“prickly people in proximity to prickly people”

Download discussion questions:  1 Peter 4:4-19
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I encourage you to look at the passage in 1 Peter before you read this Blog entry.  What do you see in the text yourself?  What questions come to your mind?  How would you interpret what the writer says?  After even a few minutes examining and thinking about the text you will be much better prepared to evaluate the comments in the Blog.

When things are difficult and we are told that the trouble is almost over, how do we react?  Maybe we decide we can relax when we see the “light at the end of the tunnel.”  Or perhaps we experience encouragement, “Hold on just a little longer and this will be over.”  What response does Peter expect when he writes about “the end is near”?

Observation – What does it say?

In good, inductive-study style we began our discussion with observation, looking for what the text actually says before trying to interpret what the passage means.  (For more thoughts on studying the Bible, go to Remember the Signs on GoodNotSafe.)

The most obvious feature of the text is Peter’s beginning, “The end of all things is near; therefore…” (1 Peter 4:7a).  As we have often discussed, the “therefore” indicates that the writer expects some response or action to what he has just said.  What are we supposed to think or do or feel about the “end” Peter declares?

In last week’s passage continued from the week before, we found only one command in Peter’s text.  It seemed like a good place to start this week to see if there were more commands following the “therefore.”  And we found them!

Commands

• • Be of sound judgment and sober spirit (v. 7)
  • Keep fervent in love for one another (v. 8)
  • Be hospitable to one another (v. 9)
  • Employ gifts (v. 10)
  • Speaking (v. 11a)
  • Serving in strength God supplies (v. 11b)
  • Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal (v. 12)
  • Keep on rejoicing (v. 13)
  • Make sure none suffers as a murderer, etc. (v. 15)
  • Glorify God (v. 16b)
  • Entrust souls (v. 19b)

Peter used the previous section to surround a single command (“Arm yourselves”, 4:1) with multiple supporting statements.  In this passage, he provides a rapid-fire series of almost a dozen commands.  (As someone pointed out, some of these are actual commands, i.e., imperative verbs, and others are implied, using participles[1] with imperative force.)

Explanations

We also observed that several of the commands include descriptions or explanations of how or why those actions are important.

• • Be of sound judgment and sober spirit (v. 7)
    for the purpose of prayer
  • Keep fervent in love for one another (v. 8)
    because love covers a multitude of sins
  • Be hospitable to one another (v. 9)
    without complaint
  • Employ gifts (v. 10)
    serving one another
  • Speaking (v. 11a)
    as one speaking the utterances of God
  • Serving (v. 11b)
    in strength God supplies
  • Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal (v. 12)
    for your testing
  • Keep on rejoicing (v. 13)
    so that you may rejoice with exultation
  • Make sure none suffers as a murderer, etc. (v. 15)
    but not ashamed to suffer as a Christian
  • Glorify God (v. 16b)
    in this [Christian] name
  • Entrust souls (v. 19b)
    to a faithful Creator

Peter provides plenty of instructions and details about living when “the end of all things is near.”  As someone pointed out, this list doesn’t sound much like any “end-times” sermon or book we had ever encountered.

Repetition

Further observations followed.

• • The phrase “one another” is used three times in this passage (vv. 8, 9, 10).
  • Certain other words or ideas are repeated:
    • “suffer” (vv. 13, 15, 16, 19)
    • “rejoice” (twice in v. 13)
    • “glory” (twice in v. 11, 13, 14, 16)

One member of our group synthesized those three words into a summary of Peter’s message throughout his letter: “rejoicing in suffering glorifies God.”  Someone else pointed out how all the commands and explanations in that first section (vv. 7-11) are intensely relational and focused on the interactions within the community of Christians.

Interpretation – What does it mean?

Careful observation leads naturally into questions, the key to accurate interpretation.  How do the instructions about community relate to “the end of all things”?  Is Peter communicating a sense of urgency with the abrupt phrase, “The end of all things is near”?

“The End”

What did Peter mean by “the end”?  We thought of the closing title when a movie is finished – “The End” means that the story is over and there is no more to come; the tale is finished.  But someone pointed out that Peter has already revealed that there is more to come, such as our imperishable inheritance (1:4) and our salvation to be revealed (1:5).  That led to more discussion about what else might be meant by “the end.”

