1 Peter 4

1 Peter 4:1

Ye must therefore, seeing Christ hath suffered for you, resolve to follow and imitate him in suffering also, or dying with him, viz. dying to sin, (see ver. 6,) or ceasing from it, as he that is dead, or hath crucified the flesh with affections and lusts, always doth;

[a] suffered in the flesh] What is here meant by suffering in the flesh, (or, as the king’s MS. reads, σαρκὶ, to the flesh, which we are to do by way of correspondence to Christ’s crucifixion, doth not only appear by many other phrases elsewhere, as being dead to sin, crucified with Christ, noting thereby mortification and forsaking of worldly sinful courses; but also by the distinct words here added, πίπανται ἁμαρτίας, he hath ceased from sin, which refer the phrase here to reforma-

℟ In His. om. R e 2

1 Peter 4:2

That for the remainder of the life that ye live, this frail mortal life, ye live no one minute longer in obedience to those lusts, or compliance to those appetites that are ordinary among men, but in perfect obedience and compliance to the will of God.

1 Peter 4:3

For ye have sure continued long enough in those heathenish villainies, so ordinary in the Gentile world; ye have sufficiently gratified them by accompanying them in unnatural acts of uncleanness (see note [c]) and carnal lusts, in drinking of wine, amorous addresses, (see note [e] Rom. xiii,) bacchanals, and those detestable sins of lust used in the idol-worships of the Gentiles (see note on 1 Cor. v. 1.);

[b] excess of wine] Οἰνόφλυξ, μέθυσος, ὁ εἰς τὸν οἶνον ὁρμῶν· φλύειν γὰρ τὸ ὁρμὴν ἔχειν πρός τι, saith Phavorinus; the word signifies a drunkard, one impetuously given to wine. And again, οἰνοφλυγία, ἐπιθυμία οἶνον ἄμετρος, an immoderate desire of wine.

1 Peter 4:4

Who wonder, as at a strange thing, and reproach and rail at you, if you make any scruple of those unnatural, abominable sins which are not to be spoken of, or refuse to run on headlong with them to the commission of them;

[c] think it strange] Σενίζεσθαι is to wonder, as at a new or strange accident. So in Polybius, ξενίζεσθαι καὶ διαπορεῖν διὰ τὸ παράδοξον, to think strange, and doubt as at a paradox; all one with ξενοπαθεῖν, to be surprised with some unexpected event. So Σενίζω, ἐκπλήττω, in Phavorinus, and proportionably in the passive, Σενίζεσθαι, ἐκπλήττεσθαι, to be stricken on a sudden, or amazed: so here again, ver. 12, μὴ ξενίζεσθε τῇ πυρώσει, be not surprised, amazed, astonished, or vehemently affected with wonder, at that πύρωσις which is among you.

[d] excess of riot] Ἀνάχυσις, φυρμός, σύγχυσις, saith Phavorinus: where σύγχυσις, signifying confusion, is a general word, and would not much tend to the illustrating of the other, did not the φυρμός tell us what kind of confusion it was, viz. a confusion of sexes in committing those base sins; for so saith he of φυρμός, μολυσμός, ῥύπος, μίασμα, it notes those filthy abominable pollutions: and accordingly Hesychius

1 Peter 4:5

Who shall be most sadly accountable to God the judge of all the world, who hath all the actions and thoughts of men, dead and living, so ready to him, that he can pass a most just sentence on them whensoever he pleases, and will certainly ere long so deal with the provoking sinners, Jews and Gnostics of this age, as he hath dealt formerly with the like through all times since the beginning of the world.

1 Peter 4:6

For thus hath he formerly proceeded with the sinners of the old world, (see note [f] ch. iii,) and all

1 Peter 4:7

But that great fatal destruction to the obdurate Jews, so oft spoken of by Christ and his apostles, (see note [g] Matt. x, and note [c] Matt. xxiv,) is now near at hand, which is an obligation to all care in performing all acts of piety, in praying for the averting of God’s wrath, and securing you from being overwhelmed in it; and to that end there is nothing so necessary as sobriety, in opposition to the sins forenamed, vv. 3, 4, and care and vigilance that the day of visitation come not on you unawares.

1 Peter 4:8

But above all things be sure to maintain a most earnest love and charity toward your fellow-Christians, (the contrary to which, the contentions and factions of the Gnostics, shall concur with their other villainies to involve them in the vengeance that befalls the persecuting Jews.) For this, added to repentance from all those other dead works, is the likeliest means to propitiate God and avert his judgments from you: (see James v. 8.)

9, 10. Every one, as he hath received wealth or any other good thing, so distributing it to them that want, as counting yourselves but stewards of those many gifts and liberalities of God, (see note [e] ch. iii,) and discharging that office, as it ought to be discharged, to the greatest advantage of others.

1 Peter 4:11

He that teacheth the people, let him do it with that uprightness as becomes one that is a steward or dispenser of the oracles of God; he that exercises liberality to the poor (see note [a] Luke viii.), let him do it in proportion to that estate which God hath given him: that so God may be glorified in his gifts, that is, receive honour by that use which is made of them, by your obedience to the gospel of Christ, who is God blessed for ever. Amen. (See note [c] Rom. ix.)

