the Apostle might take the expression. Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth; much more the wicked and the sinner, Pro 11:31 . If both were recompensed according to their deserts, and without an eye to Christ, sad would be the best of them. But in our apprehension of these words by the Apostle, we must interpret them by the standard of scripture; comparing, as the Holy Ghost saith, spiritual things with spiritual, 1Co 2:13 .
When it is said, if the righteous scarcely be saved; by which, if meant the righteous in Christ, (and no other can be meant, because salvation is in no other: Act 4:12 .) it is not intended to say, that any doubt, or fear, can arise concerning their salvation, as to the certainty of it. For the scripture uniformly assert, from beginning to end, the glory and security of that Everlasting Covenant, which is ordered in all things and sure. And Israel is said to be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation, and shall not be ashamed nor confounded, world without end, Isa 45:17 . Neither is it intended to convey the least idea, as if the Church of Christ, or any individual of the Church, was in so critical a situation, that he doth but just escape, and, as Job saith, with the skin of his teeth, Job 19:20 . For such is the fulness, greatness, and almightiness of the salvation, as it is in Christ, that there is a redundancy of merit in it, which never can be fully recompensed to the Church of Jesus, so as to say, there is no more to receive, and it is now fully paid; no, not to all eternity. And, such is the finished salvation the Lord Jesus hath wrought out, and brought in, and which is to all, and upon all that believe; that neither sin nor Satan, neither law nor justice, neither death, hell, nor the grave, neither the world that now is, or that which is to come, can bring a single charge against God’s elect; for it is Christ that hath died, and it is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? Rom 8 .
What then did the Apostle mean? Surely he meant to shew the preciousness of the salvation. None but Christ could save them. And Christ not without blood. Had Christ not undertaken it, there was none other. And is it not very properly called the righteous scarcely saved; when it be considered, that had Jesus declined it, had Jesus put the cup of trembling from him instead of drinking it to the dregs, had the apprehension of the load of sin, the cataracts of his Father’s indignation, and the vials of his Father’s wrath, the fiery darts of Satan, and the baseness of his people’s ingratitude; had these kept the Son of God from his purpose, our souls must have been kept from redemption; and, therefore, the Holy Ghost graciously reminds us of the, preciousness of Christ, and his love, in the scarcity of a redemption, which none but himself could accomplish!
Reader! ponder well the subject, and then echo to the question, the trembling question of the Apostle, and which none can answer: where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Oh! hear ye this, all ye that forget God; lest he pluck you away, and there be none to deliver you?
The Chapter closeth very sweetly and blessedly. To commit the keeping of the soul to God, in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator, is an act of great faith and grace, and none but the Almighty Author of both, can enable the child of God so to do. It not only relates, to a dying hour, but every living hour, and especially the trying hour. The Apostle is evidently alluding to the fiery trial, and the time of persecution be had just before spoken of, when judgment would begin at the house of God. But it suits all times and seasons; and all cases of the Lord s people. And, I pray the Reader to notice the peculiarity of the title given to the Lord, of a faithful Creator, as the ground of sure confidence, for the safe committing the soul into his Almighty hand. A faithful Creator! What! is God as Creator, called upon to be faithful? Did not man, by transgression, forfeit, all the promises made at his original creation? Yes! most certainly he did. But the Apostle is looking to God, in the character of a faithful God, on the new creation in Christ Jesus; and here he holds God to his faithfulness, in Covenant-promises in Christ Jesus. See, Reader! the strength of the argument, on this most sure ground. And it is not in my view, the smallest beauty and blessedness of this scripture, that God, in His threefold character of Person, is fully engaged by this glorious name, of a faithful Creator, to the fulfillment of all his Covenant-promises. God the Father justly claims he glory of creation, Isa 42:5 . God the Son hath the same glorious work ascribed to him; for without him was not anything made that was made, Joh 1:3 . And God the Holy Ghost was equally engaged in the old creation, when Jehovah, by the Word the Lord, made the heavens, and all the host of them, by the Breath, or Spirit of his mouth, Psa 33:6 . And, in the new creation, it is God the Holy Ghost; by regeneration, that quickens the souls of the people, which were before dead in trespasses and sins, Eph 2:1 .Very blessedly, therefore, both in life and death, in times of comfort, or times of persecution, all the regenerated of the Lord may contemplate this Covenant-God; and commit their souls into him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator..
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
Ver. 12. Think it not strange ] Ne tanquam hospites percellamini. Stand not wondering, and as if struck into a maze. Fain would this flesh make strange that which the spirit doth embrace, saith Mr Saunders, martyr, in a letter to his wife. O Lord, how loth is this loitering sluggard to pass forth in God’s path. It fantasieth forsooth much fear of fray-bugs. a And were it not for the force of faith which pulleth it forward by the rein of God’s most sweet promise, and of hope which pricks on behind, great adventures there were of fainting by the way. But blessed and everlastingly blessed be our heavenly Father, &c.
Concerning the fiery trial ] John Brown of Ashford, through the cruel handling of Archbishop Warham, and Fisher, bishop of Rochester, was so piteously intreated (saith Mr Fox) that his bare feet were set upon the hot burning coals, to make him deny his faith; which notwithstanding he would not do, but patiently abiding the pain, continued in the Lord’s quarrel unremovable. See the like of Rose Allen, Acts and Mon. 1820.
As though some strange thing ] Forecast afflictions, which being foreseen come no whit the sooner, but far the easier, it is a labour well lost, if they come not, well spent if they do; whereas coming upon the sudden, they find weak minds secure, make them miserable, leave them desperate. Bishop Latimer ever affirmed, that the preaching of the gospel would cost him his life, to the which he no less cheerfully prepared himself, than certainly was persuaded that Winchester was kept in the Tower for the same purpose; and the event did too truly prove the same. Being sent for to London by a pursuivant, and coming through Smithfield, he merrily said, “That Smithfield had long groaned for him.” To the lieutenant of the Tower he said, “You look, I think, that I should burn; but except you let me have some fire, I am like to deceive your expectation; for I am like here to starve for cold.”
a An object of fear; a bogy, spectre. D
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
12 19 .] Exhortations (see summary above) in reference to the trial of affliction which they were to undergo : and that, in view of the end of things. The section falls into three parts: 1) 1Pe 4:12-13 , these sufferings, as participation in Christ’s sufferings, are to be rejoiced in, as in prospect of participation of His glory also: 2) 14 16 if really sufferings for Christ, the glory of Christ already rests on you: take care then that they be verily sufferings for Him: 3) 17, 18, these sufferings are a part of the coming judgment which begins at the house of God. Then 1Pe 4:19 concludes. This passage is no repetition of ch. 1Pe 3:13 to 1Pe 4:6 , which treated of their sufferings with reference to their inflictors: whereas this proceeds wholly on reference to a Christian’s own inner hopes, and considerations within the church itself.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
12, 13 .] See above.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
12 .] Beloved (so ch. 1Pe 2:11 ; here it begins an affectionate address in which comfort and joy is about to be introduced), be not astonished at (see on 1Pe 4:4 ; think it not a thing alien from you, in which you are not at home. St. Peter himself at our Lord’s sufferings, when he said , . On the construction with dat. of reference, cf. Brasidas, Thuc. iv. 85, , . . .: and Winer, 31. 1. f ) the passing through the fire ( , lit. burning : in its later use, smelting, trying of metal by fire: cf. Psa 65:10 LXX, , : Pro 27:21 , . See also Rev 3:18 . c. says, , ) which is taking place ( (not ) may be rendered “taking place,” as predicate after : so that the object of their astonishment was : the sentence would thus stand, “at the in your case happening for a to you.” But this is not grammatically necessary, and would be pragmatically hardly justifiable: because it would take the occurrence of the for granted, and make its purpose alone matter of astonishment: which was not so) in your case ( is rendered “among you” by De Wette and Huther ( einige in eurer Mitte betreffende , De W.), and this may be: we can hardly say with Wiesinger that it is afterwards treated as a trial for all: the and ( ) necessarily assume that there were exceptions from the supposition. But I prefer the other rendering, as the Apostle evidently is in this and the next verse speaking generally) for a trial to you ( , dat. commodi), as if (explanatory of ) some strange thing were happening to you ( , as Bengel, “temere:” were falling by chance on you: opposed to , done with a purpose, by One who knows how to serve that purpose):
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Pe 4:12 . marks the beginning of the third division of the Epistle in which Peter having cleared the ground faces at last the pressing problem. , be surprised , as in 1Pe 4:4 . , the ordeal which is in your midst or rather in your hearts . , cf. (1Pe 5:1 ) but the test is internal in what frame of mind will they meet it? Will they regard it as a strange thing or as a share in Christ’s sufferings, part of the pattern? This conception of suffering as a trial not vindictive is stated in Jdg 8:25 ; Jdg 8:27 , ; compare Zec 13:9 , , Pro 27:21 , parallels but a man is tried . also occurs in the sense of blasting , Amo 4:9 ; Rev 18:9 ; Rev 18:18 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 1Pe 4:12-19
12Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; 13but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. 14If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; 16but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name. 17For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner? 19Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.
1Pe 4:12 “Beloved” This was the Father’s way of referring to His Son (at Jesus’ baptism, cf. Mat 3:17; quote from Isa 42:1, 12:18; at Jesus’ transfiguration, Mat 17:5). This title is later transferred to His followers (cf. 1Pe 2:11; 1Pe 4:12; 2Pe 1:17; 2Pe 3:1; 2Pe 3:8; 2Pe 3:15; 2Pe 3:15; 2Pe 3:17; and used repeatedly in Paul’s writings).
“do not be surprised” This is a present passive imperative with the negative particle, which usually refers to stopping an act already in progress. These believers were surprised at the persecution.
“at the fiery ordeal” This is a metaphor for trials and persecutions (not common problems of daily life, cf. 1Pe 4:14; 1Pe 4:18; but how we handle our cultural life is a witness) . There are so many biblical texts that assert that persecution and suffering are normal for those who follow Christ (cf. Mat 5:10-12; Joh 15:18-21; Joh 16:1-3; Joh 17:14; Act 14:22; Rom 5:3-4; Rom 8:17; 2Co 4:16-18; 2Co 6:3-10; 2Co 11:23-30; Php 1:29; 1Th 3:3; 2Ti 3:12; Jas 1:2-4; 1Pe 4:12-16). They are the Father’s means of producing Christlikeness (cf. Heb 5:8).
“which comes upon you” This is not a future tense, but a present participle. It was a present unexpected reality!
“for your testing” This is the Greek verb periaz, see Special Topic at Mar 1:13; #Mar 1:2, c.
“as though some strange things were happening to you” This phrase has a compound verb (present active participle) with the preposition sun, which means “participation with.” These believers were going through persecutions. They needed to know
1. it was not unusual for believers
2. it was not a result of sin (i.e., Deuteronomy 27-28)
3. it had a purpose in God’s will
SPECIAL TOPIC: WHY DO CHRISTIANS SUFFER?
1Pe 4:13 “share” See Special Topic below.
SPECIAL TOPIC: KOINNIA
“keep on rejoicing” This is a present active imperative. It is amazing that suffering for Christ is linked to joy. This shows the radically new world view that believers receive by faith when they put their ultimate trust in Christ. Jesus Himself first stated this truth in Mat 5:10-12. Paul states the same truth in Rom 5:2-3.
“so that also at the revelation of His glory” This refers to the glorious return of Christ to receive His own (cf. Joh 14:1-3).
1Pe 4:14 “if” This is a first class conditional, which is assumed to be true and fulfilled according to the author’s perspective or for his literary purposes.
“reviled” The term “reviled” or “insulted” is also from Mat 5:11. Peter must have remembered hearing Jesus speak on this very subject.
“the name of Christ” “In the name of. . .” is an OT idiom referring to the person. Calling upon the name of the Lord (i.e., Joe 2:32; Act 2:21, cf. Rom 10:9-13) means trusting in Jesus as Savior. Praying in the name of the Lord (cf. Joh 14:13; Joh 15:16; Joh 16:23-24) means praying in His person and character.
“you are blessed” This is the Greek term makarios, used by Jesus in the Beatitudes (cf. Mat 5:3-9). This verse reflects Mat 5:10-12. The same truth (and same word) is also in 1Pe 3:14. It is so surprising to western materialists that suffering and persecution can bring joy and blessing.