One suggestion was that an end might also mean a new beginning.  A musically-inclined member mentioned that a “coda” (Italian for “tail”) in music often meant the end of a movement, not necessarily the finale of the entire piece.  Other thoughts included the idea of “end” as a purpose or a goal (as in the phrase, “the end justifies the means”).  “End” can also mean fulfillment or completion.

The idea of a fulfilled purpose fits with the word Peter uses here, τέλος (telos, “the last part of a process, close, conclusion”[2] or “result, outcome, finish, goal”[3])  In fact, Peter uses that word with the same idea multiple times in his letter:

• • obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls (NASB)
    for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls (NIV 2011)
    for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls (NIV 1984)
    1 Peter 1:9[4]
  • To sum up, all be harmonious, sympathetic, loving, compassionate, humble (NASB)
    To conclude: you must all have the same attitude and the same feelings; (GNT)
    The aim of this is for you all to be like-minded, sympathetic and loving (NTFE)
    1 Peter 3:8[5]
  • what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? (NASB)
    what will be the fate of those who are disobedient to the gospel of God? (NET)
    what will happen to people who don’t obey God’s good news? (NIRV)
    1 Peter 4:17[6]

Considering Peter’s other uses of the word in the same letter, the “end” he is describing is the summing up, the conclusion, the goal of “all things.”  That is, God’s purpose in Creation is near to being fulfilled.  A person in our group pointed out that the idea of an aim or a planned outcome means that the unpleasant events that happen to believers (then and now) are not haphazard, not random. That has been a repeated theme in the letter, the will of God (2:15, 3:17, 4:2, 4:19), especially when suffering unjustly.

Glory and Community

If Peter is indeed writing about the imminent conclusion or fulfillment of God’s plan for Creation, why does he say so much about community?  Perhaps because community, Christians relating to one another, is a core component of that plan. Plus, suffering in the midst of a hostile environment (in the first or the twenty-first century) makes community and a supportive fellowship even more crucial.

Peter knows that his exhortations are important for believers who are enduring difficulties.  We agreed that hard times make for short fuses.  Patience wears thin under pressure.  Serving others is exhausting when we are already drained of emotion and energy.  “Reaching out” to others (the root of “fervent” love[7]) requires initiative when we have none to offer.  Providing hospitality adds to an already overwhelmed schedule.

Peter puts those difficulties into perspective, just as he has been doing since the opening of his letter about God’s great mercy and our imperishable inheritance.  The exhortations to love and hospitality and service are in the context of “the end,” the culmination of God’s purposes.  A member of our group reminded us of the Westminster Shorter Catechism[8] that begins with the chief end (goal, purpose) of man: “to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”  Community with other believers means seeing God at work in them.  Community often is where we see Him at work in us through others.  Community is a practical part of enjoying Him.

As we observed early in our discussion, the word “glory” is mentioned several times in this brief passage.  As another person commented, God is exalted through our love for one another, especially as we endure hardship and maintain that love and even grow in it.  Our relationships display who God is, they reveal His character.  That display encourages other believers.  The practical outworking of God’s plan in community has the potential to convince unbelievers. Jesus prayed that for His disciples and for us.

I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.
(John 17:20-23)

Jesus’ prayer makes it clear that Christian unity, the community of believers, is a key part of the “end” or purpose or outcome that God intends for “all things” in His Creation.  The prayer in John 17 shows that our relationships are to reflect the relationships that have existed eternally in the Triune God.  The reality of redeemed relationships is unimaginable in today’s fractious culture.  We have the opportunity to demonstrate that reality.

Larry Crabb described God’s purpose as His “Larger Story.”  Suffering or even discomfort usually cause us to think only about our own “smaller stories” of how to get through the next crisis.  The perspective of God’s Larger Story can improve our vision and enhance our endurance as we anticipate our imperishable inheritance.

As we wait for our great reward, we’re to remain active in advancing the script of God’s Larger Story, doing our part in becoming relationally formed into “little Christs”, Jesus followers who put His love on display by how we relate, encouraging each other to discover the joy of loving well as we move along on a difficult journey.[9]

Application – What does it mean for me?

