First Peter 4:16 says that if a believer suffers “as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this name.” In 4:14 and 16 we have two names. The first name is Christ, and the second name is Christian. If we suffer because of these two names, that is glorious. This kind of suffering is a glory to God. It glorifies God because, when we suffer in the name of Christ and as Christians, the Spirit of God, who is the Spirit of glory, rests upon us. When we suffer for Christ, glory rests upon us, and that glory is actually the Spirit of glory Himself.
The Greek word for Christian is Christianos, a word of Latin formation. The ending -ianos, denoting an adherent of someone, was applied to slaves belonging to the great families in the Roman Empire. At Antioch (Acts 11:26) the believers were called Christians for the first time. This name, denoting adherents of Christ, was used as a nickname, a term of reproach. For this reason 1 Peter 4:16 says that we should not be ashamed of suffering as a Christian. This means that if any believer suffered from the persecutors who contemptuously call him a Christian, he should not feel ashamed but should glorify God in this name.
Today the term Christian should bear a positive significance, that is, a man of Christ, one who is one with Christ, not only belonging to Him but having His life and nature in an organic union with Him and who is living by Him, even living Him, in his daily life. If we suffer for being such a person, we should not feel ashamed but be bold to magnify Christ in our confession by our holy and excellent manner of life to glorify, express, God in this name. To glorify God is to express Him in glory.
First Peter 4:17 says, “It is time for the judgment to begin from the house of God; and if first from us, what will be the end of those who disobey the gospel of God?” The book of 1 Peter shows the government of God especially in His dealings with His chosen people. The sufferings they undergo in fiery persecution are used by Him as a means to judge them that they may be disciplined, purified, and separated from unbelievers and not have the same destiny as unbelievers. Hence, such disciplinary judgment begins from His own household.
The Greek word translated “house” in 4:17 also means household. Here the house, or household, refers to the church composed of the believers (1 Pet. 2:5; Heb. 3:6; 1 Tim. 3:15; Eph. 2:19). From this house, as His own house, God begins His governmental administration by His disciplinary judgment over His own children so that He may have a strong ground to judge, in His universal kingdom, those who are disobedient to His gospel and rebellious to His government. This is for the establishment of His kingdom.
Peter’s use of the word “judgment” in 4:17 indicates that persecutions and sufferings are a kind of judgment. This judgment, however, is not for condemnation to eternal perdition. It is a judgment for discipline, a dispensational discipline to purify our life. This judgment is a fiery ordeal, a burning furnace, to purify us and remove any dross. We can be compared to gold, but we still have a certain amount of dross from which we need to be purified. No teaching or fellowship can accomplish this purification. The disciplinary judgment of the burning furnace is necessary to carry it out.
Suffering implies God’s judgment. We need to realize that even in such matters as being bothered by our husband or wife or becoming ill there is an amount of God’s judgment. God judges us because we are wrong in certain things, not pure in our motives, or not righteous in dealing with others. God judges us that we may be purified.
Often when believers suffer they ask why their situation is so poor when that of unbelievers is often prosperous. The reason believers suffer now is that God does not want us to suffer the end of the ungodly. Temporarily God may let them go, but eventually He will deal with them. First God judges His own children, His own house, His family, that His children may not suffer the same end as the ungodly.
In 4:17 Peter asks what will be the end of those who disobey the gospel of God if God’s judgment first begins from us. This question indicates that the unbelievers, who disobey the gospel of God, will undergo a judgment more severe than that which the believers have undergone.
In 4:18 Peter goes on to say, “And if the righteous is saved with difficulty, where will the ungodly and sinner appear?” Here “the righteous” refers to the believers, who become righteous by being justified by their faith in Christ (Rom. 5:1) and by living a righteous life in Christ (Phil. 3:9; 2 Cor. 5:21; Rev. 19:8). The difficulty mentioned in 1 Peter 4:18 refers to persecution, suffering, and, mainly, to God’s discipline.
In 4:18 “saved” does not mean saved from eternal perdition through the Lord’s death, but saved from the coming destruction (1 Thes. 5:3, 8) through the trials of persecution as God’s disciplinary judgment. The believer, who has been disciplined by God through the sufferings of persecution to purify his life, is saved with the difficulty of persecution from the destruction of God’s wrath toward the world. If God’s children, the members of His own household, are saved with difficulty, surely the unbelievers will not escape God’s judgment.
In 4:19 Peter goes on to say, “Wherefore, let those also who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in welldoing to a faithful Creator.” The will of God here is that He wants us to suffer for Christ’s sake and has appointed us to this (1 Pet. 3:17; 2:15; 1 Thes. 3:3).
Literally “commit” in 1 Peter 4:19 means to give in charge as a deposit, as in Luke 12:48; Acts 20:32; 1 Timothy 1:18; and 2 Timothy 2:2. When the believers suffer persecution in their body, especially as in martyrdom, they should commit their souls as a deposit to God, the faithful Creator, as the Lord did with His spirit to the Father (Luke 23:46).
The Creator in 1 Peter 4:19 does not refer to the Creator of the new creation in the new birth but to the Creator of the old creation. Persecution is a suffering in the old creation. God as our Creator can preserve our soul, which He created for us. He has even numbered our hairs (Matt. 10:30). He is loving and faithful. His loving and faithful care (1 Pet. 5:7) accompanies His justice in His governmental administration. While He is judging us, as His household, in His government, in His love He cares for us faithfully. In suffering His just disciplinary judgment in our body, we should commit our souls to His faithful care.
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