Beloved, don’t be astonished at the fiery trial which has come upon you to test you, as though a strange thing happened to you. But because you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice, that at the revelation of his glory you also may rejoice with exceeding joy. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed; because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified. For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil doer, or a meddler in other men’s matters. But if one of you suffers for being a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this matter.
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Beloved, don’t be astonished at the fiery trial which has come upon you to test you, as though a strange thing happened to you. But because you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice, that at the revelation of his glory you also may rejoice with exceeding joy. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed; because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified. For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil doer, or a meddler in other men’s matters. But if one of you suffers for being a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God. If it begins first with us, what will happen to those who don’t obey the Good News of God? “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will happen to the ungodly and the sinner?” Therefore let them also who suffer according to the will of God in doing good entrust their souls to him, as to a faithful Creator.
Parallel Translations
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Beloved, don’t be astonished at the fiery trial which has come upon you to test you, as though a strange thing happened to you.
But because you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice, that at the revelation of his glory you also may rejoice with exceeding joy.
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed; because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified.
For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil doer, or a meddler in other men’s matters.
But if one of you suffers for being a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this matter.
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Dearly beloved be not troubled in this heate which now is come amonge you to trye you as though some strauge thinge had happened vnto you:
but reioyce in as moche as ye are partetakers of Christes passions that when his glory appereth ye maye be mery and glad.
If ye be rayled vpon for the name of Christ happie are ye. For the sprete of glory and the sprete of god resteth apon you. On their parte he is evyll spoken of: but on youre parte he is glorified.
Se that none of you suffre as a murtherer or as a thefe or an evyll doar or as a busybody in other mens matters.
Yf eny man suffre as a Christe man let him not be ashamed: but let him glorifie god on his behalfe.
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Dearely beloued, thinke it not strange concerning the firie triall, which is among you to proue you, as though some strange thing were come vnto you:
But reioyce, in asmuch as ye are partakers of Christs suffrings, that when his glory shall appeare, ye may be glad and reioyce.
If yee be railed vpon for the Name of Christ, blessed are ye: for the spirit of glory, and of God resteth vpon you: which on their part is euill spoken of: but on your part is glorified.
But let none of you suffer as a murtherer, or as a thiefe, or an euil doer, or as a busibodie in other mens matters.
But if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not bee ashamed: but let him glorifie God in this behalfe.
Cross-references (93)
- 2 Timothy 3:12 (v12) Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
- 1 Peter 1:6-7 (v12) Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved in various trials, that the proof of your…
- 1 Peter 5:9 (v12) Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings.
- 1 Thessalonians 3:2-4 (v12) and sent Timothy, our brother and God’s servant in the Good News of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith,…
- Daniel 11:35 (v12) Some of those who are wise will fall, to refine them, and to purify, and to make them white, even to the time of the end; because it is yet…
Show all 90 cross-references
- Romans 8:17 (v13) and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.
- 1 Peter 3:17-18 (v16) For it is better, if it is God’s will, that you suffer for doing well than for doing evil. Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the…
- 1 Corinthians 10:13 (v12) No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able,…
- Philippians 1:29 (v16) Because it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on his behalf,
- James 1:2-3 (v13) Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
- 1 Peter 4:19 (v16) Therefore let them also who suffer according to the will of God in doing good entrust their souls to him, as to a faithful Creator.
- James 1:2-4 (v16) Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let…
- Acts 5:41 (vv13, 16) They therefore departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for Jesus’ name.
- Romans 5:3 (v13) Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance;
- 2 Timothy 1:12 (v16) For this cause I also suffer these things. Yet I am not ashamed, for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to…
- 1 Peter 3:14 (v14) But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “Don’t fear what they fear, neither be troubled.”
- 1 Corinthians 3:13 (v12) each man’s work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of…
- Luke 6:22 (v14) Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude and mock you, and throw out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake.
- Matthew 5:11 (vv14–15) “Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
- 2 Thessalonians 3:11 (v15) For we hear of some who walk among you in rebellion, who don’t work at all, but are busybodies.
- James 1:12 (v14) Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to…
- Ephesians 3:13-15 (v16) Therefore I ask that you may not lose heart at my troubles for you, which are your glory. For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of…
- Philippians 1:20 (v16) according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will in no way be disappointed, but with all boldness, as always, now also Christ will…
- Philippians 3:10 (v13) that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death,
- 1 Peter 3:16 (v14) having a good conscience. Thus, while you are spoken against as evildoers, they may be disappointed who curse your good way of life in…
- 1 Peter 4:4 (v12) They think it is strange that you don’t run with them into the same excess of riot, blaspheming.
- Isaiah 50:7 (v16) For the Lord Yahweh will help me. Therefore I have not been confounded. Therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I won’t…
- Romans 5:2-5 (v16) through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only this, but…
- 2 Corinthians 1:7 (v13) Our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that, since you are partakers of the sufferings, so you are also of the comfort.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:11 (v15) and that you make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we…
- Psalms 146:5 (v14) Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Yahweh, his God:
- Isaiah 54:4 (v16) “Don’t be afraid, for you will not be ashamed. Don’t be confounded, for you will not be disappointed. For you will forget the shame of your…
- Acts 26:28 (v16) Agrippa said to Paul, “With a little persuasion are you trying to make me a Christian?”
- 2 Corinthians 4:10 (v13) always carrying in the body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
- Hebrews 12:2-3 (v16) looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and…
- 1 Peter 5:10 (v13) But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect,…
- 1 Peter 2:19-20 (vv14–15) For it is commendable if someone endures pain, suffering unjustly, because of conscience toward God. For what glory is it if, when you sin,…
- Isaiah 24:15 (v16) Therefore glorify Yahweh in the east, even the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea!
- Acts 11:26 (v16) When he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they were gathered together with the assembly, and taught many people.…
- 2 Corinthians 12:10 (v14) Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am…
- 1 Timothy 5:13 (v15) Besides, they also learn to be idle, going about from house to house. Not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which…
- 1 Peter 1:5-8 (v13) who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein you greatly rejoice,…
- 2 Kings 2:15 (v14) When the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho facing him saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” They came to meet…
- Psalms 89:51 (v14) With which your enemies have mocked, Yahweh, with which they have mocked the footsteps of your anointed one.
- Isaiah 51:7 (v14) “Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. Don’t fear the reproach of men, and don’t be dismayed at…
- John 15:21 (v14) But they will do all these things to you for my name’s sake, because they don’t know him who sent me.
- 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (v13) He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in…
- 1 Peter 3:17 (v15) For it is better, if it is God’s will, that you suffer for doing well than for doing evil.
- Isaiah 28:21 (v12) For Yahweh will rise up as on Mount Perazim. He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his unusual work, and…
- Matthew 5:16 (v14) Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
- Luke 6:22-23 (v13) Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude and mock you, and throw out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake. Rejoice…
- John 7:47-52 (v14) The Pharisees therefore answered them, “You aren’t also led astray, are you? Have any of the rulers believed in him, or of the Pharisees?…
- John 9:34 (v14) They answered him, “You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?” Then they threw him out.
- Acts 13:45 (v14) But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted the things which were spoken by Paul, and blasphemed.
- 2 Corinthians 4:17 (v13) For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory,
- 2 Thessalonians 1:10-12 (v14) when he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all those who have believed, because our testimony to you…
- 2 Timothy 2:9 (v15) in which I suffer hardship to the point of chains as a criminal. But God’s word isn’t chained.
- 2 Timothy 2:12 (v13) If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us.
- Hebrews 11:26 (v14) considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
- James 5:11 (v14) Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the perseverance of Job, and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the…
- 1 Peter 2:12 (v14) having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they…
- Numbers 11:25-26 (v14) Yahweh came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit…
- Isaiah 35:10 (v13) Then Yahweh’s ransomed ones will return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain…
- Matthew 5:12 (v13) Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
- Matthew 16:27 (v13) For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds.
- John 8:48 (v14) Then the Jews answered him, “Don’t we say well that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon?”
- John 9:28 (v14) They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
- Galatians 1:24 (v14) So they glorified God in me.
- Colossians 1:24 (v13) Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his…
- 1 Peter 5:1 (v13) Therefore I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and who will also share in the glory…
- Revelation 1:9 (v13) I John, your brother and partner with you in the oppression, Kingdom, and perseverance in Christ Jesus, was on the isle that is called…
- 1 Kings 10:8 (v14) Happy are your men, happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you, who hear your wisdom.
- Psalms 32:1-2 (v14) Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn’t impute iniquity, in whose…
- Psalms 49:9 (v14) that he should live on forever, that he should not see corruption.
- Isaiah 25:9 (v13) It shall be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God! We have waited for him, and he will save us! This is Yahweh! We have waited for…
- Isaiah 51:11 (v13) Those ransomed by Yahweh will return, and come with singing to Zion. Everlasting joy shall be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and…
- Matthew 25:21 (v13) “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things.…
- Matthew 25:23 (v13) “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things.…
- Matthew 25:31 (v13) “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.
- Matthew 25:34 (v13) Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of…
- Acts 16:25 (v13) But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
- Acts 18:6 (v14) When they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook out his clothing and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now…
- 1 Peter 1:13 (v13) Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober, and set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of…
- 2 Peter 2:2 (v14) Many will follow their immoral ways, and as a result, the way of the truth will be maligned.
- Isaiah 11:2 (v14) Yahweh’s Spirit will rest on him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of…
- Mark 8:38 (v13) For whoever will be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man also will be ashamed of him,…
- Luke 17:30 (v13) It will be the same way in the day that the Son of Man is revealed.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 (v13) and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,…
- 1 Peter 4:4-5 (v14) They think it is strange that you don’t run with them into the same excess of riot, blaspheming. They will give account to him who is ready…
- Revelation 1:7 (v13) Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn…
90 distinct cross-references across this passage (93 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (26 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv12–16 12 Beloved, think it not strange, or, wonder not.…
12 Beloved, think it not strange, or, wonder not. There is a frequent mention made in this Epistle of afflictions; the cause of which we have elsewhere explained. But this difference is to be observed, that when he exhorts the faithful to patience, he sometimes speaks generally of troubles common to man’s life; but here he speaks of wrongs done to the faithful for the name of Christ. And first, indeed, he reminded them that they ought not to have deemed it strange as for a thing sudden and unexpected; by which he intimates, that they ought by a long mediation to have been previously prepared to bear the cross. For whosoever has resolved to fight under Christ’s banner, will not be dismayed when persecution happens, but, as one accustomed to it, will patiently bear it. That we may then be in a prepared state of mind when the waves of persecutions roll over us, we ought in due time to habituate ourselves to such an event by meditating continually on the cross.
Moreover, he proves that the cross is useful to us by two arguments, — that God thus tries our faith, — and that we become thus partakers with Christ. Then, in the first place, let us remember that the trial of our faith is most necessary, and that we ought thus willingly to obey God who provides for our salvation. However, the chief consolation is to be derived from a fellowship with Christ. Hence Peter not only forbids us to think it strange, when he sets this before us, but also bids us to rejoice. It is, indeed, a cause of joy, when God tries our faith by persecution; but the other joy far surpasses it, that is, when the Son of God allots to us the same course of life with himself, that he might lead us with himself to a blessed participation of heavenly glory. For we must bear in mind this truth, that we have the dying of Christ in our flesh, that his life may be manifested in us. The wicked also do indeed bear many afflictions; but as they are separated from Christ, they apprehend nothing but God’s wrath and curse: thus it comes that sorrow and dread overwhelm them.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv12–15 Because the cross is joined with the sincere profession…
Because the cross is joined with the sincere profession of Religion, the Apostle fitly repeateth that which he touched before, warning us not to be troubled at persecutions and afflictions, as a new and strange thing.
The first reason: Because the Lord meaneth not to consume us with this fire (as it were) but to purge us of our dross, and make us perfect.
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As though some new thing had befallen you, which you never thought of before.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12–16 12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery…
12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
Ver. 12. Think it not strange] Ne tanquam hospites percellamini. Stand not wondering, and as if struck into a maze. Fain would this flesh make strange that which the spirit doth embrace, saith Mr Saunders, martyr, in a letter to his wife. O Lord, how loth is this loitering sluggard to pass forth in God’s path. It fantasieth forsooth much fear of fray-bugs. {a} And were it not for the force of faith which pulleth it forward by the rein of God’s most sweet promise, and of hope which pricks on behind, great adventures there were of fainting by the way. But blessed and everlastingly blessed be our heavenly Father, &c.
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Concerning the fiery trial] John Brown of Ashford, through the cruel handling of Archbishop Warham, and Fisher, bishop of Rochester, was so piteously intreated (saith Mr Fox) that his bare feet were set upon the hot burning coals, to make him deny his faith; which notwithstanding he would not do, but patiently abiding the pain, continued in the Lord’s quarrel unremovable. See the like of Rose Allen, Acts and Mon. 1820.
As though some strange thing] Forecast afflictions, which being foreseen come no whit the sooner, but far the easier, it is a labour well lost, if they come not, well spent if they do; whereas coming upon the sudden, they find weak minds secure, make them miserable, leave them desperate. Bishop Latimer ever affirmed, that the preaching of the gospel would cost him his life, to the which he no less cheerfully prepared himself, than certainly was persuaded that Winchester was kept in the Tower for the same purpose; and the event did too truly prove the same. Being sent for to London by a pursuivant, and coming through Smithfield, he merrily said, "That Smithfield had long groaned for him." To the lieutenant of the Tower he said, "You look, I think, that I should burn; but except you let me have some fire, I am like to deceive your expectation; for I am like here to starve for cold."
{a} An object of fear; a bogy, spectre. ŒD
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Think it not strange; be not offended or troubled…
Think it not strange; be not offended or troubled at persecution, as at a thing unusual or never heard of; it implies that they should reckon upon it beforehand, that they might not be surprised with it when it comes. The same word is used, 1Pe 4:4.
Concerning the fiery trial; the heat or burning, whereby he means great afflictions, especially those that are for rightesusness’ sake, as appears, 1Pe 4:14, which are often compared to fire, as being alike painful and grievous to them as fire is to men’s bodies; and because men are tried by them as metals are by fire, Psa 66:10; Isa 48:10.
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Which is to try you: this he adds as the reason why they should not think strange of persecutions, viz. because they were sent by God, not for their destruction, but for the trial and exercise of their graces.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 15 Observe here, 1. The metaphor which the apostle uses…
Observe here, 1. The metaphor which the apostle uses to set forth the Christian’s afflictions and persecutions by; he calls them fiery trials: burnings, because very painful and afflictive, very grievous and burdensome to sense, and also because men are tried by them as metals are by fire.
Observe, 2. The warning given by the apostle to all Christians, not to think it strange concerning these fiery trials; that is, not to look upon them as unusual things, but to expect them, and prepare for them; for unexpected trials fall upon the soul in their full weight, and suddenly overthrow it: what we fear, for that we prepare; but when trials come, and we never looked and prepared for them, they strike us to the heart, because not armed to receive the blow.
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Observe, 3. The gracious end that God has in the afflictions and persecutions which fall upon his people: they are to try them, not to consume them; to try their graces, and destroy their corruptions, to give them opportunity to make proof of the truth of their faith, sincerity, and constancy.
Observe, 4. The high honour which God puts upon his suffering saints and servants: they are said to be partakers of Christ’s sufferings, because they suffer for him, and he suffers with them, and in them, and also because he suffered the same things before them, and much worse things for them.
Observe lastly, The duty which God expects and requires from them who suffer these fiery persecutions for the sake of his Son; and that is, to rejoice and be exceeding glad.
From the whole learn, 1. That no afflictions of persecutions should seem new or strange things to sincere Christians.
2. That the end and use of all afflictions, is the trial and improvement of the Christian’s graces.
3. That believers in suffering afflictions and persecutions, are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; he suffers in them, and they are made comformable to him by them.
4. That it is the will of God, that such as suffer for him should not only be meek and patient, but be joyous and cheerful.
5. That at the great day when Christ’s glory shall be revealed, then especially will the suffering saints rejoice and be glad with exceeding joy, when they shall see their dear Redeemer coming in the clouds, with an human body, shining brighter than ten thousand suns; a body which still retains the marks of his sufferings, and the tokens of his love.
O joyful day of Christ’s appearing, when this royal bridegroom shall take his suffering spouse the church by the hand, and present her to his Father, own his in the presence of men and angels, bestow a kingdom upon them, that they may be with him where he is, eternally to behold his glory, to feed upon an happiness as large as their capacities, and as lasting as their beings; such honour have all his suffering saints, and therefore ought greatly to rejoice, inasmuch as they are made partakers of Christ’s sufferings: that when his glory shall be revealed, they may be glad also with exceeding joy.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v12 The frequent repetition of counsel and comfort to Christians,…
The frequent repetition of counsel and comfort to Christians, considered as sufferers, in every chapter of this epistle, shows that the greatest danger these new converts were in arose from the persecutions to which their embracing Christianity exposed them. The good behaviour of Christians under sufferings is the most difficult part of their duty, but yet necessary both for the honour of Christ and their own comfort; and therefore the apostle, having extorted them in the former part of this chapter to the great duty of mortification, comes here to direct them in the necessary duty of patience under sufferings. An unmortified spirit is very unfit to bear trials. Observe,
I. The apostle's kind manner of address to these poor despised Christians: they were his beloved, Pe1 4:9.
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II. His advice to them, relating to their sufferings, which is,
1. That they should not think them strange, nor be surprised at them, as if some unexpected event befell them; for,
(1.) Though they be sharp and fiery, yet they are designed only to try, not to ruin them, to try their sincerity, strength, patience, and trust in God. On the contrary, they ought rather to rejoice under their sufferings, because theirs may properly be called Christ's sufferings. They are of the same kind, and for the same cause, that Christ suffered; they make us conformable to him; he suffers in them, and feels in our infirmities; and, if we be partakers of his sufferings, we shall also be make partakers of his glory, and shall meet him with exceeding joy at his great appearing to judge his enemies, and crown his faithful servants, Th2 1:7, etc. Learn, [1.] True Christians love and own the children of God in their lowest and most distressing circumstances. The apostle owns these poor afflicted Christians, and calls them his beloved. True Christians never look more amiable one to another than in their adversities. [2.] There is no reason for Christians to think strange, or to wonder, at the unkindnesses and persecutions of the world, because they are forewarned of them. Christ himself endured them; and forsaking all, denying ourselves, are the terms upon which Christ accepts of us to be his disciples. [3.] Christians ought not only to be patient, but to rejoice, in their sharpest sorest sufferings for Christ, because they are tokens of divine favour; they promote the gospel and prepare for glory. Those who rejoice in their sufferings for Christ shall eternally triumph and rejoice with him in glory.
(2.) From the fiery trial the apostle descends to a lower degree of persecution - that of the tongue by slander and reproach, Pe1 4:14. He supposes that this sort of suffering would fall to their lot: they would be reviled, evil-spoken of, and slandered for the name or sake of Christ. In such case he asserts, Happy are you, the reason of which is, "Because you have the spirit of God with you, to fortify and comfort you; and the Spirit of God is also the Spirit of glory, that will carry you through all, bring you off gloriously, and prepare and seal you up for eternal glory. This glorious Spirit resteth upon you, resideth with you, dwelleth in you, supporteth you, and is pleased with you; and is not this an unspeakable privilege? By your patience and fortitude in suffering, by your dependence upon the promises of God, and adhering to the word which the Holy Spirit hath revealed, he is on your part glorified; but by the contempt and reproaches cast upon you the Spirit itself is evil-spoken of and blasphemed." Learn, [1.] The best men and the best things usually meet with reproaches in the world. Jesus Christ and his followers, the Spirit of God and the gospel, are all evil-spoken of. [2.] The happiness of good people not only consists with, but even flows from their afflictions: Happy are you. [3.] That man who hath the Spirit of God resting upon him cannot be miserable, let his afflictions be ever so great: Happy are you; for the Spirit of God, etc. [4.] The blasphemies and reproaches which evil men cast upon good people are taken by the Spirit of God as cast upon himself: On their part he is evil-spoken of. [5.] When good people are vilified for the name of Christ his Holy Spirit is glorified in them.