“the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you” This is either an allusion to (1) an experience similar to Christ’s baptism (cf. Mat 3:16; Joh 1:32) or (2) how the Spirit empowered the Messiah (cf. Isa 11:2; Isa 42:2; Isa 59:21; Isa 61:1). Jesus’ experience of suffering is now ours (cf. Rom 8:17). The Spirit’s presence does not bring health, wealth, and prosperity, but persecution (cf. Joh 15:18; Joh 17:14). Jesus promised the Spirit’s presence and help in times of persecution (cf. Mat 10:16-23, esp. Mat 4:20).
There are several variations (4) of this phrase in the Greek manuscripts. The UBS4 gives the one cited in NASB a “A” rating (certain).
The Textus Receptus adds a phrase at this point which is reflected in the KJV and the NKJV: “On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.” This phrase appears in differing forms only in later uncial manuscripts (i.e., K from the 9th century; L from the 8th century; and P from the 6th century) and is probably not original. The UBS4 rates its omission as “certain.”
1Pe 4:15 “none of you suffers as a” This is a present active imperative with a negative particle which usually means to stop an act that is already in process.
“troublesome meddler” This word is used only here in all of Greek literature. It is a compound from two Greek words, “belonging to another” (i.e., allotrios) and “look over” or “inspect” (i.e., episkopos). This then refers to someone who meddles in the affairs of others, a busybody.
1Pe 4:16 “if” This is another First class conditional sentence, which is assumed to be true. Christians were suffering simply because they were Christians.
“a Christian” This was originally a term of derision (cf. Act 11:26; Act 26:28). It is only used three times in the NT. It meant “little Christ” (i.e., Christianos). It became the common designation for believers by the middle of the first century (i.e., Tacitus, Ann. 15:44).
“he is not to be ashamed” This is a present passive imperative with the negative particle which usually implies to stop an act already in process. This may be a flashback for Peter to Jesus’ night trials where he was ashamed (cf. Mat 26:69-75; Mar 14:66-72; Luk 22:56-62; Joh 18:16-18; Joh 18:25-27).
1Pe 4:17 “For it is time for judgment to begin” This may be an allusion to Mal 3:1-6 where judgment starts with the Messiah coming suddenly and surprisingly to His own people (to whom much is given, much is required, cf. Jer 25:29). If there are willfully unrepentant sinners among God’s people (and there are) they will be judged first. Their only hope is the unchanging character of YHWH (cf. Mal 1:6).
This phrase may also be a Jewish idiom of the nearness of the Second Coming of Christ as Judge. The OT Jews (and the NT Apostles) envisioned a catastrophic conclusion to human history, often called “the birth pains of the new age,” which is clearly stated by Jesus Himself in Mar 13:8.
“the household of God” There are two building metaphors in 1 Peter that relate to the church: (1) the church as a temple built from living stones (cf. 1Pe 2:4-10) and (2) the church as the household of God (corporate metaphor of people or large family home, cf. 1Pe 4:17; 1Ti 3:15; Heb 3:6).
“if” This is another first class conditional sentence, as are 1Pe 4:16; 1Pe 4:18.
1Pe 4:18 “if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved” This is an allusion to Pro 11:31 in the Septuagint ( “if the righteous is scarcely saved, where will the impious and sinner appear?”).
1Pe 4:19 “those who suffer according to the will of God” If in this world it is the “righteous” who suffer (first class conditional sentence of 1Pe 4:18), what will it be like for the unrighteous in the day of God’s judgment? The Lord is with the saved (cf. 1Pe 3:12; 1Pe 3:14), but against the rebellious unbeliever and persecutor (cf. 1Pe 3:12).
“shall entrust their souls” This is a Present middle imperative implying they themselves need to continue to entrust themselves to God. Paul entrusted the gospel to Timothy (cf. 1Ti 1:18). Paul entrusted the gospel to believers to pass on (cf. 2Ti 2:2). It is a banking term for a “deposit.” Jesus used this same term at the time of His death on the cross. He entrusted His soul to the Father (cf. Luk 23:46).
“a faithful Creator” God is faithful! This is the basic affirmation of the Bible (cf. Num 23:19; Deu 7:9; Isa 40:8; Isa 49:7; Isa 55:11; 1Co 1:9; 1Co 10:23; 2Co 1:18; 1Th 5:24; 2Th 3:3; 2Ti 2:13 and 1Pe 1:19). It is the unchanging character of God (cf. Mal 3:6) that is the sure hope of every believer. God will do what He has said He will do!
“in doing what is right” This Greek term means “do good” or “well doing.” This is a repeated theme in 1 Peter (cf. 1Pe 2:14-15; 1Pe 2:20; 1Pe 3:6; 1Pe 3:17; 1Pe 4:19). This letter is dominated by the admonitions to live right and be prepared to suffer. See SPECIAL TOPIC: WHY DO CHRISTIANS SUFFER? at 1Pe 4:14.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Beloved. App-135.
concerning = as to.
the fiery trial, &c. Literally the fire (of persecution) which is among (App-104.) you, coming to you for (App-104.) trial. Not coming in the future, but a present condition.
fiery. Greek. purosis. Here and Rev 18:9, Rev 18:18.
trial. Greek. peirasmos. See 1Pe 1:6 and 2Pe 2:9.
some = a.
strange. Greek. xenos. See Act 17:18.
unto = to.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
12-19.] Exhortations (see summary above) in reference to the trial of affliction which they were to undergo: and that, in view of the end of things. The section falls into three parts: 1) 1Pe 4:12-13,-these sufferings, as participation in Christs sufferings, are to be rejoiced in, as in prospect of participation of His glory also: 2) 14-16-if really sufferings for Christ, the glory of Christ already rests on you: take care then that they be verily sufferings for Him: 3) 17, 18, these sufferings are a part of the coming judgment which begins at the house of God. Then 1Pe 4:19 concludes. This passage is no repetition of ch. 1Pe 3:13 to 1Pe 4:6, which treated of their sufferings with reference to their inflictors: whereas this proceeds wholly on reference to a Christians own inner hopes, and considerations within the church itself.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Pe 4:12. , , beloved, do not think it strange) He exhorts them with love. A taste of the Divine power, which the preceding verses relate, forbids us to be offended as by a strange thing. For adversities to befall the saints is, in one point of view, something strange; for they are sons of God: in another, it is not strange; for it is adapted to them, for their purification [lit. seasoning].-, the burning) ch. 1Pe 1:7.- ) which is not except for trial.-, to you) The dativus commodi.-, when it takes place) by Divine counsel.-, happening) accidentally.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Pe 4:12-19
2. SUFFERING AS CHRISTIANS
1Pe 4:12-19
12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you, which cometh upon you to prove you, as though a strange thing happened unto you:–Here the writer reverts to a subject with which he has intermittently dealt from the beginning of the epistle: the occasion and design of suffering by the saints. (1Pe 1:3-9.) “Beloved” is plural, thus “beloved ones” a term of endearment indicative of the vast sympathy which Peter entertained for the embattled saints. The word “strange,” occurring also in 1Pe 4:4, suggests that which is foreign, alien; these suffering disciples were not to regard their trials as foreign to the cause they had espoused, but as common to it and characteristic of it. (2Ti 3:12.) The fiery trial of persecution was not a thing alien to their profession it was their home portion in this life, its design being to prove (test) them. The figure here used is that of gold ore cast into a crucible for the purpose of separating the worthless dross from the precious metal. The illustration is a frequent one in the Bible. (Psa 66:20; Prov. 27:31.)
13 But insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice; –These words are remindful of those which Peter must have often heard from the lips of the Lord: “Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad.” (Mat 5:11-12.) “Insomuch” signifies “to the extent in which.” Thus, so far as the sufferings of Christians are of the same kind, originate in the same causes and are prompted by the same motives as those the Saviour suffered, they have occasion to rejoice in the assurance that such suffering will secure for them participation in his glory in the by and by.
That at the revelation of his glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy.–The “revelation of his glory” designates the time of his return to judge the world. (Luk 17:30.) The “joy” the saints are to experience in the suffering they must undergo here is to be regarded as a token and earnest of the “exceeding joy” which will be theirs in that day.
14 If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are ye; because the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you.–The particle “if” with which this verse begins does not denote a contingency, but declares a fact. As used here, it corresponds roughly to the word “when.” The verb reproached describes the nature of the persecution here particularly dealt with. The word means to revile, to slander, to blaspheme; to speak evil of another. “For the name of Christ” is, literally, “in the name of Christ,” i.e., because of their adoption of the name of Christ–the name Christian–and their loyalty to it. Thus, “When you are reviled because of your loyalty to Christ, blessed are you.” The word “blessed” is the same, and means the same here as in the beatitudes. (Mat 5:1-12.) It is blessed to be thus reproached because it identifies one with his Lord; it shows one’s willingness to suffer in his behalf; and it is such suffering as will be rewarded in heaven. (Mat 5:11-12.) As evidence of the blessedness of those thus persecuted, the apostle declares that the “Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon” them. The “Spirit of glory” and the “Spirit of God” are the same, and refer to the Holy Spirit –the third person in the godhead. Since the Spirit is promised to those who are faithful, and abides with those who are persecuted, his presence is a token of the blessedness of those who suffer for righteousness’ sake. The verb “resteth” is of special significance here, being translated from the same word as thus used in the Greek version of the Old Testament of the abiding presence of the Lord. (Isa 11:2.)
15 For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evildoer, or as a meddler in other men’s matters:–See the comments on 1Pe 3:14-17. Only such suffering as is for righteousness’ sake is blessed; the blessing being dependent not on the fact of suffering, but the occasion or the cause which prompts it. This fundamental principle is taught negatively in this verse, and positively in the verse which follows. Human life was lightly regarded in that period and murder was common. Thievery was an especially frequent crime, particularly among slaves. The word “evil-doer,” a term equivalent to law-violater, or criminal, sums up all infraction of law; and “a meddler in other men’s matters” is one who concerns himself improperly with the affairs of others. This entire phrase–“a meddler in other men’s matters”–is translated from the Greek word, allotrioepiskopos, compounded from allotrios, belonging to another, and episkopos, the usual word for bishop or overseer in the New Testament; thus, literally, a bishop or overseer over other men’s matters! The word forbids all intrusion into those things which do not concern us, all interference in the affairs of others. For an illustration of the principle taught here, see Joh 21:21-22. The lesson is one needing emphasis at all times and places.
16 But if a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name.–To suffer “as a Christian” is to suffer persecution for being a Christian; and those thus suffering are not to be ashamed (because they suffer for this reason) but are to “glorify God’s (praise and honor him) “in this name” (i.e., in the name Christian). A thrilling example of such will be seen in the conduct of Peter and John in Jerusalem when persecuted for preaching in the name of Christ, and their consequent “rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name.” (Act 5:41.)
The name “Christian” (christianos, a follower of Christ) occurs three times in the New Testament. (Act 11:26; Act 26:28 ; 1Pe 4:16.) It was given, by divine origin, for the first time to the disciples in Antioch (Act 11:26), being the “new name” which the “mouth of the Lord would name” (Isa 62:2). The etymology and derivation of the word “Christian” contain an amazing epitome of the root, the growth, and the spread of the religion which he whom the name honors established. The meaning is of Hebrew origin; it appears in the New Testament in Greek form, with a Latin termination; and points, like the inscription which Pilate caused to be placed on the cross to the worldwide empire which he established.
17 For the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God:–“For the time” is translated from a phrase which means “it is the season.” Thus the period designated by the apostles was already upon his readers. “Judgment” (krima), as used here, denotes severe trial. The house of God is the family of God, the church. (1Ti 3:15.) The meaning is that the time when severe trial would fall upon the church was at hand. That the “judgment” here contemplated is not the day when all the nations shall be gathered before the judgment bar of God (2Co 5:10 ; Mat 25:31-46), follows from the fact that this day was at least 1,900 years distant when Peter wrote; whereas, the “judgment” to which he alludes was at hand and impending. What that “judgment” was, and the “time” when it would appear, is indicated in the verses which follow.
And if it begin first at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God?–This is an a fortiori argument–from the less to the greater–similar to that of Paul in Rom 11:21, “For if God spared not the natural branches, neither will he spare thee.” “End” (telos) denotes the doom awaiting those to whom Peter referred as not having obeyed the gospel. The significance is, If the church, which is ever the object of God’s care, is soon to fall into trial and sore persecution, how much greater must be the misery and wretchedness of those who do not rely on the Lord, and are thus without the comforting assurances of the gospel?
