1 Peter 3:13 - And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?
The word good here is AGATHOU. The Greek text uses KALOS or KAKOS. But AGATHOS is the good of the Lord, and PONAYROS is the evil of Satan. KALOS and KAKOS is good in human terms. He uses KAKOS the human term for the negative, and he uses AGATHOS for the things of God.
Remember he is writing to a Jewish group. They understand the terminologies from a Jewish standpoint that the word good in Hebrew is TOV, and the word bad or evil is RAH. The word TOV is used in the creation narration in Genesis Chapter 1, where after God created, He saw that it was good. And we understand from all of the uses of TOV in the TANAK, the Old Testament, that it has more to do with something that is functioning according to the purpose for which it was created.
So, when God got through creating each day, He looked at it as functioning perfectly. He created it perfectly. The emphasis is on sin entering into the world and ruining the purposes to which God created things, even people. And that's what Peter is really emphasizing here, is that these Jewish believers, not only are they suffering because of their circumstances, but they're suffering also because of their faith.
So even other Jewish people who are in the area, you'd think that they could go knock on their door and say, "I'm Jewish, and I'm here and I have no place to live, and I need something to eat," that they would help them. But then they find out that they're also believers in Jesus Christ as Messiah. They won't even help them.
He says, and who is he that will harm you, if you be followers of that which is good? If you follow the function for which God has created you, then who's going to harm you?
1 Peter 4:4 - Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you:
Wherein they think it strange that you run not with them in the same excess of riot, and the word riot is the word ruin. "Hey, you're not running with us and ruining yourself anymore. What happened?" And by that, they're speaking evil of you: This is the word blasphemy.
1 Peter 4:5 - Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.
The word quick means the living. Dead people are not very quick!
1 Peter 4:7 - But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
But the end of all things is at hand:
That little term "is at hand" is called a Perfect Tense, has drawn near. The end is already in process of ending. That was back in Paul and Peter's day. It's even more so today.
1 Peter 4:3 - For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:
For the time past of our life may suffice us to have worked out the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, meaning unrestrained immorality. That's what lasciviousness is. The Greek word ASELGEIA has the Alpha Privative. But SELGEIA was a name of a town, and they kicked all the prostitutes out, and they closed all the bars.
And so, they were very strict in this town. Whenever soldiers had free time, they never went to SELGEIA. They always tried to find a town where they could drink and party. But you couldn't do that at SELGEIA. So, this is ASELGEIA. This is the opposite of the town of SELGEIA. He saying lasciviousness means anything goes. There are no limitations. There are no restrictions.
Lusts, which means to put your desire on something and go after it. Excess of wine, which is translated habitual drunkenness. Revellings, which means to party. Banquetings, and this one is interesting. It means to drink in celebration to Bacchus, who is the god of wine. So, they made a festival out of it.
And abominable idolatries: Literally, illegal idolatries. That is, those things which God has said not to do. He says you were running rampant. This was your lifestyle. You indulged in these things when you lived your life by the way of the Gentiles or nations. But you've had sufficient time. The day the Lord saves you, he says you're ready. Sufficient, you've had enough!
1 Peter 3:16 - Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation, or lifestyle in Christ. And again, the word good conversation or lifestyle is TOV, the lifestyle for which God has created me for.
So eventually they will be ashamed, but they will speak evil, but as long as you have a good conscience, that's what he's saying. If you have a clear conscience, if you're obeying the Lord, if you're following righteousness in a world that is unrighteous, when they speak evil of you, they're going to be ashamed one day when Christ comes.
1 Peter 3:17 - For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
It's better for you if you suffer for functioning in the way that Christ has created you, rather than RAH, functioning in the way of the world, and suffering the consequences for that lifestyle.
1 Peter 3:15 - But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts:
I have been sanctified by Christ. But what he's saying is, as I live out my life, I am to keep my heart set apart for Him. He has set me apart by coming to live in my spirit. But in my heart, I go in different directions.
Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, and do it with meekness, that is, openness, and do it with fear, or respect:
Notice that he is telling this to people who are suffering. That's important. While these believing Jews are going through suffering, people are looking at them and wondering why they are living life like they have hope. The word hope in Greek means expectancy. It doesn't mean hope like a wish. It's expectancy. I expect Christ to come. I expect to go be with Him if I should die before He comes.
Peter said in 1 Peter 1:3 that we have been born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So here are these suffering Hebrew believers, and he says get ready to give an answer.
And the word answer in the Greek (APOLOGIAN) is where we get our English word apologetics. Be ready to give a defense. Every believer should be ready to present to people the basis and foundation for their hope of their life in Jesus Christ. So be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is within you, only do it with openness and respect.