2. That they should take care they did not suffer justly, as evil-doers, Pe1 4:15. One would think such a caution as this needless to such an excellent set of Christians as these were. But their enemies charged them with these and other foul crimes: therefore the apostle, when he was settling the rules of the Christian religion, thought these cautions necessary, forbidding every one of them to hurt the life or the estate and property of any one, or to do any sort of evil, or, without call and necessity, to play the bishop in another man's charge, or busy himself in other men's matters. To this caution he adds a direction, that if any man suffer for the cause of Christianity, and with a patient Christian spirit, he ought not to account it a shame, but an honour to him; and ought to glorify God who hath thus dignified him, Pe1 4:16. Learn, (1.) The best of men need to be warned against the worst of sins. (2.) There is very little comfort in sufferings when we bring them upon ourselves by our own sin and folly. It is not the suffering, but the cause, that makes the martyr. (3.) We have reason to thank God for the honour if he calls us out to suffer for his truth and gospel, for our adherence to any of the doctrines or duties of Christianity.
3. That their trials were now at hand, and they should stand prepared accordingly, Pe1 4:17, Pe1 4:18.
(1.) He tells them that the time had come when judgment must begin at the house of God. The usual method of Providence has been this: When God brings great calamities and sore judgments upon whole nations, he generally begins with his own people, Isa 10:12; Jer 25:29; Eze 9:6. "Such a time of universal calamity is now at hand, which was foretold by our Saviour, Mat 24:9, Mat 24:10. This renders all the foregoing exhortations to patience necessary for you. And you have two considerations to support you." [1.] "That these judgments will but begin with you that are God's house and family, and will soon be over: your trials and corrections will not last long." [2.] "Your troubles will be but light and short, in comparison of what shall befall the wicked world, your own countrymen the Jews, and the infidels and idolatrous people among whom you live: What shall the end be of those who obey not the gospel of God?" Learn, First, The best of God's servants, his own household, have so much amiss in them as renders it fit and necessary that God should sometimes correct and punish them with his judgments: Judgment begins at the house of God. Secondly, Those who are the family of God have their worst things in this life. Their worst condition is tolerable, and will soon be over. Thirdly, Such persons or societies of men as disobey the gospel of God are not of his church and household, though possibly they may make the loudest pretensions. The apostle distinguishes the disobedient from the house of God. Fourthly, The sufferings of good people in this life are demonstrations of the unspeakable torments that are coming upon the disobedient and unbelieving: What shall the end be of those that obey not the gospel? Who can express or say how dreadful their end will be?
(2.) He intimates the irremediable doom of the wicked: If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear, Pe1 4:18. This whole verse is taken from Pro 11:31, Behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth; how much more the wicked and the sinner? This the Septuagint translates exactly as the apostle here quotes it. Hence we may learn, [1.] The grievous sufferings of good people in this world are sad presages of much heavier judgments coming upon impenitent sinners. But, if we take the salvation here in the highest sense, then we may learn, [2.] It is as much as the best can do to secure the salvation of their souls; there are so many sufferings, temptations, and difficulties to be overcome, so many sins to be mortified, the gate is so strait and the way so narrow, that it is as much as the righteous can do to be saved. Let the absolute necessity of salvation balance the difficulty of it. Consider, Your difficulties are greatest at first; God offers his grace and help; the contest will not last long; be but faithful to the death, and God will give you the crown of life, Rev 2:10. [3.] The ungodly and the sinner are unquestionably in a state of damnation. Where shall they appear? How will they stand before their Judge? Where can they show their heads? If the righteous scarcely be saved, the wicked must certainly perish.
4. That when called to suffer, according to the will of God, they should look chiefly to the safety of their souls, which are put into hazard by affliction, and cannot be kept secure otherwise than by committing them to God, who will undertake the charge, if we commit them to him in well-doing; for he is their Creator, and has out of mere grace made many kind promises to them of eternal salvation, in which he will show himself faithful and true, Pe1 4:19. Learn, (1.) All the sufferings that befall good people come upon them according to the will of God. (2.) It is the duty of Christians, in all their distresses, to look more to the keeping of their souls than to the preserving of their bodies. The soul is of greatest value, and yet in most danger. If suffering from without raise uneasiness, vexation, and other sinful and tormenting passions within, the soul is then the greatest sufferer. If the soul be not well kept, persecution will drive people to apostasy, Psa 125:3. (3.) The only way to keep the soul well is to commit it to God, in well-doing. Commit your souls to God by solemn dedication, prayer, and patient perseverance in well-doing, Rom 2:7. (4.) Good people, when they are in affliction, have great encouragement to commit their souls to God, because he is their Creator, and faithful in all his promises.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial,....…
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial,.... By which may be meant either the destruction of Jerusalem, which was at hand, and of which the apostle may be thought to give the Jews he writes to notice of before hand; that they might be prepared for it, and not be overwhelmed with consternation and amazement when they should hear of it; who, though in other countries, must be affected with it, and would be a trying dispensation to them: or else the afflictions and persecutions which daily come upon them, for the sake of Christ and his Gospel; signified by "fire" or "burning", because grievous to the flesh, and gave great uneasiness, distress, and pain to it; and because of the fury of men, and the violence and fierceness of their rage, expressed thereby; as also because the people of God under them are sometimes ready to conceive that the wrath of God is poured out, like fire, upon them. But the apostle would not have these saints entertain any such thoughts, and therefore he calls them "beloved"; that is, of God, as they were notwithstanding all the fiery trials and afflictions which were brought upon them; or he means, that they were beloved by him, and dear unto him, and other saints, though they were ill treated and reproached by the world: the Syriac and Arabic versions read, "my beloved"; and the Ethiopic version, "our brethren": and the apostle exhorts them not to look upon their afflictions that either did or should attend them as strange and uncommon things; since afflictions, of whatsoever kind, are not things of chance, and do not rise up out of the dust, but are by the appointment, and according to the will of God; and are also the common lot of the people of God in all ages, from the beginning of the world, the same afflictions are accomplished in others; yea, Christ himself endured the same hatred, reproach, and contradiction of sinners, against himself; and they are what he has given his people reason to expect, having told them of them before hand, that they might not be offended at them; and as they lay in his way to glory, it need not seem strange that the saints also should, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom. Moreover, this fiery dispensation, be it what it will, was not to destroy them, but to try them, and that for their good, profit, and advantage; just as gold and silver are tried in the fire, and lose their dross, and become purer and brighter:
which is to try you; afflictions try the graces of the saints; as their faith in Christ, which becomes thereby much more precious than of gold that perisheth; and their love to him, by which it appears that no tribulation can separate them from it, nor many waters and floods of afflictions drown it; and their hope of eternal life, which grows more lively and strong, and is as an anchor, sure and steadfast, amidst the greatest storms. These try a man's profession of religion, whether it is took up on good principles, and without sinister views; since, if it is not, when persecution, because of the word, comes, he is offended and gone; and likewise what a man's principles are, whether worth suffering for or not; and whether they will bear him up, and he abide by them, when called to suffer for them; and therefore, since such ends are answered by fiery trials, they should not be looked upon as strange and unusual things: as though some strange thing happened unto you; which was never known and heard of before; and as if useless, and of no service, and as foreign to the characters, cases, and circumstances of the saints in this world. The apostle in this verse returns to his former argument, to animate and encourage the saints in suffering afflictions patiently for righteousness sake.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Wonder not at the burning which is among you…
Wonder not at the burning which is among you - This is the literal meaning of the expression. It seems to include both martyrdom itself, which so frequently was by fire, and all the other sufferings joined with, or previous to, it; which is permitted by the wisdom of God for your trial. Be not surprised at this.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 15, 16 Verse 12. Think it not strange concerning the fiery…
Verse 12. Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial] πυρωσει. The burning. The metaphor is old, but noble; it represents the Christians at Pontus as having fire cast upon them for the trying of their faith, as gold is tried by fire, 1Pet 1:7, to which the apostle alludes.-Macknight.
St. Peter returns here to what he had often touched upon in this epistle, namely, to exhort the Christians to behave with patience and integrity under their present severe persecution; to which purpose he uses the following arguments:-
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First, He intimates that it was not a strange or unusual thing for the people of God to be persecuted.
Secondly, That if they suffered here as Christ did, they should hereafter be glorified with him.
Thirdly, Besides the prospect of that future glory; they had at present the Spirit of God for their support and comfort.
Fourthly, That it was an honour for any of them to suffer, not as a malefactor, but as a Christian.
Fifthly, Though the afflictions began with the Christians, yet the weight of the storm would fall upon the unbelievers. From these considerations he exhorted them to persevere in their duty, and trust all events with God. See Dodd.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv12, 14 1Pe 4:12-13. Think it not strange, &c. — Wonder…
1Pe 4:12-13. Think it not strange, &c. — Wonder not at the fiery trial — The dreadful series of furious and bitter persecutions. The original expression, εν υμιν πυρωσει, is literally, the burning which is among you; denoting the grievous persecution which the Christians in Pontus, &c., were suffering for their faith; including both martyrdom itself, which frequently was by fire, and all the other sufferings joined with or previous to it. The metaphor is bold, but noble: it expresses in a lively manner the painful and dangerous nature of their trials. Which is to try you — Is permitted by the wisdom of God for the trial of your faith in Christ, and in the truths and promises of his gospel; of your hope of eternal life, your love to God, his people, and his ways, of your resignation to his will, your patience and meekness; as though some strange thing happened unto you — Different from, or beyond, all which you were taught to expect. But rejoice in these trials, inasmuch as ye are therein partakers of Christ’s sufferings — Sufferings endured for his sake, in defence of his truth, and in proof of your faith in him; that when his glory shall be revealed — At the great and glorious day of his second appearance; ye — In the participation of it; may be glad with exceeding joy — Χαρητε αγαλλιωμενοι, may rejoice transported with gladness.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Beloved, think it not strange - Do not consider…
Beloved, think it not strange - Do not consider it as anything which you had no reason to expect; as anything which may not happen to others also.
Concerning the fiery trial which is to try you - Referring, doubtless, to some severe persecution which was then impending. We have not the means of determining precisely what this was. The word rendered “fiery trial” (πυρώσει purōsei) occurs only here and in Rev 18:9, Rev 18:18; in both of which latter places it is rendered burning. It means, properly, a being on fire, burning, conflagration; and then any severe trial. It cannot be demonstrated from this word that they were literally to suffer by fire, but it is clear that some heavy calamity was before them.
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As though some strange thing happened unto you - Something unusual; something which did not occur to others.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 15 Think not strange, &c. Be not surprised, nor discouraged…
Think not strange, &c. Be not surprised, nor discouraged that a hot and sharp persecution is come upon you at this time, as if it were a new and an extraordinary thing. It is what you must expect and be ready to receive with patience, and even with joy, when you suffer as Christ did before you, and for his sake: this is the way to eternal happiness in heaven. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v12 Analysis:—Further exhortation to readiness of suffering and becoming conduct…
1Pe_4:12-19
Analysis:—Further exhortation to readiness of suffering and becoming conduct in suffering. They are to consider suffering as inseparable from following Christ, as necessary to their trial, and instrumental toward their future glory, as rendering them partakers of the power of the Spirit, and as delivering them from the last judgment. But they should never lose sight of maintaining their difference from unbelievers
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12 Beloved,28think it not strange concerning29the fiery trial which is to try you,30as 13though some strange thing31happened unto you: But rejoice,32inasmuch as ye are partakers33 of Christ’s sufferings;34that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also35with exceeding joy.3614If ye be reproached for37the name of Christ, happy38 are ye;39for the Spirit of glory and40 of God resteth upon you:41on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.4215But let none of you suffer as a murderer, 16or as a thief, or as an evil doer, or as a43busybody in other men’s matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God 44on this behalf.4517For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God:46and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 18And if the righteous47scarcely be saved48, where shall the ungodly and 19the sinner appear? Wherefore,49let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing,50as unto a faithful Creator.51
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The exhortations to readiness of suffering are repeated, but urged on different grounds.
1Pe_4:12. Beloved.—This address, as in 1Pe_2:11, denotes the Apostle’s heart-felt sympathy with them in the sufferings concerning which he is consoling them.
Be not astonished at.—”If the heathen think the behaviour of Christians strange, Christians need not be surprised if unbelievers persecute them on that account,” 1Pe_1:7, Steiger.—τῇ ἐν ὑμῖν πυρώσει. πύρωσις=burning, ignition, kindling, fire while burning, from πυροῦμαι, 2Pe_3:12; Rev_18:9; Pro_27:21; LXX. Zec_13:9. It is a simile of great tribulations, which burn like fire, but conduce to proof.—[Cf. also Psa_66:10 in LXX. Oecumenius says, πύρωσιν τὰς θλίψεις εἰπών, ἐνέφῃνεν ὡς διὰ δοκιμασίαν αὐτοῖς αὖται.—M.] ’εν ὑμῖν, may mean “which you feel within yourselves,” better, “which is among you.”—”As the potter or the goldsmith adjusts the furnace to the earthen vessel or to the gold, so that it be neither too hot nor too cold, so God adjusts temptation (trial) to the strength of man and to the grace which He grants him, and suffers him not to be tempted beyond his ability to bear.” Ephrem.—πρὸς πειρασμόν, cf. 1Pe_1:7; Jam_1:2. Not unto perdition, but unto salvation. Even this moderates the pain of the heat.—ὡς ξένου.—Perhaps you consider the suffering accidental, interfering with God’s purpose concerning you, and putting you back in your Christianity, but know that it has been decreed from all eternity, it has been repeatedly foretold in the Scriptures, it has been the common experience of all believers from the beginning, and it is absolutely necessary for the mortification of the old man. That cannot be displeasing which is dealt by the hand of a friend.” Gerhard.
1Pe_4:13. In as far as ye are partakers with the sufferings of Christ.—καθὸ κοινῶνειτε.—It is a great consolation that the believer is permitted to consider his sufferings as a partaking with the sufferings of Christ; but it is a greater consolation that he is permitted to infer his communion with the glory of Christ from his communion with His sufferings. καθὸ denotes, at once the reason and the measure of the sufferings.
The sufferings of Christ, as in 1Pe_1:11; cf. 1Pe_2:21; 1Pe_3:18, not such as affect Him in His members, but such as He Himself endured in the days of His incarnation. Christians partake with them, if, for the sake of truth and righteousness, their experience of the world’s sin is similar to that of Christ. They are in Christ, and the hatred shown to them is really shown to Him, cf. Rom_8:17; Rom_8:29; 2Ti_2:11.
That ye may also at the revelation of His glory rejoice, exulting.—ἵνα καί, otherwise the day of the revelation of Christ would be to you a day of terror.—καί, as you now rejoice already in hope.—τῆς δόξης, in contrast with the darkness of suffering, 1Pe_1:5; 1Pe_1:7; 1Pe_1:11.—χαρῆτε ἀγαλλιώμενοι, cf. 1Pe_1:8. “The joy of the saints will be inward and outward, bodily and spiritual.” Huss. The connection is, as given by Weiss: Only he who suffers with Christ and for His cause, is a true disciple of Christ. Such an one may cherish the expectation of the heavenly reward of partaking with His glory, even as Christ has promised again and again, Mat_10:38-39; Mat_16:24-25; Luk_9:23-24; Luk_14:27; Joh_12:26; Joh_14:3; Joh_17:24; Mat_5:12; Luk_6:22-23. The real life-communion with Christ, as we find it described in the writings of Paul, is not affirmed here.
1Pe_4:14. If ye are reproached in (German, for) the name of Christ.—ἐν ὀνόματι. ὄνομα, often like שֵם =revealed being (revelation of the being, i. e., nature and existence). Joh_17:6; Joh_17:26; Joh_1:12; Act_3:16; Act_4:12; Heb_2:12, also=order, command. Here in its proper sense =the name and whatever it involves. Mar_9:41 contains the best key to the exposition. The passage reads: “For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.” As the benefactions of others may be the result of their belonging to Christ, so it may be with their hatred. They reproach you because you confess, call upon and bear the name of Christ, which they hate. cf. 1Pe_4:16. ὡς χριστιανός, and Mat_5:11; Luk_6:22. Christ is to the world a hateful name; if one preaches it, he must suffer. The reproaches cast at their persons and conversation probably proceeded from unbelieving Jews, who blasphemed the name of Christ, Jam_2:7.
Blessed are ye—resteth upon you.—μακάριοι, cf. 1Pe_3:14. Their state of bliss is inferred from the glory already existing, although invisible to ordinary eyes. τὸ τῆς δόξης—Spirit of glory denotes the Holy Spirit, because, as Calov explains it, He brings glory and seals it in suffering. This Spirit being given to you with the communion of Christ, you are even now, by faith and hope, partakers of future glory, you anticipate it in the Spirit, and therefore you are blessed, cf. 1Pe_1:8. Hence Paul, in the further development of this thought, called the Spirit the earnest of the inheritance, Eph_1:14.—καὶ τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ, this second predicate is added by way of explanation. It is not the spirit of Elijah, or of an angel, but the Spirit of God. “This is to the Apostle so great and so blessed a thing, that though the world is against them, God is for them, as their shield and exceeding great reward.” Wiesinger. ἐφ’ ὑμᾶς ἀναπαύεται.—The reference appears to be to Isa_11:2; cf. 2Ki_2:15. Luk_10:6. ἐπί, with the Accus., denotes the descent of the Spirit on them.—ἀναπαύεσθαι, according to Olshausen, contains the idea of an abiding that cannot be overthrown, even by doubts and temptations. It is cognizable to those whose spiritual vision has been rendered acute, and is evinced chiefly in a meek spirit of suffering.
[Wordsworth:—”The glory and happiness of suffering for God in the fire of persecution might also well occur to his mind at Babylon, where he is writing, and where he would be cheered by a remembrance of the three faithful children walking unhurt in the fiery furnace with the Son of God. (Dan_3:1-25.)”—M.]
On their part—glorified.—[See note 14 in Appar. Critic.—M.] With and among them, the children of the world, as is their nature and wont, He is evil spoken of; they traduce the spirit of suffering as a degrading and slavish spirit, and humility as cowardice. These invectives fall back on the Spirit Himself.—Others connect βγασφημεῖται with ὄνομα χριστοῦ, which is rather a forced construction. Among you it is glorified by the consolations, the quietness and peace which it brings to you; thus it evinces its Divine power, and excites your praise and gratitude. The passage gives a good sense, and it would be a pity if it were spurious [as the authorities declare it to be.—M.]