18 And if the righteous is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?–This is a quotation from the Greek translation of Pro 11:31. It is cited to illustrate and enforce the teaching of verse 17. If, in the afflictions which then loomed large on the horizon, the righteous man was scarcely saved, how infinitely worse the lot of the lost, and impossible the salvation of the ungodly and sinner. “Scarcely” (molls) denotes that which is accomplished only with great difficulty. It does not suggest doubt as to the outcome; only wonder that such a thing is possible The “righteous” man is one who is upright, virtuous, and good one who keeps the commandments of God. (Mat 7:21; 1Jn 2:4.) The “judgment” (verse 17) which drew near would be so severe that even the pure and good would with great difficulty escape the destruction which it threatened. If such were so with reference to the righteous, what of the “ungodly” and “sinner”? The “ungodly” man (asebes) is a man destitute of reverential awe toward God; an impious, irreligious character; and the “sinner” (hamartolos) is one whose life is devoted to sin. In the Greek text the article appears before the word “ungodly” only, thus indicating that the term “sinner” is to be understood as an additional description of the “ungodly” man, and that both terms refer to the same individual. Impiety, irreverence, leads irresistibly into positive sin.
What, then was the “judgment” (verse 17) soon to begin? Not the general judgment, for (a) it was then (and may still be) in the distant future; (b) in it the “righteous” will scarcely (with great difficulty) be saved; whereas, the deliverance of the righteous in the last day and their entrance into the heavenly kingdom will be “richly supplied”: “Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble: for thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” (2Pe 1:10-11.) Inasmuch as it was the same apostle who declared that the “righteous shall scarcely be saved” and the faithful shall be “richly supplied” with an entrance, it must follow that he does not refer in these passages to the same salvation. The verb “supplied” (epichoregeo) is derived similarly to that which occurs in 1Pe 4:11, compounded with the preposition epi, and with the adverb “richly” added. The ultimate salvation thus promised is not only freely supplied; its abundance is enhanced by the word “richly.” But if such is to be the manner of entrance into final bliss by the righteous, how can it be said that the “righteous” shall scarcely (i.e., with great difficulty) be saved? It is obvious that two different “salvations” are contemplated by the apostle in these passages. To what salvation does he refer in our text?
Intimations of imminent trial and extreme suffering in the epistle are frequent. A fiery trial is soon to come upon the saints (1Pe 4:12); they are to suffer as Christians (verse 16); there was an “end” approaching necessitating a “sound mind” and that the saints be “sober unto prayer” (verse 7). In the disaster which was then threatening, they would “scarcely” be saved. The words of this epistle were penned shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. The effects of this terrible disaster extended into the remotest sections of the earth. Conducted by heathens who, in many instances, made no effort to distinguish between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians, it was impossible that the effects of this mighty pogrom should not be felt by Gentile Christians also. There is a remarkable similarity between these words of the apostle and those of the Lord in describing the end of the Jewish state. (Mat 24:1-28.) Particularly is this true of the following: “And except those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved; but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” (Mat 24:22.) The “elect” were the saints ; the “shortening” referred to was the termination of the terrible siege in Jerusalem; and the salvation of the “flesh” mentioned was physical deliverance from the trials and ordeals of that event.
We hence conclude that the salvation of the “righteous” alluded to by Peter and to be accomplished with such difficulty as to be a matter of wonder was deliverance from complete destruction in the persecution which swept over the world in connection with the destruction of the temple and annihilation of the Jewish state in Jerusalem.
19 Wherefore let them also that suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing unto a faithful Creator.–“Wherefore” is a logical term pointing to the conclusion to be drawn from the foregoing premises. The Christian who suffers persecution for faithfulness suffers according to the will of God, and thus in keeping with a wise and holy purpose. In view of this he is to “commit” (deliver as a deposit) his soul into the hands of God who as a faithful Creator will preserve inviolate the trust imposed.
Commentary on 1Pe 4:12-19 by N.T. Caton
1Pe 4:12-Beloved, think it not strange.
These Christians were being persecuted even to the extent of being burned. at the stake for their faith. They might well wonder if their Christianity led them only into right-doing that they should suffer. Yet the apostle says: Wonder not; this trial of faith has happened to the people of God before. You are not an exception; you must expect to endure suffering.
1Pe 4:13-But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers.
So far from wondering at your affliction for the truth, I counsel you to rejoice. Your Savior suffered unjustly; you herby partake of the same. By and by that same Savior will come, and his glory will be revealed to you. Your reward then follows, when you will be glad, possessing a great and an exceeding joy.
1Pe 4:14-If ye be reproached for the name of Christ.
If you suffer continually for being a Christian, that is, bearing the name of Christ, happy are ye. Words spoken in reproach or bitter ridicule. “Blessed are ye when men shall revile you” (Mat 5:11). How be blessed or happy? Simply call up the reflection that the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. Then in that case the reviler is reviling God, and you are glorifying him by bearing with patient endurance the reproach cast upon God through you.
1Pe 4:15-But let none of you suffer as a murderer.
Taking the life of your fellowman, taking away his goods without the right to do so, or doing any forbidden thing, or meddling in any way with the affairs of your neighbors, are all wrong, and should you suffer punishment therefore, you suffer justly, and are not entitled to any sympathy, glory or credit, even if you bear the punishment courageously.
1Pe 4:16-Yet if any man suffer as a Christian.
Here the difference is apparent. One who suffers for the cause of Christ should not be ashamed of his suffering, however trying or ignominious it may be. He suffers unjustly. Hence he is told to give glory to God, because he is esteemed worthy to suffer in so great and noble a cause, and to bless his holy name for the strength imparted to endure the ordeal.
1Pe 4:17-For the time is come that judgment.
The sense of this verse becomes easier by discarding the supplied words “is come.” The judgment begins at the Church of God; that is, the righteous are judged first. The Lord himself explains this matter, and leaves us no room for doubt. He tells us all about it in Mat 25:1-46 :, commencing at the thirty-first verse, and completes the explanation at the end of that chapter.
1Pe 4:17-If it begin at us, what shall be the end?
If the righteous, as such, are to be judged, what can be the fate of the unrighteous, those who have not obeyed the gospel? They, of course, will be judged likewise. The sentence in each case will be measured by the conduct of each while here on earth.
1Pe 4:18-And if the righteous scarcely be saved.
I can not think the apostle here intimates any difficulty in the salvation of the righteous, for in his second Epistle he states plainly that the entrance into the everlasting kingdom shall be abundantly ministered. I think the thought is that, while in this life their hindrances are so great and the trial so heavy, their faithful endurance is hard to be sustained, and, if thy prove loyal and true to Christ and are saved, what hope can the ungodly and sinner have that obeyed not and suffered not for the cause of right?
1Pe 4:19-Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God.
The conclusion is enforced with emphasis. Those that suffer for the cause of Christ, suffer for the truth, suffer for living as God requires, continue faithfully so to serve God, committing their souls and the keeping thereof to him. God sees all. God cares for his children. His mercies are great, and his promises sure.
Commentary on 1Pe 4:12-19 by Burton Coffman
1Pe 4:12 –Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you, which cometh upon you to prove you, as though a strange thing happened unto you:
In this verse the third and final major division of the epistle begins, and in it Peter gives the climax of his urgent warning and strengthening of the church against the terrible persecution, already under way, but soon to issue in the death of countless numbers of the faithful.
First of all, this verse says, in effect, it is natural for the world to hate you; do not think there is anything strange or unusual happening to you. All of the apostles had already discovered the truth of the Saviour’s warning:
If the world hated you, ye know that it hath hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you … A servant is not greater than his lord. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you (Joh 15:18-20).
Just before giving this warning, Jesus said, “I command that ye love one another”; and significantly Peter prefaced these warnings of impending persecution with the same admonition that the Saviour gave in his warning (1Pe 4:8).
The fiery trial … The literal word here is “burning,”[19] as in Rev 18:9 Rev 18:18, suggesting perhaps that those shameless burnings of Christians to illuminate the gardens of Nero might already have begun. As Mason said, “The fiery trial was not future but present; already the Asiatic Christians are enduring a fierce persecution.”[20] Thus the words “cometh upon you” would be better rendered as “coming upon you.”
To prove you … Earlier in this letter, Peter had already established the principle that such trials were for the purpose of testing the faith of Christians, and that such a testing was very precious in the eyes of God (1Pet. :
[19] A. J. Mason, op. cit., p. 429.
[20] Ibid.
1Pe 4:13 –but insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy.
Partakers of Christ’s sufferings … How is the Christian’s suffering a sharing in the sufferings of Christ? First, their sufferings are caused by the same thing. Christ died for testifying under oath that he is the divine Son of God, and the Christians of Peter’s day who were confessing the same eternal truth were due shortly to suffer even as Christ suffered. Over and beyond this is the identity of the church as Christ’s spiritual body, making the church’s sufferings to be those of Christ himself.
At the revelation of his glory … Peter used this same expression in 1Pe 1:7; and, in both places, it is better to understand it as a reference to the Second Advent, the general resurrection and judgment of the last day, and the visible revelation of Christ before all people as the Redeemer and Judge. Such a revelation is that mentioned by Paul in 2Th 1:7-10.
1Pe 4:14 –If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are ye; because the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you.
It should be observed that the only wrong alleged against those persecuted ones was that of having accepted the faith of Christ. The conceit that the mere profession of Christianity did not become a capital offense until the reign of Domitian is categorically denied by a passage like this. Furthermore the universal tradition that Peter and Paul both died under Nero’s persecution is incapable of refutation. As Caffin said, the meaning of this place is, “When ye are reviled because ye belong to Christ, because ye bear his name, because ye are Christians.”[21]
Spirit of glory … Spirit of God … These are apparently synonymous; and, if so, they mean the Holy Spirit. It was one of the glorious fruits of the indwelling Spirit in Christian hearts that produced the vast spiritual strength enabling the Christian to go on wearing the name, go on being a Christian, go on loving and believing Christ, in spite of being reviled and persecuted for it.
ENDNOTE:
[21] B. C. Caffin, op. cit., p. 174.
1Pe 4:15 –For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil-doer, or as a meddler in other men’s matters:
Murderer … The crime of murder stands at the head of the list here; and we should not be surprised at Christians being warned against it. In the reprobacy that prevailed in those days, reaching even to the vaunted throne of the Caesars, it would have been quite easy for Christians to have rationalized the extension of their right of self-defense (manslaughter) and to have made it include preventive murder. Despite every temptation to the contrary, the people of God, the New Israel were to continue as honorable, law-abiding citizens, not attempting to take justice into their own hands.
Meddler in other men’s matters … The word from which this comes is one of the most curious in the New Testament, Barclay surmising that “Peter may well have invented it.”[22] “The word is [@allotriepiskopos].”[23]The last part of this word, of course, is the one from which we get the word “bishop”; and as the first part of it means “pertaining to others,” it is clear enough that the word bears the translation, “bishop of other people’s business”! Peter not only forbade this on principle, but in the turbulence of those evil times, Christians would have found it exceedingly wise and prudent to avoid any kind of conduct with outsiders, or even contact with them, that could have resulted in their arraignment and death.
[22] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 259.
[23] Raymond C. Kelcy, op. cit., p. 94.
1Pe 4:16 –but if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name.
By any calculation, this is one of the great verses of the New Testament: (1) In context, “if any man suffer as a Christian” has the meaning of “if any man is put to death for being a Christian,” exploding in one short text the false theory that the mere profession of Christianity did not become a capital offense until the times of Domitian. (2) It identifies the divinely authorized name which was bestowed upon Christ’s followers by the mouth of God himself, that is, the name Christian. (3) The chosen people, the new Israel of God, the church of Christ is commanded to glorify God in this name. For a discussion of the prophetic utterances regarding this name with the divine events which prevented for a time the giving of it, and also the providential circumstances surrounding the first appearance of the name in Syrian Antioch, see my Commentary on Acts, pp. 232-236.
REGARDING THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME “CHRISTIAN”
It is distressing that in the 20th century, the old lie that Satan is the author of the name “Christian” is still widely circulated, and alas, accepted as gospel truth even by Christian commentators who certainly should know better. The Bible reveals that in the new dispensation, the children of God are to be called by a new name which the “mouth of the Lord” would name (Isa 62:2). If the enemies of Christ were privileged to name his followers, whatever became of that new name which was to originate in the mouth of God? As Hervey declared, “There is no evidence of its having been given in derision.”[24] Admittedly, the name Christian glorifies Christ as the head of the church; and could there be anything reasonable in the supposition that evil men, under the influence of Satan, would have concocted a name that would glorify the Lord Jesus Christ?
