1 Peter 4:7

We have here an awful position or doctrine, and an inference drawn from it. The position is that the end of all things is at hand. The miserable destruction of the Jewish church and nation foretold by our Saviour is now very near; consequently, the time of their persecution and your sufferings is but very short. Your own life and that of your enemies will soon come to their utmost period. Nay, the world itself will not continue very long. The conflagration will put an end to it; and all things must be swallowed up in an endless eternity. The inference from this comprises a series of exhortations.

1. To sobriety and watchfulness: "Be you therefore sober, Pe1 4:7. Let the frame and temper of your minds be grave, stayed, and solid; and observe strict temperance and sobriety in the use of all worldly enjoyments. Do not suffer yourselves to be caught with your former sins and temptations, Pe1 4:3. An watch unto prayer. Take care that you be continually in a calm sober disposition, fit for prayer; and that you be frequent in prayers, lest this end come upon you unawares," Luk 21:34; Mat 26:40, Mat 26:41. Learn, (1.) The consideration of our approaching end is a powerful argument to make us sober in all worldly matters, and earnest in religious affairs. (2.) Those who would pray to purpose must watch unto prayer. They must watch over their own spirits, watch all fit opportunities, and do their duty in the best manner they can. (3.) The right ordering of the body is of great use to promote the good of the soul. When the appetites and inclinations of the body are restrained and governed by God's word and true reason, and the interests of the body are submitted to the interests and necessities of the soul, then it is not the soul's enemy, but its friend and helper.

2. To charity: And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves, Pe1 4:8. Here is a noble rule in Christianity. Christians ought to love one another, which implies an affection to their persons, a desire of their welfare, and a hearty endeavour to promote it. This mutual affection must not be cold, but fervent, that is, sincere, strong, and lasting. This sort of earnest affection is recommended above all things, which shows the importance of it, Col 3:14. It is greater than faith or hope, Co1 13:13. One excellent effect of it is that it will cover a multitude of sins. Learn, (1.) There ought to be in all Christians a more fervent charity towards one another than towards other men: Have charity among yourselves. He does not say for pagans, for idolaters, or for apostates, but among yourselves. Let brotherly love continue, Heb 13:1. There is a special relation between all sincere Christians, and a particular amiableness and good in them, which require special affection. (2.) It is not enough for Christians not to bear malice, nor to have common respect for one another, they must intensely and fervently love each other. (3.) It is the property of true charity to cover a multitude of sins. It inclines people to forgive and forget offences against themselves, to cover and conceal the sins of others, rather than aggravate them and spread them abroad. It teaches us to love those who are but weak, and who have been guilty of many evil things before their conversion; and it prepares for mercy at the hand of God, who hath promised to forgive those that forgive others, Mat 6:14.

3. To hospitality, Pe1 4:9. The hospitality here required is a free and kind entertainment of strangers and travellers. The proper objects of Christian hospitality are one another. The nearness of their relation, and the necessity of their condition in those times of persecution and distress, obliged Christians to be hospitable one to another. Sometimes Christians were spoiled of all they had, and were driven away to distant countries for safety. In this case they must starve if their fellow-christians would not receive them. Therefore it was a wise and necessary rule which the apostle here laid down. It is elsewhere commanded, Heb 13:1, Heb 13:2; Rom 12:13. The manner of performing this duty is this: it must be done in an easy, kind, handsome manner, without grudging or grumbling at the expense or trouble. Learn, (1.) Christians ought not only to be charitable, but hospitable, one to another. (2.) Whatever a Christian does by way of charity or of hospitality, he ought to do it cheerfully, and without grudging. Freely you have received, freely give.

4. To the improvement of talents, Pe1 4:11.

(1.) The rule is that whatever gift, ordinary or extraordinary, whatever power, ability, or capacity of doing good is given to us, we should minister, or do service, with the same one to another, accounting ourselves not masters, but only stewards of the manifold grace, or the various gifts, of God. Learn, [1.] Whatever ability we have of doing good we must own it to be the gift of God and ascribe it to his grace. [2.] Whatever gifts we have received, we ought to look upon them as received for the use one of another. We must not assume them to ourselves, nor hide them in a napkin, but do service with them one to another in the best manner we are able. [3.] In receiving and using the manifold gifts of God we must look upon ourselves as stewards only, and act accordingly. The talents we are entrusted with are our Lord's goods, and must be employed as he directs. And it is required in a steward that he be found faithful.

(2.) The apostle exemplifies his direction about gifts in two particulars - speaking and ministering, concerning which he gives these rules: - [1.] If any man, whether a minister in public or a Christian in private conference, speak or teach, he must do it as the oracles of God, which direct us as to the matter of our speech. What Christians in private, or ministers in public, teach and speak must be the pure word and oracles of God. As to the manner of speaking, it must be with the seriousness, reverence, and solemnity, that become those holy and divine oracles. [2.] If any man minister, either as a deacon, distributing the alms of the church and taking care of the poor, or as a private person, by charitable gifts and contributions, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth. He who has received plenty and ability from God ought to minister plentifully, and according to his ability. These rules ought to be followed and practised for this end, that God in all things, in all your gifts, ministrations, and services, may be glorified, that others may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Mat 5:16), through Jesus Christ, who has procured and given these gifts to men (Eph 4:8), and through whom alone we and our services are accepted of God (Heb 13:15), to whom, Jesus Christ, be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Learn, First, It is the duty of Christians in private, as well as ministers in public, to speak to one another of the things of God, Mal 3:16; Eph 4:29; Psa 145:10-12. Secondly, It highly concerns all preachers of the gospel to keep close to the word of God, and to treat that word as becomes the oracles of God. Thirdly, Christians must not only do the duty of their place, but they must do it with vigour, and according to the best of their abilities. The nature of a Christian's work, which is high work and hard work, the goodness and kindness of the Master, and the excellency of the reward, all require that our endeavours should be serious and vigorous, and that whatever we are called to do for the honour of God and the good of others we should do it with all our might. Fourthly, In all the duties and services of life we should aim at the glory of God as our chief end; all other views must be subservient to this, which would sanctify our common actions and affairs, Co1 10:31. Fifthly, God is not glorified by any thing we do if we do not offer it to him through the mediation and merits of Jesus Christ. God in all things must be glorified through Jesus Christ, who is the only way to the Father. Sixthly, The apostle's adoration of Jesus Christ, and ascribing unlimited and everlasting praise and dominion to him, prove that Jesus Christ is the most high God, over all blessed for evermore. Amen.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

But the end of all things is at hand - This declaration is also evidently designed to support and encourage them in their trials, and to excite them to lead a holy life, by the assurance that the end of all things was drawing near. The phrase, “the end of all things,” would naturally refer to the end of the world; the winding up of human affairs. It is not absolutely certain, however, that the apostle used it here in this sense. It might mean that so far as they were concerned, or in respect to them, the end of all things drew near. Death is to each one the end of all things here below; the end of his plans and of his interest in all that pertains to sublunary affairs. Even if the phrase did originally and properly refer to the end of the world, it is probable that it would soon come to denote the end of life in relation to the affairs of each individual; since, if it was believed that the end of the world was near, it must consequently be believed that the termination of the earthly career of each one also drew near to a close.

It is possible that the latter signification may have come ultimately to predominate, and that Peter may have used it in this sense without referring to the other. Compare the notes at 2Pe 3:8-14, for his views on this subject. See also the notes at Rom 13:11-12. The word rendered “is at hand,” (ἤγγικε ēngike,) may refer either to proximity of place or time, and it always denotes that the place or the time referred to was not far off. In the former sense, as referring to nearness of place, see Mat 21:1; Mar 11:1; Luk 7:12; Luk 15:25; Luk 18:35, Luk 18:40; Luk 19:29, Luk 19:37, Luk 19:41; Luk 24:15; Act 9:3; Act 10:9; Act 21:33; in the latter sense, as referring to time as being near, see Mat 3:2; Mat 4:17; Mat 10:7; Mat 21:34; Mat 26:45; Mar 1:15; Luk 21:20, Luk 21:28; Act 7:17; Rom 13:12; Heb 10:25; 1Pe 4:7. The idea as applied to time, or to an approaching event, is undoubtedly that it is close by; it is not far off; it will soon occur. If this refers to the end of the world, it would mean that it was soon to occur; if to death, that this was an event which could not be far distant - perhaps an event that was to be hastened by their trials. The fact that it is such language as we now naturally address to people, saying that in respect to them “the end of all things is at hand,” shows that it cannot be demonstrated that Peter did not use it in the same sense, and consequently that it cannot be proved that he meant to teach that the end of the world was then soon to occur.

Be ye therefore sober - Serious; thoughtful; considerate. Let a fact of so much importance make a solemn impression on your mind, and preserve you from frivolity, levity, and vanity. See the word explained in the notes at 1Ti 3:2.

And watch unto prayer - Be looking out for the end of all things in such a manner as to lead you to embrace all proper opportunities for prayer. Compare the notes at Mat 26:39, Mat 26:41. The word rendered watch, means to be sober, temperate, abstinent, especially in respect to wine; then watchful, circumspect. The important truth, then, taught by this passage is, “that the near approach, of the end of all things should make us serious and prayerful.”

I. The end may be regarded as approaching. This is true:

(1) Of all things; of the winding up of the affairs of this world. It is constantly drawing nearer and nearer, and no one can tell how soon it will occur. The period is wisely hidden from the knowledge of all people, (see Mat 24:36; Act 1:7,) among other reasons, in order that we may be always ready. No man can tell certainly at what time it will come; no man can demonstrate that it may not come at any moment. Everywhere in the Scriptures it is represented that it will come at an unexpected hour, as a thief in the night, and when the mass of people shall be slumbering in false security, Mat 24:37-39, Mat 24:42-43; 1Th 5:2; Luk 21:34.

(2) It is near in relation to each one of us. The day of our death cannot be far distant; it may be very near. The very next thing that we may have to do, may be to lie down and die.

II. It is proper that such a nearness of the end of all things should lead us to be serious, and to pray.

(1) To be serious; for:

(a) the end of all things, in regard to us, is a most important event. It closes our probation. It fixes our character. It seals up our destiny. It makes all ever onward in character and doom unchangeable.

(b) We are so made as to be serious in view of such events. God has so constituted the mind, that when we lose property, health, or friends; when we look into a grave, or are beset with dangers; when we are in the room of the dying or the dead, we are serious and thoughtful. It is unnatural not to be so. Levity and frivolity on such occasions are as contrary to all the finer and better feelings of our nature as they are to the precepts of the Bible.

(c) There are advantages in seriousness of mind. It enables us to take better views of things, Ecc 7:2-3. A calm, sober, sedate mind is the best for a contemplation of truth, and for looking at things as they are.

(2) To be watchful unto prayer:

(a) People naturally pray when they suppose that the end of all things is coming. An earthquake induces them to pray. An eclipse, or any other supposed prodigy, leads people to pray if they suppose the end of the world is drawing near. A shipwreck, or any other sudden danger, leads them to pray, Psa 107:28. So people often pray in sickness who have never prayed in days of health.

(b) It is proper to do it. Death is an important event, and in anticipation of such an event we should pray. Who can help us then but God? Who can conduct us through the dark valley but he? Who can save us amidst the wrecks and ruins of the universe but he? Who can dissipate our fears, and make us calm amidst the convulsions of dissolving nature, but God? As that event, therefore, may come upon us at any hour, it should lead us to constant prayer; and the more so because, when it comes, we may be in no state of mind to pray. The posture in which we should feel that it would be most appropriate that the messenger of death should find us, would be that of prayer.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

1Pe_4:7-11

The end of all things is at hand.

The end of all things

I. The solemn truth here announced.

1. The end of your earthly engagements is at hand.

2. The end of your worldly enjoyments is at hand.

3. The end of trial and sorrow to the godly is at hand.

4. The end of our privileges and opportunities is at hand.

5. The end of our probation is at hand.

II. The important considerations founded on this truth.

1. Be sober.

2. Be watchful.

3. Be prayerful. (Pulpit Studies.)

The end of all things at hand

The end of all things is at hand.

1. This is literally true of all those objects which we see or which are obvious to any of our senses. They are temporal; they have had a beginning, they shall have an end. The material universe, in all its beauty, forms but a single link in the plans of that adorable Being who is without beginning of days or end of time; and its whole duration is but a single step in the march of that government which is from everlasting to everlasting.

2. The end of all things earthly is at hand, so far as we are concerned with them, or take an interest in them, because we shall soon leave them all behind. To each of us the time is short. Our days are but an hands breadth. Shall we devote ourselves to pursuits we must so soon abandon? Shall we heap up treasures in this world as if it were our eternal home, when we know not at what moment we shall be summoned to bid a last adieu to all things earthly?

3. The end of all things is at hand, because all the objects of time and sense are frail and fluctuating; human society, in all its relations and interests, is full of change; and the world itself, with everything fair and excellent that it contains, is constantly fading and dying around us. And now what practical lessons ought we to learn from the view we have thus taken of ourselves, as dying creatures, and of this as a fading world? Surely we ought to give heed to the exhortation, Be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer. Shall we not subdue and restrain within the strictest bounds of temperance those appetites and passions which belong only to these dying bodies, and which, if indulged, will destroy our souls? But the subject should teach us lessons of devotion as well as of soberness. Watch unto prayer. Shall we forget that awful eternity on whose very threshold we daily walk, or fail to recognise our relations to that adorable Being whose glorious perfections will so soon break in unclouded splendour upon our souls? Forbid it, reason, duty, conscience; forbid, Parent of our mercies. (W. J. Armstrong.)

The nearness of eternity

I. The end of all things is at hand. Nothing abides around you. Like the stream which wanders through the valley, everything is flowing by. A single year is often sufficient to change the whole complexion of life. The Christian contemplates, if with awe, yet in peace, the breaking up of all human schemes, and societies, and pleasures, and gains, and losses. He anticipates the wreck, but he feels himself to be in the ark.

II. The practical influence of this consideration.

1. Sobriety of mind is that temperate use of all earthly things, and that moderate estimate of their worth, which disposes the Christian rather to detach his affections from present objects, than to be inordinately excited by them. The near view of eternity peculiarly assists him in this moderation as to worldly enjoyments.

2. Prone, however, to be misled by his senses, he feels the necessity of incessant watchfulness. Be ye therefore sober, and watch. His natural love of ease, his reluctance to self-denial will but too readily dispose him to adopt the theory rather than the practice of sobriety. Hence it becomes his duty to be ever vigilant over his own spirit, to examine candidly the actual habit of his mind; to watch diligently lest he act inconsistently with his professed principles; lest the world exert an undue influence over his heart; lest self-delusion put him off his guard.

3. But the apostle directs believers to connect this sobriety and this vigilance with prayer. Indeed prayer is the only source of this sobriety and this watchfulness of mind. The brightest impressions fade from the soul if they are not renewed continually by the grace and blessing of God. Hence prayer is to the Christian the very life and health of his soul. (G. S. Noel, M. A.)

The nearness of eternity

There is a great contrast between the believers of the apostolic age and ourselves. The voyager detects the near proximity of land by the fresh land breeze which breathes in his face, wafting the sounds and scents of forest, or prairie, or heather covered hill. So through these Epistles we inhale another atmosphere than that with which we are so familiar in Christian societies. We live in the world and pay occasional visits into the unseen and eternal; they lived in the unseen and eternal, and paid periodic necessary visits into the world. We conform to the world; they were transformed by the daily renewing of their minds. We read the society papers, discuss society gossip, send our children into society, and strive to hold our own in dress and appointments with the cream of society around us; they, on the other hand, were thought strange and ridiculous, because they lived amongst men as the children of the resurrection. Surely the contrast is not to our credit, although we vaunt our fancied superiority. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

Waiting for the end

The warning of the apostle meant one thing to the Jew, another to the Christian. To the Jew it meant that the end of his nation, as a nation, had come. It meant that all the types and signs of the Messiah had been fulfilled in Christ, the true Light had appeared, and the shadows must flee away. But for the Christian the text moans more. For each of us, in one way or another, it is true that the end of all things is at hand. Yes, of all things which belong to this life.

1. The end of earthly greatness, or wealth, or pleasure, is at hand. We read of our most famous heroes, conquerors, statesmen, and all we can see of them is a tomb in our calm cathedral. When the famous General and Conqueror Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, was old they used to beguile the tedious hours by reading aloud the history of his own campaigns. Then he would turn to the reader and ask the question, Who commanded? He had forgotten all the glories of Blenheim, and of Ramillies, of Oudenarde, and Malplaquet. I saw but lately a lock of King Charles Is hair, that is all that remains of the martyr king of England. The end of earthly greatness is at hand.

2. Again, the end of earthly friendship and connections is at hand.

3. Next, the end of our opportunities is at hand. Ah! make the most of your chances; once lost, they come not back again. Wisely did the old Greeks write upon the walls of one of their temples, Know thy opportunity.

4. Once more, the end of our time of trial and waiting is at hand. Peter bids us prepare ourselves for that great beginning which commences when this life is ended. He bids us to be sober, to be watchful in prayer, to have fervent love for one another, and to show it in deeds as well as words. You would not expect the flowers to grow in your garden if the weeds were allowed to have the upper hand. Neither can you expect the graces of the soul to flourish if your body is your master. And not only should we be sober in our bodily passions, but in our words. There are many good people, sober people in other things, who are very intemperate in their talk. And again, we need to be sober in our religion, especially in these days. I do not mean that we are to be idle and indifferent, but we need not be noisy. Next, we are bidden to watch unto prayer. (H. J. Wilmot Buxton, M. A.)

Be ye therefore sober.-

Soberness and watchfulness

I. The solemn fact, by the mention of which it is evidently the design of the apostle to arouse thought, to set the religious imagination on the full stretch of all its powers. The end of all things is at hand. Different interpretations have been put upon this expression. Some understand it of Christs coming at the end of the world; others only the dissolution of the Jewish ecclesiastical polity, then about to receive its last blow at the hands of the armies of Vespasian. The predicted accompaniments of the destruction of Jerusalem were so overwhelmingly awful, that, for all practical purposes to the men of that generation, the event might as well have been the winding up of the present economy-the termination of the life of all human kind. And we see at once the force of the motive drawn from this reference to the end of all things. It is to make us connect with everything belonging to our present state the idea of unsettledness; to keep our hearts from growing to particular places, or being bound up with particular forms of happiness; to make us feel that everything we love or look upon, in the present state, is waning, shifting, and of doubtful life. Oh! surely the anticipation of future good things should elevate, purify, solemnise, bless. It should teach moderation. It should incite to diligence.

II. Consider what duties devolve upon us in view of these expected consummations.

1. Be sober. The expression may be taken in many ways. For instance, we are to be sober in the use of Gods providential gifts. It is constantly assumed, in Scripture, that all habits of luxurious living, all undue con cessions to the desires of the lower nature, have an injurious effect upon character. They tend to impair the delicacy of the religious susceptibilities. They induce a dislike and reluctance to spiritual employments. They incapacitate for sympathy with distress and need. They tend to degrade and sensualise the whole man.

2. Again, the text may be considered as warning us to be sober in our aims of life; to keep clear of an entangled, perplexed, and cumbered spirit; not to raise the scaffolding of our worldly hopes too high, nor to have too many buildings going on at the same time. The reason for the admonition is to be found in the tendency of these overheated contests in the race of life to enslave, and pervert, and unspiritualise the best affections of the heart.

3. Further, I think the text would teach us to be sober in our griefs-whether in time of sickness, or sorrow, or adversity, or bereavement.

III. And watch unto prayer. The exhortation to watch supposes danger, weakness, a proneness to fall asleep, or the near presence of a foe. The text seems to point especially to certain dangers or hindrances we are liable to in the exercises of devotion: we are to watch unto prayer.

1. Thus we are to watch against weariness, and coldness, and faintings of heart in prayer. If prayer be the souls strength, the hearts repose, the worlds antidote, the devils dread, why is it that we pray, not only so languidly, but so little? It is therefore languidly, because little. We do not tarry long enough in the exercise to realise that without which prayer is no prayer-namely, mental communion with the Infinite, something in our heart felt to be reciprocated and returned by the heart of God. To watch against the stealthy encroachments of the world, we shall do well to be early with our devotions.

2. Again, we should watch against the distracting influence of an over-anxious and careful spirit in prayer. A perplexity, a disappointment, a fancied grievance, a slight difference with a friend, an issue hanging in suspense, a feared evil which may never come-any one of these, if not watched against, may rob us of all peace in devotion for days together. But we must learn to drive these intruders from the altar, as Abraham drove the fowls away. A Christian is to commit his way unto the Lord, and all his way-his burden, and all his burden. And having cast his care upon the Lord, he leaves it where it is cast.

3. Further, we must watch against any unsubdued tendencies to evil in our own hearts, in prayer. These tendencies may show themselves either in act or in spirit; and, in either case, will raise up a cloud between us and the eternal throne, which no prayer can pass through.

4. Lastly, I would regard our text as an exhortation to watch against Unbelief in prayer; against any allowed misgivings of Christs love to pity or of His infinite ability to save. (D. Moore, M. A.)

Christian sobriety

There are sins of the spirit as well as sins of the flesh which the truly sober man will abstain from. The temperance commended in the New Testament is no one-sided, one-limbed virtue. It forbids the lust of wealth, and an extravagant devotion to business, and an inordinate indulgence in recreation, as truly as it forbids excess in drinking or gluttony in eating. It commands a wise self-government and a strong self-restraint in relation to all earthly pursuits and enjoyments and honours. The Puritanism that still lingers amongst us does not think too much about the quality, but it does think too little about the quantity of pleasure that is pursued. It is too often overlooked that probably people are spiritually damaged more by the extravagant amount than by the questionable character of their recreations. We prescribe some and we permit others; but discrimination as to the quality needs to be supplemented by an equal care as to the quantity. The exhortation of the apostle could be enforced by many facts from modern experience. Some wander away along the path of excessive pleasure-taking, and so the name is legion of those who, if they confessed truly, would have to say-

The world is too much with us; late and soon

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.

(C. Vince.)

Watch unto prayer.-

Watchfulness and prayerfulness

In explaining this injunction we shall show the importance of a watchful and prayerful spirit by considering the innate disposition of the human heart.

I. The first characteristic of mans sinful disposition, requiring watchfulness upon the part of a Christian, is its spontaneity. This is that quality in a thing which causes it to move of itself. The living spring spontaneously leaps up into the sunlight, while standing water must be pumped up. Were man reluctantly urged up to sin by some other agent than himself, there would be less call for watchfulness. But the perfect ease and pleasure with which he does his own sinning calls for an incessant vigilance not to do it. The imperfectly sanctified Christian needs not to make a special effort in order to transgress. Can religion in the heart conquer sin in the heart if we do not bring the two into close contact and conflict?

II. A second characteristic of mans sinful disposition, requiring watchfulness and prayerfulness in the Christian, is the fact that it can be tempted and solicited to move at any moment. How easily is the remaining sin in us drawn out into exercise by tempting objects, and how full the world is of such objects! A hard word, an unkind look, a displeasing act on the part of another, will start sin into motion, instanter. Wealth, fame, pleasure, fashion, houses, lands, titles, husbands, wives, children, friends-in brief, all creation-has the power to educe the sinful nature of man. Consider what inducements to forget God, and to transgress His commandments, come from the worldly or the gay society in which we move. Is not the powder in the midst of the sparks? If unwatchful and prayerless, it is inevitable that we shall yield to these temptations.

III. A third characteristic of mans innate disposition, requiring watchfulness and prayer, is the fact that it acquires the habit of being moved by temptation. It is more difficult to stop a thing that has the habit of ,notion, than one that has not, because habit is a second nature and imparts additional force to the first one. This is eminently true of sin, which by being allowed an habitual motion becomes so powerful that few overcome it. The cravings of unresisted sin at length become organic, as it were. For though the will to resist sin may die out of a man, the conscience to condemn it never can. The ruin of an immortal soul is no mere figure of speech. There is no ruin in the whole material universe to be compared with it, for transcendent awfulness. The decline and fall of the Roman Empire was a great catastrophe; but the decline and eternal fall of a moral being, originally made in the image of God, is a stupendous event. (J. T. Shedd, D. D.)

Watchfulness associated with prayerfulness

The word watch is a military term. It teaches us that the same alacrity and watchfulness which distinguish the soldier on duty and the sentinel at his post ought to characterise the Christian; and, as you know, the safety of an army, the chance of a victory, the success of a campaign may all be endangered without watchfulness on the part of the soldier and the sentinel. A like contingency may befall the Christian who is not watchful. Now, I would say, there are three ways in which this watchfulness is to be exercised. There is to be watchfulness over ourselves, watchfulness against our enemies, and watchfulness that we get Divine assistance to help us in our struggles. I would liken the Christian to a general commanding a besieged fortress, who has to watch that he may keep down mutiny within the garrison, who has to watch that he may repel the assaults of the enemy assailing the garrison from without, and who has to watch that he may get assistance from friends who are advancing to help him. And now notice, there is to be prayer in addition to watchfulness. Prayer is the breath of the soul, the life of the spirit, without which you can no more conceive of the Christian existing than of an eye seeing without light, or an ear hearing without being subjected to the sense of sound. Prayer is to the soul of the Christian what his senses are to his body. He not more surely tells his natural wants and gets them relieved, looks upon the beautiful objects in nature, holds intercourse with his friends, and feels himself in contact with the material world by means of his senses, than he tells his spiritual wants and gets them relieved, and holds intercourse with the Former of his body and the Father of his spirit by the exercise of prayer. And what is calculated to enhance the value of prayer is this, that while my senses permit me to look upon many beautiful objects, and urge me to possess them, because they are not mine, I am not permitted to enjoy them; whereas there is not a single possession within the wide domain of the spiritual world that is not placed at my disposal by prayer. If the Christian be weak, then he is strengthened by prayer. If he be in doubt, then his doubts are removed by prayer. If he be in difficulty, his difficulties are surmounted through prayer. But I have to tell you, in order to issue in such gracious results, prayer must be possessed of certain qualities.

1. And here I would say, first of all, prayer must be intelligent. In all cases, our first prayer needs to be, Lord, teach us to pray.

2. Further, I have to say, besides being intelligent, prayer must be humble. God resisteth the proud, but giveth (and, of course, in answer to prayer) grace unto the humble.

3. But, besides being intelligent and humble, prayer must be offered in faith. Just as you cannot get your diseased bodies cured without submitting to the prescriptions of your physician, which implies faith in his skill, so you cannot get your sick souls healed without faith in the Saviours willingness and ability to heal. You must approach Him as David did-and this implies faith-when he prayed: Heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee.

4. Further, I would say prayer must be in earnest. It is only the fervent, effectual prayer of the righteous man that availeth much. God only promises to answer earnest, importunate prayer.

5. I observe finally, here, that prayer must be constant. We have thus looked at these words separately. We will now look at them in their relation to each other. Like those other two features of our religious character-faith and works-which act and react upon each other, so that in proportion to the strength of our faith will be the number and excellency of our works, so in proportion to our spiritual watchfulness will be our prayerfulness. This, I hold, must be so from the necessity of the case; for the man who watches over himself is the man who discovers his own failings, the obstacles that impede his progress in the life of faith, and the number, the strength, and the power of his spiritual adversaries. What is the reason of the vast number of petitions that are presented to the Commons House of Parliament? Why, the inhabitants of these islands have watched the working of the British Constitution, and they have discovered that they have wants to be relieved, and grievances to be redressed, and think the Commons of England in their wisdom can relieve these wants and sweep away these grievances, and hence the table of the House is being constantly flooded with petitions. Well, the Christian watches and discovers his own weakness and liability to fall, the number, the vigilance and wiles of his spiritual foes, and he prays for Divine help to overcome them all. He watches, and, as a necessary consequence, prays. Indeed, such is our condition that we do not simply need to watch and pray to resist temptation, but to watch and pray that we may not enter into it, for there is every reason to believe that, were we to enter into it, we would yield to it; so that the only true course is, avoid it, and pass away. (J. Imrie, M. A.)

Watch unto prayer

Strange words for Simon Peter to use! For him, the impetuous, the thoughtlessly self-confident, to say, Be sober, seems a strange contradiction. Well were it for us if our failures led to a similar recovery. Human nature is impatient; we would overleap all barriers, and plunge at once into the full transport of enjoyment, just as the soldier prefers the dash of a sudden assault to the tediousness of a regular siege. Delay looks to us like defeat, like sure disappointment. Why should we have to wait when God might conclude all in an instant? Surely, though the Saviour has ascended up on high, there is enough of tits influence left in the world to sustain our courage for a little further delay. Why, with such precious gifts around us, should we avariciously demand the bestowal of all His store? It is the patience of the saints that God is looking to; He would see what we can bear for His sake, how long we can stay without doubting the sureness of His Word. I deny not the tryingness of waiting, but in that the real benefit of waiting consists. We fret for peace in the world, and men try, in one way or other, to force the current of the river and spread the fertilising waters over tracts so high that the forced stream cannot stay in the upland where they wish it to remain. Some would crush out the violence of nations and put down war by the sheer force of superior strength. The remedies to be used are-

1. Be sober. The universe cannot bend itself to your will, therefore look not for too great results.

2. Pray. The only instrument which man possesses for hastening on the triumph of good, the only reliable argument for converting the world, the only channel for peace to ourselves, is prayer.

