1 PETER 4:1–11
WHEN FOLLOWING CHRIST CHANGES THE WAY WE LIVE
Peter has just reminded suffering Christians that Jesus suffered, died, was raised, ascended to heaven, and now reigns at God's right hand.
Now Peter asks a very practical question:
If Christ suffered for us, what difference should that make in the way we live?
For some of Peter's readers, following Christ had changed their behavior so dramatically that their old friends noticed.
They no longer joined them in the same activities.
And their friends did not necessarily admire the change.
Peter says:
“They are surprised when you do not join them…and they malign you.”
Sometimes following Christ means people who once thought we were perfectly normal begin wondering what happened to us.
4:1 — ARM YOURSELVES WITH THE SAME WAY OF THINKING
Peter begins:
“Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking…”
The word “arm yourselves” is strong.
Peter pictures the Christian life as requiring preparation for conflict.
But the weapon he mentions is not a sword.
It is a way of thinking.
Christ's suffering becomes the pattern.
Jesus chose obedience to God even when obedience brought suffering.
Peter tells Christians to prepare themselves to think the same way.
Following Christ may cost something.
Decide beforehand whom you will follow.
“WHOEVER HAS SUFFERED IN THE FLESH HAS CEASED FROM SIN”
Then comes a difficult statement:
“for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.”
Peter obviously does not mean that Christians who suffer become completely incapable of sinning.
He will continue giving Christians moral instructions, which would make little sense if they had already become sinless.
So what does he mean?
The context suggests a decisive break with the old life.
A person willing to suffer rather than return to sin has demonstrated that sin no longer holds the same mastery over him.
Peter's point is not:
“Suffering makes you sinlessly perfect.”
It is closer to:
“Following Christ, even when it costs you, marks a break with your former allegiance to sin.”
4:2 — WHOSE WILL WILL CONTROL OUR LIVES?
Peter explains:
“so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.”
There are two ways of life before us:
Human desires.
or
The will of God.
Peter's readers had already spent part of their lives following the first.
Now their remaining time belongs to God.
Notice Peter's expression:
“the rest of the time.”
None of us knows how much of that time remains.
Peter does not tell Christians to spend their lives regretting yesterday.
He asks:
How will you live the time you have left?
4:3 — “THE TIME THAT IS PAST SUFFICES”
Peter says:
“For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do…”
In other words:
You've spent enough time living that way.
Then Peter gives examples:
“sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.”
This list gives us another strong indication that many of Peter's readers came from Gentile backgrounds.
This had been their world.
Peter does not romanticize it.
But neither does he tell them to remain imprisoned by it.
The past is the past.
They have been born again.
They now belong to Christ.
4:4 — “THEY ARE SURPRISED”
Then comes a wonderfully realistic observation:
“With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery…”
Imagine the situation.
Yesterday you participated.
Today you don't.
Your friends ask:
What's wrong with you?
You used to do this with us.
Do you think you're better than we are now?
Peter says they are surprised.
Christian conversion had become visible because Christian behavior had changed.
That raises a challenging question:
If becoming a Christian never changes anything about the way we live, what exactly has happened?
“AND THEY MALIGN YOU”
Peter says these former companions do more than express surprise:
“and they malign you.”
The change may produce ridicule.
They may speak badly about the Christian.
Peter's answer is not:
Insult them back.
He has already dealt with that.
Nor does he say:
Go back and participate so they will accept you again.
Instead, remember who ultimately judges human lives.
4:5 — EVERYONE WILL GIVE AN ACCOUNT
Peter says:
“but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”
The Christian does not need to become the final judge of those who ridicule him.
God is Judge.
And notice the scope:
“the living and the dead.”
Everyone ultimately answers to God.
That prepares us for Peter's next statement.
4:6 — “THE GOSPEL WAS PREACHED EVEN TO THOSE WHO ARE DEAD”
Peter writes:
“For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead…”
This verse has sometimes been connected with the “spirits in prison” in 1 Peter 3:19.
But we should not automatically assume Peter is describing the same event.
The wording is different.
Peter says the gospel “was preached” to people who are now dead.
A straightforward understanding is that these people heard the gospel while they were alive but had since died.
Why would Peter mention them?
Because the previous verse has just spoken of God judging:
“the living and the dead.”
Some Christians had apparently died.
To human eyes, death might appear to have defeated them.
But Peter says:
“that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.”
Physical death did not cancel the promise of the gospel.
Human beings may judge according to earthly appearances.
The Christian may die.
But death is not the end of the story.
DOES THIS TEACH A SECOND CHANCE AFTER DEATH?
Nothing in this verse requires that conclusion.
Peter does not say:
“The gospel is now being preached to dead people.”
He says:
“The gospel was preached even to those who are dead.”
They can naturally be understood as people who heard the gospel during life and were dead by the time Peter wrote.
That interpretation also fits Peter's larger purpose: comforting Christians facing suffering and death.
We should therefore be cautious about building a doctrine of postmortem evangelism from this sentence.
4:7 — “THE END OF ALL THINGS IS AT HAND”
Peter now says:
“The end of all things is at hand.”
Those words should not be rushed past.
Peter expected his readers to live with a sense of urgency.
But notice what he tells them to do because the end is near.
He does not say:
Calculate dates.
He does not say:
Construct a prophetic timetable.
He does not say:
Quit your jobs and wait.
He says:
“therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.”
Peter's end-times teaching produces clear thinking, self-control, and prayer.
Whatever conclusions we draw about the timing of “the end,” we should not miss Peter's application.
Biblical teaching about the end is intended to change how we live now.
4:8 — “ABOVE ALL, KEEP LOVING ONE ANOTHER”
Peter continues:
“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly…”
This sounds familiar.
