When Life Gets Hard, Remember Who You Are
What’s 1 Peter 4 about?
Peter writes to Christians scattered across hostile territory, reminding them that suffering for Jesus isn’t a bug in the system—it’s a feature. When the world pushes back against your faith, it’s actually proving you’re living differently enough to matter.
The Full Context
Picture this: You’re a Christian living in the Roman Empire around 64 AD. Nero’s been blaming Christians for the fire that destroyed much of Rome, and suddenly being a follower of Jesus has become genuinely dangerous. Your neighbors look at you suspiciously. Your family thinks you’ve joined a weird cult. Your boss treats you differently. This isn’t just social awkwardness—this is life-altering hostility.
Peter writes to believers scattered across what’s now modern Turkey, people who’ve been literally “scattered” (diaspora) from their homes because of persecution. Chapter 4 sits right in the heart of his letter where he’s been building this theme: you’re aliens and strangers in this world (1 Peter 2:11), so don’t be surprised when it feels foreign and hostile. But here in chapter 4, Peter gets intensely practical about what this looks like when rubber meets road—when your faith costs you relationships, reputation, and sometimes physical safety.
What the Ancient Words Tell Us
Let’s dig into some of the fascinating word choices Peter makes here. When he talks about the “hubris” (arrogance, insolence) of their former lifestyle in verse 3, he’s using a loaded Greek term that would’ve made his readers wince. This wasn’t just about being a little proud—hubris was the kind of overwhelming pride that led to someone’s downfall in Greek tragedies. It’s the word you’d use for someone who thought they could challenge the gods.
Grammar Geeks
When Peter says “the end of all things has come near” in verse 7, he uses the perfect tense in Greek (ēngiken), which means something that happened in the past but has ongoing effects right now. It’s not “the end is coming someday”—it’s “the end has already drawn so close that everything is different now.”
But here’s where it gets really interesting. In verse 4, Peter describes their old friends as being “surprised” (xenizō) that they don’t join in the same “flood of debauchery.” This Greek word literally means “to treat as a foreigner” or “to find strange.” Peter’s making a brilliant point: your friends now treat you like the foreigner, when actually they’re the ones who are alienated from God’s reality.
What Would the Original Audience Have Heard?
When Peter’s first readers heard these words, they would’ve immediately thought about the Roman social system that dominated their world. Roman society was built on honor and shame dynamics—your worth came from public recognition, social status, and belonging to the right groups. To be excluded from social gatherings, business networks, or family celebrations wasn’t just inconvenient—it was socially devastating.
Did You Know?
Roman dinner parties weren’t just social events—they were where business deals were made, marriages were arranged, and political alliances were formed. When Christians stopped participating in these events (which often included idol worship and behaviors they couldn’t support), they weren’t just missing parties—they were cutting themselves off from the entire social and economic system.
Peter’s audience would’ve also recognized the language of judgment in verses 17-18. The idea that “judgment begins with the household of God” would’ve resonated with Jewish Christians who understood the temple as the place where God’s holiness was most concentrated—and therefore where judgment would begin. But Peter’s expanding this beyond just ethnic Israel to include all believers, both Jewish and Gentile.
Wrestling with the Text
Here’s something that might puzzle modern readers: Why does Peter seem so… enthusiastic about suffering? In verse 13, he actually tells his readers to rejoice in their sufferings. That feels almost cruel to us, doesn’t it?
But Peter isn’t being a masochist here. He’s making a crucial distinction between suffering for Christ and suffering because of our own poor choices. The Greek word he uses for suffering (paschō) is the same word used for Christ’s suffering—it implies suffering that serves a purpose, not random pain.
Wait, That’s Strange…
In verse 6, Peter says the gospel was preached “even to those who are dead.” This has puzzled interpreters for centuries. Is he talking about Christ preaching to spirits in prison? Dead people getting a second chance? Most likely, Peter means the gospel was preached to people who have since died—they heard it while alive, but are now dead. The point is that God’s judgment is fair and universal.
Peter also makes this startling claim in verse 17: “judgment begins with the household of God.” Wait, what? Aren’t we supposed to be saved from judgment? Peter’s using “judgment” here in the sense of testing and refinement—the kind of fire that burns away impurities but leaves gold stronger. God’s people go through the refining fire first, not as punishment, but as preparation.
How This Changes Everything
Here’s what Peter’s doing that’s absolutely revolutionary: he’s reframing suffering from something that proves God doesn’t care about you to something that proves you’re living authentically for him. In the Roman world, suffering was seen as evidence of divine displeasure. The gods blessed those they favored with wealth, health, and happiness. Suffering meant you’d ticked off the wrong deity.
Peter flips this completely upside down. Suffering for righteousness—especially suffering for the name (verse 16)—isn’t a sign that something’s wrong with your faith. It’s a sign that something’s right with it. You’re living so differently from the world’s values that the world can’t help but notice and push back.
“When your faith makes you uncomfortable in this world, it’s working exactly as designed—you’re supposed to be homesick for heaven.”
But Peter doesn’t leave his readers (or us) in some kind of super-spiritual suffering bubble. Look at the practical instructions he gives: be hospitable (verse 9), use your gifts to serve others (verses 10-11), be self-controlled and alert for prayer (verse 7). Faith isn’t just about enduring hardship—it’s about creating alternative communities of love and service that are so compelling they make people wonder what you know that they don’t.
Key Takeaway
When following Jesus costs you something in this world, you’re not losing—you’re investing in the only economy that will matter forever. The goal isn’t to avoid suffering but to make sure that if you’re going to suffer anyway, it’s for something worthy of the name you bear.
Further Reading
Internal Links:
External Scholarly Resources:
- Letters to the Scattered: The First Letter of Peter
- 1 Peter: A Commentary on First Peter
- The First Epistle of Peter: The Greek Text with Introduction and Notes
Tags
1 Peter 4:12, 1 Peter 4:13, 1 Peter 4:16, 1 Peter 4:7, 1 Peter 4:17, suffering, persecution, judgment, hospitality, spiritual gifts, prayer, Christian community, living as aliens, the name of Christ, end times, holiness
