1Peter 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
1Peter 4:2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
If we take the sufferings and death of Jesus to be ours. We cannot, therefore, love the sin for which such sufferings were endured. A professing Christian must have nothing to do with the old corruptions; neither must lead the rest of his/her life, which they have to spend here below, according to the sinful lusts of carnal men, but according to the holy will of God.
That he no longer should live. That is, he has become, through the death of Christ, dead to the world and to the former things which influenced him, in order that he should hereafter not live to the lusts of the flesh. The person who is crucified spiritually has no more need or desire to again live according to the flesh, to the lusts of men, than Christ has need or desire of returning to the world and taking upon himself a body of flesh as he once did.
By the lusts of men, he means the corrupt desires and sinful ways of carnal men, to which we are not to conform ourselves, or make them the rule of our living, {Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.}
To the lusts of men. Such lusts as men commonly live for and indulge in. Some of these are declared in the 1Peter 4:3.
1Peter 4:3 For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:
1Peter 4:4 Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you:
The worldly, ungodly, unsaved think it strange that you do not engage in the worlds sins any longer. Their enjoyment is in them, and they cannot understand how one can enjoy life without them. It is strange to a carnal, worldly, unsaved person to see the child of God disdain the pleasures of sin; The ungodly does not know or understand the higher and purer delights and pleasures that the Christian is called to.
On account of your former life they wonder why you shun their company, and do not run with them into the same slough of dissoluteness, reviling you on that account and calling you unsocial, and making you every where objects of scorn.
Wherein they think it strange. In respect to which vices, they who were once your partners and accomplices now think it strange that you no longer unite with them. They do not understand the reasons why you have left them. They regard you as abandoning a course of life which has much to attract and to make life merry, for a severe and gloomy superstition. This is a true account of the feelings which the wicked people of the world have when their companions and friends leave them and become Christians. It is to them a strange and unaccountable thing, that they give up the pleasures of the world for a course of life which to them seems to promise anything but happiness. Even the kindred of the Savior regarded him as "beside himself," (Mark 3:21 And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.,) and Festus supposed that Paul was mad, Acts 26:24 And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.
There is almost nothing which the wicked people of the world so little comprehend as the reasons which influence those with ample means of worldly enjoyment to leave the circles of gaiety and vanity, and to give themselves to the serious employments of religion. The name of fool, enthusiast, fanatic, are terms which frequently occur to the wicked peoples heart to denote this, even if they are not always allowed to escape from the lips. The reasons why they esteem this so strange, are the following:
(1.) They do not appreciate the motives which influence those who leave them. The wicked, worldly and unsaved feel that it is proper to enjoy the world, and to make life cheerful, and they do not understand what it is to act under a deep sense of responsibility to God, and with reference to eternity. The wicked, worldly and unsaved live for themselves. They seek happiness as the end and aim of life. They have never been accustomed to direct the mind onward to another world, and to the account which they must soon render at the bar of God. Unaccustomed to act from any higher motives than those which pertain to the present world, they cannot appreciate the conduct of those who begin to live and act for eternity.
(2.) The wicked, worldly and unsaved do not, yet see the guilt and folly of sinful pleasures. They are not convinced of the deep sinfulness of the human soul, and they to think it strange that others should abandon a course of life which seems them so innocent. They do not see why those who have been so long accustomed to these indulgences should have changed their opinions, and why they now regard those things as sinful which they once considered to be harmless.
(3.) The wicked, worldly and unsaved do not see the force of the argument for religion. Not having the views of the unspeakable importance of religious truth and duty which Christians now have, they wonder that they should break off from the course of life which they formerly pursued, and separate from the mass of their fellow-men. Hence they sometimes regard the conduct of Christians as amiable weakness; sometimes as superstition; sometimes as sheer folly; sometimes as madness; and sometimes as sourness and misanthropy. In all respects they think it is strange.
Speaking evil of you. The wicked, worldly and unsaved use harsh and reproachful epithets of those who would not unite with them in their revelry. They call them fools, fanatics, hypocrites, etc. They blaspheme God, and they charge Christians with crime, they use language fitted to injure the feelings, the character, the reputation of those who would no longer unite with them in the worldly ways of vice and folly.
Speaking evil; Greek, blaspheming, or speaking evil; of you: not only of their speaking evil of believers, as void of humanity and enemies to civil society, but of God and the Christian religion, as a dull, morose, sour way, and which they could not embrace without renouncing all mirth and cheerfulness.
The unconverted, wicked, worldly and unsaved do not apprehend the divine source of the Christian's happiness. They do not know that their corrupt mode of securing worldly happiness will totally destroy that of the Christian, if they should participate with them. Therefore it appears strange to them that the Christians do not go with them in their worldly, riotous habits, carnal pleasures.
The change which the grace of God produces in the character and conduct of men, especially of the openly vicious, often appears to their former companions strange; and the unconverted, wicked, worldly and unsaved are apt to impute it to bad motives, and to speak evil of it, because they are condemned by it.
Here you have the visible change wrought in those who in the foregoing verse were represented as having been in the former part of their life very wicked. They no longer run on in the same courses, or with the same companions, as they used to do. So we now observe the conduct of their wicked acquaintance towards them.
1. They think it strange, they are surprised and wonder at it, as at something new and unusual, that their old friends should be so much altered, and not run with as much violence as they used to do to the same excess of riot, to the same sottish excesses and luxury which before they had greedily and madly followed.
2. They speak evil of them. Their surprise carries them to blasphemy. They speak evil of their persons, of their way, their religion, and their God. Now learn here that...
(1.) Those that are once really converted are not willing to return to their former course of life, though ever so much tempted by the frowns or flatteries of others to do so. Neither persuasion nor reproach will prevail with them to be or to do as they were accustomed to do.
(2.) The temper and behavior of true Christians seem very strange to ungodly men. The worldly and ungodly think it strange that Christians despise that which every one else is fond of, that they believe many things which to others seem incredible, that they should delight in what is irksome and tedious to the worldly, be zealous where they have no visible interest to serve, and depend so much upon hope, is what the ungodly cannot comprehend.
2Corinthians 5:15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
1Peter 1:14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
1John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Acts 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: