1 Peter 4:17 Commentary and Bible Study

Peter has not left the subject of persecution as the connecting word ‘For’ makes clear. There are two judgments in this verse: first the judgment of the house of God delivered through the persecutions of the world, and later the judgment of the world delivered by God himself. Peter has been at pains to show believers that their sufferings for Christ’s sake are not a mark of God’s disapproval or something to be ashamed of, but rather a mark of blessing through identification with Christ. Why then does he now suggest that these hardships are the firstfruits of God’s judgment? How can believers find comfort under persecution if at the same time they see their sufferings as judgments? The explanation is that although the world intends their persecutions for evil, God overrules and turns them into a means for good. Peter is using the word ‘judgment’ in a way which is broad enough to encompass both the Lord’s refining of his people, and the eternal punishment visited on the wicked. He is not suggesting that the righteous are judged in the same way as the wicked, but he wishes to link together these two acts of God. Judgment begins with the house of God, but it ends with those who are outside the kingdom of God and are cast into hell. The first is reformative, the second is destructive. They are called judgments because in both cases they proceed from God and give his verdict on human behaviour, but the end aimed at by the Lord is very different. In the case of his people, he has their ultimate good at heart and works to correct them and sanctify them, but in the case of the lost he aims only to protect his holy name and has abandoned them to punishment. The use of the word judgment should not suggest that the believer is necessarily being punished for his sin when he suffers persecution. That may be true in some cases, but God is also using persecution to train, to refine, and to build character in his people. He is doing several things at once. It is one thing for a child of God to have a good conscience and not to live as an evildoer, but it is another thing to be perfectly trained in righteousness and for the life-long work of sanctification to have been completed. Even though we strive to keep ourselves from sin, we still need to learn sharp lessons from the Lord, and these are here called judgments. There is no child of God whom his heavenly Father does not correct. At times it seems to us that he is indifferent to our suffering, and yet we are taught that all things work together for our good. How does Peter describe the last age, the church age? It is the age in which judgement must begin at the house of God. He hasn't changed the subject; he is still talking about persecution. The measures taken against Christians have the effect of sifting and proving and showing who are the true Christians: those who rejoice to suffer for Christ sake, and those who won't take it and fall away.