Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Peter 4:3

For the time past of [our] life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

3. For the time past of our life may suffice ] The language is that of grave irony. Enough time, and more than enough, had been already given to the world. Was it not well to give some time now to God? The general line of thought runs parallel to that of Rom 13:11-12.

to have wrought the will of the Gentiles ] The question meets us whether these words imply that the writer was, here at least, contemplating converts from heathenism, or still thinking only of the Jews of the dispersion. On the one hand, it may be said that it was more natural for a Jew writing to Jews to speak of “the heathen” or “the Gentiles.” If the reading “may suffice us ” be the right one, the fact that the Apostle joins himself with those to whom he writes strengthens that conclusion. The better MSS., however, omit the pronoun. The “abominable idolatries,” on the other hand, may seem decisive in favour of the supposition that this part of the Epistle was intended for Gentile readers: but here also the word of warning would be as applicable to lax and licentious Jews, or to those who had been proselytes to Judaism, and who had not given up their attendance at idol-feasts or eating things sacrificed to idols (comp. 1Co 8:10, Rev 2:14; Rev 2:20).

lasciviousness ] The Greek word is in the plural as expressing the manifold forms or acts of impurity. The word is always applied to the darker forms of evil (Mar 7:22; Rom 13:13; 2Pe 2:2; 2Pe 2:7; 2Pe 2:18).

excess of wine ] The Greek word is found in the LXX. of Deu 21:20, Isa 56:12, but not elsewhere in the New Testament.

banquetings ] Literally, drinking-parties. The word went naturally as in other Greek writers with “revellings.”

abominable idolatries ] The Greek adjective means, as in Act 10:28, simply “unlawful:” but as in the Latin nefas, nefanda, nefarius, the idea of that which is at variance not merely with human but with natural law tends to pass into that of a guilt which makes men shudder. It has been suggested above that even here the Apostle may have present to his thoughts the lives of licentious Jews falling into heathen ways rather than of Gentiles pure and simple. The Books of Maccabees (1Ma 1:13-14; 2Ma 4:13-14 ) shew that there had been a strong drift to apostasy of this kind under the Syrian Monarchy. The Temples, Gymnasia and Theatres built by the Herods had recently shewed a like tendency. At the very time when St Peter wrote there were Jews hanging about the court of Nero and Poppa, taking part as actors in the imperial orgies (Joseph. Life, c. 3). It has been suggested that St Peter may have meant to refer to the old worship of Baal and Moloch and Ashtoreth and the groves and the calves which had prevailed in the history of Israel and Judah, so that the words “the time past may suffice” call on them to turn over a new leaf in their national existence, but the explanation of the words just given seems more natural and adequate.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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

To have wrought the will of the Gentiles – This does not mean to be subservient to their will, but to have done what they willed to do; that is, to live as they did. That the Gentiles or pagan lived in the manner immediately specified, see demonstrated in the notes at Rom 1:21-32.

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

Lusts – The indulgence of unlawful desires. See the notes at Rom 1:24.

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

Revellings – Rendered rioting in Rom 13:13. See the notes at that verse. The Greek word ( komos) occurs only here, and in Rom 13:13, and Gal 5:21. It means feasting, revel; a carousing or merrymaking after supper, the guests often sallying into the streets, and going through the city with torches, music, and songs in honor of Bacchus, etc. Robinson, Lexicon. The word would apply to all such noisy and boisterous processions now – scenes wholly inappropriate to the Christian.

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

And abominable idolatries – Literally, unlawful idolatries; that is, unlawful to the Jews, or forbidden by their laws. Then the expression is used in the sense of wicked, impious, since what is unlawful is impious and wrong. That the vices here referred to were practiced by the pagan world is well known. See the notes at Rom 1:26-31. That many who became Christians were guilty of them before their conversion is clear from this passage. The fact that they were thus converted shows the power of the gospel, and also that we should not despair in regard to those who are indulging in these vices now. They seem indeed almost to be hopeless, but we should remember that many who became Christians when the gospel was first preached, as well as since, were of this character. If they were reclaimed; if those who had been addicted to the gross and debasing vices referred to here, were brought into the kingdom of God, we should believe that those who are living in the same manner now may also be recovered. From the statement made in this verse, that the time past of our lives may suffice to have worked the will of the Gentiles, we may remark that the same may be said by all Christians of themselves; the same thing is true of all who are living in sin:

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

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

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

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

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

1. They have made a sufficient experiment. They have never found in those indulgences what they flattered themselves they would find, and they have seen enough to satisfy them that what the immortal soul needs can never be obtained there.
2. They have spent sufficient time in this hopeless experiment. Life is short. Man has no time to waste. He may soon die – and at whatever period of life anyone may be who is living in sin, we may say to him that he has already wasted enough of life; he has thrown away enough of probation in a fruitless attempt to find happiness where it can never be found.

For any purpose whatever for which anyone could ever suppose it to be desirable to live in sin, the past should suffice. But why should it ever be deemed desirable at all? The fruits of sin are always disappointment, tears, death, despair.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

1Pe 4:3-5

The time past of our life may suffice us.

The consideration of misspent time an incentive to repentance

1. The time spent in sin, we know how much it is, but what is behind we know not. The devil is sure of his part, but what God shall have, whether half or a quarter, so much is uncertain. If we knew we should live twenty years more to serve God as we have done twenty years in sin, God should have but the half, but we know not whether we shall live twenty days. Should we then defer?

2. Time is very precious, above gold and silver, and hereof we have squandered a great part.

3. There is no time to be spent in sin, but we are to serve God in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life. Therefore, having robbed Him of some of His due, is it not well He will take this that remains?

4. Whatsoever time is spent till we return to God is all going out of the way; and if a man hath gone out of the way but till eight or nine oclock, assuredly that is more than enough.

5. Whatsoever time is spent that way is but doing that that must be undone again and repented of. Is not a little of this too much? Who will willingly so do his work that it must be ravelled out again?

6. All that is done this way is for the devil, our sworn enemy, for whom even the least is too much; for the flesh, to which we owe nothing; and for the world, which is our deadly enemy.

7. It is all done against God, to whom we owe all; and is it not then sufficient we have wronged Him so far?

8. And all is against our own souls; and have we not wounded them enough already? (John Rogers.)

Departed years

What is time? Without regard to philosophic niceties, I may say that it is limited duration, vouchsafed to man for moral purposes, through the mediation of Christ.

I. As a portion of probationary existence. Time past of our life. Take three views of the years that have departed.

1. Look at what they have given us.

2. Look at what they have taken away from us. The warm impulses and tender sensibilities of childhood and youth. Precious gifts are these! What friends are gone!

3. Look at what they have left us. They have left us life, reason, memory, religious privileges, augmented responsibility, wider memories, and greater power for good and evil. Many precious germs of blessedness.

II. As a course of wrong moral conduct. The apostle intimates that those to whom he wrote had, during the past years, wrought the will of the Gentiles. During the time past of their lives they had not been passive but active. What was this will of the Gentiles? The will of corrupt humanity. Nothing more, nothing less. Every wheel in its vast and complicated machinery is moved and ruled by this. It is true that this will works in different men with different instruments and under different phases of character. Its language in some is vulgar, in others classic; in some obscene, in others refined.

1. That this will is generally the ruling power in the first stages of mans history.

2. That there is a danger even of good men yielding to its influence.

III. As an argument for immediate improvement. For the time past of our life may suffice, etc. The urgency of this will appear from two considerations.

1. The will of God ought to have swayed with an absolute power from the commencement of our responsible life.

2. All the time that has been spent in neglect of this has been spent in contracting guilt and increasing our exposure to ruin. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The voice of the past

Life! What mystery is wrapped up in life! How great the power needed to originate it! What transcendent worth be longs to human life! to-

I. Our life. Our life is redeemed life. It was great to speak a world from nought; greater to create moral life and fashion it after the Divine original; greatest to redeem.

II. The past of life. How little we know of the past-taking the word in its comprehensive relationship to the world! As question of history we know something of the worlds civilisation, science, art, human laws, etc. But what do we know of the individual experience of mankind-its joys and sorrows? But there is a past for which God holds us responsible-an individual past.

III. The time past of our life. Nothing that I have is my own. I belong to God, in body, soul, and spirit. I am, therefore, accountable to Him for my time. Life is Gods loan to man, and time mans life rent of the world. In the great day we are to stand before God to give an account of our stewardship. The life rent which the great Proprietor claims is service. He has put us into His beautiful world to make it more beautiful by adding moral to material beauty. If we fail to render this service we shall lose our life, in a sense which human language is not adequate to express. And now what have we to say with respect to this strange, solemn thing-Time?-that men do with it through life just what the apostles did for one precious irreparable hour of it in the garden of Gethsemane-they go to sleep! What opportunities have we lost! What privileges forfeited! What work for God neglected! The secret of all the failures which have been enumerated is expressed by the apostle in one word, self-will-the will of the Gentiles. Man doing his own will is the history of the worlds sin and woe. Adoption into the family of God does not exempt us from its insidious workings. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ asks us to let the past suffice to have wrought the wilt of the Gentiles, to renew our early vows, our first love, to be henceforth inspired with the holy ambition to be conformed to the image of His Son. To attain unto this we must yield our wills to God. What are we living for?-for God or for self? (A London Suburban Minister.)