This very verse is the place in the New Testament where the apostle Peter, in a sense, used “the keys of the kingdom of heaven,” being the first of the apostles, and even the only one, to bind the name “Christian” upon the Lord’s followers as their official, holy name. See introduction for further discussion of the “keys of the kingdom.”
One of the most significant facts in the New Testament is that the name “disciple” which was everywhere applied to Jesus’ followers throughout the Gospels and Acts, absolutely disappears from the New Testament from Acts to Revelation! The apostle John used the expression “disciples” some 77 times in his gospel, but never once in the three short epistles that bear his name, nor in the book of Revelation.
True, Matthew’s commission reveals Jesus commanding the apostles to “make disciples of all nations” (Mat 28:18-20); but that same commission reveals that all such disciples were to be “baptized into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The name “Christian” is the name of the Father in the sense of his having sent his only Son who is honored by the name; it is the name “of the Son,” because of the word “Christ” which is the principal part of the name; and it is the name of “the Holy Spirit,” because the Holy Spirit conveyed the name through Paul and Barnabas at Antioch in Syria. One of the ways therefore in which Christians “put on Christ” in baptism (Gal 3:27) is by putting on the sacred name of “Christian” by the very act itself.
A great deal of the support for the notion that the word “Christian” was a variation of “chrestian,” meaning “goody-goody,” and that it was originally a term of derision applied by Christ’s enemies, comes from the fact of the Sinaitic manuscript having “Chrestian” instead of “Christian.”[25] And why do scholars put so much trust in this variation from even older manuscripts? It is due to the scholarly “ipsi dixit” that “the more difficult reading is always to be preferred!”[26] They have even elevated this rule of interpretation to the status of a law, giving it a Latin name, and calling it “Lectio Difficilior”, and this “law” is said to be the reason why the Sinaitic manuscript is chosen above older and more numerous manuscripts. Ridiculous! “Those most difficult variations could possibly be the result of scribal error and therefore have little meaning.”[27] Think of it. The only thing that happened with that Sinaitic manuscript was that a tired scribe accidentally substituted an “e” for an “i”; and there’s not a scholar on earth, nor even a student, who has not done that same thing himself a hundred times! So much for that worthless variation in the Sinaitic manuscript!
One other thought regarding the origin of this holy name is in order. Although our view is that `the Lord himself’ gave the new name, it is not out of harmony with this to suppose that the Spirit-filled church might itself have begun to apply the name as suggested by Wheaton below; however, it does not seem consistent with divine origin to suppose that an epithet hurled by the enemies of the truth would in fact become the name. Wheaton said:
The Latin suffix “-ianus” may have been added to the Greek word Christ to indicate “supporters of,” in the same way that Herod’s followers were called Herodians (Mar 3:6, etc.). A Roman custom followed in adoption was that of taking this same suffix and adding it to the name of the one doing the adopting. Thus one adopted by Domitius would call himself Domitianus … The Christians may well have applied the name to themselves as having been adopted into Christ’s family.[28]
Glorify God in this name … How shall the followers of the Lord honor such a commandment as this? First of all, it should be received as a commandment. The fact of the commandment having been given only once in the New Testament cannot reduce the binding nature of it. As regards the question of “how” to glorify God in this name, a number of things must be included: (1) It should be worn as the exclusive religious name of the child of God, not hyphenated with another name. (2) A godly, obedient, holy and devoted life should be exhibited by the wearer. (3) One should repeat the name under all circumstances where it would be appropriate, not being ashamed, ever to do so.
[24] A. C. Hervey, The Pulpit Commentary, Acts (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 359.
[25] A. J. Mason, op. cit., p. 430.
[26] Gerhard Maier, The End of the Historical-Critical Method (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1974), p. 81.
[27] Ibid.
[28] David H. Wheaton, op. cit., p. 1246.
1Pe 4:17 –For the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God: and if it begin first at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God?
Hardly any verses in the New Testament have been misunderstood any more than have this one and the next. Does Peter, for one moment, mean to say that Christians shall hardly be saved at all? Certainly not! Did not he himself say, “An abundant entrance into the eternal kingdom shall be richly supplied to us” (2Pe 2:11 KJV)? Well, what is in view here?
The time is come for judgment to begin … This does not mean the eternal judgment is about to begin, but it refers to the judgment against Jerusalem impending in the total destruction of it, and prophetically foretold by both Christ and the apostles.
Begin at the house of God … From the beginning, it had been the Jews who enlisted the power of the Roman state against Christ and his church; and the hatred they had fostered against Christianity throughout the empire was about to become a roaring tornado of extermination and death venting its full fury against the church of Jesus Christ. Yes, indeed, the judgment would begin “at the house of God,” the true temple of God, which is the church. Little could the Jews have seen in the approach of this destruction, which they had done so much to foster and encourage, little could they have seen that it would also encompass themselves even more completely and more terribly than that coming on the Christians. An apostle of Christ in this sentence prophetically foretold the fate as being even more terrible than that impending for Christians.
What shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel … ? The “them” of this place is the secular Israel. The introduction of “house of God,” with its meaning of the true temple, makes it virtually certain that the old Israel with “their house,” the Herodian temple, are those designated as the ones who “obey not the gospel.”
And it worked out exactly as Peter prophesied. The Neronian persecution soon ended in the shameful, wretched death of Nero; but his successors went on to put down a Jewish insurrection, which ended in the cataclysmic destruction of Jerusalem and over a million of the Jews by Vespasian and Titus, A.D. 70, only five years after Peter wrote these lines. Thus the ancient chosen people, who had an opportunity to procure both for themselves and for the Christians a permanent status of legality in the pagan empire, stubbornly opposed it for Christians, little seeing that by so doing they were also eventually making outlaws of themselves. Peter foresaw that and accurately foretold here the onset and progress of the holocaust.
Obey . .. the gospel … is an excellent term for conversion, and it may only be deplored that current religious culture has found so little use for it. It is as if, by leaving out such a harsh word as “obey,” they may be able to claim salvation upon some other basis. However, obedience of the truth is a sine qua non of salvation in Christ. Paul revealed fully the fate of persons who will not “obey the gospel” (2Th 1:8).
1Pe 4:18 –And if the righteous is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?
The thought of this is parallel with the previous verse, thus giving the passage the effect of Hebrew poetry, and also endowing it with magnificent spiritual overtones. The righteous (the Christians) were indeed “scarcely saved”; if Satan had had a better administrator than Nero, if circumstances had been only slightly different from what they were, Christianity might indeed have been exterminated from the earth; but, of course, the providence of God did not allow that to occur. But, if only the most signal providence of God could have spared the Christians from annihilation, what could be expected where, in the case of the disobedient, that providence would not be exercised? The fate of Jerusalem exhibited the tragic answer.
1Pe 4:19 –Wherefore let them also that suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing unto a faithful Creator.
Suffer according to the will of God … Throughout this letter, “suffer” is to be understood in the sense of capital punishment, and in a few instances the lesser sufferings that often preceded it.
According to the will of God … Christians were expected to accept the harsh penalty inflicted by the pagan empire, as being in truth “the will of God.” This is the way Paul and Peter accepted it; and, if the ancient testimony regarding the martyrs is accurate, we may well believe that they too in uncounted numbers did so in faith, committing themselves, as Peter admonished here, “unto a faithful Creator” who has the power to make all things work together for good to them that love him and are the called according to his eternal purpose.
Although it is the prophetic destruction of Jerusalem which Peter had primarily in mind in these verses, it should never be overlooked that the event itself was a type of the ultimate judgment of the Second Coming, giving all of the apostle’s teaching
here a spiritual application for all generations to come, and Peter’s word is skillfully written to cover both meanings perfectly. This is in all likelihood the reason for his choice of such a word as “suffer,” meaning capital punishment in the first instance, and being extended to include all kinds of sorrows and sufferings in the second.
“THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER”
Chapter Four
OBJECTIVES IN STUDYING THIS CHAPTER
1) To notice the attitudes one should have in suffering for
righteousness’ sake
2) To review how we should serve God as we live in the “end times”
SUMMARY
The theme of suffering for righteousness’ sake continues. Just as
Christ was willing to suffer for us in the flesh, we should have the
same attitude and strive to live for the will of God instead of the
lusts of men. When we give up sins like lewdness, drunkenness,
revelries, drinking parties, etc., those in the world make think it
strange. Yet they themselves will give an account to Him who will judge both the living and the dead by the gospel preached to those who are dead (1Pe 4:1-6).
Living in the end times, Peter admonishes Christians to be serious and watchful in their prayers, fervent in their love for one another, and hospitable to one another without grumbling. They are to make use of their gifts as good stewards of God’s manifold grace, whether it be in speaking or serving, using such abilities to glorify God through Christ who has all authority and power (1Pe 4:7-11).
Suffering for Christ should not be considered a strange thing, but an occasion to rejoice. Those who partake of Christ’s sufferings will be exceedingly glad when His glory is revealed. In the meantime, they are blessed because the Spirit of God rests upon those who glorify Christ by their suffering. While they should not suffer for doing evil, there is nothing shameful about suffering for Christ. As God’s judgment draws near, those who do not obey the gospel have no hope, whereas those who suffer according to God’s will can commit their souls in doing good to Him who is a faithful Creator (1Pe 4:12-19).
OUTLINE
I. OUR DUTIES AS SUFFERERS FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS’
SAKE (1Pe 4:1-6)
A. TO HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST (1Pe 4:1-3)
1. Who suffered for us in the flesh
a. Therefore we should arm ourselves with the same mind
b. For he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin
c. That he should no longer live in the flesh
1) For the lusts of men
2) But for will of God
2. No longer doing the will of the Gentiles
a. Which we have done enough in our past
b. Walking in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking
parties, and abominable idolatries
B. NOT DAUNTED BY THE OPPOSITION (1Pe 4:4-6)
1. They may think us strange
a. That you do not run with them in the same flood of
dissipation
b. Speaking evil of you
2. They will give an account
a. To Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead
b. For which reason the gospel was preached to those who are
dead
1) That they might be judged according to men in the flesh
2) But live according to God in the spirit
II. OUR DUTIES AS THOSE WAITING THE COMING OF CHRIST (1Pe 4:7-19)
A. TO PRAY, LOVE, AND SERVE (1Pe 4:7-11)
1. Because the end of all things is at hand…
a. Be serious and watchful in your prayers
b. Above all things, have fervent love for one another, which
covers a multitude of sins
c. Be hospitable to one another without grumbling
d. Minister your gifts to one another as good stewards of God’s
manifold grace
1) Those who speak should do so as the oracles of God
2) Those who serve should do so with the ability God
provides
3) That in all things God may be glorified through Jesus, to
whom belongs the glory and dominion forever
B. TO REJOICE AND GLORIFY GOD (1Pe 4:12-16)
1. Rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings
a. Don’t think the fiery trial to come as some strange thing
b. When His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with
exceeding joy
c. You are blessed if reproached for the name of Christ
1) For the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you
2) On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is
glorified
2. Glorify God through such suffering
a. Do not suffer as a murderer, thief, evildoer, or busybody
b. Do not be ashamed for suffering as a Christian
C. TO TRUST IN THE WILL OF GOD (1Pe 4:17-19)
1. The time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God
a. If it begins with us first, what will be the end of those
who do not obey the gospel of God?
b. If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the
ungodly and sinner appear?
2. Let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their
souls to Him
a. In doing good
b. As to a faithful Creator
REVIEW QUESTIONS FOR THE CHAPTER
1) What are the main points of this chapter?
– Our duties as sufferers for righteousness’ sake (1Pe 4:1-6)
– Our duties as those waiting for coming of Christ (1Pe 4:7-19)
2) What two reasons are given for us to have the “mind of Christ”
regarding suffering? (1Pe 4:1)
– Christ suffered for us in the flesh
– He who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin
3) How should one live in whatever time they have left in the flesh? (1Pe 4:2)
– For the will of God, not the lusts of the flesh
4) What sins are mentioned as being “the will of the Gentiles”? (1Pe 4:3)
– Lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties,
abominable idolatries
5) How do people in the world react when you no longer do such things?