3. Watch unto prayer. How is it that men become disheartened and cease to pray? The wish is uttered with all earnestness, but it is the convulsive effort of a moment, not sustained, nor followed up. And often the prayer is heard, but the suppliant heeds it not. Watchers see where others notice nothing, their senses are more acute. Act on the firm faith that every earnest prayer is heard, and then you will receive insight enough to trace the coming answer. Wait for it if it comes not at once; it will surely come, it will not tarry. Blows that would crush others will only prove the buoyancy of your faith. Failure in business, beggary, friendlessness, will not prevent your knowing the riches of contentment and of spiritual blessings. (G. F. Prescott, M. A.)

Watching in relation to prayer

How often it happens that when night comes a man prays rather from force of custom than from a sense of need. He has no prescribed form of prayer, and yet he finds himself continually repeating the same things. His supplications lack variety and force and definiteness. He is as one that beateth the air. This comes in a great measure from the fact that he does not watch unto prayer. He has taken little notice of his own spirit, and therefore he knows not his own weakness and his own necessities. The events of the day are not so remembered as to give form and colour and life to his evening supplications. The prayer that suits one day cannot effectually serve for all other days. Changes in ourselves and in our circumstances call for changes in our petitions. If a man pass through the day observing himself and increasing his self-knowledge, his devotions cannot always keep in old formal and familiar ruts, but they must sometimes flow with new vigour along the new channels which the new facts have made for them. We frequently confess that we know not what to pray for. Sometimes this ignorance is a weakness for which we are to be pitied. We cannot tell what tomorrow will bring forth, and therefore cannot tell what special grace to pray for. But sometimes our ignorance is our sin. We know not what to ask for because we have not by watching acquired the wisdom which guides supplication. (C. Vince.)

Watching for answers to prayer

When an archer shoots his arrow at a mark he likes to go and see whether he has hit it, or how near he has come to it. When you have written and sent off a letter to a friend you expect some day that the postman will be knocking at the door with an answer. When a child asks his father for something he looks in his face even before he speaks to see if he is pleased, and reads acceptance in his eyes. But it is to be greatly feared that many people feel when their prayers are over as if they had quite done with them. Their only concern was to get them said. Sailors in foundering ships sometimes commit notes in sealed bottles to the waves for the chance of their being some day washed on some shore. Sir John Franklins companions among the snows, and Captain Allen Gardiner, dying of hunger in his cave, wrote words they could not be sure anyone would ever read. But we do not need to think of our prayers as random messages. We should therefore look for reply to them, and watch to get it. (J. Edmond, D. D.)

Fervent charity.

The preeminence of charity

I. What charity is. It is not easy to find one word which adequately represents what Christ and His apostles meant by charity. Charity has become identified with almsgiving. Love is appropriated to one particular form of human affection, and that one with which self and passion mix inevitably. Philanthropy is a word too cold and negative.

1. Let us define Christian charity in two sentences.

(1) The desire to give. Let each man go deep into his own heart. Let him ask what that mysterious longing means which we call love, whether to man or God, when he has stripped from it all that is outside and accidental, when he has taken from it all that is mixed with it and perverts it. Not in his worst moments, but in his best, what did that yearning mean? I say it meant the desire to give. Not to get something but to give something. And the more irrepressible this yearning was, the more truly was his love. To give-whether alms in the shape of money, bread, or a cup of cold water, or else self. But be sure sacrifice in some shape or other is the impulse of love, and its restlessness is only satisfied and only gets relief in giving. For this, in truth, is Gods own love, the will and the power to give.

(2) The desire to bless. It wishes the well-being of the whole man-body, soul, and spirit, but chiefly spirit. And the highest love is the desire to make men good and Godlike; it may wish, as a subordinate attainment, to turn this earth into a paradise of comfort by mechanical inventions; but far above that, to transform it into a kingdom of God, the domain of love, where men cease to quarrel and to envy, and to slander and to retaliate. This also we wish, said St. Paul, even your perfection.

2. Concerning this charity we remark two points.

(1) Fervent. Literally intense, unremitting, unwearied. Give us the man who can be insulted and not retaliate, meet rudeness and still be courteous; the man who, like the Apostle Paul, buffeted and disliked, can yet be generous and make allowances and say, I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you the less I be loved. That is fervent charity.

(2) It is capable of being cultivated. When an apostle says, Have fervent charity among yourselves, it is plain that it would be a cruel mockery to command men to attain it if they could do nothing towards the attainment. How shall we cultivate this charity? Now I observe, first, love cannot be produced by a direct action of the soul upon itself. You cannot love by a resolve to love. That is as impossible as it is to move a boat by pressing it from within. Love is a feeling roused not from ourselves, but from something outside ourselves. There are, however, two methods by which we may cultivate this charity.

(a) By doing acts which love demands. It is Gods merciful law that feelings are increased by acts done on principle. Let a man begin in earnest with I ought, he will end, by Gods grace, if he persevere, with the free blessedness of I will. Let him force himself to abound in small offices of kindliness, attention, affectionateness, and all those for Gods sake. By and by he will feel them become the habit of his soul. By and by, walking in the conscientiousness of refusing to retaliate when he feels tempted, he will cease to wish it; doing good and heaping kindness on those who injure him he will learn to love them.

(b) By contemplating the love of God. You cannot move the boat from within, but you may obtain a purchase from without. You cannot create love in the soul by force from within itself, but you may move it from a point outside itself. Gods love is the point from which to move the soul. Love begets love. It is easy to be generous and tolerant and benevolent when we are sure of the heart of God, and when the little love of this life, and its coldness and its unreturned affections are more than made up to us by the certainty that our Fathers love is ours.

II. What charity does. It covereth a multitude of sins.

1. In refusing to see small faults. That microscopic distinctness in which all faults appear to captious men who are forever blaming, dissecting, complaining, disappears in the large, calm gaze of love. And oh! it is this spirit which our Christian society lacks, and which we shall never get till we begin each one with his own heart. What we want is, in one word, that graceful tact and Christian art which can bear and forbear.

2. Love covers sin by making large allowances. In all evil there is a soul of goodness. Most evil is perverted good. Now there are some men who see all the evil, and never trace, never give themselves the trouble of suspecting the root of goodness out of which it sprung. There are others who love to go deep down and see why a man came to do wrong, and whether there was not some excuse or some redeeming cause, in order that they may be just. Just, as God is just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. Now human life, as it presents itself to these two different eyes, the eye of one who sees only evil, and that of him who sees evil as perverted good, is two different things. Take an instance. Not many years ago a gifted English writer presented us with a history of ancient Christianity. To his eye the early Church presented one great idea, almost only one. He saw corruption written everywhere. In public and in private life, in theology and practice, within and without, everywhere pollution. Another historian, a foreigner, has written the history of the same times, with an intellect as piercing to discover the very first germ of error, but with a calm, large heart, which saw the good out of which the error sprung, and loved to dwell upon it, delighting to trace the lineaments of God, and discern His Spirit working where another could see only the spirit of the devil. And you rise from the two books with different views of the world: from the one, considering the world as a devils world, corrupting towards destruction; from the other, notwithstanding all, feeling triumphantly that it is Gods world, and that His Spirit works gloriously below it all. You rise from the study with different feelings: from the one, inclined to despise your species; from the other, able joyfully to understand in part why God so loved the world, and what there is in man to love, and what there is, even in the lost, to seek and save. Now that is the charity which covereth a multitude of sins. It understands by sympathy. It is that glorious nature which has affinity with good under all forms, and loves to find it, to believe in it, and to see it. And therefore such men-Gods rare and best ones-learn to make allowances, not from weak sentiment, which calls wrong right, but from that heavenly charity which sees right lying at the root of wrong.

3. Lastly, charity can tolerate even intolerance. St. Paul saw even in the Jews, his bitterest foes, that they had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. St. Stephen prayed with his last breath, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. Earth has not a spectacle more glorious or more fair to show than this-love tolerating intolerance, charity covering, as with a veil, even the sin of the lack of charity. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

Fervent charity

I. A description of charity.

1. A sincere love to God as the spring of our love to our Christian brethren.

2. Charity comprehends such a habit of benevolence in the soul as disposes us to wish all good to others in all their capacities, in respect either of their souls, their bodies, their reputation, or their estate.

3. Wherever this benevolent principle is it will discover itself by a readiness to assist and relieve all men, especially those who stand in need of our help, according to our abilities.

4. That our charity may be complete, and deserve to be called fervent charity, it must extend to all men, even to our enemies.

II. Some arguments to improve and strengthen all tendencies in us to charity.

1. Fervent charity of all other things is most beneficial to society, nay, it is absolutely necessary to the good order, peace, and happiness of every society. And in this respect charity well deserves to be called the bond of perfectness.

2. The exercise of charity is agreeable to our natures. By being charitable we gratify the noblest of our inclinations and appetites.

3. It naturally follows from the former argument that the exercise of charity is the most delightful exercise we can choose for ourselves.

(1) This satisfaction doth not only just accompany a charitable action, but it is permanent, and endures as long as our lives.

(2) This pleasure and joy that attends charitable actions doth herein exceed all fleshly delights, that it is then at the highest when we stand in most need of it.

4. To be charitable, to wish, and to do good to others, is the most God-like qualification that we are capable of.

5. Another argument to excite us to the exercise of charity is taken from the command of Christ, the author of our religion. This is a very powerful consideration when we reflect what He hath done for us, and upon the example which He hath left us for our imitation.

6. We all partake of the same human nature, and are all born for society, so I might persuade to charity from this consideration, that we are all the children of the same heavenly Father, we have all the same Saviour, we have all one faith, and we expect to attain to the same perfect happiness in the end.

7. Let us exercise charity that we may adorn our Christian profession, and cause it to be well spoken of in the world.

8. To persuade us to exercise fervent charity among ourselves, let us consider that charity is the main part of the Christian religion, and as we shall be found to have or want charity, so must we stand or fall in the great day of judgment. Charity is the most acceptable sacrifice we can offer or service we can perform to God. It is said to be the fulfilling of the whole law. (P. Witherspoon.)

Dissuasives from uncharitableness

I. Your own character and habits.

1. Remember that you have the very same feelings which led to those faults you usually rail at, to their vices whose vices you condemn. Did vanity lead them to folly? that same vanity dwells with you. Did pride overthrow them? pride dwells royally with you. Did selfishness make them mean? are not you selfish? Did their appetites seduce them? are not those same seducers at work in your bosom?

2. But there is an additional reason for forbearing uncharitable censures in the multitude of your actual overt transgressions. They may not, to be sure, be of the same kind as those which you unfeelingly reprehend. Are they slovens? Perhaps you are wasters. They may be fickle whom you blame, you may be obstinate. If we looked as sharply at ourselves as we do at censured persons we might find their faults matched in every point in ourselves.

3. Even this, however, does not exhaust the point in hand. For in weighing relative guilt circumstances are always to be considered. Men may be so situated that a foible will be less excusable in them than a vice in others. While you freely rail at all around you perhaps God is putting you down, with all your proud morality, as the less excusable creature of the two. You may have a better mind, you may have been better trained, you may have been better educated, you may be in better circumstances, you may be surrounded by the influence of better associates, you may have ten restraints to others one, they may have ten temptations to your one.

4. The fourth particular is the remembrance of our past mischiefs as a motive for leniency of judgment.

II. The indignation experienced in view of evil is in a large proportion of cases selfish, and sometimes hypocritical and detestable, in the sight of God. I suppose that the feeling of condemnation is frequently more wicked than the thing condemned.

1. The first bill purporting to be a true indignation at evil has the plainest marks of a clumsy counterfeit. The feeling has no respect whatever to the moral qualities of the evil it chastises. It is simply an outcry raised to contrast our own excellences with the censured evil. Some men inveigh against squandering because they are economical. Some rail at parsimony because they are open handed. Some cry out at indolence that men may note their industry.

2. On the success of this device may issue another counterfeit of moral indignation. They are clamorous against evildoers to hide the fact that they themselves are such.

3. Vociferous indignation is not unfrequently the mere creation of fashion and of sympathy with bad feelings. Each clamours because all the rest do.

4. A seeming virtuous indignation is often only an ebullition of wounded pride and vanity. Is there a misstep from virtue? The guardian angel weeps, mercy flies swiftly to the penitent, and Christ says, Neither do I condemn thee, only go, and sin no more. Not thus do fellow mortals of like passions. All the slights and petty offences, all the ignoble strifes of envy and sensitive vanity, are raked out of the embers, and the bitter taunt is but the revenge of these covered with the garb of virtue. A hated rival is down, a haughty head a little higher than mine is in the dust, superior beauty is humbled, the wearer of better clothes, the recipient of more pointed attentions, the immovable rival, the one who once said this or that of me-these are the real archers lurking in the ambush of virtuous or religious indignation which bend the bow and infix the venomous shaft.

5. Revenge is almost invariably cloaked under the guise of moral indignation. And of this, as of almost all that I have mentioned, it may be said, the uncharitableness of the censor is often more malignantly guilty than the offence of the sinner.

III. Reasons against censoriousness and uncharitableness springing out of the feelings and affections of the victim.

1. Severity exercised without pity tends to provoke rather than reform the transgressor. That man is the most influential against vice who, to a hearty abhorrence of it, adds a cordial desire to rescue the evildoer. Uncharitableness promotes evil, while pity reforms it.

2. Then, me thinks, our pity should flow out with our indignation in view of the sufferings often of those whom we scourge. There is something peculiarly touching in that vice and crime which prevail among the ignorant and neglected. Multitudes have had no childhood instruction. Others have been too fatally taught by renegade parents. Look in, then, upon the motley throng of ignorant and vicious. Are they happy? Does the fulness of the cup of pleasure take away the necessity of pity from you? Of all the sun shines on, none need pity more than those whose career of vice and crime is near to its close. Suffering has made every feature haggard, and there is war in every limb, anguish in every nerve, and groaning at every bone. Want torments them. Their own demoniac passions scorch them. (H. W. Beecher.)

Fervent charity

I. The exhortation.

1. The Apostle urged upon the Christian converts the importance of charity. It was the exercise of a grace, and not merely good temper, upon which he insisted.

2. This love is a Divine virtue. Philanthropy may exist in the sphere of nature, but love, in this higher sense, can only exist in the sphere of grace. This charity is a Divine thing, the work and a fruit of the Spirit in the soul.

3. This charity was to be kept fervent. It is a word which implies great earnestness and intensity (Luk_22:44). It was to be some thing very unlike cold propriety. The metal was to be kept glowing, and the chill of selfishness warded off. It was to be continuous in its exercise, and its exercise was manifold.

4. The sphere of this charity: among yourselves, that is, among Christians. As natural love, as a rule, is governed by propinquity, so is spiritual. This fervent charity was to be exercised primarily amongst those who had the closest union, inter se, through their union in Christ.

5. The Apostle marks the momentousness of his precept: above all things.

II. The result of its fulfilment.

1. The interpretations that the love in question is Gods love for man, or Christs love in His Passion, cannot certainly be accepted, though, of course, true in themselves. It is quite evident that the Apostle is speaking of the effect of mutual love.

2. The word cover does not simply mean hides, the sins leaving them where they were, but causes their remission, in fact, obliterates them.

3. Whose sins does the text refer to?

4. Charity covers over our sins in the sight of God, because charity is to sin what water is to fire-it puts it out. It is written of St. Mary Magdalene, Her sins which are many are forgiven her; for she loveth much. Love is the soul of contrition. An act of fervent charity can obliterate the sins of a life. It is the solvent of guilt and of penalty. But repentance does not purchase pardon. It is the condition of receiving it, not its source. Christ gives remission of sins in ways of His own appointment.

5. Charity also covers the sins of others. It has a way of seeing the good in people rather than the bad: Charity thinketh no evil (1Co_13:5). (W. H. Hutchings, M. A.)

The greatness of love

Love is like gravitation, the great attracting power, keeping all things in their place. Without gravitation the universe would become a chaos, without some measure of love society would be impossible. The world could perhaps rub along somehow without philosophy, but I defy it to do so without love, as animals can exist without light but not without warmth. Love is the water of life, of which whosoever will may take freely without money or price; it is the heaven springing stream which quenches all thirst, removes all impurities, and also, as in the case of Naaman, the very simplicity of the means causes the proud to disdain it. But like the grand and wonderful simplicity of the laws of nature, fulfilling themselves in the greatest and least phenomena, so is the law of love, prompting equally the widest public service man can perform and the smallest act of private friendship. No matter how deformed or twisted a mans way of thinking if love once gets access to him, for, like water, it will find its level in the most crooked as in the best proportioned vessel. Like snow falling so quietly and equally on all manner of objects, however mean or base, creeping in at every crevice, so also is love, its voice not heard in the streets, covering a multitude of sins, insinuating itself into every cranny that selfishness leaves open. (P. H. Sharpe.)

Above all things-love

It were better to dispense with all else in the Christians character and work than to miss love, though, in point of fact, where this is in operation all that is likely to impress and touch men must be present also. This love must, of course, go forth in its sympathies and activities to all the world, but it should begin at home. We must have love among ourselves as believers in the same Lord before we can presume to speak of our love to the great world of men around. Nor must it be a platonic love, a love of the cold light of reason, it must be fervent, at boiling point, on full stretch, going to the farthest extents of love, and in doing so learning the breadths and lengths of the unsearchable love of God. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

Love must be fervent

The manner or kind of love required is a large, continued, stretched out, constant love. As a cloth folded up is in a little room, but when it comes to be cut is stretched out into many mens uses, so our love must be stretched out to many persons, to many duties; as in giving and doing good to body, soul, goods, good name, and that not sparingly, but liberally, so in forgiving both much and often, neither must this be only when we can well do it, or when we have nothing else to do, but when it is against our profit, pleasure, ease, etc., so as we neglect not ourselves too much, and thereby more pleasure may be done our neighbours than hindrance come to us. (John Rogers.)

Charity shall cover the multitude of sins.-

Love covereth all sins

It is strange that this verse should have been so often misunderstood. This is closely parallel with that last verse in St. James, Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and, as a necessary part of that conversion, shall hide a multitude of (that converted mans) sins. Love shall cover multitudes of sins from God and man. Only observe carefully, not our own sins; never, in any sense, does love do that; but other mens sins, love, by silence and by veiling, hides from man; and by prayer and by converting, hides from God. And yet, in all ages of the Church, and in every Church, people have built from my text the fallacy, that a mans charities are, in some way, a set off against his sins. So some people of the world take a satisfaction every day, that, if they are living rather too gay lives, they are kinder than others who are called serious. It is often put thus, that Christs righteousness covers our unrighteousness, i.e., in other words, that His obedience is accounted to us in place of our disobedience. But I would much rather say that Christ Himself-His own immensity-comes in and covers us. Then the view of you, passing through Him, comes out to the eye of God a beautiful object. It is all white, the dark places are not seen. And when I think of the immense amount of evil, which now, and at the day of judgment, will thus be hid, never to be seen by God, through that interposition of Jesus Christ, what an emphasis may it throw into the words, Love shall cover the multitude of sins. We are, therefore, never nearer to Christ than when we are making ourselves, in any way we can, the coverers of sin. Now there is a way by which a man can cover sins from God. In the same sense in which I can convert a man I can cover that mans sins from God. Your mission as a Christian is to be a coverer of sins. There is seldom a greater thing done in this world than when we can manage anyhow to put a sin out of sight. Therefore, let me offer to you one or two rules respecting this high duty. If you know anything to anyones detriment, hold it as a sacred deposit, to be used religiously. Do not tell it unless the necessity be urgent, or the utility great. Never tell of a man what you have not first told to the man. Never think that you can make yourself great by making another less. Make a principle of always putting in the foreground persons good qualities. If a fault be mentioned, see and mention the extenuating circumstances, the palliating considerations. Look out for them, and you will find them. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

Charity covering a multitude of sins

And wherefore does the apostle inculcate this precept so earnestly? It is not that the duties of self-denial and humility, of soberness and prayer, can be dispensed with in the formation of a truly Christian character; it is not that charity alone will suffice to atone for our deficiencies in other respects; but charity is the distinguishing mark of a Christian spirit; our Lord Himself has said that by this should His disciples be known.

I. First, for the force of the apostles injunction, Above all things have fervent charity among yourselves. I have before called charity a disposition of the mind; and it is of importance that we should remember that it is such. Our grand errors on this point arise from our mistaking the effects for the cause; in making no distinction between particular acts of a charitable nature, and that disposition which produces them. When the favour of God, the present blessings of this life, and the eternal joys of another, are promised to charity, it is not such and such special acts of benevolence which shall be so signally rewarded; but it is the earnest inclination to benefit our fellow creatures, and the continual and diligent habit of doing good which are of such high price before God. Our conduct will, of course, have more or less influence upon the good and the happiness of mankind, according to the circumstances under which we act, and the situation which we occupy in society. But though a charitable disposition may in one case have a wider sphere of action than it has in another, still the disposition itself is altogether independent of these external circumstances. The desire to benefit mankind may be as sincere and as fervent in him whose means are limited, as in the richest and the most powerful of the sons of men. And though the practical consequences of that disposition may not be as extensively felt in the one case as in the other, still God regards the sincerity and the fervency of that love, which prompts us both to labour and to endure, in such sort, as the particular duties of our station may require. Two truths are to be deduced from what has been said: first, a few acts of a charitable nature do not necessarily prove the existence of a charitable spirit in him who performs them-because these may be prompted by very different motives, and because true charity is not exemplified merely on a few particular occasions, but in the general tenor of our conduct, and in the habitual discipline of our tempers. The second truth we learn is this: no man can possess a spirit of genuine charity who does not seize every opportunity of being actively beneficial to his fellow creatures; and so many opportunities are there of this kind, which every one, even the poorest among us, must possess, that it is easy for any man, who will take the trouble of examining into the tenor of his daily intercourse with those around him, to determine whether he indeed possesses that most excellent disposition of charity, without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before God.

II. But, in the second place, the apostle says, in the text, that charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Now it is evident, from the definition which we have just given of this disposition of the heart, that they cannot be the sins which we commit against our fellow creatures that charity shall cover; for did we possess this grace in perfection, we should not trespass against our fellow creatures at all. True charity would lead us to the unfailing fulfilment of all the duties which we owe to our brethren. It is equally certain that charity towards men cannot atone for our sins against God; for though the love of our neighbour be a characteristic badge of our Christian profession, though it is vain to pretend our love towards our Heavenly Father, whilst we hate our fellow creatures; though the second commandment necessarily springs from the first, and is like unto it in its nature, still it cannot be made in any degree to supersede it. It can only mean, therefore, that charity will cover, or conceal, and forgive the sins which they commit against us. And this will appear yet more evidently if we consider, in the first place, from whence St. Peter quotes this proverbial expression; and in the next, if we attend to the general object of this Epistle. First, then, we must remark that these words are quoted by St. Peter from the Book of Proverbs. In the twelfth verse of the tenth chapter, the wise man says, Hatred stirreth up strife, but love covereth all sins. Here the opposite line of conduct which is suggested by hatred and love is sufficient to guide us to a right interpretation of the passage. The one stirreth up strifes, it dwells upon them, and rouses them up afresh, and does not allow them to be forgotten. But the contrary disposition of love covereth all sins; it is desirous that offences should be hidden and die away, and instead of enmity and dissension, is anxious for peace and goodwill, and mutual forbearance. It follows, then, that as St. Peter introduced into his Epistle this latter part of the proverb, he intended it to be understood in the same sense in which it stood in the original language of Solomon. This is, moreover, still further confirmed if we regard the general tenor of St. Peters Epistle. It seems to have been one of his principal objects to reprove and reform those dissensions and disputes, which, even in those early days, prevailed in the Christian world. (T. Ainger, M. A.)

Love covers sins

The whole conception may have been based on the filial act of Noahs sons, of whom it is recorded that they took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders and went backward, and covered their fathers drunken sin.

1. Love forgives. We are to be imitators of God in the swiftness and completeness of His forgiveness.

2. It avoids giving occasion for sin. It has been said that if you have a favourite horse, which always takes fright and shies at a certain point in the road, you are careful to come along another road, if possible, or to coax him, by speaking to him kindly, to go by without fear. So if you are aware that a certain subject will always invoke an outburst of hot temper in your friend, true love will lead you to avoid it. You will not needlessly incite to sin if you know how to avoid giving the first inducement.

3. It is quick to discern some generous construction to put upon the fault, or to quote some consideration to weigh in the opposite scale. True, he was unpardonably dull and slow, but then how trustworthy and reliable. Yes, he was very irritable and abrupt; but, then, remember what a strain he has been under lately in his business, not leaving the factory or counting house till late at night, and going back early in the morning, with no recreation or respite. Granted, that he is now becoming soured and crabbed; but, then, what a glorious man he was in those earlier days, when he stood in the breach. Are you sure that there is not some other explanation possible for his action? In some such ways as these, Christian love argues with itself and others, and, as the result, many a sin is hindered on its way, and many a fault condoned.

4. It rebukes with great tenderness. There are eases where duty demands public censure. The sore must not lie covered up lest it prove to be deadly. It must be lanced or it cannot be cured. But the lancing is done with exquisite tenderness. The wrong-doer is reproved, rebuked, and exhorted, hut with all long-suffering (1Ti_4:2). The man overtaken with a fault is restored in the spirit of meekness (Gal_6:1). (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

Charity covering faults

Dear Moss! said the Thatch on an old ruin, I am so worn, so patched, so ragged; really, I am quite unsightly. I wish you would come and cheer me up a little; you will hide all my infirmities and defects, and through your loving sympathy no finger of contempt or dislike will be pointed at me. I come! said the Moss; and it crept up and around, and in and out, till every flaw was hidden, and all was smooth and fair. Presently the sun shone out, and the old Thatch looked glorious in the golden rays. How beautiful the Thatch looks! cried one. How beautiful the Thatch looks! cried another. Ah! cried the old Thatch, rather let them say how beautiful is the loving Moss, that spends itself in covering all my faults, keeping the knowledge of them all to herself, and by her own grace making my age and poverty wear the garb of youth and luxuriance. (Great Thoughts.)

Use hospitality one to another.-

Uugrudging hospitality

To God the intention of the heart is all-important. He loveth a cheerful giver. He takes such delight in doing good that He has no sympathy with anything like reluctance. Not that hospitality should necessarily he profuse; for, if it be, it is difficult to maintain, besides reminding the guest that he is regarded as a stranger; only that which is done should be done freely, gladly, with the whole heart. There is no hospitality so grateful as that which makes the stranger feel at home, because there is nothing forced or restrained, and he is permitted to feel completely at his ease. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

The warmth of hospitality

If the two hands be plunged, one in water at the temperature of 200°, and the other in snow, and being held there for a certain time are transferred to water of the intermediate temperature of 100°, this water will appear warm to one hand and cold to the other-warm to the hand which has been plunged in the snow, and cold to the hand which has been plunged in the water at 200°. The anomaly is easily explained. The sensation of heat is relative. When the body has been exposed to a high temperature, a medium which has a lower temperature will feel cold, and when it has been exposed to a low temperature, it will feel warm. Now this fact will suggest, by analogy, a way for testing hospitality. It is not uncommon to hear a man speak about the warmth of somebodys hospitality. Perhaps that same warmth seemed very much like coldness to us. How are we to explain the difference in the sensations of our friend and ourselves? Simply by remembering that hospitality, like heat, is a relative thing. A man who has just come out of the cold house of Mrs. Niggard will feel the tepid house of Mrs. Moderate to be quite a warm, hospitable place. On the other hand, a man who goes to Mrs. Moderates house after a prolonged stay at the genial mansion of the generous Lady Bountiful, will feel that establishment to be rather chilly in its hospitality. (Scientific Illustrations.)

As every man hath received the gift.-

Gifts

I. The number and variety of spiritual gifts in the Church. The term gift represented by nine different words in the Greek, occurs in three different shades of meaning, viz., a present, an offering to God, and a personal endowment. The last is evidently the gift of our text.

1. Every believer has a gift, and his own gift (Luk_19:13; Mat_25:15). The little wheels in an engine, the little stones in a building, and the little gifts in the church, occupy a place for which the larger would be quite unsuitable. An organism is healthy only when all its members perform their functions; and efficiency in the whole is the gross result of efficiency in every part.

2. The gifts of the Church are a revelation of the manifold grace out of which they spring. Gifts, the most general class, such as wisdom, knowledge, and faith, are referred to the Father. Administrations, a more limited class, as healing, prophesying, and speaking with tongues, are referred to the Son. Operations, the smallest class, such as miracles, discerning of spirits, etc., are referred to the Holy Ghost. Individual character determines largely individual spiritual gifts. A ray of light passing through a crystal heptahedron is broken up into seven different colours, one of which is appropriated by each of its seven sides. So entering the prism, the Church, the white light of the Spirit is analysed into its various elements, and each soul appropriates the particular one that suits it. The gifts acquired are thus as various as the cast of the acquiring minds.

II. The meaning and purpose of the bestowal of spiritual gifts on the Church. Ministering it among yourselves. This is a noble thought.

1. It implies that we study our gifts, and so make no mistake as to the work we are fitted to do. This is a matter of great importance. The navigation of a ship will be bad with children at the ropes, and a landsman at the helm. A ministry without ministerial gifts is a machine incapable of moving, even if the power were there.

2. It implies that we train and cultivate our gifts so as to use them at their best. He would be an eccentric farmer who allowed his land to lie untilled because the soil was rich. It is the richest land and the highest gifts that, being cultivated, will yield the best return. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the Alpha, but not the Omega, of qualification for spiritual work. The apostles had this to begin with, yet were all carefully trained by Christ, and Paul warns Timothy to stir up his gift.