The old year and the new

Look at the qualities that are here forbidden. Lust, lasciviousness, drunkenness, carousings-all these are especially mentioned; and the apostle declares that the time past suffices. You have had experience enough in regard to those things; it is time to leave them. There are multitudes of men that are sacking their very constitution; for whatever may be the opinions of men as to the morality of lascivious conduct, there can be no doubt as to the folly of it. And what shall I say of the concurrent danger of drunkenness, or excessive indulgence of the appetite? Surely I need not point out how base the life of a man is whose whole being circles around about that carnal, animal appetite; upon whom the habit is growing, and, like a maelstrom, swings into its centre, destroying everything that is pure and beautiful that comes near it. It sacks and ransacks the whole nobility of a man. The time past is sufficient for such things. But then there are a great many men that do not consider themselves either lascivious or drunkards. Nevertheless, carousings are familiar to them. What an ignoble way of living to make the whole of life consist, not in building up, but in the commerce of the lower feelings, and the prostitution of the sanctities of friendship to make the friendship of the cup, in all that wild excitement which breeds no single new idea, cleanses no single passion, throws light upon no single element of beauty, but is pure buoyancy of the flesh and the enjoyment of animal life! Higher than these, but still under the ban, are all forms of life where feeling and endeavour are concentrated upon frivolous social enjoyments, with their very selfishness and vanity and pride. I would not restrict the enjoyment of the young, except it trenched upon higher and nobler obligations. I love elasticity of spirit, overflow of pleasantry. All these things I believe belong to life; and just as much under the gospel as outside of it-yea, more. Now in regard to these passions, and the lower forms of intense self-indulgence particularly, the apostle is speaking here, and says, The time past ought to suffice. All these wastes and degradations ought to cease absolutely. They shut out a mans reason. They shut out his best nature. They stand in the way of the accomplishment of the final ends of life. There are times when all these indulgences may be left. The time past gives men sufficient experience and knowledge, both of their uselessness and of their wastefulness, and also of their peril; and that is the time when men should stop and say, Well, I have had enough of that, now and forever. Time enough to bring the higher qualities of your mind to sit in judgment over the lower. The conscience is Chief Justice. Call up those criminal appetites. Let them hear the judge decide, and follow the decision. The time past is sufficient for knowledge and for judgment. That which is true of these lower passions and appetites is lust as true of the higher and inanimate one of a frivolous, self-indulgent, wasteful life that proposes nothing, but dances on from hour to hour, with no more purpose than the butterflies or the insects of a summer day have. The time past is sufficient. Now, allow me to ask you: Are there not in your life some things palpitating, fresh and warm in your bosom, that you know to be wrong in your career? Is it not time for a change? And if your faults are superficial, if they are simply faults of temper, or of balance in the development of your life outwardly, is there nothing in your home life, is there nothing in your friendship life, is there nothing in your business life, judged by the canons of morality, and still more judged by the higher forms of supreme duty, that needs to be changed? Are you the chief occupant of your own self? or are there vermin that dwell in the cracks and crevices and partitions of the soul house? And if there is something more than faults, if there is something that lies deeper, ought you not, above all, for this to make a solemn pause? Be manly, and take a nobler view of what a man is born for, and of what his duty is to himself, to his fellow men, to society, to God, and to eternity; and form a judgment of your self for the old year; and on that deliberate personal investigation of facts and dispositions in your own case put the question to yourself, Have not I carried this thing far enough? If you will do that, you will have taken one step; and will you follow that up by proposing to yourself a deliberate decision? Now, in all these changes that are going on in the human soul it is too often the case that a man says, I mean to try it; but I am not going to expose myself to ridicule, because I may not be able to carry this thing out; and if I dont, well, nobody will know it, and I will be no worse off than I was before. That is to say, you leave a door of retreat open for yourself. I would not give the turn of my hand for a mans purpose who says he is going to change, but leaves all the old influences at work, and all the means of escape from his resolution at command. It is an illusion, and it is the repetition of these things that discourages men finally, and makes them believe they cannot reform and cannot do what they ought to do. If you are going to make a decision, do it on business principles. As all resolutions are so fugitive, so unstable, and as experience has shown that they are so unless when a man wants to correct a habit, commit yourself. What is the effect of committing yourself? Your pride and your vanity now work toward you and for you, whereas otherwise they would work against you. It is going with the current, instead of against it; with the wind, instead of against the wind. Therefore, hedge yourself; trust in somebody. Now is the time for thought; now is the time for purpose; now is the time for declaring your purpose; now is the time to begin. Whatever changes are necessary, will you make them now? (H. W. Beecher.)

A sinner changed by grace

I. The walk of a natural man described. He works the will of the Gentiles, and lives in sin.

II. The great change that the grace of God makes in a natural man. The change we mean is far more than the mere reformation of a sinners life; it is an inward, supernatural change wrought by the Spirit of God, and by means of the gospel of Christ (Rom 1:16).

III. The reasonableness of this change.

1. Sin is a dreadful waste of precious time.

2. Sin is a useless thing.

3. Sin is extremely hurtful and dangerous to ourselves and others.

4. Sin is highly dishonourable to the blessed God.

5. A life of sin is directly contrary to our Christian profession.

IV. The usage which a changed person may expect to meet with from a wicked world. Now, here observe that where such a change as this takes place it is visible; for if the world did not see it, they could not hate it. The change cannot be hid. Carnal companions will be deserted; places of vain amusement forsaken. This will excite hatred. The carnal mind is enmity against God, and everything godly and Godlike (Rom 8:7). (G. Burder.)

Christian consistency

I. The world silently condemned by the Church. This is often done not so much positively as negatively. It is very peculiar, for they condemn them without saying a word, simply by not running into the same excess of riot; and this, it seems, is exceedingly well understood by the worldly party. Noah condemned the world by what he did, as well as by what he said; every stroke of his hammer was a sermon. The marked avoidance of the prevailing sins and follies of the world is often felt to be a powerful condemnation of them. But why should Christians thus refuse to mingle themselves up with the evil of the world?

1. Love to Christ requires it. Forasmuch, then, as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves, therefore, with the same mind.

2. The painful remembrance of the past prompts it. The time past may suffice to have wrought the will of the Gentiles. It is always a sad thought to the Christian to look back upon his past devotedness to the sins of the world.

3. Christian consistency requires it. Let every one depart from iniquity. A wicked life in a Christian is an indignity committed upon his Master in the disguise of a friend, and an outrage against the gospel. It seems to declare either that this religion tolerates immorality, or that it has not sufficient authority to enforce its own laws.

4. Your own highest interests demand it.

II. The Church censured by the world.

1. In their thoughts. They think it strange that ye run not into this excess of riot; but pardon me if I say they would think it stranger if you did. They may dislike you now, but they would certainly despise you then. They think it strange. Why? Because they know nothing of the high standard of excellence which Christians possess; nor of the elevated principles by which they are actuated; nor of the superior sources of pleasure which are open to them. The Christian and the worldly man have both reason to wonder at each other. The worldling wonders that the Christian loves Christ so much: the Christian wonders that the worldling loves Him so little.

2. In their speeches. They speak evil of you, and contemptuously, as precise, formal, unsocial, repulsive. The Jews spoke evil of the prophets; Ahab spoke evil of Micaiah: I hate him, for he always prophesies evil of me. The disciples were a sect everywhere spoken against.

3. In their writings. Pliny wrote to the Roman emperor to complain of the Christian converts, as addicted to a morose and severe superstition. Infidel and irreligious men have indited many a sarcasm against the Christian cause.

4. By their conduct. That is, towards Christians, whom they persecute in various ways.

III. The judgment of God concerning both. Who shall judge both quick and dead.

1. The certainty of the judgment. They shall give an account.

2. The speediness of the judgment. He is ready to judge.

3. The universality of the judgment. The quick and dead.

4. The consequences of the judgment. The awards of eternity are final, and they are extreme. (The Evangelist.)

Counteracting the good

Gods law is a guide which conducts surely to the goal. His precepts are nought but communications of free favour. But what does the blinded world see in these precepts, testimonies, and statutes? First, we are told, it surprises, seems unaccountable to them, that believers run not in their ways. They put on an air of astonishment when you decline doing so. Why then, they ask, do you refuse? Thousands upon thousands are on this side, and among them so many men of note, so many prominent members both in Church and State! But we are told they blaspheme all who are not moved from their stedfastness. Their blasphemy consists, first, in their accusing Gods true witnesses of blasphemy. They stand up and say, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law; or, this is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place (Act 6:13; Act 21:28). They abide by the old slander, We have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes (Act 24:5). To the righteous acts of the pious man unworthy motives are attributed, and he is made a mark for the arrows of evil tongues, solely because he seeks the good of Israel all his life long. If he rest in the promises of God, even these are made the subject of mockery! But such blasphemy and pretended surprise is very painful to the righteous, and a real snare to their feet, out of which they do indeed need to be helped. How often are the weak, and even the apparently strong in faith, induced for a time to run with those who make either a mock or a sport of sin! Yes, verily, nothing short of almighty grace will suffice to enable a man calmly to take on himself the dishonour with which his Lord was dishonoured, and to bear with a chivalrous courage the contempt and shame which, for Christs names sake, the world heaps upon him! (H. F. Kohlbrugge, D. D.)

The pleasures of a holy life inexplicable to the ungodly

The Roman soldiers, at the sacking of Jerusalem, entered the temple, and went into the Sanctum Sanctorum; but seeing no images there, as they used to have in their own idolatrous temple, gave out in a jeer that the Jews worshipped the clouds. And thus because the pleasures of righteousness and holiness are not so gross as to come under the cognisance of the worlds carnal senses (as their brutish ones do), therefore they laugh at the saints, as if their joy were but the child of fancy, and they do but embrace a cloud instead of Juno herself, a fantastic pleasure for the true; but let such know that they carry in their bosom what will help them to think the pleasures of a holy life more real, and that the power of holiness is so far from depriving a man of the joy and pleasure of his life, that there are incomparable delights and pleasures peculiar to the holy life, which the gracious soul finds in the ways of righteousness. (J. Spencer.)

Excess of riot

A strong and expressive metaphor, especially in countries where, after violent rain, the gutters are suddenly swollen and pour their contents together with violence into a common sewer. Such is the apostolic figure of vicious companies rushing together in filthy confusion for reckless indulgence and effusion in sin. (C. Wordsworth.)

Amusements

to virtue are like breezes of air to the flame: gentle ones will fan it, but strong ones will put it out. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Pleasure

must first have the warrant that it is without sin; and then the measure, that it is without excess. (T. Adams.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 3. The time past of our life] This is a complete epitome of the Gentile or heathen state, and a proof that those had been Gentiles to whom the apostle wrote.

1. They walked in lasciviousness, . every species of lechery, lewdness, and impurity.

2. In lusts, . strong irregular appetites, and desires of all kinds.

3. In excess of wine, . wine, and , to be hot, or to boil; to be inflamed with wine; they were in continual debauches.

4. In revellings, . lascivious feastings, with drunken songs, c. See Clarke on Ro 13:13.

5. In banquetings, . wine feasts, drinking matches, &c.

6. In abominable idolatries, . that is, the abominations practised at their idol feasts, where they not only worshipped the idol, but did it with the most impure, obscene, and abominable rites. This was the general state of the Gentile world and with this monstrous wickedness Christianity had everywhere to struggle.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

For the time past of our be may see: the apostle doth not mean by this expression merely that they should forbear their former lusts out of a satiety and weariness, as having had their fill of them, but to stir them up to holiness by minding them of their former sinful life; q.d. Ye are concerned to run well now, when ye have for so great a part of your time run wrong. It is a figure whereby he mitigates and lenifies the sharpness of his reproof for their former sinful life: see the like, Eze 44:6; 45:9; Mar 14:41.