Interpretation is interesting, but it is not the “end” (purpose, goal) in itself.  A good, general application question is, “How does this passage affect your understanding of who God is and what He is doing?”

Peter emphasizes that community is central to the end, the purpose that God is bringing about.  The apostle wrote two thousand years ago, and God is still moving His people toward that same goal.  He continues to show us and to show the world who He is and what He is like through relational holiness, how we interact with one another.

But relationships are hard. How do Peter’s words help?

Sound Judgment, Sober Spirit

Peter starts with our inner world, our judgment and our thinking.  As a person pointed out, if our thinking is dominated by emotion, our thoughts are unstable.  Someone else reminded us that prayer (Peter’s explanation of the need for sound judgment) is ultimately relational, our interaction with God.  Emotions, especially in the midst of suffering, can make our prayers demands for relief. “Glorifying God and enjoying Him forever” disappears in our desperation.  That’s when we need sound judgment.

One source of faulty judgment someone described as “the lies we listen to.”  Lies such as “I’m a failure. I’m not good enough.  I need to prove my worth.  I should be better.” Or the lies can take a different direction.  “I have to prove myself.  I must defend my image.  I need to be right and win.”  The lies may not be that well-defined, but the attitude and the resulting emotions twist our thoughts.  Those lies devastate relationships – with other people or with God in prayer.

We need to remember the hope we have, reminding ourselves and reminding each other of our imperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance (1:4).  Sound judgment is conscious, intentional thinking that focuses on God’s great mercy and Christ’s resurrection.  Lies of shame and lies of self-protection are answered by God’s truth.

• • As we focus on God’s grace as the source of our hope (1:3), we are not depending on our worthiness based on performance.
  • As we anticipate eternally increasing joy in paradise with the Lord, we don’t have to prove ourselves now in our “temporary residence” (1:17, LEB, NET, NLT)[10].

Those answers to the lies can renew our minds (Romans 12:1-2) and restore the stability of sound judgment.

Fervent in Love

Peter started with the need for sound judgment and prayer for a reason.  Someone said that we can only follow the other commands in Peter’s list by prayer and God’s grace in us.

Love that is “persevering, unwavering display of interest or devotion”[11] is vulnerable to the lies listed above.  We discussed how unintentional slights or perceived rudeness or deliberate judgments move us to the shame of unworthiness or the anger of retaliation.  Listening to lies in our head limits fervent love.

One comment encouraged us to be self-aware enough (part of sound judgment) to recognize our tendency, our go-to response.  Do we assume we don’t measure up, so every question or criticism produces shame so I have to try harder, I have to be better?  Or are we defensive so that any disagreement or advice turns into an argument?  Knowing the lies we listen to can help us answer with the sound judgment of God’s truth.

And then what?  We recognize the self-protective response.  Our emotions drive us into a spiral of shame or escalate into an argument.  In either scenario, the answer from our discussion was “rest.”

We talked about Biblical rest.  That rest is not passive withdrawal.  Rest is work.  Rest requires continually “renewing our mind” to counteract the lies we may have listened to for decades. The writer of Hebrews devoted a considerable part of his sermon to the topic of believers’ rest.  He based his explanation on the model of God’s rest after Creation (Hebrews 3:7-4:11).  He concluded with the exhortation

let us strive to enter that rest (ESV)
let’s make every effort to enter that rest (NASB2020, NIV)
let us be diligent to enter that rest (NASB1995)
(Hebrews 4:11)[12]

One in our group reminded us that rest is about trust.  Rest, trusting in God, is not idleness. Rest is not passively hoping circumstances will get better or that I will stop responding in shame or anger.  Rest involves “being of sound mind and sober spirit” to quiet the lies and listen to God’s truth.  Can we trust in the truth we know, that God is at work and is bringing His plan to fulfillment?  Can we rest in that truth even when facing insults or judgment from others?