1Pe_4:15. For let none of you—pryer into other men’s matters.—Here the Apostle takes up the preceding blessedness (μακάριοι, 1Pe_4:14), and in the form of exhortation emphatically declares that the value of such patient suffering depends on the condition that those who endure it must be innocent sufferers, 1Pe_2:20; 1Pe_3:17. This is expressed first negatively, then positively. Here is an evident allusion to Mat_5:11, “if they say all manner of evil against you falsely (lying).”—ὡς φονεύς.—The reference is not to real accusations which had been brought against them, but to the possibility that such offences might occur among them, as Paul warns the Ephesians against stealing, Eph_4:28.—κακοποιός, cf. 1Pe_2:12; 1Pe_2:14; 1Pe_3:16-17, in a general, moral sense, not as denoting political offences, as if this had been the official description of Christians, according to Suetonius, Vita Neronis, c. 16, which cannot be proved. See Weiss, p. 367.—ἀλλοτριοεπίσκοπος, a term unknown to the Greeks. It denotes one arrogating to himself the oversight of matters with which he has no concern. Such indiscreet zeal is not uncommon, as Hottinger remarks, among new religious communities. This may have been a frequent temptation to the primitive Christians, owing to their consciousness of more enlightened views. It is more than περιεργάζεσθαι, 2Th_3:11. Cyprian: alienas euros agens, cf. 1Ti_5:13; 1Th_4:11; Luk_12:14. [ὁ επισκεπτόμενος τὰ ἀλλότρια. Hanc explicationem probat 1, ipsa vocis compositio 2, veterum expositio, Tert. Cypr. Aug. 3, temporis et loci circumstantia. Procul dubio quidam Christiani, ex incogitantia, temeritate et levitate, in actiones infidelium utpote vicinorum suorum curiosius inquirebant, eas propria arbitrio redarguebant ac judices eorum esse volebant, quod non pertinebat ad eorum vocationem. Gerhard.—M.]
1Pe_4:16. But if (he suffer) as a Christian.—The name Christian appears at that time to have been adopted by believers, Act_11:26; Act_26:28. In the opinion of their enemies, the name was infamous, and so we must understand it here, cf. 1Pe_4:14. With the Jews it was tantamount to sectary, renegade and rebel; with the heathen it was equal to atheist.
Let him not be ashamed.—Cf. Rom_1:16 : 2Ti_1:8; 2Ti_1:12. Such sufferings conduce not to shame, but to honour; “they are precious jewels in the sight of God.” Calov. Act_5:41.
But let him glorify God in this part.—“On account of the antithesis, Peter might have said: Let him rather glory; but he teaches that the glory must be ascribed to God.” Bengel. Let him glorify God by patience, by good courage, confessing the faith, and by joyful praises and thanksgiving.—ἐν ῷ μέρει τούτῳ.—(Lachmann and Tischendorf read ὀνόματι at because of the name of Christ. Others render, less aptly; matter, case). [See Appar. Crit., 1Pe_4:16, note 17. M.]—Steiger:—”In this lot which falls to him.” It is difficult to prove this use of μέρος. It is rather to be taken as 1Pe_3:16. ἐν ᾦ καταλαλῶσιν, they were to glorify God in the very thing for which they were slandered, viz.: their faith in Christ.
1Pe_4:17 introduces a new ground why Christians should gladly suffer for Christ’s sake. Possessed of such a mind (the mind of suffering gladly for Christ’s sake), they will be delivered from the near and inevitable judgment of God which is about to burst on unbelievers, but begins at the Church of God in the persecutions that are coming on her. The former will feel the whole weight of the judgment, the latter its first beginnings only, whereby they are saved.
It is time.—As it is the inflexible purpose of God that we must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God, and as it is a well-known law of the Divine kingdom that judgment must begin at the city and house of God, Jer_25:29; Jer_10:13; Jer_14:18-19; Jer_49:12; Amo_3:14; Eze_9:6; Eze_21:4; Heb_12:6, as manifested in the troubles of Israel in Egypt and in the wilderness, so now is the season of the judgment, for the end of all things is at hand, 1Pe_4:7.
The judgment.—To believers it is a paternal chastisement, contemplating their deliverance from unknown and unrepented sins, in order that they may not be condemned with the world 1Co_11:28; 1Co_11:31; it is to them a judgment of mercy, but to unbelievers a judgment of wrath, revealing the punitive justice of God. The one leads to salvation, the other to perdition, cf. Luk_23:30; Mat_25:41; Rev_6:15-17; Rev_9:11-15; Rom_2:5; 2Th_1:6.
At the house of God.—Cf. 1Pe_2:5; 1Ti_3:15. The Church of the Lord. Steiger has several quotations from the Rabbis stating that the judgment will begin with the righteous.
What will be the end of them?—What will be their final state? “If the sons are chastised, what have the most malicious slaves to expect? How will it fare with the unrighteous before Thee, if Thou dost not even spare Thy believing children, in order to exercise and instruct them?” Augustine.—Cf. Luk_23:31; Jer_49:12; Psa_1:6.—τῶν ἀπειθούντων.—Cf. 1Pe_2:8; 1Pe_3:20; Joh_16:8-9. [Bengel:—“Judicium, initio tolerabilius, sensim ingravescit. Pii sua parte perfuncti cum immunitate spectant miserias impiorum: impii dum pios affligunt, suam mensuram implent et discunt quæua ipsorum portio futura sit: sed id melius sciunt pii, quare patientes sunt.”—M.].
1Pe_4:18. If the righteous hardly is saved.—The thought of 1Pe_4:17 is verified and strengthened by the verbatim quotation of Pro_11:31 in the LXX. The Apostle may also have remembered the accounts which Christ Himself gave of the great perils of the last temptations, Mat_24:12-13; Mat_24:22; Mat_24:24.—μόλις, with difficulty, with hard pains and not without suffering.—ποῦ φανεῖται, Psa_1:4-5, describes the ungodly as chaff which the wind scattereth away.—Δίκαιος=πιστεύων, one who as a believer leads a life well-pleasing and acceptable to God, is justified and follows after righteousness. The opposite, ἀπειθῶν and ἁσεβής=σώζεται sc., unto life eternal. The opposite, to be lost, to fall hopelessly into perdition.
1Pe_4:19. Wherefore—well-doings.—General conclusion from the entire exhortation. If suffering according to the purpose of God is so necessary, if it contemplates such glorious ends, we ought patiently to submit to this Divine necessity (German:—göttlichem Muss), 1Pe_1:6; 1Pe_5:9, commit our soul to Him, on whom we have a firm and sacred hold, and never lose sight of the equal necessity that we continue in well-doing.—καὶ οἱ πάσχοντες—Some take it as in 1Pe_3:14; others join it with ὤστε, although it is never used to strengthen ὤστε. Better follow Wiesinger: “The end and aim of every thing should be the glory of God, 1Pe_4:11, hence also suffering.” Those also who do not suffer are to commit their souls to the faithful Creator.
According to the will of God.—1Pe_3:17; 1Pe_4:17. This contains a consolation and a reason for the following exhortation.—ὡς πιστῷ κτιστῇ.—He has not only created our souls originally, but also created them anew in Christ. Inasmuch as He is faithful, it is His blessed will to finish the good work He has begun, and to make good all His promises. As our Creator, He has the first claim upon us, Act_4:24. [Oecumenius:—ἀσφαλὴς καὶ ἀψευδὴς κατὰ τὰς ἐπαγγελίας αὐτοῦ.—M.]—παρατιθέσθωσαν.—As Christ’s dying words were: “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit,” Luk_23:46; cf. 1Pe_1:9.—He is the most trusty Guardian of our souls, Psa_31:6; Ecc_12:7, and our bodies also are in the hands of God. Without His will, not a hair of His children can be hurt. “As the most faithful, He will preserve them, as the most mighty He can do it.” Gerhard.—ἐν ἀγαθοποιΐαις.—In well-doings. The apposition goes back to 1Pe_4:15 and 1Pe_4:16. Trust in God and well-doing must be in-dissolubly united. “Only inasmuch as faith restores the primal spiritual relation of Creator and creature, man is warranted to rejoice over this faithfulness of the Creator.” Steiger. Cf. Mat_10:28; 1Co_10:13; 2Pe_2:9; Psa_138:8; Psa_103:14.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. There is no reward attached to suffering as such; it is only the patience and constancy with which, for Christ’s sake, suffering is borne, to which reward is mercifully promised.
2. The Holy Ghost who rests upon saints, protects them, shines forth from them, is called the Spirit of Glory because, says Roos, He is holy, and causes His holiness to radiate, and because He is worthy of being glorified by men and all other creatures.
3. “The fire of trial belongs to Christianity, it is the rule, not the exception.” Richter.
4. Why does judgment begin at the house of God? 1. There is one law for the Church as a whole, and for the individual members of it. Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, Heb_12:6. A father, if he is earnestly opposed to evil, chastises first his children, afterward his household. He is first severe to the former, afterward also to the latter. Since cleansing from sin is the end contemplated, enlightened believers recognize a merciful provision in being judged now that they may be saved hereafter. Hence it is one of the prerogatives of the house of God that it is destined to pass through the judgment of grace in time, in order that it may be saved from the future judgment of wrath. 2. Because thereby the accuser of our souls and censurer of God’s ways, and his followers, are silenced and deprived of all objections against the justice of God.
5. 1Pe_4:17 is not in conflict with Joh_3:18. “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already;” all that is necessary is to distinguish the judgment of grace from the judgment of wrath, and temporal punishment from eternal.
6. The words, “It is time that judgment should begin”—supply a hint concerning the date of this Epistle. The destruction of Jerusalem could not have taken place when the author wrote this passage.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The cross, the fire-proof of faith.—Why ought we not to be astonished at the heat of tribulation? a. It comes from God. b. It is designed to put us to the test. c. It is meet that the flesh should suffer and that sinners should have trouble, d. The way of Christ goes through sufferings to glory, e. Suffering with Christ is a token of the state of grace and an earnest of future glory. f. Sufferings are no disgrace but an honour, g. They are attended by a sense of blessedness in the foretaste of expected glory, h. The patience which we exhibit saves us from the judgment of wrath, which overtakes the ungodly, i. Not even the smallest injury can befall believers without the will of God, and all things must conduce to their salvation.—What is suffering with Christ? a. Not to do any wrong that renders us liable to just punishment, b. To suffer innocently for righteousness’ sake. c. To suffer for Christ’s sake, and in communion with Him.
Zeller: “Like as our secular princes distinguish faithful and constant servants and victorious generals with the badge of some order, so the Lord of lords distinguishes His faithful servants and victors with crosses of suffering in order to prepare them a joy, as with a cross of honour and a token and assured expectation of the great honour that, as those, who with Christ continue patient in suffering, they shall be blessed hereafter with joy and gladness when at His second and even at His third coming, He shall reveal the glory of His power, and raise them to participation in the glory of His kingdom.”
Besser: As our Lord at His first coming began with the purifying of the Temple, so it is the token of the commencement of His second coming that He refines His house as with a refiner’s fire. Mal_3:2.
Starke: Little pain, great refreshing. Both with Christ, how glorious! What is taken from thee, for which thou dost not receive a million-fold reward? What boots then, thy complaining and weeping? Let us look upon the future and sweeten therewith the present. Marks [German ‘Moles’ Maalzeichen.—M.] of Christ are tokens of honour. Disgrace before the world is exaltation before God and His angels.—Peter had made experience both of being astonished at the heat of tribulation, Mat_16:22, and of rejoicing in suffering with Christ, Act_5:41.—Partners in the fight, partners in the coronation. As surely as thou art suffering for Christ’s sake, so surely thou wilt be eternally clothed with joy and glory.—Art thou faint-hearted and timid in the state of temptation, observe where thou art suffering for Christ’s sake, and rejoice, for this is to thee an infallible token that thou art the Lord’s, Joh_15:19. Thou sayest: I have to suffer much; examine thyself, if it is not thine own fault; if it is, do not complain, but repent and amend. Lam_3:39.—If a Christian, who is neither in the magistracy nor the ministry, is unable to do anything towards the improvement of much that is disorderly, it is enough for him to sigh, to desire and to commit it to God, Eze_9:4.—They call thee, and thou art a Christian; then remember thy Head from whom thou hast thy name, thy anointing which thou hast received from Him, 1Jn_2:27, and thy duty, to follow Him, Mat_10:38.—The wrath of God is no jest. Fear, whosoever thou art, for sin which cannot stand before the judgment seat, cleaves to thee, Job_34:11.—Many sorrows shall be to the wicked, Psa_32:10, while the godly simply hold and taste the cup of God, the ungodly have to drink the very dregs, Psa_75:9.—Unbelief is the greatest sin and the real cause of the temporal and eternal judgments of God, Mar_16:16.—Let none envy the prosperity of the wicked: alas! it will fare ill with them in eternity, unless they repent, Psa_73:12.—A true Christian ought neither to cause his own sufferings, nor wish for them, but commit everything to the will of God, 1Sa_3:18.—Whoso committeth his soul to God must be in a state of grace and holiness, otherwise all his committing is lost and in vain. Job_16:17.—The soul, if we die a happy death, will surely go to God, who will preserve it as an immortal spirit, and the more so because it has been saved by Christ and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, Joh_5:24.
Roos: God decrees punishment on the righteous on account of their probable indolence, on account of their abuse of His grace and means of grace, or also on account of other disorders and failures, which, unless they are checked, might lead us to positive falling away from grace.—The word of God announces loving severity and wholesome strictness; God is very exact with His family.
Lisco: Blessed are innocent sufferers.—The hidden glory of the sharers of Christ reign. The different import of sufferings, a, in the house of God; b, in sinners.
Stier: How Christians ought to submit to suffering.
Kapff: The school of the cross, the school of heaven; 1, There is no way to heaven without the cross; 2, Heaven is opened in the cross; 3, The crown of the cross is in heaven.
[Leighton:
1Pe_4:12. In these fires, as faith is tried, the word on which faith relies is tried, and is found all gold, most precious, no refuse in it. The truth and sweetness of the promises are much confirmed in the Christian’s heart upon his experiment of them in his sufferings; his God is found to be as good as His word, being with him when he goes through the fire, Isa_43:2, preserving him that he loses nothing except dross, which is a gainful loss, leaving only his corruption behind him.
1Pe_4:13. I remember what that pious duke is said to have declared at Jerusalem, when they offered to crown him king there, “Nolo auream, ubi Christus spineam.”
1Pe_4:14. Here what the Apostle had said, concerning suffering in general, he specifies in the particular case of suffering reproaches; but this expression seems not to come up to the height of that which he has used before; he spoke of fiery trial, but this of reproach seems rather fit to be called an airy trial, the blast of vanquishing words. Yet upon trial it will be found to be (as it is here accounted) a very sharp, a fiery trial, cf. Jam_3:6.—M.]
[Macknight:
1Pe_4:12. The metaphor is old but noble: it represents the Christians at Pontus as having fire cast upon them, for trying of their faith, as gold is tried by fire, 1Pe_1:7, to which the Apostle alludes.—M.]
[1Pe_4:17. In Bava Kama, fol. 60, 1. the following passage occurs: “God never punishes the world but because of the wicked, but He always begins with the righteous first. The destroyer makes no difference between the just and the unjust: only he begins first with the righteous.”—M.]
Footnotes:
[28]1Pe_4:12. [μὴ ξενίζεσθε, Pass., see 1Pe_4:4, “be not astonished at.” On the construction of this Verb with the Dative, see Winer, p. 222.—M.]
[29]1Pe_4:12. [πύρωσις, literally, burning, figuratively, trial by fire; the rendering of E. V. must be regarded as very felicitous, πρὸς πειρασμὸν ὑμῖν γινομἐνῃ=which is taking place among you (or as Alford renders, “in your case”) for a trial to you.—M.]
[30]1Pe_4:12. [ὡς=as if.—M.]
[31]1Pe_4:12. [ξένου συμβαίνοντος ὑμῖν=“some strange thing were happening to you.—M.]
[32]1Pe_4:13. [καθὸ is supported by A. B. K. L., Rec. and many others; καθὼς, a less authentic reading; translate “in as far as,” (Alford) or “in the degree to which” (German); cf. Rom_8:26; 2Co_8:12.—M.]
[33]1Pe_4:13. [κοινωνεῖτε τοῖς κ. τ. λ.=“ye are partakers with the sufferings of Christ.”—M.]
[34]1Pe_4:13. [Translate, “In order that ye may also at (=in) the revelation of his glory rejoice.”—M.]
[35]1Pe_4:13. [ἀγαλλιώμενοι=exulting, Participle.—M.]
[36]1Pe_4:14. [“If ye are reproached,” εἰ with Indicative.—M.]
[37]1Pe_4:14. [ἐν ὀνόματι=in the name of Christ, cf. Mat_5:11; 1Pe_3:14.—M.]
[38]1Pe_4:14. [μακάριοι=blessed are ye.—M.]
[39]1Pe_4:14. [ὅτι=because, it gives the reason why they are blessed.—M.]
[40]
1Pe_4:14. [On the Article with attributives, see Winer, p. 144. Translate: “the Spirit of glory, and that of God”—“the Spirit of Glory, who is none else than God’s Spirit Himself.” For classical illustrations, see Winer.—M.]
[A. (Griesbach, Scholz and Lachmann insert after δόξης, καὶ δυνάμεως); so Sinait.; but (Tischendorf rejects the addition).—M.]
[41]1Pe_4:14. [κατὰ μὲν αὐτοὺς βλασφημεῖται, κατὰ δὲ ὑ μᾶς δοξάζεται. This clause stands in Recept., K. L. and others,] but is wanting in A. B., Sinaitic. and many MSS. Lachmann and Tischendorf, also Alford reject it. [It is in all probability a gloss.—M.]
[42]1Pe_4:15. [γὰρ=for.—M.]
[43]1Pe_4:15. [αλλοτριοεπίσκοπος, a ἅπαξ λεγόμενον, denoting “overseeing other people’s affairs, prying into them.” Alford: “Pryer into other men’s matters.” De Wette: “an impertinent;” but see note below.—M.]
[44]1Pe_4:16. [ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τουτῷ. Rec. reads μέρει instead of ὀνόματι, with K. L.; but the former reading has more weighty authorities, and is sustained by Lachmann, Tischendorf and Alford. Translate: “in this name,” i. e., the name of χριστιανός.—M.]
[45]1Pe_4:17. [ὅτι ὁ καιρὸς=because it is the season, Alford; (because) it is time, German.—M.]
[46]1Pe_4:17. [Translate: “of the judgment beginning at the house of God, but if (it begin) first at us, what (will be) the end of them that are disobedient to the Gospel of God?”—M.]
[47]1Pe_4:18. [μόλις=with difficulty, hardly (German).—M.]
[48]1Pe_4:18. [σώζεται=is saved. Translate, to bring out the force of the Greek: “the ungodly and the sinner where shall he appear?” Alford.—M.]
[49]1Pe_4:19. [ὥστε καὶ κ. τ. λ.=wherefore let also them who suffer, etc.—M.]
[50]1Pe_4:19. Tischendorf reads ἀγαθοποιΐᾳ, a more authentic reading than ἀγαθοποιΐαις.
[51]1Pe_4:19. ὡς is omitted in A. B., Sinait., and by Lachmann [and Alford; it is inserted in Rec., with K. L. and others.—M.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv12–16 strange--they might think it strange that God should allow…
strange--they might think it strange that God should allow His chosen children to be sore tried.
fiery trial--like the fire by which metals are tested and their dross removed. The Greek adds, "in your case."
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which is to try you--Greek, "which is taking place for a trial to you." Instead of its "happening to you" as some strange and untoward chance, it "is taking place" with the gracious design of trying you; God has a wise design in it--a consolatory reflection.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv12–16 6. Special consideration of the persecution then imminent, with…
6. Special consideration of the persecution then imminent, with warnings as to the conduct appropriate, 1Pe_4:12-19.
Returning to the general subject introduced at 1Pe_3:13, the apostle reminds his readers that (1) they should expect to share Christ’s glory as well as his sufferings, 12, 13; (2) they should see to it that their sufferings are really for his sake, and not for crime, 14-16; and (3) that they will know but the beginning of God’s judgments, the terrible weight of which will fall on the ungodly, 17, 18.