Us; some copies read, ye, and that agrees with the following verse, where the second person is made use of: or if we read, according to our translation, us, it is a figure called anacoenosis, whereby Peter assumes to himself in common with them what yet, in his own person, he was never guilty of, as Isa 64:6,7; Da 9:5, &c.; or else it may be an analogy of the person, whereby the first is put for the second.

To have wrought the will of the Gentiles; viz. those that were profane and ignorant of God and Christ, and so it is the same as the lusts of men, 1Pe 4:2.

When we walked; had our conversation, as Eph 2:3, walking being taken for the course of mans life; and sometimes in an evil way, as 2Pe 2:10; 3:3; Jud 1:16,18; and sometimes in a good, as Luk 1:6.

In lasciviousness; especially outward acts, here set in distinction from lusts, which implies those inward motions from which those outward defilements proceed.

Excess of wine, revellings; unseasonable and luxurious feasting, Rom 13:13; Gal 5:21.

Banquetings: compotations, or meetings for drinking, Pro 23:30; Isa 5:11,12.

And abominable idolatries:

Question. Why doth Peter charge the Jews with idolatry, who generally kept themselves from it after the Babylonish captivity?

Answer.

1. Though most did, yet all might not.

2. It is a sort of idolatry to eat things sacrificed to idols, which many of the Jews, being dispersed among the idolatrous Gentiles, and being invited by them to their idol feasts, might possibly do; and, being under the temptation of poverty, might too far conform themselves to the customs of the nations among which they were.

3. Probably this idolatry might be the worship of angels, frequent among the Gentiles, particularly the Colossians, inhabiting a city of Phrygia, which was a part of Asia where many Jews were, 1Pe 1:1.

4. The churches to which he wrote might be made up of Jews and Gentiles, and the apostle may, by a synecdoche, ascribe that to all in common, which yet is to be understood only of a part.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

3. may sufficeGreek,“is sufficient.” Peter takes the lowest ground: for noteven the past time ought to have been wasted in lust; but since youcannot recall it, at least lay out the future to better account.

usomitted in oldestmanuscripts.

wroughtGreek,“wrought out.”

Gentilesheathen: whichmany of you were.

when, c.”walkingas ye have done [ALFORD]in lasciviousness” the Greek means petulant,immodest, wantonness, unbridled conduct: not so much filthy lust.

excess ofwine“wine-bibbings” [ALFORD].

abominable“nefarious,””lawless idolatries,” violating God’s most sacred law; notthat all Peter’s readers (see on 1Pe1:1) walked in these, but many, namely, the Gentileportion of them.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

For the time past of our life may suffice us,…. The word “our” is left out in the Alexandrian copy, and in the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions. The Arabic version reads, “the time of your past life”; and to the same purpose the Ethiopic version; and which seems to be the more agreeable reading, since it can hardly be thought that the apostle would put himself among the Jews dispersed among the Gentiles, who had walked with them in their unregeneracy, in all the sins hereafter mentioned, and best agrees with the following verse:

to have wrought the will of the Gentiles; or “when ye wrought”, as the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions;

when we walked, or “were walking in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries”. These converted persons, in the past time of their life, before conversion, “walked” in sin; which denotes a series and course of sinning, a persisting and progress in it, with delight and pleasure, promising themselves security and impunity: the particular sins they walked in are reducible to these three heads, unchastity, intemperance, and idolatry:

in lasciviousness, lusts; which belong to the head of uncleanness, and take in all kinds of it; as fornication, adultery, incest, sodomy, and all unnatural lusts:

excess of wine, revellings, banquetings; which refer to intemperance of every sort, by eating or drinking: as gluttony, drunkenness, surfeitings, and all luxurious feasts and entertainments, attended with riotings, revellings, and obscene songs; and which are here mentioned in the Syriac and Arabic versions, and which lead to lasciviousness, and every unclean lust:

and abominable idolatries; which some understand of worshipping of angels; but they seem rather to intend the idolatries the Jews were led into by the feasts of the Gentiles, either at their own houses, or in the idol’s temple; by which means they were gradually brought to idolatry, and to all the wickedness and abominations committed by them at such times: and it is easy to observe, that the two former, uncleanness and intemperance, often lead men into idolatry; see

Ex 32:6. Now when they walked in these things, they “wrought the will of the Gentiles”; they did the things which the sinners of the Gentiles, the worst of men, that knew not God, took pleasure in, and what they would have others do; and therefore, since the past time of their life had been spent in such a way, it was sufficient, and more than sufficient; see Eze 44:6, for no time is allowable for sin; and therefore it became them for the future, and in the remaining part of life, to behave in another manner; not to do the will of the Gentiles, but the will of God; to which that grace of God obliged them, that had made a difference between what they were themselves formerly, and themselves now, and between themselves, and others.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Past (). Perfect active participle of the compound verb , old verb, to go by (beside) as in Mt 14:15 with (hour).

May suffice (). No copula in the Greek, probably (is) rather than (can). Late and rare verbal adjective from , to suffice, in the papyri several times, in N.T. only here and Matt 6:34; Matt 10:25, apparently referring to Christ’s words in Mt 6:34 (possibly an axiom or proverb).

To have wrought (). Perfect middle infinitive of , common compound (, work) as in 1Co 5:3.

The desire ( ). Correct text, not . Either means the thing desired, willed. Jews sometimes fell in with the ways of Gentiles (Rom 2:21-24; Rom 3:9-18; Eph 2:1-3) as today some Christians copy the ways of the world.

And to have walked (). Perfect middle participle of in the accusative plural of general reference with the infinitive . Literally, “having walked or gone.”

In lasciviousness ( ). All these sins are in the locative case with . “In unbridled lustful excesses” (2Pet 2:7; 2Cor 12:21).

Lusts (). Cf. 1Pet 2:11; 1Pet 4:2.

Winebibbings (). Old compound (, wine, , to bubble up), for drunkenness, here only in N.T. (also in De 21:20).

Revellings (). Old word (from , to lie down), rioting drinking parties, in N.T. here and Gal 5:21; Rom 13:13.

Carousings (). Old word for drinking carousal (from , to drink), here only in the N.T. In the light of these words it seems strange to find modern Christians justifying their “personal liberty” to drink and carouse, to say nothing of the prohibition law. The Greeks actually carried lust and drunkenness into their religious observances (Aphrodite, for instance).

Abominable idolatries ( ). To the Christian all “idolatry,” (, ), worship of idols, is “abominable,” not allowed (alpha privative and , the old form, verbal of , to make lawful), but particularly those associated with drinking and licentiousness. The only other N.T. example of is by Peter also (Ac 10:28) and about the Mosaic law. That may be the idea here, for Jews often fell into idolatrous practices (Deissmann, Bible Studies, p. 274).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

For the time past, etc. Compare Rom 13:13. Us [] . The best texts omit.

Of our life [ ] . The best texts omit.

Will (boulhma, the better reading for qelhma). Desire, inclination. See on Mt 1:19.

When we walked [] . Rev., rightly, ye walked. Construe with to have wrought. The time past may suffice for you to have wrought the desire, etc., walking as ye have done; the perfect participle having an inferential reference to a course of life now done with.

Lasciviousness [] . The following enumeration of vices is characteristic of Peter’s style in its fulness and condensation. He enumerates six forms of sensuality, three personal and three social :

(1) ‘Aselgeiaiv, wantonness. See on Mr 7:22. Excesses of all kinds, with possibly an emphasis on sins of uncleanness.

(2) ‘Epiqumiaiv, lusts. See on Mr 4:19. Pointing especially to fleshly lusts, “the inner principles of licentiousness” (Cook).

(3) Oijnoflugiaiv, excess of wine. Only here in New Testament. The kindred verb occurs in the Septuagint, Deu 21:20; Isa 46:12. From oinov, wine, and flew or fluw, to teem with abundance; thence to boil over or bubble up, overflow. It is the excessive, insatiate desire for drink, form which comes the use of the word for the indulgence of the desire – debauch. So Rev., wine – bibbings. The remaining three are revellings, banquetings, and idolatries.

Revellings [] . The word originally signifies merely a merry – making; most probably a village festival, from kwmh, a village. In the cities such entertainments grew into carouses, in which the party of revellers paraded the streets with torches, singing, dancing, and all kinds of frolics. These revels also entered into religious observances, especially in the worship of Bacchus, Demeter, and the Idaean Zeus in Crete. The fanatic and orgiastic rites of Egypt, Asia Minor, and Thrace became engrafted on the old religion. Socrates, in the introduction to “The Republic,” pictures himself as having gone down to the Piraeus to see the celebration of the festival of Bendis, the Thracian Artemis (Diana); and as being told by one of his companions that, in the evening, there is to be a torch – race with horses in honor of the goddess. The rites grew furious and ecstatic. “Crowds of women, clothed with fawns’ skins, and bearing the sanctified thyrsus (a staff wreathed with vine – leaves) flocked to the solitudes of Parnassus, Kithaeron, or Taygetus during the consecrated triennial period, and abandoned themselves to demonstrations of frantic excitement, and dancing and clamorous invocation of the God. They were said to tear animals limb from limb, to devour the raw flesh, and to cut themselves without feeling the wound. The men yielded to a similar impulse by noisy revels in the streets, sounding the cymbals and tambourine, and carrying the image of the God in procession” (Grote, ” History of Greece “). Peter, in his introduction, addresses the sojourners in Galatia, where the Phrygian worship of Cybele, the great mother of the gods, prevailed, with its wild orgies and hideous mutilations. Lucretius thus describes the rites :

“With vigorous hand the clamorous drum they rouse, And wake the sounding cymbal; the hoarse horn Pours forth its threatening music, and the pipe, With Phrygian airs distracts the maddening mind, While arms of blood the fierce enthusiasts wield To fright the unrighteous crowds, and bend profound Their impious souls before the power divine. Thus moves the pompous idol through the streets, Scattering mute blessings, while the throngs devout Strew, in return, their silver and their brass, Loading the paths with presents, and o’ershade The heavenly form; and all th’ attending train, With dulcet sprays of roses, pluct profuse, A band select before them, by the Greeks Curetes called, from Phrygian parents sprung, Sport with fantastic chains, the measured dance Weaving infuriate, charmed with human blood, And madly shaking their tremendous crests.” De Rerum Natura, 2, 618 – 631.