1 Peter 4:12

Brethren, be not amazed or much troubled at

[e] fiery trial] What πύρωσις here signifies will easily be defined from the notion of the Hebrew דֶּלֶךְ, which signifies two things, to persecute, and to set on fire. So Psalm x. 2, where the Hebrew is rendered by us, the wicked doth persecute the poor, the LXXII. read ἐμπυρίζεται ὁ πτωχός, the poor is set on fire. And so again, צָרָה, which signifies to try, (either as gold is by the fire, or as men by afflictions,) is by the LXXII, Psalm xvii. 3, rendered ἐπύρωσας, casting into the fire. And accordingly πύρωσις regularly will signify in general any kind of adversity or sharp persecution, which (as fire blown up into flames, to gold or other metals, is the means of exploring and purifying them) is in like manner here said to be γινομένη ὑμῖν εἰς πειρασμὸν, befallen them for their trial. Thus, Prov. xxvii. 21, δοκίμιον ἀργυρίῳ καὶ χρυσῷ πύρωσις, casting into the fire is the trial for silver and gold; and Psalm lxvi. 10, ἐπύρωσας ἡμᾶς, ὡς πυροῦται ἀργύριον, thou hast cast us into the fire, as silver is cast into the fire, unless perhaps that should be read ἐπείρασας ὡς πειράζεται, thou hast tried us as silver is tried; and so in other places of the Old Testament. The word we have again, Rev. xviii. 9, where καπνὸς πυρώσεως we rightly render the smoke of her burning, or being set on fire. If this be now applied to the Jews in general at that time, it may then be fitly interpreted of the great combustions and seditions caused by the ζηλωταὶ and στασιασταὶ, zealots and seditious, oft mentioned by Josephus, which raised such stirs among them, and brought such heavy, bloody slaughters upon them before their destruction by the Romans, and not only in but out of Judæa. And in opposition to these perhaps it is, that they are advised to be ζηλωταὶ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, zealots of that which is good, for so the king’s MS. reads instead of μιμηταὶ, imitators or followers, ch. iii. 13; and accordingly now, when

1 Peter 4:13

But count it matter of joy to you, that thereby you are made like unto Christ in suffering: and then, as there was a resurrection of Christ after his suffering, and that resurrection the more glorious because of that forerunner, so after these sufferings of yours there will be a glorious revelation and coming of Christ, that spoken of Matt. xxiv, (see note [a] 2 Thess. i,) to the destruction of those crucifiers of Christ and persecutors of Christianity; after which you shall have a great calm and tranquillity; and that will be matter of exceeding joy to you.

1 Peter 4:14

In the mean, whatsoever contumely or persecution ye suffer for your Christian profession’s sake, it is the happiest thing that could befall you; for by your being reviled for being Christians it seems the very same condition which was in Christ incarnate, and wherein his power was most evident, and the very spirit and temper of God is in you: which temper of Christ is looked upon with reproach by them of the world, not conceiving how suffering can become a God; but by you, who have imitated it by your own sufferings, it is commended and glorified.

[f] glory] That δόξη, glory, is answerable to the Hebrew Schechina, the appearing of God by angels, or any other glorious way, hath been often said, note [a] on Mark i, (see 2 Pet. i. 3, 17, and Jude 24.) and that that also signifies that eminent way of God’s appearance, (which is therefore called his ἐπιφάνεια,) the incarnation and being of Christ here on the earth, hath been formerly noted also, note [c] on John i. So note [a] on 2 Cor. iv, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, is the glorious exhibition of God, so visible in Christ here on the earth. And so most probably here it signifies; and then τὸ τῆς δόξης will be the state or condition of Christ when he was here upon the earth, with which is here fitly joined τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ, the Spirit of God, (so Christ incarnate was God blessed for ever,) that is, the same way of dispensation and economy which was used on Christ when he was here on earth, (see note [e] on Luke ix.) And that this is the meaning of it here, will be judged by the context, which pronounces them happy that are reproached for Christ’s name; because by that means they are made like Christ, that prime person that suffered for well doing.

1 Peter 4:15

But I desire not that any of you should be so in love with sufferings from the heathen powers as to do aught that may justly deserve it from them; as, by any act of murder, stealth, assuming or pretending authority to make others, that belong not to your charges, to perform what you term their duties.