Be Hospitable

Even as we grow in sound judgment and in fervent love, hospitality adds another dimension to the community Peter is advocating.  Difficulties make us, to use one participant’s word, “prickly.”  Hospitality can increase the effects of prickly people in proximity to prickly people.  Someone else noted that hospitality is costly in time, money, and physical and emotional energy, all limited resources.

Hospitality is concerned with care for others, particularly others we may not know well (φιλοξενία, philoxenia, literally, “love of strangers”). Peter directs hospitality toward “one another,” so his intention includes other members of the community.  Inevitably, we get along better with some people than with others, and a growing community of believers often will include “strangers.”  One person added that hospitality often has no immediate reward or recognition, or as he said, “No ROI” – Return on Investment.

No wonder Peter offers the clarification “without complaint.”  Surviving in a hostile world makes prickly people pricklier.  Expending energy for others with no ROI can turn prickliness into complaining or grumbling.  We may try to maintain a positive public persona by only “whispering” internally or expressing “secret and sullen discontent, murmuring.”  Those are all meanings of the word[13] (γογγυσμός, gongysmos; Say it out loud.  It even sounds grumpy.)  Those complaints or grumbling (or worse) usually result when we feel overwhelmed with responsibilities.  Someone brought up the familiar story of the hospitality Jesus received when “a woman named Martha opened her home to Him” (Luke 10:38-42).  Martha’s hospitality included at least a little “prickliness” as she complained about her sister’s lack of cooperation.  Peter’s first guideline for hospitality is just the opposite, “without complaint.”

He adds two more comments that may be general instructions but that apply especially in the context of hospitality.  He draws attention to gifts of speaking and serving (v. 11).  We briefly discussed why he only mentions two gifts.  Are those two the only gifts that apply to hospitality?  He describes gifts as expressions of “the manifold grace of God,” that is, the “many-colored”[14] assortment of ways God works through His people.  One suggestion was that Peter pointed out these two examples as representing the broad spectrum of gifts.  “Speaking” may be one of the most visible gifts.  “Serving” is often unseen.  What those gifts have in common, along with all the others mentioned elsewhere in Scripture, is the dependence on God, His words, His energy.

Martha’s example highlights the wrong approach to hospitality.  She felt responsible because it was her home (Luke 10.38b).  She was “distracted” (v. 40a) because she was left “serving alone” (v. 40c).  Her “prickliness” even resulted in a veiled accusation against her divine guest, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving?”  Perhaps our tendency to complain or grumble about hospitality is a warning sign that we are focused on our own limitations rather than on what God provides for us.

To be continued…

Our conversation about this passage (only outlined and summarized here) was limited to the first section (vv. 7-11) of the passage.  Christian community is clearly an emphasis when “the end of all things is near.”  Peter will have more to say in the passage when we continue in next week’s study.

As one person expressed it, whether the fulfillment of God’s plan occurs tomorrow or in another two thousand years, our focus is how we live today.  Peter reminds us that how we live today is inseparably connected to our relationships.  May we grow in relational holiness in all our interactions.

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[1] H.E.Dana and Julius R. Mantey, A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament (Toronto:  The MacMillan Company, 1927), 216.

[2] W. Bauer, F.W. Danker, W.F. Arndt, and F.W. Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 2000), 998.

[3] https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/telos

[4] https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/1%20Peter%201%3A9

[5] https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/1%20Peter%203%3A8

[6] https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/1%20Peter%204%3A17

[7] ἐκτείνω to stretch out, reach out
John R. Kohlenberger III, Edward W. Goodrick, James A Swanson, The Greek-English Concordance to the New Testament With The New International Version (Grand Rapids, Michigan:  Zondervan Publishing House, 1997), 244-245.

[8] https://prts.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Shorter_Catechism.pdf

[9] Larry Crabb, Waiting for Heaven: Freedom from the Incurable Addiction to Self (Denver, Colorado:  Larger Story Press, 2020), 28-29; Kindle edition page 43, location 536.

[10] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%201%3A17&version=leb,net,nlt

[11] W. Bauer, F.W. Danker, W.F. Arndt, and F.W. Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 2000), 310.

[12] https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Hebrews%204%3A11

[13] https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/gongysmos

[14] W. Bauer, F.W. Danker, W.F. Arndt, and F.W. Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 2000), 842.