James 4
1 Peter 4 is a chapter that urges believers on how they should live their lives even in suffering. It emphasizes that, by following the example of Christ’s suffering, they must live not according to their former lives but according to God’s will. It asks them to keep living a life of prayer, loving one another and serving one another amid distress and trials. At the end, it delivers a message of comfort and hope to Christians who are suffering.
1verseWhere do wars and fightings among you come from? Don’t they come from your pleasures that war in your members?
2verseYou lust, and don’t have. You murder and covet, and can’t obtain. You fight and make war. You don’t have, because you don’t ask.
3verseYou ask, and don’t receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
4verseYou adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
5verseOr do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously”?
6verseBut he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
7verseBe subject therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8verseDraw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9verseLament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10verseHumble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.
11verseDon’t speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother and judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
12verseOnly one is the lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge another?
13verseCome now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow let’s go into this city and spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.”
14verseYet you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
15verseFor you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.”
16verseBut now you glory in your boasting. All such boasting is evil.
17verseTo him therefore who knows to do good and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.
Structure and Key Content
- Verses 1–6: An exhortation to follow Christ’s suffering, cut off past cravings for pleasure, and pursue the will of God
- Verses 7–11: Because everything is approaching its end, be instructed to pray, love one another, and serve according to each one’s gifts
- Verses 12–19: Encouragement not to be surprised when suffering, but rather to rejoice and follow God’s will by doing good
The Meaning of 1 Peter Chapter 4
This chapter sheds fresh light on the meaning of suffering. It says that suffering received for believing in Christ is not something to be ashamed of, but a matter of giving glory to God. It also reminds readers to break free from the cravings of the flesh and from their old ways, and that the true life of faith is practicing love and service within the community.
Points to Reflect On
- Can I connect the difficulties and sufferings I experience to Christ’s suffering?
- How much is the life of loving one another and serving with one’s gifts being applied to my life right now?
- To what extent am I obeying the exhortation, “Be prayerful and alert”?
Try Applying It to Yourself
- Even in difficult circumstances, I resolve to overcome with gratitude and joy by looking to God.
- I pray that through the gifts and roles given to me, I will become a source of strength to someone and take one step further in loving and serving for the sake of the community.
- I make a decision to stay close to prayer and Scripture and to live a life that holds on to God’s will even amid suffering.
As part of Coupang Partners activities, this post may earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