[g] a busybody¹ What the ἀλλοτριωπισκοπία here signifies, will best be guessed by observing, first, that it is here joined with other great and gross sins, theft, murder, evil-doing; secondly, by comparing it with another word of near signification, περιεργία, 2 Thess. iii. 11, (against which the apostle exhorts, 1 Thess. iv. 1.) This crime is either of a lower or higher sort; the first is idleness, the second improves it into sedition. Against the former, the apostolic doctrine did proceed by way of censure, that they were not to be acknowledged in the catalogue of those poor that were to be relieved by the church out of the public stock, but rather under the title of the ἄτακτοι, disorderly persons, used as thieves, (with whom they are here placed,) which were to be sold as slaves, forced to labour, and so taken off from their idleness and meddling with other men’s matters. Thus among the Egyptians idleness was a capital crime; among the Lucani, he that lent money to any idle person was to lose it; among the Corinthians, the slothful were delivered to the carnifes, saith Diphilus. Another, higher than this, there was, of undertaking to have the charge of those that do not belong to them; a fault which at this time was very observable among the Jewish zealots, who pretending to and promising themselves a perpetual immunity from all power of men, (as the only children of God, which were not therefore to be under any man, particularly under heathens, but to enjoy an αὐτονομία, or immunity,) would

1 Peter 4:16

But if, keeping himself innocent from these and the like, he yet fall under persecution for the faith of Christ, and discharge of his Christian duty, let this be matter of rejoicing to him, and of thanksgiving to God,

1 Peter 4:17

That there being a first and second draught of bitterness, that is, of punishments for men, one by way of chastisement or exercise, the other for utter excision; or, one in this world, the far lighter of the two, the latter to come in another world, much more formidable; and the former now sometimes befalling the dearest servants of Christ, this is the time or sea-

1 Peter 4:20

Those men, I say, at that time, which living in all uncleanness, believed not the preaching of Noah, nor heeded his building the ark, (by which yet it was clear there should be a deluge, and very few escape or be saved in it,) when God gave them that fair and merciful warning and call to repentance.

1 Peter 4:21

To all which we have now the direct parallel, as in the violence, such as Gen. vi. 11, (the wicked devouring and persecuting the righteous,) and in the Gnostic pollutions, answerable to the corrupting themselves before God, ver. 12, (an effect of what was done ver. 2,) so in God’s warning and denouncing of judgments, and shewing a way to the righteous that stick close to him to escape, to wit, the renouncing of those heathen sins noted by baptism, that antitype to the ark in the water, keeping men safe from being drowned, (I mean not that outward part of baptism alone, which is but the cleansing of the body, but (that which is signified by it, as it is the sacrament of initiation) the seeking to God as to the oracle for the direction of the whole future life, (see note [f] Rom. x,) and the undertaking faithfully to perform those directions,) delivering first out of the deluge of sin, and then of destruction attending it; and this, I say, as an eminent effect of the resurrection of Christ, who rose on purpose to turn all that will be wrought on from their iniquities, Acts iii. 26, and so bring destruction and vengeance on all others:

[h] The like figure] The king’s MS. reads O καὶ ἀντίτυπον, &c. where O in capital letters (as that whole book is written) signifies oftentimes οὔ, as in an inscription of an ancient cup in Athenaeus, ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟ is written for Διονύσου. And so in an old copy in Magdalen college in Oxford, it is clearly οὗ ἀντίτυπον, the antitype of which. As for the word ἀντίτυπον, it may perhaps be here fit to note, that, as it is certainly best rendered antitype, to preserve the signification of the Greek, whatsoever shall here appear most fitly to belong to it, so the Greek is capable of very distant senses. For, first, it signifies (not a like, but) a contrary. So in Ἐ Xenophon, τὰ μὲν εἰς χόριτα διὰ τοῦ ἄρχοντος ἐγένετο, τὰ δὲ ἀντίτυπα δι’ ἄλλων, “Matters of favour are done by the prince himself, but the contrary by other men.” So saith Hesychius of it, Ἀντίτυπα: ἀντιτυπῆσαι, ἐναντιωθῆναι, ἀντειπεῖν, and Ἀντιτυπίαι: ἀντιλυγίαι, ἐναντιώσει. It signifies contrariety or contradiction; and so we know the preposition ἀντὶ most ordinarily imports. And this the place would not unfitly bear, that baptism is quite contrary to the ark of Noah, but yet saves as that saved. There the destruction was by water, and only they were saved which got into the ark; but here water is the means of saving from destruction, and they perish which have not this immersion or baptism here spoken of. Beside this, there is a second notation of this word, as ἀντὶ signifies pro as well as contra, and so it may here be fitly rendered. For when it is compounded in the notion of pro, it notes instead of another, as ἀνθύπαιος, proconsul, is he that supplies the consul’s place, is in his stead. And so it may be here, οὗ ἀντίτυπον βάπτισμα, baptism instead, or supplying the office of the ark, saves us now. In this sense antitype is ordinarily taken among us for that which (is not itself a type or figure, but) supplies the place of some former type; so purity of the heart is the antitype of circumcision, that is, that which is now by Christ required instead of that ceremony among the Jews. But beside both these, there is a third notation of the word, for ἀντίγραφον, a copy, differing from τίπον, so as the impression in the wax differs from the engraving in the seal. So the old Glossary renders both those words, ἀντίγραφον and ἀντίτυπον, by exemplum and exemplar. And thus is the word used, Heb. ix. 24, and generally in the ecclesiastic writers, and is best expressed by parallel, or answerable, and may so here fitly be rendered parallel whereunto baptism—.

1 Peter 4:22

Who since that resurrection is now ascended to heaven, to undertake the ruling of all things, (all power both of angels and men being given unto him,)