First Peter 4:1-19

I Peter 4:1-6:

^4:1Therefore, Christ having suffered in flesh, also you must arm-yourselves-with the same mind-purpose-within, because the (one) having suffered in flesh was stopped² from sin ^.2with-a-view-for (you) to live the remaining-on time in flesh no-longer in (the) intense-yearnings of men but in (the) intention of God – ^.3for the time having gone-by² (is) sufficient to render-to-work the deliberate-determination of the Gentiles having journeyed² in licentiousnesses, intense-yearnings, wine-drunkennesses, revelries, drinkings, and unlawful idolatries, ^.4in which blaspheming they think-strange of your not running-together (with them) into the same pouring-forth of the unsavedness, ^.5the (people who) will give-away a word to the (one) having prepared to judge (people) living and dead-people, ^.6for into this it was good-messaged also to dead-people in order that they may be judged indeed according to men in flesh but they may live according to God in spirit.

Following-on logically (from I Peter chapter 3)…

since it is after the occurrence of Christ having suffered (experienced, was affected by things)
- within flesh (the physical natural body with its soul/breath life, the flesh category),

…also emphatically you must arm yourselves (put on the weapons, tools, implements of war/battle needed for protection, offense and defense) with the same mind-purpose-within (the same concept arrived at following your mind’s consideration, the same attitude, the same resolve, resolution)…

because the one (Christ) who previously suffered in flesh was stopped (caused to come to an end, made to cease) and continues stopped from sin (refer to I Peter 3:18 and Romans 6:10)
with a view (the purposed objective being) for you to be alive progressing through your everyday living for the rest of the chronological time you have within your flesh (your current physical bodies with its soul-life)
- not any longer within the cause and sphere of action of the intense-yearnings of men (the lusts, here used in the bad sense, the strong-desires that attach or fix upon certain objects other-than God and the things of God, which belong-to, pertain-to, issue or proceed from men, referring to the natural/physical category)
- but on the contrary, within the cause and sphere of action of the intention of God (God's will, His active volition and desire).

The truth is that the chronological time (the duration, quantity, length of time) that has already gone-by and is still gone-by (passed beside or alongside) is sufficient (adequate, satisfied with enough, suffices, its enough and so there should not be anymore) – the time to do what? – the time…

to render to work (cause to effect, effectively bring-down, achieve) the deliberate determination of the Gentiles (the purposed will of the people belonging to nations other-than Israel/Judah who do not believe what God says)
- when you journeyed and it is still a fact that you journeyed (traveled or passed from one location to another, lived your everyday lives) within the cause and sphere of action of
  - licentiousnesses (debaucheries),
  - intense-yearnings (as verse 2 above),
  - wine-drunkennesses (bubbling or overflowing with wine as the result of the excessive drinking of wine),
  - revelries (as the merrymaking after feasts dedicated to the devil and his devil-spirits such as the false-god bacchus or Chemosh),
  - drinkings (carousings, bouts or sessions of drinking alcohol),
  - and unlawful idolatries (practicing rites and rituals of worship and service to so-called 'gods,' instead of only worshipping and serving the one-and-only true God Who is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ – idolatries are forbidden by God’s law, they are against God’s custom),
in which blaspheming (during the actions of their deliberate determination the Gentiles are speaking evilly, calumniating, treating God and the things of God with lack of Godly reverential respect)
- they think strange (it is thought of as foreign to/by them, something unfamiliar, not belonging to their way of living, they are amazed)
- of/regarding the fact that you are not running (hastening, hurrying, quickly moving) in conjunction with them
- into the same pouring forth of the unsavedness (the same flood or overflowing of the evidence of the life and character of an unsaved person, a person who does not believe what God says and therefore lacks holy spirit-life)
these are the people who will at a future time give away from themselves a word (a spoken account)
- to the one having prepared (who is presently and actively holding in readiness, he is ready)
  - to judge people living and dead-people (the Lord Jesus Christ, on behalf of God his Father, will make the decision, pronounce sentence in judgment on the people who will be alive when the time comes and the people who will have already died by that time; dead-people have no life at all in them until they will be caused to rise from death at a future time to receive judgment).

In truth, into/for this (with a view to, directed to this objective) it was good-messaged (information regarding the Christ was evangelized, the gospel was preached) also to dead-people (who have already died; it was preached to them while they were still alive but now they are dead)…

for the purpose and result that
- on the one hand, they may be judged according to men in flesh (they would have a decision made, a sentence pronounced in judgment regarding their everyday living while they were alive before they died, in accordance with mankind within the flesh category)
- but on the other hand, they may live according to God in spirit (they would be alive in accordance with God within the spirit category; refer also to I Peter 1:3 and 21, 3:15-18).