(1Pe 4:4)
– They think it strange
– They speak evil of you
6) To whom shall they have to answer? (1Pe 4:5)
– He who is ready to judge the living and the dead
7) Why was the gospel preached to those who are dead? (1Pe 4:6)
– That they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live
according to God in the spirit
8) In view of the end of all things being at hand, how should we live?
(1Pe 4:7-10)
– Serious and watchful in our prayers
– With fervent love for one another
– Hospitable to one another without grumbling
– Ministering our gifts to one another, as good stewards of God’s
manifold grace
9) How should one speak? How should one serve? Why? (1Pe 4:11)
– As the oracles of God
– With the ability God supplies
– That in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ
10) What should be our reactions to any fiery trial that may come our
way? (1Pe 4:12-13)
– Don’t think it strange
– Rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s suffering
11) What do those who suffer for Christ have to look forward to? (1Pe 4:13)
– Exceeding joy when Christ’s glory is revealed
12) Why is one who suffers for Christ blessed? (1Pe 4:14)
– The Spirit of God rests upon them
– On their part Christ is glorified
13) For what reasons should a Christian not suffer? (1Pe 4:15)
– As a murderer, thief, evildoer, busybody in other people’s matters
14) How should one react if they suffer as a Christian? (1Pe 4:16)
– Do not be ashamed; glorify God in this matter
15) Upon whom does the judgment of God begin? Who will face the
greater judgment? (1Pe 4:17)
– The house of God
– Those who obey not the gospel of Christ
16) Who will be “scarcely saved”? (1Pe 4:18)
– The righteous
17) What should those who suffer according to the will of God do? (1Pe 4:19)
– Commit their souls to God in doing good
– Commit their souls to God as to a faithful Creator
SUFFERING FOR THE NAME OF CHRIST
1Pe 4:1 to 1Pe 5:14.
1. With what should the people of God arm themselves? Ans. 1Pe 4:1.
2. How should they live? Ans. 1Pe 4:2.
3. Describe the unholy conduct of the Gentiles. Ans. 1Pe 4:3.
4. What seems strange to the outside world? Ans. 1Pe 4:4.
5. To whom must they give account? Ans. 1Pe 4:5.
6. Why was the gospel preached to “them that are dead”, or lived before us? Ans. 1Pe 4:6.
7. Why should all be prayerful and sober in mind? Ans. 1Pe 4:7.
8. What should be done above all things? Why? Ans. 1Pe 4:8.
9. What should be freely used for others? Ans. 1Pe 4:9-10.
10. How must all speak and act? Ans. 1Pe 4:11.
11. What may the faithful expect? Ans. 1Pe 4:12.
12. In what should we rejoice? Ans. 1Pe 4:13-14.
13. Of what should the Lord’s people never be guilty? Ans. 1Pe 4:15.
14. In what name should we be willing to suffer and to glorify God? Ans. 1Pe 4:16.
15. Contrast the judgment of the righteous and the judgment of the wicked. Ans. 1Pe 4:17-18.
16. How and unto whom should those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls? Ans. 1Pe 4:19.
17. What are elders exhorted to do? Ans. 1Pe 5:1-3.
18. How will their faithfulness to duty be rewarded? Ans. 1Pe 5:4.
19. Why should all be clothed in humility? Ans. 1Pe 5:5-6.
20. What should be done with all cares and anxieties? Ans. 1Pe 5:7.
21. Why should all be sober and watchful? Ans. 1Pe 5:8-9.
22. How will God bless his people after they have suffered here for a little while? Ans. 1Pe 5:10-11.
23. What is said of Silvanus and “she that is in Babylon”, and Mark? Ans. 1Pe 5:12-14.
Questions by E.M. Zerr On 1st Peter 4
1. For whom has Christ suffered?
2. How should we arm ourselves?
3. What will this mind cause us to endure?
4. State what will cease after the suffering.
5. How should we not live afterward?
6. Had they ever lived in these things?
7. What does Peter mean was sufficient?
8. Whose will is served by the life of sin?
9. Define lasciviousness.
10. Illustrate revelings.
11. What is the meaning of banqueting?
12. Who is antecedent of “they,” verse 4?
13. State what is being thought as strange.
14. What does it cause them to speak?
15. To whom shall account be given?
16. Who shall give this account?
17. What preaching is here mentioned?
18. Why was preached, but are dead?
19. For what reason was the preaching done?
20. Will all mankind be judged?
21. Do all need be given a chance in this life?
22. Could this be restricted to people of Noah’s day?
23. Why should we be Bober and pray?
24. What is accomplished by charity?
25. In what spirit should hospitality be used?
26. On what ground should all be free hearted?
27. What is our responsibility to God?
28. What should be the standard in our speaking?
29. In what place may such words be found?
30. To what extent is ministering required of a man?
31. In all this who will get the glory?
32. For what does he prepare their minds?
33. Is it necessary for Christians to suffer?
34. In what should they rejoice as partakers?
35. If partakers of sufferings then what?
36. For what name should we consider reproach as happiness?
37. What spirit does this indicate?
38. Who is meant by “their part”?
39. What suffering does he forbid?
40. What did Paul do when made to suffer?
41. Is this not what the penal law is for?
42. Does this not make self-protection right?
43. How could one suffer as a Christian?
44. If he does, in what name should he suffer?
45. Who will get glory out of such suffering?
46. Why must such suffering be expected now?
47. Where must judgment or suffering begin now?
48. Answer question first part of verse 17.
49. Why are the righteous scarcely saved?
50. ‘[‘0 whom should righteous commit themselves?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Suffering as a Christian
1Pe 4:12-19
We are called upon to share our Saviors sufferings-not those of His substitution, but His daily self-denial, the hatred of men, the anguish of His soul over the obstinacy and opposition of the world. The soldier who is nearest his leader, charging through the mle of the fight, is likely to get the same treatment as is meted out to his prince. It is not strange! It would be strange if it were not so, and if the traits in us that characterize our Lord did not win the same hatred as they won for Him.
The salvation of the righteous is a task of enormous difficulty. It requires the dead-lift of Omnipotence. Nothing less will suffice than the infinite grace of the Father, the blood of the Son, and the patience of the Holy Spirit. What will be the fate of those who refuse these! Will they appear at the marriage-supper of the Lamb; and if not-where! What a beautiful closing verse! The committal of the soul, not only to the Savior, but to the Creator. After all, He who made can best understand, adjust and satisfy the nature which He Himself has given!
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
think: 1Pe 4:4, Isa 28:21
the fiery: 1Pe 1:7, Dan 11:35, 1Co 3:13
as: 1Pe 5:9, 1Co 10:13, 1Th 3:2-4, 2Ti 3:12
Reciprocal: Num 31:23 – abide Jdg 3:1 – prove 2Sa 16:12 – requite 1Ki 17:17 – the son of the woman Psa 11:5 – trieth Psa 34:19 – Many Pro 27:17 – so Pro 27:21 – the fining Isa 24:15 – glorify Isa 43:2 – when thou walkest Isa 48:10 – I have refined Isa 66:5 – but Jer 6:29 – the founder Jer 9:7 – I will Jer 12:5 – thou hast Eze 22:15 – consume Dan 3:23 – fell Hab 3:18 – I will rejoice Zec 13:9 – bring Mal 3:3 – sit Mat 5:10 – are Mar 8:35 – for Mar 10:30 – with persecutions Luk 6:22 – when men Luk 21:12 – before Joh 12:42 – lest Act 14:22 – we Rom 8:35 – shall tribulation 1Co 4:12 – being persecuted 2Co 4:8 – yet Phi 1:13 – in Christ Phi 1:28 – an 1Th 3:3 – moved Heb 11:17 – when Heb 11:25 – Choosing Heb 11:34 – Quenched 1Pe 4:19 – let Rev 3:10 – to try Rev 15:2 – mingled
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE PROBLEM OF PAIN
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you, which cometh upon you to prove you but insomuch as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of His glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy.
1Pe 4:12-13 (R.V.)
The thought which runs through the text is this, that when sufferings or trials of any kind come upon us we are not to be surprised, as if they were foreign visitors, speaking a strange tongue, which we cannot understand. As followers of Christ we know, or ought to know, what they are, whence they come, Who sent them, and what they mean. We cannot rejoice in the sufferings, nor are we asked to do so; but we can rejoice in the blessings they bring.
As it was the eternal purpose of God that His Son should be a partaker of human suffering, even so it was and is His purpose that, through such afflictions as He is pleased to send, and which are borne by us in submission to His will, we should be partakers of the sufferings of His Son.
I. It is obvious that this participation cannot hold good of those sacrificial sufferings which He bore as the one perfect oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. But there were sufferings, other than these, which Jesus bore as part of the burden of the human lot. In all the physical, mental, and spiritual pain to which the Man of Sorrows was subjected we can be sharers. In any of the thousand ways in which distress may come upon us, we can enter into the fellowship of His sufferings, by bearing it for His sake and in His spirit. Nothing will make us so strong in bitter pain as the convictionI am not only bowing to the will of God, but I am bearing something like what Jesus bore? I have Him with me, and He will see me through. The mental and the bodily torture is there all the same, but by laying it on Christ, and holding His hand in ours, there come a fortitude, a resignation, and a peace which will astonish none more than ourselves.
II. There is another truth taught us.St. Paul is a prisoner in Rome, and is dictating a letter to his Colossian converts (Col 1:24) when, looking at the shackles on his hands which prevented him from writing, a gleam of joy seems to flash upon him. This unspeakable honour and privilege filled the Apostle with a gladness which helped him to bear his burden. These words are just as true of the Christian sufferer to-day as they were of the great Apostle. As each mans trouble is his own and belongs to no other, each sufferer is entitled to say, My Divine Lord has sent this trouble upon me that, bearing it gladly for His sake, I may fill up something which he sees to be lacking in the sorrows which He bore upon earth. I am certain that you have only to reflect upon it, and, if your day of trial come, to test this much-forgotten truth, in order to learn, as I have done, how much strength and comfort lie in the conviction that you are partakers of the afflictions of Christ.
III. The other great truth of the text is this, that partaking of Christs sufferings here is the preparation for partaking of His glory hereafter. His own words on the day of His resurrection are the key-note of this great truth, Ought not Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory? What is true of Christ is true of the Christian. If we suffer with Him we shall also reign with Him. Interwoven with the whole system and spirit of Christianity are these incomparably glorious truthsthat suffering is not an end in itself, but only a means to an end; that that end is not directly or mainly material and temporal; that the beneficent results of suffering stretch through the seen into the unseen, and that these results, in their fulness, can be obtained only by those who regard and weigh them not in the light of the temporal but of the eternal. It is in the Cross of Christ, and only there, that you will find the true philosophy of pain and of evil in every form. There, in the fact that Gods eternal Son became man in order that He might suffer and die, and in the fact that His inconceivable sufferings resulted directly from the love of God to man, and were the highest possible expression of that love, a light is thrown on the otherwise insoluble mystery that the universe, so far as we know it, has been constructed on lines of suffering; that all through animated nature back to its first beginnings in our planet, wherever there has been life there have been struggle and pain, and that mainly through struggle and pain has animated nature become what it is. We learn from the Cross that, as it was the love of God which made suffering necessary for the salvation of man, so it was the love of God which made suffering necessary as the means of the physical, intellectual, and moral development of man.
IV. In the Cross we learn that the full meaning, purpose, and results of suffering can be unfolded, not in this world, but in that which is to come. Not only so, we have hints in Scripture that the results of the Redemption accomplished there may reach to the whole animated creation of God. Boundless hopes open up to the soul of man in those great Scriptures, which tell us that if we suffer with Christ we shall also be glorified with Him. The man who from want or weakness of faith estimates the troubles of life only in their effect on the present and the seen, is weighing them in a false balance and putting much too low a value both on himself and them. It is not only the strength and the comfortit is the dignity of a man to keep up his connection in everything with the unseen and the eternal, and not least on the suffering side of his life. Afflictions blessed work can be wrought in us only when we realise and are concerned with the spiritual world within us, above us, and before us. The connection between the suffering and the glory is no more arbitrary than the connection between the two states, the seen and the unseen. Here the work, there the wages; here the schooling and apprenticeship, there the service and the true life at last begun.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Sunshine and Shadows
1Pe 4:12-19
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
There are several things about suffering for Christ which need to be emphasized.
