ARM YOURSELVES - 1 PETER 4:1-6

Living the New Life\Arm Yourselves
1 Peter 4:1-6

Peter again uses Christ as our model. Here it is his suffering. Peter stated in 3:18-22 that Christ suffered for our sins. This suffering was his death on the cross. His death, including his resurrection and ascension, was a victory over sin. He defeated Satan and he defeated sin.

When Christ died to sin, he was done with it. He died once for sins. Not that he sinned and quit sinning, but that he was finished with his work in regard to sin. Since we are united with him (we are “in Christ”) in his death, we have died to sin. We are done with it and can have victory over it. We do not ever get completely sin free, but we have the ability in Christ to turn away from it as a life style and to pursue Christ instead.

Here Peter says, since Christ suffered, we should expect to suffer. We should arm ourselves with a willingness to suffer. To arm yourself is to pick up a weapon and prepare to fight. Here the weapon is an attitude: willingness to suffer for Christ and to turn away from sin. Those who have come to the point of being willing to suffer for Christ are focused on living a life that glorifies him rather than a life that satisfies and glorifies the flesh. They stopped letting sin have dominion over them. They live a life of seeking God’s will. Those who live according to God’s will glorify him, not the flesh.

In verse 3, Peter says you spent enough time living as an unsaved person lives. He uses the word “Gentile”,  as one who does not believe in and follow Jesus.

In Old Testament times, the Jews were the chosen people of God who lived according to his will and were blessed by him (at least when they were doing right). Everyone else was a Gentile, a person not a part of the chosen people.

Now the church is the chosen people of God who are to live according to his will. (2:9) Peter picked up the language of the Old Testament to refer to everyone else as Gentiles.

Peter listed some those things the Gentiles do. They live in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. All of the same things exist today. Paganism is certainly on the rise, as people seek a spiritual experience that has no moral requirements, or at least not the Christian ones. Worship of the creation is common. People put their requests out to the universe rather than pray, they treat the universe as a being rather than a thing.

The physical passions are the same, of course, because humans are the same. so the drunkenness and orgies continue. It has been interesting to see a celebrity “dust up” over this issue. A young model got drunk and intimate with the boyfriend of a celebrity. The celebrity family is angry and has cut the model off from their life until she humiliates herself to them. She was just doing what the “Gentiles” do.

Peter reminds us that these Gentiles will be amazed that we do not join them in their debauchery. (4) That amazement will turn to anger and they will malign us. “Malign” means to same harmful things about or to slander a person. Why does this happen?

This happens because the law of God is written on the heart of every person. They may not know God, but they know his standards. Paul wrote that “what can be known about God is plain to them, because god has shown it to them”.  (Romans 1:19) He said they suppress the truth by their unrighteousness. (Romans 1:18) Therefore, his wrath is upon them.

When you do not partake in ungodly behavior, it is a reminder to them of their violation of God’s standards and they feel God’s judgment, although they will interpret it as your judgment of them. When they feel this way they have two options. They can repent and seek God or they can reject him and you. If they do not repent, in order to feel good about what they do, they must malign you.

Here is an example. Remember the story above about the model who is criticized for getting intimate with a celebrity’s boyfriend. In contrast, Mike Pence, the American vice president, is being reviled because he will not meet alone with a woman who is not his wife. Here is a man working hard to be faithful to his wife and avoid even the appearance of unfaithfulness, and he is reviled for it.

Peter reminds us that they will give an account to God at the final judgment. (5) Hebrews 9:27 says it is appointed for men and women to die one and after that comes the judgment. The unbelievers might have social popularity and good reputation now, and believers suffering the opposite, but the day will come when that will change.

Verse 6 tells us this, the judgment, is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead. The NIV says “now dead”. This is an interpretation of the text, as the word “now” is not in the Greek text. But the interpretation is correct. It was preached to them so that although they would die (judged in the flesh the way people are), they would live in the Spirit. As 3:18 said Christ died in the flesh but was made alive in the Holy Spirit, so believers will die a physical death but also be raised.

This does not mean that Jesus goes, or went, to lost people in the afterlife and gives them a second chance to believe and be saved. The verse does not say Christ himself preached, but that people preached the gospel of Christ. It means that people who are now dead heard the gospel, believed, and will live through the resurrection.

Here are the take aways from this passage:
-we live this life armed with the willingness to suffer
-this willingness helps us conquer sin
-the world will oppose us
-the world will be judged
-we will be raised to live forever with the Lord