1 Peter 4

Christ suffered for us in his body. So you should arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, because anyone who has suffered in the body is finished with sin.

1Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;

NoteIn the King James, "in the flesh" means in the body, in ordinary bodily human life. It is not a comment on sinfulness. "Arm yourselves" is a soldier's image: put on the same mindset the way a fighter puts on armor. The last clause is compressed in the Greek and has been read more than one way, either that a person who has suffered in the body has broken with sin, or that such suffering is itself the mark of being done with it.

2As a result, that person does not spend the rest of his life on earth chasing what people crave, but lives for what God wants.

2That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

Note"Lusts" in 1611 English meant strong desires of any kind, not only sexual ones. The contrast is between a life steered by human cravings and one steered by what God wants.

3You have already spent enough of your past doing what people who do not know God want to do. You lived in wild sexual behavior, lust, heavy drinking, wild parties, drinking bouts, and disgusting worship of idols.

3For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

Note"Gentiles" is the standard old word for everyone who was not a Jew. Here it carries the sense of outsiders to the people of God, that is, the readers' pagan neighbors. Three of the listed words have shifted meaning since 1611: "lasciviousness" meant unrestrained, shameless behavior, especially sexual; "revellings" meant rowdy street processions, often held in honor of a god; and "banquetings" meant drinking parties, not formal dinners. Idol worship in a Roman city was woven into ordinary social life, including trade guild dinners and civic festivals, so pulling out of it meant pulling out of much of public life.

4Because of this, they think it is strange that you no longer rush along with them into the same flood of reckless living, and so they say evil things about you.

4Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you:

Note"Riot" in 1611 English meant loose, extravagant living, not a violent mob. The Greek picture behind "excess of riot" is a river bursting its banks, which is why the rendering says flood.

5But they will have to give an account of themselves to the One who is ready to judge everyone, both the living and the dead.

5Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.

Note"The quick" means the living. "Quick" in this old sense survives in phrases like "the quick and the dead" and "cut to the quick."

6This is why the good news was preached even to the dead. It was so that, although they were judged in the body the way all people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

6For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

NoteThis verse is genuinely disputed and the rendering deliberately leaves it open. "Them that are dead" has been understood as Christians who heard the good news while alive and have since died, or as the dead in general, connected with the difficult passage at 3:19 about Christ preaching to imprisoned spirits. The Greek does not settle which.

7The end of all things is near. So keep a clear head and stay steady, so that you are able to pray.

7But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.

Note"Sober" in 1611 English meant clear headed and self controlled, a broader idea than simply not drunk. "Watch" meant to stay awake and alert, the way a night guard does.

8Above everything else, love one another deeply, because love covers over a great many sins.

8And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

Note"Charity" in the King James always means love, not giving money to the poor. The modern narrowing of the word came later. "Cover the multitude of sins" echoes Proverbs 10:12, where love covers over offenses rather than broadcasting them.

9Open your homes to one another and share what you have, without grumbling about it.

9Use hospitality one to another without grudging.

NoteHospitality in the first century was a practical necessity, not a social nicety. Inns were scarce, expensive and often dangerous, traveling believers depended on private homes for food and a bed, and the churches themselves met in houses. The cost of this fell on the host, which is why "without grudging," meaning without complaining about it, needed saying.

10Each of you has received a gift. Use it to serve one another, as good managers of God's grace, which comes in many different forms.

10As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

NoteA steward was a household manager, usually a slave or servant, who was trusted with his owner's property and had to answer for how he used it. The point of the word is that what he handles is not his own. "Manifold" simply means of many kinds.

11If anyone speaks, he should speak as one who is passing on the words of God. If anyone serves, he should serve with the strength God supplies. Then God will be honored in everything through Jesus Christ. Praise and power belong to him forever and ever. Amen.

11If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Note"The oracles of God" in 1611 English meant God's own spoken words, especially the scriptures. It has nothing to do with fortune telling or with the oracle at Delphi. "Minister" here means to serve in practical ways, such as providing food or money or care. "Dominion" means ruling power.

12Dear friends, do not think it strange when a fiery test comes to prove what you are made of. Do not act as if something odd were happening to you.

12Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

NoteThe image is metalworking. Ore was heated until the impurities separated out, and "try" in 1611 English meant to test or refine in exactly that way, not to attempt something. The word for trial suggests a fire meant to prove what the metal is, not to destroy it.

13Instead, be glad that you are sharing in the sufferings of Christ. Then, when his glory is revealed, you will be filled with joy.

13But 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.

14If people insult you because you carry the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God, rests on you. They speak evil of him, but you honor him.

14If 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.

Note"Happy are ye" translates the same word rendered "blessed" in the Beatitudes, and means fortunate or well off in God's sight rather than cheerful. The phrase about "the spirit of glory and of God" draws on Isaiah 11:2, where the Spirit rests on the promised king. The last sentence of the King James verse, "on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified," is missing from the oldest surviving manuscripts and is left out of most modern translations, which is why it is unfamiliar.

15But none of you should suffer for being a murderer, or a thief, or any other kind of criminal, or for meddling in other people's business.

15But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.

Note"Busybody in other men's matters" translates a single rare Greek word that appears nowhere else in surviving Greek literature before this letter, so its exact sense is uncertain. It has been taken to mean a meddler in other people's affairs, an informer who reports neighbors to the authorities, or someone who mishandles property belonging to others. The rendering keeps the most common reading.

16But if anyone suffers for being a Christian, he should not be ashamed. Instead, he should honor God because he bears that name.

16Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

Note"Christian" appears only three times in the whole New Testament. It began as a label applied from outside, formed the way a political faction's followers were named after their leader, and here it sounds like the charge read out against someone: the name itself was the accusation.

17The time has come for judgment to begin at God's own household. And if it starts with us, how will it end for those who do not obey God's good news?

17For 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?

Note"The house of God" means both the temple, where judgment was pictured as starting in Ezekiel 9, and the household or family of God, that is, the believers themselves. The Greek word carries both senses at once. "What shall the end be" asks about the outcome, not the finish of the world.

18And if it is hard even for a person who is right with God to be saved, what will become of the person who ignores God and keeps on sinning?

18And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

NoteThis is a quotation of Proverbs 11:31 in its Greek form, which differs from the Hebrew wording familiar from English Old Testaments. "Scarcely" in 1611 English meant with difficulty, not barely by luck. "The righteous" means the person who stands in the right with God.

19So then, those who suffer because it is God's will should place their souls in the safekeeping of their faithful Creator, and go on doing good.

19Wherefore 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.