1 Peter 4:9 Commentary and Bible Study

Literally the Greek is, ‘Stranger-loving to one another without grumbling.’ Christians are to be lovers of strangers (Hebrews 13:2) or, as the word intends, those who show hospitality, just as Israel was told to love and care for strangers, mindful of their own experience in Egypt as an alien people (Exodus 22:21; 23:9; Leviticus 19:34; Deuteronomy 10:19). Such expressions of friendship are natural among believers within their own churches, but are to be extended to those outside as well. In showing hospitality, we look to see who has particular need among us: those who are new and need the encouragement of friendship; those who are facing difficult circumstances and need extra short-term support and sympathy in their grief; those who are not skilled in forming new friendships and need others to take the initiative and even to persist with the warmth of friendship. As a result, no one should be uncared for and the church should welcome into its circle all whom the Lord chooses to bring among them, for we are a company of people chosen by the Lord and not by ourselves, and it is his perfect wisdom that sees fit to assemble us into churches. In the churches to which Peter wrote there was a particular need, for those were days of persecution. To work then, one had to belong to a trade guild, and because that involved idolatrous sacrifices which Christians refused to offer up, the Christians were cast out of the guilds and lost their job. He would have no income, and sometimes his home would be seized; it would be linked with the job. He would have nothing. He would be destitute with his family. He would be dependent upon finding other labouring work, and he would be taken in by fellow Christians. Many Christian households had people who had been dispossessed, ejected from something. Don't grumble about it, says Peter. Don't find it burdensome. Do it with good will. This is what we are called to: to help one another.The Lord gathers those that we would not necessarily have chosen, and creates bonds of love between us. We are commanded to love one another and as we obey, we prove that we can overcome natural differences that exist between us, for the spiritual things we have in common are more important than our natural differences. We are one not because we have natural gifts or attributes in common, such as profession or nationality or culture, but because we are one in Christ who transcends all earthly differences by his Spirit that dwells within us. Christ’s church is an object of beauty just because it overcomes in this way. It shows to a fallen world that those things which divide men on earth and even cause them to fight with each other, are of no consequence within the kingdom of God and do not divide. But he adds the phrase ‘without grumbling’ or ‘without murmuring’, as something which is the opposite of a true spirit of hospitality. What might we grumble about, and why is this something that needs to be mentioned in this context? Hospitality must be sincere and it can hardly be that when we criticise our guests behind their backs, or resent the burden that hospitality places upon us. The Christian who has a loose hold on his possessions and sees them as gifts from God presenting opportunities to serve him, does not resent spending what he has on others. Why should he complain while he has enough for himself and his family, for God will take care for the future. Indeed, God gives to us in order that we may have the privilege of giving to others, and he is against those who simply keep what they have to themselves.