Banquetings [] . Lit., drinking – bouts. Rev., carousings.

Abominable [] . Only here, and by Peter in the Act 10:28. More literally, unlawful, emphasizing the idolatries as violations of divine law.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “For the time past of our life.” Because the loosely passed time of our life — the unplanned life without purpose.

2) “May suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles.” Was sufficient for us to have gone on in the unregenerate will (mind) of the Gentiles, races or heathen.

3) “When we walked in”(Greek peporeumenos) While we walked and stumbled along in

a) Lasciviousness — Intense sexual craving of any kind.

b) lusts — personal desires, will, or sexual urge.

c) excess of wine — debaucheries (Greek oinophlugiais)

d) revelings — (Greek komois) carousals.

e) banquetings — (Greek potois) drinking bouts, or challenges.

f) and abominable idolatries” — Idolatries abominable to God (Greek athemitos) Deu 7:25-26. Mal 2:11.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

3 For the time past of our life may suffice Peter does not mean that we ought to be wearied with pleasures, as those are wont to be who are filled with them to satiety; but that on the contrary the memory of our past life ought to stimulate us to repentance. And doubtless it ought to be the sharpest goad to make us run on well, when we recollect that we have been wandering from the right way the greatest part of our life. And Peter reminds us, that it would be most unreasonable were we not to change the course of our life after having been enlightened by Christ. For he makes a distinction here between the time of ignorance and the time of faith, as though he had said that it was but right that they should become new and different men from the time that Christ had called them. But instead of the lusts or covetings of men, he now mentions the will of the Gentiles, by which he reproves the Jews for having mixed with the Gentiles in all their pollutions, though the Lord had separated them from the Gentiles.

In what follows he shews that those vices ought to be put off which prove men to be blind and ignorant of God. And there is a peculiar emphasis in the words, the time past of our life, for he intimates that we ought to persevere to the end, as when Paul says, that Christ was raised from the dead, to die no more. (Rom 6:6.) For we have been redeemed by the Lord for this end, that we may serve him all the days of our life.

In lasciviousness He does not give the whole catalogue of sins, but only mentions some of them, by which we may briefly learn what those things are which men, not renewed by God’s Spirit, desire and seek, and to which they are inclined. And he names the grosser vices, as it is usually done when examples are adduced. I shall not stop to explain the words, for there is no difficulty in them.

But here a question arises, that Peter seems to have done wrong to many, in making all men guilty of lasciviousness, dissipation, lusts, drunkenness, and revellings; for it is certain that all were not involved in these vices; nay, we know that some among the Gentiles lived honourably and without a spot of infamy. To this I reply, that Peter does not so ascribe these vices to the Gentiles, as though he charged every individual with all these, but that we are by nature inclined to all these evils, and not only so, but that we are so much under the power of depravity, that these fruits which he mentions necessarily proceed from it as from an evil root. There is indeed no one who has not within him the seed of all vices, but all do not germinate and grow up in every individual. Yet the contagion is so spread and diffused through the whole human race, that the whole community appears infected with innumerable evils, and that no member is free or pure from the common corruption.

The last clause may also suggest another question, for Peter addressed the Jews, and yet he says that they had been immersed in abominable idolatries; but the Jews then living in every part of the world carefully abstained from idols. A twofold answer may be adduced here, either that by mentioning the whole for a part, he declares of all what belonged to a few, (for there is no doubt but the Churches to which he wrote were made up of Gentiles as well as of Jews,) or that he calls those superstitions in which the Jews were then involved, idolatries; for though they professed to worship the God of Israel, yet we know that no part of divine worship was genuine among them. And how great must have been the confusion in barbarous countries and among a scattered people, when Jerusalem itself, from whose rays they borrowed their light, had fallen into extreme impiety! for we know that dotages of every kind prevailed with impunity, so that the high-priesthood, and the whole government of the Church, were in the power of the Sadducees.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

1Pe. 4:3 For the time past may suffice to have wrought the desire of the Gentiles, and to have walked in lasciviousness, lusts, winebibbings, revellings, carousings, and abominable idolatries:

Expanded Translation

For the time which has passed by (in our former unregenerated state) is sufficient (enough, adequate) to have worked out the desires and wishes of the Gentiles (heathens, pagans) and to have walked in intemperance (outrageous behavior), lusts (cravings of the flesh), drunkenness, revellings (wild group behavior), liquor-drinking contests, and idolatries which are (in Gods sight) lawless and profane;

_______________________

to have wrought the desire

DESIREboulema, desire, purpose, will.[10]

[10] For you who would like a more complete definition of this word, consult Thayers Greek Lexicon under thelo.

walked in lasciviousness

LACIVIOUSNESSaselgeia, intemperance; licentiousness, lasciviousness (Rom. 13:13, etc.), insolence, outrageous behavior (Mar. 7:22).

Thayer says, The conduct and character of one who is aselges (a word which some suppose to be compounded of the alpha negative and selge, the name of a city in Pisidia whose citizens excelled in strictness of morals) . . .

(Others give a different origin of the word, saying it is the combination of the alpha negative, plus selgo, a word meaning not affecting pleasantly, exciting disgust. But the later Lexicons favor the first idea on its etymology.)

Trench says it is best described as wanton lawless insolence. . . . The aselges, as Passow observes . . . being one who acknowledges no restraints, who dares whatsoever his caprice and wanton petulance may suggest . . . the fundamental notion . . . of aselgeia, lawless and insolence and wanton caprice.

See 2Pe. 2:7 where the same word occurs in the plural.

lust, wine-bibbings

LUSTSepithumia. See desire under 1Pe. 1:2. The Apostle here means those unbridled and uninhibited cravings of the fleshstirred up and perpetuated by Satan.

WINEBIBBINGSoinophlugia (from oinoswine, and phuloto bubble over, overflow): to debauch with wine, drunkenness, sottishness.

commonly . . . it is used for a debauch; no single word rendering it better than this; being as it is an extravagant indulgence in potations long drawn out . . . such as may induce permanent mischiefs on the body . . . as did, for instance, that fatal debauch to which, adopting one of the reports current in antiquity, Arrian inclines to ascribe the death of Alexander the Great . . . Trench.
REVELLINGSkomoss properly, a festive procession, a merrymaking; in the New Testament, a revel, lascivious feasting. See Rom. 13:13 (rioting), Gal. 5:21. Trench states that the word contains both an element of riot and of revelry. Komoss was often used of the company of revelers themselves; always of a festal and disorderly company, but not of necessity riotous and drunken. Still, he says, the word generally implies as much, being applied in a special sense to the troop of drunken revelers who at the late close of a revel, with garlands on their heads, and torches in their hands, with shout and song, pass to the harlots houses or otherwise wander through the streets, with insult and wanton outrage for everyone whom they met.

Do we not see very similar acts in our society today? Midnight parties, high school and college dances, and other late-hour gatherings of the world are frequently concluded in a similar fashion. In fact, attend any such get-together in this, our cultured twentieth century, and nearly all of the sins mentioned in this passage will be committed!
CAROUSINGSpotos: a drinking; a drinking together, drinking-bout, computation. This word would be descriptive of a couple or group who sat down at a drinking place and competed against one another to see who could drink the most.

and abominable idolatries

Athemitos (alpha negative, plus themitoslawful), hence, unlawful, wicked. In this passage, the meaning is that it is divinely unlawful, hence lawless, profane, ungodly.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(3) For the time past of our life.There are two words in the English here which do not stand in the true text, and sadly impede the sense. They are of our life, and us. The first is added by some scribe to point the contrast with the rest of his time. The secondwhich should be you, if anything at allis simply put to fill the gap after the word suffice. If our life and us were right, we should have St. Peter, quite unlike his wont, identifying himself with the bad life here described, as though he himself had shared in it.

May suffice.It is the same word as in Mat. 6:34; Mat. 10:25, and would be, literally, For sufficient is the past. There is an irony in the word similar to that in 1Pe. 3:17, it is better.

To have wrought.Rather, to have perpetrated. The Greek word denotes the accomplishment of a criminal purpose, as in Rom. 2:9; 1Co. 5:3; and one passage more horrid still.

The will of the Gentiles.Just as, in 1Pe. 4:2, there was a contrast between mans manifold and conflicting lusts and Gods unity of will, so there is a contrast now between Gods will and (for the Greek word is quite different) the heathens wish. To have perpetrated the heathens wish means to have done the bad things which the heathen wanted them to be guilty of. The heathen were fain to catch them at malpractices. (See Note on 1Pe. 2:12, and the word speaking evil below.)

When we walked.A participle in Greek, which gives no support to the use of we, but means simply having proceeded. Thus it does not directly state that they had so proceeded, for the participle explains the foregoing verb: The past is sufficient to have done what the heathen want you to have doneviz., to have walked.

Lasciviousness.It should be plural, expressing the repeated acts of sin. The word in Greek means any outrageous debauchery, so that it may be said to include all the words that follow.

Excess of wine, in like manner, should be plural. It is a contemptuous word (wine-swillings), and differs from the word translated banquetings, below, because the latter is more refined, and also implies company, which the first need not. The revellings might mean any roystering parties, but contains more of the notion of making a pretext of a meal than banquetings, which consist solely of drinking.

