68. 1Pe_4:1-5
1 Peter 4:1-5, “Excess of wine, excess of riot.” In this passage three facts are significant and instructive. The first is, that in their unconverted state these converts whom Peter addresses lived in the lusts of men, wrought the will of the Gentiles, and walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries. The second fact is, that their former companions thought it strange that, being Christians, they would not “run with them to the same excess of riot.” The third fact is, that their former companions spoke evil of them because of their abstinence.
It is clear that the Christians named in this passage were abstainers from their former usages, and that on this account they were spoken evil of, very much as are the total abstainers of the present day.
Oinophlugia occurs only in this text, and is a compound of oinos, wine, and phluō, to overflow—a debauch with wine. Probably intoxicating, though the wine broken by the filter was preferred by the voluptuous and dissipated. The Greek word asōtia, in Ephesians 5:18, is rendered excess, and is connected with wine; and means, literally, unsavableness, utter depravity, and dissoluteness. In the text, and Titus 1:6, it is connected with riot, which means overflow, outpouring of dissoluteness, thus denoting the same moral character. As the two phrases occur in the text, it teaches that excess of wine and excess of riot are related to each other as cause and effect; but excess of wine no more justifies moderate drinking than excess of riot justifies moderate rioting. The design of Peter was to encourage those to whom he wrote to continue in their abstinence.