1 Peter 3:13 - And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?
The word good here is AGATHOU. The Greek text uses KALOS or KAKOS. But AGATHOS is the good of the Lord, and PONAYROS is the evil of Satan. KALOS and KAKOS is good in human terms. He uses KAKOS the human term for the negative, and he uses AGATHOS for the things of God.
Remember he is writing to a Jewish group. They understand the terminologies from a Jewish standpoint that the word good in Hebrew is TOV, and the word bad or evil is RAH. The word TOV is used in the creation narration in Genesis Chapter 1, where after God created, He saw that it was good. And we understand from all of the uses of TOV in the TANAK, the Old Testament, that it has more to do with something that is functioning according to the purpose for which it was created.
So, when God got through creating each day, He looked at it as functioning perfectly. He created it perfectly. The emphasis is on sin entering into the world and ruining the purposes to which God created things, even people. And that's what Peter is really emphasizing here, is that these Jewish believers, not only are they suffering because of their circumstances, but they're suffering also because of their faith.
So even other Jewish people who are in the area, you'd think that they could go knock on their door and say, "I'm Jewish, and I'm here and I have no place to live, and I need something to eat," that they would help them. But then they find out that they're also believers in Jesus Christ as Messiah. They won't even help them.
He says, and who is he that will harm you, if you be followers of that which is good? If you follow the function for which God has created you, then who's going to harm you?
1 Peter 4:4 - Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you:
Wherein they think it strange that you run not with them in the same excess of riot, and the word riot is the word ruin. "Hey, you're not running with us and ruining yourself anymore. What happened?" And by that, they're speaking evil of you: This is the word blasphemy.
1 Peter 4:5 - Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.
The word quick means the living. Dead people are not very quick!
1 Peter 4:7 - But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
But the end of all things is at hand:
That little term "is at hand" is called a Perfect Tense, has drawn near. The end is already in process of ending. That was back in Paul and Peter's day. It's even more so today.
1 Peter 4:3 - For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:
For the time past of our life may suffice us to have worked out the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, meaning unrestrained immorality. That's what lasciviousness is. The Greek word ASELGEIA has the Alpha Privative. But SELGEIA was a name of a town, and they kicked all the prostitutes out, and they closed all the bars.
And so, they were very strict in this town. Whenever soldiers had free time, they never went to SELGEIA. They always tried to find a town where they could drink and party. But you couldn't do that at SELGEIA. So, this is ASELGEIA. This is the opposite of the town of SELGEIA. He saying lasciviousness means anything goes. There are no limitations. There are no restrictions.
Lusts, which means to put your desire on something and go after it. Excess of wine, which is translated habitual drunkenness. Revellings, which means to party. Banquetings, and this one is interesting. It means to drink in celebration to Bacchus, who is the god of wine. So, they made a festival out of it.
And abominable idolatries: Literally, illegal idolatries. That is, those things which God has said not to do. He says you were running rampant. This was your lifestyle. You indulged in these things when you lived your life by the way of the Gentiles or nations. But you've had sufficient time. The day the Lord saves you, he says you're ready. Sufficient, you've had enough!
1 Peter 3:16 - Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation, or lifestyle in Christ. And again, the word good conversation or lifestyle is TOV, the lifestyle for which God has created me for.
So eventually they will be ashamed, but they will speak evil, but as long as you have a good conscience, that's what he's saying. If you have a clear conscience, if you're obeying the Lord, if you're following righteousness in a world that is unrighteous, when they speak evil of you, they're going to be ashamed one day when Christ comes.
1 Peter 3:17 - For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
It's better for you if you suffer for functioning in the way that Christ has created you, rather than RAH, functioning in the way of the world, and suffering the consequences for that lifestyle.
1 Peter 3:15 - But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts:
I have been sanctified by Christ. But what he's saying is, as I live out my life, I am to keep my heart set apart for Him. He has set me apart by coming to live in my spirit. But in my heart, I go in different directions.
Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, and do it with meekness, that is, openness, and do it with fear, or respect:
Notice that he is telling this to people who are suffering. That's important. While these believing Jews are going through suffering, people are looking at them and wondering why they are living life like they have hope. The word hope in Greek means expectancy. It doesn't mean hope like a wish. It's expectancy. I expect Christ to come. I expect to go be with Him if I should die before He comes.
Peter said in 1 Peter 1:3 that we have been born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So here are these suffering Hebrew believers, and he says get ready to give an answer.
And the word answer in the Greek (APOLOGIAN) is where we get our English word apologetics. Be ready to give a defense. Every believer should be ready to present to people the basis and foundation for their hope of their life in Jesus Christ. So be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is within you, only do it with openness and respect.
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