Abominable idolatries.It is not as idolatries that they are called abominable, but because of the abominable adjuncts of the idol-festivals. This clause is the main support of those who think that the Letter was written to converts from heathenism and not from Judaism. How, it is urged, could St. Peter have said to persons who had been brought up as Jews, The time past is long enough for you to have proceeded in abominable idolatries? The argument is most convincing as it stands. If they had been living in idolatry, it is incredible that they were of Hebrew race: if they were of Hebrew race, it is incredible that they should have lived in idolatry. But, as a matter of fact, St. Peter does not say that they ever had lived in those sins. Quite on the contrary, he says, in 1Pe. 4:4, that the heathen found, to their surprise, that the Christians would not go with them in these things; and that, finding it to be so, they blasphemed or slandered them in this very respect. It may, perhaps, be answered that the Apostle is alluding to a period long past, and contrasting it with the present which so puzzled the Gentiles. But there is no ground for taking the time past to mean the time up to the date of their conversion to Christianity. It is simply your past time (i.e., the whole up to the date of the Letter), in contrast with the rest of your time (1Pe. 4:2, literally, your remaining time), i.e., the whole subsequent to the date of the Letter; so that it cannot mean, The heathen think it strange that you do not join their profligate courses as you used in old days, in which case we should naturally have expected him to say, They think it strange that ye no longer run with them. Besides, it seems plain, from 1Pe. 4:2, that. whatever may be meant by perpetrating the wish of the Gentiles, it was still a present danger when St. Peter wrote, or there would be little point in mentioning it at all. But if he means that, up to the date of the Letter, some of the recipients of it had been living in abominable idolatries, how could he continue that the Gentiles were astonished that they did not do so? for if the idolatries meant were the heathens own idolatries, the heathen would have been aware of their joining them, and it would have been no slander to say so. The conclusion is, that neither before nor after their conversion had they been really proceeding thus. St. Peter is, in fact, only putting in words the slander of the Gentiles, at which he had hinted in 1Pe. 2:12-15; 1Pe. 3:16. For the future, says he, live to the will of God, not to the lusts of men. The past is long enough (without invading the future) to have perpetrated what the heathen want you to have perpetratedviz., to have been proceeding in debaucheries and abominable idolatriesslandering you in that very point wherein they are puzzled if you do not run with them to the same excess of riot. As an historical fact, these are the very calumnies which we find to have been brought against the early Christiansidolatries and all. The filthy idolatry ascribed to the Christians by the heathen may be found recorded in Tertullians Apology, and (so it is said) on the walls of Pompeii. But what, then, does St. Peter mean when he says that the past is sufficient to have perpetrated what the heathen wanted? It certainly implies that some of them had, even since their conversion, been doing what the malicious heathen would be glad to see them do. But we have already noticed that he is speaking ironically in using the word sufficient, and the irony continues through the rest of the clause. Some of you have been living, up to the present time, more or less to human lusts (1Pe. 4:2). You have done so quite long enough now. You have quite sufficiently gratified the Gentiles, who long to prove that you are no better than themselves. The argument is like that which Nestor, in Homer, addresses to the wrangling Greek captains:

Sure Priam would rejoice, and Priams sons,
Could they but learn this feud betwixt you twain.

We may observe, further, that all through the Epistle St. Peter appears to have dread of a doctrine which was fast beginning to rise among the Asiatic Christiansthat such sins as fornication and idolatry, being but bodily, were venial, especially in time of persecution. (See 1Pe. 1:4; 1Pe. 1:15; 1Pe. 2:11; 1Pe. 5:8.) Such pernicious doctrine was probably founded on a wresting of St. Pauls teaching (2Pe. 3:16) on eating things offered to idols; from which it was concluded that the accompanying impurities were innocent likewise. This doctrine becomes very prominent in the Second Epistle; and in the Apocalypse there is even some reason to connect it specially with the Jewish element in the Church. (Comp. together 2Pe. 2:15; Rev. 2:6; Rev. 2:14-15, with Rev. 2:9.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

3. The will of the Gentiles , in contrast with , will of God. The latter has more of authority, the former is here more expressive of strong desire, which the Gentiles would persuade Christians to follow again as before conversion. But the apostle tells them, sufficient is the time past to have wrought that which they would have you still do, and may try to compel you to do.

When we walked The habitual Gentile conduct. The passage shows those addressed, even if Jews, had been liable to Gentile vices.

Lasciviousness Unbridled conduct; a general term, with its particulars following.

Lusts Sensual impurity.

Excess of wine Swillings of wine; beastly drunkenness.

Revellings Night carousals; going, after supper, into the streets with torches, frolic, and drunken songs.

Banquetings Drinking bouts.

Abominable Lawless. All idolatry is against God’s law; but in this connexion, doubtless, are included the obscene and filthy practices at many of the idol feasts.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘For the time past may be seen as sufficient to have wrought the desire of the Gentiles, and to have walked in lasciviousness, lusts, wine-parties, revellings, carousings, and abominable idolatries,’

For they are to recognise that the time for reckless partying is over now that they have something better. They had previously lived vain lives following the desires of the Gentiles. They had walked in ‘lasciviousness, lusts, wine-parties, revellings, carousings, and abominable idolatries’ (what a picture of the lives of many today). But now they had had sufficient of that because they had seen that life had something so much better to offer. They had finished with idolatry and its corrupting festivals, and their lives had taken on a new meaning and significance for the future, for they had died with Christ and were now out to live for Him.

Note the contrast between ‘lasciviousness, lusts, wine-parties, revellings, carousings, and abominable idolatries’, and ‘being fervent in your love among yourselves, using hospitality one to another without murmuring, ministering (the gifts you have received) among yourselves’ (1Pe 4:8-11). The love-feast has replaced the lust-feast. Those involved in the latter thought only of themselves, those involved in the former were to think only of one another.

We should also take note of Peter’s reference to ‘abominable idolatries’. This confirms the background of his readers. The force of demonic religion was clearly particularly prevalent in this area. And that is why he has written as he has in order to demonstrate Christ’s victory over these evil forces.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

1Pe 4:3. For the time past of our life, &c. St. Peter did not mean that it is lawful for men to satiate themselves with vice, and that they need not leave it off till they are weary of it; but he stirs up those to whom he wrote, to care and diligence for the future, in the practice of holiness, from the consideration of their having lived so long in the vices of the Heathens. It would have been the greatest shame for them, now that they were better instructed, to have continued in, or returned any more to such abominable practices: their future lives were to be consecrated unto the true God. There is no reason to interpret the word idolatries in a figurative sense, more than any other of the vices mentioned in this verse: on the contrary, St. Peter, by calling their idolatries abominable, seems to lay a particular emphasis upon this last expression; so as to make one ready to suspect, that those Christians had once been guiltyof some of the most cruel and debauched of the rites of the idolatrous Heathens. Some think that St. Peter joined the vices mentioned in this verse with abominable idolatries, because the Heathens were guilty of such horrible excesses, even in their religious worship. Surely Christianity was a most astonishing blessing to mankind in delivering them from such abominations!

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

1Pe 4:3 . A fuller explanation is now given of the thought expressed in the previous verse, that the Christians should no longer live after the lusts of men, but according to the will of God; hence .

] Mat 6:34 ; Mat 10:25 ; correctly Wiesinger: “the expression is here a .” Gerhard: in eo quod ait “sufficit” est quidam asterismus sive liptotes, qua mitigat Ap. exprobrationis asperitatem. Schott introduces a foreign application when he explains: “in it you have enough to repent of and to make amends for.” The construction as in Isocrates (in Panegyr .): , ; comp. , Eze 44:6 ; Eze 45:9 . simply is to be supplied, not, with Steiger, “should be.”

] points back to ; in contrast to .

] The infinitive is, in free construction, dependent on , as it also stands with ; cf. Winer, p. 298 f. [E. T. 401 ff.]. The inf. perf. is selected “to designate the former life of sin, which has once for all been brought to a close” (Schott).

] is not evidence that the epistle was addressed to aforetime Jews. When Jachmann says: “the apostle could never say of the heathen, that they lived according to the will of the heathen,” it must be observed, that if the readers were formerly heathen, the was undoubtedly their own , but that is explained by the fact, that they were now heathen no longer (as opposed to Weiss).

] must be referred to , to be supplied in thought to . If the right reading be after , Peter would include himself, and would have to be supplied. The Vulg. is indefinite: his qui ambulaverunt. Beza’s view is inappropriate, that Peter refers here not only to the readers of the epistle (whom he considers to have been Jewish-Christians), but also to their ancestors, i.e. the former ten tribes of Israel. With , cf. Luk 1:6 ; 2Pe 2:10 .

] “ excesses of every kind ,” embracing specially unchastity; cf. Rom 13:13 ; 2Co 12:21 ; Gal 5:19 ; 3Ma 2:26 , etc.; Buddeus considers it to mean nothing else than: obscoenitas et stuprorum flagitiosa consuetudo; Lucian has the expression: .

] in the plural denotes fleshly lusts in themselves; although not limited to sensual desires only, it yet includes these chiefly.

] . . in the N. T.; the verb , LXX. Deu 21:20 , Heb. ; Luther: “intoxication;” better: “drunkenness.” Andronicus Rhodus, lib. , p. 6: . Philo (V.M. 1, 22) calls an .

] besides here, only in Rom 13:13 , Gal 5:21 , where, as here with , it is joined with : commissationes, properly: “carousals;” cf. Pape, s.v.

] . .; chiefly applied to social drinking at the banquet; Appian, B. C. I. p. 700: , .

] designates heathen idolatrous practices specially. , in the N. T. occurring, besides in this passage, only in Act 10:28 , gives marked prominence to that in the nature of . which is antagonistic to the divine law. Bengel: quibus sanctissimum Dei jus violatur. [235] This description is only applicable to such persons as were formerly heathen, not to the Jews; to the latter only in the days before the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. Weiss (p. 113), in opposition to this, wrongly appeals to Rom 2:17 ff.; for the reproach there made against the Jews bears an impress entirely different from the description here given; nor is the in that passage identical with the practice of idolatry. It is altogether arbitrary to take the expression here in a wider sense, so as to exclude from it idolatry proper ; and it is further opposed by the expression .

[235] Schott unjustifiably maintains that the are termed not in themselves, but on account of the immoral, voluptuous ceremonies connected with them. The adject. is added because they form an antithesis, in the strictest sense, to God’s holy prerogative. It is unwarrantable to assert that could only be termed when practised by the Jews, not when by the heathen.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 2405
A WORLDLY LIFE TO BE RELINQUISHED

1Pe 4:3. The time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles.

THE end of all Gods dispensations towards his people is to promote their advancement in righteousness and true holiness. The Lord Jesus Christ himself was made perfect through sufferings; and the afflictions which his people suffer, from whatsoever quarter they arise, are intended for their profit, to make them partakers of Gods holiness. The Lords people are ordained to suffer, in conformity to their Divine Master: and their great concern should be, not so much to get rid of their trials, as to make a due improvement of them, by ceasing from sin, and living more entirely to God, and for God. To this purpose the Apostle speaks in the verses before my text; and then adds, that the time past might well suffice to have lived after the manner of the Gentile world, whose ways it became them henceforth determinately to renounce,
From the words before us I shall take occasion to shew,

I.

