1 Peter 4:12-19

1 Peter 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

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.

1 Peter 4:12. Beloved.—This address, as in 1 Peter 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,” 1 Peter 1:7, Steiger.—τῇ ἐν ὑμῖν πυρώσει. πύρωσις=burning, ignition, kindling, fire while burning, from πυροῦμαι, 2 Peter 3:12; Revelation 18:9; Proverbs 27:21; LXX. Zechariah 13:9. It is a simile of great tribulations, which burn like fire, but conduce to proof.—[Cf. also Psalms 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. 1 Peter 1:7; James 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.

1 Peter 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 1 Peter 1:11; cf. 1 Peter 2:21; 1 Peter 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. Romans 8:17; Romans 8:29; 2 Timothy 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; 1 Peter 1:7; 1 Peter 1:11.—χαρῆτε , cf. 1 Peter 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, Matthew 10:38-39; Matthew 16:24-25; Luke 9:23-24; Luke 14:27; John 12:26; John 14:3; John 17:24; Matthew 5:12; Luke 6:22-23. The real life-communion with Christ, as we find it described in the writings of Paul, is not affirmed here.

1 Peter 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). John 17:6; John 17:26; John 1:12; Acts 3:16; Acts 4:12; Hebrews 2:12, also=order, command. Here in its proper sense =the name and whatever it involves. Mark 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. 1 Peter 4:16. ὡς χριστιανός, and Matthew 5:11; Luke 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, James 2:7.

Blessed are ye—resteth upon you.—μακάριοι, cf. 1 Peter 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. 1 Peter 1:8. Hence Paul, in the further development of this thought, called the Spirit the earnest of the inheritance, Ephesians 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 .—The reference appears to be to Isaiah 11:2; cf. 2 Kings 2:15.Luke 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. (Daniel 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.]

1 Peter 4:15. For let none of you—pryer into other men’s matters.—Here the Apostle takes up the preceding blessedness (μακάριοι, 1 Peter 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, 1 Peter 2:20; 1 Peter 3:17. This is expressed first negatively, then positively. Here is an evident allusion to Matthew 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, Ephesians 4:28.—κακοποιός, cf. 1 Peter 2:12; 1 Peter 2:14; 1 Peter 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, 2 Thessalonians 3:11. Cyprian: alienas euros agens, cf. 1 Timothy 5:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:11; Luke 12:14. [ὁ επισκεπτόμενος τὰ . 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.]

1 Peter 4:16. But if (he suffer) as a Christian.—The name Christian appears at that time to have been adopted by believers, Acts 11:26; Acts 26:28. In the opinion of their enemies, the name was infamous, and so we must understand it here, cf. 1 Peter 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. Romans 1:16 : 2 Timothy 1:8; 2 Timothy 1:12. Such sufferings conduce not to shame, but to honour; “they are precious jewels in the sight of God.” Calov. Acts 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., 1 Peter 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 1 Peter 3:16. ἐν ᾦ καταλαλῶσιν, they were to glorify God in the very thing for which they were slandered, viz.: their faith in Christ.

1 Peter 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, Jeremiah 25:29; Jeremiah 10:13; Jeremiah 14:18-19; Jeremiah 49:12; Amos 3:14; Ezekiel 9:6; Ezekiel 21:4; Hebrews 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, 1 Peter 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 1 Corinthians 11:28; 1 Corinthians 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. Luke 23:30; Matthew 25:41; Revelation 6:15-17; Revelation 9:11-15; Rom 2:5; 2 Thessalonians 1:6.

At the house of God.—Cf. 1 Peter 2:5; 1 Timothy 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. Luke 23:31; Jeremiah 49:12; Psalms 1:6.—τῶν .—Cf. 1 Peter 2:8; 1 Peter 3:20; John 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.].

1 Peter 4:18. If the righteous hardly is saved.—The thought of 1 Peter 4:17 is verified and strengthened by the verbatim quotation of Proverbs 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, Matthew 24:12-13; Matthew 24:22; Matthew 24:24.—μόλις, with difficulty, with hard pains and not without suffering.—ποῦ φανεῖται, Psalms 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.