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12. Think it not strange—Be not surprised. The heathen were surprised (1Pe_4:4) at the life of Christians, but Christians need not be at persecution by the heathen.
Fiery trial—The word means a burning, a being on fire, and the trying of metals by fire. It may mean here an actual suffering by fire, though perhaps only some severe trial which would be as if by fire. Bloomfield thinks there is an allusion to the questio, a torment by fire.
Try you—See notes on chap. 1Pe_1:7. The Greek shows that those addressed were then passing through trials, but the whole passage points to an increase in their severity. The Neronian persecution began A.D. 64.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–16 12. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery…
12. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you] More literally, be not amazed (see, for the word, notes on 1Pe_4:4) at the burning fire among you that comes to you as a test. The “burning fire” (the word is used literally in Rev_18:9; Rev_18:18) is, of course, the symbol, as in chap. 1Pe_1:7, of afflictions and persecutions. The mind of the Apostle once more goes back to these afflictions, as before in chap. 1Pe_1:6-7, 1Pe_2:19-21, 1Pe_3:15-17. He meets the terror which they were likely to cause by the thought that all this was to be expected. Men were to enter into the kingdom of God “through much tribulation” (Act_14:22). All “they that would live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution” (2Ti_3:12). The strange thing would be if it were otherwise. And so the Apostle repeats his “think it not strange,” be not amazed, as the secret of calm endurance. It was for him and those to whom he wrote what the Nil admirari was for the Epicurean poet (Hor. Epp. i. 6). As before, he dwells on the leading character of suffering. It tries faith, and the faith which endures is stronger and purer for the process.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–16 (12) Beloved.—See Note on 1Pe_2:11.
(12) Beloved.—See Note on 1Pe_2:11.
Think it not strange.—The same word as in 1Pe_4:4. It means, literally, to feel like people in a strange country, lost and bewildered. It is. further explained by the clause “as though some strange thing were (by bad luck) happening unto you.” These Hebrew Christians felt at first it was not what was to be expected, that those who attached themselves to the Messiah should have a life of sorrow and persecution in the world.
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The fiery trial which is to try you.—This rendering is not only slovenly, but conveys a false impression, for the fiery trial was not future, but actually present. Literally it runs, Be not bewildered at the conflagration among you taking place for a trial to you. Already, then, the Asiatic Christians are enduring a fierce persecution. The word which describes it is only found besides in Rev_18:9; Rev_18:18, “burning.” (Comp. 1Pe_1:7.)
(12-19) EXHORTATION TO COURAGE AND STEADFASTNESS IN PERSECUTION.—All ought to be prepared for persecution. It is a blessed and glorious thing to have to bear it. A criminal’s death and a Christian martyrdom are the exact opposites of each other. Vengeance is speedily coming.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Beloved, thank it not strange concerning the fiery trial…
Beloved, thank it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; literally, be not astonished at the burning among you, which is coming to you for a trial, as though a strange thing were happening to you. St. Peter returns to the sufferings of his readers. The address, "beloved," as in 1Pe_2:11, shows the depth of his sympathy with them. He resumes the thought ofrwsiv, 1Pe_1:7; the persecution is a burning, a fiery furnace, which is being kindled among them for a trial, to try the strength of their faith. The present participles imply that the persecution was already beginning; the word pu a burning, (see Rev_18:9, Rev_18:18) shows the severity. St. Peter tells them its meaning: it was to prove them; it would turn to their good. Persecution was not to be regarded as a strange thing. The Lord had foretold its coming. St. Paul, in his first visit to Asia Minor, had warned them that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." (On the word xenizesqai, see note on ver. 4.) The thing was not strange; they were not to count it as strange; they must learn, so to speak, to acclimatize themselves to it; it would brace their energies and strengthen their faith.
Vers. 12-19.
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Suffering.
I THE PORTION OF CHRISTIANS.
1. Therefore they must not think it strange. The Lord had foretold it; it must come; it was coming when St. Peter was writing. It was a burning furnace, a fiery trial, the beginning of the cruel persecutions through which believers were to pass; the prison and the torture, the sword, the stake, the lion, were threatening the infant Church; the savage shout, Christianos ad leones!" would soon be heard in the towns of Asia Minor. Hitherto the Roman magistrates had generally been on the side of justice; they had often protected the Christians from the violence of the Jews. But Christianity was about to be regarded as a religio illicita; the giant power of Rome was to be arrayed against it; emperors would attempt to blot out the very name of Christian. This frenzy of persecution was strange, unheard of; there had never been the like before; the rulers of the earth had never before banded together to root out a religion by fire and sword; conquered nations had been allowed to worship their own gods and to retain their ancient rites. But the Son of God had come to be the Savior of the world; the malice of Satan was stirred to the utmost; he would make a mighty effort to crush the Church of Christ. St. Peter shows a deep sympathy with his suffering brethren; he speaks to them in the language of tenderness; he calls them "beloved." He does not depreciate the severity of the coming persecution; he calls it a fiery trial; he teaches us by his example how to deal with the afflicted. But he encourages them. It was to try them, to prove their faith. They must not think it strange. Indeed, this bitterness of persecution was a new thing now; but suffering would be the portion of Christians; they must regard it as belonging to their profession, and accustom themselves to patient endurance.
1. They must even rejoice in it. For it brings them near to Christ. He bore the cross; the cross is the badge of his chosen. The cross of knightly orders is reckoned a high honor now; but there is no cross of gold to be compared for true honor and for preciousness with that spiritual cross which makes the faithful Christian partake in the sufferings of Christ. For Christ is our King, and to be made like unto the King is of all honors the highest far
2. above all earthly distinctions. Leighton reminds us that Godfrey of Bouillon refused the royal crown when it was offered to him at Jerusalem: "Nolo auream, ubi Christus spineam crown of gold where Christ Jesus was crowned with thorns." But suffering does not only make the faithful Christian like unto his Lord; it does more, it brings him into communion with the sufferings of Christ. Suffering borne in faith helps the Christian to realize the sufferings of the Lord; it brings the cross into nearer view; it enables him to approach, to grasp, to cling to it, to take it into his heart. And suffering thus endured in the faith of Christ crucified is united by faith with his sufferings and becomes part of them, and by that mystical union is sanctified and blessed to the soul"s salvation. (Col_1:25)
3. It is the preparation for heaven. Suffering weans the Christian from earthly enjoyments; it helps him to lift up his eyes from earth and to see by faith the glory which shall be revealed. Those who now suffer with Christ shall then rejoice, and that with a joy which the heart of man cannot conceive. Even now they are blessed; the blessedness of the eighth Beatitude is theirs; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon them. Men may revile them; they will do so; when other persecutions cease, these persecutions of the tongue continue; "when all other fires of martyrdom are put out, these burn still" (Leighton). But the spirit of glory resteth on those who for Christ"s sake patiently endure. His presence is the foretaste and the pledge of the everlasting glory. He comes from the throne of glory; he brings with him the glory of holiness; he sheds the glory of a saintly life around the followers of Christ. And he resteth upon them; he came down from heaven on the great Day of Pentecost, not for a passing visit, but to abide forever with the Church. He abode upon Christ; (Joh_1:32) he abideth with his true disciples. (Joh_14:16) Christ was anointed with the Holy Ghost. (Act_10:38) Christians too partake in that Divine anointing; it abideth in them. (1Jn_2:27) The Holy Dove resteth on the meek and patient Christian, preparing him by its sanctifying influences for the everlasting glory of heaven. Such men are truly blessed. Men may revile them, and, reviling them, revile the Holy Spirit who abideth in them; but they glorify him by the light which shines around from their holy lives the light which was kindled by the sacred fire of his presence.
II NOT ALL SUFFERING IS BLESSED.
1. Let Christians not suffer for evil-doing. They must be very careful to set a good example, and to give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. They must not suffer as evil-doers; nor even as busybodies.
2. They must imitate the Lord Jesus, who said, "Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?". (Luk_12:14) "Be much at home," says Leighton, "setting things at rights within your own breast, where there is so much work, and such daily need of diligence, and then you will find no leisure for unnecessary idle prying into the ways and affairs of others; and further than your calling and the rules of Christian charity engage you, you will not interpose in any matters without you, nor be found proud and censorious, as the world is ready to call you.
3. It is suffering for well-doing that is blessed. Suffering in itself has no spiritual value; it softens some, it hardens others; it saves some, to others it worketh death. But suffering for Christ"s sake is always blessed. If any man is called to suffer as a Christian, he must not be ashamed; for the Son of man will be ashamed in the last day of those who now are ashamed of him before men. We must confess him openly in the world; and if in any way we are called to suffer because we belong to Christ and own him as our Master, we must glorify God because we are counted worthy to suffer shame for his Name.
III THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRISTIANS POINT ONWARDS TO THE JUDGMENT.
1. Judgment must begin at the house of God. God hates sin; he hates it most in those who are nearest to him; he would have those on whom his love rests clean from its defiling touch. Therefore "whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth;" therefore he says, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities". (Amo_3:2) Sometimes the Church passes through seasons of great affliction; one such season was at hand when St. Peter wrote. It would be a fiery trial, but the fire was a refining fire. It was kindled in a sense by the malice of Satan and the wickedness of evil men; but in a true and higher sense it came by the overruling will of God. Therefore it must be sent in love, in fatherly care for their souls. This thought sweetens suffering to the believer; it is our Father who sends it, and he sends it in mercy. "Judgment must begin at the house of God;" partly, indeed, because the sins of Christians, committed against light and against knowledge, are more grievous than the sins of those who know not the gospel; but mainly because the love of God is a wise and holy love, and though "he doth not willingly afflict nor grieve the children of men," yet he chastens us for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. Judgment begins with the house of God; even the righter, us are "scarcely saved." Not that their salvation is for a moment doubtful; Christ is able to save even to the uttermost all who come to God by him. But salvation is a great and difficult work; we are bidden to work out our salvation with fear and trembling; and, work as we may, we could not work it out for ourselves, were it not that God worketh in us "both to will and to do of his good pleasure." The righteous is scarcely saved, because his enemies are so many and so strong, and he so weak and sinful; temptations swarm around him, and there are sinful lusts within his heart to which those temptations address themselves. He needs all the armour of light the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit; he must fight the good fight of faith; he must watch and pray; he must quit himself like a man, "enduring hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." But if the righteous is scarcely saved, what hope of salvation have the careless and the slothful? If men are indifferent, listless in their religious exercises, without zeal, without enthusiasm, without self-denial, can they be walking in the narrow way? And there is no other way that leads to heaven.
1. It ends with the disobedient. When God"s people are judged, they are chastened of the Lord, that they should not be condemned with the world. Judgment in their case is transitory; it soon makes room for mercy; it was sent in mercy, and it issues in mercy. But it rests upon the disobedient. They" will not listen to the gospel of God, the good news of salvation sent from heaven. God is not willing that any should perish; he sought to save them; they would not accept the terms of salvation. He gave his blessed Son to die for them; they "counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing." Where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear in the awful day?
2. Believers have no cause for terror. They are judged now that they should be saved at the last. Their sufferings are according to the will of God, and that will is their sanctification now, their salvation hereafter. He is their Creator; he will not despise the work of his own hands. He hath begotten them again to a lively hope; his saints are right dear to him; he is faithful; his truth abideth; his promise is sure. Let his chosen live in obedience, in well-doing, and then let them commit their souls to him. "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit," were the dying words of Christ. Let these words be our daily prayer; let us commit our souls to him in life and in death. We need his gracious keeping every day to keep those souls of ours safe from the evil one and pure from sin; and oh, how shall we need that holy keeping in the hour of our death! May we have grace, then, to trust ourselves to him in humble confidence and Christian hope, learning of our blessed Lord, not only how to live, but also how to die!
LESSONS.
1. The Christian should not count suffering strange; it must come sooner or later: Ye must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
2. He should rejoice, for suffering brings him nearer to the cross.
3. After the cross cometh the crown; even now the Holy Spirit of God rests upon his suffering children.
4. The judgment is at hand: prepare for it.
5. The righteous are "scarcely saved;" "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
6. "Where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" "Flee from the wrath to come.
Vers. 12, 13.
Trials.
The word "trials" is one which is often upon the lips of persons who apparently give little heed to the spiritual meaning which is implied in it. People use the term as equivalent to "sufferings," "calamities," losing sight of the fact that it suggests great truths concerning our moral discipline and probation. In this passage the Apostle Peter, who was doubtless by Divine inspiration writing out of his own experience, expounds the Christian doctrine of earthly "trials.
I THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH TRIALS ARE PERMITTED. To many minds the trials which befall the good and the bad alike seem hardly consistent with the benevolent character of God. But it is forgotten that the end of the Divine government is not to secure to all men the greatest possible amount of enjoyment, but to place every man in a position of moral discipline, to give him an opportunity to resist temptation, to cultivate virtuous habits, to live an obedient and submissive and truly religious life. Not as if God were indifferent to the issue of such probation; on the contrary, he watches its process with interest, and delights to see the gold purified in the furnace, the wheat winnowed from the chaff. The hearer of the Word is put upon his trial, and events prove whether he will hear or forbear. The believer in Christ is put upon his probation, and it is seen whether his faith is strong and his love sincere. Time tries all.
II THE SPIRIT IN WHICH TRIALS ARE TO BE ENDURED BY THE CHRISTIAN. St. Peter shows us that the true Christian temper under trials is that which regards all such afflictions as participation in the Master"s sufferings. He who is one with Christ finds his satisfaction in being "as his Master, his Lord." He does not ask to be exempt from the experiences Jesus submitted to pass through before him. And he is sustained and cheered to know that, even in the heated furnace, there is One with him whose form is as the Son of God. Here is the true remedy for human restlessness and for human discontent. What we share with Christ we may accept with submission and gratitude.
III THE ISSUE TO WHICH TRIALS ARE TO TEND. We are not left without light upon the future. As our Lord himself", even in his humiliation and woe, saw of the travail of his soul, and was satisfied; so are his followers justified in anticipating, not merely deliverance, but exaltation. The glory of the triumphant Redeemer shall be revealed, and they who have shared his cross shall then with joy sit down with him upon his throne.
J.R.T.
Vers. 12-19.
The joyous aspect of suffering for Christ a help to persecuted Christians.
The apostle is writing on the eve of the dreadful persecution of the Church by Nero, which was already beginning to be felt. The increased bitterness of those around them, and probably dark intimations from their teachers that the evil times predicted by Christ were nigh, tended to awaken very gloomy forebodings in the hearts of the converts. No wonder if they thought the trial strange; even to us with our larger knowledge it always seems strange that the good should suffer, and often so severely. Yet God says, "Think it not strange, but rejoice," and that word "rejoice" is the keyword to the passage. There are three reasons here for this rejoicing.
I THERE IS THE JOY OF FELLOWSHIP WITH CHRIST IN SUFFERING. Suffering for righteousness brings us into fellowship with Christ.
1. It is suffering for his sake. The persecuted partake of Christ"s sufferings. Some of our Lord"s sufferings were peculiarly his own, and could not be shared; but we participate in his sufferings when we suffer in the interests of his Church, the interests of righteousness, for the spread of his kingdom.
2. Suffering is always suffering, but when we know it is for that for which our Lord suffered, and on which his heart is set, it is suffering glorified.
3. It is suffering by his side. We are never more conscious of his presence and sympathy than in suffering voluntarily endured for his cause. None ever suffered for Christ without loving him more.
1. It is suffering preparatory to his glory. Some of Christ"s servants do not think much of his coming again. That may be due to their not having fulfilled the tasks he gave them. His servants know when they have really tried to please him, and he knows it too, and this gives them confidence towards him, and makes them eager for his appearing.
II THERE IS THE JOY OF GLORIFYING THE SPIRIT IN SUFFERING.
1. Be sure that yours is really Christian suffering. "Let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as a busybody." (Strange company that, by the way, for busybodies!) Is it not strange that Peter should suggest that Church-members might be guilty of such things? The fact is that the early Church contained many from the criminal classes, and some of them were too easily admitted to fellowship; their adhesion to Christ being simply an endeavor to atone for a life of misdeeds while the misdeeds secretly remained. Let us see to it that we do not take to ourselves the comforts of those who suffer for Christ"s sake, when we really suffer for our sins" sake. It is not the suffering that makes the martyr, but the cause of it.
2. Yours be Christian suffering, its endurance glorifies the Spirit. "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you." The word "resteth" here is the same word our Lord uses when he says, "Come unto me and rest." On the seventh day God rested from his works, but be also rested in them: "He saw all that he had made, and behold it was very good." God in his works was satisfied. So the Spirit of God rests on the Christian martyr, for he sees his work there the fruit of the sacred love he has inspired, of the sustaining grace he has imparted; and the gracious Spirit reposes in the glorious result of his mission.
3. Reproach becomes our glory rather than our shame. "If any man suffer as a Christian," etc. Christian was a name of scorn at first, and Peter says, Be not ashamed, glorify God in this name; respond to the reproach of earth by praise of heaven." Why should we do this? Because in us at that moment the Spirit of God finds a resting-place. Do we not often forget the claims that gracious Spirit has on our service and our love? We owe all that Christ is to us, and all that the Father is to us, to him.
III THERE IS THE JOY OF TRUSTING THE FATHER. "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it -first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator." "The time is come that judgment," etc. We understand these words when we remember that the Epistle was written before the awful judgment which terminated in the destruction of the ecclesiastical and civil polity of the Jews, which our Lord had foretold: "wars, rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes," as "the beginning of sorrows;" and added to his people, "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all men for my Name"s sake." "And if the righteous scarcely with difficulty be saved," etc. What fires of discipline, and what deep waters of sorrow, they have to go through to enter the kingdom] If this is what God"s children endure, what of those who are not his? If so heavy is the hand of chastening, educating love, what will the hand of judgment and wrath be! Christian, shrinking under the one, remember that you are delivered from the other. Trustfully acquiesce in the endurance of Christian suffering. This suffering is according to God"s will, the other is not, and can only be unmingled curse; but that of his people in the way of righteousness is his choice, he selects that, presides over it, tempers it, and leads it on to unmingled blessing. Here, then, is a fresh possibility of joy in suffering for Christ the joy of resting in the will of the Father. I)o we know anything of suffering for righteousness" sake? Other sufferings we are each familiar with, but have we suffered for Christ? do we live a life of voluntary suffering for him? If not, I might say we have reason in that to wonder whether we are his followers at all. If we are strangers to Christian suffering, we are strangers to the deepest Christian joy. Christian joy is a flower which bears its fairest blossoms only when it grows on the grave where self lies buried. C.N.
Vers. 12-14.
The Christian"s fiery trial.
think it not strange concerning," etc. Some have thought Peter is alluding to the burning of Rome, but both because the conception of suffering generally as fire is very common in the Old Testament Scripture, with which Peter shows himself familiar, and also because he is writing to Christians, upon whom through all parts of the Asiatic provinces of Rome the cruelties of Nero"s persecution were being in many ways wreaked, we conclude that "the fiery trial" is a wider and more scathing and more enduring conflagration than that which destroyed the imperial city. So the lessons here are of wide application. They cover the whole scope of Christian suffering.
I THE CHRISTIAN MUST NOT RECKON HIS SUFFERINGS AS STRANGE. Tenderly, with the word "beloved," Peter bids Christian sufferers not to feel themselves bewildered as men in a strange country. Do not let suffering shock you. Do not fear as you enter into the cloud. Why not? Because:
1. The sorrows the Christian shares in common with the world generally are not strange. His religion will not exempt him from bodily pain, business calamities, social bereavement, physical death.