In what respects we also have wrought the will of the Gentiles

The unconverted man, whether Jew or Gentile, is cast into the same mould, and, in the main, walks in the same paths. The nominal Christian also has the same views, the same desires, the same pursuits. In some external matters he may differ from the heathen: but in the most essential parts of his conduct he accords with them. He resembles them,

1.

In an utter disregard of God

[The heathen, of course, cannot regard God, because they know him not, nor are at all acquainted with his will. The nominal Christian has in some little degree the knowledge of his will; but he regards it no more than if he were utterly unacquainted with it. He professes to know God; but in works he denies him.
On this subject let me appeal to yourselves. It is, I confess, a heavy charge, to say that you have hitherto lived like heathens. But I would put it to your own consciences, and ask, What regard have you shewn for Gods authority? and, What desire have you manifested to obtain his favour? You have had in your very hands the means of knowing his will: you profess to believe that the Scriptures have been given you by him, on purpose to instruct you in the knowledge of him. Have you been thankful for this revelation of his will? Have you studied it with care, for the express purpose of learning how you might please and serve him acceptably? Have you turned away from every thing which his word forbids? Have you followed after every thing which his word enjoins? Have you embraced the whole of it as an infallible record, believing all that it reveals, and expecting with hope and fear the accomplishment of all his promises and all his threats? Have you, in short, trembled at his word, as it became you to do? I must further ask, Have you humbled yourselves before him for all your past transgressions? Have you fled for refuge to the hope set before you? Have you washed your souls daily in the blood of the Lamb, even in that fountain which was opened for sin and for uncleanness? Have you cried mightily to God for the gift of his Holy Spirit to sanctify you, and to transform you into the Divine image? Have you surrendered up your souls to God as living sacrifices, and accounted an entire dedication of yourselves to him your reasonable service? If you have not done this, wherein have you differed from the heathen; except indeed, that you have sinned against greater light and knowledge than they, and therefore involved yourselves in deeper guilt and heavier condemnation?]

2.

In a determined prosecution of your own will

[The character given of the Gentiles is, that they lived to the lusts of men, and not to the will of God [Note: ver. 2.]. And what have you done? By what standard have you regulated your conduct? and whose will have you consulted? A decent heathen regulates himself according to the standard which the society in which he lives has established. Whatever they approve, he follows: and whatever would degrade him in their estimation, he avoids. And has it not been thus with you also? In whatever line of life you move, have you not conformed to the habits of your associates, accounting every thing innocent which they deemed innocent; and satisfied with yourselves, if you only satisfied them? Amongst the particular habits of the Gentiles, the Apostle enumerates lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: and do not these characterize the Christian world also? If we are free from open idolatry, we are guilty of it in our hearts as much as the heathen themselves: for whilst some make a god of their belly, and others are addicted to covetousness, which is idolatry, we all, in one way or other, love and serve the creature more than the Creator, who is over all, blessed for ever. As to all the other evils, it will be well if we have not been guilty even in the outward act: for lasciviousness and excess of wine are not such uncommon evils amongst us; but, granting that we have been free as it respects the act, have we abhorred the very thought of such evils, as we ought? Have we not, on the contrary, found pleasure in revellings and banquetings, and such like, without ever thinking that they who do such things cannot inherit the kingdom of God [Note: Compare the words following the text with Gal 5:19-21.]? Is it not a notorious fact, that this season of the year, which ought to be in a more especial manner consecrated to holy duties, is devoted to revelling and banqueting; precisely as if the Lord Jesus Christ had come unto the world, not to deliver us from sin, but to give us a licence to sin [Note: It would be well if those who speak of a merry Christmas, would inquire what is meant by revellings, and such like.]? But, whether we have indulged in these things or not, still the same charge must be reiterated against us; namely, that we have lived to ourselves, and not to God; and have made our own inclinations the rule of our conduct, instead of adhering to his commands. This is the course of this world; this is the line of conduct which characterizes without exception the children of disobedience, and the vassals of the wicked one [Note: Eph 2:2-3.].

Say now, brethren, whether ye have not wrought the will of the Gentiles; or, in other words, whether ye have not lived like atheists and heathens [Note: , Eph 2:12.]?]

Let me then proceed to shew you,

II.

That the time past may well suffice for such a course as that

Let me put it to yourselves:

1.

What benefit have you derived from this course hitherto?

[Have you found that the gratifications you have enjoyed have afforded you any solid satisfaction? You have sown vanity; and what but vanity has been your recompence [Note: Job 15:31.]? St. Paul puts the question to us; What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed [Note: Rom 6:21.]? Has not the creature proved, what God forewarned you it would prove, a broken cistern, that could hold no water? You are come, I will suppose, to a season of great trouble, or perhaps of sickness and approaching dissolution. Now what consolation have you from all that ever you enjoyed? Can the remembrance of it comfort you? Can it assuage your pains, or administer support under them? Can it pacify a guilty conscience, or take away the sting of death? Can it gild your last scenes, and brighten your prospects in the eternal world? Alas! alas! have you not spent your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not [Note: Isa 55:2.]? I will even suppose that you have possessed all that Solomon himself possessed, and revelled like him in every species of indulgence: what do you now find it all to be, but vanity and vexation of spirit? Is it not high time, then, that you awake from your delusions [Note: Rom 13:11.]? After having so long fed upon ashes, and been turned aside by a deceived heart, is it not high time that you at last see, that you have had nothing but a lie in your right hand [Note: Isa 44:20.]?]

2.

What benefit do you expect to derive from it hereafter?

[If you follow your sinful course ever so long, do you expect that it will be productive of any more happiness than it has already been? Will the creature change? or the condition of man change? Or will God so change the whole course of nature, that you shall find in earthly things what is to be found in him alone? But, if such changes are not to be expected, what will be the issue of such a course at the tribunal of your God? Had you been Gentiles, it might be expected, if I may so speak, that you had lived like Gentiles; or at all events, you would then be judged by such a law as you yourselves had lived under [Note: Rom 2:14.]. But you were Christians; and had the law of God in your hands; yea, and the Gospel of Christ too: and therefore you shall be judged by the law, and by the Gospel, which you have so neglected and despised. I would that Christians would place themselves as at the bar of judgment; and bethink themselves, what will be their view of their present courses then? Will a life of carnal ease and indulgence, together with a neglect of God and of our eternal interests, be found so venial then? To have professed ourselves Christians, and have lived like heathens, will this appear so light a matter, as it is judged now to be? No verily: things will then be seen in their true colours; and the care of the soul will then appear to be, what it really is, the one thing needful.]

Application

[If now you are not convinced that the time past is sufficient for such a course, I beg leave to ask, what time you will think sufficient? I presume you will not say, that the whole life is to be spent in such a way: I conceive that no one is so blind, but that he will acknowledge that God ought to be served at some time or other; and that, at some time or other, the concerns of the soul ought to occupy the mind. Even those who die by the hands of the public executioner confess, that some preparation is desirable for them, before they enter into the presence of their God. What time then will you agree to be sufficient to work the will of the Gentiles; and when will you account it reasonable to begin to fulfil the will of God? Will you say, twenty years hence; or, forty years hence? Such a period as that may surely be acknowledged latitude enough, even for the youngest amongst us. But, if you will go to those who have served the world and their own lusts for twenty or forty years, you will not find them at all more ready to turn to God, than they were the first moment that they entered on that course. On the contrary, the longer they have lived in sin, the more rooted are their lusts, and the more inveterate their habits: their consciences, too, are the more seared and hardened; and the more averse are they to be instructed in the way of righteousness. Besides, are we sure that so many years shall be added to our lives; or that, if they be, we shall be at all more disposed to serve God then, than we are at present? Are we sure that the Spirit of God, to whom we do despite, will not at last depart from us, and give us up to final impenitence?

Beloved brethren, be persuaded,whatever be your age, be persuaded, I say,that the time past is abundantly sufficient for the course which you have followed. And now, without any further delay, begin to work the works of God. Do you ask, What is the work of God? I answer, as our blessed Lord did, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom he hath sent [Note: Joh 6:28-29.]. This is indeed the one great concern to which we should all attend. We are sinners, obnoxious to Gods wrath and eternal condemnation. But Jesus Christ is a Saviour: he is sent into the world on purpose to seek and to save that which was lost. Do ye then go to him; believe in him; implore mercy through him; cast yourselves upon him; and cleave to him with full purpose of heart. Let the time which you have spent in the neglect of him be redeemed; and your efforts be the more urgent, in proportion to the time which you have lost. As for the baptized heathens with whom you have associated, come out from among them [Note: 1Co 6:17.], and no longer conform yourselves to their evil ways [Note: Rom 12:2.]. They will, as the Apostle tells you, think it strange that you continue not to run with them to the same excess of riot as you formerly did; and will speak evil of you on account of it [Note: ver. 4.]: but be it so: if this be an occasion of grief to you, it should not be on your own account, but on theirs; for they shall surely give an account to Him that is ready to judge both the quick and dead [Note: ver. 5.]; and their hard ungodly speeches, which they have spoken against you for his sake, will be visited upon them to their everlasting confusion [Note: Jude, ver. 14, 15.]. Mind you yourselves: seek the salvation of your own souls, whether others will attend to their souls or not. Do not ye perish in Sodom, because your relatives mock at your fear of Gods judgments [Note: Gen 19:14.]: neither linger in the plain, lest the storms of Gods vengeance overtake you: but be in earnest: and whatsoever your hand findeth to do, do it with all your might [Note: Ecc 9:10.].]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

3 For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

Ver. 3. For the time past of our life may suffice us ] We may every one say with Austin, Nimis sero te amavi Domine. It should be a burden to our souls that we begin no sooner to love God.

In lasciviousness, lusts, &c. ] The true picture of a pagan conversation, which yet is too common among those that call themselves Christians. The world is now grown perfectly profane, and can play on the Lord’s day without book; making it as Bacchus’ orgies, rather than God’s holy day, with piping, dancing, drinking, drabbing, &c. We may say as once Alsted of his Germans, that if the Sabbath Day should be named according to their observing of it, Daemoniacus potius quam Dominicus diceretur, it should be called not God’s day, but the devil’s.