3. Our gifts in their most highly cultivated form are all to be used for the common good. Among yourselves. The perfection of reciprocity exists in the religious life (Mat_5:23; Mat_7:12). There is no place for selfishness in it; the peculiar quality of it being the look outward, instead of inward (Php_2:4; 1Co_10:24). The selfish soul shrivels and dies, and the maimed and weakened Church suffers in all its functions. It is incredible the moral power that is lying dormant in the Church. The power once latent in steam and inaccessible is now evoked by the millions of horsepower daily. The power once hidden in electricity is now in exercise in every village, carrying on swift and silent wing the thoughts of men across the continents, and their words to the worlds end. But the ten thousandfold greater power sealed up in the napkinned talents of idle Christian people is still unreached. What an amount of religious machinery would be in motion if an ecclesiastical James Watt or Stephen Gray would come and unlock this magazine of spiritual force! Nothing could stand against it. Darkness would be dissipated, sin would be jostled off the earth, and misery would spread its sable wings and fly away. (Homiletic Quarterly.)

Gods gifts and their use

I. It is assumed that every Christian has some gift from God.

1. All our endowments are blessings received (1Co_4:7).

2. All are received from the multiform goodness of God. Manifold.

(1) How gracious is this procedure, by which Gods gifts come to us tinged by the infinite variety of the substances on which they fall! When He might have poured His influences in one indistinguishable flood of radiance, He rather sends them reflected differently from each different mind, diversified by all the colours of the rainbow, and sparkling with manifold hues. For thus we are brought to admire and rejoice in not only God Himself as the primal source of all good, but in our fellow men through whose manifold concurrence this manifold grace has been diffused around us.

(2) It shows itself in all sorts of persons, with all sorts of endowments, in all sorts of offices, for all sorts of duties.

3. All must be accounted for to God.

II. Each mans gift is to be used for the good of his fellow men. The funds put into our charge must be administered. We must neither misuse them nor neglect them.

1. We must not appropriate them to ourselves through selfishness.

2. We must not withhold this grace from others through negligence. The sluggishness of our nature is as much to be watched against and overcome as its selfishness.

III. God will bless the proper use of His gifts. Look only at the works of nature. See how the little, almost imperceptible, seed, being cast into the ground in the proper season, with proper care, is blessed by the bounteous Author, and is made to bring forth thirty, sixty, a hundred fold. Will God be more niggard of blessing to spiritual husbandry than to earthly? No effort to do good is ever lost. (T. Griffith, M. A.)

Gifts and responsibility

I. First, then, the idea of personal responsibility lies at the foundation of all morality. It is not distinctively Christian-it is human; it is inherent in man as a moral being. If we would trace it to its immediate source, it springs from the testimony of conscience-the personal experience of the Light which lighteth every man. It not only enlightens and instructs, but it counsels and exhorts. These are the conditions of our personal responsibility. But behind all these there lies the idea of the personal God, whose holy life has ordered the distinctions of right and wrong. I have dwelt upon these points because it seems to me that in these days there is a tendency to lay the foundations of moral conduct and of the religious life rather in the emotions and affections than in the demands of conscience and the obedience of the will. By such methods the sense of responsibility is inevitably weakened, and our duties, both mortal and religious, become only a higher kind of self-gratification. It is true that the ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness, and that the religious life is rich in present rewards of both peace and joy. But these are not its true or highest motives. It is a great step in the Christian life when this responsibility is recognised.

II. But the text further reminds us of the diversity of gifts. Every man hath received a gift-not the gift-not all men the same gift. The gifts and endowments of individual men are as various as their outward appearance. Every man has some gifts; no man has all gifts. It is this diversity that gives a chief interest, and even beauty, to human life, and affords opportunity for the exercise of some of its highest virtues. If all men were equally gifted, the intercourse of life would become drearily monotonous. It would be as if in the natural world all mountains were of one height and one outline; all the now changeful clouds of one permanent form; all trees of one kind and colour and shape, like the trees in the toy box of a child. But this variety of gifts brings with it a varying responsibility, differing according to the character of the gifts which each has received. There is a tendency among men to esteem some gifts more highly than others; and this estimate varies in different places, and under different circumstances, and at different times. But in themselves they bring no real honour to those who possess them. No man deserves credit for mere intellectual power any more than for brute force. But it is in the use of these powers that the man himself is to gain credit and honour. So far as the gifts themselves are regarded, they are, as the apostle reminds us, the gifts of God. The man of quick intelligence and retentive memory who gains easily his place in the tripos may be far less worthy of honour than one of humble gifts and feeble powers. For the most part it is the union of great gifts with diligent work which ensures success; but it has sometimes been otherwise. But how often the less gifted man, feeble in his mental power and slow in its exercise-painfully acquiring the needed knowledge with continuous effort, how often is such a one regarded only with a half-contemptuous pity. But the diversity of gifts of which our text speaks is not only a difference of degree, but of kind. Even here we see this distinction in a limited degree. The man who is strong in mathematical may be weak in classical studies. And, again, how constantly does experience prove that there is a special gift of imparting knowledge distinct from that of attaining it. The gifts of personal influence, of discerning sympathy, of persuasiveness of speech, of practical wisdom, as distinct from knowledge. All these have their own great value. But under all these diversities of gifts there lies upon each of us the great responsibility declared in the words of my text, As every man hath reserved the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

III. To every one of us it speaks in very solemn tones, remembering the account that we must one day give. But far above all these gifts of God, which we call gifts of nature, are those higher gifts, which we call gifts of grace-the gifts which find their exercise, not in the work of the world, but in the training and perfecting of the soul. These are gifts which are common to all, and within the reach of all. The gift of grace which comes in answer to our private prayers, the grace which comes to us through the daily study of the Word-the grace of the holy sacrament of the body and blood. All these gifts we have received in promise, and our responsibility lies in seeking and claiming them for our own. (Bishop of Lichfield.)

Duty

I. The Christian privilege. The text first of all speaks of receiving-that is the privilege to which it points. We get in order that we may give; but we can give nothing until we are first of all put into possession. And what the Christian does receive, he accepts as a gift-not as the equivalent of service rendered, or achievements accomplished, or worth acknowledged-but as a something to which he has no sort of claim, sent down out of that boundless Divine treasury which the apostle, at the end of the text, describes as the manifold grace of God. Whatever gift you have, it is of Gods sending: all spiritual endowment and all natural capacity, your influence, your wealth, your leisure, your power of speech, or action, or organisation; all is Gods giving; you have won nothing, deserved nothing. You have received all, freely, unconditionally, as so many pledges and foretastes of the manifold grace of God. We all have gift, and all we have is gift. And the dissimilarity in individual cases is the most patent fact in experience. One man can do good work at home, another finds his proper element in the school, or in the streets, or the cottage meeting.

II. The obligation. As ye have received even so minister. Gods gift then is not intended to terminate with ourselves. It is not meant for self-gratification, least of all for personal parade. It begins with the individual always; it ends with him never. This is involved in the ultimate aim of Christianity itself. The apostle asks us only to give out what and as we take in. As every one hath received, minister the same. Give in measure and in kind as ye have received. Give what you have got, and do not distress yourself because you cannot give something else which you do not have. However much you admire another mans gift, and profit by it, there is no call to imitate it. Do what you can, and you will do as well as the brother whose work you so greatly appreciate. You will receive as high a reward and as lofty a commendation.

III. And now notice the Christian position. The redeemed are required to be good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Now, a steward is not an absolute owner but a responsible administrator. And all gifts, according to the apostle, are trusts. No Christian in his view gets his natural talents or material possessions, still less his spiritual endowments, for himself alone. This is the position here set forth; but how miserably its obligation is responded to. How scant a return does our stewardship yield. (Hugh Ross.)

Christian stewardship

The great Giver of the universe is the great Economist too. He has written it everywhere. The fulness of nature is not kept up by new creations, but by that power of self-repair which He has made the law of its life. It is the same in the kingdom of grace. God gave it a beginning by His own direct and almighty power; by the same power He could carry it on to its final completion. But this is not His manner of doing. He expects it, by virtue of that principle of life which He has communicated to it, to carry itself on now, not independently of Him, but in reliance upon Him, and receiving from Him, just as nature is dependent on Him for the continuance of its vitalising force. But still, in so far as instrumentality is concerned, the work is its own, not His.

I. The nature of the thing here spoken of ministry-service. We are apt to look on service as a menial thing. There is nothing more glorified in the Bible. Service, mutual helpfulness growing out of mutual dependence, is the law of the universe. The man who lives for himself is not worthy of the name of man. He is as unlike Christ, the ideal man, as it is possible for him to be. Service-tender, considerate, beneficent work for others-ennobles a man, and is the first thing to do so. Till then it is all receiving with him, and no giving; all incurring obligation, no discharging of any; and that is death to any character.

II. The range of the duty. It is universal.

1. As every man, etc. This makes the matter very simple. It puts an end to all casuistry and all excuses. God is the centre of the universe which He has made, and He ministers to all. To Him belongeth power. But as all rational life is after the pattern of Himself, He has put into it everywhere something of this ministering power, and we fulfil His idea, and show ourselves to be His children, rising into His likeness, just in proportion as we exercise that power in our several spheres.

2. One to another. Here is the idea of reciprocity added. It is not to be all giving with some, and all receiving with others. The thing is to go round-a perpetual interchange of blessings and gifts, a mutual well-doing, a generous commerce of souls, supplying each others lack out of each others abundance from the highest to the lowest, and from the lowest to the highest.

III. The rule of the duty. Minister the same. It is idle to say that you can do nothing, for if you are a Christian you have received something-the gift. The apostle does not assert this, but takes it for granted. As every man, etc., and gift is faculty, for which God holds us all directly responsible. Now, observe, this rule applies both to the form and the measure of the gift, both to its kind and to its degree. It applies to its form. It differs in this in different individuals, and hence the apostle speaks of the manifold grace of God. It is very plastic this grace of God, and accommodates itself to the constitutional peculiarities of men. However unpretentious our gift may be, it may count for more than we think. If our life and conduct say what is true about Christ, and nothing but what is true, representing His yoke as easy, His burden as light, His service as love, His reign as righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, then it does not matter how humble our work may be in its outward form, it will still be work for God, work for Christ, and for truth, and the souls of men. We shall be ministering as we have received the gift. But now observe, this as applies to degree as well as to form. We are to minister one to another up to the extent to which we have received the gift, that is, to the full extent of our ability. (A. L. Simpson, D. D.)

Gods gifts and their purpose

I. All our possessions are the gifts of God, being part of His manifold grace.

1. When we consider the shortness of the time for which these gifts are granted, we may consider them as loans, returnable to the lender when the term for which they are lent is expired.

2. These gifts are not committed to us merely for our own enjoyment, but that we may use them to the benefit of the whole body of the Church. This is evidently Gods purpose. His grace is manifold. He is no maker of favourites.

3. That which is shown to be true of Gods natural gifts is true in a still higher degree of His gifts of grace. The imagining that spiritual privileges are bestowed for the exclusive benefit of their possessors was the error which destroyed the Church of Israel.

4. The gifts which we receive of God we receive of Him through the Eternal Son.

(1) This is true even apart from the fact of the Incarnation. He is the Word of God, by Him all things are made. Through Him God goes forth to His creatures.

(2) This is true in a much higher sense since the Word has become Incarnate, and through His Incarnation reconciled us to God. Having fulfilled all the will of God, to Him is given all power in heaven and in earth. In the might of that power He bids His apostles go forth to claim all human souls as His rightful inheritance.

II. What gifts has God bestowed upon us, and how are we to use them? These gifts are:

(a) spiritual, and

(b) natural.

1. Spiritual gifts are such as we receive through our membership with the mystical body of Christ. They consist in redemption if we will accept it; sanctification if we will seek for it; and all the blessed means whereby the life of the Incarnate Word is bestowed upon us and kept alive within us, if we will use them.

2. Among our natural gifts some are common to all. Life, a sphere of usefulness large or small, health, powers of mind and body. There are other gifts bestowed upon some persons, and withheld from others. The power of influence, the possession of talent or of wealth, the gift of utterance, the advantages of position. While it is possible to claim these natural gifts as our own without reference to our Incarnate Lord, yet it is only when we possess them in Him that we may be said to possess them truly. Otherwise, they are as likely to possess us as we are to possess them, to be our masters as we are to be theirs.

3. Thus ministering the gift as we have received it, whether it be large or small, whether it be natural or spiritual, we find upon gathering up the fragments that remain over and above to those to whom we have ministered, that there is greater store than we knew, greater because more full of Gods blessing! (Canon Vernon Hutton.)

Personal Christliness

1. Whatever man has is a gift from God.

2. Whatever man has he should benevolently employ for the advantage of others.

I. Personal Christliness is a divine gift.

1. It is the greatest gift. Qualifies man to please his Maker, bless humanity, serve the universe, and inherit all things.

2. It is the costliest gift.

II. Personal Christliness is a Divine gift to be socially employed. This social ministry is-

1. Obligatory.

2. Varied.

3. Divine.

Learn:

1. The divinity of a Christly life.

2. The test of a Christly life. Genuine social benevolence. (Homilist.)

Minister the same one to another.-

Gifts to be communicated for the good of others

Though a Christian be the freest man in the world (as being freed from Satan, sin, hell, the law, etc.) yet is he to be of all others the most serviceable; he must not put his light under a bushel, nor hide his talent in a napkin.

1. As the sun shines not for itself, nor the earth bears for itself; so have not we a gift for ourselves, but for the common good.

2. The perfection of gifts consists not only in the having of it, but in the use thereof.

3. The communion of saints, which we believe, requires it.

4. This brings most peace to our conscience both in life and death.

5. This procures credit while we live, as a good name and memory when we die.

6. We are divers ways partakers of the gifts of others, and so must make them partakers of ours.

7. Our gifts increase by using; the more we bestow them, the more we have them. (John Rogers.)

Receiving and ministering

Clouds when full pour down, and the spouts run, and the eaves shed, and the presses overflow, and the aromatical trees sweat out their precious and sovereign oils. (J. Trapp.)

Mutual obligations

The grace of God means His liberality. It is called manifold, because Gods gifts are so various in kind and in degree. They are of many descriptions, and variously proportioned. On some the Divine bounty seems to pour itself in torrents, while to others it comes in very slender rills, or apparently in drops only. Still we know that God is good to all. And, doubtless, were the least gifted among us more quicksighted and pious, they would find themselves possessed of far more considerable gifts from Gods hand than they acknowledge or discern. Our corrupt selfishness makes us dull of sight, coldhearted, and ungrateful. Now the apostle asserts, in the text, that we are all sharers in Gods manifold grace. According as every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another. He has just before been enjoining the mutual exercise of ungrudging hospitality. And afterwards he signifies, that our powers of speech and action are all to be employed in a holy and charitable manner for the welfare of our brethren, and to the glory of God our common Father, through Christ. You see, then, that to each of us is allotted a ministry. We must lay ourselves out to do good; not wait lazily for an almost constraining impulse of circumstances. And that we may be useful and not hurtful, it is our duty to ascertain what our gift is; and not to attempt what lies beyond our province, and so mar instead of making or mending. One obstacle of our own making to the useful exercise of our talents is a reluctance to cooperate with those who possess that quality which is wanting in ourselves, but which needs to be combined with ours in order to its efficiency. Now I believe that God has distributed His gifts variously for this very purpose among others, to force upon us a partnership in good works. He has made us so necessary the one to the other, that selfish separatism is hardly less consistent with human well-being than with Divine philanthropy. The man of sagacity is not always good in action: he wants an energetic coadjutor. Moses, good in counsel, requires the help of Aaron ready of speech. Nay more, it is better for the business of the world that high attributes should not be so justly blended in the several individuals, called to act an important part, as to constitute what is nearest to perfection; but rather that what is excessive in one should be balanced and corrected by an excess of another kind in his helpmate. The vehemence of Luther was a blemish in him, while Melancthon was cautious to a fault. Yet who can doubt that the glorious Reformation was better accomplished by two such fellow labourers, than it would have been by the same men, had there been an equal distribution between them of their respective characteristic properties. Such then is Gods way of dispensing His gifts. He divides to every man severally as He pleases. In the Church He has given some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; and all this is arranged with a view to unity-unity of faith, unity of love, unity of action. Nothing can be clearer than the duty of turning our means and opportunities to good account. We are prone to view our talent under false and vicious limitations; to confine our notions of the proper sphere of assiduous kindness to ones own immediate connections. The gospel vastly expands our field of duty. It urges upon us that we are all brethren. Therefore, whatever gift we possess is meant for the general welfare. Let me here say a word or two upon our accountableness. People are not seldom anxious to believe that by declining to undertake a certain work they avoid a serious responsibility. No doubt that is sometimes true. But if that work be a duty, then you cannot escape the responsibility which lies upon you to engage in it. (J. N. Pearson, M. A.)

In what a variety of ways we may serve and benefit others

Doing good to others rejoices every human heart that is not totally callous and corrupt. Doing good to others engages the approbation of every man.

I. How great is, first, the diversity of situations among mankind, and how various therefore the opportunity and the inducement to be useful to one another in different ways! How many classes and descriptions of persons fill up the interval between the monarch or the prince and the meanest of his subjects! And how various their destination; how various the sphere of action assigned them; how manifold the good and useful that each may contrive, adopt, and do therein! If the government is watchful over the public tranquillity and safety; if the magistrate maintains the laws in their due respect, and protects the individual in his property; if one preceptor teaches the child the elements of human knowledge, another instructs the youth in the higher branches of science; if the statesman is attentive to the several exigencies of the country and provides for its great concerns; the countryman produces a plentiful supply of food from the furrows of his plough and the fields he industriously cultivates; the manufacturer and the mechanic work up and improve the products of the country; the tradesman brings them into circulation, and the merchant barters the surplus against those of other nations; thus thousands of hands are set in motion which none of those could perform without neglecting their own, and which are equally indispensable with theirs. And how much good now may every one do, if he does what belongs to him with willingness, with fidelity, with a heart benevolently affected towards his brethren, participating in their happiness and cheerfully concurring to promote it!

II. Consider again how different the wants of mankind and how various their sufferings, and thence judge in what a variety of ways one may serve and be useful to another. Here are wants of the body-food, raiment, lodging, health, strength; there wants of the mind-information, knowledge, wisdom, virtue, inward peace, pleasure, hope, content. Here is the want of necessaries; there the want of the commodious, the elegant, the agreeable. Here are corporeal sufferings-weakness, debility, mutilation, decrepitude, pain, sickness, lingering death; there are sufferings of the soul-vexation, trouble, anxiety, grief, dejection, doubt, remorse, pangs of conscience, melancholy, despondency, peril of despair. Here is the want of advice, there of support; here of courage, there of prudence; here of means and implements of trade, there of abilities for it; here of understanding, there of alacrity and application; here of moderation, there of patience; here of modesty and diffidence, there of self-importance and confidence. And thus the matter stands in numberless other cases. The necessities of the one are not the necessities of the other; the sufferings of the one are not the sufferings of the other. What is wanting to the former is possessed by the latter. Every one may therefore in various methods give rod receive, administer relief and accept relief, comfort and be comforted, serve and submit to be served, communicate benefit and satisfaction and enjoy benefit and satisfaction,

III. Consider thirdly, how numerous and various the capacities and powers, the gifts and acquirements of mankind are, and thence judge how great the variety of ways in which they may serve and assist and benefit each other. No one is exactly that which another is; no one has precisely that which another has; no one knows all that another knows; no one can and may do whatever another can and may. One has understanding; and how various the species of it are! Here is a profound, collected, there a comprehensive and excursive; here a quick but volatile, there a slow but solid understanding. Another has authority and strength, and how various are these in their kinds! Here is strength of mind, there strength of body; here the power of beauty, there the power of eloquence; here the command of oneself and the passions, there the authority of the ruler and the commander over his subjects; here impetuous, overwhelming, there mild, insinuating, yet more irresistible force. And who is able to recount the infinite variations of human capacities and powers and endowments and their analogies to each other? One has ingenuity, an extensive, strong turn for invention; the other has judgment and dexterity in execution. One quickness and pliancy to the business of the present moment; the other persevering, indefatigable patience for intricate and tiresome undertakings. One an ardency to animate all around it; the other cool consideration and resolution to put a stop to this devouring flame. And now let each exchange his capacities and endowments and possessions against those of the other; now let every one apply the particular talent entrusted to him, as often as he has the proper motive and opportunity for it; what a blessing would the prodigiously various commutation of kind offices, of assistance and support, of benevolence and beneficence, be to all in general and to each in particular!

IV. Consider lastly, how manifold and different the methods in which ye may serve your brethren, in which ye may do them all the good that ye are able. Thinking and speaking, keeping silence and hearing, giving and lending, partaking and borrowing, bearing and suffering and relieving, doing and not doing, are so many different methods of serving and being useful to others, and each the best in its proper season, the most productive of beneficial consequences. (G. J. Zollikofer.)

As and so-the method of ministry

You and I can only give large sums of money to Gods service, as God makes us wealthy. It is so in earthly things, and surely it must be so in spiritual things. If we are living in the fulness of God, then the promise of Jesus Christ shall be fulfilled in our case-Out of our belly shall flow rivers of living water. If, on the other hand, we are straitened in ourselves, then what wonder that our life should be unprofitable, and that we should scarcely to any degree minister the gift, simply because we receive it so scantily. But when I look again at that word as, another thought occurs to me. It strikes me that we have not only there a law of proportion, we have also a law of quality, qualifying the bestowal of the gift. The gift is bestowed by the hand of Him who is an example to us in giving, as well as in every other respect. As we receive, so we are to give. There ought to be a certain God-like liberality in our efforts to distribute the favours with which God loads us. But further, that word as seems to teach us more than this. Not only have we received the gift freely, but we have received it wisely; that is to say, God, in bestowing the gift upon us, exercised a wisdom which belongs to His own nature, preparing us for its reception, and bestowing upon us just the gift appropriate to our state. Are we not too often very clumsy in this respect? We get into a kind of stereotyped way of working for God. I cannot but feel that, if we would minister the gift as the Lord would have us minister it, we require greater delicacy of touch, keener discernment of human character, and a fuller appreciation of Gods different methods of dealing with different souls than are commonly to be met with. (W. H. M. H. Aitken, M. A.)

As good stewards of the manifold grace.-

The Christian stewardship

The manifold grace of God-the term is a remarkable one-it is that word by which the Greeks expressed infinite variety of hue or of design-the shiftings and glistenings of richly-mingled colours, or the dappled patterns of skilful embroidery. We have not, I think, been good stewards of this manifold grace. We have been ever apt to look on the grace of God in one or at most in some few of its aspects only. We have forgotten its manifoldness. In other words, we have assumed for the gospel of Christ too exclusively theological a character. We want to raise up the new life within men. Now it seems to me, that in doing this we have been too long acting contrary to all natural analogies. Have we, like the unskilful workman, been utterly careless about minutiae? O when will men begin to see that religion is not a separate trade or profession, but the business of life? When will they begin to apprehend the grace of God in its manifoldness? to see that it was sent to win every affection, to brighten every smile, to shed fresh interest over every pursuit, to light up new hopes in every prospect-to embrace every variety of human temperament, assist every degree of human capacity? We never shall be good stewards, till we know and apply this truth, and carry it out in practice in our own times, and among those with whom we live. Am I a good steward of this manifold grace? Am I occupying with it, that at my Masters coming He may find it increased and fructified? We will first speak, as the most obvious case, of the bestowal of Gods grace in the position and opportunities afforded by rank, wealth, and influence among men. It is God who putteth down one and setteth up another. The purpose for which He has ordained various ranks in human society, is that He may thereby be glorified in the Christian use of influence over others, the Christian bestowal of worldly means. Who can overestimate the value of such an one as a centre of influence for good? A blessing to his own relatives, to his dependants, among whom he is ever moving and speaking; a blessing to his equals, with whom he communes in the intercourse of social life; a blessing to general society in checking all that is evil and encouraging all that is good. And a word on mere wealth, considered as a stewardship. The question in every case for them is not an absolute, but a relative one; not what? but what proportion? As a mans worldly means increase, so his charities ought to increase. Then there is another matter belonging to this part of our subject; the stewardship of administration of charity, or of any money laid out for the general good. The labour of love is essential not only to good stewardship, but to the Christian character itself; and every man may make-and ought to make if there be any difficulty in the way-leisure and opportunity for such labour of love. The ways and occasions for it are manifold, as the grace which will help us in it. Let me now speak of another stewardship of Gods manifold grace; that which we ordinarily know as talent; ability of various kinds, wherewith many are considerably, and some few eminently, endowed. Great numbers of ordinary men are made very much by that which they read, or that which they hear, of the sentiments of those who are abler than themselves. With what a vast responsibility does this invest those who thus stand in the first rank, and lead mankind! How great a difference, to take an example, will be made in general society in the matter of Christian belief, according as one commanding man of genius, who has power over thought and language, makes use of that power. We are all, as was said of the Spartan army of old, commanders of commanders; we all work upon those, who work in their turn upon others. And therefore our ability, be it ever so small is our stewardship, of which God will most certainly have an a count from us. But influence over others is not the only matter in which we are to be good stewards of His manifold grace. It was given us for influence over ourselves; that our whole body, soul, and spirit might be sanctified wholly-that it might fill us to our utmost capacity with the fulness of God, and render us efficient for promoting His glory. (Dean Alford.)

The idea and duty of human life

I. The true idea of human life. Stewards. We are not principals, proprietors, masters, but trustees; our gifts must not be used for ends of personal indulgence; we must please our Lord. Do we always remember this theory of life? Surely we often practically forget this, and act as if our gifts were our own, to be used simply for personal gratification and aggrandisement. A gentleman walks into his grounds on a summer morning, and delighted with certain flowers, says to his gardener, These are very line; send a few into the house. The gardener distinctly declines to do anything of the sort. I am keeping these against the Show, is his reply, and I cannot permit them to be cut. By and by the gentleman orders his carriage to be sent round at a given time when once again the coachman refuses to obey. The roads are bad, It is inconvenient, and the carriage is not forthcoming. Arrived at his counting house, the gentleman orders his cashier to write him out a cheque for £50, but to his astonishment the clerk decisively objects to draw the cheque; he will not allow the balance at the bank to be disturbed. How long would a master endure that kind of conduct, and consent to be shut out of the disposal and enjoyment of his own property? But we often set thus in dealing with God, using His gifts capriciously and selfishly, forgetting Gods absolute authority and lifes larger purpose. Whatever we have, we have received; whatever we have, we must restore.

II. The grand work of human life. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another. The individual trees of a forest do not need much from one another; they grow the better, perhaps, for growing in a brotherhood; they shelter each other, they benefit by a certain neighbourhood and reciprocity, but they are not absolutely essential to one another; if there were but one oak tree in England it would grow pretty much as it does today in the forests of oak. But it is far otherwise with the human species; we are essential to each other; one man in Leeds, one man in Europe, would hardly prosper; it is only in mutuality that the individual can live and come to the fulness of his glory and fruitfulness, that the race can reach its ideal life. The rich must help the poor. As long as the mountain and valley exist the inequalities of society will exist; but as in the economy of nature there is no antagonism between the height and the depth, the mountain sending its streams into the valley, and the valley sending its fertility creeping up the mountain side; so there need be no war between rich and poor, between capital and labour, because together they establish that interdependence among men which is essential to the growth and perfecting of all. The wise must help the ignorant. God has given us gifts of imagination, knowledge, expression, music, song, that we may plant intellectual flowers in waste places, and make dull, sad lives bright with thoughts of truth and hope. The strong must help the weak. Ye that are strong must bear the infirmity of the weak. Thank God that you are the strong, and not the weak; that you are the helper, and not the helped. But there is another side to all this; the poor, the illiterate, the weak, the obscure may also truly minister in many ways to the worlds enrichment and blessing. In Italy it is a delight to see the rich vines creeping from tree to tree. But when I was in that country I used to look with much interest on what is generally overlooked-the dwarfed, mutilated, hidden bits of trees, which to a large extent support the clinging vines, and hold them up into the sun. These hidden props have for the most part few leaves and less fruit, but their service and glory are that they bear up the goodly vine, with all its wealth of gold and purple; and however entirely these stumps may be forgotten in the day of vintage, they made a splendid contribution to the joy of harvest. So humble people often make great men possible, although the world knows the great men only, and forgets the lowly helper. In the biography of the Earl of Shaftesbury we have an illustration of the ministry of the obscure. Although there was little in the home to foster, while there was much to discourage, the growth of that piety which was to characterise so signally his afterlife, one source of helpful and tender influence was preserved to him. There was in the household a faithful old servant, Maria Millis, who had been maid to young Ashleys mother when she was a girl at Blenheim, and who was now retained as housekeeper. She was a simple-hearted, loving, Christian woman, faithful in her duties to her earthly master, and faithful in her higher duties to her heavenly Master. She formed a strong attachment to the gentle, serious child, and would take him on her knees and tell him Bible stories, especially the sweet story of the manger of Bethlehem and the Cross of Calvary. It was her hand that touched the chords and awakened the first music of his spiritual life. The great ameliorative movements of the world are also vastly indebted to the weak and poor. Everybody knows of Livingstone, of Bishop Hannington, of Paten, of Calvert; but the sublime enterprise conducted by these heroes would be impossible if it were not for the self-denying work of labouring men, farm servants, domestic servants, little children who give and collect coppers through the land and through the year. Do you say, Yes, if I were a Garibaldi, or a Victor Hugo, or a John Bright, I would rejoice to serve my generation; but my talent is small, I am only one of the million? The lily in the field is one of a million, but it makes the summer air a little sweeter for all that; the star of the sky is one of a million, but it is not less a thing of glory for that; the dewdrop of the morning is one of a million, yet it leaves a spot of fresh beauty as it exhales into the light. The Orientals have a wise saying, A little stone in its place weighs a hundredweight. The most inconsiderable people are valuable in their place. (W. L. Watkinson.)

