1 Peter 4:1

The visible divisions in this chapter are: (1) the security of the faithful in judgment (1 Peter 4:1-6); (2) the destruction of Jerusalem prophesied (1 Peter 4:7-11); (3) special instructions to the Christians as the approaching terror develops (1 Peter 4:12-19).

Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye yourselves also with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; (1 Peter 4:1)

Christ suffered in the flesh ... This merely means "For as Christ died."

Arm ye yourselves also with the same mind ... This is equivalent to Paul's "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5).

He that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin ... This does not mean that Christ, after suffering, rested from sin; on the other hand, the entire final clause of the verse regards the status of Christians. As Caffin said, "The apostle first spoke of the Master, then turned to the disciple.[1] The thing primarily in view here is exactly the Christian teaching expounded by Paul in Romans 6:1-11; and Barclay said of that passage in this context, "We think that is what Peter is thinking here."[2] As baptized believers in Christ, Peter's readers, so soon to undergo persecutions are here admonished to live above sin. "In Christ" they are already dead to sin; they must live above it. As Kelcy said, "Not that the one who has ceased from sin is without sin, but that his life is not a life of sin (1 John 1:8,10).[3] The thought of this whole verse is that, just as Christ's suffering preceded his glorification, so also, for the Christian, his death to sin, and the patient endurance even of physical death itself, if necessary, shall likewise precede a similar glorification for him.[4]

[1] B. C. Caffin, Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 22,1Peter (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing House, 1950), p. 170.

[2] William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976), p. 247.

[3] Raymond C. Kelcy, The Letters of Peter and Jude (Austin, Texas: R.B. Sweet Company, 1972), p. 82.