[Reference: Genesis 3:15; Matthew 12:36; Luke 24:26 and 46; John 5:24-30; Acts 3:18, 5:42, 10:34-42, 17:3 and 31; Romans 2:16, chapter 6, 8:2, 3 and 10, 10:14-21, 12:2, 13:11-14, 14:9-12; I Corinthians 5:7, 10:14, 15:3, 4, 17 and 51-58; II Corinthians 5:10, 16 and 21, 6:7, 10:4; Galatians 1:3 and 4, 5:19-21 and 24; Ephesians 5:18, 6:6 and 10-18; Colossians 1:14, 3:5-7; I Thessalonians 4:13-18, 5:18; II Timothy 4:1; Titus 1:6; Hebrews 1:3, 2:17, 4:12, 7:27, 9:24-28 and chapter 10; I Peter 1:14, 2:15, 16 and 21-23, 3:15-18; Revelation 20:11-15.]

Verse 7(a):

^.7(a)But the completion of all-things came-near².

The completion (complete-thing, ending-issue, fulfillment) of all-things has actively come near and is still near (has drawn near, come close, it has approached close-by).

The hope that we holy-people have is Christ’s coming to gather us all together with him in the air and receiving everything that God has promised us in Christ, and then he will continue to carry-out God’s intention and we will be with him. Christ is our hope of glory.

[Reference: Romans 13:11 and 12; I Corinthians 10:11, 15:23-28; Hebrews 6:11; James 5:8; I Peter 1:5 and 9. For further details on future events, you may read my studies on I Thessalonians chapter 4, II Thessalonians, chapter 15 of I Corinthians, and the Book of Revelation. Chart ]

Verses 7(b)-11:

^.7(b)Therefore you must soundly-think and be sober into prayers; ^.8before all-things having the stretched-out love¹ into yourselves because love¹ covers a multitude of sins; ^.9loving-strangers into one-another without murmuring; ^.10according as each-person received a gracious-gift (you must be) ministering it into yourselves as beautiful stewards of (the) variegated grace of God – ^.11if someone utters-forth, as declared-words of God; if someone ministers, as out-from (the) strength which God supplies – in order that in all-things God may be glorified by means of Jesus Christ, to Whom is the glory and the strongness into the ages of the ages, with-certainty.

Following-on logically…

you must soundly think (have thoughts in your minds that are sound, safe in God’s viewpoint, with prudence, thoughts in alignment with your salvation)
and be sober (literally this would refer to being free from intoxicants, but it is used figuratively here by Peter meaning: be in control of your minds and bodies so that you are alert and receptive to what God and/or the Lord Jesus Christ may want to make known to you, and that you are not in a stupor, a daze, lethargic)
- into prayers (with a view to your communications to/with God, regarding your general speaking towards/with God);
before (in front of, ahead of) all-things having the stretched-out love¹ into yourselves (holding God’s kind of love extended fervently and earnestly directed to/for yourselves)
- because love¹ covers a multitude of sins (God’s kind of love conceals a numerous amount of the fullness of sins which someone may have committed in the walk/behavior category);
  - [The word "love¹" or the verb "to love¹" comes from the Greek word agape which is God's kind of love. To love with His love means to love the same way as God loves, to manifest God's love towards another, whether it is towards God Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, yourself, your Christian neighbor, or towards anyone else. God tells His children today (all who have the spirit of Christ within us) how to Godly-love by means of His previously-revealed written Word and also via our holy spirit-life whereby we receive information from Him regarding how to love in different specific situations. It is the carrying out of God's commandments, His Word, which is the correct usage or way to manifest God's kind of love according to His will (refer to I Corinthians chapter 13 and I John 5:1-3). It is not the same as the brotherly or friendly kind of love, nor is it the same as the emotional/feelings/sexual kind of love.]
loving-strangers (lovers of strangers, being hospitable towards guests, foreigners, those who are not immediate family members with the brotherly or friendly kind of love)
- into (with a view to, directed to) one-another
- without murmuring (apart from grumbled discontent or complaint);
according as each-person received a gracious-gift….

By using the word “each” instead of “all” Peter emphasizes that the recipient receives it himself/herself individually, particularly, singly, distinctly. A gracious-gift is something freely-given with/by the grace of God and/or of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the result, product, or effect of the action of graciously giving so that the recipient may utilize it appropriately. Every holy-person/Christian has already received the free-gift of holy spirit, and any added information, assignment, etc, given to any holy-person is given by grace (refer to I Corinthians 12:4). It is a gracious-gift to the recipient. It is unmerited or undeserved on the recipient’s part because it is not given as a wage or a corresponding-reward for something he/she had or had-not done.