1. Christians are not exempt from suffering. Asaph said, “I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” “They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.” This was all too painful unto Asaph until he went into the sanctuary of God; then he understood the end of the wicked, and how they were brought into desolation in a moment and utterly consumed with terrors.
The opening verse of our Scripture lesson plainly states:-“Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.” Paul tells us that it is given unto us to suffer. Jesus said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” Peter said, “If ye be reproached for the Name of Christ, happy are ye.”
If the Master of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more shall the members of the household be so called. If they hated Him, they will also hate us.
2. Christians should never suffer because of their own sins. Verse sixteen says: “If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed.” If, however, any one suffer because of his misdeeds he needs to be ashamed. Paul was in jail, and yet his incarceration was an honor and not a shame. When we think of “jailbirds” we think of men who have broken the law, and who are suffering the due reward of their deeds. For this cause the jail garb carries with it a sense of ignominy.
To be jailed for Christ does not, however, carry dishonor; it affords more abundant glory. It is there that the spirit of glory and of God rests upon us. On the part of men we may be evil spoken of, but on the part of God, we are praised.
The Lord Himself is accorded praise and honor, might and power, glory and adoration, because He died outside the gate bearing the sins of many. The shame which fell upon the two thieves who suffered the due reward of their deeds, did not fall upon Christ.
Thus, to suffer for His sake brings to us the benedictions of Heaven and of God. Nevertheless Christians should never glory either in self-produced or in self-deserved sufferings.
3. Christians who suffer for Christ may safely commit the keeping of their souls unto God. Verse nineteen does not assure immunity against the “death of the body,” it does insure the safe-keeping of the souls of those who suffer. As the Lord Jesus died, He said, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.”
There have been millions of martyrs who have gladly died for the Faith. However, in all the fires flamed by the fagots of their foes, and in all the wild beasts that raved and raged against martyrs, nothing has ever been able to touch the spirit.
Nothing has ever been invented against the child of God that could touch his spirit. Satan and his hordes may be able to slay the body, but they cannot endanger the soul.
Fear not though foes engage
Thy body to destroy;
Thy God above will guard thy soul,
And every grace employ
To lead thee to His Heavenly rest,
And to the shelter of His breast.
I. THE BENEFACTIONS OF SUFFERING (1Pe 1:7, f.c)
Peter was called of God to strengthen his brethren. Jesus said to Peter, “Satan hath desired thee, that he might sift thee as wheat.” Perhaps it was for this very cause that the Lord gave Satan permission to proceed with his sifting-that Peter might become a minister to other tested and suffering saints.
How is the grain of wheat
For the garner made replete?
How is it multiplied,
The farmer satisfied?
The wheat must bend its head,
And lie within its bed;
In its cold, dark grave, alone,
It dies to all its own.
How shall thy life bear grain,
And reach its fullest gain?
Thou, too, in death must lie,
To all of self, must die.
Our text says, “That the trial of your faith * * [is] more precious than of gold that perisheth.”
Many of God’s choicest blessings lie in the lowlands. We must enter into the valley of sorrows and of sighs, if we would gather these gems. Down in the lower depths of the ocean we discover the richest pearls. The choicest stars are seen only in the night. Thus, also, when the night of our darkness and tribulation falls upon us, are we permitted to get views of God’s richest orbs of blessing.
It was when the disciples were rowing hard at the oars, and when the winds and waves had almost engulfed them, that Christ came to them walking upon the water. Had the dove found rest for its foot, it would never have returned to the ark. Thus, when there is anything left in our confidence of self, or in our trust in men, we will scarcely lean on Him.
II. SUFFERING THE STEPPING-STONE TO GOD’S REVEALING (Gen 26:24)
How the words sound forth: “And the Lord appeared unto [Isaac] the same night!” It is in the night that God delights to appear to us. You have read the illuminating words of Isaiah six: “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up.”
It was the death of Uzziah that clouded the horizon of the young Prophet, Isaiah. In the collapse of Uzziah and his throne, Isaiah saw the collapse of Israel’s hopes; then, however, the Lord appeared unto Isaiah.
It was when Jacob was filled with fear and dread concerning his brother Esau, that the Lord appeared unto him, and He wrestled with Jacob until the breaking of the day. If we really want to know Christ we must meet Him in the valley.
As long as the glitter and the glare of the world’s glory fills our eyes, it will stay God’s revelation to us of the riches of His grace and glory.
David learned the truth of our theme. His trials and troubles were indeed the stepping-stone to God’s gracious revealings. Through them all God came near to him, until he kept the Lord continually before his face.
It was when Paul was in the fourteenth day of his Euroclydon experience on the Mediterranean that the angel of the Lord stood by him by night, saying, “Fear not, Paul.” It was when the disciples were tempest-tossed on Galilee that the Lord came to them on the waters.
When the troubled waves are wild and dashing high,
Christ is saying, “Do not fear, for it is I”;
In the tossing boat I stand,
Hush, be still, ye waters grand,
I will bring this shin to land,
It is I, who gives command,
Yes, it is I.”
III. TRIUMPHS THROUGH TESTING (2Co 4:17)
Here is a marvelous lesson which all need to learn-our trials are, in reality, no more than servants, working in our behalf. It was for this cause that the Holy Spirit, in James, said, “Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.”
How reassuring, then, are the words of our key verse, “Our light affliction * * worketh for us!” Our afflictions, seem they ever so heavy, are but light, inasmuch as they are but for a moment. They are light also in comparison with the far more exceeding, and eternal weight of glory, which they work out for us. What then?
We should center our eye, not on the present anguish, but on the glory which it is working out for us. We should dwell, not on the testings of our today, but on the triumphs of our eternal tomorrow.
We are weaving tapestries destined to decorate the Glory Land. Into the loom must be woven threads of somber hue, as well as threads of gold.
Oh face the waves, my brother,
Nor shrink though fierce the gale;
Thou soon shalt reach thy haven,
And fold thy storm-tossed sail:
In God’s own great tomorrow,
On the shore of “over there,”
Instead of stress and sorrow.
Thou shalt His glory share.
IV. SINGING WHILE WE SUFFER (2Co 6:10)
How the words ring out, “As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing!” The Apostle Paul had not only learned in whatsoever state he was, therewith to be content; but he had also learned to rejoice in tribulation. He could join with Silas in a duet of praise, in the most unlikely spot to produce human happiness.
What we need is to get the right slant on our sufferings. We need to grasp what we have already heard; that our afflictions are stepping-stones to God’s revealing; that our testings are thoroughfares to triumph; that after our suffering, comes the glory-then we can sing in tribulation.
We saw a beautiful white flower blooming in all its glory, in the midst of the murk and mire of damp and decay. Why then should never music burst forth and radiate its joy and gladness in the midst of pain and penury?
The rippling rivulet runs its way, leaping and laughing with frolic, as it winds along its downward course through crannied crags, and ragged, towering rocks. May we not shout and sing our praises mid the crannied crags and the ragged rocks of tribulations and testings? Can God not give us songs in the night? Can He not change our darkness into day? Shall we sing only in the sunshine? God forbid. We need to change the valley of our Achor (trouble), into a door of hope. We need the Spirit to hover over our darkened hours, and to hear our Lord saying, “Let there be light.”
It is not enough for the child of God to say a languid “Amen”; his lips and his heart should burst forth with a hearty and soulful “Hallelujah.”
V. TAKING PLEASURE IN PERSECUTIONS (2Co 12:10)
Some one has said, “Sweet are the uses of adversity.” ‘Tis true. The Holy Spirit revealed this fact unto Paul. Therefore Paul could say, “I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake.”
Victory in the life of the Christian causes him to triumph over all circumstances. He is not a menial to, but a master over his difficulties. He praises God when he is pinched and pressed by adversity; he delights in being cooped up in a cage with God; he takes pleasure in partaking of Christ’s sufferings, counting insults and chaffing a benefaction; he is willing gladly to be chased about for Christ’s sake.
A thorn, to Paul, proved a greater blessing than a rose. Sorrow is sweeter than song. The cross was welcomed because it was the harbinger of the crown. The path of pain became the ladder which lifted his longing soul to heights of happiness in Christ Jesus.
Did you ever say with Jacob, “All these things are against me”? Had it not been better to have said: “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose”? Did you ever weigh your woes, and forget to remember that woes are wings which waft you to the upper air of Heavenly rest and peace? Did you ever complain at your cross? The cross was Paul’s glory. He said, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
On the cross-O sacred story-
There, with Christ, I hung and died,
There, the world and all its glory,
Died to me, was crucified.
VI. OUR EXEMPLAR IN SUFFERING (1Pe 2:21)
There is much spoken and written about walking in Christ’s steps. Many, however, have forgotten that it is in the steps of His sufferings that we are to walk. It was in them that He left us an example. If we have been crucified with Christ, in His substitutionary sufferings, should we not take our place beside Him, outside the camp, and bear His reproach? In all of His suffering and anguish He left us an example. We must take our cross and follow hard behind Him.
We may assure our hearts of one thing-He will never ask us to walk where He has not been. Our sufferings are never more than His. What more can we expect?
We follow in His steps, because we are one with Him. His nature is ours; His love, His desires, His ideals, His choosings, all are ours. When we are made perfect in oneness with Him, we cannot but be subjected by the world to the same treatment that fell on Him.
It is inevitable-like Lord, like servant. When we name His Name, we share His shame. Only when the world has a change of heart, and crowns Christ as Lord, will the true follower of the Lord find warm and soulful welcome at its hand.
If winds are wildly sweeping, madly leaping
Against my Lord-the lover of my soul;
Shall I seek quiet ocean, no commotion,
All safely shelter’d in some quiet goal?
Not I-I’ll serve where tempest crieth, fierce winds flieth,
Where round me angry billows surge and roll;
I’ll ever share His sorrow, burdens borrow,
His worthy Name forevermore extol.
VII. THE SUFFERINGS AND THE GLORY (Rom 8:18)
Sorrows may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning. Now we have sorrow, but then, when He shall see us again, we shall rejoice. The present suffering is nothing comparable to the glory that shall be revealed. The shadows will flee away when the sun begins its shining.
Praise God, after the cross comes the crown, after the sorrow comes the singing, after the suffering comes the reigning.
God has called us unto His eternal glory, after that we have suffered a little while. When once we have passed through this vale of tears, and have reached the land of love, and light, and life, we will understand how the shadows of our earth-sojourning were not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed.
With wonder I gazed on a cocoon, where, hidden away in its closely-shut prison, a life sought freedom from its murky den. When the days of its probation were over, it came forth in glory, fluttering its beautifully bedecked wings in the balmy breeze. It had passed from prison to palace, from confinement to freedom, from darkness to light, from suffering to glory. So too shall we pass. “Made perfect through suffering.”
AN ILLUSTRATION
SUNSHINE
“A little sunshine enliveneth the poor creatures, the birds fall a-singing that were melancholy and sad before in cloudy weather; all things are cheered and comforted when the sun shines.” “Just so. How often have we seen the change which is wrought by dear shining after rain! It has seemed as though Heaven had come down in love to dry earth’s tears and bedeck her with raiment of fair colors. Spiritually, the type is carried out in delightful fashion. The Lord’s Appearing sheds a glory upon our infirmities, and transforms our trials into triumphs. His presence removes the dullness which else hangs like a cloud on the best of our conditions, and in this way lightens all our glooms. His countenance is to His saints as a morning without clouds, it brings with it a surprise of joy. Till Jesus communed with me I did not know that I could be so happy. I heard more birds singing in my soul than I had ever dreamed could have dwelt within me. Never had my sad soul imagined that human life was half as capable of Divine bliss, or earth within a thousand leagues so near to Heaven. Truly it is worth while to have lived, if for nothing more than to have had an hour’s fellowship with the Well-beloved. Earthly joy is no more to be compared with it than a lamp in a coal mine can be likened to the sun in the heavens.
“Oh, my God, I thank Thee for having made me, because Thou hast made me able to walk in the light of Thy countenance. Now Thou dost shine upon me my summer-tide has come.”-C. H. Spurgeon.
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
1Pe 4:12. To think strange has the same meaning that the word does in verse 4; disciples should not be surprised if trials and persecutions come upon them. (See verse 1.)