1 Peter 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), 1 Peter 1:6; 1 Peter 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 1 Peter 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, 1 Peter 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.—1 Peter 3:17; 1 Peter 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, Acts 4:24. [Oecumenius:—ἀσφαλὴς καὶ .—M.]—παρατιθέσθωσαν.—As Christ’s dying words were: “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit,” Luke 23:46; cf. 1 Peter 1:9.—He is the most trusty Guardian of our souls, Psalms 31:6; Ecclesiastes 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 .—In well-doings. The apposition goes back to 1 Peter 4:15 and 1 Peter 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. Matthew 10:28; 1Co 10:13; 2 Peter 2:9; Psalms 138:8; Psalms 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, Hebrews 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. 1 Peter 4:17 is not in conflict with John 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. Malachi 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, Matthew 16:22, and of rejoicing in suffering with Christ, Acts 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, John 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. Lamentations 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, Ezekiel 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, 1 John 2:27, and thy duty, to follow Him, Matthew 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, Psalms 32:10, while the godly simply hold and taste the cup of God, the ungodly have to drink the very dregs, Psalms 75:9.—Unbelief is the greatest sin and the real cause of the temporal and eternal judgments of God, Mark 16:16.—Let none envy the prosperity of the wicked: alas! it will fare ill with them in eternity, unless they repent, Psalms 73:12.—A true Christian ought neither to cause his own sufferings, nor wish for them, but commit everything to the will of God, 1 Samuel 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, John 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:

1 Peter 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, Isaiah 43:2, preserving him that he loses nothing except dross, which is a gainful loss, leaving only his corruption behind him.

1 Peter 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.”

1 Peter 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. James 3:6.—M.]

[Macknight:

1 Peter 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, 1 Peter 1:7, to which the Apostle alludes.—M.]

[1 Peter 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: 

1 Peter 4:12; 1 Peter 4:12. [μὴ ξενίζεσθε, Pass., see 1 Peter 4:4, “be not astonished at.” On the construction of this Verb with the Dative, see Winer, p. 222.—M.]

1 Peter 4:12; 1 Peter 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.]

1 Peter 4:12; 1 Peter 4:12. [ὡς=as if.—M.]

1 Peter 4:12; 1 Peter 4:12. [ξένου συμβαίνοντος ὑμῖν=“some strange thing were happening to you.—M.]

1 Peter 4:13; 1 Peter 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. Romans 8:26; 2 Corinthians 8:12.—M.]

1 Peter 4:13; 1 Peter 4:13. [κοινωνεῖτε τοῖς κ. τ. λ.=“ye are partakers with the sufferings of Christ.”—M.]

1 Peter 4:13; 1 Peter 4:13. [Translate, “In order that ye may also at (=in) the revelation of his glory rejoice.”—M.]

1 Peter 4:13; 1 Peter 4:13. [ἀγαλλιώμενοι=exulting, Participle.—M.]

1 Peter 4:14; 1 Peter 4:14. [“If ye are reproached,” εἰ with Indicative.—M.]

1 Peter 4:14; 1 Peter 4:14. [ἐν ὀνόματι=in the name of Christ, cf. Matthew 5:11; 1 Peter 3:14.—M.]

1 Peter 4:14; 1 Peter 4:14. [μακάριοι=blessed are ye.—M.]

1 Peter 4:14; 1 Peter 4:14. [ὅτι=because, it gives the reason why they are blessed.—M.]

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1 Peter 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.]

1 Peter 4:14; 1 Peter 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.]

1 Peter 4:15; 1 Peter 4:15. [γὰρ=for.—M.]

1 Peter 4:15; 1 Peter 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.]

1 Peter 4:16; 1 Peter 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.]

1 Peter 4:17; 1 Peter 4:17. [ὅτι ὁ καιρὸς=because it is the season, Alford; (because) it is time, German.—M.]

1 Peter 4:17; 1 Peter 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.]

1 Peter 4:18; 1 Peter 4:18. [μόλις=with difficulty, hardly (German).—M.]

1 Peter 4:18; 1 Peter 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.]

1 Peter 4:19; 1 Peter 4:19. [ὥστε καὶ κ. τ. λ.=wherefore let also them who suffer, etc.—M.]

1 Peter 4:19; 1 Peter 4:19. Tischendorf reads ἀγαθοποιΐᾳ, a more authentic reading than ἀγαθοποιΐαις.

1 Peter 4:19; 1 Peter 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.]