Continuing with what Peter wrote:

according as each-person received a gracious-gift (just as, according to how, in the way that each of you received/took a gracious-gift that was given to you to use)
- you must be ministering it into yourselves (serving that same gracious gift to bestow benefit to one-another, actively doing work pertaining to the gracious gift itself to bring profit to all of you, carrying-out your day-by-day ministerial duties, your duties of service pertaining to God and the things of God directed to yourselves; refer to I Corinthians 12:5)
- as beautiful stewards (house-managers, administrators of God's household-matters who have the quality of a manifested decorous, harmonious and acceptable goodness)
- pertaining to the manifold grace of/from God (God’s bestowing unmerited or undeserved favor towards you in various ways) –
if someone utters-forth (since it is a fact that one of you speaks),
- as declared-words of God (what is spoken should be the uttered accounts of God’s inner thoughts, His spoken sentences as each being little or brief words, the collection of words originating from God that were spoken to that person for him to speak to another);
if someone ministers (serves to bestow benefit to others, actively does work to bring profit to others, carries-out his/her day-by-day ministerial duties, the duties of service pertaining to God and the things of God),
- as out-from the strength which God supplies (what is served should be originating from the inherent strength, the strength that you have which God adds, furnishes to you as leading a chorus of dancers and singers and so He supplies the necessary costs and provisions for that strength joyfully to you) –
for the purpose and result that in all things (everything, whether words or actions) God would be glorified (be given the importance, splendor, renown) by means of Jesus Christ (through Jesus Christ),
- to Whom (God) presently and actively is
- the glory (the glory belongs-to and is due-to God, He should be given the ultimate importance, splendor and renown)
- and the strongness (the exerted-force, power-in-effect, exerted-strength)
- into the ages of the ages (for the durations of lifetimes throughout the durations of lifetimes – not only one age or a group of ages, but emphatically for all the durations of life, the entirety, for eternity, forever),
  - with-certainty (amen, truly, surely!).

[Reference: Acts 6:1-7; Matthew 25:34-46; Romans 1:11, 11:36, chapter 12, 16:27; I Corinthians 1:7, 4:1 and 2, 7:7, and chapters 12-14; Galatians 1:5; Ephesians 1:19, 2:5-9, 3:21, chapter 4, 6:10; Philippians 2:14, 4:20; Colossians 1:11; I Thessalonians 5:6 and 8; I Timothy 1:17, 3:2, 4:14, 6:16; II Timothy 1:6-14, 4:5 and 18; Titus 1:8, 2:6; Hebrews 1:8, 5:12, 13:2 and 21; James 5:19 and 20; I Peter 1:13.]

Verses 12-19:

^.12Loved-people¹, you must not think-strange on the fire among you coming-to-pass towards a temptation to you as of a strange-thing coming-together to you, ^.13but you must joy according to that-which you share-in-common with the sufferings of Christ in order that exulting also you may joy in the revelation of his glory. ^.14If you are reproached in (the) name of Christ (you are) happy-people because the spirit of glory even the (spirit) of God rests-itself-up on you; ^.15for someone of you must not suffer as a murderer or a thief or a bad-doer or as another’s-overseer, ^.16but if (someone suffers) as a Christian he must not be caused-shame but he must glorify God in this name ^.17because (it is) the time of beginning the judgment from the house of God; but if firstly from us, what (will be) the completion of the (people) being un-persuaded by the good-message of God? ^.18And “if the righteous-person is saved with-difficulty, where will the not-reverential-person and sinner bring-himself-to-light?” – ^.19so-that also the (people) suffering according to the intention of God must put their souls beside the believable Creator in good-doing.

Peter again addresses the holy-people as loved¹ – beloved, truly you are loved by God and by myself with God’s kind of love. He continues:

You must not think-strange (it should not be thought of as foreign to/by you, something unfamiliar, not belonging to your way of living, you should not be amazed)…

on/by the fire among you (the fiery ordeal, as the time and action of firing during the refining process when the fire destroys all it can burn)
- presently coming-to-pass for the purpose of a temptation to/for you (a trial, putting you to the test in the bad sense of enticing you to do wrong)
as of a strange-thing coming-together to you (moving in conjunction with you, happening to you),

…but on the contrary, you must joy (rejoice)…

according to that-which you share-in-common with the sufferings of Christ (in accordance with what you participate, partake, share a portion of Christ’s experiences, of the things that affected and affect him)
- for the purpose and result that exulting (being elated, as leaping a lot, jumping, springing about, dancing)
  - also you would joy in the revelation of his glory (rejoice during/at the uncovering of his importance, splendor, renown – the works that you do now in agreement with God’s intention will not be burned but you will receive a reward for them at the judgment seat of Christ).