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Pe 4:12. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial. So far the translation of the A. V. is a very happy one. The same verb is used here as in 1Pe 4:4 (which see), and with the same sense. The affectionate address, Beloved, which has been used already at a serious turning-point in the Epistle, is repeated here in token of the writers sympathy with the readers, and to conciliate their attention to what he has yet to say on a painful subject. What he says first of all is to deprecate their looking on their trials as things beyond understanding or expectation. The heathen thought it strange that Christians adopted a manner of life so different from what prevailed. And they were wrong in so thinking. Christians themselves were equally wrong in yielding to the sense of mere bewilderment at their persecutions, however strange it might seem at first that they, who were taught to regard themselves as Gods elect ones and His heirs, should be left to suffer as they did at the hand of His enemies. The trial itself is expressed by a term which is well represented by the fiery trial of the A. V. In the Classics it means a burning, or a firing, and is used of the material processes of cooking, roasting, etc., but also at times metaphorically of burning desire, proving by fire, etc. In Pro 27:21 it is rendered furnace, and the cognate verb is used of the trial of character as being like the smelting of metals (cf. Psa 65:10; Zec 13:9). The only other passages of the N. T. in which the noun occurs are Rev 18:9; Rev 18:18, where it is rendered burning. This burning is said to be among you,a clause which is overlooked by the A. V., and which represents the fiery process as not remote but already at work in their midst
which comes upon you with a view to probation (or, as the R. V. paraphrases it, to prove you). The which is to try you of the A. V. makes that future which Peter gives as present. The trial was then taking place, as the terms imply, and that with the object of proving and so purifying them. The idea, therefore, is so far the same as in chap. 1Pe 1:7.
as though a strange thing were befalling you. The some of the A. V. is uncalled for. Tyndales rendering of the verse deserves noticeDearly beloved, be not troubled in this heat which is now come among you to try you, as though some strange thing had happened unto you. The picture is that of sufferings already in operation or immediately impending. As to the apparent strangeness of such a lot Jeremy Taylor says:Jesus made for us a covenant of suffering. His doctrines were such as, expressly and by consequent, enjoin and suppose sufferings and a state of affliction; His very promises were sufferings; His Beatitudes were sufferings; His rewards, and His arguments to invite men to follow Him, were only taken from sufferings in this life and the reward of sufferings hereafter.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. The metaphor which the apostle uses to set forth the Christian’s afflictions and persecutions by; he calls them fiery trials: burnings, because very painful and afflictive, very grievous and burdensome to sense, and also because men are tried by them as metals are by fire.
Observe, 2. The warning given by the apostle to all Christians, not to think it strange concerning these fiery trials; that is, not to look upon them as unusual things, but to expect them, and prepare for them; for unexpected trials fall upon the soul in their full weight, and suddenly overthrow it: what we fear, for that we prepare; but when trials come, and we never looked and prepared for them, they strike us to the heart, because not armed to receive the blow.
Observe, 3. The gracious end that God has in the afflictions and persecutions which fall upon his people: they are to try them, not to consume them; to try their graces, and destroy their corruptions, to give them opportunity to make proof of the truth of their faith, sincerity, and constancy.
Observe, 4. The high honour which God puts upon his suffering saints and servants: they are said to be partakers of Christ’s sufferings, because they suffer for him, and he suffers with them, and in them, and also because he suffered the same things before them, and much worse things for them.
Observe lastly, The duty which God expects and requires from them who suffer these fiery persecutions for the sake of his Son; and that is, to rejoice and be exceeding glad.
From the whole learn, 1. That no afflictions of persecutions should seem new or strange things to sincere Christians.
2. That the end and use of all afflictions, is the trial and improvement of the Christian’s graces.
3. That believers in suffering afflictions and persecutions, are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; he suffers in them, and they are made comformable to him by them.
4. That it is the will of God, that such as suffer for him should not only be meek and patient, but be joyous and cheerful.
5. That at the great day when Christ’s glory shall be revealed, then especially will the suffering saints rejoice and be glad with exceeding joy, when they shall see their dear Redeemer coming in the clouds, with an human body, shining brighter than ten thousand suns; a body which still retains the marks of his sufferings, and the tokens of his love.
O joyful day of Christ’s appearing, when this royal bridegroom shall take his suffering spouse the church by the hand, and present her to his Father, own his in the presence of men and angels, bestow a kingdom upon them, that they may be with him where he is, eternally to behold his glory, to feed upon an happiness as large as their capacities, and as lasting as their beings; such honour have all his suffering saints, and therefore ought greatly to rejoice, inasmuch as they are made partakers of Christ’s sufferings: that when his glory shall be revealed, they may be glad also with exceeding joy.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Glorifying God in Suffering Trials are a part of the Christian’s life and should not surprise him ( Joh 15:18-20 ; 2Ti 3:12 ). Woods says of the “fiery trial,” “the figure here used is that of gold ore cast into a crucible for the purpose of separating the worthless dross from the precious metal.” When Christians suffer for the same reason Christ suffered, they have reason to rejoice ( Mat 5:11-12 ). Such rejoicing in sufferings can occur now because Christians look forward to the great joy the faithful will experience at Christ’s return ( 1Pe 4:12-13 ).
Woods says the word “if” at the beginning of verse 14 would be better translated “when”. When others speak evil of Christ’s followers because they wear the name Christian, in word and deed, they should be inwardly happy, which is the meaning of “blessed” here and in Mat 5:1-12 . That happiness stems, in part, from the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. Christ is evil spoken of when Christians are evil spoken of ( Act 8:3 ; Act 9:1 ; Act 9:5 ).
Others may speak evil of Christ because of the good lives of believers, but the good done in His name glorifies Him. Christ’s disciples can be happy when suffering for Christ, but should be ashamed to suffer as an evil doer.
“Busybody” comes from the Greek word “allotrioepiskopos” which Thayer says is “one who takes supervision of affairs pertaining to others and in no wise to himself.” Disciples should not suffer for such actions. On the other hand, there is no shame in suffering because one follows Christ. The name “Christian” is also used in Act 11:26 ; Act 26:28 . It would appear to be the new name promised in Isa 62:2 ( 1Pe 4:15-16 ).
Woods says “judgment” is used in 4:17 to denote severe trial. They were already in the season of that trial. If God would allow the church (see 1Ti 3:15 ) to go through such trials, then the wicked need not expect to escape the sure doom awaiting those who refuse to obey ( 2Th 1:7-9 ). Peter then quoted from the LXX translation of Pro 11:31 ( 1Pe 4:18 ). God will save those who walk uprightly from the great trial to come, but it will be with great difficulty. If God would take great difficulty to save the righteous from the impending trial the ungodly would put them through, imagine the terrible punishment God would send the ungodly to in the end of time.
On the basis of what he had already written, Peter concluded that Christians who suffer should remember that such suffering is a part of being a Christian. They should place their soul’s well-being in God’s hands, since He is the creator and sustainer of life and can be trusted to maintain it ( 1Pe 4:19 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
1Pe 4:12-13. Think it not strange, &c. Wonder not at the fiery trial The dreadful series of furious and bitter persecutions. The original expression, , is literally, the burning which is among you; denoting the grievous persecution which the Christians in Pontus, &c., were suffering for their faith; including both martyrdom itself, which frequently was by fire, and all the other sufferings joined with or previous to it. The metaphor is bold, but noble: it expresses in a lively manner the painful and dangerous nature of their trials. Which is to try you Is permitted by the wisdom of God for the trial of your faith in Christ, and in the truths and promises of his gospel; of your hope of eternal life, your love to God, his people, and his ways, of your resignation to his will, your patience and meekness; as though some strange thing happened unto you Different from, or beyond, all which you were taught to expect. But rejoice in these trials, inasmuch as ye are therein partakers of Christs sufferings Sufferings endured for his sake, in defence of his truth, and in proof of your faith in him; that when his glory shall be revealed At the great and glorious day of his second appearance; ye In the participation of it; may be glad with exceeding joy , may rejoice transported with gladness.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
ARGUMENT 21
BLOODY MARTYRDOM IN VIEW
12. Beloved, be not jostled by the fiery ordeal which is among you for your testing, as something foreign happening to you. At the time of this writing the great Roman Empire, belting the globe, was racking with the pent-up fires of martyrdom, like a surging volcano, just ready to explode and inundate the saints in deadly persecutions. Peter saw it moving in prophetic panorama. In little time he and Paul and many others sealed heir faith with their blood. Nero, the cruel tyrant, issued the murderous edict, which was repeated by his successors, till three hundred years of blood and slaughter had rolled away. Meanwhile the Christians were put to death by every conceivable torture Satan could invent, and especially were they fed to the lions in the Coliseum, for the nightly entertainment of one hundred thousand cruel spectators; these bloody martyrdoms sweeping right down to the conversion of the Emperor Constantine.
13. Peter fervently exhorted the saints of all ages to rejoice in all their persecutions, in order that they may shout victory when the Lord is revealed from heaven.
14. He assured us that when we suffer reproach or persecutions in the name of Christ, at that very time the Spirit of glory and of God is resting upon us. Under these inspiring apostolical exhortations, corroborated by their example, exultantly submitting to bloody martyrdom, no wonder the primitive Christians not only heroically brooked the persecutionary storms, but the glowing enthusiasm to wear the martyrs crown, became the absorbing sensation of the age.
15, 16. With unreproachable lives, loyal to the ruling powers, Peter exhorts them that all their sufferings are to supervene simply in the attitude Christians.
17. The bloody persecutions seen by Peters prophetic eye in panoramic visions, kept the Church pure three centuries, till the great Constantinian apostasy, which supervened upon the cessation of the persecutions. Of course, the persecutions could only come by the permissive providence of God, who made them a great source of blessing to His true people. It seemed that millions must add their blood to that of Jesus to confirm the glorious plan of salvation and make a fixture in the world. If the righteous judgments of God are so terrible with His people, what will be the end of them that obey not the Gospel of God. Those who do not pass the terrible judgment ordeals in this world, utterly destroying carnality, must meet them in hell and endure them through all eternity, as the judgment fires in this world only can consume sin, and thus help us to win our probation, while in the world to come probation being lost, they will eternally condemn the soul itself.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
1Pe 4:12-19. The section repeats ideas that have already appeared (1Pe 2:18-24, 1Pe 3:13-17), only they are emphasized by the imminence (1Pe 4:17) of severe trial.
1Pe 4:15. a meddler: the original word seems to be a coinage of the writer, and its exact significance is difficult to define. It may be used politically as a revolutionary or as a stirrer up of strife in the home or society of the Christians. Again, it may be used of conformity to pagan practice, but this is unlikely in the context.
1Pe 4:16. There may here be still the echo of the nickname, though it became accepted gladly by the Christians themselves as their title. Perhaps this passage had some part in that process (cf. art. Christian in HDB).
1Pe 4:19. Creator: this title is found only here in the NT, and is specially significant as pointing to God as the source of all, and His will as behind all chance and change.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Verse 12
Think it not strange, &c.; think it not extraordinary that God should subject you to such sufferings and trials.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
4:12 {11} Beloved, think it not {d} strange {12} concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
(11) Because that cross is joined with the sincere profession of religion, the apostle fitly repeats what he touched on before, warning us not to be troubled at persecutions and afflictions, as at a new and strange thing.
(d) As though some new thing had befallen you, which you never thought of before.
(12) The first reason: because the Lord does not mean to confuse us with his fire (as it were) but to purge us of our impurities and make us perfect.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
A. The Fiery Trial 4:12-19
Peter reminded his readers of how sufferings fit into God’s purposes to encourage them to persevere with the proper attitude (cf. James 1).
