1 Peter 4:10

As every man hath received the gift. — There is no definite article in the-Greek, which might be rendered, According as every man was gifted. They are reminded, as in 1 Corinthians 4:7, that the gift was received, and for the same purpose. At what period these gifts were received it is hard to say, as in some instances the gift was of a spiritual nature, in others of a temporal nature. Each, however, has a gift of some kind for the benefit of the community.

Even so minister. — In the original, ministering. It is still an exhibition of the “intense charity” of 1 Peter 4:8. The verb is the same as in 1 Peter 1:12, where see Note.

As good stewards. — No one receives these gifts, spiritual or temporal, as his own; he is but a “steward,” and when he offers them to the Church it is not as a benefactor, but as a servant, “ministering.”

Of the manifold grace of God. — “Grace” is here used, not in its theological sense, but, as in 1 Peter 3:7, in the sense of bountiful giving; and the beautiful word rendered “manifold” brings out the subtle and picturesque variety with which God arranges and distributes His bounty. But the emphatic word of the sentence is “of God.”