1Peter 4:1
\\1\\ "hath ceased from sin" - Has choosen the spiritual over the sinful.
This verse doesn’t mean the believer won’t ever sin again but that he was
willing to suffer rather than take the easy way out. It is a marked level
of spiritual growth. \\2\\
\\4:6\\ This is not a reference back to the event of \\#1Peter 3:19\\.
The gospel was preached to those now dead at a time when they were
alive. It benefited them, making them alive "according to God in the
spirit." This is not a verse to claim "second chances" to those already
dead, for after death comes the judgment \\#He 9:27\\.
\\4:13\\ "partakers of Christ’s sufferings" - Christ did not need to
suffer for us for salvation. He suffered both to identify with us and
to take our sufferings upon Himself. \\#Is 53:4-5\\. Like Jesus died
instead of us, He also suffered instead of us. What Jesus suffered, we
need not suffer. Yet, unlike death, Jesus did not take all the suffering
unto Himself but left some for us.
1. Suffering now identifies with Him.
2. Suffering is God’s means of teaching and shaping us.
3. Suffering is our means of earning glory for the life to come.
4. What we suffer, Christ needs not suffer.
Hence, we are made partakers with Christ by our suffering. Instead of
asking suffering to be removed, we ought to rejoice in it.
\\4:17\\ "judgment must begin at the house of God" - This is a principal.
Anytime God moves to judge the wicked, He will first move to judge His
own. The angels dealt with Lot before Sodom. God removed the true
believers before destroying Jerusalem, and before the tribulation will
come persecutions of the true believers.
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