Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Peter 4:15

γάρ. I assume that you suffer in Christ's name as representing Him and bearing only the reproach which attaches to it per se. The crimes of which slanderers had accused Christians are given in the order of probability and are selected as belonging to the pattern. Christ Himself was implicitly accused thereof by His persecutors and acquitted of each by independent witnesses, as the Gospels are at pains to show. He suffered the fate from which the murderer was preserved (Acts 3:14) by the petition of the Jews; shared it with thieves or brigands, being delivered up to the secular arm as a malefactor (John 18:30). Such slanders the Christian must rebut for the credit of his Lord; that he must not be guilty of such crimes goes without saying. ἀλλοτριεπίσκοπος is distinguished from the preceding accusations by the insertion of ὡς; it is also an addition to the pattern of Christ, unless stress be laid on the sneer, He saved others. The word was apparently coined to express the idea of the itinerant philosopher of whatever sect current among the unphilosophical. Epictetus defends the true Cynic against this very calumny; he is a messenger sent from Zeus to men to show them concerning good and evil (Arrian, iii. 22, 23) … a spy of what is helpful and harmful to me … he approaches all men, cares for all (ib. 81) … neither meddler περίεργος nor busybody is such an one; for he is not busy about alien things τὰ ἀλλότρια πολυπραγμονεῖ when he inspects the actions and relations of mankind ὅταν τὰ ἀνθρώπινα ἐπισκοπῇ (ib. 97). This zeal for the welfare of others was certainly the most obvious charge to bring against Christians, who indeed were not always content to testify by good behaviour without word. St. Paul heard of some at Thessalonica, μηδὲν ἐργαζομένους ἀλλὰ περιεργαζομἔνους (2 Thessalonians 3:2). Women generally if unattached were prone to be not merely idle but meddlers speaking what they should not (1 Timothy 5:13). So St. Peter (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:27) has emphasised the duty of all Christians even of the wives of heathen husbands to preach Christianity only by example and now deprecates their acquiescence in what some might reckon a title of honour. The fate of Socrates is the classical example of the suffering of such; and later one philosopher was scourged and another beheaded for denunciation of the alliance of Titus with Berenice (Dio Cassius, lxvi. 15). Punishment of this offence would depend on the power of the other man concerned who, if not in authority, would naturally utilise mob-law like Demetrius (Acts 19.).

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Peter 4:15

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