Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

1 Peter 4:18

1 Peter 4:18. And if the righteous with difficulty is saved, the ungodly and sinner, where shall he appear? These words are taken from the Greek translation of Proverbs 11:31. As they stand in the Hebrew text, their sense is somewhat doubtful. According to some, they mean simply that ‘if the righteous man has his reward on earth, much more shall the unrighteous man have his punishment.' According to others, they mean that ‘if the righteous man is recompensed on earth for his sins, much more shall the unrighteous man be requited for his sins.' It is the latter idea that appears in the free translation of the Septuagint, and it is this that Peter follows. The words ‘in the earth' show that in Proverbs the requital in view is that which comes in the form of temporal blessings and chastisements. These words are omitted in the Greek Version as well as here. The word rendered ‘scarcely' by the A. V., the R. V., and most of the old English Versions, has the sense of hardly, not quite, in the Classics, although its primitive sense was ‘with pains,' ‘with toil.' In the New Testament it seems to mean ‘with difficulty' (Acts 14:18; Acts 27:7-8; perhaps even Romans 5:7), as also in the Book of Wisdom (Wis 9:16), where it corresponds to ‘with labour.' Here, therefore, it does not express any uncertainty or incompleteness in the grace of salvation, but indicates with what difficulty and at what cost even the man who is in a right relation with God, is made secure in the judgment. And if that is so, how shall it be with the man who, as being both careless of God and in practice a sinner, is in a wrong relation to the Judge? The utmost emphasis is given to the description of the person, by putting the words ‘the ungodly and sinner' before the interrogative ‘where.' Again the question is left to suggest its own solemn answer, an answer which is given in Psalms 1:5. It is observed that the term ‘sinner' was almost a synonym for ‘Gentile' one outside the pale of God's people. Interrogations like these are hard indeed to square with the idea that in Peter's view the end of the despisers of grace was to be restoration.

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

1 Peter 4:18

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