In 1 Peter 1:22 he said:
“love one another earnestly from a pure heart.”
Now he says it again.
Why is this so important?
“since love covers a multitude of sins.”
Peter appears to echo Proverbs 10:12:
“Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.”
Does this mean love makes sin unimportant?
No.
Does it mean we should conceal serious wrongdoing?
No.
The contrast is with the person who constantly exposes, magnifies, and keeps accounts of every offense.
People living closely together will sometimes offend one another.
A loving community cannot survive if everyone insists on keeping every wound permanently open.
Love forgives.
Love does not delight in exposing another person's failures.
Love seeks restoration rather than revenge.
4:9 — HOSPITALITY WITHOUT GRUMBLING
Peter says:
“Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.”
Hospitality mattered greatly in the ancient world.
Travel could be difficult.
Inns were not always safe or respectable.
Traveling Christians, teachers, and missionaries often depended upon believers opening their homes.
But Peter adds two revealing words:
“without grumbling.”
Apparently hospitality could be inconvenient in the first century too.
It costs something.
Food.
Time.
Privacy.
Energy.
Peter doesn't merely say:
Open the door.
He addresses the attitude with which we do it.
It is possible to perform a good deed while making everyone around us wish we hadn't.
Christian hospitality should come from love, not resentment.
4:10 — EVERY CHRISTIAN HAS RECEIVED SOMETHING TO GIVE
Peter continues:
“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another…”
Notice:
“each.”
Peter does not picture the church as a handful of gifted people performing while everyone else watches.
Every Christian has received something that can be used in service.
And notice the purpose of the gift:
“serve one another.”
God's gifts are not given primarily to make us important.
They are given so that we can help others.
Peter describes Christians as:
“good stewards of God's varied grace.”
A steward manages something belonging to someone else.
Whatever ability, opportunity, resource, or ministry God has entrusted to us is ultimately His.
The question is not:
“How impressive is my gift?”
The question is:
“Am I faithfully using what God has entrusted to me?”
4:11 — SPEAKING AND SERVING
Peter gives two broad categories.
“WHOEVER SPEAKS…”
“whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God…”
Those who teach God's truth carry serious responsibility.
We are not free to change God's message into whatever we prefer.
This does not mean every sentence a Christian teacher speaks is inspired Scripture.
It means that when we claim to communicate God's message, we should take seriously the responsibility to speak faithfully.
That requires asking:
What does the text actually say?
Not merely:
What have I always heard that it says?
“WHOEVER SERVES…”
Peter continues:
“whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies…”
Those whose work is less visible are no less dependent upon God.
Some Christians speak.
Others serve in ways few people notice.
Both matter.
And neither should become a source of personal pride.
The speaker speaks what God has provided.
The servant serves with strength God supplies.
WHY DO WE DO ANY OF IT?
Peter tells us:
“in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”
There is the purpose.
Not:
So people will notice us.
Not:
So our congregation will become famous.
Not:
So people will admire our ability.
But:
“that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”
Peter ends with praise:
“To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
Everything comes back to God.
THE CHURCH PETER DESCRIBES
Look at the congregation Peter imagines.
These people have left their former way of life.
Their old friends may think they are strange.
Some may ridicule them.
They know judgment belongs to God.
They know life is short.
So what do they do?
They:
think clearly,
pray,
love one another deeply,
forgive,
open their homes,
serve one another,
use whatever God has given them,
speak God's truth carefully,
and depend upon God's strength.
That is Peter's response to:
“The end of all things is at hand.”
Not panic.
Faithfulness.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
Peter says:
“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another.”
That challenges the idea that Christian service belongs primarily to the people standing in front of the congregation.
A Christian may never preach a sermon.
Never teach a public class.
Never lead singing.
Never be known outside a small circle of people.
And yet that person may be faithfully administering “God's varied grace.”
A meal delivered to someone who is sick.
A home opened to someone who needs a place to stay.
A visit to someone who is lonely.
A quiet word of encouragement.
Money given without anyone knowing who gave it.
Years spent caring for a spouse.
Time spent teaching a child.
A prayer offered for someone who may never know we prayed.
Peter doesn't ask:
“How important does your service look?”
He asks whether we are faithfully using whatever God has entrusted to us.
And when we do:
God is glorified through Jesus Christ.
QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT
What does Peter mean when he tells Christians to “arm yourselves” with Christ's way of thinking?
Does “ceased from sin” mean Christians can reach a state in which they never sin again? What does the context suggest?
Why would former friends be surprised when a Christian stopped participating in the old way of life?
What should Christians do when people ridicule them because their behavior has changed?
Who are the “dead” in verse 6? Does Peter actually say the gospel was preached to them after they died?
Why is it important not to assume that 1 Peter 3:19 and 4:6 are describing exactly the same event?
What does Peter tell Christians to do because “the end of all things is at hand”?
What does it mean that “love covers a multitude of sins”? What does it not mean?
Why does Peter add “without grumbling” to his command about hospitality?
Who has received a gift according to verse 10, and what is its purpose?
What responsibility does verse 11 place upon those who teach God's Word?
How would a congregation change if every Christian saw himself or herself as a steward of something God had given for the benefit of others?
NEXT STUDY
1 PETER 4:12–19
“DON'T BE SURPRISED AT THE FIERY TRIAL”
Peter has just said that unbelievers may be surprised when Christians no longer live as they do.
Now he tells Christians:
“Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you.”
Then comes an important distinction we have already seen:
There is a difference between suffering because we belong to Christ and suffering because we have done wrong.
And near the end Peter makes a statement that can sound startling:
“It is time for judgment to begin at the household of God.”
What judgment?
Why does it begin with God's own people?
And what does Peter mean when he asks:
“If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”
That is a short section—only eight verses—but it deserves a page of its own rather than rushing through it.
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