Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Peter 4:9

φιλόξενοι. The duty of hospitality to strangers, commended by our Lord, Matthew 25:35, is also enjoined in Romans 12:13 and Hebrews 13:2. In 1 Timothy 3:2 and Titus 1:8 it is demanded as one of the special qualifications for an ἐπίσκοπος. In the primitive Church Christian travellers would be exposed to certain annoyance and possible danger unless the Christians of the place received them into their houses, and without such aid the missions of itinerant preachers (ἀπόστολοι) would have been almost impossible (cf. Titus 3:13; 3 John 1:6-8; 3 John 1:10; Philemon 1:22; Romans 16:1; 1 Corinthians 9:4-14). At the same time such hospitality must have been a somewhat serious tax upon Christians who were by no means well off, and from the regulations given in the Didache we gather that there was before long a real danger that unscrupulous strangers might impose upon the generosity of the Church.

So here St Peter urges his readers to exercise hospitality ungrudgingly, remembering that any gifts which they possess, whether in worldly goods or faculties for service, are only entrusted to them as stewards to use them for God. For the duty of giving cheerfully, cf. 2 Corinthians 9:7; Romans 12:8. In this latter passage, as here, charitable duties are coupled with those of preaching, teaching or ministering, as varied χαρίσματα given by God to the several members of the Body of Christ.

For γογγυσμός cf. Philippians 2:14.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Peter 4:9

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