1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11 Commentary

It can be tempting to reduce discipleship to a kind of spiritual formula. “If  we just do this and that good thing,” Jesus’ friends sometimes seem to assume, “then God will do that good thing.” This, however, reverses the biblical equation. More often, because God does this good thing, the Spirit equips us to do this and that good thing.

Christians might be tempted to apply poor “math” to the second part of this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson. It’s tempting to assume that if God’s dearly beloved people just do things like be “alert” (8) and resist the devil (9), then God will then restore and strengthen us. Led by the Spirit, 1 Peter 4 and 5’s proclaimers might choose to help our hearers turn that equation around. Because God makes us strong, Christians can do things like be alert, resist the devil and “cast all our anxiety on” the Lord (7).

In 1 Peter 5:10 Peter promises his scattered readers, “The God of all grace [Theos pases charitos*], who called [kalesas] you to his eternal [aionion] glory [doxan] in Christ, after you have suffered [pathontas] a little while [oligon], will himself restore you [katartisei] and make you strong [sterixai], firm [sthenosei] and steadfast [themeliosei].”

This is yet another example of Petrine pastorally and theologically rich profession of the faith in Jesus Christ with which God graced the apostle. After talking repeatedly about the suffering Jesus’ friends endure, the apostle is determined to basically close his letter to his beleaguered brothers and sisters in Christ with deep comfort.

In what are among his final words to his readers, Peter doesn’t somehow deny the reality of Christian suffering. He doesn’t basically say, “I was just kidding with all that talk about suffering.” Instead the apostle insists such suffering does not get the last word either in God’s world or in God’s creatures that include God’s image-bearers.

Yes, Peter mourns, Jesus’ followers pathontas (“suffer) for our faith, suffer in ways common to all people and, in some cases, both. But the apostle insists that such suffering lasts only “a little while.” God, in a sense, fences in our suffering so that, while it sometimes feels almost interminable, suffering has a kind of expiration date.

However, the sequence of that suffering’s “terminal condition” and God’s restorative work may seem somewhat unclear. The NIV, NRSV and other English Bible translations obviously assume God will restore us, as well as make us strong, firm and steadfast after we’ve suffered “a little while.”

That is certainly true. We profess that in the new earth and heaven God will finish God’s work of, as The Message translates verse 10, putting us “together and on” our “feet for good.” Yet God’s people also profess that God has already begun that kind of remodeling work on God’s adopted children. God’s Spirit is already graciously restoring us in the image of God’s Son Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ followers profess the Holy Spirit is already making us spiritually stronger and firmer, as well as more steadfast. Otherwise, even God’s most saintly dearly beloved people would be incapable of responding to our suffering with any kind of perseverance.

Peter goes on to at least allude to God’s transforming power with his glorious conclusion to the main body of his letter to God’s scattered people. To God, he writes in verse 11, “be the power [kratos] for ever and ever. Amen.” In doing so the apostle points to the life-giving, restoring and transforming power of God that is more than sufficient to, in the words of the New Living Translation, “restore, support and strengthen” God’s adopted children.

Yet preachers might note that God’s transforming work also bolsters other elements of Christian discipleship, including those Peter addresses earlier in this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson. In verses 12-13 he summons his beleaguered readers to “not be surprised [xenizesthe] at the fiery trial that has come on you to test you [pyrosen pros peirasmon hymin] … But rejoice [chairete] inasmuch as you participate [koinonete] in the sufferings [pathemasin] of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed [charete agalliomenoi] when his glory [doxes] is revealed [apokalypsei].”

It’s as if Peter senses his readers’ most natural reaction to being persecuted for Jesus’ sake is xenizesthe (“surprise”). Those who trust in God’s loving care may be startled by the ways our sovereign God’s sometimes allows us to suffer for doing good. It’s almost as if we naturally assume that’s such persecution is something “strange” (12).

Peter, however, summons Jesus’ friends to rejoice in this sharing of Christ’s suffering rather than be startled by it. He assumes suffering is not something that is unexpected but expected. Yet we can neither see our suffering as sharing in Christ’s suffering nor genuinely rejoice in it unless the Holy Spirit makes us strong, firm and steadfast.

Peter goes on to further transform Christians’ view of our suffering when in verse 14 he writes, “If you are insulted [oneidizesthe] because of the name of Christ, you are blessed [makarioi], for the Spirit of glory and of God rests [anapauetai] on you.” Jesus’ friends may naturally see others’ insults as a sign of their dislike for our Friend and God’s indifference toward our misery.

Peter summons us to see others’ insults of us for Jesus’ sake as, instead, a sign of God’s divine favor. Others’ taunts of God’s dearly beloved people show that God has graced us with the Holy Spirit’s glory. Others’ mockery of us suggest that those who mock us for Jesus’ sake recognize God has made a difference in our lives.

In the second part of this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson Peter continues his summons to follow Jesus in specific ways. “Humble yourselves [Tapeinothete], therefore, under God’s mighty hand [krataian cheira],” the apostle writes in verse 6, “that he may lift you up [hypsose] in due time [kairo].”

This invitation flows from Peter’s earlier call for godly leadership (5:1-3), submission to that leadership (4) and humility toward our fellow Christians (5). This suggests that he’s linking submission to God to our humble submission both to our leaders in Christ and our brothers and sisters in Christ. But, we remember and profess, not even the saintliest friends of Jesus can do this without divine intervention. We need God to make us strong, firm and steadfast enough to be submissive and humble.

In verses 8-9 Peter brings God’s strength to bear on Christians’ relationship to the evil one. There he writes, “Be alert [gregoresate] and of sober mind [nepsate]. Your enemy [antedikos] the devil prowls around [peripatei] like a roaring lion [leon oryomenos] looking for someone to devour [katapein]. Resist [antistete] him, standing firm [stereo] in the faith, because you know that the family of believers [adelphoteti] throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings [pathematon].”

The imagery is among the most vivid in all of the Scriptures. Peter likens the devil to a ravenous lion that relentlessly stalks God’s dearly beloved people. Satan doggedly pursues us in order to destroy us. As a result, Peter warns his readers, Jesus’ friends must always stay alert. With God’s adopted children across the world, we keep up our guard. It’s as if Peter insists alertness is a necessary prerequisite for resistance to the evil one.

However, Jesus’ followers never forget that we can’t do this on our own. We don’t just need the loving support of our brothers and sisters in Christ. God’s dearly beloved people also need God to help us be alert enough to resist the evil one and stand firm in the faith. Peter, in fact, knows he can summon his readers who are under duress to stand firm, because he knows that the Spirit equips us with everything we need to faithfully endure to the end of measured time.

*I have here and elsewhere added in bracketed italics the Greek words for the English words the NIV translation uses.

Illustration

I’ve begun to wonder if Christians might more seriously think of our naturally sinful condition as a kind of addiction. Of course, not all addictions are sinful. But sin is naturally addictive. So might Christians benefit from thinking about sin in the way some 12-step programs invite their participants to think about addiction?

Among Alcoholics Anonymous twelve principles are the first step that is admitting our powerlessness over that to which we’re addicted. The second step is trust that a power greater than oneself can restore people who are addicted. The third step involves the faith that is the decision to turn over our lives and will to that higher power.

One doesn’t have to squint very hard to see how Jesus’ followers might apply that to our naturally sinful selves. We begin by admitting that by nature we’re powerless to resist the devil and stand firm in our faith. But the Spirit also convinces us that God can graciously restore, as well as make us firm and strong.