2. The sorrows that Christians endure in persecution because they are Christians are not strange. Persecution is not to be wondered at. It is
(1) an instinct of evil men;
(2) in harmony with all history. The flippant dislike the real, the unclean are angry with the pure, the votaries of error are irritated with the teachers of truth, the wicked hate the good; hence the pains and penalties of persecution are not strange.
3. The sorrows that are the direct result of Christian spirit and character are not strange.
(1) Grief for sin and imperfection;
(2) compassion for the miserable;
(3) self-sacrificing sympathy for the vicious and wretched.
No. Trial is not "strange;" for:
(1) It meets the necessities of Christian character. "It cometh upon you to prove you.
(2) It is in fulfillment of the repeated declarations of Gods Word.
(3). It is in harmony with all the biographies of good men. The device on the Church"s shield is the bush that burns and yet is not consumed.
II THE CHRISTIAN MAY FIND IN HIS SORROWS A CAUSE FOR PROFOUND JOY. To Peter, as well as his beloved brother Paul, the vast region of sorrow was not unknown or unexplored; they did not feel "strange" in it, as bewildered men in a foreign country. They had descried light on its hill-tope, drunk of streams in its deserts, plucked flowers in its solitudes, eaten manna in its wastes. How was this? They were "partakers of Christ"s sufferings." Some of our Lord"s sorrows are infinite secrets. Some can be known and shared. Such as:
1. Agonizing sensitiveness to sire His sigh, tear, groan, we may know in our experience.
2. Sacrificial compassion for sinners.
3. Sternly self-denying loyalty to duty. In all these we may, we must as Christians, be partakers of Christ"s sufferings. "At the revelation of his glory." These words speak of unspeakable future joy. To rejoice in the revelation of his glory, which will be the triumph of pity, of purity, of the mission to bless others, we must be partakers of his sufferings. Blessed now with reproach for his sake, we shall, by growing resemblance to him and gracious reward from him, be blessed then. "The Spirit of glory and of God resteth on you." This token of the Divine presence not simply indicates the continuance of God with you, but the satisfaction of God in you. His spirit "resteth" upon you. The teaching is:
(1) God is near those who are partakers of Christ"s sufferings. The Spirit of God is with them.
(2) God is near them to glorify them, and himself to rejoice in them. "The Spirit of glory resteth. " The music of the Beatitudes is ringing through Peter"s soul, and he flings out their consoling, inspiriting tones to all who were or ever shall be in the "fiery trial" through which all Christians pass. "Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness" sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. U.R.T.
Vers. 12-19.
Fiery trial among the Christians.
I HAPPINESS CONNECTED WITH THE FIERY TRIAL.
1. The fiery trial not a perplexity. "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you, which cometh upon you to prove you, as though a strange thing happened unto you." With an affectionate address the subject is appropriately introduced. There was a fierce trial not coming on them, as the old translation bears, but already in the midst of them, as the revised translation bears. The word used ("fieriness") expresses the sharpness of the persecution to which they were subjected.
2. They were mercilessly attacked in their dearest earthly interests. We do not know the details of the persecution; but it was a reality as of fire carried into the midst of the Christians, laying hold upon one here and upon another there, and distressing the whole circle. By severe suffering there has often been suggestion of the way of the Divine dealing. The apostle here supposes that they might be inclined to think it strange that they had the fire of persecution in the midst of the loved circle. The word expressive of the feeling of strangeness was formerly used with regard to the miraculous change of life introduced by Christianity. Former companions thought it strange that they did not continue to overleap the bounds with them. Now, the supposition is of them that did not overleap the bounds, but put on restraints, thinking it strange that the fire should be allowed to come among them. How did this consist with their Christian standing, character, destiny? Were they not the objects of covenant love? Were they not sincerely striving to honor the Divine ordinances? Were they not looking forward to a glorious, blood-bought inheritance? Why, then, was the fire working its work among them? It was justified, Peter points out, by its probationary use it was upon them, and not yet fully spent, not to pain them simply (which would be inconsistent with covenant love), but by its very painfulness to Trove them, i.e. to bring out their sincerity, and also their greater excellence, and therewith their deliverance from remaining impurity. The fire makes us feel the reality of life. It tends to make us thoughtful, earnest, humble. There is a knowledge of God, of Divine things, of the Divine promises, which enters only by the door of suffering. "Knowledge through suffering entereth." It is as sufferers that we obtain the richest experience, even of the tenderness of God, and that our love in its greatest tenderness is drawn out towards him. Let us not, then, think the fire strange, even as though a strange thing were happening unto us. It is not strange when it works toward such an end. And we may trust the All-wise God to proportion the intensity of the fire to what our spiritual requirements are.
3. The fiery trial a rejoicing. "But insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ"s sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy." The apostle rises here to jubilation. Not merely is the fiery trial not a reason for bewilderment; it is even a reason for rejoicing. We are to rejoice in that we are partners with Christ; we are to rejoice in that we are partners with Christ even in his sufferings, i.e. those which he personally endured on earth. He endured the sharpness of persecution, ending in "the sharpness of death;" and what made his death so difficult to endure was not the fire of persecution, but the penal fire of God. There was a solitariness in Christ"s sufferings; and yet our sufferings can be joined to his sufferings, and it is an honor to have them so joined. We are to look even at the degree or measure in which our sufferings can be placed along with Christ"s sufferings. For there is the quantitative word used meaning "in proportion as." There is thus exegetical value in the remark of Leighton, "What does the world, by its hatred and persecutions and railings for Christ, but make me more like him, give me a greater share with him in that which he did so willingly undergo for me?" The persecuting world thus in a way defeats itself; it makes the Christian suffer, but only to add to his joy in making him a greater sharer with Christ in what he suffered. "Rejoice," then, is the word of command to the persecuted; but now the end of the present rejoicing is seized on. "Rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy." There is a present rejoicing; there is also a future rejoicing; and the one is with a view to the other. Both, it seems to be implied here, and is certainly elsewhere taught, go upon partnership, and in this order first partners with Christ in his sufferings, and then partners with Christ in his glory. The future rejoicing is to be at the revelation of Christ"s glory. There is a glory of Christ which is at present concealed concealed from the world. There is even a glory of Christ which is not yet possessed the glory expressive of the final vindication of his mission, the final triumph of his cause. Then he is to get glory from the saints; but then, also, he is to be in a position to bless his saints, without any hindrance, according to his heart"s desire, according also to the thought of the Father from all eternity; and he is to bless them by making them partners with him in his glory. Their very bodies raised are to take after his glorified body: how can it, then, be aught but Christ"s glory that is to shine forth in their spirits? The word for the present is "rejoice," but at the revelation of Christ"s glory it is to be rejoicing with exceeding joy, rejoicing beyond the measure of the present, rejoicing far beyond our present power of conception. Now it is rejoicing in the midst of persecutions; then it will be rejoicing when the persecutions are all over for ever and sublimated, and the glorious realities are in actual possession.
II THE CONDITION OF HAPPINESS EMPHASIZED.
1. Being reproached for the Name of Christ. If ye are reproached for the Name of Christ, blessed are ye; because the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you." The condition which has been implied is now expressed. There are reproachful words, and there are reproachful acts. To be reproached for the Name of Christ is to be interpreted in the light of our
2. Lord"s own words, "In my Name, because ye belong to Christ." We are not, then, to understand the Beatitude as connected with what Christians suffer in the ordinary course of providence, but with suffering that they could avoid but do not avoid because the Name of Christ does not permit it. Blessed are they who are not intimidated, who are willingly reproached, when it is demanded by Christian principle, nay, by loyalty to him who has been manifested as their Savior, and entitled to be served before and above every other. Blessed are they, because the spirit resting upon them is not the reproach-avoiding spirit of the world, but the Spirit of glory, who is also the Spirit of God . When Paul prays for the Ephesian Christians that they may have a worthy conception of the future glory, he calls God "the Father of glory"; (Eph_1:17) so here Peter says that there rests upon the reproached for the Name of Christ the Spirit of glory, i.e. whose nature is glory, and who, according to his nature, imparts glory. Granted that they do not by worldly compliance avoid reproach: have they not infinite compensation in what the possessed Spirit of glory will yet make to shine forth in them?
3. The condition in what it excludes. "For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil-doer, or as a meddler in other men"s matters." "For" is explanatory. Let the characterization of the condition be noted; for there is a suffering with which the Beatitude is not connected. "Let none of you Peter is here directly personal suffer for his own faults." "Let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or generally an evildoer." By the second "as" a fourth class is marked off by itself. "Let none of you suffer as a meddler in other mens matters; " literally, "a bishop or overseer within what belongs to another." The word, which may have been of Peter"s own coining, is sufficiently expressive. The Christian, with his superior knowledge, saw many things around him which needed to be rectified. Let him not thereby be betrayed into stepping beyond his proper sphere. Thus meddling, he was not to be classed with the evil-doer; but for his interference he might suffer heavily enough.
1. The condition further elucidated. "But if a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name." This verse is remarkable for the introduction of a name which occurs in only two other places in the New Testament. At first the followers of Christ were confounded with the Jews; when the distinction could be made, they were very naturally named Christians. This was the name current when Peter wrote. It was a name which exposed its bearer to suffering. But if he suffered in this name, let him not consider himself disgraced. He was disgraced if he suffered as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil-doer, or even as a meddler; but not if he suffered as a Christian. On the contrary, says Peter, "let him glorify God in this name." He might have said, "Let him consider himself honored," but, going beyond that, his thought is, "Let him render the honor of such suffering to God.
III UNHAPPINESS CONNECTED WITH DISOBEDIENCE.
1. The order of judgment. "For the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God: and if it begin first at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God?" This follows up not being ashamed, but glorifying God. There is to be, in accordance with ver. 7, which is not yet lost sight of, a speedy rectification of things. There is the actual arrival of the time for judgment to begin. With this there is a passing on to the order of judgment. The object of judgment is first the house of God, i.e. believers collectively. The language is taken from the temple at Jerusalem, which was probably still standing. The objects of judgment are next they that obey not the gospel of God. We are not to think of those with whom the gospel has not been brought into contact. We are rather to think of men refusing the gospel when presented to them. We are especially to think of men showing active hostility to the gospel as persecutors. The gospel is here called "the gospel of God," not as coming from the heart of God, but rather as that with which God has to do in judgment in respect of the treatment it receives. There is judgment upon the house of God. We are not to think of condemnatory judgment, but rather of the corrective judgment referred to in 1Co_11:32, But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world." The judgment was to be regarded as taking place in the persecutions to which they were subjected as belonging to the house of God. These were fitted to remind them of their sins, their shortcomings. Because they were not pure enough, the fiery trial was sent upon them to act as a refiners fire, separating the unworthy, and also from the genuine all unworthy elements. There is also to be judgment upon them that obey not the gospel of God. This is of the nature of condemnatory judgment. There is to be final judicial dealing with them for their ungodly deeds, for their hard speeches. There is especially to be final judicial dealing with them for the treatment they have given the gospel, the preachers of the gospel, the Christian communities, the Christian members. Stress is laid on the order of the judgment. The starting-point is noted. It begins at, or from, the house of God. The language is used in Eze_9:6, "Begin at my sanctuary." Upon this an argument is founded. It is similar to what is found
2. Jer_25:29, "For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which iscalled by my Name, and should ye be utterly unpunished?" The argument has a consolatory side to them that belong to the house of God. "If it begin first at us," says Peter, referring to himself and the persecuted to whom he wrote. It was only to begin first at them; it was not to stay with them. It was to pass on to them that obeyed not the gospel of God and how? We may understand, with increasing severity; for the question is ominously asked, What shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God?" They experienced the beginnings of the storm: what would be their experience upon whom the storm, gathering volume as it proceeded, at last burst in all its fury?
3. Old Testament reference. "And if the righteous is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?" The reference is to Pro_11:31, "Behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner." The language is properly from the imperfect Septuagint rendering. The singular individualizes. The righteous is he who stands in a right relation to God. The New Testament bearing is he who stands in right relation to God in view of the revelation made in the gospel. The Old Testament equivalent to "obeying not the gospel of God," is "the ungodly and sinner," i.e. he who has not the fear of God on him, and therefore acts presumptuously. It is said of the righteous that he is scarcely saved. Two men have a task assigned to them climbing a hill; the task to be accomplished in a given time. It would require of both all their might to reach the top in the given time. One sets himself to it, and when the time expires he has scarcely reached the top What is to be said of the other, who all the time has gone after his own pleasure? God has assigned to all, as he has a right to assign, a task; this task is the salvation of the soul. To accomplish it in the time appointed requires working with all the might. Here is one who sets himself to the task. He works while it is day; and when the night of death comes down on him the task is scarcely accomplished, there is still purification that needs to be done. It is not said of him that he shall not appear before God in the issue of judgment; rather may we understand that he shall appear, though there may be withheld from him the highest reward in the presence of God. Here is another who misjudges life, who spends the day of grace in idleness and pleasure, who has not fear for the God who is to judge him, who throws off restraints. This ungodly man and sinner, where shall he appear? The question is ominously left unanswered; but we may take the answer as given in the first psalm, "The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
IV CONCLUSION SHOWING HOW THEY WERE TO DO UNDER THE FIERY TRIAL. "Wherefore let them also that suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing unto a faithful Creator." "Also" is to be connected with "wherefore," and is to be taken as indicating something additional in the way of conclusion. By the will of God we are to understand, not so much the Divine appointment, as the Divine requirement. It is the will of God that we should suffer even as confessors and martyrs rather than deny Christ. Let them that thus suffer according to the will of God follow this course. Let them commit their souls to God. Thus it was with him who pre-eminently suffered according to the will of God. In dying he said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." Let them commit their souls in well-doing unto a faithful Creator. There can be a falling back, not only on Fatherhood, but even on Creatorship. In creating us he constituted us so that in a course of well-doing we should be happy. Let us do well, and we may be assured that God wilt be faithful to his part of the covenant. "All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shall call, and I will answer thee; thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands". R.F. (Job_14:14, Job_14:15)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv12, 16 Think it not strange.
1Pe_4:12-16
Think it not strange.
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Not so strange
Think it not strange! But it does seem strange that the waters of a full cup should be wrung out to the saints, whilst sinners walk on the sunny side of the hedge! Strange to find some of the sweetest and noblest of Gods children racked with agony, dying of cancer, beset with poverty, misunderstanding, and hatred. And yet it would be stranger still if it were not so. Let us look into the considerations which rob suffering of its strange ness.
I. This world is in revolt. Is it to be wondered at that the servants of the Divinely designated Prince should experience rough treatment at the hands of the rebel forces? It could not be otherwise.
II. Along this way the Master went.
III. This is the way home. If we were universally beloved, and no voice were ever raised in hatred or calumny, we might truly question whether we were at all on the heavenward track. As mountain climbers after a snowstorm can tell the path by the line of posts placed at intervals along the mountain side, so may Christians tell that they are on the track of the Church by the antagonism manifested against their religion in Jesus Christ.
IV. There is an object in such suffering. It is carefully designed by the skill of the great Artificer. There may have been many a previous secret prayer for growth in grace and usefulness, and the answer has come in the use of fire, file, and hammer, wielded by God, though furnished by the hatred of the sons of men. There is no other way of eliminating much of the selfish dross of our natures.
V. Herein we partake of Christs sufferings. His life in us meets the same treatment as it did in Him. Ah, it is good to share anything with Him. Sweet things are bitter when He is absent, and bitter things sweet if He is near.
VI. Look on to the end. His glory shall be revealed! His sufferings quicken our anticipations of that blessed day. Too much comfort might make us think ourselves at home, so that we might not so ardently reach out our hands towards our coming glories.
VII. We are compensated for such suffering by the presence of the Spirit of glory. When such suffering lies heavily on the soul, God sees to it that it is no loser. What is lost from without is replenished from within. As water is thrown on the fire from the one side of the wall, a bright angel on the other pours in oil through a tiny aperture, till the flame breaks out as coals of juniper. Ah, what compensations are ours! The Jews who walk the streets of Tangier and other Moorish towns, the hatred of all the people, are said to have exquisitely furnished rooms within their ordinary looking dwellings, where they surround themselves with every luxury. So, as the spiritual man turns from the hatred of man to the special bestowments of God, he is compensated a hundred fold, When we have least human love, we have most of Gods. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
The proper temper of Christians in affliction
I. The sufferings of Christians are neither strange, in themselves, nor so to be reckoned by them.
1. The nature of their principles accounts for opposition from men of the world. These are principles of holiness. They condemn, by contrast, the men of the world. Christians must cease to be what they are, or the world cease to be what it is, for them to escape persecution.
2. The genius of their dispensation renders probable a greater share of outward ills to them than to the saints of the Old Testament. They have a fuller revelation of the mind of God, and are put more upon future hopes, and less upon present things. Prosperity was the promise of the Old Testament; adversity of the New (Mar_10:30).
3. The partial renewal of their character calls for a corrective discipline. The buddings of evil dispositions require nipping frosts to check their growth.
II. All the sufferings of Christians are intended for trials to try them.
1. They detect the presence of sin, as fire brings out the latent dross in metals.
2. They make manifest the sincerity of our profession. Persecutions and afflictions keep the church from being overrun with hypocrites.
3. They purify and improve our Christian virtues.
III. Christians ought to rejoice, notwithstanding all their sufferings, and even because of them. Think it not strange, but rejoice, etc.
1. They increase our spirituality. The overflowing of the Nile distressed Egypt for a time, but when it retired, left behind it fertility and abundance.
2. They furnish ground for the comfortable assurance of a gracious state. If the storm that uproots others leaves us standing, it gives evidence of being well-grounded in faith.
3. They enhance our future glory.
Application:
1. Let this check the over anxiety of some Christians to avoid affliction, or to prevent themselves, if possible, from feeling it.
2. Let the subject correct our judgment respecting affliction.
3. Be brought by affliction to enter more deeply into the sufferings of Christ.
4. Let sympathy with others in their sufferings be promoted by our own. (The Evangelist.)
Trials no strange thing
Men are apt to fancy, in their misfortune, that it exceeds the usual measure, or comes in an extraordinary shape. They aggravate their suffering by surprise and disappointment. They make exaggerated estimates of it by self-tormenting reflections. It is too heavy to bear. We could submit to anything better than this. It is strange that the fiery trial should scorch just in this or that place, or should consume what they were specially anxious to preserve. It is strange that I should be prevented, deprived, disabled. Strange you call it.
1. And this word of yours implies, in the first place, that you are on the whole graciously dealt with; that the order of things which encircles you, and carries you forward, is on the whole merciful. For why else should you find fault with what afflicts you, as if it were a departure from that order? The hand of Providence-how much oftener it is open to give, than clenched to strike! Do you not prove yourselves unreasonable, there fore, if you chide with it, when it withholds your desire or admonishes you with its unwelcome dispensations? And this is one side of our subject that is worthy of attention. But there is another. It is, that the afflictions of life, though few when set by the side of the innumerable kindnesses that are so continuous as to be unregarded, are yet neither uncommon nor light. They form a regular part of the great system of heavenly appointments, in which we, with our changing circumstances and vanishing life, are included. They are more impartial than they are supposed to be. They spare none. They are not to be bought off by the opulent, nor fought off by the strong. Think it not strange, so run the words of the apostle, concerning the fiery trial that is to try you.