Let him speak as the oracles of God.-

The preaching of the Word

I. Particular rules for the preaching of the word may be many, but this is a most comprehensive one which the apostle gives; If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God.

1. In fidelity, it is supposed that a man should have a competent insight and knowledge in the Divine oracles, that first he learn before he teach.

2. A minister must speak holily, with that high esteem and reverence of the great Majesty whose message he carries, that becomes the divinity of the message itself, those deep mysteries that no created spirits are able to fathom.

3. The Word is to be spoken wisely. By this I mean, in the way of delivering it, that it be done gravely and decently. Now you that hear should certainly agree in this too. If any hear, let him hear as the oracles of God, not as a well-tuned sound, to help you to sleep an hour; not as a human oration, to displease or please you for an hour; not as a school lesson, to add some what to your stock of knowledge, or as a feast of new notions; but hear as the oracles of God.

II. The end of all this appointment is, that in all, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ; that in all, in all persons and all things; the word includes both, and the thing itself extends to both. All persons and all things shall pay this tribute, even they that most wickedly seek to withhold it; but this is the happiness of the saints, that they move willingly thus, are not forced or driven. Through Jesus Christ. The Christian in covenant with God, receives all this way and returns all this way. (Abp. Leighton.)

The oracles of God

I. The oracles of God are of Divine origin and are therefore of supreme authority. The heathen oracles owed all their influence to the belief that prevailed that they were the answers of the god enshrined in his temple.

II. That these oracles of God are accessible to us, and may be consulted by us, in the diversities and perplexities of our condition. The heathen oracles were accessible too, but only under circumstances that forbid universal approach.

III. The oracles of God clearly announce the Divine Will, and are therefore to be believed and obeyed. The oracles of the heathen were mysterious but useless mutterings. (W. G. Barrett.)

That God in all things may be glorified.-

The import and application of glorifying God through Jesus Christ

I. The import. The glory of God, as alone it can be affected by His creatures, consists in the homage and service which they render Him, and in the manifestation of His glorious perfections and the accomplishment of the great ends of His moral administration-the virtue and happiness of His intelligent offspring.

II. The application.

1. God is glorified by the diffusion of such knowledge respecting His works, as tends to give a lively conviction of His existence, and His attributes of power, wisdom, and goodness.

2. God is glorified by all that manifests His providential and moral administration respecting man kind.

3. God is glorified in an especial manner, by the effectual diffusion of the gospel, since there His perfections are most plainly illustrated, His dealings towards mankind most clearly displayed, and His requirements of homage and service most forcibly delineated and sanctioned.

4. We glorify God, whenever we act under the influence of religious principle, from a sense of Christian duty, prompted by the example and Spirit of Jesus, and guided by His commands; by a sincere regard to Him as our Maker, our Preserver, our Witness, and our Judge. (J. B. Beard.)

God glorified by Christ

Glory is the manifestation of the hidden attributes of the ever-blessed God. He dwells in light which is so transcendent in its burning purity that no mortal eye could bear the blaze which enwraps His being. But if unknown He would be forever unappreciated and unloved. How could men or angels worship an inaccessible and unknown God? But Jesus Christ, who has dwelt forever in the bosom of the Father, has declared Him, has brought out His attributes from their dark obscurity, and has displayed them. The prism, which shows the exquisite tints that hide in sunbeams, glorifies the sun and its Maker. The artist who reads natures secrets, and catches bewitching smiles which are only seen by her lovers, glorifies Him who lives behind all nature. The student who shows some unsuspected beauty in our favourite author, adds to that authors glory in our esteem. So, though in an infinitely superior sense, as the Son has been the medium through which the Father has shone forth, and has attracted the admiration and homage of all intelligent creatures, we may rightly say that in Him He has been glorified. This was so in creation, when the creative qualities of the Almighty passed through the Son into efflorescent beauty. It has been so in providence, wherein the sustaining grace of God has been revealing itself through successive ages of activity. It was especially so in the life and words and death of the Redeemer. These were windows into the heart of God. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

Reflected glory

When the sunbeams fall upon a mirror, it flashes in the light, just because they do not enter its cold surface. It is a mirror, because it does not drink them up, but flings them back. The contrary is the case with these mirrors of our spirits. In them the light must first sink in before it can ray out. They must first be filled with the glory, before the glory can stream forth. They are not so much like a reflecting surface as like a bar of iron, which needs to be heated down to its obstinate black core before its outer skin glows with the whiteness of a heat that is too hot to sparkle. The sunshine must fall on us, not as it does on some lonely hillside, lighting up the grey stones with a passing gleam, but as it does on some cloud cradled near its setting, which it drenches and saturates with fire till its cold heart burns, and all its wreaths of vapour are brightness palpable, glorified by the light which lives amidst its mists. So must we have the glory sink into us before it can be reflected from us. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

How Christians may glorify God

A painting that is a work of art may be so inappropriately framed, and hung at such disadvantage as to light and shade, that only a master recognises its merits. Or it may be so worthily framed and so fitly placed that the skill and power of the artists work appeal to the most casual beholder. So a Christian heart may be enshrined in such meagre and unworthy human qualities that they detract from the recognition the grace of Christ ought to receive, the impression it should make. Where religion is in disrepute, it is largely because of its association with unworthy human qualities, and its consequent identification in the minds of many with them. It is unfortunate when a Christian man is not also a man among men, able to hold his own place, and make for himself a higher. The youth who is first at the bat or the oar; the student who leads his college class; the man who has made a reputation or a fortune in his profession or business, the woman whose grace and accomplishments are the delight of her friends; these, having the grace of Christ in their hearts, are not by these attainments detracting from its power, they are enshrining that grace more worthily; even as a diamond is more fittingly set in a ring of gold than in one of pinchbeck.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Pe 4:7. The end of all things is at hand — Of our mortal lives, and of all the joys and sorrows, goods and evils connected therewith, and so of all your wrongs and sufferings. Many commentators indeed understand St. Peter as speaking only of the end of the Jewish commonwealth, city, temple, and worship. Thus Whitby understands him: “This phrase, and the advice upon it, so exactly parallel to what our Lord had spoken, will not suffer us to doubt that the apostle is here speaking, not of the end of the world, or of all things in general, which was not then, and seems not yet to be at hand, but only of the end of the Jewish state.” Thus also Macknight: “This epistle being written about a year after the war with the Romans began, which ended in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish state, Peter, who had heard his Master’s prophecy concerning these events, and the signs of their approach, had good reason to say that they had approached.” But, as Dr. Doddridge justly observes, this was an event in which most of those, to whom the apostle wrote, were comparatively but little concerned. It is probable, therefore, that the apostle either referred to death, which may be considered as the end of the whole world to every particular person; or the consummation of all things, which may be said to be at hand in the sense in which our Lord, long after the destruction of Jerusalem: says to the church, (Rev 22:7; Rev 22:20,) Behold I come quickly. To the same purpose is Mr. Scott’s interpretation: “All Christians must expect tribulations in the world, but these would soon terminate; for the end of all things was at hand, and death was about to close their course of trials or services; nay, judgment would not be so long delayed, as that the intervening space should, in the estimation of faith, be at all compared with eternity.” Be ye therefore sober — Temperate in all things, and moderate in all earthly cares and pursuits; remembering their end approaches, and the fashion of this world passeth away. Or, be prudent and considerate, as σωφρονησατε also signifies. Look before you, and provide for eternity. And watch unto prayer — To which temperance, moderation in worldly desires and cares, prudence, and consideration, are great helps, tending to produce a wakeful state of mind, and guarding against all temptations to sin and folly. And this watchfulness is so connected with prayer, that the one cannot exist without the other. See on 1Th 5:6-9.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. The coming end of all things, enforcing this law of holiness, 1Pe_4:7-11.

7. The end of all things—Absolutely, in the final consummation. To refer this to the destruction of Jerusalem, with Dr. Clarke and others, assumes an unlikely interest in that event on the part of those to whom St. Peter is writing, and furnishes no proper basis for the exhortations which follow.

At hand—Not in time, but in the apostle’s vivid conception of eternal realities. He has himself given us the divine arithmetic by which he reckons, (2Pe_3:8, where see notes;) and the Holy Spirit, under whose inspiration he wrote, well knew that it was not literally near, and did not inspire him to write an untruth. Practically, to every man that end is very near, and it becomes us to walk daily with it in view.

Sober— Self-restrained.

Watch—So as to have the habit of prayer. The three belong together. These counsels are for personal life.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

1Pe_4:7. End of all things.—Jews naturally thought of the end of organised Judaism as the “end of all things,” The end of one great æon, or dispensation was nigh at hand, and this fact was properly used as an incentive to watchfulness Man is not capable of attaching a definite meaning to the term, “end of all things.” He can understand the “end of his things.” Sober.—letter, “be of sound mind, and be sober unto prayer.” Keep a good check on all bodily desires and passions; sober, or self-restrained, and so able to make everything an occasion of prayer.

1Pe_4:8. Charity.—Or love; but it is love as influencing Christian fellowship. Distinguish from the love of sex. Charity suggests the mutual consideration, and mutual service, which are the essential elements of social love. Fervent.—Or intense. It is important that the love should be more than cherished good feeling. It should find free expression in daily intercourse. The difficult circumstances of the Churches made mutual confidence, mutual interest, and mutual helpfulness, unusually important. Cover the (a) multitude.—See Jas_5:20. The idea is, that love tries to hide the faults and failings of brethren; or, love others, and you will find it easy to forgive, and pass over, faults. “It is a truth from which we need not shrink, that every sin which love hides from man’s sight, is hidden in God’s sight also” (Alford), One writer thinks the idea of the sentence is, that the exercise of this grace of charity, or love, makes up for a great many other shortcomings in the man.

1Pe_4:9. Hospitality.—Suggested by the word “charity,” and an important form of it in those days, when Christians were often turned out of their homes, and dependent on the shelter and kindness of Christian friends. Grudging.—Murmuring, fretting under the claim put upon you. Circumstances of family life often make offering hospitality a great strain on feeling.

1Pe_4:10. The gift.—Better, a gift, any gift. Each renewed man is thought of as being endowed with some gift, which he is to put to use for the general edification. Activity in the employment of our Christian gifts provides the best security against temptation. Minister.—In the general sense of “use in-service.” Stewards.—Men put in trust. A steward is in no sense a possessor. Manifold.—Various. God’s gifts take various forms, and so the whole circle of the Church’s need is adequately provided for.

1Pe_4:11. Speak.—Referring to the gift of tongues, which took form as preaching. prophecy, ecstatic utterance, counsel, etc. (See Rom_12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12-14). Oracles of God.—R.V. “speaking as it were oracles of God.” Two ideas are suggested, but the latter is probably the one in the apostle’s mind.

1. Speaking in harmony with what was already received as oracles of God; or,

2. Speaking only as inspired by oracles of God. The teacher is to keep himself strictly open to Divine leadings; to speak as one possessed of powers not his own. Minister.—Serve in the Church as the first deacons did. “Serve tables.” General helping in meeting the various claims and duties, perhaps with special reference to the poor. There is a gift of practical ministry to which attention should be directed. God giveth.—It makes all the difference whether we are using our strength, or a God-given strength. The gift of working for others comes from God. Glorified.—Compare Mat_5:16; 1Co_10:31. Praise.—Glory. Ever and ever.—Ages and ages.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—1Pe_4:7-11

Immediate Duty in Relation to Christian Graces and Christian Gifts.—As the apostle is directly addressing persecuted and imperilled Christians—men whose lives were in danger on account of their steadfast loyalty to Christ—we must understand him as adapting his persuasions to their particular thoughts and fears. There is an end to all things. There is an end to suffering in the flesh. That end may be martyrdom—it is in some cases. That end may be death—it is in all cases; and the uncertainty of death is a constant persuasion to energy and persistency. “Be ye always ready.” It may be true that the early Christians anticipated the end of their sufferings in Christ’s coming rather than in death, and that we have learned to see death as Christ’s coming; but the fact remains, whatever may be the forms under which it is presented, that whosoever suffers in well-doing, suffers but for a time, and he never knows any day how near the end of his sufferings may be. He may find cheer in the thought of that uncertainty. He may be inspired to do and suffer well by that uncertainty. He ought to be full of supreme anxiety to make the very best of the “little while” of possibilities that is given to him. St. Peter urges upon these persecuted Christians that they ought to be—

I. Nourishing all Christian graces.—The moderation of a careful self-restraint and self-management needs to be cultivated and exercised. “Be ye therefore sober.” The term implies the harmony of affections and desires with reason, and the due control of passions. Perhaps the idea prominent in the apostle’s mind was that the last days—as he imagined them to be—would be full of commotions, surprises, and calamities, occasioning great alarm and distress. It should be characteristic of the Christians that they preserved their calmness at such times, “in their patience possessing their souls.” Watchfulness of themselves should be joined with prayer. Lit. “be sober unto prayers” (προσευχάς) Recalling our Lord’s words in Gethsemane, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.” “Men are to be sober with a view to prayer. Desires of all kinds, above all, those of man’s lower nature, are fatal to the energy, and therefore to the efficacy, of prayer.” “There can be no preparation for the duty of prayer when the mind is absorbed either in the pursuit of pleasure or in the pursuit of riches, or even in the pursuit of the arts and sciences. He only can bow the knee in a right spirit, and hold real fellowship with God, who is able to throw off all temporal affairs like a loose garment, and, free from distracting thoughts, at once address himself to his Father who is in heaven.” The grace of which Christians in all ages need to be most anxious, the grace which they should most diligently and experimentally cultivate, is the grace of charity, using that term in the sense of love to another finding daily expression in service one of another. “And above all things—as the chief and all-essential thing—having your love toward one another intense, because love covereth a multitude of sins.” There was special need of cultivating this mutual patience and sympathy and helpfulness of brotherly love in times of peril and persecution. It is an important point of St. Peter’s advice that he sees in this cultivated and freely exercised brotherly love the one thing that can master the misunderstandings, and prejudices, and estrangements that inevitably come up in all associations of frail and imperfect men. Christian love can cover, correct, or remove these evils. Hospitality is a Christian virtue which at a peculiar time, and under particular circumstances, found befitting expression for the brotherly love. Jewish Christians scattered abroad would be very dependent on the kindness of Jewish Christians in the countries they visited, or resided in. Hospitality is still a Christian grace, that should be cultivated and exercised, but it must find expression within the limitations and conditions of modern civilised life.

II. Exercising all Christian gifts.—“According as each hath received a gift, ministering it among yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” The apostles thought of the bestowment and sealing of the Holy Ghost as including the imparting to the believer of some special gift, or ability, which he was to use for the edification of his fellow-believers. Every converted man is an endowed man, placed under the responsibility of a trust. His gift is nothing for him to glory in or boast over, it is his possibility of service; whatever it is, it is to be cultured into efficiency, and exercised with all wisdom, prudence, and energy. “All gifts involve reponsibilities, yet it is an honour to possess them, and if we have also grace to employ them aright, they will be doubled to us in a future life.” The gifts are classified by St. Peter under two heads—

1. Speaking gifts.

2. Ministering gifts. Gifts relating to the tongue. Gifts relating to the hand, or visiting the sick and needy, teaching children, helping those in trouble, etc. And in exercising our gifts it is important to be reminded that there is no absolute standard by which the exercise must be judged; each must minister his own gifts, in his own way, “as of the ability that God giveth.” No man of them must judge his brother. This supreme anxiety should possess them all, that they should not serve themselves in the use of their gift, nor even serve others only; they must keep, as the one inspiring idea in the exercise of all gifts, that they should glorify God through Jesus Christ, whose name they bore, and whose servants they were. “We are often actuated in our Church life by personal motives, seeking our own honour, and anxious to obtain the praise of men; and sometimes we are actuated by mixed motives, having God’s glory partly in view, but not losing sight of our own. When our motives are thoroughly purified, and we learn to live and act only for the Divine glory, how lofty will be our piety, and how transparent our character and our lives” (Thornley Smith).

SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES

1Pe_4:7. The End Then and the End Now.—

1. In what sense was it true then, that “the end of all things was at hand”? In the widest and most literal sense that the expression will bear, it was not true, for upwards of eighteen centuries have passed away, and the end has not yet come. “Of that day and hour knoweth no man.” The precise period of the final judgment was one of those mysteries which even St. John, in the Apocalypse, did not unfold. Is it surprising, then, if the apostle supposed that the end of all things was nearer than it really was? Some think he referred to the end of that age—to the end of the Jewish dispensation. Some think he meant the end of all these things is at hand—the follies of the wicked, and the persecutions of the righteous. Death would soon put an end to both, and all would soon be called before the Judges 2. In what sense is it true now? We are living in the nineteenth century of the Christian era; is the end of it approaching? or is an end of the present dispensation near? Some interpreters of prophecy believe that the manifestation of Christ from heaven is at hand, when He will raise the bodies of the sainted dead, change those that are alive, and commence His millennial reign on the earth. The conception is a grand one, and possibly it may be realised; but the personal reign of Christ on the earth, as the earth is at present constituted, is difficult to imagine; nor does the language of any of the apostles teach it. When He comes the saints are to be caught up to meet Him in the air, and they are to live and reign with Him a thousand years; but it is nowhere said that this will be on the earth. We cannot, however, affirm positively that these events are nigh.—Thornley Smith.

Watching for the Advent.—It must be held as a first principle that, ever since the appearing of Christ, there is nothing left to the faithful but, with wakeful minds, to be always intent on His second advent.—Calvin.

1Pe_4:7. The End of All Things.—Respecting the transactions of the last day, many entertain the view that a moment will come when the present order of things will abruptly terminate, to be followed by a general destruction of the present material order. The prophetic language used in reference to those transactions, and the poetic garb in which they are couched, have tended to nourish such a conception; but the true end of things is not an abrupt suspension of their functions, but a completion—a perfect finish—of the ideal purposes for which these materials were created. Moral ends are the highest ideals of all things and all beings. To their fulfilment we must look for the terminus of the railway of time, and not exclusively to their physical constitution, although the movement may be conterminous in both. Human life is the highest of all purposes, and fitted to accomplish the highest and most definite ends. Its course has run for thousands of years, but, having regard to the regeneration of the whole race, we do not see the end of the present order very near. Nevertheless, it is certain, and the fact must have its place among the subjects of contemplation. If, however, we think of the duration of human life, and the uncertainty thereof, to us the “end of all things is at hand.” When this life is over, it will be like the final dissolution of the universe: we shall have none of the present interest in it. Our course will soon be at an end. There is but a step between us and the grave. The contemplation of such a serious step demands soberness, with watching and prayer. “Be ye ready,” is the Master’s call; to which we ought to answer, Ready, Lord.

I. A grave crisis.—“The end of all things is at hand.” There is a terminus in view towards which all things converge. There are no such things as “eternal rounds” for finite creatures, but one straight course, with a sharply defined beginning and ending. In order to take a general view of the subject, we notice four particulars or departments of God’s works which are daily moving towards a finale.

1. Human life. The contemplation of the end of our present life ought to cause no regret. Time and facilities enough will be granted to every man to work out the ideal manhood on which his whole life is based. Time wasted, and circumstances frittered away, will cause sorrow; but the improvement of time and the right use of opportunities will bear a peaceable fruit. Life is a germ, to be developed day by day, and when Death puts in the sickle, the abundant harvest should amply repay the trouble of sowing. He who builds up character according to the Divine model will lay in heaven the topmost stone, with “grace, grace unto it.” It is necessary to keep the end in view, to avoid the waste of time and the abuse of talent. A life in earnest will bring death in pence.

2. Moral means. Within a definite period, either long or short, the foundations of faith must be laid, obedience to God rendered, service to mankind given, and a general assimilation of purpose to the nature and tendency of the gospel made. It is a great work, and must be accomplished within its own period. It is true that we cannot comprehend eternity, or know all the ultimate purposes of God; but those who have abundant opportunities for repentance and faith now, cannot expect a period of probation hereafter. The offer of mercy through Jesus Christ is made within its own term, and the gospel will utter its last word to every sinner in this world. Are there more effective means beyond death—means that will be more certain to produce reformation? In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus there are these words: “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rise from the dead.” Take a more emphatic answer from the parable of the barren fig-tree: “Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it; and if it bear fruit thenceforth, well; but if not, thou shalt cut it down.” There is a time set, and means ordained for securing the peace of God, and our obvious duty is to “take the tide at the flood.”

3. The course of nature. The heavens and the earth shall pass away. There are material evidences to show this. We do not build our faith on scientific truths, but we receive them in corroboration of the teaching of the Book. Nature’s course, though long, is terminable. Suns, moons, stars, and the earth will one day declare, We have finished our task. A graphic description of that day is given by St. Peter in the second epistle and the third chapter. After reading these words, the one impression left on our mind is, that the eternal God has created all things for definite purposes in connection with the life and salvation of the human race; and the call is to prayer and to diligence.

4. Moral administration. The course of sin will be arrested, and every discordant note will cease. To-day, sin meets with a series of checks, but then, a complete annihilation. This will necessitate a change in many departments of moral government. The mediation of the Saviour will cease in its intercessory character. The day of forgiveness will end. The unclean will remain so, and the regenerate will rise to a state of perfection. The whole gospel dispensation will advance from its preparatory stages to the final condition of harmony and beauty in God the Father. This will take place after the resurrection and the last judgment. “And when all things have been subjected unto Him, then shall the Son also himself be subjected to Him that did subject all things unto Him, that God may be all in all.” Seeing that things, material and moral, are working towards that grave crisis, we ought to awake out of sleep, for our salvation is nearer than when we believed.

II. An earnest exhortation.—“Be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” The end must be in view, that the means appointed fur its attainment may find a legitimate place in the economy of human life. This reminds us of a motto which a gentleman had inscribed over every door in his house: “Whatever you do, consider the end.”

1. Seriousness. To be sober-minded is to look at human life in all its bearings and responsibilities. Men are liable to several kinds of intoxication, and there are many drunken, but not with alcohol. Some are intoxicated with pride, others with pleasure, others with wealth, and many with imaginary greatness. St. Peter exhorts us in the text to avoid frivolity. Trifling with serious matters is a grave offence against morality, as well as an injury to the soul.

2. Watchfulness. Care must be taken to conserve the good we possess, and to entrench ourselves firmly in every position we occupy. There must be no “unguarded hours” in the Christian’s year. There may be enough courage to fight sin in open battle, where there is not enough caution to retain the advantage. Our Saviour exhorts us to “watch and pray.” The roaring lion is about, seeking us for his prey. Watchfulness is the compass by which the vessel is steered. Thousands have made a shipwreck of the faith because they neglected to look at the compass. Let us watch our very thoughts, fearing they should be vain. Let us watch every emotion of the heart, fearing they are sinful. Let us watch every step of the foot, fearing it may be outside the narrow path. Watch all your moments, and at all times. Temptation is your greatest foe; watch against your besetting sin. Keep yourselves spotless from the world. “Love not the world, nor,” etc.

3. Prayerfulness. The aspirations of prayer are heavenward. God has promised to help us. Prayer leads on to the grand end of moral perfection and eternal joy. “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end” (Heb_3:14). Then pray on. Many of you may look with fear to the end. You are not confident that yours will be peace and joy. It may be that such a blessed assurance is not given to most of the saints until the time comes. But one thing is certain: we must pray on. Prayer leads the way. We enter on holiness by prayer. We secure every blessing by prayer, because we take the name of Jesus with us to the throne of mercy. Prayer leans on His breast. “Pray without ceasing.” Brethren, let us keep the glorious end of our faith in view, even the salvation of our souls. We need to feel the coming of the end in every service, and in every religious exercise, as the sailor sees the beacons of his native land coming in sight when nearing the shore. Bend to the oar, and pull for the shore. Watching and praying will soon be over. Look to the end of these, for there you will see the crown and the Saviour.—Anon.

1Pe_4:8. The Pre-eminence of Charity.—The grace of charity is exalted as the highest attainment of the Christian life by St. Paul, St. Peter, and St. John. These three men were very different from each other. Each was the type of a distinct order of character. And it is a proof that the gospel is from God, and that the sacred writings are inspired from a single Divine source, that personal peculiarities are not placed foremost in them, but the foremost place is given by each to a grace which certainly was not the characteristic quality of all the three. Love is over all and above all, above intellect, freedom, courage.

I. What charity is.—Charity has become identified with almsgiving. Love is appropriated to one particular form of human affection, and that one with which self and passion mix inevitably. Philanthropy is a word too cold and negative. Charity may be defined as the desire to give, and the desire to bless.

1. The desire to give. Not to get something, but to give something. The mightier, the more irrepressible this yearning to give is, the more truly is the love love. Sacrifice, in some shape or other, is the impulse of love, and its restlessness is only satisfied and only gets relief in giving. For this, in truth, is God’s own love, the will and the power to give.

2. The desire to bless. Even weak and spurious love desires happiness of some kind for the creature that it loves. What we call philanthropy is often calm and cool—too calm and cool to waste upon it the name of charity. But it is a calm and cool desire that human happiness were possible. It is, in its weak way, a desire to bless. Now, the love whereof the Bible speaks, and of which we have but one perfect personification—viz., in the life of Christ—is the desire for the best and true blessedness of the being loved. It wishes the well-being of the whole man—body, soul, and spirit; but chiefly spirit. The highest love is the desire to make men good and Godlike. Concerning this charity, notice

(1) It is characterised as fervent. Literally, intense, unremitting, unwearied. Fervent charity—Christ’s spirit—does not tire, and cannot be worn out; it loves its enemies, and does good to them that hate it.

(2) It is capable of being cultivated. We assume that, simply because it is enjoined. How shall we cultivate it? (a) Love cannot be produced by a direct action of the soul upon itself. You cannot love by a resolve to love. Effort of heart is followed by collapse. Excitement is followed by exhaustion. It is as impossible for a man to work himself into a state of genuine, fervent love as it is for a man to inspire himself. (b) We may, however, cultivate charity by doing acts which love demands. It is God’s merciful law that feelings are increased by acts done on principle. If a man has not the feeling in its warmth, let him not wait till the feeling comes. Let him act with such feeling as he has; with a cold heart if he has not got a warm one: it will grow warmer while he acts, (c) We cultivate Christian love by contemplating the love of God. Love begets love. Love, believed in, produces a return of love; we cannot love because we must. “Must” kills love; but the law of our nature is that we love in reply to love.

II. What charity does.—It covereth a multitude of sins. But whose sins? Is it that the sins of the charitable man are covered by his charity in God’s sight? Or is it the sins of others over which charity throws a mantle, so as not to see them? The latter must be meant. There are three ways, at least, in which love covers sin.

1. In refusing to see small faults.

2. By making large allowances. It understands by sympathy. It is that glorious nature which has affinity with good under all forms, and loves to find it, to believe in it, and to see it. Those with such natures—God’s rare and best ones—learn to make allowances, not from weak sentiment, which calls wrong right, but from that heavenly charity which sees right lying at the root of wrong.

3. By tolerating even intolerance. Let no man think that he can be tolerant or charitable as a matter of self-indulgence. For real charity and real toleration he must pay the price.—F. W. Robertson.

1Pe_4:11. In All Things Glorifying God.

Apply this rule—

I. To the labours of the understanding.—We may read all things, and yet read as God’s scholars; drawing even from the writings of those who thought but of evil, or at least were utterly careless of God, a food for holy and spiritual principles to be nourished with.

II. To our labours of charity, or our acts of kindness to our neighbours.—If we give but a cup of cold water to one of the humblest of our brethren, let it be done for Christ’s sake. Too often our charity is very unsanctified; we think of our suffering brethren only, without remembering who it is that puts Himself forward in their persons to receive our love, and, if we will but see Him, to take, in their behalf, the office of over-paying all that we can do to them. Apply this rule—

III. To all our more general conduct, the things which do not come under the two previous divisions.—There is no real goodness, there is even no safety from condemnation, unless we glorify God through Jesus Christ. With regard to the employment of our time, the exercise of our bodily faculties, the government of our tongues, how soon shall we be satisfied, and into how much of real sin shall we continually be falling, if we do not, in all these matters, remember that we are but stewards of God’s manifold bounties; that our time, our bodies, and the wonderful faculty of speech, were all only lent us to improve them—lent us to glorify Him who gave them.—T. Arnold, D.D.

God Seeks His Own Glory.—The glory of God, or the showing forth of His nature and attributes, is necessarily His own chief end in all His works of creation and providence. It is so especially in the wondrous constitution of the Church, and must therefore be her chief end also in all the service that she renders to His name. And as God’s love to her flows ever in the channel of Christ’s mediation, and Christ’s presence with her by His word and spirit is the sole cause of her life and activity, so, likewise, it is “through Jesus Christ” that her answering tribute of praise reaches the eternal throne.—Lillie.