Excess of wine ] , or, red and rich faces, as they call them.

Revellings ] , stinks, saith the Syriac; drunkards are stinkards; as Luther called the Swenckfeldians, stink-feldians, from the ill savour of their opinions. Tacitus tells us that among the old Germans, it was no disgrace counted to continue drinking and spewing night and day, Diem noctemque continuare potando.

Banquetings ] Gr. , compotations, or good fellow meetings; some render it bibbings, sippings, tipplings, sitting long at it, though not to an alienation of the mind. How much more when they leave not till they have drank the three “outs” first; viz. Wit out of the head, money out of the purse, and ale out of the pot!

And abominable idolatries ] Some idolatries then, say the Papists, are not abominable. A sweet inference. That all Papists are idolaters, Dr Reynolds hath plainly and plentifully proved in his learned work De idololatria Romana, never yet answered. Weston writeth that his head ached in reading it. But what a poor shift is that of Vasquez, expressly to maintain that the second commandment belonged to the Jews only; as holding it impossible to answer our arguments against their image worship? Other Popish writers utterly disannul the second commandment, making it a member of the first; and so, retaining the words, they destroy the sense and interpretation.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

3 .] For (follows on : “I say, the rest of the time, for the past time surely” &c.) sufficient is the past time (“ . Nam ne pristina quidem tempora debuere peccatis teri. Fastidium peccati apud resipiscentes.” Bengel) to have wrought out ( cannot always be pressed in the sense of “to work out to an end,” as distinguished from : but this sense may fairly be insisted on here. The perf. implies that the course is closed and done, and looked back on as a standing and accomplished fact) the will of the Gentiles (that which the Gentiles , would have you do. In ref. Rom. it is used of God. The N. T. line of demarcation between and appears to be but slender: and slenderer still that between their derivatives. We may perhaps say here, that the , used of God, carries with it more of authority and “ willing ,” , used of man, more of persuasion, and wishing (cf. 1Ti 6:9 ): so that the is that which we may be overpersuaded into following, the that which we are bound to obey. , used not of any national distinction, but of heathens as distinguished from Christians, shews that the majority of the readers of the Epistle had been Gentiles, among these , themselves. Cf. a very similar passage in Isocr. Panegyr. p. 75 D: , , . , ;), walking as ye have done (the perf. part. connects with : the absence of the art. gives it the slight inferential force which justifies the former assertion) in lasciviousnesses (outbreaks of ), lusts (here perhaps not general, as in 1Pe 4:2 , but particular, lusts of uncleanness), wine-bibbings ( , Andronicus Rhodius, , p. 6. But from the other examples of its use in Wetst., it seems to express not only the desire, but its indulgence), revellings (see for a full explanation of , the word in Palm and Rost), drinking-bouts (Appian says of Sertorius, Bell. Civ. i. p. 700 (Wetst.), , . Suidas gives, , ), and nefarious (“quibus sanctissimum Dei jus violatur,” Beng.) idolatries (I may remark as against the view that this Epistle was written to Jews, that this passage cannot be explained on that supposition. The Jews certainly never went so far into Gentile abominations as to justify its assertions):

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1Pe 4:3 . The use of the rare indicates the saying which St. Peter here applies, sufficient unto the day [that is past] its evil . Compare Eze 44:6 , . The detailed description of the evil follows the traditional redaction of the simple picture of absorption in the ordinary concerns of life which Jesus is content to repeat (Mat 24:37 , etc.). Eating, drinking, marrying were interpreted in the worst sense to account for the visitation and become gluttony, drunkenness and all conceivable perversions of marriage; see Sap. 14:21 27, followed by Rom 1:29 , etc. , from 2Ki 17:8 , . The construction is broken (for the will to have been accomplishe for you walking ) unless . be taken as if middle to . as subject. , acts of licentiousness (as in Polybius); so Sap. 14:26. Earlier of wanton violence arising out of drunkenness (Demosthenes). , wine-bibbings , Deu 21:20 , = . Noun occurs in Philo coupled with . , revellings associated with alien rites , Sap. 14:26. For cf. , 1Co 10:14 ff. , a Jew’s description of current Pagan cults, which were often illicit according to Roman law. For . cf. Act 10:28 , it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with a foreigner , and Mal 4:5Mal 4:5 ; 2Ma 7:1 (of swine flesh).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

of our life. The texts omit.

may suffice = is sufficient (Greek. arketos. Only here and Mat 6:34; Mat 10:25).

us. The texts omit.

will. App-102., as above, but the texts read App-102.

Gentiles. Greek. ethnos.

lasciviousness. See Rom 13:13.

excess of wine. Greek. oinopldugia. Only here.

revellings. Greek. komos. See Rom 13:13.

banquetings. Greek. potos. Only here.

abominable = unlawful. See Act 10:28.

idolatries. See 1Co 10:14.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

3.] For (follows on : I say, the rest of the time, for the past time surely &c.) sufficient is the past time (. Nam ne pristina quidem tempora debuere peccatis teri. Fastidium peccati apud resipiscentes. Bengel) to have wrought out ( cannot always be pressed in the sense of to work out to an end, as distinguished from : but this sense may fairly be insisted on here. The perf. implies that the course is closed and done, and looked back on as a standing and accomplished fact) the will of the Gentiles (that which the Gentiles , would have you do. In ref. Rom. it is used of God. The N. T. line of demarcation between and appears to be but slender: and slenderer still that between their derivatives. We may perhaps say here, that the , used of God, carries with it more of authority and willing, , used of man, more of persuasion, and wishing (cf. 1Ti 6:9): so that the is that which we may be overpersuaded into following, the that which we are bound to obey. , used not of any national distinction, but of heathens as distinguished from Christians, shews that the majority of the readers of the Epistle had been Gentiles, among these , themselves. Cf. a very similar passage in Isocr. Panegyr. p. 75 D: , , . , ;), walking as ye have done (the perf. part. connects with : the absence of the art. gives it the slight inferential force which justifies the former assertion) in lasciviousnesses (outbreaks of ), lusts (here perhaps not general, as in 1Pe 4:2, but particular, lusts of uncleanness), wine-bibbings ( , Andronicus Rhodius, , p. 6. But from the other examples of its use in Wetst., it seems to express not only the desire, but its indulgence), revellings (see for a full explanation of , the word in Palm and Rost), drinking-bouts (Appian says of Sertorius, Bell. Civ. i. p. 700 (Wetst.), , . Suidas gives, , ), and nefarious (quibus sanctissimum Dei jus violatur, Beng.) idolatries (I may remark as against the view that this Epistle was written to Jews, that this passage cannot be explained on that supposition. The Jews certainly never went so far into Gentile abominations as to justify its assertions):

Fuente: The Greek Testament

1Pe 4:3. , sufficeth) A lowering of expression [MEIOSIS. See Append.]: for not even ought the past times to have been wasted in sins. At the same time a loathing of sin is expressed on the part of those who repent.-, to have wrought) namely, for you[36] to have wrought. This is shortly afterwards explained.-, when ye walked) advanced madly. The antithesis to this word is , He went and, is gone and, ch. 1Pe 3:19; 1Pe 3:22.-, , , in excess of wine, revellings, and banquetings) Those before mentioned are practised by individuals, these by clubs.-, in abominations) by which the most sacred law of God is violated: Rom 1:23-24.-, idolatries) of various kinds. So, in the antithesis, the word manifold or various, 1Pe 4:10.

[36] Rec. Text reads after , with C alone of the oldest authorities But AB Vulg. and both Syr. omit . So Beng. understands the you.-E.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

the time: Eze 44:6, Eze 45:9, Act 17:30, Rom 8:12, Rom 8:13, 1Co 6:11

to have: 1Pe 1:14, Deu 12:30, Deu 12:31, Rom 1:20-32, Eph 2:2, Eph 2:3, Eph 4:17, 1Th 4:5, Tit 3:3

lasciviousness: Mar 7:22, 2Co 12:21, Gal 5:19, Eph 4:19, Jud 1:4

excess: 2Sa 13:28, Pro 23:29-35, Isa 5:11, Isa 28:7, Eph 5:18

revellings: Gal 5:21

and: 1Ki 21:26, 2Ch 15:8, Isa 65:4, Jer 16:18, Rev 17:4, Rev 17:5

Reciprocal: Gen 38:26 – And he knew Lev 13:23 – General 2Ki 5:17 – will henceforth Psa 1:1 – walketh Psa 17:4 – works Psa 53:1 – have done Pro 23:20 – not Pro 28:7 – but Ecc 7:2 – better Ecc 10:19 – feast Ecc 11:9 – walk Isa 42:23 – will give Jer 16:11 – walked Jer 44:4 – this Eze 33:26 – work Eze 36:32 – be ashamed Dan 3:8 – and accused Hos 3:1 – love flagons Hos 7:5 – made Hos 14:8 – What Amo 6:5 – to the Mat 20:4 – Go Mar 4:19 – and the lusts Mar 6:21 – his birthday Mar 7:21 – out Luk 12:19 – take Luk 15:13 – wasted Luk 21:34 – your hearts Joh 5:14 – sin Joh 15:19 – because Act 14:16 – suffered Act 15:20 – fornication Rom 1:23 – an image Rom 6:12 – in the lusts Rom 9:30 – the Gentiles Rom 13:13 – rioting 1Co 12:2 – that Gal 4:8 – ye did Eph 4:22 – former Eph 5:12 – it Col 3:7 – General Jam 4:1 – come they 1Pe 1:18 – received 2Pe 1:4 – having 1Jo 2:16 – the lust of the flesh

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

1Pe 4:3. It is a popular notion that every person should have the privilege of some worldly enjoyment. The apostle does not endorse that idea, yet even if such a claim were allowed, the writer shows that they have had their full opportunity along that line. Will of the Gentiles means the manner of the nations who are still in heathendom. Walked in lasciviousness means to continue in the way of filthy desires. Lusts is repeated from the preceding verse; it especially means “desire for what is forbidden”–Thayer. Excess of wine. A little wine for the stomach’s sake (1Ti 5:23) will not make a man drunk, hence the ex cessive use of it would be that amount that will intoxicate. Revellings, ban-quetings. These words are similar in meaning according to the definitions of Thayer. The first he defines, “A revel, carousal,” and the second is, “A drinking, carousing.” The overall meaning of the two words is a reference to any disorderly or riotous conduct, including dancing and late “night parties.” Abominable idolatries. There are no forms of idolatry that are right; the first word is used to intensify the extreme objectionable character of such practices to the loathing of God.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

