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1 Peter

1 Peterchapter 4

19 verses · BSB1 Peter book hub →

Speaks with:1 Peter 3×61 Peter 1×3Romans 8×3Colossians 3×21 Thessalonians 4×2James 5×2

Summary

Chapter summary

'Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye yourselves also with the same mind'. The past time suffices to have wrought the desire of the Gentiles, and old friends now 'think it strange that ye run not with them into the same excess of riot.' Then the letter tightens: 'The end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore of sound mind, and be sober unto prayer: above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves; for love covereth a multitude of sins' (4:7-8). 'Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you… but insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, rejoice' (4:12-13). 'If a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed.'

Context

Epistle · Peter — 1 Peter overview

  • A. 1–6 Arm Yourself With the Mind That Is Done With Sin
  • B. 7–11 The End Is at Hand: Serve With the Strength God Supplies
  • C. 12–19 Do Not Be Surprised at the Fire

The outline

  1. A.Arm Yourself With the Mind That Is Done With Sinvv. 1 to 6

    Read vv. 1 to 6 →

  2. B.The End Is at Hand: Serve With the Strength God Suppliesvv. 7 to 11

    Read vv. 7 to 11 →

  3. C.Do Not Be Surprised at the Firevv. 12 to 19

    Read vv. 12 to 19 →

Threads

Each of these runs on past this chapter. The passage you have just read is marked.

Suffering, then glory

Pattern

1 Peter reads the whole Christian life on the shape the prophets searched out: the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Every chapter of the letter walks its readers through the fire toward the far side of it.

Peter writes to churches entering Nero's decade, and he does not promise escape; he promises sequence. Because the pattern is Christ's own, suffering for the name is not a sign that grace failed but the road glory has always taken.

  1. 1 Peter 1:11

    The prophets' own study

    The Spirit of Christ in them testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.

  2. 1 Peter 2:21

    Leaving us an example

    Christ also suffered for us, that ye should follow his steps.

  3. 1 Peter 3:18

    The just for the unjust

    Christ also hath once suffered for sins, that he might bring us to God.

  4. 1 Peter 4:13 you are here

    Partakers of Christ's sufferings

    When his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

  5. 1 Peter 5:10

    After ye have suffered a while

    The God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

The world behind this chapter

1 Peter 4
When
The years just before Nero's persecution · c. AD 62–64
Where
The social cost of leaving the old life, and suffering 'as a Christian'
Who first heard it
Believers whose former friends were offended that they no longer showed up

The history

Ancient social life ran on shared feasts. Trade guilds, burial clubs, neighborhood associations, and family celebrations all involved eating, drinking, and honoring a god at the start. Withdrawing from the drinking parties meant withdrawing from the network that supplied a man's business contacts and his standing.

That is why the chapter says the old crowd is surprised and speaks abusively. It was taken personally: the man who stops coming is judging everyone still there.

'If you suffer as a Christian' points at something new — the name itself becoming a charge. Within a generation, a Roman governor in this very region, Pliny in Bithynia, would be writing to the emperor about executing people simply for being Christians, which shows how quickly the name became the offense.

Hospitality without grumbling was a heavier request than it sounds. Feeding traveling believers, and hosting the meeting, fell on a few households, and it cost food, space, and risk.

What it meant to them

The hearers were not being persecuted by an empire yet; they were being frozen out by neighbors. This chapter tells them that the cold shoulder is a form of the same thing and carries the same honor.

The instruction to use whatever gift each has received, so that God is praised, told small groups without buildings or clergy that they already had everything they needed to be a church.

Sources cited

Every work MannaFest builds on →

The text of this chapter

This page carries no textual note on 1 Peter 4. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →

Connections from this chapter

v. 12 · Written to them

Think it not strange: fiery trial

topics/suffering→

MannaFest topical index

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.

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