1Pe_4:12. The Vindication of Suffering.—Suffering fills a large place in our present system. It is not an accident, it enters into every life. A great amount of suffering may be traced to human ignorance and guilt, and this will gradually disappear in proportion to the progress of truth and virtue. Still, under the imperfections which seem inseparable from this first stage of our being, a great amount of suffering will remain. God intends that we shall suffer. It is sometimes said that He has created nothing for the purpose of giving pain, but that every contrivance in the system has good for its object. All this is true, and a beautiful illustration of kind purpose in the Creator. But it is also true that every organ of the body, in consequence of the delicacy of its structure, and its susceptibility to influences from abroad, becomes an inlet of acute pain. And how much pain comes from the spirit, and from the very powers and affections which make the glory of our nature! Suffering comes to us through and from our whole nature. It cannot be winked out of sight. It cannot be thrust into a subordinate place in the picture of human life. It is the chief burden of history. It is the solemn theme of one of the highest departments of literature, the tragic drama. It gives to fictions their deep interest. It wails through much of our poetry. A large part of human vocations are intended to shut up some of its avenues. It has left traces on every human countenance over which years have passed. It is, to not a few, the most vivid recollection of life. We are created with a susceptibility of pain, and severe pain. This is a part of our nature, as truly as our susceptibility of enjoyment. God has implanted it, and has thus opened in the very centre of our being a fountain of suffering. One of the most common indications of Divine benevolence is found in the fact that, much as men suffer, they enjoy more. We are told that there is a great balance of pleasure over pain, and that it is by what prevails in a system that we must judge of its author There is a grand vindication of God’s benevolence, not reaching, indeed, to every case of suffering, not broad enough to cover the whole ground of human experience, but still so comprehensive, so sublime, that what remains obscure would be turned into light, could all its connections be discerned. This is found in the truth that benevolence has a higher aim than to bestow enjoyment; and this requires suffering in order to be gained. As long as we narrow our view of benevolence, and see in it only a disposition to bestow pleasure, so long life will be a mystery; for pleasure is plainly not its great end. Amidst the selfish and animal principles of our nature, there is an awful power, a sense of right, a voice which speaks of duty, an idea grander than the largest personal interest—the idea of excellence, of perfection. Here is the seal of Divinity on us; here the sign of our descent from God. It is in this gift that we see the benevolence of God. It is in writing this inward law on the heart, it is in giving us the conception of moral goodness, and the power to strive after it, the power of self-conflict and self-denial, of surrendering pleasure to duty, and of suffering for the right, the true, and the good—it is in thus enduing us, and not in giving us capacities of pleasure, that God’s goodness shines; and of consequence, whatever gives a field, and excitement, and exercise, and strength, and dignity to these principles of our nature, is the highest manifestation of benevolence. The end of our being is to educate, bring out, and perfect, the Divine principles of our nature. We were made, and are upheld in life for this as our great end, that we may be true to the principle of duty within us, that we may put down all desire and appetite beneath the inward law; that we may enthrone God, the infinitely perfect Father, in our souls; that we may count all things as dross, in comparison with sanctity of heart and life; that we may hunger and thirst for righteousness more than for daily food; that we may resolutely and honestly seek for and communicate truth; that disinterested love and impartial justice may triumph over every motion of selfishness, and every tendency to wrong-doing; in a word, that our whole lives, labours, conversation may express and strengthen reverence for ourselves, for our fellow-creatures, and above all for God. Such is the good for which we were made; and in order to this triumph of virtuous and religious principles, we are exposed to temptation, hardship, pain. Is suffering, then, inconsistent with God’s love? I might show how suffering ministers to human excellence; how it calls forth the magnanimous and sublime virtues, and at the same time nourishes the tenderest, sweetest sympathies of our nature; how it raises us to energy, and to the consciousness of our powers, and at the same time infuses the meekest dependence on God; how it stimulates toil for the goods of this world, and at the same time weans us from it, and lifts us above it. I do not, then, doubt God’s beneficence on account of the sorrows and pains of life.—W. E. Channing, D.D.

The Mystery of Pain.—We must accept pain as a fact existing by a deep necessity, having its root in the essential order of the world. If we are to understand it, we must learn to look on it with different eyes. And does not a different thought suggest itself even while we recognise that the others fail? For if the reason and the end of pain lie beyond the results that have been mentioned, then they lie beyond the individual. Pain, if it exist for any purpose, and have any end or use—and of this what sufferer can endure to doubt?—must have some purpose which extends beyond the interests of the person who is called upon to bear it. For the ends which have been mentioned include all that concerns the individual himself. That which surpasses these rises into a larger than the individual sphere. From this ground it becomes evident again that to know the secret of our pains we must look beyond ourselves.—Howard Hinton.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 4

1Pe_4:8. “Fervent.”—Literally intense, unremitting, unwearied. Now, there is a feeble sentiment which wishes well to all so long as it is not tempted to wish them ill, which does well to those who do well to them. But this, being mere sentiment, will not last. Ruffle it, and it becomes vindictive. In contrast with that, St. Peter calls Christ’s spirit which loves those who hate it, “fervent charity,” which does not tire, and cannot be worn out; which loves its enemies, and does good to them that hate it. For Christian love is not the dream of a philosopher sitting in his study, and benevolently wishing the world were better than it is; congratulating himself, perhaps, all the time on the superiority shown by himself over other less amiable natures. Injure one of these beaming sons of good-nature, and he bears malice—deep, unrelenting, refusing to forgive. But give us the man who, instead of retiring to some small, select society, or rather association, where his own opinions shall be reflected, can mix with men where his sympathies are unmet, and his tastes are jarred, and his views traversed at every turn, and still can be just, and gentle, and forbearing.—F. W. Robertson.

1Pe_4:9. Eastern Hospitality.—I was beginning to make my meal upon the food we had with us, when in came nine people, each bearing a dish. A large tray was raised on the rim of a corn-sieve placed on the ground, in the centre of which was placed a tureen of soup, with pieces of bread around it. The stranger, my servant, and a person who seemed to be the head man of the village, sat round the tray, dipping their wooden spoons or fingers into each dish as it was placed in succession before them. Of the nine dishes, I observed three were soups. I asked why this was, and who was to pay for the repast, and was informed it was the custom of the people, strictly enjoined by their religion, that, as soon as a stranger appears, each peasant should bring his dish, he himself remaining to partake of it after the stranger—a sort of picnic, of which the stranger partakes without contributing. The hospitality extends to everything he requires; his horse is fed, and wood is brought for his fire, each inhabitant feeling honoured by offering something. This custom accounts for the frequent recurrence of the same dish, as no one knows what his neighbour will contribute. Towards a Turkish guest this practice is perfectly disinterested, but from an European they may have possibly been led to expect some kind of return, although to offer payment would be an insult. The whole of the contributors afterwards sat down and ate in another part of the room.—Fellows.

Grudging.—The word that is here translated “grudging” signifies murmuring, or unwillingness in doing anything, as if it were torn and forced from one, rather than proceeded from a free inclination. And this hateful, churlish way of almsgiving St. Paul likewise expressly forbids, and says our charity must not be shown grudgingly, or of necessity (2Co_9:7; Rom_12:8). And here we cannot but admire and adore the infinite goodness of God, who has not only obliged us to the substance of this duty, but has so ordered the very circumstantials of it that the necessitous may be relieved with as much decency and to themselves as can be, and the alms of others look rather like their own propriety, as the payment of a debt, or restoring of a pledge, or bestowing of a reward; and that their souls might not be grieved by frowns, and taunts, and unkind language, when they receive supply for the needs of their body.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Pe_4:7-11

Analysis:—Exhortation, in contemplation of the approaching end of all things, to watch and pray, to love and to do, to serve others with the gifts they have received, and in a word to seek in everything the glory of God

7     But the end of all things is at hand:18be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.19 8And above all things have fervent charity among20yourselves: for charity 9shall cover21 the multitude of sins. Use hospitality22 one to another23 without grudging. 2410As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability25 which God giveth; that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ: to whom be26praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.27

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1Pe_4:7. The connection is with 1Pe_4:5; the Apostle takes up and further enforces the thought that the Lord is ready to judge the living and the dead; here begins also a new series of exhortations closely connected with the thought of the end of all things. It has been shown that Peter in common with the other Apostles, Jam_5:7-9; Judges 18; 1Jn_2:18; Rev_1:3; Rev_22:10; 1Th_4:17; Rom_13:11-12; 1 Cor. 15 51; 2Co_5:2; Php_4:5, expected that the second advent of Christ and the end of the whole present dispensation were nearly impending, cf. 1Pe_1:5; 1Pe_4:5; 1Pe_4:17; 1Pe_4:13; 1Pe_1:7; 1Pe_5:4; 2Pe_3:10-11; Mat_24:6. This may be accounted for by the fact that the coming of Christ in the flesh is the beginning of the world’s last period, during which no further revelation of grace is to be expected; and that according to the mind of Jesus, His disciples ought to consider His second coming as always close at hand, and to be prepared for it. “It ought to be the chief concern of believers to fix their minds fully on His second advent.” Calvin. “We live in the latter half of the world’s period, which will quickly flow on. Although we may not live to see it, after death we shall realize that we are near it.” Roos. It is however to be remembered that nothing but the long-suffering of God is arresting the judgment, and that He is counting by the measure of eternity, according to which a thousand years are as one day (2Pe_3:8; Psa_90:4). [The emphasis of πάντων is noteworthy. Bengel; “Finis adeoque etiam petulantiæ malorum et passionum piorum.”—M.]

Be temperate therefore and sober unto prayers.—As our Lord in contemplation of His day exhorts the disciples, Luk_21:34, “Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life,” so the Apostle here exhorts us to σωφρονε͂ιν = to act wisely, to be temperate and modest. It primarily denotes bodily temperance, then mental discretion and watchfulness, cf. 1Pe_5:8; Rom_12:3; 2Co_5:13; Tit_2:6.—νήφειν=to live soberly, moderately both bodily and mentally as in 1Pe_1:13. “Temperance facilitates vigilance, and both aid prayer.” Bengel.—εἰς τὰς προσευχάς, the Plural, because, as Huss remarks, there are different kinds of prayer and because prayer ought to be without ceasing. The reference is probably to fixed, regular prayers of the Church.

1Pe_4:8. Then follows the still more important exhortation to brotherly love according to its real nature, cf. on ἐκτενῆ 1Pe_1:22; 1Co_13:1, etc.; 1Co_14:1. It is the mother of all the duties to our neighbour. Where love is wanting, prayer is hindered.

Because love covereth a multitude of sins.—καλύψει πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν. The words are cited from the Hebrew not from the LXX. of Pro_10:12, cf. Pro_17:9, but the former passage reads: “Hatred stirreth up strifes, but love covereth all sins”; and the latter: “He that covereth transgression, seeketh love.” In both instances the reference is to human love which is to consign to oblivion the sins of others. Some see in כִםָּה a reference to Gen_9:23, and consider it an easy thing; so Cæsarius of Aries says: “There is nothing more easy than covering oneself or others with clothes.” But forgiveness is hardly so easy a task. It is better to explain it of the unsightliness of sin which forgiveness covers up. The old Protestant expositors understand it therefore rightly of human love pardoning the sin of our neighbour. “The covering up relates to man not to God. Nothing can cover thy sin before God except faith. But my love covers my neighbour’s sin, and just as God covers my sin if I believe, so ought I also to cover the sin of my neighbour.” Luther. So also Steiger, Hoffman, Lechler, Wiesinger and Weiss. Even Estius, the Romish expositor, admits that the quotation sustains the Protestant exposition. But many Romanist and rationalistic expositors explain the passage of merit and atoning virtue, which they ascribe to the love of our neighbour. Some quote Mat_6:14-15, but that passage simply affirms that forgiveness is made possible, not that it is positively effected. Others, with reference to Jam_5:20, suggest an activity tending to improvement [that of others,—M.], but this is foreign to our passage. ὅτι seems however to conflict with our exposition, but its design is to give the reason for the ἐκτένεια of love. “The Apostle takes for granted that Christians love one another, still he recommends them to expand and increase in the brotherly love which they have, because true love forgives a multitude of sins.” 1Co_13:4-7; Mat_18:22. Steiger. According to Beza the connection is: “Love one another, because love, as the Scripture says, removes the substance of strife.” Calov remarks on this covering of sin, that it does not do away with the correcting of our neighbour, Mat_18:15, and that it is necessary to distinguish public and private sins, between known and concealed sins. [Alford thinks that the meaning is the hiding of offences both from one another and in God’s sight, by mutual forbearance and forgiveness. He advocates to take the passage in its widest sense, “understanding it primarily of forgiveness but then also of that prevention of sin by kindliness of word and deed, and also that intercession for sin in prayer, which are the constant fruits of fervent love. It is a truth from which we need not shrink, that every sin which love hides from man’s sight is hidden in God’s sight also. There is but One efficient cause of the hiding of sin: but mutual love applies that cause: draws the universal cover over the particular sin. This meaning, as long as it is not perverted into the thought that love towards others covers a man’s own sin ‘ex promerito’ need not and should not be excluded.”—M.]

[Wordsworth: “St. Peter had spoken of love, stretching itself out without interruption; and the passage Jam_5:20, considered together with the context here, where St. Peter is presenting Christ as their Example, may suggest a belief, that he is comparing the act of Love to that of the Cherubim stretching out their wings on the Mercy Seat, and forming a part of the Mercy Seat (Exo_25:18-20), the emblem of Christ’s propitiatory covering of sins.”—M.]

1Pe_4:9. Be hospitable towards one another without murmuring.—Cf. Rom_12:13; Heb_13:2; 3Jn_1:5; 1Ti_5:10; Tit_1:8. “Peter remembers to have heard this saying from the lips of Christ, Mat_25:35; he does not mean pompous hospitality, Luk_14:12, but that Christian, holy hospitality which readily welcomes by the promptings of pure love needy strangers, especially such as are exiled on account pf their confession of the true religion, gives them gentle and loving treatment, and cares for them as members of Christ and fellow-citizens of the Church.” Gerhard. “Let us take heed lest, having been hard and careless in entertaining strangers, the shelter of the just may be denied us after this life.” Ambrose.—ἄνευ γογγυσμῶν, without expressions of murmuring by which one secretly gives vent to his displeasure or reproaches another with the benefits he has received. The apposite is a cheerful, pure and unselfish spirit, Rom_12:8; 2Co_9:7. [Neander Ch. Hist. I. pp. 347, 348, referring to Tertullian, ad uxorem, II. 1, 8.; de jejunio, c. XII: “The care of providing for the support and maintenance of strangers, of the poor, the sick, the old, of widows and orphans, and of those in prison on account of their faith, devolved on the whole Church. This was one of the main purposes for which the collection of voluntary contributions, in the assemblies convened for public worship, was instituted; and the charity of individuals, moreover, led them to emulate each other in the same good work. In particular, it was considered as belonging to the office of the Christian matron to provide for the poor, for the brethren languishing in prison, and to show hospitality to strangers. The hindrance occasioned to this kind of Christian activity, is reckoned by Tertullian among the disadvantages of a mixed marriage. ‘What heathen,’ says he, ‘will suffer his wife to go about from one street to another, to the house of strangers, to the meanest hovels indeed, for the purpose of visiting the brethren? What heathen will allow her to steal away into the dungeon, to kiss the chain of the martyr? If a brother arrive from abroad, what reception will he meet in the house of the stranger? If an alms is to be bestowed, storehouse and cellar are shut fast!’ On the other hand, he counts it among the felicities of a marriage contracted between Christians, that the wife is at liberty to visit the sick and relieve the needy, and is never straitened or perplexed in the bestowment of her charities. Nor did the active brotherly love of each community confine itself to what transpired in its own immediate circle, but extended itself also to the wants of Christian communities in distant lands. On urgent occasions of this kind, the bishops made arrangements for special collections. They appointed fasts; so that what was saved, even by the poorest of the flock, from their daily food, might help to supply the common wants.”—M.]

1Pe_4:10. Each man, as he received a gift of grace.—Grotius rightly expounds this not only of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, 1Co_12:4, etc., but also of gifts of the body and estate. These are as well gifts of grace as those. Natural endowments also are included in the expression. The Apostle does not refer to specific official duties and the qualifications necessary to their discharge; he is unwilling to exact too much from and to impose too much on believers.

Even so minister to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.—αὐτὸ διακονοῦντες, cf. 1Pe_1:12, to offer something as a servant. The term comprises the different duties of the Church which are not specifically committed to the pastoral office as such, and which are the outgoings of voluntary activity.

As good stewards.—ὡς denotes not only mere resemblance, but, as frequently, the generally known reason [as is becoming, fit in good stewards.—M.]. Christians are not owners, but only stewards of their goods and gifts, 1Co_4:2; Mat_25:14; Tit_1:7.—Manifold, because exhibited in various gifts of grace [cf. 1Co_12:4; Mat_25:15. Luk_19:13.—M.]. “We are liberal not with our own goods, but with that of another.” Gerhard.

1Pe_4:11. If any man speak as of the power which God bestoweth.—Peter specifies two kinds of gifts, gifts relating to speaking and gifts relating to doing, gifts of teaching and exhorting, and gifts of outward service.—These gifts they were to use with humility and fidelity. λαλεῖν here denotes every kind of speaking and exhortation in the Lord’s name, Rom_12:6-8; 1Co_12:8; 1Co_12:10.—λόγια properly signifies Divine utterances, oracles, but here the revealed word of God, 1Co_2:7; Act_7:38; Heb_5:12; Rom_3:2. Let him speak with the conviction and reverence, with the earnestness and humility which flow from the consciousness: it is God’s holy word to which, as a mean instrument, I lend my mouth, 1Co_12:3; 2Co_2:17; 1Th_2:13.—διακονεῖ applies here to the manifold offices belonging to the single or married estate, Act_6:1-2. [But see Rom_12:8; 1Co_12:28.—M.] ἰσχύς the act springs from the power of God [as from a fountain.—M.] which He supplies. The term relates to powers of the body as well as to those of the mind. χορηγεῖν=παρέχειν, διδόναι. [The primary sense and origin of the word is Classical, and denotes “to defray the cost of bringing out a chorus”, thence to furnish supply in general.—M.]. “Let each man apply to his neighbour all the good in his power with the utmost humility, knowing that of himself [i. e., without God’s supplying.—M.] he cannot have any thing to apply.” [Wordsworth: This precept of St. Peter deserves the consideration of those who claim to be his successors, and profess great reverence for his authority, and yet derogate from the dignity of the oracles of God, and set up oracles of their own, in place of the Scriptures and against them. See 2Ti_4:3. Rev_11:3-10.—M.]. Bede.

That God in all things—to the ages of the ages.—ἴνα, the aim and end of all the Apostle’s exhortations.—ἐν πᾶσι may mean, in all of you or in all your doings; the latter is preferable. “As through Christ all benefits descend upon us from God, so also ought we in humble gratitude to refer all things through Christ to the glory of God.” Gerhard. δοξάζηται, the honour should be ascribed to Him for whatever is done in the Church, He should be praised for it, cf. Heb_13:15. Everything is mediated through Christ, through whom we receive all the power we have.—ᾦ ἐστὶν ἡ δόξα; ᾦ refers to ὁ Θεός as in 1Pe_5:11, because God has already been named as the subject of adoration, and because Peter elsewhere calls Jesus κύριος=Jehovah, but not absolutely God.—On δόξα see 1Pe_1:7.—κράτος goes back to ἰσχύς. All power among men is the emanation of His power, cf. 1Pe_5:11.—εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων, cf. Php_4:20.—ἀμήν, not a note of conclusion, but an expression of assurance of heart.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The doctrine of the consummation of all things on the coming of Christ, which is peculiarly prominent in the writings of Peter, contains the most powerful reasons for our encouragement and consolation. They make no mention of the distinction between the first and still impending coming for the establishment of the kingdom of glory and the judgment of a corrupt Christendom and the coming for the final judgment: that distinction was reserved for special revelations made to St. John.

2. The love covering sins, which is here so emphatically recommended, is widely removed from the laxity, weakness and want of principle with which it is frequently confounded. The latter, says Wiesinger, ignores the sacred earnestness of love and fancies to do some great thing by putting some deceptive boards over graves full of mouldering decay and crying, Peace, peace! Hatred which unsparingly uncovers in its effects is preferable to love which thus covers up. The love here insisted upon has these characteristics, it is not put to anger by insults, it does not discover needlessly the sins of others and does not by revenge or passionate reproaches drag them forth into the light of rebuke.

3. The opinion that the love of our neighbour covers our sins before God conflicts with the fundamental principles of the Gospel; it is not the cause, but only one of the conditions on which we are made partakers of Divine forgiveness, Mat_6:14.

4. With respect to God, we are stewards of goods committed to our keeping, with respect to our neighbour only we are owners.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The end of all things, how it should minister to, 1, encouragement, 2, warning, 3, consolation.—Whatsoever thou takest in hand, remember the end, Sir_7:36.—If Peter more than eighteen centuries ago was permitted to say the end of all things was at hand, how much more ought we to be prepared, to watch and pray. We should ever consider the great day of Christ to be near at hand. Believers wait for it as a bridegroom waits for his bride. The end of the way and the nearness of home is sweet and comforting to strangers and pilgrims.—Communion with God, the most precious enjoyment of earth, is only possible to those who are temperate and sober.—He that ministers to sensuality cannot soar in thought to God.—Love should be like fire which spreads its flame afar, and like a cloak which covers much. “That godly father would not shut his door to any poor guest, for I am afraid, said he, lest the Lord Himself might some day come, in the guise of a poor man, to test my liberality: how could I ever justify my having suffered Him sadly to depart from me?”

Besser: There is none so poor as to be unable to serve his neighbour with some gift.—God distributes His gifts unequally, Mat_25:15. Moses has five talents, Aaron two, Jethro only one. Let each use his gifts to the glory of God, and he will stand before God and men.

Herberger: The Christian’s motto: Faithful and only faithful!—A Christian’s any and every work, should be a Divine service and conduce to the glory of God.

Starke: Men, beware of confidence! be ready that you may be able to stand worthily before the Son of Man, 2Pe_3:11.—Love has the first place among all virtues and is the first mark pf the disciples of Christ, 1Co_13:13; Joh_13:35.—To give unwillingly and regretfully is to sin more than to do good, 2Co_9:7.—As among flowers the form and beauty of each differ from those of others, so among the children of God is seen the manifold goodness of God.—God has given to one something, but not everything, that we might serve one another, and that none should bury his talent, Gal_5:13.—Are graces and gifts thine own? Who has granted them to thee? God. To what end? To parade them off? By no means, but to serve Him and thy neighbour with them. Love makes thee thy neighbour’s servant. The more thou hast received, the more thou hast to communicate in counsel and in deed, 1Co_9:19.—If thou hast nothing wherewith to serve thy neighbour, thou surely canst pray for him. Discharge this service of love with hearty cheerfulness; it is, if not better than, at least as good as pieces of gold, Rom_10:1; Act_3:6. [But prayer—instead of ministering to the wants of the needy—where the ability is present and the occasion requires it—is sheer hypocrisy.—M.]. The glory of God should be the end and aim of all our works, otherwise they are good for nothing, 1Co_10:31.

Lisco: What does qualify us to receive the gifts of the Holy Ghost?—The conditions of real prayer.

Herberger: How should a good Christian, who desires to go to heaven acquit himself, 1, towards God, 2, towards his neighbour, 3, with respect to his own conscience, soul and office?

Stier: How Christians ought to prepare for the end of all things, or how we must live here in time in order that we may stand in the last judgment?

Kapff: Spiritual ascension, 1, By whom and how it is accomplished, 2, What are its effects on our earthly life?

Staudt: Christian mutual readiness to oblige, 1, its ability, 2, its opportunities, 3, the condition necessary for its discharge.

[Leighton:

1Pe_4:7. It is reported of one that, hearing the 5th of Genesis read so long lived, and yet the burden still, they died; Enos lived 905 and he died, Seth 912 and he died, Methusaleh 969 and he died, he took so deep the thought of death and eternity, that it changed his whole frame and set him from a voluptuous to a most strict and pious course of life.

1Pe_4:8. Love is witty in finding out the fairest construction of things doubtful.—Where the thing is so plainly a sin, that this way of covering it can have no place, yet then will love consider what will lessen it most.—All private reproofs and where conscience requires public delation and censure, even these will be sweetened in that compassion that flows from love.—If thou be interested in the offence, even by unfeigned free forgiveness, so far as thy concern goes, let it be as if it had not been.

1Pe_4:9. Now for supply of our brethren’s necessities, one good help is, the retrenching of our superfluities. Turn the stream into that channel, where it will refresh thy brethren and enrich thyself, and let it not run into the dead sea.—As the disease of the youth of the world, was the abounding of lust, Gen. vi, so of its age, decay of love: and as that heat called for a total deluge of waters, to this coldness for fire, to the kindling an universal fire, that shall make an end of it and the world together. (Aqua propter ardorem libidinis, ignis propter teporem charitatis.)

1Pe_4:10. Manifold grace.—There is such an admirable beauty in this variety, such a symmetry and contemperature of different, yea of contrary qualities, as speaks His riches, that so divers gifts are from the same Spirit. A kind of embroidering of many colours (see Psa_139:15) happily mixed, as the word ποικίλλειν signifies; as it is in the frame of the natural body of man as the lesser world, and in the composure of the greater world: thus in the Church of God, the mystical body of Jesus Christ exceeding both the former in excellence and beauty.—Be not discouraged, to have little in the account shall be no prejudice. The approbation runs not, thou hadst much, but on the contrary, thou hast been faithful in little; great faithfulness in the use of small gifts hath great acceptance, and a great and sure reward.

1Pe_4:11. Ministers must speak faithfully, holily and wisely.—Faith’s great work is to renounce self-power and to bring in the power of God to be ours When I am weak, then am I strong, 2Co_12:10.—This is the Christian’s aim, to have nothing in himself, nor in anything but in this tenure: all for the glory of my God, my estate, family, abilities, my whole self, all I have and am. And as the love of God grows in the heart, this purpose grows; the higher the flame rises, the purer it is; the eye is daily more upon it; it is oftener in the mind in all actions than before. In common things, the very works of our calling, our very refreshments, to eat and drink and sleep, all are for this end and with a particular aim at it as much as may be; even the thought of it often renewed throughout the day, and at times generally applied to all our ways and employments. It is that elixir that turns thy ordinary works into gold, into sacrifices, by a touch of it.—M.]

Footnotes:

[18]1Pe_4:7. [σωφρονήσατε=be temperate, of a temperate mind; νήψατε=be sober.—M.]

[19]1Pe_4:7. [εἰς τὰς προσευχάς; (τάς is omitted in A. B. and by Lachmann;) also in Cod. Sin.—M.]

[20]1Pe_4:8. [Translate: “Above all things having love intense towards one another;” on ἐκτενῆ see 1Pe_1:22.—M.]

[21]1Pe_4:8. [καλύπτει, A. B. K. Lachmann and Tischendorf, also Alford: καλύψει L. Receptus, is the more difficult reading.—ἀγάπη=love.—M.]

[22]1Pe_4:9. [φιλόξενοι=hospitable.—M.]

[23]1Pe_4:9. [ἄνευ γογγυσμοῦ, A. B., Cod. Sinait., Lachm., Tisch., Alford. γογγυσμῶν, Rec. K. L. Translate: “without murmuring,” so German.—M.]

[24]1Pe_4:10. [Translate: “Each man, as he has received a gift of grace.”—M.]

[25]1Pe_4:11. [ὡς ἐξ ἰσχύος ἦς χορηγεῖ ὁ Θεός=“as out of the power which God bestoweth,” so German, Van Ess, Allioli and others.—M.]

[26]1Pe_4:11. [ἐστιν=is, not be.—M.]

[27]1Pe_4:11. Translate: “To whom is the glory and the power (or might) to the ages of the ages. Amen.”—M.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Division 5. (1Pe 4:7-19; 1Pe 5:1-14.)

Responsibilities and judgment at the house of God already, with the judgment for the ungodly at hand.

Throughout, we have seen that the apostle is really showing us the government of God -for the Christian, the Father’s government; but even in this government of the Father, He has respect to the world as that, the need of which He cannot forget. Thus, His people must honor Him in it, or He must honor Himself at their expense. This government of God, then, more or less, appears all the way through. We are now distinctly reminded of it in that which is pressed here, "the end of all things is at hand." The end of all things is, in fact, in judgment, although necessarily, in order to bring in the blessing that is beyond. That judgment is looked at, for the believer, in fact as begun already. Judgment is already beginning at the house of God, and this is shown in the fiery trial through which the saints are passing, in which they are at the same time partakers of Christ’s sufferings. We have seen already, in the Hebrews, that this does not at all hinder such suffering having a character of discipline at the same time for those who pass through it. Judgment is begun, then, at the house of God; but if it be often in this case a fiery trial, the seriousness of which they are made to realize, what will it be when it is no more the righteous that are in question, but the ungodly and the sinner? "If the righteous be with difficulty saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" We are necessarily reminded of responsibilities in connection with this, and the reward is also set before us. All this is stamped with the character of the whole book.