1Pe 4:3. For sufficient is the time past to have wrought the will of the Gentiles. Here the A. V. inserts two phrases, viz. of our life and us, which weight of evidence compels us to omit. According to the best authorities, too, the idea of will is not expressed, as the A. V. leads us to imagine, by the same word as in the previous phrase God swill. Here it might be rendered the inclination intent, or (with the R. V.) desire of the Gentiles. The verb wrought is of a form and a tense, which serve to throw the action entirely into the past as now finally done with. The adjective sufficient occurs only twice again in the New Testament, viz. in Mat 6:34 (sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof), and Mat 10:25 (it is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master). It is here the note of pained feeling uttering itself in irony. The sentence is an example of what grammarians call litotes, less than the reality being said in order to suggest the more. The past may suffice; there is a figure in that, meaning much more than the words express: It is enough, Oh! too much, to have so long, so miserable a life (Leighton). The allusion to the desire of the Gentiles (which is practically equivalent here to the desire of the heathen), especially as that desire or intent is interpreted by the following catalogue of sins, suits Christians who had been heathen, rather than Christians who had been Jews.

walking, or rather, as the perfect tense implies, walking as ye have done; in reference to a continuous course of life now done with. The A. V., following the readings which we have seen cause to reject, makes it when we walked, as if Peter courteously included himself in the description, in order to soften its edge.

in excesses; not, as both the A. V. and the R. V. render it, in lasciviousness. No doubt uncleanness is the foremost thing in view in these excesses (cp. Rom 13:13; 2Co 12:21; Gal 5:19). But Peter begins with a wide, plural term, sufficient to include unbridled conduct of all kinds, and then goes on from the general to the particular.

lusts; pointing specially to fleshly lusts and appetites strictly so called, although the term is not confined to these (see on 1Pe 1:14).

wine-swillings. The word is of rare occurrence even in the Classics. In the New Testament this is its solitary occurrence. The cognate verb, however, is used in the Greek Version of Deu 21:20, in the sense of being a drunkard. The noun denotes both the thirst for drink and indulgence in drink. Here it is in the plural, and means debauches, or, as the R. V. renders it, wine-bibbings.

revellings. Wycliffe strangely renders it, immeasurable eatings; Tyndale, eating; and Cranmer, excess of eating. The term occurs again only in Rom 13:13; Gal 5:21. It is the word which is so familiar to us in the Classics as the name given to the drunken merry-makings of various kinds, which were so considerable an element in Greek life. They were recognised entertainments, celebrated on festal days, in connection with the worship of Bacchus and other gods, or in honour of the victors at the national games. Those of the last-named class were of a comparatively orderly kind. The others were attended with great licence, and generally ended in the revellers sallying out into the streets, and wakening the echoes with song and dance and noisy frolic.

carousings. Another word of which this is the only New Testament instance. It means social drinking-bouts or roysterings, rather than merely banquetings, as the A. V. makes it.

and lawless idolatries. Here, as so often elsewhere, idolatry and immorality are associated as going hand in hand with each other. The abominable of the A. V. and R. V. scarcely conveys the point of the adjective. It describes the idolatries as unlawful, outside the pale of Divine law. In the only other passage of the New Testament in which it occurs (Act 10:28) it expresses the idea that fellowship between a Jew and a man of another nation was contrary to Jewish law. This mention of idolatries as the last and worst of the things after which the desire of the Gentiles ran, clearly indicates the Gentile extraction of Peters readers. From the time of the captivity idolatry was the sin which the Jew specially forswore. It could not with any semblance of justice be spoken of as a characteristic Jewish vice in Peters day. The passage in Rom 2:22, which is often cited in support of the opposite view, deals with an entirely different matter,the inconsistency on the part of one who professes to hate idolatry and yet commits sacrilege.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, 1. That this epistle was written and directed, not only to the Jewish natives, but to the Gentile proselytes and converts; this is evident from the apostle’s putting them in mind that there was a time, namely, before their conversion, when they wrought the will of the Gentiles.

Observe, 2. The black and dismal sins which the Gentiles were guilty of, and wallowed in, before their conversion to Christianity, namely, all manner of sensuality, uncleanness, excess in drinking, reveling, banquetings and idolatries, joined with the rest of their abominations. Lord, how endearing our obligations, who were sinners of the Gentiles, for calling us out of this darkness (worse than Egyptian) into marvelous light by the gospel.

Observe, 3. The argument used to excite them to quit and abandon the fore-mentioned sins now in their converted state, which they had before indulged themselves in the practice of, in their heathen state: the time past may suffice to have wrought the will of the Gentiles; as if he had said, “Surely you have had enough, enough of sin, and too much, in your unregenerate state; your lusts have taken up too much of your lives, and had too much of your love.”

Learn hence, That the true penitent, and sincere convert, is one that has had enough of sin, yea, more than than enough: one moment’s service of sin is more service than we owe it: we can never serve Christ too long, and our lust too short a time.

Learn, 2. That this consideration, how long some of us served sin before conversion, should be a forcible argument to excite and quicken us unto greater measures and degrees of holiness in our regenerate and converted state.

Observe, 4. What usage such Christians must expect from the men of the world, who must come out from among them, and refuse to run any longer into the same excess of riot with them.

1. They think it strange; they admire and wonder at them, as we do at strangers that come out of another country.

And, 2. They speak evil of them, because they will not be as bad and as mad as themselves. They think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you.

Learn hence, 1. That wicked men are excessively riotous, or that there is an excess of riot and sin, which wicked men upon all occasions run into.

Learn, 2. That such men wonder and think it very strange, that good men are not as excessively riotous as themselves.

3. That because they will not so run, therefore they speak evil of them.

Observe, lastly, The impartiality and severity of that account which the wicked men of the world must render to God, the universal Judge, for all their hard speeches which they have uttered against the righteous: Who shall give an account to him that is really to judge the quick and the dead.

Note here, 1. There must and shall be a day of account: there must be one, because there never yet was one; there shall be one, because God has made man an accountable creature: he can give, and therefore he shall give, an account of his actions; for he has a principle of reason to know what he does, and a liberty of choice to govern himself, and a rule to direct him what to choose, and what to refuse; and consequently the actions, proceeding from him, just and shall be accounted for by him.

Note, 2. That this account must be given to Christ, the supreme and universal Judge both of quick and dead; partly, as a fitting reward for his great humiliation and sufferings; and, partly, that the world may see what a great and excellent Person he was, who came to visit them in great humility; and partly, to give advantage to the future judgment, in that God has appointed a man for our judge, who is flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone, one that is sensible of the follies, temptations, and infirmities, of mankind, and pities them, and will make favourable allowances for them; nay, one that is God as well as man, from whom we may expect all the goodness of a God, and all the tender compassion of a man, in their utmost perfection; so that no man need fear such a judge, who has not out-sinned the mercies of a God, and the tender compassions of a man: for if either God or man help us, we are safe in that day, when we shall give an account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

“Licentiousness” describes uncontrolled desires, such as, gluttony and sensual passions. “Lusts” is a word describing desire for things forbidden. “Drunkenness” and wild drinking parties, or “revelries,” should also be put away. Woods says the word translated “drinking parties” describes a drinking contest in which each one tries to outdo the others. “Abominable idolatries” would describe the sinful excesses some went to in worship of idols. The Christians to whom Peter wrote had participated in all of these. Having realized the emptiness of sin, Christians look on their lives of selfish desire as being more than long enough ( 1Pe 4:3 ; Rom 6:21 ; Rom 13:11-12 ).

Living totally unrestrained lives was so common and acceptable to the Gentiles that they were shocked by those Christians not joining them. They were astonished that Christians did not rush to let their lives overflow, or flood, with evil deeds. So they blasphemed them, accusing them of untrue things in an attempt to injure them.

However, Christians do not have to worry with a response since these will be judged by the great judge of the living and the dead ( Mat 12:36-37 ; Rom 14:12 ; Act 10:42 ). Kelcy says the word “ready,” “indicates that Christ is competent and qualified; he stands prepared to judge and may do so at any time.” Because Jesus will judge all men, the good news was proclaimed to some who had died by the time Peter wrote. They were not dead when preached to, but had heard the message that can cause one to live eternally in the spirit like God. All will be judged according to what they did in the flesh ( 2Co 5:10 ). Those who obey the gospel will live in the spirit like God ( 1Pe 4:4-6 ).

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

1Pe 4:3-5. For the time past of our life may suffice us , is sufficient for us; to have wrought the will of the Gentiles The expression is soft, but conveys a very strong meaning, namely, that in no period of our lives ought we to have wrought the will of the Gentiles; and that whatever time we spent in so doing was too much. When we walked in lasciviousness In various kinds and degrees of it; lusts Inordinate desires; excess of wine , being inflamed with wine; revellings , luxurious feastings; see on Rom 13:13; banquetings , drunken entertainments; and abominable idolatries With all the shameful vices connected therewith. Wherein they think it strange, &c. The word , thus rendered, was used by the Greeks to express that admiration and wonder with which a stranger is struck, who beholds anything uncommon or new. The meaning here is, On account of your former manner of life, they wonder that you now shun their company, and run not with them to the same excess of riot you formerly ran into; speaking evil of you As proud, singular, silly, wicked, and the like; who shall give account Of this as well as all their other ways; to him that is ready So faith represents him now; to judge the quick and the dead Those who are now alive, and those who shall be found alive at his coming to judgment.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Verse 3

To have wrought the will of the Gentiles; to have conformed in conduct, and character to the example of a wicked world.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

4:3 {2} For the time past of [our] life may suffice us to have wrought the {b} will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

(2) By putting us in mind of the dishonesty of our former life led in the filth of sin, he calls us to earnest repentance.

(b) Wickedly and licentiously after the manner of the Gentiles.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Peter’s readers had already spent too much time living for self in typically unsaved Gentile practices. Note the prominence of sexual and alcohol related activities here (as in Rom 13:13-14; Gal 5:19-21). This verse along with others (e.g., 1Pe 1:14; 1Pe 2:10) suggests that Peter was writing to a predominantly Gentile audience.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)