2. You there read what is the design in view. It is to prove and not to destroy you. You are tempted by pleasures and prosperity to see if you are weak enough to be seduced. You are searched by hurts and deprivations to see if you are strong enough to endure. If you are sick, secure the inward health that knows neither the fever of passion nor the consumption of care. If you are poor, learn to feel that everything else is destitution, if compared for a moment with the incorruptible wealth of conscious integrity, and the thoughts that turn confidingly towards God, and the substance that no reverses can make less. (N. L. Frothingham.)
Trial no strange thing to the Christian
It is said by the wise man in the book of Ecclesiastes-That which hath been, is now; and that which is to be, hath already been; and God requireth that which is past. The assertion here is, that of there being great uniformity in the dealings of God; so that the history of any one generation is little more than the repetition of that of any other. From such a description of the dealings of God, it would follow that there cannot be anything strange, at least not to those who live in a remote age of the world; for nothing can happen to them, which has not often happened before, and for which therefore they might not have been prepared by due attention to the experience of others. The case is evidently very different with ourselves and the earlier converts to Christianity, the difference being much the same as between the later and the earlier inhabitants of the world. We can appeal to the history of many ages for the workings of Christianity; we can show its predictions fulfilled, and its promises verified, in the progress of events and the experience of the Church. But the first converts were obliged, in a great degree, to take all upon trust. With them the whole was matter of experiment. There was therefore great room, as it would seem, for what was strange in their case, though not in our own. With us, the experience of a Christian may be mapped out beforehand. His own experience may not be an exact copy of that of any one of his predecessors in the faith; but there shall be nothing in it which has not been experienced before, the parallel to which may not be found in the history of any other believer, and therefore nothing which ought to come upon him unexpectedly, or to take him as it were by surprise. But it was not thus with the earlier Christians. They were themselves to furnish experience for those who came after; but had scarcely any power of appealing to the experience of those who went before. And yet in one great particular, it appears from our text that there is no difference betwixt the earliest and the latest converts, so far as the foreknowledge of Gods dealings is concerned. With ourselves it amounts almost to a truism, that they who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, and that through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of heaven. It were expecting God to change the established course of His dealings, to expect Him not to chasten where He loves, and therefore to think it strange concerning the trials which are to try us. But can the same be said of the earliest Christians? Had they not embraced the religion of One, who was promised by the auspicious title of Prince of peace; whom seers of old had beheld in visions, glowing and tranquil and beautiful? And might they not therefore have justly expected that their lot would be one of freedom from trouble? No, saith the apostle; a fiery trial can be no unlooked for thing.
I. Now the first thing which I would argue from this alleged absence of strangeness from the dealings of God, is that there were more points of correspondence than of difference between the Christian and the Jewish dispensations. It is true that they could not co-exist, but not because they were in any measure opposed the one to the other. The dawn and the noon tide cannot co-exist; yet the one does not so much displace the other, as it is that other in a more advanced stage. The Mosaic economy was the Christian in its dawn, or in its bud, presenting the same truths, though in a more shadowy form, and proposing the same way of salvation, though with less clearness and precision. The Christian dispensation superseded the Jewish, but only in the manner in which history supersedes prophecy. And this must necessarily have been the case, if you only consider how God had from the first determined the plan of our redemption, and virtually announced it ere Adam was driven from Paradise. There was not one method of being saved in one age, and another in another, so far as the method of reconciliation is concerned; neither can there be thought to have been any such variation, so far as the method of application is concerned. In all ages there has been the same necessity for a renewal of nature in order to a meetness for the kingdom; and therefore must it be supposed that in all ages the dealings of God with a view to these ends have borne in the main the same features. But undoubtedly God had from the first made sorrow one of His chief engines in weakening attachment to the things of time and sense, and directing the affections towards heaven. Was it therefore for a moment to be expected, that because there came a dispensation of greater light, a dispensation of substance in place of shadow, sorrow was to depart and no longer to be used in preparing men for heaven? And, indeed, without tracing accurately a sameness in the dealings of God, we might venture to say that the discipline of affliction is indispensable in the case of depraved creatures like ourselves. It is not that under this economy, but not under that, sorrow is a wholesome thing for those whose nature is corrupt; it is rather that in every condition and estate, man cannot do without affliction, if he is to be kept up to the task of preferring the future to the present. Hard it may be, bitter it may be, but strange it can never be, that whilst the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, God should constantly verify the saying, Many are the afflictions of the righteous. Are ye not men? might be the address of the messenger of God: are ye not sinners? and is it not your sanctification which is proposed? Oh! then, beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.
II. But possibly these remarks on what we may call the necessity for affliction, and therefore on the truth that it ought never to seem strange, hardly clear up the point which is presented by our text. The case of those addressed by St. Peter is not that of men exposed to trouble in its ordinary sense, but of those on whom was coming a great onset of persecution. The fiery trial which was to try them, was to result from the efforts of the enemies of Christianity to destroy by violence what they could not disprove by argument. What is strange, if it be not strange that heavens best gift should be received with loathing; that the very remedy, which at an immeasurable cost God prepared for the evils which have pressed on this creation, should meet not only with scorn, but hatred; that they whom it is designed to benefit, should agree with themselves to cast it out from the earth? Yet the apostle does not hesitate to tell them in our text, that nothing strange had happened to them, when a fiery trial arose and they had to maintain their profession in the face of persecution and death. We close with this statement of St. Peter, and we wish you to see whether it may not be vindicated by almost self-evident reasons. The results which Christianity proposes, and which beyond all question it is calculated to effect, are those of a widespread peace and a dominant happiness: but the processes, through which it would work out these results, are those of self-denial and restraint, of mortified passions and curbed affections; and they who would be quite in love with the results, may be quite at war with the processes. There is not after all, anything surprising in persecution, whether in the bold shape it assumed in early days, or the more modified which it exhibits in later; it is, we might almost say, but a natural result of the rejection of Christianity-whether of the open rejection of the sceptical, or of the more covert of the indifferent. Doctrines which are not embraced must be disliked, when they are doctrines which would bind us to practices, which conscience secretly pronounces to be right, but which inclination vehemently opposes; and disliking the doctrines, men must also dislike those who hold them, for every believer is a reproach to the unbeliever, condemning by his example those whom it does not excite to imitation; and there is only a step from dislike to persecution. Persecution is but dislike in action the effort to remove what annoys by reproving. Then till Christianity be universal, persecution, in some form or other, is unavoidable. It is not the product of a dark age, rather than of a light; it is the product of human nature-the same in its corruption, acted upon by a system the same in its holiness.
III. But we cannot suppose that St. Peter used these remarkable words, in order merely to correct an erroneous impression which had been made on the minds of the first Christians-an impression as to the likelihood that Christianity would disarm rather than provoke opposition: we may further believe that he designed to offer a topic of consolation and support-to suggest what ought to reconcile the suffering to their lot. You ought not, St. Peter seems to say, to be amazed or confounded; you are called to no affliction which others have not sustained; and where there is nothing but what has been experienced, why should there be surprise, as though it were unexpected? And truly the distressing thing to a believer would be, if he were able to show that Gods dealings with himself were quite different from what Gods dealings with His people had ordinarily been. Suppose the registered course of Gods proceedings had been, that where there was belief in His Word there was comparative freedom from trouble, so that religion and temporal happiness went hand in hand: what fearful thing would it then be, for a Christian to find himself in trouble! It would not be the amount of the trouble, so much as its strangeness, that would overwhelm him. His inference would be-Surely I am not one of the people of God: if I were, He would not deal with me in so unusual a manner. Or, to take what might be thought a more supposable case: let righteousness and peace of mind be almost invariably found together, so that a righteous individual is seldom, if ever, disquieted with doubts and apprehensions: if, then, a Christian feels himself depressed and cast down, his hopes darkened through the suggestions of his great adversary the devil, do you not see that the bitterest thing in his portion would be, not the depression, but the consciousness of this depression being a strange thing in a believer, and therefore almost an evidence of his not being a believer at all? But now take the opposite, which is the actual case, namely, that the Christian has nothing strange to undergo, nothing befalling him but what is common to believers; and do you not perceive that this very circumstance is full of consolation, and ought to do much towards producing in him patience and resignation? The tempest may rage, the sword may glitter, the destroyer may ravage; but he is calm, he is confident, because he can never think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try him, as though some strange thing had happened unto him.
IV. And now, lastly, there is yet another remark which, in a practical point of view, is perhaps of greater importance than the foregoing. It may be questioned whether our translators have given the exact meaning of the original, in saying, Think it not strange. The more literal meaning is, Be not strange in fiery trial. It is not so much an opinion, as a deportment, to which the apostle has respect. What he enjoins on Christians is, that when the fiery trial came, they were not to receive it as an unexpected thing; they were not to be like strangers, but rather to show that they had been waiting the onset, and had prepared themselves to meet it. An old writer justly says, Things certainly fall the lighter upon us when they first fall upon our thoughts. Arm yourselves therefore beforehand; it is hard to have your weapons to seek, when the foe is upon you. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The Christians persecutions
I. The connection of religion with trial-Do not wonder at the burning which is to try you. It is no wonder; it is a natural consequence.
1. Is it likely God would commit the keeping of His honour and glory into the hands of untested witnesses?
2. Is it likely that God would give the work of saving souls to untried emissaries?
3. Is it likely God would admit to His eternal kingdom unproved citizens? By no means.
II. The connection between trial and suffering-The burning. What more potent picture of suffering than that which is expressed by this terrible word?
III. The connection of suffering with joy. Strange apparent inconsistency!-Think it not strange, but rejoice. We may gather-
1. That anything which brings us into harmony with Christ is to be desired. Suffering brings us into sympathy with Him. We appreciate the sacrifice which His atonement entailed when we feel something of its consequences.
2. That the only true way to triumph is through the vale of tears. Christ became Conqueror through submitting.
IV. The connection of joy with glory-For the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. (J. J. S. Bird, B. A.)
The fiery trial which is to try you.-
Afflictions are trials
1. To try whether we have any truth of grace in us, whether we be sound or hollow.
2. To try what measure of grace we have, whether as much or more or less than we thought.
3. To purify and refine that measure of true grace that is in us. In the days of peace and prosperity, the best men are subject to gather soil, as standing waters putrefy, bodies without exercise prove full of gross humours. (John Rogers.)
But rejoice.-
A rejoicing heart
A heart rejoicing in God delights in all His will, and is most surely provided to the most firm joy in all estates; for, if nothing can come to pass beside or against His will, then cannot that soul be vexed that delights in Him, and hath no will but His, but follows Him in all times and in all estates-not only when He shines bright on them, but when they are clouded. That flower that follows the sun, doth so even in cloudy days-when it doth not shine forth, yet it follows the hidden course and motion of it: so the soul, that moves after God, keeps that course when He hides His face; is content, yea, is glad at His will, in all estates, conditions, or events. (Abp. Leighton.)
Partakers of the sufferings of Christ.-
Participation in the sufferings of Christ
It is strange what a power there is in suffering to unite in deepest intimacy those who have nobly borne it together. It would seem as if the affections could never be welded so firmly as when they have been exposed to the fiery solvent of adversity. Perhaps it is that we never so truly understand each other as when great and common trials sound the depths of our nature, and show to each what is in brothers heart. Or it may be that love is strengthened most of all by the trials and hardships endured for the sake of its object. The survivors of the wreck who can recall the days and hours of danger and exposure, of alternating hope and despair, which they bore together; the remnant of the forlorn hope, who have stood side by side while shot and shell were raining death around them; or the few brave and true hearts who together have struggled through the protracted and terrible siege, and whose friendship is cemented by a thousand associations of sympathy and endurance, cannot choose but feel in each other a deeper than common interest. Now, some such thought as this may have been present to the apostles mind when he congratulated his suffering fellow Christians on the fact that they were partakers of the sufferings of Christ. The secret depths of that sorrowing heart they could better understand in virtue of the approximation to His grief which their own hearts had felt, and a fuller appreciation of His ineffable love could be theirs, when by experience they had learnt something of that penalty of suffering and sacrifice which for them He so willingly had paid. Instead, therefore, of regarding it as a strange thing that theirs should be a lot of suffering and trial, it would rather have seemed unnatural had it been otherwise. But it is not all kinds of suffering in which we have community with Jesus. There are sorrows, obviously, of which the infinitely pure and holy Saviour could have no experience, and in the endurance of which no man can appropriate the consolation of fellowship with Christ. Let us endeavour, therefore, to find out what sort of suffering for sin is possible to a pure and holy nature. How far may suffering for sin be really noble and worthy? What elements must we eliminate from suffering caused by sin in forming our ideal of suffering purity?
1. One element of suffering for sin, and that a most bitter one, of which Christ could have no direct experience, is conscious guilt. With all godly sorrow Jesus sympathises, but He knows nothing, and never can, of the sorrow of the world that worketh death.
2. Another element in suffering for sin, of which a perfectly holy nature could have no experience, is a personal sense of Divine wrath. Betwixt the experience of a guilty soul writhing under the frown of God, and His, even in His darkest hour of sorrow, there is an impassable gulf.
3. Nor, finally, though Christ tasted of death for every man, could He ever experience personally that which constitutes to the sinner the very bitterness of death-the fear of what comes after death. On the contrary, death to Jesus was an escape from protracted banishment to endless and unutterable union with His Father. It was the passing from a world in which all had been to Him toil and weariness and woe, to one on which the sweet memories of an eternity of joy were resting.
Death to Jesus, in one word, was but a going home.
1. I now go on to inquire what kind of suffering for sin may be conceived of as noble and worthy, and so not impossible to a pure and holy nature.
(1) Amongst these kinds of suffering I notice, first, that which a pure and holy nature must feel from the mere contiguity of evil. The mere spectacle of sin, the life-long contact of the sinless with the vile-implied on His part bitter suffering. To man or woman of pure mind and tender conscience it would be intolerable to be forced to read through an obscene book; what agony of mind then-what pain and distress of spirit more unendurable than sharpest bodily tortures-would be involved in a similar lifelong contact with sin, not recorded merely, but hideously displayed in act!
(2) Another element of Christs suffering for sin, in which, as we grow in kindred purity of nature, we shall learn to participate, is the reflected or borrowed shame and pain which noble natures feel for the sins of those with whom they are closely connected. Christ was not a mere spectator of the worlds sin, He was deeply implicated in the fortunes of the guilty, related to them by the closest ties of kindred and affection. There is a borrowed humiliation which we feel from the sins of those who are dear to us; there is a keen and cruel pain which pierces a good and generous heart in the contemplation of a brothers wickedness, and which is second only, and in some respects not second, to the agony of personal guilt.
(3) Once more, Christ suffered for sin, not only as bearing relatively its guilt, but also as its victim. In the persons of those He loved, sin transmitted to Him a borrowed humiliation; but it hurt Him more deeply than thus, for it rose up against Him, to hate and assail and destroy Him. And this to such a nature as His was the saddest thing of all. (J. Caird, D. D.)
Participation in Christs sufferings
It has often been said that the Christian faith gives dignity to every kind of suffering. If we may so speak, the light shines from Christs Cross as a fringe of glory upon every cloud which environs human life. You have given up that false notion which belonged rather to the heathen age, that the gods would not visit in pain or suffering those who were their special favourites. It is the other way in Christian conception. According to the Christian, those whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. Think it not strange the fiery trial which is to try you-that is coming for this purpose to put your life to the test, but see how far your faith needs consolidating, how far your love needs being drawn forth as often love only can be in the hours of sorrow. But he rises higher than this. He seems to say: Do not merely look upon suffering as a certain ministry for good, but that he that suffers may be brought into the charmed circle of fellowship with Christ. But we are met at once by the thought: Are not the sufferings of Christ wholly unique in character? Are they not such that none may share them?
I. In what sense is it true that the Christian can have a partnership with the sufferings of Christ? In the first place it is not of the ordinary sorrows of life that the apostle is speaking; because he does not speak respecting the sufferings which Christ shares with us, but rather of certain sufferings which we share with Christ. There is all the difference in the world between those sorrows which are rather the sorrows of humanity, and which Christ, in becoming man, of necessity became a participator in, and those sufferings which belong to the Christian life, and which only Christian lives can share with Christ. And I think that just as those sorrows cannot be in any fair sense called the sufferings peculiarly of Christ, so the whole analogy of similar passages in the New Testament shows us that the apostle is speaking of the sufferings which we suffer as Christians. What, then, does he mean? If we exclude the sorrows of life which are common to all mankind, if we exclude the special sufferings of Christ on the Cross as our Redeemer, what are the sufferings which we are privileged to share with Christ? In one sense the work of Christ was complete; He wrought a perfect and complete work upon the Cross. But, on the other hand, there is a real sense in which the work of Christ is not complete. Christ may, if I may use the figure, be supposed to have formed a great steel plate, on which every line and letter is engraved, but still the work of striking off the impressions is left for the Church of Christ to do. He formed every feature of the Christian character which was to be stamped upon mankind; He wrought all that great and glorious work which was the great picturing of Divine love in the eyesight of man; but having wrought that, He left it to His disciples to carry forth that image to the world, and they were to impress it upon the characters of men; they were, in fact, to work out that which Christ had left them to work. He had given them the rule, they were to work out the examples; He had given them the great completed seed, they were to sow it into the hearts of men. Christs Church is built up in suffering. There is not a truth which is incorporated in our creeds, there is not a single aphorism of Christianity which is dear to your hearts that has not been consolidated by the blood of suffering men and women. But there is another sense in which we may also share the sufferings of Christ. All Christian life is progressive. Against all the knots, and against all the awkward angles of character, the grace of God has to contend, and in contending with these it is purging out the evil and implanting the good. And as Christian life is thus progressive, so the capacity of sharing a certain order of Christs sufferings is growing within us. If a pure-minded person were made by necessity to go through the obscene details of the police records, even physical agony would be preferred to that. And just so he who feels that his spiritual life is growing, that the sanctifying influences of the Spirit make him more enamoured of purity and more hostile to evil, begins to understand what intense pain Christ must have endured in daily contact with sin; and so he becomes a partaker in that degree of the sufferings of Christ. The judiciousness of the apostles language is to be seen in this: he says, Rejoice, in so far as (and no further) you are partakers of the sufferings of Christ. That is to say, he shows to them that their cause of rejoicing can only lie in this-their consciousness that they are suffering with Christ. He who feels that the spiritual life within him is growing may know that in proportion as he is conscious of that pain which sin must bring to the pure in heart he is able to share somewhat in the sufferings of Christ.
II. What, then, are the sources of the joy? These we have partly anticipated. The joy, and that which the apostle wishes the Christian to rejoice in, is precisely the thought that he is suffering with Christ. The faithful servant will feel that the hours are not merely wasted, but are positively dishonestly employed that are not being used in his masters service; and thus the Christian feels that his hours are not, indeed, his own, but belong to his Master; and even if those hours must be employed in pain, if constant conflict against the powers of evil be that which he is called upon to endure, he can rejoice, for it is for his Master. Not that he is indifferent to sorrow, but that he feels the sorrow is glorified by the fact that it is for Christ. And just as thus it is a joy to him to rejoice in suffering for Christ, so also is it so because he sees in it a witness of his own progress. Do I find sin a greater pain, do I find that the presence of it causes more agony than before? Then I am glad, for at least I can so far feel that I am growing in the image of Christ; I would rather feel sin to be ten thousandfold the agony it was before than that I should live a life which is utterly indifferent to Christian progress. And there is yet another reason of joy. The love which the Christian has is that which the apostle assumes. But what is one of the first features of love? Is it not to be linked with the object it loves? We always long to appropriate that which we love, because there is the straining desire of the soul to be drawn nearer to the object of its love. And so the Christian feels that the desire of his love is to be linked with Christ. And where is the link? Look round the world and answer, where can the link with Christ be? Is it in joy? I know no joy as long as sin reigns in the world. Is it to be found in the mere amusements of life? These are impossible. The only law by which the soul of man can be linked with Christ is the law of suffering; it is the very law of our physical being, it is the very law of society, it is the very law of Gods universe, because of the strange distortions which sin has introduced, that all love is a bond in suffering. Not one has suffered; not one has loved without feeling that love and suffering are always co-relatives in life. It was not because your life was easy and smooth together that you loved one another so intensely; it is because you have fought together, because you have struggled together, because you were partners in the same sorrow and in the same care. And not merely thus; those who have suffered the same loss, for example-see what a freemasonry of love that establishes! But it is not merely this; it is more. It is not merely the same loss you are suffering. For the zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached Thee are fallen upon me; but the sorrow which men endure together in establishing the same cause, is not that a link which binds them fast? None have suffered for Christ without loving Christ the more, and none have loved Christ the more without feeling Christs love the more, and none have felt Christs love the more without feeling that He has stooped down to their very side to be near them. (Bp. Boyd Carpenter.)