1. "The end of all things,’’ says the apostle, "is at hand." We are to live in the constant thought of that. It is easy indeed to take the long time since such words were written to make an argument for at least less vivid expectation of the end announced. But that is not the way in which the Spirit of God would teach us to use it. It would make us rather say, "The night is far spent," and therefore we may surely realize the day to be at hand. We know of no long interval before us. To interpose one involves the thought of the wicked servant, "My Lord delayeth His coming." The brightness of our lives consists in bringing the eternal things, to which the coming of the Lord introduces us, into the present. Thus to have it ever before us in the most vivid way can be no loss, but gain. There still remains for us scripture such as this. If the apostle could say in his day, "The end of all things is at hand," with how much conviction may we say it at the present time? The result is, as he puts it here, that we are to be sober, not allowing ourselves to take a roseate view of that which is manifestly going on to judgment; and with this we need watchfulness to prayer. How little, indeed, have we learned the value of that of which Scripture makes so much! -"praying always," "watching unto prayer." When we consider that God has opened to us in this way a wondrous store of blessing, which He only seeks on our part the longing desire to possess ourselves of in order to make it practically ours, what value must there not be to us in prayer! And it is as we are enriched in such a way that we find ability for that outflow out of an abundance which the apostle, as we shall see, insists upon here. Love is but that which necessitates the outflow, and he urges that above all things we should be fervent in love among ourselves. "Love covereth a multitude of sins." We are apt to be driven in upon ourselves by the disappointment we may meet in the conduct of others; but love is the spirit that overcomes in this way, and we must not let it suffer defeat. The very nearness in which we are brought to one another, and the dearness of the relationship which we have to one another, will make us feel, and should also make us feel, the more the failure in any way to act according to this relationship.* That is a necessity of the case, while at the same time it should awaken in us the consciousness of our own shortcomings, which will not allow the building up of pride by the failure of others as to which we mourn. Love covereth sins: it does not needlessly expose them, does not talk about them without some plain demand for it; does not dwell upon them, but upon the things that are good, in which, as the heart abides, the life is cheered and brightened, and we get courage for the way. Then, love is bountiful: does not merely give, but delights in giving. Thus he presses the using hospitality one to another without murmuring** at the demands which it may make upon us; and finally, the apostle bids us, as to whatever gift we have received, -where everything that we have as Christians is in fact a gift, -that we realize the responsibility necessarily connected with this, and that we minister it as those who are but stewards of the manifold grace of God." It is divine fulness in which we are filled up; and what capacity for ministry, as well as what responsibility, is involved in this! If any speak, he is thus to speak "as oracles of God" -a remarkable expression! It is not "according to the oracles of God," still less, "according to the Scriptures," as most probably we are disposed to take it; but it is as uttering from God that which is in His mind -a thing for which the presence of the Spirit in us is manifestly the most perfect qualification. If we were only subject to the Spirit and yielded up to Him, how thoroughly should we be able to communicate to one another that which was in fact God’s wisdom for us all -not merely scriptural, but the living ministry of the Spirit for the need, whatever it might be! Then if any one minister, he is to do it as of the ability which God supplieth; he is not left to any competency of his own. He is to learn to use the abundance which God has for him as the Lord taught His disciples when, in view of the need of the multitude around, which they were plainly unable to supply, He says: "They need not depart; give ye them to eat." How surely would this be so with us if the faith which works by love were more the full reality that it ought to be! And here the apostle is not speaking simply of teaching or evangelizing, which would be covered by what he has said just before, but of any kind of ministry, in which, if we have faith to reckon upon the bounty of God, such faith can never in fact be disappointed. We cannot imitate, of course, a faith like this; and we must be truly with God in order that we may be able rightly to exercise it. We are not possessed of stores which we are to lavish just according to our own thought of what may be good. Here, as in all things else, we need divine guidance, and true faith will be found only for that which is according to the mind of God; yet how much this opens to us which we all have to confess we know so little of in practice! The end before us, as the apostle puts it here, is that which will keep us right and give us wisdom in the stewardship of such abundance, "that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom is glory and power unto the ages of ages." Surely to realize how God is bent upon glorifying His Son is the way to realize the competence which is of Him for acting to His glory. Here, then, is responsibility indeed, of how wide a range!

{*May there not also be the thought that the service of love will watch with jealous eye the beginning of evil in a brother, and by washing his feet prevent the full development of evil which would require the publicity of putting away? Love cannot hide sin that ought to be manifest, but it can prevent the need of such manifestation by faithfulness in private dealing with the evil before it assumes the character of positive wickedness. What a blessed contrast is this to that of the busy-body who feeds upon evil and gloats over the fall of another. -S.R.

**It is to be feared that the showing of hospitality is often accompanied by murmuring which the unerring foresight of the Spirit of God here warns against. God loveth a cheerful giver, but how often is the hospitality marred by the grudging spirit in which it is given. How much deception too -so that it has become a byword in the world. -S.R.

2. The apostle turns now to exhort them concerning that which would make them realize indeed the end to be near; for the last days, according to Scripture, are not days of ease and comfort for the people of God; they are not days of the prevalence of good, but of evil; and in all this is involved, however different may be the expression of it, how much trial for those who at all costs would walk with God! Christians were not to think it strange, then, concerning the trial through which they would pass, though it might be a fiery trial to be felt, and which could only fulfil its purpose, in fact, by being felt. A trial is meant to try, and this is what the apostle presses upon those to whom here he writes. They must not think it a strange thing -a thing foreign to what might seem to suit the followers of the Lord of glory. How easy it is, in fact, with Christ upon the throne, to think that therefore Christians must find a good place in the world instead of tribulation, although the Lord has in the plainest way admonished us that it will be otherwise! We are not to be taken out of the path in which He walked, and therefore not out of the circumstances which made the path what it was. All this would only make the coming glory more expected, more rejoiced in, and, when it would actually come, a cause even of larger joy. All recompense would be found in it, while it is true that for the present time also to be reproached for the name of Christ involves itself a necessary blessedness. "The Spirit of glory and of God" rests upon those who suffer thus. It could not be otherwise. Christ could not fail His own who are earnest in the desire not to fail Him. Suffering of another sort would, of course, be inconsistent with the suffering for Christ. To suffer as a murderer or a thief, or an evildoer of any kind, or even as concerning themselves with things which were not theirs -such things would be incongruous for the Christian; but the suffering coming on him on that very account, because he is a Christian, can be no cause for shame. It is given him, on the contrary, to glorify God. So will He be most manifestly glorified. Think of Stephen’s face, and how it manifests this; and we are not to take these things as if they were wholly exceptional, but pictures with deep and blessed meaning for ourselves.

But again the apostle returns to that character of the suffering of which he has already spoken. "The time," he says, "is come for judgment to begin at the house of God." There where God dwells, there must assuredly be the maintenance of that which pleases Him; and, as we have often seen, the Father’s judgment is not necessarily a chastening for positive evil that has come, but will include all that is necessary to prevent its coming out. God knows us better than we know ourselves; and how much even may come out of us little worthy of Him, and yet of the character of which we are unconscious! It is thus we need so much to pray that He may search us and try us, and see whether there be any wicked way in us: any way, as the word means, of pain or grief to Him. His judgment is grounded necessarily upon this deeper knowledge, and as a Father’s judgment it is for our fullest blessing. Still, it is serious; as the apostle says, we are not, on the one hand, to faint under the discipline of the Lord, nor, on the other hand, are we to make light of it. It is the witness of a holiness which must be specially maintained as to those who are brought near to Him -a holiness which, the nearer we are brought to God, the more we shall justify Him in. In the sanctuary only can we understand it; and there we shall find, as the Psalmist did, the secret of this apparently strange thing -that whereas those away from Him may be left alone to prosper and increase in riches, those who are His may have to be "plagued all the day long and chastened every morning." But how solemn is the admonition, therefore, of such ways of God with His own! If judgment begin after this manner, "first at us," says the apostle, "what shall be the end of those who obey not the gospel of God?" Judgment will pass from us. What will it be for those upon whom it must abide? "If the righteous be with difficulty saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" It is not "scarcely saved." The thought is in some sense the very opposite of this. God has to take abundant pains with them, in order that He may carry them through in a manner according to His mind; and it is because the salvation is effectual and ample that the difficulty of it is seen. When we think of what we are, and of what God is, and that God and we are called to walk together, how should we realize what is indeed the tender love of God, which works with us thus to wean us from the things around, -from all that would awaken in the heart murmuring and unrest, -in order that we may be occupied with that which is our own, with the abundance with which He has provided us, and which He is always waiting to minister to us! "Wherefore," says the apostle, "let them who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing to a faithful Creator." God is pursuing in all this the very purpose which He had with man at the beginning, for which He made him -to have communion with Himself. This might be able, indeed, to be little developed at the beginning. It is now brought out in fullest reality.

3. The apostle turns now, in view of the people of God in weakness and suffering in a world like this, to exhort in an especial way those who had the special responsibility, involved in growth of wisdom and experience, to use these for the blessing of all. "The elders which are among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder." It seems plain that he is not thinking here of any office of eldership. We can hardly think of the apostle himself as assuming the position of one of the elders of a congregation in the sense in which we find them ordained in the separate assemblies. He is rather thinking of his years, of the long experience which they had furnished to him, of the wisdom acquired by the experience, and of those who had in their own measure a similar responsibility of such experience so acquired. This, even with the officially appointed elders, really was what would qualify a man for such an office; and it was a right thing, as Paul has told us, to desire such a place practically. It was desiring a good work. All elders in mere age would not be elders of this sort, and yet a certain age would naturally be needful as a qualification; but apart from any formal office, love would make one realize the responsibility of having that which could minister to the need of others in this way, as in every other way. The apostle was in an eminent way also "a witness of the sufferings of Christ," as he would be "a partaker of the glory" which is to be revealed. This, it is plain, does not exclude others from a proportionate share in either. Such, then, as those of whom he speaks were to tend the flock of God, exercising oversight not of necessity, but willingly, and not as lording it over possessions of their own. The flock is God’s flock. There is no idea in Scripture of any flock belonging to an under-shepherd. This is what is guarded against here. They were not to take the place of lords, but of ministers under Him who, after all, was Himself so thoroughly a Minister, the Chief Shepherd, who, when He is manifested, would bestow upon those who cared for His own an unfading "crown of glory." Here, plainly, is such oversight, as may be at any time exercised, no matter what may be the ruin of the days upon which we are fallen. Peter, it is evident also, is thinking of the Lord’s own charge to him. How could he forget those last, tender admonitions which were at the same time the revelation of a privilege which was his, and which, through grace, remained in spite of all his failure? It is striking that here what is spoken of is not a "crown of righteousness" simply, but a "crown of glory." Righteousness shall have its own reward, but the outflow of heart towards His people, a spirit of self-sacrifice for the blessing of those so dear to Him, must receive "a crown of glory" at His hands.

The next words show that it is, after all, not an official eldership that the apostle is thinking of here, for he now turns to the younger in contrast to these, and bids them be subject unto the elder; that is, they are of course to consider their years, and what it has furnished to them, and above all the ministry to which they see them devoted. Such love carries with it true wisdom, and he who is fully devoted to the need of the saints cannot really fail to find for himself in this way the blessing of it; but all the saints are to be subject one to another. They are to gird themselves with humility in this way, humility being that which will keep everything rightly adjusted, as the girdle the robe, and which would thus enable for such activity as all are called to; for humility is a grand help against discouragement by the difficulties of the way, and necessarily against all that would search out any remnant of pride in us. "God resisteth the proud," adds the apostle, "but giveth grace unto the humble." They were therefore to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God that He might exalt them in due time. Against the might of His hand, who can exalt himself? But He Himself is waiting and desiring to be able to exalt those who will not suffer from it; and upon such an One we may cast all our care, for He careth for us.

4. There are yet some further words with regard to the trial in which they found themselves. There was an active enemy walking about as a roaring lion, with the open mouth of persecution, as we see by the connection here, seeking to daunt the suffering soul, and thus to cast down from the steadfastness of a faith which must needs persevere through the sufferings; sufferings that are accomplished in all the Lord’s people who are in the world. They had only to wait for God to fulfil all His own meaning in this trial -a God of grace who has destined His people for His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, and who may be safely trusted for all the way that leads there. With Him the suffering had its ends, while of necessity it was merely temporary.* The effect would be, not what the enemy sought, but the perfecting, stablishing, strengthening, grounding of the soul. If they might seem to sink, they would soon touch the bottom, and find how firmly the Rock was underneath them. A real suffering for Christ could not fail to have this as its answer. The trial tries not the sufferer alone, but Him who has assured us that He will be "a very present help in trouble," and that all things, moreover, shall "work together for good to them that love God." The trial itself, therefore, must work this. We must not look at things as against us, lest we put into them a sting which God would not have there. "To Him," adds the apostle, belong the glory and the might, "unto the ages of ages."

{*While temporary, these sufferings will continue during this present life -a light and momentary affliction as compared with the eternal weight of glory. This is seen both from the grammar, the participial clause agreeing with "you," and from the context, as surely the prayer for their strengthening etc. would not be after they had suffered, but during it as well. -S.R.}

With a few words now the epistle ends. The apostle seems to have used for writing it the hand of another, as Paul had done; for it seems hard to think that he is speaking of another epistle than the one before us. The hand employed seems also to be that of a co-laborer with Paul, and one who, as belonging originally to Jerusalem, would naturally be well known to Peter also. This is Sylvanus, or Silas. He speaks of him as one whom he accounts a faithful brother, and yet, in the way in which he states this, as if they had not been long, or for long, together. His aim is to bear witness to them of the true grace of God in which they stood, and alone could stand.*

{*As at the close of Hebrews we see that Paul was in Italy, doubtless at Rome, when the epistle was written; so here we see Peter was at Babylon when this epistle was written. There is not the slightest hint that he ever was at Rome before this, and from the late date of this epistle it is most unlikely that he was ever there afterwards. Thus the fabric of his being the first bishop of Rome falls to the ground. Recognizing this, the supporters of that theory claim that the Babylon here is the mystic city, as in Rev 17:1-18, and therefore really Rome. But this never would have been thought of but for the theory. Peter is not writing symbolically. Doubtless the elect (sister) is either his wife, or some prominent lady as in 2Jn 1:1, or else it agrees with "brotherhood," understood, a feminine word, -S.R.}

F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chapter 13

CHRISTIAN SERVICE FOR GODS GLORY

1Pe_4:7-11

"BUT the end of all things is at hand." Well-nigh two thousand years have passed away since the Apostle wrote these words. What are we to think of the teaching they convey? For it is not St. Peters teaching only. Those who labored with him were all of the same mind; all gave the same note of warning to their converts. St. Paul exhorts the Philippians, "Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand"; {Php_4:5} and in the first letter to the Corinthians the last words before his benediction are to the same purport: "Maranatha"; {1Co_16:22} that is, The Lord cometh. St. James preaches, "Stablish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh". {Jam_5:8} To the Hebrews the Apostle writes, "Yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry". {Heb_10:37} While St. John, who lived longer than any of the rest, conveys the warning even in more solemn tones: "Little children, it is the last hour". {1Jn_2:18} Are we to look on these admonitions as so many mistaken utterances? Are we to think that the disciples had misunderstood the Lords teaching, or would they say the same words if they were with us today?

We may allow that those who had been present at the Ascension, and had heard the words of the angels declaring that "this same Jesus should so come as they had seen Him go into heaven," {Act_1:11} might expect His return to judge the world to be not far distant. But, in whatever they say in reference thereto, their main concern is that men should be ready. "In such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh," is the ground-text of all their exhortations. Now had arrived the fullness of the time {Gal_4:4} in which God had sent forth His Son, born of a woman; and if we take the verb of St. Peters sentence (ηγγικε, "has come near"), we feel that he viewed the new era on which the world had entered in this light. And so did the other Apostles. One says, "Now once in the end of the ages hath Christ been manifested"; {Heb_9:26} another teaches that things of old "were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come". {1Co_10:11} God has spoken aforetime "in many portions and in many ways, but in the end of these days He hath spoken in His Son". {Heb_1:2} All things are now summed up in Christ; He is the end of all things. Prophecy, type, sacrifice, all have passed away. There will come no new revelation; no word more will be added to the Divine book. Its lessons will find in each generation new illustrations, new applications, but will admit no change of form or substance. The Christian dispensation, be it long or short, is the last time; it will close with the Second Advent. And continual preparedness is to be the Christians attitude. And this is the purport of St. Peters next exhortations, which are as forceful today as they were eighteen hundred years ago.

"Be ye therefore of sound mind." Exactly the counsel which should follow the previous lesson. It was misinterpreted at first, as it has been since. We know how unwisely the Thessalonians behaved when they had been told by St. Paul, "The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night". {1Th_5:2} The Apostle learnt that they were sorely disturbed, and wrote them a second letter, from which we can gather how far they had wandered from soundness of mind. At first the Apostle speaks gently: "Be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the day of the Lord is now present". {2Th_2:2} But soon he shows us how the excitement had operated. Some among them had begun to walk disorderly, apparently thinking that they might live upon the community, working not at all, but being busybodies. These made, no doubt, the approach of the day of the Lord their pretext. St. Paul bids such men in quietness to work and eat their own bread. To be found at their duty was the best way of preparing for the end.

How soundness of mind may serve the Church of Christ is seen in the settlement of that murmuring which arose {Act_6:1} as soon as the Christian disciples began to be multiplied in Jerusalem. It was the Grecian Jews who complained that their widows were neglected. The Apostles wisely withdrew from the distribution about which the complaint was made, and more wisely still gave the oversight into the hands of Greeks (as the forms of all their names bear witness) who would be fully trusted by the murmurers. "And the word of God increased." The pages of Church history supply examples in abundance of the need in religious matters for this soundness of mind. We need not go back to very ancient times. What sore evils led to and arose out of the peasant war in Germany in the days of the Reformation, followed by those excesses, which disgraced the name of Christianity in Munster and other parts of Westphalia! And in our own land, both at that time and subsequently, the unwise enthusiasm of those who acted as though whatever had been must be wrong hindered sorely the temperate efforts of the more conservative and sober minds; while undue prominence given to single doctrines of the Gospel has many times warped mens minds; and does so still, making the cause of Christ to be hardly spoken of. A sense of proportion is a gift which the Church may fitly pray for in her members, and that, while they seek to foster the sevenfold graces of the Holy Spirit, they may ever keep in mind the mercy of Him who bestows only a portion on each of us as we can receive it, and makes no man the steward of them all.

"And be sober unto prayer." The Apostle selects one example wherein the sound mind ought to be sought after, and he has chosen it so as to be of general application. The wisdom to which he is exhorting is needed for all men, both those who teach and those who hear, those who serve tables and those who are served thereby. Many members of the Christian body, however, will not be concerned with such special duties. But all will pray, and so to prayer he applies his precept. "Be sober."

A sound mind will preserve us from extravagance in our approach unto God. For even here extravagance may intrude. The Corinthian Church had gone very far wrong in this respect. Overelated, losing soundness of mind, through the bestowal of certain gifts, they had introduced such irregularities into their religious meetings that St. Paul speaks of occasions when they might have been regarded as madmen. {1Co_14:23} These were public prayers. St. James applies the same standard to private prayers: "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss". {Jam_4:3} There is no true prayer in your petitions. You have selected in your own hearts what you would fain have and do, and you come before God with these as your supplications. There is no thought in them of yielding to Gods will, but only the sense that if your petitions were granted you would reap a present satisfaction. Ye ask amiss. Many a heart can testify to the proneness to err thus by want of sobriety.

"Above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves." Soundness of mind and sobriety should dominate every part of the believers life; but there are other virtues of preeminent excellence, unto which, though they be far above him, he is encouraged to aspire. Of these St, Peter, like 1Co_13:13, places love at the summit, above all things. The word he uses signifies that perfect love which is the attribute of God Himself. To frail humanity it must ever be an ideal. But the Apostle in his second epistle {2Pe_1:7} has given a progressive list of graces to be sought after in a holy life, a series of mountain summits each above the other, and each made visible through the one below it. Here, too, love comes as the climax; and the Revised Version marks it as far above mere human affection: "In your love of the brethren supply also love." Here is no anticlimax, if we once appreciate the grandeur of the concluding term.

In the present verse, however, the Apostle exhorts that this Divine quality is to be exercised by the converts among themselves, and exercised with much earnestness and diligence. It is to be the grace, which pervades all their lives, and extends itself to every condition thereof. But we understand why St. Peter has used this word for love as soon as we come to the clause, which follows: "For love covereth a multitude of sins." To cover sin is godlike. It has been often asked, Whose sins are covered by this love, those of him who loves, or of him who is loved? The question can have but one answer. There is nothing in the New Testament to warrant such a doctrine as that love towards ones fellow-men will hide, atone for, or cancel any mans sins. When our Lord says of the woman who was a sinner, "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much," {Luk_7:47} it is not love to the brethren of which He is speaking, but love to God, which she had manifested by her actions toward Himself; and when He presently adds, "Thy faith hath saved thee," He tells us the secret of her availing love. But when men are animated by that love toward their neighbors which shows likest Gods, they are tender to their offences they look to the future more than to the past, hoping all things, believing all things; they have tasted Gods mercy in the pardon of their own sins, and labor to do thus unto others, to cast their sins out of sight, to put them, as God does when He forgives, behind their back, as though in being forgiven they were also forgotten. The phrase is quoted by St. Peter from Pro_10:12, where Solomon says, "Love covereth all sins," and our Lords words to St. Peter himself {Mat_18:22} about forgiving until seventy times seven times practically set no limit to the extension of pardon to the repentant. Thus taught, the Apostle uses the noble word αγαπη of human tenderness to offenders, because he would urge men to a boundless, all-embracing, godlike pity for sinners.

"Using hospitality one to another without murmuring." We need only reflect on the narrative of the Acts of the Apostles to realize how large a part hospitality must have played in the early Church as soon as the preachers extended their labors beyond Jerusalem. The house of Simon the tanner, where Peter was entertained many days; {Act_9:43} the friends who at Antioch received Paul and Barnabas and kept them for a whole year; {Act_9:26} the petition of Lydia, "Come into my house, and abide there"; {Act_16:15} and Jasons reception of Paul and Silas at Thessalonica, {Act_17:7} are but illustrations of what must have been the general custom. Nor would such welcome be needed for the Apostles alone. The Churches must have been very familiar with cases of brethren driven from their own country by persecution, or severed from their own kinsfolk by the adoption of the new faith. To such the kind offices of the Christian congregations must have been constantly extended, so that hospitality was consecrated into a blessed and righteous duty. To be "given to hospitality" {Rom_12:13} is reckoned among the marks whereby it shall be known that believers, being many, are one body in Christ; and from the salutations in the last chapter of the Epistle to the Romans we can frame a picture of the large work of lodging and caring for strangers as it entered into the duties of a Christian life. The brethren at Rome are exhorted to receive and help Phoebe, the bringer of the Epistle, because she had been a succourer of many, and of Paul himself. Of Priscilla and Aquila, who are next named, we know that they were friends and fellow-workers with St. Paul in Corinth, and that in Ephesus they showed their Christian love toward the stranger Apollos; and not only so, but they provided a place where the brethren might assemble for their worship. Later on are mentioned Mary, who bestowed much labor on the brethren; Urbanus, a helper in Christ, and the households of Aristobulus and Narcissus, whole families made friends through the extension of hospitality. Of the mother of Rufus St. Paul speaks tenderly as his own mother also. The coupling together of Philologus and Julia suggests that they were husband and wife and had opened their doors to the brethren, and the notice of Nereus and his sister points to similar good offices. And from whatever place the Epistle was sent to Rome, there Tertius, St. Pauls amanuensis, was under the hospitable roof of Gaius, whom he speaks of as the host of the whole Church. Doubtless at times the burden might fall heavily on some of the poorer brethren. Hence the need for the Apostles addition "without murmuring." The word is the same which is used {Act_6:1} of the complaints of the Grecians. And in this matter, as in all, a sound mind would be called for, that loads might be placed by the Churches only on such as were able to bear them.

The intimate fellowship that would grow out of such exercise of kind offices must have been a power to encourage greatly the laborers for Christ. As they dwelt together, hours not given to public ministrations would be spent in private converse, and would knit the members together, and forward the common work. As St. Paul writes to Philemon, who appears to have been eminent in good offices, the hearts of the saints were refreshed by this godly intercourse. In friendly communion the love of all would wax warmer, zeal become more earnest, the weak would be strengthened, and the strong grow stronger.

"According as each hath received a gift, ministering it among yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." The close connection between "gifts" and "grace" is better marked in the Greek than it can be in the English. The χαρισματα are bestowed upon us by the χαρις of God. But every word in the sentence is full of force. Each hath received a gift. None can plead his lack of faculty; none can claim exemption from the duty of ministering; none is so poor but he has something that he can lay out for the brethren. All have time; all have kind words: the least can give, what is the best of gifts, a good example. But what we have is not our own; it is received: and humility would teach us to believe that God has bestowed on us the powers which we are best fitted, by place and opportunities, to use in His service. None can say of any gift, "It is all my own; I may do with it as I please." God has set the world about us full of His exchangers. The poor, the feeble, the doubting, the fearful-these are Gods bankers, with whom we may put out our gifts to usury. And Himself is the security for all that we deposit thus: "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it unto Me." Hence we live under the responsibility of stewardship. And every mans gift is given to profit withal. {προς τορον 1Co_12:7} The Greek implies that it must be shared with others. Nor can any of us make it a profit to himself till he have found the way to make it profitable to his brethren.

That he may give more precision to his counsel, the Apostle proceeds to speak of gifts under two heads into which they are naturally divided. First come those which St. Paul {Rom_12:6-8} ranges under the head of prophecy, embracing therein teaching and exhortation likewise: "If any man speaketh, speaking as it were "oracles of God." The first Christian preachers must have gained their knowledge of the life and teaching of Jesus by listening to the narratives of the Twelve, and must have gone forth to give their teaching orally. The training of those who were appointed to minister in the various places whither the apostolic missions penetrated must have been of the same kind. In those first years there was work to be done which would seem more important than the writing of a Gospel history. When such preachers published to the congregations what they had learnt of the Masters lessons, their sermons would be orally given, and though conveying the same instruction, would be liable to constant modifications of words. It was from such oral teaching that the variations found in the Gospel narratives probably had their origin. The preachers gave the spirit, and as nearly as possible the text, of what they had been taught. Perhaps by memoranda or otherwise, they would refresh their knowledge of the apostolic words, so as to adhere as much as might be to what they had first received. The word logia-oracles-which the Apostle here employs, seems intended to remind such preachers and teachers that they now, as the Jews of old, had received "living oracles," {Act_7:38} words by which spiritual life was conveyed, to deliver to the Church. Those of them who were Jews would call to mind how Gods prophets had constantly prefaced their message with "Thus saith the Lord" or concluded it with the Divine accrediting, "I am the Lord"; and that the Christian prophet must bear in mind that he is only an ambassador, and must abide by his commission, if he would speak with authority, that as a steward he must ever think of the account to be some day given of "the oracles of God" {Rom_3:2} with which he was entrusted, and must "handle aright the word of truth". {2Ti_2:15} For all such is St. Peters admonition, "If any man speaketh, speaking as it were oracles of God."

And next he turns to those gifts which are to be exercised in deeds, and not in words: "If any man ministereth, ministering as of the strength which God supplieth." Under "ministry" St. Paul classes {Rom_12:7-8} giving, ruling, showing mercy. These are duties which secure the temporal condition of the Church and her members. The New Testament story suggests many offices which could be discharged by those who had not devoted themselves in a special manner to the ministry of the word. How much service would be called for by those collections for the saints which St. Paul urges so frequently upon the Churches! How many houses would find employment in such labors as were exhibited in the home of Dorcas! How many a traveler, bent on his secular work, would carry apostolic messages or letters to the flocks of the dispersion! To these may be added those offices of mercy which St. James describes as θρησκεια, outward acts of religion, to visit the widows and fatherless in their affliction. The strength which God supplieth embraces every faculty or possession, be it wealth, administrative skill, or special knowledge. The physician and the craftsman alike may spend their powers for Christ. All may be consecrated, ministered, as supplied of God. And it is a gain to the Church when, following the apostolic pattern, these duties of external religion are severed from the prophecy, the spiritual work of the teacher.

"That in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen." This is to be the thought which animates all who minister: that each mans service may be so rendered to his brethren that it will work for the glory of God. And Christ has led the way. He testifies in His final prayer, "I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do." {Joh_17:4} Of our work we can use no such words. We are but unprofitable servants. In many things we offend all. But all may labor in the Christlike spirit; and thus through Him through service rendered in His name and for His sake, will God be glorified. The thought of Jesus humbling Himself, taking the form of a servant, testifying of Himself, "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many," can give a dignity to lowliest labor, and at the same time can impart consolation to the true laborers, for whom this mighty ransom hag been paid, their inheritance won, their salvation achieved; while the Conqueror of sin and death, their Redeemer, has taken His seat at Gods right hand, where worshipping spirits ever praise Him, saying, "Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory, and the honor, and the power". {Rev_4:11}

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

4:7-11 With this paragraph of miscellaneous exhortations, Peter concludes the third major section of the letter (3:13–4:11).

