GOING DEEPER — 1 PETER 4:1–6
WHEN FOLLOWING CHRIST CHANGES YOUR LIFE
Peter has just reminded his readers that Christ suffered for sins (1 Peter 3:18). Now he tells Christians that Christ’s suffering should change the way they think about their own lives.
“Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same understanding.”
— 1 Peter 4:1
The word “therefore” connects this directly with what Peter has just said. Jesus suffered while doing what was right. His followers should not be surprised when faithfulness brings suffering to them as well.
But Peter goes further. Christians are to “arm” themselves with Christ’s way of thinking.
That is strong language. Peter pictures the Christian preparing for battle—not with a sword, but with a settled determination to live for God even when doing so is costly.
“THE ONE WHO SUFFERS IN THE FLESH IS FINISHED WITH SIN”
Peter continues:
“because the one who suffers in the flesh is finished with sin.”
— 1 Peter 4:1
Does this mean a Christian who suffers becomes completely sinless?
That would not fit Peter’s teaching or the rest of the New Testament.
Peter is describing a decisive break with the old way of life. A person who is willing to suffer rather than return to sin has demonstrated that sin is no longer his master.
This fits the next verse:
“in order to live the remaining time in the flesh no longer for human desires, but for God’s will.”
— 1 Peter 4:2
Peter divides life into two directions:
Living for human desires
or
living for the will of God.
Becoming a Christian means changing direction.
“YOU HAVE SPENT ENOUGH TIME”
Peter does not romanticize their former lives.
“For there has already been enough time spent in doing what the Gentiles choose to do...”
— 1 Peter 4:3
Then he gives examples:
sensuality
evil desires
drunkenness
orgies
carousing
lawless idolatry
His point is simple:
That life belongs to the past.
The Christian does not need one more season of sin before becoming serious about following Christ.
There has already been enough time for that.
Whatever time remains belongs to God.
WHEN OLD FRIENDS DO NOT UNDERSTAND
Changing your life may change your relationships.
Peter says:
“They are surprised that you don’t join them in the same flood of wild living—and they slander you.”
— 1 Peter 4:4
Notice what has happened.
The Christian has changed.
The surrounding culture has not.
People who once participated together in the same activities may now find themselves going in different directions. Former companions may not understand why someone no longer joins them.
Peter says they are surprised.
And sometimes surprise becomes ridicule or slander.
The Christian may be criticized not because he has harmed anyone, but simply because he refuses to continue living as he once did.
That would have been especially meaningful to Peter’s readers. They were learning that following Christ could make them outsiders in the very communities where they had once fit comfortably.
WHO WILL GIVE AN ACCOUNT?
Peter then changes the perspective:
“They will give an account to the one who stands ready to judge the living and the dead.”
— 1 Peter 4:5
Christians do not need to answer ridicule with revenge.
There is a Judge.
And everyone will eventually answer to Him.
That includes both “the living and the dead.”
Human judgment is temporary.
God’s judgment is final.
This gives the Christian a reason to remain faithful even when other people misunderstand, criticize, or reject him.
WHAT ABOUT “THE GOSPEL WAS PREACHED ALSO TO THOSE WHO ARE DEAD”?
Verse 6 has caused considerable discussion:
“For this reason the gospel was also preached to those who are now dead...”
— 1 Peter 4:6
Some connect this verse with 1 Peter 3:19 and understand Peter to be describing preaching to people after death.
But notice Peter's wording and argument.
He has just said that God will judge “the living and the dead.”
It is quite natural, then, to understand verse 6 as referring to people who heard the gospel while they were alive but had since died.
They were evangelized while living. They later died physically.
This makes good sense of Peter’s next words:
“so that, although they might be judged in the flesh according to human standards, they might live in the spirit according to God’s standards.”
Death did not mean that the gospel had failed them.
People may have judged them.
They may even have suffered and died.
But their life with God was not destroyed by physical death.
Peter's readers therefore had no reason to think that Christians who had died had somehow missed God's promise.
THE BIGGER POINT
Peter is teaching Christians how to look at the rest of their lives.
Christ suffered.
We belong to Christ.
Therefore, we should expect following Him to change both how we live and sometimes how other people treat us.
The old life has had enough time.
The time remaining belongs to God.
And when human approval and God's will point in different directions, Peter tells us which one matters.
QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT
When Peter says to “arm yourselves” with Christ's way of thinking, what kind of battle does he have in mind?
What does it mean to say that we have spent “enough time” living according to the desires of the world?
Why are people sometimes offended when someone stops participating in behavior they once shared?
Does verse 6 require us to believe that people receive another opportunity to hear the gospel after death—or does the context point in another direction?
And perhaps the most personal question:
Am I living the time I have left for human desires—or for the will of God?
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