Let none of you suffer as a murderer.-
Righteous and evil suffering
I. The apostle distinguishes between deserved and undeserved suffering. Many of the early martyrs brought on their own deaths through incautious and foolish utterances, or want of that meekness which ought to characterise a professor of the gospel.
II. The apostle urges the higher responsibilities of professors of the gospel. They possess a higher standard of moral conduct than the worldling.
III. The apostle reminds us of the terrible end of the finally impenitent. The shipwrecked mariner who has lashed himself to a spar, and is striving frantically to reach the shore, is far more likely to be saved than the sailor who stays on the burning vessel. (J. J. S. Bird, B. A.)
A busybody in other mens business.-
The busybody
It is very common to compare ourselves with other men, and to draw flattering conclusions from the fact of their conduct being marked by more of open flagitiousness than our own. Yet it may be the very grossest of self-deceptions. The degree of criminality must evidently depend, not only on the sin committed, but on the amount of temptation and the measure of resistance. I am not necessarily better than another, unless better under precisely the same circumstances; and it is impossible for me to know and to judge what all those circumstances are. It is not necessary that we suppose the busybody to be equally criminal with the murderer and the thief, but at all events there must be much greater criminality in the busybody than we are accustomed to suppose; otherwise an apostle would hardly have so combined offenders as they are combined in our text.
1. Now it is certainly far from the design of the Christian religion to separate us one from another, to shut us up in our individual capacities, and confine our attention to our individual interests. Christianity, on the contrary, enjoins universal brotherhood and love; brotherhood and love, which are entirely at variance with the supposition that we take no concern in the affairs of our neighbour. The great general rule, in this as in every case of Christian casuistry, must evidently be fetched from the motive by which we are actuated. If it be honestly our aim to promote the Divine glory by promoting the good of our fellow men, we can scarcely go wrong, whether in the measure or the manner in which we concern ourselves in the affairs of other men. Whensoever there is opportunity of doing good to another, whensoever, more especially, his soul may be benefited through our instrumentality, then and there indeed it were worse than absurd to suppose it playing the busybodys part to concern ourselves in his affairs. Let no one, therefore, think to shelter himself under the plea that non-interference is a duty, and thus excuse himself from all public endeavour at discountenancing vice, defending truth, relieving misery, or propagating Christianity. It is at a far remoter point that interference becomes sinful. And we may begin our investigation by stating that probably St. Peter had respect to a species of meddling, which is sufficiently common, though hardly thought criminal. The one compound word in the Greek (for there is but one), which is rendered by us a busybody in other mens matters, might be more literally rendered-a bishop in another mans diocese; as though what the apostle specially wished to denounce were that interference with constituted authorities, whether civil or ecclesiastical, which in those days and countries exposed men to punishment Just because those in power bring not forward the precise measures which these men think the best, they will break at once into injurious expressions; as though they must be better judges of what is good for an empire, who have no means of looking into all the intricacies of the machine, than others who are placed at the wheel, and have the power of observing the most secret springs. But it is a more private sort of meddling with which the busybody is generally occupied; he, or she, is prying into family secrets, as well as into state, and presuming to adjust the affairs of neighbours as well as the intricacies of government. The man who, unasked, obtrudes his opinions on others in matters in which they alone have any concern, who infringes the liberty of others where they have undoubted right to follow their own inclination, who sets up on every occasion for a teacher of others, as though he must be wiser and better informed, who is always for adjusting his neighbours business, and is so disinterested that he will do it at the neglect of his own: such an one-one who is guilty whether in any or in all of these particulars-is emphatically a busybody in other mens matters. The woman who plays the spy upon her neighbours, as though she were the constituted inspector of themselves and their households, who is not easy except she knows every particular of their domestic arrangements, who, if she have a visit to pay, is sure to talk over the affairs of the family she last left, only leaving herself time to find out something to tell at the house to which she goes next, who is critical alike upon character and upon dress, so that she will pronounce with equal fluency what people ought to do and what they ought to wear: such a woman is undeniably a busybody in other mens matters.
2. But now you will inquire what great criminality, after all, attaches to the busybody, or with what show of justice he can be associated with those whom even human laws sternly reprobate and punish.
(1) The busybody violates justice; because, by meddling with other mens affairs, does his best to deprive them of their office, which is certainly to manage their own business.
(2) The busybody, again, is conspicuous in arrogance; for he who is always obtruding his advice is always proclaiming himself wiser than others.
(3) The busybody neglects himself, and those affairs which are specially his own.
(4) And who does more harm than the busybody? Half the dissensions in a neighbourhood are his or her work. The parties into whose affairs the busybody pries are naturally incensed or irritated by the interference; and in this feeling is evidently laid the foundation of enmity. Besides, what is found out by the inquisitiveness of the busybody is sure to be propagated by the industriousness of the tale bearer; so that the secrets of families become public talk, and chief friends are separated by injurious reports of things which were perhaps never done, or remarks which were perhaps never made. There is another assassin besides he who kills the body-he who wounds the reputation; and who does this more than the busybody? (H. Melvill, B. D.)
A hint to meddlers
Some people do not understand how to cooperate for public ends without interfering with the privacy of domestic life. The seals teach a good lesson in this respect. They can work together at proper times; but they honour the sanctity of home. They live sociably, and in great numbers frequent the same localities. Although, in the sea, these animals cooperate in numerous herds, and protect and valiantly defend each other, once emerged from their favourite element they regard themselves on their peculiar rock as in a sacred domicile, where no comrade has a right to intrude upon their domestic tranquillity. If one of them approach this family centre, the chief-or, shall we say the father?-prepares to expel by force what he considers a foreign aggression; and there invariably takes place a terrible combat, which only ends in the death of the lord of the rock, or in the compulsory retreat of the indiscreet stranger. This proceeding is well worth the attention of every busybody. It is full of sense, and shows a discrimination between public cooperation for the common good, and officious interference in private life, which would do credit to even human beings. (Scientific Illustrations.)
Mind your own business
Come, hurry up! said the second hand of a clock to the minute hand; youll never get round in time if you dont. See how fast Im going, continued the fussy little monitor, as it fretted round on its pivot. Come, hurry up! said the minute to the hour hand, utterly oblivious of being addressed by the second hand. If you dont be quick youll never be in at the stroke of one. Well, thats just what our young friend there has been saying to you. At this point the clock pealed forth the hour as the hour hand continued, You see were all in time-not one of us behind. You take my advice: Do your own work in your own way, and leave others alone. Moral-Mind your own business. (Great Thoughts.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On vv12, 15 Chapter 14
Chapter 14
THE BELIEVERS DOUBLE JOY
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1Pe_4:12-14
AFTER the benediction in 1Pe_4:11, we might have supposed that the exhortations of the Apostle were ended. But he now proceeds to make general application of the lessons which above {1Pe_2:18-19} he had confined to a particular class: the Christians who were in slavery. And the times appear to have called for consolation. The Churches were in great tribulation. St. Peter speaks here, more than in any other passage of the Epistle, as if persecution were afflicting the whole Christian body: "Beloved"-the word embraces them all-"think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you…as though a strange thing happened unto you." His strong word implies extreme suffering. St. John uses it {Rev_18:9; Rev_18:18} of the burning up of the mystical Babylon, and it is found nowhere else in the New Testament. A trial meriting this description was harassing the Asian Christians; but spite of the intensity of suffering, which may be inferred from his language, he bids the converts not to wonder at it or deem it other than their proper lot: "Think it not strange."
He does not enter upon reasons for his admonition, or he might have selected a goodly list of Old Testament saints who for their faith were called to suffer. For the Jewish brethren, Joseph and David, Elijah and Micaiah, David and his companions in exile, Job and Nehemiah, would have been forcible examples of suffering for righteousness. The Apostle, however, selects only the loftiest instance. Christ, the Master whom they were pledged to serve, had suffered, and had said, besides, that all who would follow Him must take up the cross. Need they wonder, then, if in their case they found the Lords teaching coming true?
But, in describing the purpose of their trials, the Apostle introduces some words which place their affliction in a distinct light: "Which cometh upon you to prove you"-literally, for your proving (τρος πειρασμον υμιν). And the word is that which is constantly used of "temptation," whether sent of God or coming in some other way. When viewed as a process of proving, the believers would be able to find some contentment under their persecutions. God was putting them to the test. He would know if they are in earnest in His service, and so they are cast into the furnace, Gods wanted discipline. The prophet Zechariah tells both of the process, and the God-intended result: "I will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried; they shall call on My name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is My people; and they shall say, The Lord is my God." {Zec_13:9} And the Psalmist bears like testimony: "The Lord trieth the righteous," {Psa_11:5} and says that for those who are found faithful the end is blessedness: "We went through fire and through water, but Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place". {Psa_66:12} Such thoughts would yield comfort to those for whom St. Peter immediately wrote. They were suffering for Christs sake; their faith in Him was being tested. But the Apostles words are left for the edification of all generations of believers. Throughout all time and everywhere there has been abundance of grief and pain. How may sufferers today participate in the apostolic consolation? How may they learn to think it not strange that they are afflicted?
The Apostles words supply the answer to such questions. And they are no light or infrequent questionings both for ourselves and others. Men are prone to lament over temporal losses or bodily sufferings, their own or others, in tones which convey the idea that such trials will in the end be compensated and made efficacious for the future blessing of the sufferer. The New Testament has no such doctrine. "The trial which cometh upon you to prove you," is St. Peters expression. There is much suffering in the world which is in no sense a participation of the sufferings of Christ, in no sense a God-sent trial for proving the faith of the sufferer.
Here, if honestly questioned, the individual conscience will give the true answer; and if that inward witness condemn the life for no excesses, of which suffering is the appointed fruit, if the bodily pains be not the outcome of a life lived to the flesh, nor the sorrow and poverty the result of follies and extravagance aforetime, then, with the anguish and distress which God hath sent (for we may then count them as of His sending), the Spirit will have bestowed light that we may discern their purpose, light which will show us Gods hand weaning us from the world and making us ready for going home, or, it may be, giving to others through us His teaching in message and example. Then the enlightened and pacified soul will be able to rejoice amid pain, conscious of purification; and will out of the midst of sorrow see Gods designs justified. Satan will look on such times as his opportunity, and suggest to the Christian that he is unduly afflicted and forgotten of God; but the joy, which comes from being able to look trouble in the face, as sent by a Father, drives away despondency and puts the enemy to rout. He is triumphant who can rest on a faithful God, with an assurance that with the temptation He will also make the way of escape, that he may be able to endure it. {1Co_10:13}
But dare we then pray, as Christ has taught us, "Lead us not into temptation"? Yes, if we ponder rightly on the purport of our petition. Christ does not bid us pray to God not to try us; He Himself made no such prayer for His disciples; He was Himself submitted to such trial: "It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief". {Isa_53:10} Nay, one Evangelist {Mar_1:12} tells us how He was not led, but driven forth, of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Yet He taught the prayer to His disciples, and He did so because He knew both what was in man, and what was in the world. In the latter since sin entered, the tempter has found manifold enticements to lead men astray. All that belongs to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life, riches, influence, beauty, popularity, prosperity of every kind, may be used as tests of faith, may be made to glorify God; but they can also be perverted in the using. And there dwell within man strong desires, which he is prompted to gratify at times, without heeding whether their gratification be right or wrong; and when desire and opportunity meet, there is peril to the tempted.
"How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds Makes ill deeds done!"
And when desire has once gained the mastery, the next yielding is sooner made; the forbidden path becomes the constant walk; the moral principle-the godlike in the conscience-is neglected; men grow weaker, are led away of their own lusts and enticed.
On the other hand, if the unlawful desire be resisted from the first, each succeeding conflict will offer less hardship, each new victory be more easily gained, and the virtuous act will become a holy habit; the man will walk with God. For this end God uses the evil, of which Satan is the father, to be a discipline, and turns the snares of the enemy into a means of strength for those whom he would captivate. Knowing all this, Christ has left us His prayer. In it He would teach us to ask that God should protect us in such wise that the desire to sin which dwells within us may not be roused to activity by opportunities of indulgence, or that, if we are thrown where such opportunities exist, the desire may be killed in our hearts. Thus our peril will be lessened, and we shall be helped to walk in the right way, through His grace. Our strong passions will grow weaker, and our weak virtues stronger, day by day.
And such a petition should check all overweening confidence in our own power to withstand temptation, all over readiness to put ourselves in the way of danger that we may show our strength, and that we can stand though others may fall. The sin and folly of such presumption would be constantly present to St. Peters mind. He could not forget how his own faith failed when he would make a show of it by walking to meet Jesus over the Sea of Galilee. Still less could he forget that utterance of self-confidence, which thought scorn of trials to come, "Though I should die with Thee, yet will I not deny Thee." It needed but the timid suggestion of a servantmaid to call forth that manifestation of feebleness for which only tears of deepest penitence could atone, and which remained the darkest memory in the Apostles life. He above all men knew to the full the need we have to pray, "Lead us not into temptation."
And in respect of courting trial, even when the suffering to be encountered would be allowed by all men to be suffering for righteousness sake, the New Testament gives us many lessons that we should not offer ourselves to unnecessary danger. Our Lord Himself, {Joh_8:59} when the Jews took up stones to cast at Him, hid Himself and conveyed Himself out of harms way. At another time we are told, "He would not walk in Judea because the Jews sought to kill Him". {Joh_7:1} St. Paul, too, {2Co_11:33} to avoid uncalled-for suffering, was let down by the wall of Damascus, and afterwards made use of the dissensions of the Pharisees and Sadducees {Act_23:6} to divert the storm which their combined animosity would have raised against him. In this spirit St. Peter gives his counsel. "Make sure," he would say, "that the trials you bear are sent to prove you. Let constant self-questioning testify that they are proving you; then wonder not that they are sent, but rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of the sufferings of Christ." He who thus learns the blessing of trial thanks the Lord for his troublous days. He has a double joy, rejoicing in this life, sorrowful yet always rejoicing; and is assured that at the revelation of Christs glory his joy shall be still more abundant.
"If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are ye." It was a joy to the Apostles {Act_5:41} at the beginning of their ministry that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. Their offence is described as speaking in the name of Jesus, and filling Jerusalem with their teaching. The feeling of their persecutors was so strong that they were minded to slay them, but upon wiser counsel they only beat them and let them go. St. Paul s commission to Damascus {Act_9:14} was to bind all that called upon the name of Christ, and his work after his conversion was to be "to bear Christs name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel." What such preaching would be, we gather from St. Peters words. {Act_2:22} They taught men that Jesus of Nazareth, a Man approved of God by powers, and wonders, and signs, had been crucified and slain by the Jews, but that God had raised Him from the dead; that He was now exalted by the right hand of God and was ordained of God Act_10:42 to be the Judge of quick and dead; that to Him all the prophets bare witness that through His name every one that believeth on Him should receive remission of sins. St. Paul and the rest preached the same doctrine. All that had happened in Christs life was "according to the Scriptures" {1Co_15:3-4} of the Old Testament; Christ and Him crucified, {1Co_2:2} Jesus and the resurrection, {Act_17:18} are the topics constant in his letters and on his lips. And for their doctrine and their faith preachers and hearers suffered persecution and reproach.
In our land suffering such as theirs is no more laid upon us, but for all that the reproach of Christ has not ceased. Our days are specially marked by a desire for demonstration on every subject, and it comes to pass thereby that those who are willing in spiritual things to walk by faith rank in the estimation of many as the less enlightened portion of the world, and are pictured as such in much of our modern literature. All that tells of miracle in the life of Jesus is by many cast altogether aside, as alien to the reign of law under which the world exists; and the Gospel narratives of the virgin-birth, the wonderful works, the Resurrection, and the Ascension are treated as the invention of the fervid imaginations of the first followers of Jesus; while to cling to them as verities, and to their importance and significance in the work of the worlds salvation, stamps men as laggards in the march of modern speculation. To accept the New Testament story as the fulfillment of predictions in the Old is reckoned by many for ungrounded superstition; and among the unbelieving there are keen eyes still which gladly mark the slips and stumblings of professing Christians, and throw the obloquy of individuals broadcast upon the whole body.
To hold fast faith at such a time, to accept the Gospels as true and their teaching as the words of eternal life, to see in Christ the Redeemer appointed from eternity by the foreknowledge of God, and to believe that in Him His people find-remission of sins, to see and acknowledge above the reign of law the power of the almighty Lawgiver-these things are still beset with trials for those who will live in earnest according to such faith; and if we receive less of the blessing which St. Peter here speaks of as accompanying the reproach of Christ, may we not fear that we exhibit less of the zeal and fervor of the Christians to whom he wrote?
"Because the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you." In the former clause the Apostle, speaking of the joy of believers, exhorted the converts to a present rejoicing, even in the midst of sufferings, because these were borne for Christs sake, that so, when He shall appear in whose name they have suffered, their rejoicing may be still more abundant. In like manner he seems here to regard their blessedness in a double aspect. The Spirit of glory rests upon them. A power is imparted to them whereby they accept their pains gladly, and therein glorify God, and the same Spirit fills them with a sense of future glory. Like Stephen before his persecutors, they become filled with the Holy Ghost, their spirits are lifted heavenwards, and even now they behold the glory of God, and Jesus sitting on the right hand of God. Thus suffering is robbed of its sting, and Christs reproach becomes a present blessing.
St. Paul combines the same thoughts in his appeal to the Roman Christians. "Let us rejoice," he urges, "in the hope of the glory of God". {Rom_5:2} This is the glory to be revealed in the presence of Jesus Christ, that eternal weight of glory which affliction worketh for us more and more exceedingly. But he continues, "Let us rejoice also in our tribulations," knowing that by them we may glorify God in our bodies, and that they are the pledge of glory to come. "For tribulation worketh patience, and patience probation, and probation hope, and hope putteth not to shame"- it will not be disappointed; fruition will surely come-"because the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Ghost which was given unto us." This is the Spirit of God of which St. Peter here speaks. It rests like the cloud of glory above the cherubim, and bestows all spiritual power and blessing; it rests on the suffering believer, and gives him rest.