4:7 The end of the world is coming soon: At Christ’s coming, the “last days” predicted by the Old Testament prophets had begun (see 1:10-12). The next event in salvation history is the second coming of Christ, which will bring the end of the world as we know it. The end could come at any time; therefore, Christians must always be ready for it (see also Phil 4:5; Jas 5:8; Rev 1:3; 22:10).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1Pe 4:7. Πάντων) of all things; and therefore also of the arrogance of the wicked, and of the sufferings of the righteous.—τέλος, the end) when the number of the dead and living shall be complete: [in the last judgment.—V. g.]—οὖν, therefore) He returns to exhortation; and in 1Pe 4:7-11 duties are opposed to the sins enumerated in 1Pe 4:3. For luxuries are opposed to the being sober and watchful; desires (“lusts”), to love; excesses in wine, revellings, banquetings, to hospitality; abominable idolatries, to the lawful ministering of heavenly gifts to the glory of the true God.—καὶ νήψατε, and watch) Temperance assists watchfulness, and each of them assists prayers: they who are removed from temperance are sleepy; and the sleepy are slothful as to prayer, even on this account, that they do not willingly take any time from their labour and the ordinary pursuits of life.—προσευχὰς, prayers) which are necessary at the last time.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Pe_4:7. Here begins the third series of exhortations, which has special reference to life in the church, and is linked on to the thought of the nearness of the end of all things (see Introd. § 2).

πάντων δὲ τὸ τέλος ἤγγικεν] δέ marks clearly the transition to another train of thought. It is accordingly incorrect to connect the clause with what precedes (Hofmann). πάντων τὸ τέλος, equal to: the end of all things, refers back to the foregoing ἑτοίμως ἔχοντι κρῖναι; with the judgment comes the τέλος. πάντων, placed first by way of emphasis, is not masc. (Hensler; the end of all men) but neut.;[245] comp. 2Pe_3:10-11; with τέλος, Mat_24:6; Mat_24:14.

ἤγγικε] comp. Rom_13:12; Jam_5:8; Php_4:5. That the apostle, without fixing the time or the hour of it, looked upon the advent of Christ and the end of the world,in its condition hitherto,therewith connected, as near at hand, must be simply admitted.[246]

σωφρονήσατε οὖν καὶ νήψατε] The first exhortation, grounded (ΟὖΝ) on the thought of the nearness of the end of the world. ΣΩΦΡ.; Vulg.: estote prudentes; in this sense the word is not in use in the N. T.; it means rather temperateness of spirit, i.e. the governing omnium immoderatorum affectuum; with the passage comp. 1Ti_2:9; Tit_2:6 (Hemming: σωφροσύνη, equal to affectuum et voluntatis harmonia), in contrast to the licentiousness of the heathen described in 1Pe_4:2 (Wiesinger).

ΝΉΨΑΤΕ] Vulg.: vigilate, inexactly; ΝΉΦΕΙΝ has here the same meaning as in chap. 1Pe_1:13. It is not enough to understand both expressions of abstinence from sensual indulgence.

ΕἸς [ΤᾺς] ΠΡΟΣΕΥΧΆς] not: in orationibus (Vulg.), for ΕἸς states the aim of the ΣΩΦΡ. and ΝΉΦΕΙΝ, but: unto prayer, that is, so that you may always be in the right frame of mind for prayer. If τάς be genuine, it is to be explained on the supposition that the apostle took the prayers of Christians for granted.

A mind excited by passions and lusts cannot pray. The plural points to repeated prayer (Schott). Schott, without any warrant, would understand by it the prayers of the church only.

The fact that both ideas are synonymous, forbids any separation, with de Wette and Hofmann, of ΣΩΦΡΟΝΉΣΑΤΕ from ΝΉΨΑΤΕ, and the conjoining of ΕἸς Τ ΠΡΟΣΕΥΧΆς with the latter term only.

[245] Oecumenius gives two interpretations: τὸ τέλος· ἀντὶ τοῦ, ἡ συμπλήρωσις, ἡ συντέλεια· ἢ τέλος ἠγγικέναι τῶν πάντων προφητῶν· τοῦτο δὲ ἀληθεῖ λόγῳ, ὁ Χριστός, ἡ πάντων γὰρ τελειότης, αὐτός ἐστιν. The second is evidently false.

[246] According to Schott, ἤγγικε means as much as: not only is there nothing more between the Christians present state of salvation and the end, but the former is itself already the end, i.e. the beginning of the end.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Pe 4:7 . But the end of all things and men has drawn nigh; Christians also must be ready, watch and pray , as Jesus taught in the parable of Mar 13:34-37 ( cf. Mar 14:38 ). σωφρονήσατε parallels ἀσελγ . ἐπιθυμίαις (1Pe 4:3 ) cf. 4Ma 1:31 , temperance is restraint of lust . In Rom 12:3 St. Paul plays on the meaning of the component parts of σω - φρονεῖν , cf. εἰς σωτηρίαν ψυχῶν above. νήψατε , corresponds to οἰνοφλυγίαις κώμοις πότοις (1Pe 4:3 ); cf. 1Pe 1:13 , 1Pe 5:8 . St. Paul also depends on parable of Luk 12:42-46 in 1Th 5:6 ff. εἰς προσευχάς , the paramount duty of Christians is prayer especially for the coming of the Lord (Rev 22:20 ; Luk 11:2 ; cf. Luk 3:7 ).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He returneth to his purpose, using an argument taken from the circumstance of the time, because the last end is at hand, and therefore we must so much the more diligently watch and pray with true sobriety of mind.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Resuming the idea in Pe1 4:5.

the end of all things--and therefore also of the wantonness (Pe1 4:3-4) of the wicked, and of the sufferings of the righteous [BENGEL]. The nearness meant is not that of mere "time," but that before the Lord; as he explains to guard against misapprehension, and defends God from the charge of procrastination: We live in the last dispensation, not like the Jews under the Old Testament. The Lord will come as a thief; He is "ready" (Pe1 4:5) to judge the world at any moment; it is only God's long-suffering and His will that the Gospel should be preached as a witness to all nations, that induces Him to lengthen out the time which is with Him still as nothing.

sober--"self-restrained." The opposite duties to the sins in Pe1 4:3 are here inculcated. Thus "sober" is the opposite of "lasciviousness" (Pe1 4:3).

watch--Greek, "be soberly vigilant"; not intoxicated with worldly cares and pleasures. Temperance promotes wakefulness or watchfulness, and both promote prayer. Drink makes drowsy, and drowsiness prevents prayer.

prayer--Greek, "prayers"; the end for which we should exercise vigilance.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 7. But the end of all things is at hand] I think that here also St. Peter keeps the history of the deluge before his eyes, finding a parallel to the state of the Jews in his own time in that of the antediluvians in the days of Noah. In Ge 6:13, God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me. This was spoken at a time when God had decreed the destruction of the world by a flood. Peter says, The end of all things is at hand; and this he spoke when God had determined to destroy the Jewish people and their polity by one of the most signal judgments that ever fell upon any nation or people.

In a very few years after St. Peter wrote this epistle, even taking it at the lowest computation, viz., A. D. 60 or 61, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. To this destruction, which was literally then at hand, the apostle alludes when he says, The end of all things is at hand; the end of the temple, the end of the Levitical priesthood, the end of the whole Jewish economy, was then at hand.

If these words could be taken in any general sense, then we might say to every present generation, The end of all things is at hand; the end of all the good which the wicked enjoy, and the end of all the evil which the righteous suffer.

Be - sober, and watch unto prayer.] Be sober-make a prudent and moderate use of all you possess; and watch against all occasions of sin; and pray for the supporting hand of God to be upon you for good, that ye may escape the destruction that is coming upon the Jews, and that ye may be saved from among them when the scourge comes.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7 But, or, moreover, the end of all things is at hand Though the faithful hear that their felicity is elsewhere than in the world, yet, as they think that they should live long, this false thought renders them careless, and even slothful, so that they direct not their thoughts to the kingdom of God. Hence the Apostle, that he might rouse them from the drowsiness of the flesh, reminds them that the end of all things was nigh; by which he intimates that we ought not to sit still in the world, from which we must soon remove. He does not, at the same time, speak only of the end of individuals, but of the universal renovation of the world; as though he had said, “Christ will shortly come, who will put an end to all things.”

It is, then, no wonder that the cares of this world overwhelm us, and make us drowsy, if the view of present things dazzles our eyes: for we promise, almost all of us, an eternity to ourselves in this world; at least, the end never comes to our mind. But were the trumpet of Christ to sound in our ears, it would powerfully rouse us and not suffer us to lie torpid.

But it may be objected and said, that a long series of ages has passed away since Peter wrote this, and yet that the end is not come. My reply to this is, that the time seems long to us, because we measure its length by the spaces of this fleeting life; but if we could understand the perpetuity of future life, many ages would appear to us like a moment, as Peter will also tell us in his second epistle. Besides, we must remember this principle, that from the time when Christ once appeared, there is nothing left for the faithful, but with suspended minds ever to look forward to his second coming.

The watchfulness and the sobriety to which he exhorted them, belong, as I think, to the mind rather than to the body. The words are similar to those of Christ:

“Watch ye, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh.” (Matthew 25:13.)

For as an indulgence in surfeiting and sleep renders the body unfit for its duties, so the vain cares and pleasures of the world inebriate the mind and render it drowsy.

By adding prayer, he points out an exercise especially necessary, in which the faithful ought to be particularly occupied, since their whole strength depends on the Lord; as though he had said, “Since ye are in yourselves extremely weak, seek of the Lord to strengthen you.” He yet reminds them that they were to pray earnestly, not formally.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(7) The end of all things is at hand.—Or, hath come nigh; the same word (for instance) as in Mat_4:17; Mat_26:46. It is but a repetition in other words of 1Pe_4:5, inserted again to give weight to all the exhortations which follow. Probably, if St. Peter had thought the world would stand twenty centuries more, he would have expressed himself differently; yet see 2Pe_3:4-10.

Be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.—These words sum up the cautions given in 1Pe_4:1-6, before passing on to the next subject. The first verb includes more than sobriety, and means the keeping a check upon all the desires. The usual notion of sobriety is more exactly conveyed in the word rendered “watch,” which is the same as in 1Pe_1:13 and 1Pe_5:8. “Unto prayer” is a slip for unto prayers; the difference is that it does not mean that we are to be always in frame to pray, but that actual prayers should be always on our lips: every incident in life should suggest them. They would be especially necessary if any moment might see the end of the world. The tense of the imperatives in the Greek carries out the notion that the persons addressed had slipped into a careless state, from which they needed an arousal.

(7-11) DUTY OF BENEVOLENCE WITHIN THE CHURCH IN VIEW OF THE ADVENT.—The end of the world is not far off; let it find you not only sober, but (above all else) exerting an intense charity within the Church, by hospitality and generosity, in these as much as in spiritual ministrations seeking not your own glory, but God’s.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. But the end of all things is at hand] The words are spoken, as are nearly all the eschatological utterances of the New Testament, within the horizon of the Apostle’s knowledge, and it had not been given to him to know the “times and the seasons” (Act_1:7). His language was the natural inference from our Lord’s words, “then shall the end be” (Mat_24:6-14). The times in which the disciples lived were to them the “last times” (1Ti_4:1; 1Jn_2:18). They looked for the coming of the Lord as not far off (Rom_13:12; Jas_5:8). They expected to be among those who should be living when He came (1Co_15:51), who should be caught up to meet Him in the air (1Th_4:17). A few years—we might almost say, looking to 2Pe_3:8, a few months—sufficed to shew that the divine plan extended over a wider range than their thoughts and expectations. And yet, in one very real sense, they were not altogether mistaken. The end of all that they had known and lived in, the end of one great æon, or dispensation, was indeed nigh at hand. The old order was changing and giving place to the new. There was to be a great removal of the things that were shaken, that had decayed and waxed old, that the things that could not be shaken might remain (Heb_12:27).

be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer] The first of the two verbs is defined by Greek ethical writers (Aristotle, Eth. Nicom. ii. 2) as implying the harmony of affections and desires with reason. Of the two English words “sober” or temperate, by which it is commonly rendered, the latter, as expressing the due control of passions, is the more adequate. The Vulgate gives “Estote prudentes,” but that adjective belongs to another Greek ethical term. Mar_5:15, Rom_12:3, 2Co_5:13, may be noticed as among the other passages in which the same verb occurs. Strictly speaking, indeed, the word “sober” is wanted instead of “watch” for the second verb, which implies in the strictest sense “abstinence from wine and strong drink.” The word commonly translated “watch” (Mat_24:42-43; Mat_26:38-41) is altogether different. It may be noticed that the tense of the two verbs in the original implies not a general precept, but a call to an immediate act. The words of St Peter present a singular contrast to the effect that has commonly been produced in later ages by the belief that the end of the world was near. Terror and alarm, the abandonment of earthly callings and social duties accompanied that belief in the tenth century, when kings left their thrones and sought the seclusion of the monastery, “appropinquante fine saeculi,” and a like agitation has accompanied it since. To the Apostle’s mind the approach of the end of all things is a motive for calmness and self-control. He seems almost to reproduce the thought of a poet of whom he had probably never heard,

[Si fractus illabatur orbis

Impavidum ferient ruinae.]

“Should the world’s ruins round him break

His confidence it will not shake;

Unmoved he bears it all.”

(Hor. Od. iii. 3. 7.)

The “calmness” of the Apostle differs, however, from that of the philosopher. It is not merely the self-command of one who has conquered. Men are to be sober with a view to prayer. Desires of all kinds, above all, those of man’s lower nature, are fatal to the energy and therefore to the efficacy of prayer.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But the end of all things is at hand,.... With respect to particular persons, the end of life, and which is the end of all things in this world to a man, is near at hand; which is but as an hand's breadth, passes away like a tale that is told, and is but as a vapour which appears for a while, and then vanishes away. Or this may be said with regard to the Jews, the end of their church and civil state was near at hand, of their sacrifices, temple, city, and nation; or with respect to the whole universe, to the scheme and fashion of this world, which will soon be gone, though the substance will abide; when the heavens shall pass away, and the earth and all therein will be burnt up; when there will be an end of all the purposes and promises of God respecting the present state of things concerning his church and people, and of the judgments of God upon his enemies here; when the man of sin will be destroyed, and the wickedness of the wicked will be come to an end, and the sorrows, afflictions, and persecutions of the saints, will be no more; and when will be an end put to the present dispensation of things; there will be an end of the ministry of the word, and of the administration of ordinances; time will be no more, and the final state of both good and bad men will take place: this may be said to be at hand in the apostle's time, though so long ago, because that was the last time, and the last dispensation of things; and whereas they knew not the exact time when it would be, they frequently spoke of it as near, in order to stir up the saints to the more diligent discharge of duty, and fervent exercise of grace, as here:

be ye therefore sober, or "temperate", as the Arabic version renders it; and so is opposed to intemperance in eating and drinking, which is an abuse of the creatures of Gods, and unfits a man for the duties of religion; when Satan easily gets an advantage, and is often the cause of other sins, and is frequently dissuaded from, for the same reason as here; see Co1 7:31 or chaste, as the Syriac version; and so is opposed to immodesty in words, actions, or apparel, in which sense sobriety is used in Ti1 2:9 or "prudent", as the Vulgate Latin version; and is opposed to all self-conceit and vanity of mind, and imprudence in conduct and conversation; see Rom 12:3 and to all immoderate care of the world, which has the same effect upon the soul as surfeiting and drunkenness on the body: it hinders the soul in the service of God, chokes the word, and makes it unprofitable, and runs men into many sins, snares, and temptations; and the consideration of the end of all things being at hand should draw off from it. It may also signify soundness of mind and judgment in the doctrines of faith, which are words of truth and soberness; and the rather this may be exhorted to, since towards the close of time there will be little of the doctrine of faith in the earth, and men will not be able to endure sound doctrine: it follows,

and watch unto prayer; watch all opportunities of praying, or of attendance on that ordinance, both in private and in public; watch and observe both your present wants, and present mercies, that ye may know what to pray for, and what to return thanks for; and that you have a due reverence of the divine Majesty, in whose presence you are entering. The Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions render it, "watch", or "be awake in prayers"; be careful that you lift up your hearts with your hands to God; that you pray for such things as are agreeable to the revealed will of God;, that you pray in faith, and lift up holy hands without wrath and doubting; and watch for the Spirit of God to enlarge your hearts in prayer, and to assist you both as to the matter and manner of praying. And persons should also watch after prayer for a return of it; and that they do not depend upon the duty performed; and that they are not negligent to return thanks for the mercy prayed for, when received. Very rightly does the apostle join the above exhortation with this, since a man that is not sober is neither fit to watch nor pray; and a drunken man, according to the Jewish canons, might not pray (l):

"one that is a drinker, or in drink, let him not pray, or if he prays, his prayer is deprecations; a drunken man, let him not pray, and if he prays his prayer is blasphemies.''

Or, as it is elsewhere (m) expressed,

"let not a drunken man pray, because he has no intention; and if he prays, his prayer is an abomination, therefore let him return and, pray when he is clear of his drunkenness: let no one in drink pray, and if he prays, his prayer is prayer (unless the word should rather be rendered "folly", as it may); who is a drunken man? he that cannot speak before a king; a man in drink can speak before a king, and not be confounded; even though he drinks but a fourth part, or a quarter of wine, let him not pray until his wine is departed from him.''

(l) T. Hieros. Terumot, fol. 40. 4. (m) Maimon. Hilch Tephilla, c. 4. sect. 17.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.

Ver. 7. Be ye therefore sober, &c.] To be sober in prayer (saith one) is to pray with due respect to God’s majesty, without trifling or vain babbling; to let our words be few, Ecc 5:3. Also it is to keep God’s counsel, not to be proud or boast of success, or speak of the secret sweetnes., of God’s love without calling; it is to conceal the familiarity of God in secret. Or, it is to submit our will to the will of God; being well pleased that He is in any way glorified, though we be not every way gratified.

And watch unto prayer] Against dulness of body, drowsiness of spirit, Satanical suggestions, distractive motions, which else will muster and swarm in the heart like the flies of Egypt.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But the end of all things: the last judgment, which will put an end to all the evils as well as good things of this world.

Is at hand: see Jam 5:8,9.

Be ye therefore sober; both in mind, prudent, moderate, 2Co 5:13; Tit 2:6; and in body, temperate in meats and drinks, &c.

And watch: the word signifies both sobriety, in opposition to drunkenness, 1Th 5:6,8, and watchfulness, 2Ti 4:5, and this signification agrees best with this place, the former being implied in the word sober.

Unto prayer; the end for which they should be sober and vigilant, viz. that they might observe every season fit for prayer, and might still keep themselves in a praying frame.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

But the end of all things is at hand. The mention of the judgment turns St. Peter"s thoughts into another channel. The end is at hand, not only the judgment of persecutors and slanderers, but the end of persecutions and sufferings, the end of our great conflict with sin, the end of our earthly probation: therefore prepare to meet your God. The end is at hand: it hath drawn near. St. Peter probably, like the other apostles, looked for the speedy coming of the Lord. It was not for him, as it is not for us, "to know the times or the seasons". (Act_1:7) It is enough to know that our own time is short. When St. Peter wrote these words, the end of the holy city, the center of the ancient dispensation, was very near at hand; and behind that awful catastrophe lay the incomparably more tremendous judgment, of which the fall of Jerusalem was a figure. That judgment, we know now, was to be separated by a wide interval from the dale of St. Peter"s Epistle. But that interval is measured, in the prophetic outlook, not by months and years. We are now living in "the last times". (1 Timothy 1Jn_2:18) The coming of our Lord was the hennaing of the last period in the development of God"s dealings with mankind; there is no further dispensation to be looked for. "Not only is there nothing mere between the Christian"s present state of salvation and the end, but the former is itself already the end, i.e. the beginning of the end" (Schott, quoted by Huther). Be ye therefore sober; rather, self-restrained, calm, thoughtful. The thought of the nearness of the end should not lead to excitement and neglect of common duties, as it did in the case of the Thessalonian Christians, and again at the approach of the thousandth year of our era. And watch unto prayer; rather, be sober unto prayers. The word translated "watch" in the Authorized Version is not that which we read in our Lord"s exhortation to "watch and pray." The word used here (nhyate) rather points to temperance, abstinence from strong drinks, though it suggests also that wariness and cool thoughtfulness which are destroyed by excess. The Christian must be self-restrained and sober, and that with a view to perseverance in prayer. The aorist imperatives, perhaps, imply that St. Peter"s readers needed to be stirred up, (2Pe_1:13 2Pe_3:1) to be aroused from that indifference into which men are so apt to fall. The exhortation to persevere in watchfulness would be expressed by the present.

Vers. 7-11.

Exhortations based on the impending judgment.

I THE NEED OF PREPARATION.

1. The nearness of the end. The end seemed near when St. Peter wrote, more than eighteen hundred years ago; by that great interval it is the nearer now. That long-expected end will be the end of all things of sorrows, trials, suffering; of pleasures, pomps, and vanities; of all the pursuits of this life, the restless struggle after wealth, or fame, or earthly comforts. The end is at hand how near, we cannot roll; but we know that to the Lord "a thousand years are as one day;" and to ourselves, when we look back, the years that are passed are as a watch in the night. All will be over then, all that men have toiled to build up the empires, the civilizations, the philosophies; all will be over, save only the results of human action, the moral and spiritual consequences of human lives. Who can tell what will be the grand result of the many millions of lives that will then have been lived? Now each generation, as it passes, leaves its mark upon its successors: what will be the character of the great society, the vast multitude of souls, that will live on when the end of the world is come? To each individual the hour of death is the end, and that end is very near; each day, as it comes, ushers in the end of many lives. The time of that end, like the time of the end of all things, is unknown. God has hidden both from us in his wisdom and love. But certainly it is near; the end of this busy, toiling life, with all its hopes and fears, all its schemes and ambitions, all its disappointments and successes; the end, and yet not the end; for, if it were the end of our being, there would be no need of that careful preparation which St. Peter urges. The motto of the worldling would be sufficient for us all, "Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die." The nearness of the end gives the Christian a motive, not for self-indulgence, but for self-denial, not for neglect of duty, but for increasing zeal; for he has a work to do for his Master, and oh! whatever is left undone, whatever calls of earthly pleasure or ambition are disregarded, that work must at all costs be done. For he trusts in his poor humble way, by the help of God"s Holy Spirit, to be able at the last to echo in some sense his Savior"s words," I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do;" he hopes through the Lord"s atonement to hear at last the joyful welcome, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" Therefore the thought of the nearness of the end must stimulate him continually to new energy, to active work for Christ.

2. How the Christian should prepare himself.

(1) He must exercise self-restraint. The etymology of the Greek word points to the safeguard of the mind; the mind, with all its thoughts, must be kept safe, restrained within due limits. Tim fancies, aspirations, desires, must not be allowed to wander unrestrained. For "the end of all things is at hand," and the Christian must school himself into thoughtful preparation for that solemn hour. His mind should be filled, not with castles in the air, not with visions of earthly prosperity (a mischievous and enervating habit), but with thoughts of death, judgment, eternity. To keep the end steadily in view requires much self-restraint; it implies a well-ordered mind, a life guided by the eternal law of God, not frittered away in trifles and idle pleasures, not spent in pursuits and ambitions which do not rise above the atmosphere of earth. This self-restraint is the sobriety, the soundness of mind which the apostle here inculcates upon us; it extends over all the relations and circumstances of life; in all his desires and actions the Christian must be thoughtful, calm, composed; for he lives in the anticipation of the coming end, and his aim is the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

(2) He must be sober unto prayer. Excess in meat or drink or other pleasures of life unnerves the mind; excess weakens the body, brings misery into families, is the cause of poverty and squalor and wretchedness, fills our workhouses, our asylums, our prisons. And it ruins the soul; the drunkard, the glutton, the man of pleasure, cannot pray; his vices burden his soul and weigh it down to the earth, he cannot lift up his heart in prayer to God. For, indeed, prayer demands the exercise of all our highest powers; it requires concentration of thought, energy of desire, devout yearnings after God; it needs the gracious help of God the Holy Ghost, who maketh intercession in and for those who earnestly seek that sacred gift. He who lives in expectation of the end of all things, must live in prayer; for only by constant and faithful prayer can he prepare himself for that awful day; and he cannot pray aright unless he lives a godly, righteous, and sober life.

II THE NECESSITY OF CHARITY IN ITS VARIOUS MANIFESTATIONS.

1. In forgiveness. In view of the coming judgment charity is necessary above all things; for it is they who love the brethren in Christ and for Christ who shall hear the joyful welcome, "Come, ye blessed of my Father." They see Christ in his people, and for the love of Christ love and care for those whom Christ loved. But "he that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love;" he cannot enter into heaven, which is the home of love: there is no room there for the selfish, unloving heart. Love is necessary above all other graces; it is the exceeding great love of our Master and only Savior Jesus Christ which draws the hearts of men unto the cross; and those who come to the cross, which is the school of love, must learn of him who loved them even unto death to love all the brethren; for love is the very badge of our profession: "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." Love was the character of the Master; it must be the mark of the disciple. They must not only love one another; but that love, St. Peter says, must be earnest, intense; for it needs the strength of great love to forgive perfectly, and they who do not forgive cannot hope for forgiveness. True charity covers sins; it "believeth all things, hopeth all things;" it puts the fairest construction on the actions of others; it considers all possible extenuations of their errors antecedents, circumstances, temptations; it does not willingly speak of faults and shortcomings; it hides them as far as may be. And if it is necessary for the good of the sinner, or of society, to uncover sins, charity does it with gentle, loving tact, seeking to win the sinner, to save his soul, forgiving him and seeking God"s forgiveness for him. He who thus covers the sins of others, who forgives in the faith of Christ and in the love of the brethren, shall be himself forgiven; his sin shall be covered through the atonement once made upon the cross.

1. In Christian hospitality. It is not costly display and sumptuous entertainments that St. Peter recommends; these things are often sinful waste; men spend their money in selfish ostentation instead of holy and religious works. The Lord had said to his disciples, "He that receiveth you, receiveth me;" and again, "Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." St. Peter re-echoes his Master"s words. Christians must show hospitality to one another, and that freely, liberally; murmuring destroys the beauty of the gift. Christ hath received us into the kingdom of God; he feeds us with heavenly food, the

2. Bread that came down from heaven; we must receive our brethren, and that gladly, for his sake.

3. In the use of spiritual gifts. They are given to individual Christians for the benefit of the whole Church. Whatever gifts we may possess, they are but what we once received; they were entrusted to us to be used in our Master"s service; that service is the edification of his people. Christians are stewards of these spiritual gifts; they should be good stewards, not like the unjust steward, who wasted his master"s goods, and showed foresight and worldly prudence only in providing for himself. They should discharge their stewardship with unblemished honor, with a diligence and zeal which are beautiful in the sight of the truly good. The grace of God varies in its manifestations, in the diversities of gifts which issue from it, according to the needs of the Church, according to the capacity of the individual servant; it is like a piece of beautiful embroidery, various in color and design, but combined in one harmonious whole. Every Christian, even the humblest, has some gift; each should contribute his part, however small, to the general welfare; charity will guide him in the use of his particular gift. The apostle proceeds to give instances.

(1) The gift of utterance. St. Paul asks for the prayers of his converts, "that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel". (Eph_6:19) It is a great gift, often a powerful means of winning souls to Christ. The utterances of spiritual experience must flow out of a sanctified life. Words without heart have little power; they soon betray their unreality. The words of a real Christian must be as oracles of God; if they issue out of a heart cleansed by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, then they are his utterances. It is not ye that speak," said our Lord to his apostles, but the Spirit of my Father which speaketh in you." This should be our aim and constant desire to live so near to God that we may be filled with the Holy Ghost, and so speak the words which the Spirit teacheth; only he can give the spiritual tact, the ready sympathy, the loving persuasiveness, which are so remarkable in some of his saints. But if our words are to be as oracles of God, we must be deeply versed in the oracles of God; our memories must be stored with precious words of Holy Scripture. The lessons which the blessed Spirit teaches now are in all things accordant with the sacred truths which holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

(2) Gifts of ministering. St. Peter combines under one word all other ministrations, such as the gift of government, of teaching the little children; services to be rendered to the poor, the sick, the afflicted. All these are necessary for the well-being of the Church, and all must be performed in the strength which God giveth. All these ministrations require love, zeal, energy, self-denial; and these holy tempers come of God. We are weak, but his strength is made perfect in weakness; we are selfish, but his Spirit can kindle the fire of holy love in the heart that once was cold and dead] He supplies the strength which we need for the work which he has given us to do; he has appointed to every man his work, and will enable every man to do the work appointed him, if he seeks for that strength in faith and prayer; "I can do all things," said St. Paul, "through him that strengtheneth me." Then let us work in the strength of God, and let us ascribe any measure of success which may be granted to us wholly to that strength which God giveth. "Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents; behold, I have gained beside them five talents more." The faithful servant ascribes his gains to his Lord"s original gift.

(3) All gifts to be exercised to the glory of God. The Savior said, "I have glorified thee on the earth." His disciples should imitate him, learning of him to seek the glory of God in all things and above all things. The love, the zeal, the energy, which true Christians exhibit in the use of the gifts given them by God show forth the glory of God; for that love and zeal can only come from his grace; weak, selfish creatures such as we are could not live holy, self-denying lives save by the help of God"s gracious presence. Every act of Christian self-denial, every labor of love, is an additional proof of the reality of God"s power and grace. Then God is glorified in his saints, and that through Jesus Christ; for it is the Lord Jesus who by his atonement hath brought us near to God, and enabled his true disciples to know and love and glorify their Father which is in heaven. The glory and the dominion are his, for all power is given to him in heaven and in earth; and with that gift of power he strengthens his chosen, enduing them with power from on high, enabling them to glorify God by a holy life and by a blessed death.

LESSONS.

1. "The end of all things is at hand." "Prepare to meet thy God.

2. Be self-restrained; be sober. Much prayer is needful for preparation against the hour of death; the self-indulgent cannot pray aright.

