Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Peter 4:5

οἵ. For this abrupt and emphatic use of the relative, cf. Romans 3:8.

δίδοναι or ἀποδίδοναι λόγον is used of rendering account in Matthew 12:36; Luke 16:2; Acts 19:40; Romans 14:12; Hebrews 4:13; Hebrews 13:17.

τῷ ἑτοίμως κρίνοντι. The T.R. reads ἑτοίμως ἔχοντι κρῖναι for which phrase cf. Acts 21:13; 2 Corinthians 12:14 and ἐν ἑτοίμῳ ἔχειν, 2 Corinthians 10:6.

Bengel explains “Paratus est Judex; nam evangelio praedicato nil nisi finis restat.” The living will soon have heard the Gospel, the dead have already done so, therefore all is ready for the judgment. But the reading of the best MSS. ἑτοίμως κρίνοντι means not so much that the judgment is ready to be executed but that God judges readily “with the unerring precision of perfect knowledge” (Chase, Hastings D. of B. III. 795). He knows the opportunities which He has afforded to all and their consequent responsibility in accepting or rejecting His message.

ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς, the judgment of “the quick and the dead” is referred to again only in St Peter’s speech to Cornelius, Acts 10:42, where Christ is the appointed Judge and in 2 Timothy 4:1, but cf. Romans 14:9. Here the personality of the Judge is not stated, but in 1 Peter 1:17; 1 Peter 2:23 God is spoken of as judging.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Peter 4:5

Old Testament

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