If/since it is a fact that you are reproached in the name of Christ (if you are presently being defamed, insulted by those using the name of Christ as the basis of their reproach, including all it represents and stands for such as his authority and power)…

you are happy-people (you are pronounced happy, felicitous; you are happy people from God's viewpoint, not that you feel happy at this time necessarily, but because of the following reason)
because the spirit of glory (the spirit pertaining-to and consisting-of the glory, the importance, splendor, renown)
- emphatically the spirit proceeding from God
  - rests itself up on you (as pausing, temporarily stopping or ceasing from extraneous labor, and so causes itself to become rested-up and be refreshed since it is settled down on you - the spirit is not going to leave you; this is a reference to Isaiah 11:2 of God giving holy spirit to the Lord Jesus Christ – and now all holy-people have the spirit of Christ within us).

In truth, anyone of you must not suffer (experience, be affected by things) because you are behaving…

as a murderer (a person who wrongfully kills people)
or a thief (a person who steals by fraud or in secret, a kleptomaniac)
or a bad-doer (a person who does bad things, who performs what does not issue from God)
or as another’s-overseer (a person who scopes, who has been given the duty or function of having watchful-care and guardianship, as a watcher of things/affairs belonging to another),

…but if someone of you suffers because he is behaving as a Christian (a person who follows Christ, who speaks about Christ and speaks of belonging to Christ and that the spirit of Christ is within him, who carries out his everyday living of life in accordance with being a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ)…

he must not be caused shame (caused to have the feeling or emotion of disgrace and guilt bringing reproach having recognized and being sorry for a performance of an improper, ignominious or dishonorable deed from God's point of view; he must not be made to feel shame before others)
but he must glorify God in this name (give God the importance, splendor, renown, within the cause and sphere of action of this name – the name “Christian” which identifies you with Christ)

…because it is the specific time (the opportune or precise period, occasion, season) of beginning the judgment (of the start, commencement of the pronounced decision, the sentence passed, the decision made or arrived-at issuing from the judging process)…

from the house of God (the members of God’s building are being judged on our behavior by God and by our Lord Jesus Christ; from the moment we became Christians by receiving holy spirit-life which made us righteous in the spirit category, we are now being judged on our behavior today; the implementation of final judgment for us will be at Christ’s judgment seat to receive the full recompense for our behavior since we became Christians);

…but if/since it is a fact that the judgment begins firstly from us (holy-people, Christians)…

what will be the completion (complete-thing, ending-issue, fulfillment) of the people who are being un-persuaded (actively not willing to be convinced, who are in the state of not being persuaded)
- by/with the good-message of God (God’s evangel, gospel)?

And (referencing the Septuagint Greek text of Proverbs 11:31)…

“if/since it is a fact that the righteous-person (one who is just, in a right/just state, justified, who is living his life in a right manner, being and doing what is just/right from God’s viewpoint)
- is saved with-difficulty (is presently being brought to safety, safely through the judgment in a difficult manner, it takes labor; he may find it a hard journey through life now until he receives the complete salvation when Christ comes and judges, implementing the appropriate recompense for his behavior) …

…where will…

the not-reverential-person (who is without reverential respect for God, who does not have reverence to/for the only true God)
and sinner (who misses the mark of God's Word, who errs from what God says)
- bring himself to light (cause himself to shine so as to be evident, to be clearly seen when his judgment time arrives)?” – (there is no specific answer written because it should be obvious that this person will also receive full recompense for his behavior corresponding to not being reverential and being a sinner)…

…with the consequence and result that also during the present time the people who are suffering according to the intention of God (those among us who are experiencing, being affected by bad-things because they are doing what God says, His will, what He wants them to do during the everyday living of their lives)

must put their souls beside (place their physical lives alongside, pass their living of life in the walk/behavior category, including their character and disposition, on from themselves to)
- the believable Creator (the faithful One Who creates, Who brings into being, the Establisher Who is trustworthy to perform what He said, He is reliable to/for those whom He creates)
how? – in good-doing (within the course of action of well-doing which is according to God’s intention, by continuing to perform things that issue from Him; God is the One Who issues His goodness and He sets the standard to be conformed to by those whom He creates).

[Reference: Isaiah 11:2; Matthew 5:11 and 12; Luke 12:57; Acts 2:16-21, 5:41 and 42, 11:26, 17:30 and 31, 24:24 and 25, 26:28; Romans 2:1-16, 5:6-8, 8:9 and 17, chapter 13, 15:3; I Corinthians 1:7, 3:10-15, chapter 6, 10:13, 11:17-34, chapter 15; II Corinthians 1:5, 3:7-11, 17 and 18, 5:10; Galatians 5:10; Philippians 1:20, 2:1-11; Colossians 1:23-25; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; II Thessalonians 1:5-10; I Timothy 1:9, 3:6 and 15, 5:12; II Timothy 2:8-13; Hebrews 10:21 and 26-31; James 1:12-15, 3:1; I Peter 1:6-13, 2:5, 12, 20 and 25, 3:14 and 17; Revelation 20:11-15. Note: verbs with a superscript 2 (²) immediately following them indicate the "perfect" tense - details are provided in the "Relevant Notes" link of this study.]

I Peter Chapter 5