The New Testament

The New Testament › 1 Peter

1 Peter 4

1Therefore, since Christ suffered in flesh, arm yourselves also with the same resolve, because whoever has suffered in flesh has ceased from sin, 2so as to live the remaining time in flesh no longer for human desires but for God's will. 3For the time already past is enough for doing what the Gentiles want, when you walked in shamelessness, desires, drunkenness, revelry, drinking parties, and unlawful idol worship. 4They are surprised that you do not run with them into the same flood of reckless living, and they slander you. 5They will give an account to the one who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6For this is why good news was brought even to the dead: so that, though judged in flesh by human standards, they might live in spirit by God's standards.

7The end of all things has drawn near. So be clearheaded and sober for prayer. 8Above all, maintain earnest love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. 9Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. 10As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace. 11If anyone speaks, let it be as God's utterances; if anyone serves, let it be from the strength God supplies, so that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the might forever and ever. Amen.

12Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13Instead, rejoice insofar as you share in Christ's sufferings, so that you may also rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed. 14If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15Let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or a meddler in other people's affairs. 16But if someone suffers as a Christian, let that person not be ashamed, but glorify God in this name. 17For it is time for judgment to begin with God's house; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who disobey God's good news? 18And “If the righteous person is saved with difficulty, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?” 19So let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

Translation notes 5

4:1–2 — Ceased from sin. The statement links suffering and a break with sin, followed by living the remaining time for God's will. It is not expanded into either a claim that every sufferer becomes sinless or a qualification about only a certain class of sins. Taking the sufferer as Christ or reading the clause through participation in his death are other interpretations.

4:3–6 — The dead. The good news was brought “to the dead.” This can refer to people who heard it while alive and have since died, a strong contextual possibility after the reference to judgment of living and dead. Proclamation after death is also proposed. “Now” is not added before “dead,” and the passage is not silently identified with the spirits in 3:19. “By human standards” and “by God's standards” express the contrasting Greek phrases; death as the ordinary human judgment is a likely reference.

4:8–11 — Love and gifts. Covering sins concerns love's response to wrongdoing; the wording does not specify a transaction that purchases forgiveness. “Gift” and “grace” are related Greek words. “Let it be” is supplied in verse 11's compact instructions. The final “him” can refer to God or Jesus Christ; the pronoun is retained.

4:12–16 — Trial and name. The fiery ordeal is testing imagery connected with 1:7. Verse 14 follows the shorter Greek base; some witnesses add, “On their part he is slandered, but on your part he is glorified.” Verse 16 has “in this name” in the base; “in this matter” is a competing textual reading. “Meddler” is the provisional sense of a rare expression about intruding into others' affairs.

4:17–19 — Judgment and safekeeping. The house image returns from chapter 2. The quotation in verse 18 follows the Greek form of Proverbs 11:31. “With difficulty” retains its severity. Entrusting souls continues the safekeeping language of Christ's response to suffering in 2:23.