3. Above all things, follow after charity.

4. Make proof of your love in the forgiveness of injuries, in hospitality, in the use of spiritual gifts for the welfare of others.

5. Seek first the glory of God, and that through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Waiting for the end.

Like his brother apostle, St. Paul, St. Peter lived in constant anticipation of "the end." This attitude of mind was no doubt encouraged by the discourses of our Lord Jesus, to which Simon Peter had undoubtedly listened. And it must have been confirmed by the state of society both in the Jewish and the Christian world; changes were imminent, and none could say what form these changes might take. In some respects such statements and admonitions as those of the text are even more pressingly appropriate in our times than when they were first penned.

I THE VIEW WHICH CHRISTIANS ARE TAUGHT TO TAKE OF THEIR EARTHLY CONDITION. The New Testament impresses upon us the transitory and temporary nature of all things earthly. Sound understanding will seek to verify this, not by prophetical and historical dates, but by moral and unquestionably significant facts.

1. There may well have been in the apostle"s mind a foresight of the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, the dispersion of the Jewish race, and the abrogation of the Hebrew religion.

2. Yet a larger reference is probable; "the end of all things" can scarcely be limited to the catastrophe which befell the Israelitish people. There is no permanence on earth. The Christian, like the Jewish dispensation, must pass away. When this world has served its purpose the purpose centring in the moral history of mankind it will be dissolved. The visible and tangible are not the real, are not the lasting. Moral results will outlast the material framework of their development.

3. Every individual who reflects must feel that his own brief life-history gives point and pathos to the end of all things.

II THE CONSEQUENT SPIRIT AND DUTY OF CHRISTIANS CHERISHING SUCH CONVICTIONS AND EXPECTATIONS. A superficial observer might suppose that the result of such beliefs must needs be excitement and distress, or, if not distress, solicitude. But this is not the effect designed by our Lord and his apostles. Quite the contrary; for St. Peter, in view of the approaching end, admonishes to

(1) soundness of mind;

(2) sobriety; and

(3) prayers.

Such great and solemn realities as religion unfolds before the mind are fitted to strengthen, steady, and mature the character; and at the same time to inspire with pious desires and petitions. A spirit such as that here enjoined may justly be said both to qualify for this present probation and to prepare for future fruition. For "the end of all things" does not involve the end of God"s government, or the end of man"s life and spiritual progress.

J.R.T.

Vers. 7, 8.

A solemn fact and urgent duty.

the end of all things is at hand," etc. These words, which are part of the paragraph that ends with the eleventh verse, naturally follow the exhortation on vers. 3-6 an exhortation to pure living, and this because our past life is long enough for sin and its vanities; notwithstanding that sinful men think your separation from them in spirit and conduct strange; and to pure living, because Christ"s judgment and Christ"s gospel are for all. The exact point in the argument is this that even to the dead was the gospel preached; and this is a deep fathomless mystery of justice and of grace. But however that may be, you are to remember and to realize, that "the end of all things is at hand," etc. Here we note

I THE PREDICTION OF A SOLEMN FACT. "The end of all things is at hand." There are, as every student of the New Testament Epistles knows, great diversities of opinion as to the aspect of the transitoriness of all things on which Peter was now dwelling, and from which he was enforcing great lessons. It is clear that not only here, but all through his Epistles, he was deeply impressed with the transitoriness of all things. Glance back at the first chapter, and on: Sojourners " a little while;" "time of your sojourning;" "All flesh is grass," etc. "Sojourners and pilgrims in the day of visitation." Peter seems to have expected now a termination of human history at least an approaching end of the age. He was old now, nearly seventy. He came to Rome on the eve of the conflagration of the city by Nero. He felt himself growing old a prisoner hounded on to the death of martyrdom like the Master who preceded him; and, getting to the end of all things, discerns in the corruptions of the Roman empire indications of ruin end of all things." He discerns, too, the end of Judaism, ofceremonial, of institutions; germs perishing; and the scattering of Christians; the end of all things to the Church personally, in the empire, in systems. Whether "the end" be "the end of the world" or "the end of the age, that is approaching, so far as we and all with whom we daily have to do are concerned, "the end of all things is at hand." In our persons, homes, institutions, in the world itself, are elements of decay, indications of transitoriness. Yesterday, honors, old age, are carried to the grave; tomorrow, youth and hope one shadow on all households; one and another and another join the majority. "Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?

II THE CONSEQUENT CALL TO THE HIGHEST PERSONAL AND SOCIAL DUTY. The thought of the termination of our connection with all things produces different impressions on different minds. Epicureans both ancient and modern, as represented by Athens and England, have said, "Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die!" "A short life, and a merry one," is the maxim some formulate from their impression of all things passing away. Wiser, deeper, Heaven-taught natures draw an altogether other lesson. Here it is:

1. Personal. "Be of sound mind and sober," etc. an echo (especially as the old version puts it of what Peter had heard from his Lord on the last evening of his life, and in discourses in which he portrays the great days of judgment. A memory which saddened him; for he had not watched "one hour" which he would give worlds to have back. The bitter experience of his fall had taught him his deepest need. "Sound mind; " not volatile and fickle, and perhaps impulsive and fanatic. Sober" Another word than that which clears gluttony and drunkenness from the experiences of the Christian life; all temperance, all self-control, free from the intoxication of all inordinate excitement, whether the cause be alcohol or gold, appetite or ambition. "Unto prayer. " This is the point to be touched, the focus through which life shall pass the concert-pitch note of prayerfulness. Prayer is both a means and an end. Here it is an end. Such nearness to Heaven is the secret of confidence in and submission to God.

2. Social. "Above all things." This is all-comprehending and crowning social duty. Love alone all alone. John, Paul, Peter, James.

(1) The character of love. Fervent or ardent. The cordial grasp of the hand; the tried and steady gaze of the eye; the eager step. of the foot. Unservile, unremitting; to mix and mingle with men whose vices jar, tastes annoy, cannot watch, nor yet love.

(2) The effect of love. "Covereth." Some thought the text "justification by love," covers a man"s own sin atones for it. Forgo such teaching; though "forgive as we forgive" shows that the condition of enjoying forgiveness is a true test of forgiveness covers the sins of others.

(1) Overlooks;

(2) puts best interpretation upon;

(3) forgives;

(4) prevails by not provoking, not differing; a better, truer spirit. As you have seen ivy covering twisted gnarled oak, defaced and scarred ruins, so let love be ever green, covering the multitude of sins that defame and deface and scar human nature on every side of you.

U.R.T.

Vers. 7-11.

Duty in view of the nearness of the end.

I NEARNESS OF THE END. "But the end of all things is at hand." It is presupposed that all things are to come to an end, i.e. the Divine purpose in all things is to be brought forward to its completion. What gives this solemn significance to us, is that there is to be, in view of probation, a final relating of us to the purpose. How shall we stand related to the completion of all things? Stress is laid here on the time of the end. It is not revealed when definitely it is to be whether it is to be today or a thousand years hence. In judging of the language employed, it is to be borne in mind that with the Lord "a thousand years are as one day." Allowance is to be made for the great vividness of the language. The early Christians, taking some words of revelation too literally, thought the end of all things was to be in their day. We go to the opposite extreme, and put it far off. It is intended that the Church, in all times, should have a vivid realization of the end.

II DUTY IN VIEW OF THE NEARNESS OF THE END.

1. Personal duty.

(1) Calmness. "Be ye therefore of sound mind, and be sober." The two verbs are to the same purport. The first points rather to governing considerations; the second points rather to the effect of governing considerations. Because the end is near, we are not to be imaginative, extravagant, unbalanced. We are to be free even from the intoxication of the coming glory; not driven to idleness, but bringing ordinary prudence to bear on our daily duties; not taking our pleasure, but rather being the more exacting on ourselves.

(2) Calmness unto prayer. "Unto prayer." A calm mind is needed for prayer; prayer, again, reacts on the mind in making it calm. By prayer we quietly refer the determination of the future and of the end to God. The force of the plural seems to be that we are to connect prayer with every event as it transpires; thus shall we be prepared for the last event.

2. Relative duty.

(1) Ministering love in its intensity. "Above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves; for love covereth a multitude of sins." It is presupposed that we are to have love among ourselves; the essential thing is that this love is to have its proper intensity or warmth. Soon the end is to be upon us; why should there be any coldness or disagreements? The apostle does not enjoin without presenting sufficient reason. He goes back, as is his manner, on Old Testament language. Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins". (Pro_10:12) It is the latter clause that is made use of here, with the substitution of "a multitude of sins" for "all sins." It is not difficult to catch the meaning. Where there is rancor or coldness there are constant occasions of variance; where there is good feeling there is a passing by faults in the spirit of forgiveness. For the removal of faults connected with brotherly intercourse, the Church must depend on the fervency of love.

(2) Ministering love in its manifestations. Hospitality. Using hospitality one to another without murmuring." It is taken for granted that we are hospitable. There was greater opportunity when Christians had sometimes to leave their homes, to lose their employment, on account of their religion. Stress is laid here on the quality of this form of ministration. Let it be without murmuring, i.e. at the trouble and expense caused by the hospitality. There is a hint here, which is not unneeded. Our religion requires that we should give out of our means for its support and extension. When we thus give out of our means, in loyalty to our convictions, let us not spoil the giving by murmuring. Exercise of gifts. Rule for their exercise. "According as each hath received a gift, ministering it among yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." All that God graciously bestows on the Church is here called grace; particular manifestations are graces (the words being connected). The grace of God (summing up the particular manifestations, and implying their homogeneity) is manifold, i.e. the gifts graciously bestowed on members of the Church are very varied. Each hath received a gift, i.e. one or more. According to the kind of gift which each hath received we are to minister it. We are not to allow it to be unused; and the rule for its ministration is that we are to use it for the good of the Christian community. This proceeds on our being not absolute owners, but stewards of the gift. As God has bestowed the gift, he has the right to determine the use to which it is to be put; and he intends it for the service, not of the individual (which would be division), but of the society (which preserves unity). What, then, we have to aim at is to be good stewards, i.e. to have the excellence of stewardship fidelity to our trust. Let us see that we faithfully carry out the intention with which the gift was bestowed on us. Application of the rule to speaking. "If any man speaketh, speaking as it were oracles of God." It is a complaint brought against Christian teachers that we assume too much. We assume the existence of God; we assume that the Bible has come from God. We do not argue about these things in the pulpit. We have warrant for taking this course. We proceed on the principle here laid down by the Apostle Peter. In speaking, we speak as it were the oracles of God, i.e. as uttering the Divine thoughts, as giving forth the truths presented to us in God"s book. And it is preaching that answers to this description is an effective uttering of the Divine thoughts, opening of the meaning of Scripture, that is fitted to produce the best results. Application of the rule to doing. "if any man ministereth, ministering as of the strength which God supplieth." We are not to think merely of official ministering. There is a ministering official and unofficial to the young, to the poor, to the sick, to the ignorant, to the erring. The rule for this ministering is here laid down. Whatever service we render to the congregation, or to any section of those who need to be cared for, we are to do it, not as out of our own store of strength, but out of the strength which God supplieth. It is by attention to this rule (difficult, for self will come in, even when we profess to be unselfish) that Christian service is to be purified and elevated. Let us seek, even in our ordinary services, to be filled with the thought of God supplying the strength. End contemplated in the rule. "That in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen." The speaking and the acting are both regulated so that, in all things embraced under these, God is to be glorified, and not we the speakers and actors. It is God"s thoughts we utter, not our own; and so God has the glory for these. It is God"s strength that we employ in service; and so it is to him that we ascribe the enabling power. It is only through Christ"s agency that we can either speak or act; and so when we glorify God, it is through him. The glory and the power we ascribe to God to the ages of ages. To this ascription let us add our hearty "Amen. R.F.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But the end of all things - And so of their wrongs, and your sufferings. Is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer - Temperance helps watchfulness, and both of them help prayer. Watch, that ye may pray; and pray, that ye may watch.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Christian virtues and works:

v. 7. But the end of all things is at hand; be ye, therefore, sober, and watch unto prayer.

v. 8. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves; for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

v. 9. Use hospitality one to another without grudging.

v. 10. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

v. 11. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth; that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

The apostle here guards against the danger of a false security which may follow his comforting assurances in the case of such as misunderstand the meaning of Christian liberty: But the end of all things has come near; be sensible, then, and vigilant toward prayer. As sure as redemption has been earned and salvation is ready for all men, as sure as the Judge of the living and the dead is prepared for the final Judgment and the apparent delay is only another gracious measure on His part to call men to repentance, so sure it is that the end of all things, of that which we commonly designate as heaven and earth, the visible world, is near. This consideration of the nearness of the end is a strong motive for the Christians to exert all diligence in using the time allotted them in the proper way. Their entire conduct should be one that agrees with sound Christian common sense, with that sober-mindedness which should be the strongest characteristic of the children of God. They must put aside all spiritual drowsiness and be wide awake, vigilant, with regard to prayer. In view of the nearness of the end they will be particularly diligent in their intercourse with their heavenly Father, lest the dangers and tribulations of the latter days overcome them. All the cares, joys, and sorrows of life must not be permitted to interfere with their relation toward God.

The conduct of the Christians toward their neighbors must likewise be in line with these considerations: Above all, have the love toward one another fervent, for love covers a mass of sins. That the apostle stresses this point with such emphasis may easily be understood, especially in view of the conditions as they now obtain in the world. Such is the power of selfishness in these last days that the idea of unselfish altruism, of true love, has practically been lost. It is talked about very extensively, even in the relation of states and nations toward one another, but is practiced very little. Therefore all true Christians should distinguish themselves by making the love which they profess to feel an intense, an assiduous, a fervent, a real love, without a trace of selfishness, having only the welfare of their brother in mind. It is this love which is ready to cover and forget even a mass of sins, a feat which would not be possible if their love were of a kind that does not stand tests. Thus love preserves brotherly harmony and unity. It is not a question of magnanimously overlooking one or two little faults, but of forgiving even a multitude of sins, and in forgiving to forget them.

Another proof of this love is indicated in the words: Be hospitable toward each other without murmuring. This was necessary even more in those days of oppression and persecution than it is today, at least in our country. But as recent events abroad show, the time may well come also in this country when oppression will come upon us, making it necessary for us to open our homes to such as have been driven from their homes by persecution. But in any event Christians will be ready to show true hospitality, to receive their brethren and sisters with open arms whenever there is need of it. They will do this, moreover, not with an unwilling murmuring, but with a cordiality flowing out of true love.

A third admonition concerns the work in the congregation: Every one as he has received a gift of grace,—serve one another therewith, as good stewards of the various graces of God. Mark that the apostle expressly states that every Christian has received some gift of grace, some talent which he should employ in the service of the congregation, of the Church of the Lord. Whether this gift is one of preaching, or of teaching, or of praying, or of exhorting, or of organizing, it should be exercised by the Christian. No talent may be hidden away in the ground for specious reasons. But these gifts are not our own to use as we choose, especially not for selfish purposes, for the advancement of various ambitious schemes. In receiving gifts from God, we have become stewards of God, we are responsible to Him; our gifts, according to His will, should be exercised in serving one another, in proving ourselves useful in the work which we are carrying on at God’s command, to the praise and honor of God and to the benefit and salvation of our neighbor.

Two of such special gifts of grace, of the Holy Spirit, the apostle names: if anyone speaks, let him do so as he who utters the words of God; if anyone ministers, let him do so as out of the strength which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power forever and ever, Amen. If anyone has received the gift of speaking, if he holds an office in which he is to declare the oracles of God, Rom 12:6; Num 24:4, he should adhere strictly to these revelations of God as they are contained in His inspired Word. For any man to proclaim himself a Christian teacher and then to preach his own human speculations, or only that which he chooses to consider true in the Bible, is an insult to the Lord. All frivolous handling of the Word also, as when a Christian teacher forgets the dignity of the subject which he is laying before the congregation, cannot be excused on any grounds. In a similar way those that are engaged in ministering, in almsgiving, in taking care of the poor and needy, in assisting in the work of Christian hospitals and hospices, in short, all Christians, as they take part in the work of charity carried on in their midst, should remember that it is, in the last analysis, the work of the Lord which they are doing as His stewards. They will, then, certainly not depend upon their own strength nor seek to further any private schemes in their work, nor will they permit their hands to be idle while there is so much work to do. That gift, that power which God has granted them, and which He wants to continue to supply, they are to use energetically, consistently. It is, in other words, the faithful, conscientious employment of the gifts which God has given to a Christian which he desires from every one of them. And the final aim and purpose will always be that God’s name may be glorified among men more and more. For it is from Him, as the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that we have received faith and the fruit of faith, and thus also the power to praise and magnify His holy name through the works which we perform in the building and maintaining of His kingdom. The power of God becomes operative through Jesus Christ, to whom we give all praise and power in all eternity.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

These words are brought by our apostle as a fresh argument to persuade the Christian Jews to the practice of sincere holiness: the end of all things, that is, of the Jewish state and polity, their city, their temple, and worship, is at hand, the fatal destruction of Jerusalem is now very near, therefore be ye sober and temperate in all things; watch, that the day of visitation overtake you not unawares, and pray for the averting of God’s wrath, and that ye be not overwhelmed in it.

Learn hence, That sobriety, watchfulness, and prayer, are very requisite and needful qualifications to prepare and fit persons for every coming and appearance of Christ to judgment; be it his particular coming to some, or his universal coming to all, at the end of the world.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ARGUMENT 20

THE DIVINE AGAPEE HIDES THE MULTITUDE OF SINS

7. Every New Testament writer constantly reminds us that the personal Savior is speedily coming back to this world, not to suffer and to die, but to conquer and to reign. The laxity of the churches in heeding this stirring admonition largely accounts for the lamentable apostasy at the present day. The graveyard preaching, to say the least, is unapostolic. Their grand incentive to holiness was the constant expectation of their coming Lord.

8. “Before all things having divine love steadfast toward one another, because divine love hides a multitude of sins.” It is much to be regretted that the English translation has not revealed the difference between human and divine love, as the Greek does by using entirely different words, i.e., agapee, divine love, and filia, human love. The former is the divine nature imparted by the Holy Ghost in regeneration. Rom 5:5, “The agapee of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.” This agapee makes you a Christian, while sanctification destroys its enemy, the carnal mind, and leaves it to reign in your heart without a rival. “Charity” in your English is a wrong translation, agapee having no such a meaning. When the English Church made the translation in 1611 she was full of Romish fog. While true religion makes all salvation God’s work, false religion makes it the work of man. Heathenism, Mohammedanism, Romanism, and all other dead churches, make salvation the work of man, while the Gospel makes it the work of God only. Charity is the work of man. Hence it is magnified and made a condition of salvation. “This divine agapee hides a multitude of sins. Oh, how true because it hides all you have. It does not make you blind to the sins of others, but when perfected by the cleansing blood makes you a very acute discerner of all evil, at the same time flooding you with love and bipartial philanthropy for all. While divine love is exotic in all human hearts, having been transferred by the Holy Ghost from the heart of God, human love is indigenous, being born in us, perfectly compatible with inherited depravity and, of course, utterly destitute of salvation. The rich man in hell loved his brethren so that he wanted to send them a missionary to save their souls. Popular churches for ages have been filled up with members on a profession of love, when it is nothing but human love and utterly destitute of salvation. How can I discriminate between the divine and the human love in my heart?

(a) When the Holy Ghost pours out the divine agapee into your heart, he is certain to notify you.

(b) When you have the divine agapee you will love your enemies and love all people without regard to race, sect or color.

9. This love makes you truly and genuinely philanthropic and hospitable.

10. It is a boundless thesaurus of heavenly grace out of which the saints minister holy benefactions indiscriminately.

11. “If any one speak as the oracles of God.” The Bible is the only authority, and this divine agapee the whole sum and substance of the Christian religion. The sectarian creeds were made during the Dark Ages, when not one man in a thousand could read. At that time an effort to focalize Bible truth into a small compass and thereby facilitate instruction, was perhaps apologetical. Now all the people can read, hence the credistic ages, to say the least, have come and gone, leaving the blessed Bible sole victor of the field. If you believe your creed to be true, of course you find it in the Bible. So preach the truth from the Bible, saying nothing about your creed, and you will glorify God, remembering that your creed will not be mentioned when you stand before the great White Throne, while you will certainly be judged by the whole Bible. “As of the strength which God supplieth in order that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ...” Here is the criterion of all soul-saving work. We are to preach nothing but the Word of God; not by the power of our intellect and learning, but by the “strength” which God supplies, i.e., with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Oh, the counterfeit preaching passed off for gospel.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7–11. The end of all things is at hand. The end of Jerusalem was not far off, and it does not seem that it was given to Peter to distinguish clearly between that and the end of all things, which truly draweth near. Watch unto prayer. Compare 1 Thess. 5:6, 8, and Matt. 24:42.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

The end of all things

This refers to the end of the world at Christ's second coming.

is coming

The end that will happen soon is spoken of as if it is physically coming closer in distance. AT: "will soon happen" (See: Metaphor)

be of sound mind, and be sober in your thinking

These two phrases mean basically the same thing. Peter uses them to emphasize the need to think clearly about life since the end of the world is near. (See: Parallelism)

be sober in your thinking

Here the word "sober" refers to mental clarity and alertness. See how you translated this in 1 Peter 1:13. AT: "control your thoughts" or "be careful about what you think" (See: Idiom)

Above all things

"Most importantly of all"

for love covers a multitude of sins

Peter describes "love" as if it were a person who places a cover over the sins of others. Possible meanings are 1) "for a person who loves will not try to find out if another person has sinned" or 2) "for a person who loves will forgive the sins of other people, even if those sins are many" (See: Personification and Metaphor)

Be hospitable

Show kindness to and welcome guests and travelers

translationWords

mind

pray

love

sin

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

7–11. Having urged the necessity of terminating the regime of sin, St Peter next gives a summary of what life according to God in the Spirit should be. It is a life of sober-mindedness, of watchful prayer, of strenuous love, of faithful stewardship in administering God’s varied gifts of grace, so that in all things God may be glorified in them as members of Christ, to whom be glory and dominion to endless ages, Amen.

7. πάντων δὲ τὸ τέλος ἤγγικεν. The mention of God’s readiness to judge both the quick and the dead leads St Peter to remind his readers that the end of all things has drawn nearer. Our Lord compared the coming of the Son of Man to the Flood, as coming unexpectedly upon those who were living in careless, self-indulgent ease, eating and drinking, and He warned His disciples to watch (γρηγορεῖτε) and not prove wicked servants who eat and drink with the drunken. St Luke in a parallel passage represents St Peter as asking whether the warning to watch is addressed to all, and in reply our Lord shews the special responsibility of “the faithful and wise steward” (οἰκονόμος) who is appointed to give out food to the Master’s household. The persecution of Christ’s followers for His name and the preaching of the Gospel among all nations were to be signs of His coming and “then shall the end come,” Mat 24:14. Thus there seem to be constant echoes of our Lord’s teaching all through this passage of St Peter: (a) The allusion to the Flood (1Pe 3:20 and? 1Pe 4:6). (b) The surprise of the Gentiles when Christians refuse to join in their drunkenness and immorality may be a comparison with the conduct of Noah’s contemporaries. (c) The special responsibility of those who are “stewards (οἰκονόμοι) of the manifold grace of God.” (d) The persecution of Christians in Christ’s name as a sign that the judgment is beginning. (e) Indirectly the fact that his Gentile readers are representatives of “all the nations” to whom the Gospel was to be preached would be another of the signs predicted by our Lord that the “end had drawn nearer.”

σωφρογήσατε οὖν, be ye therefore of sound mind. The verb is used of the Gadarene demoniac being restored to his right mind, Mar 5:15; Luk 8:35, and in contrast to being “beside oneself” in 2Co 5:13. In Rom 12:3 it is opposed to ὑπερφρονεῖν and in Tit 2:6 it is used in the sense of being sober-minded. In 4Ma 1:31 σωφροσύνη is defined as ἐπικράτεια τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν. So here in view of the approaching “end of all things” Christians are bidden to be sober-minded, not carried away by self-indulgence nor by unhealthy excitement.

νήψατε εἰς προσευχάς, cf. Mar 14:38; Luk 21:36. For νήψατε, cf. 1Pe 1:13; all their faculties must be under control and quietly devoted to prayer.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7-5:11.] General exhortations with reference to behaviour within the Christian body, in contemplation of the approaching end. This portion of the Epistle falls into three sections: 7-11, Christian and social duties, in consideration of the end being at hand: 12-19, Christian bearing of suffering, in the same consideration: 5:1-11, ecclesiastical and general mutual ministrations: passing off into fervent general exhortations and aspirations.

7.] But (the connexion is close with what had gone before: the ἑτοίμως ἔχοντι of ver. 5 is in the Apostle’s mind: and he passes, with it before him, from considerations external to the church, to those affecting its internal condition) the end of all things (not, ‘of all men:’ nor as Œc. altern. is τέλος, the τέλος πάντων προφητῶν· τοῦτο δὲ ἀληθεῖ λόγῳ, ὁ χριστός: but simply the end, as in reff. Observe the emphatically prefixed πάντων, almost bearing the sense of τούτων πάντων: as Bengel: “Finis adeoque etiam petulantiæ malorum et passionum piorum”) is at hand (on this being the constant expectation of the apostolic age, see Act 1:7, note: 1Th 4:15, note): be therefore of temperate mind (see note on 1Ti 2:9), and be sober unto (with a view to) prayers (the τάς before προσευχάς, which Tischdf. in his 7th edition has again inserted [not in edn. 8], as probably omitted in &c., because its force was not perceived, may just as well be regarded as an insertion owing to the plural seeming strange, which has also led to the correction into προσευχήν in ms. 13. Possibly Polycarp’s νήφοντες πρὸς τὰς εὐχάς, ad Phil. 7, p. 1012, led to the change. At all events, where subjective considerations are so equivocal, it is our simple duty to follow the most ancient testimonies),

8]. above all things (πρὸ πάντων, as Wies. well remarks, not placing love above prayer, but because all social life and duty must presuppose love as its necessary bond and condition. Here again it is just as likely that the δέ was inserted because there seemed to be no immediate connexion, as that it was omitted to produce that connexion), having your love towards one another (on ἑαυτούς in this sense, see note, Col 3:13) intense (see ch. 1:22. “Amor jam præsupponitur: ut sit vehemens, præcipitur.” Beng.): because love covereth a multitude of sins (from ref. Prov., except that there it is כָּל־פְּשָׁעִים, all sins. The LXX have translated this word wrongly πάντας τοὺς μὴ φιλονεικοῦντας. De Wette denies the reference, seeing that if St. Peter had cited from the Heb., he would in all probability have written πάσας τὰς ἁμαρτίας, or rather πάντα τὰ ἀδικήματα, as in Pro 17:9: and thinks, on account of the verbal correspondence with ref. James, that the expression was a proverb in common use. But even if so, there can be no reasonable doubt that Pro 10:12 was the source of it: so that it comes to nearly the same thing. As to the meaning, the words here are used in a different reference from that in St. James, where see note. Here it is the hiding of offences (both from one another and in God’s sight: see below) by mutual forbearance and forgiveness, which is meant. This has been recently denied by De Wette and Huther, the former understanding the sins rather as those of the Christian body, which mutual love keeps back from being committed, and the latter not excluding the other meaning. They would understand the words, as of old Œc., ὁ μὲν γὰρ εἰς τὸν πλησίον ἔλεος, τὸν θεὸν ἡμῖν ἵλεων ποιεῖ, and many Commentators both Romanist (not Estius) and Protestant, that love causes God to overlook a multitude of sins. This they do partly on account of ἁμαρτιῶν, which they maintain cannot well be applied to the mutual offences of common life (see however Mat 18:15, ἐὰν ἁμαρτήσῃ εἰς σὲ ὁ ἀδελφός σου) and partly on account of ὅτι, which “indicare videtur incitamentum aliquod, quo Christianus amor commendatur” (Hottinger in De W.). And doubtless there is something in this latter consideration, especially when we remember that the nearness of the divine judgment is a pressing motive throughout these exhortations. I do not see why we should not take the saying in its widest reference, understanding it primarily perhaps of forgiveness, but then also of that prevention of sin by kindliness of word and deed, and also that intercession for sin in prayer, which are the constant fruits of fervent love. It is a truth from which we need not shrink, that every sin which love hides from man’s sight, is hidden in God’s sight also. There is but One efficient cause of the hiding of sin; but mutual love applies that cause: draws the universal cover over the particular sin. This meaning, as long as it is not perverted into the thought that love towards others covers a man’s own sin ‘ex promerito,’ need not and should not be excluded):—

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Is at hand [ηγγικεν] . Lit., has come near. The word constantly used of the coming of Christ and his kingdom. See Mt 3:2; Mr 1:15; Luk 10:9; Heb 10:25.

Be ye sober [σωφρονησατε] . The word is from swv, sound, and frhn, the mind. Therefore, as Rev., be ye of sound mind. Compare Mr 5:15. Watch [νηψατε] . See on ch. 1Pe 1:13. The A. V. has followed the Vulgate, vigilate (watch). Rev. is better : be sober.

Unto prayer [εις προσευχας] . Lit., prayers. The plural is used designedly : prayers of all kinds, private or public. Tynd. renders, Be ye discreet and sober, that ye may be apt to prayers. Compare Eph 6:18, "with every kind of prayer, and watching thereunto."

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.