What Does 1 Peter 4:19 Mean?

(19) **Wherefore.**—Because the beginning of the judgment—the judgment of the Christians—is so light in comparison with the fearful end when it lights on the disobedient and wicked. **Let them that suffer according to the will of God.**—Our version omits an important little word: *Let them that suffer also* (or, *Let even them that suffer*)* according to the will of God.* The stress is on “suffer”—*i.e., *be put to death. And the clause, “according to the will of God,” seems not intended to mean “in a godly and unblameable manner,” as opposed to the “suffering as a murderer” (1Peter 4:15); rather, it brings out that such a death is no accident, no sudden calamity, but in strict accordance with God’s prearranged design. (Comp. 1Peter 3:17 : “if the will of God will it.”) Thus it harmonises with the following: “faithful Creator,” “commit their souls.” **Commit the keeping of their souls**.—The beautiful verb rendered “commit the keeping of” is a technical term for *depositing* a deed, or sum of money, or other valuable, with any one in trust. In the literal sense it occurs in Luke 12:48; 2Timothy 1:12 : in a metaphorical sense, of *doctrines* committed in trust to the safe keeping of the Episcopate, in 1Timothy 1:18; 1Timothy 6:20; 2Timothy 1:14; 2Timothy 2:2 : of leaving *persons* whom you love in trust, in Acts 14:23; Acts 20:32. But the words which St. Peter probably has ringing in his ears when he thus writes are the words of our Lord on the cross (where the same verb is used): “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit” (Luke 23:46). “Their souls” might, perhaps, with still more propriety, be here translated *their lives.* The connection will then be: “Consider the mildness of these trials compared with the terrors overhanging the sinful. Even if the worst should come to the worst, and you must die a martyr’s death, it is but the execution of God’s plan for you. View your life as a deposit: lay it confidently in His hands, to be returned to you again when the time comes: and you will find Him faithful to what a Creator ought to be.” **A faithful Creator.**—The word “faithful” is used in reference to the “deposit” placed in His hands; and the title “Creator” seems to be chosen here rather than “Father,” or the like, because creation of the soul includes not only the giving of its existence but the shaping of its destiny. “The will of God,” in accordance with which they “suffer,” is part of the act of creation. The noble expression, however, contains the idea that the act of creation imposes duties and responsibilities upon the Creator. It is conceivable that some powerful being (not our God) might create, and be careless of the happiness or of the moral welfare or of the mutual relations of his creatures. Such a creator would be “unfaithful:” we should have a right to expect differently of him. But God is a “faithful Creator.” “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” **In well doing.**—In the Greek these words come emphatically last. (Comp. 1Peter 3:17.) **Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission. **Bible Hub