The Authorized Version has here retained a clause which appears to have been at first but an explanatory note, written in the margin of some copy, and then to have been incorporated with the text: "On their part He is evil-spoken of, but on your part He is glorified." We cannot regret the preservation of such a note. It dates back to very early times. The student who made it could write in the language of the New Testament and in its spirit also. It gives us the sense which was then felt to have most prominence and to be the most important. The way of Christ was evilspoken of, and it could be no strange thing in those days for His followers to be put to fiery trial. Yet the writer feels that the blessedness of the believer is most secured who, regardless of blasphemers around him, strives with all his powers that in his body, whether by life or by death, Christ shall be magnified.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv12–16 12–14. The fiery trials. Persecution. As though a strange…
12–14. The fiery trials. Persecution. As though a strange thing. Christians, with the world against them, must expect to endure such things.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v12 1Pe_4:12. Strange.—Do not be surprised, as if something unreasonable…
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
1Pe_4:12. Strange.—Do not be surprised, as if something unreasonable had happened. No form of suffering can come to Christians as accident. God, with a purpose of grace, is behind all. Fiery trial.—Burning fire. R.V. “among you, which cometh upon you to prove you.” Whether “fiery” is intimation of intensity, or strictly descriptive, does not appear. The word as a symbol is more probable. Martyrdoms by fire may not have begun so early.
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1Pe_4:13. Rejoice.—In one point of view of the sufferings, they bring you into the experience which led to the sanctifying and glorifying of Christ. It will lead through to yours also. Inasmuch as.—Better, “in as far as.” We get the true blessing of affliction only so far as we enter into the mind of the suffering Christ.
1Pe_4:14. If ye be.—This form of expression hints that they had been, were, and might be. Slander and reproach are often harder to bear than suffering in body or in circumstance Spirit of glory.—“Of glory and of power and of God.” The spirit which marks you out as an heir of glory. “The argument is, that reproach for the name of Christ is a proof of glory in reserve, or rather, already belonging to the man.” On their part.—This closing part of the verse is omitted in R.V. The words are an undoubted interpolation. They are not found in the best MSS. and Versions (see “Variorum Bible.”).
1Pe_4:15. The word translated “busy-body” is a peculiar one, and seems to have been coined by St. Peter,—ἀλλοτριοεπίσκοπος—lit. “Bishops of other men’s matters,” claiming rights in matters with which he has no proper concern. Interference is a fruitful source of trouble in all religious, as well as other communities.
1Pe_4:16. Christian.—St. Peter recognises this as the known name of the sect. This fact helps to date the epistle. On this behalf.—In this matter, or in this name; in being “counted worthy to suffer in this name.”
1Pe_4:17. Judgment must begin.—Compare 1Pe_4:5; 1Pe_4:7. “Just about to begin.” House of God.—See 1Ti_3:15 : 1Pe_2:5. End be.—Not the final doom, but the end of the judgment dispensations that St. Peter knew were about to begin.
1Pe_4:18 Scarcely.—With difficulty. Keep association with the calamities immediately coming, which would centre round the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. Apostles thought of this as God’s judgment on the wicked. Illustrate by the singing of the Christians, headed by Olynthus, when the fires of Vesuvius were destroying Pompeii, as given by Bulwer Lytton:
“Woe to the proud ones who defy Him;
Woe to the wicked who deny Him;
Woe to the wicked, woe!”
1Pe_4:19. According to the will of God.—Recognised as permitting, over-ruling, and even apportioning, our suffering lot. Suffering borne for God is sanctified by God. “Stress is laid upon the attribute, or act of creation, as the ground of confidence. He who made the soul is also He who hateth nothing that He hath made.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—1Pe_4:12-19
Christian Suffering No Surprise.—The burning fire is the symbol of afflictions and persecutions. The mind of the apostle goes back once more to those afflictions which the Christians of the Dispersion were, at that time, called to endure (1Pe_1:6-7, 1Pe_2:19-21, 1Pe_3:15-17). All who profess the faith in Christ must take into full account the fact that only “through much tribulation” can any man enter the kingdom.
“The path of sorrow, and that path alone,
Leads to the place where sorrow is unknown.”
Christian suffering should be no surprise because—
I. It is needed for proving us.—“The fiery trial cometh upon you to prove you.” That is not precisely the same thing as to discipline you. The cases of Abraham, Job, and the Lord Jesus, show that proving the good, by suffering experiences, is the condition of advance in spiritual life and power. The poet “learns in suffering what he teaches in song.” And the Christian’s power to serve is a product of his trying experiences.
II. It does but bring us into the line of Christ.—We have solved the mystery of our sufferings when we have solved the mystery of His. “Though He were a son, yet learned He obedience by the things that He suffered.” He was “made perfect through suffering to be a bringer on of sons to glory.” Moral power cannot be gained, save in Christ’s way.
III. It is the medium for conveying special grace to us (1Pe_4:14).—“The Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you.” These afflictions are the special agencies of the Spirit, and signs of unusual interest in you, concern for you, and purposes for you.
IV. It is best seen as part of the Divine judgment on the race.—Which you are bearing vicariously, in order that you may be ministers of the Divine mercy that always blends with judgment.
V. It may be difficult to endure these afflictions well.—“The righteous is scarcely saved.” You must put your whole heart and effort into the enduring, since the perils are so extreme. Life well-nigh masters everybody, with its strain and stress. Only the grace of God, sanctifying the most constant and careful watchfulness, gets even the righteous man through. Christian living is no easy thing.
VI. Suffering in well-doing can only be borne to right issues when there is full trust in God, and the absolute committal of ourselves to Him in well-doing.—“In the acceptance of sufferings as being according to the will of God, much more is meant than the mere submission to an inevitable destiny. If we really think of pain and persecution as working out God’s will, permitted and controlled by Him, we know that that will is righteous and loving, planning nothing less than our completeness in holiness (1Th_4:3), the will of which we daily pray that it may be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Dean Plumptre).
A. J. Mason, in “Ellicott’s Commentary,” paraphrases 1Pe_4:19 thus: “Consider the mildness of these trials compared with the terrors overhanging the sinful. Even if the worst should come to the worst, and you must die a martyr’s death, it is but the execution of God’s plan for you. View your life as a deposit lay it confidently in His hands, to be returned to you again when the time comes, and you will find Him faithful to what a Creator ought to be.” The “will of God,” in accordance with which they “suffer,” is part of the act of creation. The term “faithful Creator “contains the idea that the act of creation mposes duties and responsibilities on the Creator. In the Greek the words “in well-doing” are made emphatic by being placed last in the sentence. Punishment is the word for suffering which attends on wrong-doing. Discipline is the word for suffering which comes to frail-doing. Sanctifying is the proper word for suffering which is associated with well-doing.
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
1Pe_4:15. Busybodies.—It is but one word in the original (meaning), as bishops in another’s diocese, as pryers into other men’s matters, as pragmatical persons that meddle with other men’s concernments, without cause or call. It is not suffering for evil-doing, but suffering for well-doing, that carries the crown (2Ti_2:12). It is not just, but unjust suffering, that hath the recompense of reward annexed to it (1Pe_3:14; 1Pe_4:14). It is not sufferers for the evil of sin, nor sufferers of the evil of sin; but sufferers of the evil of punishment, for the avoiding of the evil of sin, whose cause is good.—Brooks.
Bishops of Those Without.—“Others, through excess of zeal, declaimed aloud against the Pagans, and cast their vices in their teeth. Their more sensible brethren humorously called them “bishops,” or “overseers of those who are without” (Renan). Such is, indeed, the meaning of the droll word which St. Peter here gives: except that, instead of “bishops of those without,” it means “bishops of other men’s matters.” It denotes those prying and self-important people, who fancy they can. set everything to rights, and that everybody they come across is under their personal jurisdiction. Such persons would tend to make Christianity unpopular among the unbelievers, and in case of persecution would be the first to “suffer” (i.e., to be picked out for martyrdom); and while flattering themselves for the boldness with which they had spoken out, they would incur St. Peter’s censure, and their martyrdom would be reckoned no martyrdom by the Church. “Cruel mishaps,” continues M. Renan, “befell them; and the wise directors of the community, so far from extolling them, told them pretty plainly that it did but serve them right.”—A. J. Mason, M.A.
1Pe_4:17-19. The Time of Visitation.—A new reason is here introduced why Christians should suffer gladly for their Lord’s sake. He will deliver them from the terrible judgments which are about to burst on the ungodly, and their souls will find rest in God, to whom they commit themselves as to a faithful Creator.
I. The visitation of judgment.—
1. Its beginning. When St. Peter wrote, the city and temple of Jerusalem were still standing, but were threatened. The coming visitation affected believers as discipline, before it affected the ungodly as judgment.
2. Its progress. “What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God.” If the sons are chastised, what have the rebels to expect? Not with impunity shall any one, on any grounds whatever, disobey the gospel of God.
3. Its results. The righteous are saved with difficulty. In consequence of the severity of the trial, and their own weakness, they barely escape the judgments of the Most High (illustrated by the haste of the escape of the Christians to Pella). The ungodly are those who care not for God; sinners are those who make a trade of sin. What will be their doom?
II. The lesson to believers.—Drawn from these facts:
1. An exhortation to those who suffer according to the will of God. They never suffer but when God wills, and He will not always chide, nor lay upon them more than they are able to bear.
2. What are such sufferers to do? Commit the keeping of their souls to God, and put all their strength into well-doing.
3. The encouragement to do this arises from the fact that He is “a faithful Creator.”—Thornley Smith.
Suffering a Common Experience.—All Christians are not tried as the Christians to whom Peter wrote—the Christians at the close of the Jewish dispensation; but all Christians meet with afflictions, and meet with afflictions because they are Christians; all suffer, and all suffer as Christians. We must never think ill of a cause merely because it is persecuted, nor indulge dark thoughts respecting the spiritual state and prospects of men merely because they are very severely afflicted. The absence of trial is a worse sign than what we may be disposed to think the excess of trial. It is not exposure to trial, but the endurance of trial, in “a patient continuance in well-doing,” that is a characteristic mark of those who obey the gospel of God.—Dr. J. Brown.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 4
1Pe_4:16. The Name “Christian.”—“There are only three places in the New Testament where the name Christian occurs. It is plain that for a long time there was no commonly recognised term of this kind. Hence they are called variously, “they that believed” (Act_2:44), “the disciples” (Act_6:1), “those of the way” (Act_9:2), etc. Again, the name of Nazarenes was applied to them by the Jews, as a term of reproach, but plainly arose before the extension of the faith to the Gentiles. It was at Antioch that the large accession of Gentiles first made it impossible to look upon them merely as a Jewish sect, and required the use of some more distinctive title. It was natural, therefore, that the use of such a title should first prevail at Antioch. When the book [Acts of the Apostles] was written, towards the close of Paul’s imprisonment at Home, the formation of churches in the chief cities of almost every province would awaken inquiry as to the origin of this new name, that was already in every one’s mouth. How suitable, then, would be this passing remark of the historian (Act_11:26), to show when and where it began to be current!—Birks.
Called Christians.—The word χρηματίσαι, used by St. Luke (“they were called”), implies the thing to have been done by some public and solemn act and declaration of the whole Church; such being the use of the word in the imperial edicts and proclamations of those times, the emperors being said χρηματἱζειν “to style themselves,” when they publicly proclaimed by what titles they would be called.… Such being the general acceptation of the word, St. Luke (who was himself a native of this city) makes use of it to express that solemn declaration whereby the disciples of the religion entitled themselves to the name of Christians.—Cave.
1Pe_4:17. The Danger of Unbelief.—In one of the popular books of the present day there is a story told of “The Sunken Rock.” A vessel, named the Thetis, was cruising in the Mediterranean, in search of a shoal or bank, or something of that kind, said to exist beneath the treacherous waters. The captain, after he had adopted all the means he thought necessary, having failed, abandoned the enterprise, declaring “that the reported danger was all a dream.” An officer on board formed a different judgment, went out by himself on an expedition afterwards into the very same latitude and longitude, and there discovered a reef of rocks, which he reported to the Admiralty, and it was inserted in the charts, the discoverer being rewarded with a high appointment. The intelligence came to the captain’s ears; he would not believe in the discovery. He was a shrewd, clever, practical man, but unscientific, incredulous, and obstinate. “The whole thing is a falsehood,” he exclaimed; adding, “If ever I have the keel of the Thetis under me in those waters again, if I don’t carry her clean over where the chart marks a rock, call me a liar and no seaman.” Two years after, he was conveying in the same vessel the British Ambassador to Naples. One windy night he and the master were examining the chart on deck by the light of the lantern, when the latter pointed out the sunken rock on the map. “What!” exclaimed the old seaman, “is this invention to meet me in the teeth again? No; I swore I would sail over that spot the first chance I had, and I’ll do it.” He went down into the cabin, merrily related the story to the company, and said, “Within five minutes we shall have passed the spot.” There was a pause. Then, taking out his watch, he said, “Oh, the time is past. We have gone over the wonderful reef.” But presently a grating touch was felt on the ship’s keel, then a sudden shock, a tremendous crash—the ship had foundered. Through great exertions most of the crew were saved, but the captain would not survive his own mad temerity, and the last seen of him was his white figure, bareheaded, and in his shirt, from the dark hull of the Thetis, as the foam burst round her bows and stem, He perished, a victim of unbelief. So perish multitudes.
1Pe_4:18. Scarcely Saved.—There is such a fate as being saved, yet so as by fire, going into the brightness with the smell of fire on your garments.—A. Maclaren, D.D.
CHAPTER 5
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v12 12. “Beloved, be not jostled by the fiery ordeal…
ARGUMENT 21
BLOODY MARTYRDOM IN VIEW
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12. “Beloved, be not jostled by the fiery ordeal which is among you for your testing, as something foreign happening to you.” At the time of this writing the great Roman Empire, belting the globe, was racking with the pent-up fires of martyrdom, like a surging volcano, just ready to explode and inundate the saints in deadly persecutions. Peter saw it moving in prophetic panorama. In little time he and Paul and many others sealed heir faith with their blood. Nero, the cruel tyrant, issued the murderous edict, which was repeated by his successors, till three hundred years of blood and slaughter had rolled away. Meanwhile the Christians were put to death by every conceivable torture Satan could invent, and especially were they fed to the lions in the Coliseum, for the nightly entertainment of one hundred thousand cruel spectators; these bloody martyrdoms sweeping right down to the conversion of the Emperor Constantine.
13. Peter fervently exhorted the saints of all ages to rejoice in all their persecutions, in order that they may shout victory when the Lord is revealed from heaven.
14. He assured us that when we suffer reproach or persecutions in the name of Christ, at that very time the Spirit of glory and of God is resting upon us. Under these inspiring apostolical exhortations, corroborated by their example, exultantly submitting to bloody martyrdom, no wonder the primitive Christians not only heroically brooked the persecutionary storms, but the glowing enthusiasm to wear the martyr’s crown, became the absorbing sensation of the age.
15, 16. With unreproachable lives, loyal to the ruling powers, Peter exhorts them that all their sufferings are to supervene simply in the attitude Christians.
17. The bloody persecutions seen by Peter’s prophetic eye in panoramic visions, kept the Church pure three centuries, till the great Constantinian apostasy, which supervened upon the cessation of the persecutions. Of course, the persecutions could only come by the permissive providence of God, who made them a great source of blessing to His true people. It seemed that millions must add their blood to that of Jesus to confirm the glorious plan of salvation and make a fixture in the world. If the righteous judgments of God are so terrible with His people, what will be the “end of them that obey not the Gospel of God.” Those who do not pass the terrible judgment ordeals in this world, utterly destroying carnality, must meet them in hell and endure them through all eternity, as the judgment fires in this world only can consume sin, and thus help us to win our probation, while in the world to come probation being lost, they will eternally condemn the soul itself.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv12, 15 The Christians partakers of Christ’s sufferings:
The Christians partakers of Christ’s sufferings:
v. 12. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you;
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v. 13. but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
v. 14. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon you; on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
This section marks the beginning of the third and last part of the letter, in which the apostle once more returns to the theme of the suffering of the Christians: Beloved, do not think it strange because of the ordeal which is in your midst for your testing, as if something strange befell you. St. Peter purposely addresses his readers in the language of intimate friendship, in order to make his words all the more impressive. They should not be surprised or taken aback, they should not look upon it as unusual or strange, that they were just then passing through an ordeal which tried them very sorely. It was just as though the heat of tribulation had become so great in their midst as to cause a fierce fire, an experience which certainly was unpleasant to the flesh. For in reality these experiences were not foreign or strange to them, but were necessary for the proper testing of their faith.
And even more the apostle expects of them: But in the measure as you are partakers of the sufferings of Christ, rejoice, in order that also in the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. The sufferings of the Christians which come upon them as Christians are the same sufferings which struck their Lord and Master, since they are hated and persecuted by the children of the world. For a Christian it is a mark of distinction, and therefore a reason for rejoicing and being happy, to know that he has been counted worthy to follow in his Master’s footsteps also in this respect, Act 5:41. The Christians should have this feeling, that their inner happiness must increase to the very point of exultation as their sufferings increase, the culmination being reached on the day when their Lord will be revealed in glory and their everlasting enjoyment of His glory in heaven will begin. This was the secret of the patience, of the steadfastness, of the endurance of the martyrs, this was the power which sustained them in the midst of the most cruel and inhuman sufferings, their joy in the Lord, their certainty that they would become partakers of His glory on the last day.
From the revelation of the last day the apostle returns to the consideration of the present situation: But if you are reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you, for the spirit of glory and of God Himself is resting upon you; with them He is blasphemed, but with you He is glorified, That is the fate of the believers in this world: they are denounced, they are reproached because they bear the name of Christ, because they belong to Him, Mat 5:11. This scorn and contempt of the world is often more difficult to bear than oppression and persecution. The Christians are ostracized and regarded as narrow-minded fools, whose low state of intelligence does not permit men of learning to associate with them. And yet the Christians are blessed in the sight of God, and should consider themselves fortunate, because the Spirit of Glory, the Spirit of God Himself, has made His abode with them, is resting upon them. This Spirit had been promised by the Lord as the great Comforter, who was to give the disciples that assistance which they needed over against the enmity and hatred of the world, Joh 15:26-27; Joh 16:1-4. The Spirit, whom we have received by faith, in Baptism, rests upon us like a protecting hand, which reduces, in a measure, the fierceness of tribulation. He is the Spirit of Glory and therefore always increases the assurance of the believers with regard to their eventual possession of the heavenly glory, Rom 8:23; Eph 1:14. And He is the Spirit of the Father, He knows the heart and mind of the Father, He assures the Christians ever and again that God is still on their side. Thus it is a blessed advantage which the Christians have from their sufferings in the world, and they are brought into closer communion with their heavenly Father with every new day, praising the Holy Spirit as their Comforter and Friend, even though He be blasphemed by the children of the world.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 15 the testing in the fire that has happened to…
the testing in the fire that has happened to you
In the same way that fire refines gold, trials test and refine a person's faith. (See: Metaphor)
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rejoice and be glad
These two phrases mean basically the same thing and emphasize the intensity of joy. AT: "rejoice even more" or "be very glad" (See: Doublet)
at the revealing of his glory
"when God reveals Christ's glory"
If you are insulted for Christ's name
Here the word "name" refers to Christ himself. This can be stated in active form. AT: "If people insult you because you believe in Christ" (See: Active or Passive and Metonymy)
the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God
Both of these refer to the Holy Spirit. AT: "the Spirit of glory, who is the Spirit of God" or "the glorious Spirit of God" (See: Parallelism)
is resting on you
is staying with you
translationWords
beloved
test
suffer
Christ
joy
reveal
glory
bless
Holy Spirit
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 13, 14, 16 4:12-19 Peter instructs Christians one last time about the…
4:12-19 Peter instructs Christians one last time about the way to face the trials that will inevitably come.
4:12 don’t be surprised: Christians, especially those seeking to lead godly lives, can expect to face the hostility of a sinful world (see John 16:33; Acts 14:22; Rom 8:17; Phil 1:29).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.