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First Peter, part 17

1 Peter 4:1, 2 says,

¹ Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, ² so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

Peter is telling believers to adopt Christ’s mindset toward suffering—not to avoid suffering, but to embrace its purpose. It was necessary for Christ to suffer. Luke 24:25, 26 says,

²⁵ And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?”

He does not expect us to suffer without going through the same trials Himself. So Paul tells us in Romans 8:16-18,

¹⁶ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. ¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Peter has already told us about Noah’s experience, especially while building the ark. One can only imagine the ridicule he suffered from those who were about to be judged. Whether we like it or not, suffering is often part of the Pentecostal phase of salvation. It is designed to bring believers to maturity by teaching them patience and endurance. 2 Timothy 2:11, 12 says,

¹¹ It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; ¹² if we endure, we will also reign with Him…

Faith is rewarded with life (immortality). But to “reign with Him.” requires patience and endurance, important marks of spiritual maturity. Suffering is transformative. It is meant to test the quality of one’s faith and to upgrade it. Peter himself already wrote of this earlier in 1 Peter 1:6, 7,

⁶ In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, ⁷ so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

This principle is illustrated by Israel’s wilderness journey under Moses. The people left Egypt at Passover, having been justified by faith in the blood of the Lamb. The wilderness was their time of testing under the fire of Pentecost. Most of them failed the test of Pentecost and so they died in the wilderness, not being allowed to enter the Promised Land. It is not that they were “unsaved,” for they were called “the church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38 KJV); but that they lacked endurance. This is discussed more fully in Hebrews 12:1-3.

Sinless Perfection?

1 Peter 4:1 says that “he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.” Some teach that this means all true believers have become sinless and no longer sin. I ran across this teaching in my youth, having classmates who had been taught this in church. I observed how they struggled with this, being painfully aware of their own imperfections, yet forced to pretend otherwise. Their father, after all, was the preacher!

Fortunately for me, I had already received revelation a few years earlier that I did not have to be perfect to be saved. I was just twelve years old, living in a mission school in the Philippines. It had been decided that they would have a baptismal service, because most of us children had not yet been baptized. All of the other children immediately signed up for it, but I struggled with it, because I was still unsure that I was “saved.”

Why? Simply because I knew that I was not yet perfect. For years, I got saved every night after I went to bed. As I pondered my day’s misadventures, I figured that if I had truly been saved the previous night, I would have ceased from sin. So I was saved thousands of times in those years. This finally came to a head when they scheduled a baptismal service for a week later.

I struggled with this for the entire week. Finally, on the last day, as I prayed, asking God, “Am I saved?” He had mercy on me and spoke to me, saying, “Do you see those missionaries out there?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“They aren’t perfect either.”

That set me free, because I knew by observation that some of those missionaries were quite difficult to work with. I had overheard other missionaries complain about them. Yet I did not doubt their salvation. Therefore, I knew that my salvation was not based on my own perfection. This was my earliest revelation, and as a result, I was baptized the same day.

Unfortunately, my classmates in high school (back in America) had not received that revelation, and I easily recognized their torment, having experienced it myself.

When Peter says that believers have ceased from sin, he was referring to a decisive break with sin’s dominion and the start of a wilderness journey toward the promised inheritance. One’s Pentecostal journey is not characterized by sinless perfection but upon learning and growing spiritually until the time comes to cross the Jordan. It is not about perfection; it is about growth. Growth is evidence of life, just as obedience is evidence of faith.

Those who learn the lessons when tested in the wilderness are learning to live “no longer for the lusts [epithymía, “desires, cravings, lusts”] of men, but for the will [thelema] of God” (1 Peter 4:2). Paul speaks of God’s will in Romans 2:18,

¹⁸ and know His will [thelema] and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the law.

The law is God’s standard, based on His own nature. To learn the nature of God, one must study the law and be led by the Spirit, even as the Israelites were led by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.

Being Different from the World

1 Peter 4:3-5 says,

³ For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. ⁴ In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; ⁵ but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

A believer’s desire is to do the will of God and to reflect His nature, rather than to run with the world. This is a surprise to the world, which seeks gratification and entertainment that indulges the flesh. In fact, they often take offense, because when they see believers abandoning such things, they interpret it as condemnation (being judgmental).

Hence, when believers separate themselves from unrighteous norms, the world often reacts with confusion, ridicule, or hostility. The world misunderstands righteousness and treats it as abnormal and strange. Living righteously in an unrighteous world creates social tension, because unrighteous behavior requires validation from others who act in the same way. When they do not receive this, they become angry, not respecting one’s right to deviate from the social norm of the world.

Believers are called to be far-sighted, knowing that in the end, all will “give account” to the Judge of the earth. They know that the moral order will be restored, so they seek God’s restoration here and now. Peter is reframing suffering not as a loss, but as an alignment with Christ’s resurrection victory pattern.

Paul affirms this as well in Romans 6:8-12,

⁸ Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ⁹ knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. ¹⁰ For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹ Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts.

Suffering with Christ, then, marks the end of sin’s dominion and the beginning of a new life aligned with God—even in the face of opposition.