Pastors Jim and Marie Watt
1 Peter 4:7-11 – OUR CONDUCT IN THE LIGHT OF THE SECOND COMING
1 Peter Summary: PRACTICAL SALVATION: AN OVERALL CHRISTIAN MOTIVATION
I. 1:1-2:10 MOTIVATION TO GOOD BEHAVIOR
II. 2:11-4:11 MOTIVATION TO CHRISTIAN CONDUCT
D. 4:7-11 OUR CONDUCT IN THE LIGHT OF THE SECOND COMING
III. 4:12-5:14 MOTIVATION FOR ENDURANCE
4:7-ll OUR CONDUCT IN THE LIGHT OF THE SECOND COMING
a. 4:7-11a OUR CONDUCT IN THE LIGHT OF THE SECOND COMING
PANton de to TElos [5056] EGgi-ken [1448]:
But the end of all things is nigh:
so-phroNEsa-te [4993] oun, kai NEpsa-te [3525] eis pro-seuCHAS [4335]:
be therefore of sound mind, and be sober unto prayers:
pro PANton ten eis he-auTOUS aGApen [26] ek-teNE [1618] Echon-tes;
8 above all being fervent in your :love among yourselves;
HOti aGApe kaLUPtei [2572] PLEthos [4128] ha-mar-tiON [266]:
for love covers a multitude of sins:
phiLOxe-noi [5382] eis alLElous Aneu gog-gusMOU [1112]:
9 hospitable one to another without murmuring:
HEka-stos kaTHOS Ela-ben CHAris-ma [5486],
10 according as each has received a gift,
eis he-auTOUS auTO di-a-koNOUNtes [1247],
ministering it among yourselves,
hos kaLOI oi-koNOmoi [3623] poiKIles [4164] CHAri-tos [5485] TheOU;
as good stewards of the manifold grace of God;
ei tis laLEI – hos LOgi-a [3051] TheOU;
11 if any speaks – as if oracles of God;
ei tis di-a-koNEI [1247] – os isCHUos [2479] hes cho-reGEI [5524] ho TheOS:
if any ministers – as of the strength which :God supplies:
HIna en PAsin doXAze-tai [1392] ho TheOS diA ’IeSOU ChrisTOU,
that in all things :God be glorified through Jesus Christ,
ho es-tin he DOxa kai to KRAtos [2904] eis tous aiOnas [165] ton aiOnon.
whose is the glory and the dominion unto the ages of the ages.
NOTE: In the Fall of 1946 I was a member of the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship of the “University of Saskatchewan” in Saskatoon. I was asked to bring a series of teaching messages to some 100 fellow members. This passage of Scripture came to my attention through the Holy Spirit, and I shared the seven points contained here, in the light of the soon coming again of our Lord Jesus.
You may ask – “How is it that Christian believers have been looking for the soon return of Christ for the last 2000 years?” My answer would also come from the writing of Peter in his second letter. In 2 Peter 3:8-9 (8-13) he states, “But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning the promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering toward you, not intending that any perish, but all come to repentance.”
Here we clearly understand that “time” from our vantage point is not at all the way God sees it. In His sight, it is but two days since the Holy Spirit stated these things through Bible writers, and now at the beginning of the 3rd day in 2008, it is about to be fulfilled. Jesus said in Matthew 24 that when Jerusalem falls again into the hands of Jewish Israel (1967) – that generation would not pass away till all things be fulfilled!
And how long is a generation? The figure varies with various commentators. But we do know that God told Israel that she would in Egypt for 400 years, or 4 generation. So from God’s viewpoint, a generation would be 100 years. So from 1967 to 2067 would be a generation.
This at least tends to clarify our thinking on this issue.
But to get back to the Holy Spirit’s thrust through Peter concerning our text. In God’s sight the return of Jesus is right at the door – but a blink of the eye. In the light of this, what then ought our behavior to be? Seven things should mark the life-style of believers. These I shared in 1946. I share them again in this note in 2008. The time-change in God’s sight is as nothing, though the last 62 years have made physical changes in me!
In time, all these seven points will appear as 7 Greek Word Studies on our Website. May they be as much of a challenge to us today as they were to the Saskatchewan University students then.
Your friend – Jim Watt