"The section which began at iii. 13 is here concluded in a passage which recapitulates much that has been said-on persecution, on Christ’s sufferings, on Christian duty, on the imminence of the End and of divine Judgment-and which reflects the intensity of the author’s eschatological faith." [Note: Selwyn, p. 220.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. Suffering and glory 4:12-14
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Some Christians feel surprised when other people misunderstand, dislike, insult, and treat them harshly when they seek to carry out God’s will. Peter reminded his readers that this reaction is not a strange thing but normal Christian experience. Their persecutions were fiery (burning) ordeals in the sense that they were part of God’s refining process and were uncomfortable (cf. 1Pe 2:11). It was for their testing (Gr. pairasmos, proving), to manifest their faith, that God allowed their sufferings (cf. Jas 1:2-4).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
IV. THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF CHRISTIANS COLLECTIVELY 4:12-5:11
Peter now broadened his perspective and reminded his suffering readers of their corporate responsibilities.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 14
THE BELIEVERS DOUBLE JOY
1Pe 4:12-14
AFTER the benediction in 1Pe 4:11, we might have supposed that the exhortations of the Apostle were ended. But he now proceeds to make general application of the lessons which above {1Pe 2:18-19} he had confined to a particular class: the Christians who were in slavery. And the times appear to have called for consolation. The Churches were in great tribulation. St. Peter speaks here, more than in any other passage of the Epistle, as if persecution were afflicting the whole Christian body: “Beloved”-the word embraces them all-“think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among youas though a strange thing happened unto you.” His strong word implies extreme suffering. St. John uses it {Rev 18:9; Rev 18:18} of the burning up of the mystical Babylon, and it is found nowhere else in the New Testament. A trial meriting this description was harassing the Asian Christians; but spite of the intensity of suffering, which may be inferred from his language, he bids the converts not to wonder at it or deem it other than their proper lot: “Think it not strange.”
He does not enter upon reasons for his admonition, or he might have selected a goodly list of Old Testament saints who for their faith were called to suffer. For the Jewish brethren, Joseph and David, Elijah and Micaiah, David and his companions in exile, Job and Nehemiah, would have been forcible examples of suffering for righteousness. The Apostle, however, selects only the loftiest instance. Christ, the Master whom they were pledged to serve, had suffered, and had said, besides, that all who would follow Him must take up the cross. Need they wonder, then, if in their case they found the Lords teaching coming true?
But, in describing the purpose of their trials, the Apostle introduces some words which place their affliction in a distinct light: “Which cometh upon you to prove you”-literally, for your proving ( ). And the word is that which is constantly used of “temptation,” whether sent of God or coming in some other way. When viewed as a process of proving, the believers would be able to find some contentment under their persecutions. God was putting them to the test. He would know if they are in earnest in His service, and so they are cast into the furnace, Gods wanted discipline. The prophet Zechariah tells both of the process, and the God-intended result: “I will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried; they shall call on My name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is My people; and they shall say, The Lord is my God.” {Zec 13:9} And the Psalmist bears like testimony: “The Lord trieth the righteous,” {Psa 11:5} and says that for those who are found faithful the end is blessedness: “We went through fire and through water, but Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place”. {Psa 66:12} Such thoughts would yield comfort to those for whom St. Peter immediately wrote. They were suffering for Christs sake; their faith in Him was being tested. But the Apostles words are left for the edification of all generations of believers. Throughout all time and everywhere there has been abundance of grief and pain. How may sufferers today participate in the apostolic consolation? How may they learn to think it not strange that they are afflicted?
The Apostles words supply the answer to such questions. And they are no light or infrequent questionings both for ourselves and others. Men are prone to lament over temporal losses or bodily sufferings, their own or others, in tones which convey the idea that such trials will in the end be compensated and made efficacious for the future blessing of the sufferer. The New Testament has no such doctrine. “The trial which cometh upon you to prove you,” is St. Peters expression. There is much suffering in the world which is in no sense a participation of the sufferings of Christ, in no sense a God-sent trial for proving the faith of the sufferer.
Here, if honestly questioned, the individual conscience will give the true answer; and if that inward witness condemn the life for no excesses, of which suffering is the appointed fruit, if the bodily pains be not the outcome of a life lived to the flesh, nor the sorrow and poverty the result of follies and extravagance aforetime, then, with the anguish and distress which God hath sent (for we may then count them as of His sending), the Spirit will have bestowed light that we may discern their purpose, light which will show us Gods hand weaning us from the world and making us ready for going home, or, it may be, giving to others through us His teaching in message and example. Then the enlightened and pacified soul will be able to rejoice amid pain, conscious of purification; and will out of the midst of sorrow see Gods designs justified. Satan will look on such times as his opportunity, and suggest to the Christian that he is unduly afflicted and forgotten of God; but the joy, which comes from being able to look trouble in the face, as sent by a Father, drives away despondency and puts the enemy to rout. He is triumphant who can rest on a faithful God, with an assurance that with the temptation He will also make the way of escape, that he may be able to endure it. {1Co 10:13}
But dare we then pray, as Christ has taught us, “Lead us not into temptation”? Yes, if we ponder rightly on the purport of our petition. Christ does not bid us pray to God not to try us; He Himself made no such prayer for His disciples; He was Himself submitted to such trial: “It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief”. {Isa 53:10} Nay, one Evangelist {Mar 1:12} tells us how He was not led, but driven forth, of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Yet He taught the prayer to His disciples, and He did so because He knew both what was in man, and what was in the world. In the latter since sin entered, the tempter has found manifold enticements to lead men astray. All that belongs to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life, riches, influence, beauty, popularity, prosperity of every kind, may be used as tests of faith, may be made to glorify God; but they can also be perverted in the using. And there dwell within man strong desires, which he is prompted to gratify at times, without heeding whether their gratification be right or wrong; and when desire and opportunity meet, there is peril to the tempted.
“How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds Makes ill deeds done!”
And when desire has once gained the mastery, the next yielding is sooner made; the forbidden path becomes the constant walk; the moral principle-the godlike in the conscience-is neglected; men grow weaker, are led away of their own lusts and enticed.
On the other hand, if the unlawful desire be resisted from the first, each succeeding conflict will offer less hardship, each new victory be more easily gained, and the virtuous act will become a holy habit; the man will walk with God. For this end God uses the evil, of which Satan is the father, to be a discipline, and turns the snares of the enemy into a means of strength for those whom he would captivate. Knowing all this, Christ has left us His prayer. In it He would teach us to ask that God should protect us in such wise that the desire to sin which dwells within us may not be roused to activity by opportunities of indulgence, or that, if we are thrown where such opportunities exist, the desire may be killed in our hearts. Thus our peril will be lessened, and we shall be helped to walk in the right way, through His grace. Our strong passions will grow weaker, and our weak virtues stronger, day by day.
And such a petition should check all overweening confidence in our own power to withstand temptation, all over readiness to put ourselves in the way of danger that we may show our strength, and that we can stand though others may fall. The sin and folly of such presumption would be constantly present to St. Peters mind. He could not forget how his own faith failed when he would make a show of it by walking to meet Jesus over the Sea of Galilee. Still less could he forget that utterance of self-confidence, which thought scorn of trials to come, “Though I should die with Thee, yet will I not deny Thee.” It needed but the timid suggestion of a servant maid to call forth that manifestation of feebleness for which only tears of deepest penitence could atone, and which remained the darkest memory in the Apostles life. He above all men knew to the full the need we have to pray, “Lead us not into temptation.”
And in respect of courting trial, even when the suffering to be encountered would be allowed by all men to be suffering for righteousness sake, the New Testament gives us many lessons that we should not offer ourselves to unnecessary danger. Our Lord Himself, {Joh 8:59} when the Jews took up stones to cast at Him, hid Himself and conveyed Himself out of harms way. At another time we are told, “He would not walk in Judea because the Jews sought to kill Him”. {Joh 7:1} St. Paul, too, {2Co 11:33} to avoid uncalled-for suffering, was let down by the wall of Damascus, and afterwards made use of the dissensions of the Pharisees and Sadducees {Act 23:6} to divert the storm which their combined animosity would have raised against him. In this spirit St. Peter gives his counsel. “Make sure,” he would say, “that the trials you bear are sent to prove you. Let constant self-questioning testify that they are proving you; then wonder not that they are sent, but rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of the sufferings of Christ.” He who thus learns the blessing of trial thanks the Lord for his troublous days. He has a double joy, rejoicing in this life, sorrowful yet always rejoicing; and is assured that at the revelation of Christs glory his joy shall be still more abundant.
“If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are ye.” It was a joy to the Apostles {Act 5:41} at the beginning of their ministry that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. Their offence is described as speaking in the name of Jesus, and filling Jerusalem with their teaching. The feeling of their persecutors was so strong that they were minded to slay them, but upon wiser counsel they only beat them and let them go. St. Paul s commission to Damascus {Act 9:14} was to bind all that called upon the name of Christ, and his work after his conversion was to be “to bear Christs name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.” What such preaching would be, we gather from St. Peters words. {Act 2:22} They taught men that Jesus of Nazareth, a Man approved of God by powers, and wonders, and signs, had been crucified and slain by the Jews, but that God had raised Him from the dead; that He was now exalted by the right hand of God and was ordained of God Act 10:42 to be the Judge of quick and dead; that to Him all the prophets bare witness that through His name every one that believeth on Him should receive remission of sins. St. Paul and the rest preached the same doctrine. All that had happened in Christs life was “according to the Scriptures” {1Co 15:3-4} of the Old Testament; Christ and Him crucified, {1Co 2:2} Jesus and the resurrection, {Act 17:18} are the topics constant in his letters and on his lips. And for their doctrine and their faith preachers and hearers suffered persecution and reproach.
In our land suffering such as theirs is no more laid upon us, but for all that the reproach of Christ has not ceased. Our days are specially marked by a desire for demonstration on every subject, and it comes to pass thereby that those who are willing in spiritual things to walk by faith rank in the estimation of many as the less enlightened portion of the world, and are pictured as such in much of our modern literature. All that tells of miracle in the life of Jesus is by many cast altogether aside, as alien to the reign of law under which the world exists; and the Gospel narratives of the virgin-birth, the wonderful works, the Resurrection, and the Ascension are treated as the invention of the fervid imaginations of the first followers of Jesus; while to cling to them as verities, and to their importance and significance in the work of the worlds salvation, stamps men as laggards in the march of modern speculation. To accept the New Testament story as the fulfillment of predictions in the Old is reckoned by many for ungrounded superstition; and among the unbelieving there are keen eyes still which gladly mark the slips and stumblings of professing Christians, and throw the obloquy of individuals broadcast upon the whole body.
To hold fast faith at such a time, to accept the Gospels as true and their teaching as the words of eternal life, to see in Christ the Redeemer appointed from eternity by the foreknowledge of God, and to believe that in Him His people find-remission of sins, to see and acknowledge above the reign of law the power of the almighty Lawgiver-these things are still beset with trials for those who will live in earnest according to such faith; and if we receive less of the blessing which St. Peter here speaks of as accompanying the reproach of Christ, may we not fear that we exhibit less of the zeal and fervor of the Christians to whom he wrote?
“Because the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you.” In the former clause the Apostle, speaking of the joy of believers, exhorted the converts to a present rejoicing, even in the midst of sufferings, because these were borne for Christs sake, that so, when He shall appear in whose name they have suffered, their rejoicing may be still more abundant. In like manner he seems here to regard their blessedness in a double aspect. The Spirit of glory rests upon them. A power is imparted to them whereby they accept their pains gladly, and therein glorify God, and the same Spirit fills them with a sense of future glory. Like Stephen before his persecutors, they become filled with the Holy Ghost, their spirits are lifted heavenwards, and even now they behold the glory of God, and Jesus sitting on the right hand of God. Thus suffering is robbed of its sting, and Christs reproach becomes a present blessing.
St. Paul combines the same thoughts in his appeal to the Roman Christians. “Let us rejoice,” he urges, “in the hope of the glory of God”. {Rom 5:2} This is the glory to be revealed in the presence of Jesus Christ, that eternal weight of glory which affliction worketh for us more and more exceedingly. But he continues, “Let us rejoice also in our tribulations,” knowing that by them we may glorify God in our bodies, and that they are the pledge of glory to come. “For tribulation worketh patience, and patience probation, and probation hope, and hope putteth not to shame”- it will not be disappointed; fruition will surely come-“because the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Ghost which was given unto us.” This is the Spirit of God of which St. Peter here speaks. It rests like the cloud of glory above the cherubim, and bestows all spiritual power and blessing; it rests on the suffering believer, and gives him rest.
The Authorized Version has here retained a clause which appears to have been at first but an explanatory note, written in the margin of some copy, and then to have been incorporated with the text: “On their part He is evil-spoken of, but on your part He is glorified.” We cannot regret the preservation of such a note. It dates back to very early times. The student who made it could write in the language of the New Testament and in its spirit also. It gives us the sense which was then felt to have most prominence and to be the most important. The way of Christ was evil spoken of, and it could be no strange thing in those days for His followers to be put to fiery trial. Yet the writer feels that the blessedness of the believer is most secured who, regardless of blasphemers around him, strives with all his powers that in his body, whether by life or by death, Christ shall be magnified.