The Sunday School

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 11, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 44.

The Sunday School

International Series.

LESSON IX.—SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1897.

SALUTARY WARNINGS.

NOTE.—This lesson may be used as a temperance lesson. Read the whole of 1 Peter, committing verses 7 and 8 of chapter 4. It is suggested that the great principles in the lesson be first brought out, then a general application made, and finally a special application of those principles to temperance. This epistle was written about the time of 1 Timothy, between A.D. 64 and 67, during the great persecution under the emperor Nero. In view of this many of the passages in this epistle will have special significance. It was written from Babylon to the churches in northern Asia Minor.

Lesson Scripture, 1 Peter 4: 1-8, R. V.

1 “Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye yourselves also with the same mind; for he that hath suffered 2 in the flesh hath ceased from sin; that ye no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the 3 will of God. For the time past may suffice to have wrought the desire of the Gentiles, and to have walked in lasciviousness, lusts, wine-bibbings, revelings, carousings, and abominable 4 idolatries; wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them into the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you; 5 who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick 6 and the dead. For unto this end was the Gospel preached even to the dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the Spirit. 7 “But the end of all things is at hand; be ye therefore of 8 sound mind, and be sober unto prayer; above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves; for love covereth a multitude of sins.”

Golden Text: “Be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” 1 Peter 4: 7.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

(1) In what way does Peter speak of Christ's suffering for us? Verse 1. (2) What armor does he advise man to adopt for his success in the Christian warfare? Same verse. Note 1. (3) What is said of those who have suffered in the flesh? Same verse. Note 2. (4) What is the purpose of this crucifixion of the flesh? Verse 2. (5) What will it enable us to do? Same verse. (6) After accepting Christ, how much of our life can be given to the pleasures of the world? Verse 3. Note 3. (7) What sins does the apostle mention among those from whom the early Christians had come out? Same verse. Note 4. (8) What surprise was occasioned by the Christians' abstinence from these intemperate revels? Verse 4. (9) To what must they submit from their former associates? Same verse. (10) What will these wicked accusers be called upon to do? Verse 5. (11) To whom does the judgment of God extend? Same verse. (12) Why was the Gospel preached to those who are now dead? Verse 6. Note 5. (13) How would it enable men to live who obeyed its teachings? Same verse. (14) At the time when men are being judged, what is said of the nearness of the end? Verse 7. Note 6. (15) What is it therefore expedient for those to do who would meet the Lord in peace? Same verse. (16) What is one of the great essentials of the Christian life? Verse 8. (17) Why is love such an important factor? Same verse. Note 7.

NOTES.

1. Arm ye yourselves also with the same mind.—The mind of Christ will be an effective armor against all the wiles of the wicked one. The mind of Christ is in every sense an armor. The mind of Christ was a mind subject to the will of the Father and opposed to every evil way. It led him to give up the glories of heaven for the sufferings of earth in the form of humanity—to empty himself of the glory which he had with the Father; to pass unharmed through the fiery trials of Satan's temptations; to submit without reviling to the abuse of the maddened throng and the sufferings of the cross. But it made him a victor; and the Christian who is armed with that mind will be a victor also.

2. Suffered in the flesh.—He who yields to sin will eventually receive in his flesh a natural punishment for his indulgence, and will suffer in the flesh; but it is evidently not that kind of suffering to which the apostle here alludes. Christ suffered in the flesh upon the cross, and previous to that time, because of the sins of the world that were rolled upon him; he suffered in the flesh through the temptations to which he was subjected. The one who would follow Christ suffers in the flesh when he begins to change his former evil course to conform to the divine pattern. Every sinful practise from which he extricates himself is a struggle, a suffering, in the flesh; and the successful struggle with a particular sin makes a cessation from that sin. Through faith and the power of the Spirit he mortifies the lusts and deeds of the flesh. Rom. 8: 13; Col. 3: 5. Thus it is that “he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin.”

3. The time past may suffice.—The idea is that when men have accepted Christ, there is no portion of their future lives which can be given up to the sinful pleasures of the world. We have spent enough time for that already, yea, more than enough. The time that is past can not be altered; and there is enough in it of evil and yielding to worldly pleasure without adding to it after we have come to a knowledge of the things of God.

4. Walked in lasciviousness, etc.—The word in the original is plural, showing that this class of wickedness was seen in manifold forms. The “lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries” were thoroughly intermingled with the idolatrous worship of the heathen world, which placed no bridle upon the vices of sinful hearts, but was rather designed, by the author of such false worship, to encourage them. Such wicked practises were not only countenanced, but in some cases directly enjoined, by the idolatrous worship from which these early Christians had but recently emerged.

5. Unto this end was the Gospel preached.—The preaching of the Gospel serves a twofold purpose. It is a witness and a judge against those who refuse to hearken to its admonitions; and it outlines a way whereby men may live “according to God in the Spirit.” There is a twofold witness against those who will not yield to the Gospel of Christ, the Gospel itself being one, and the man's own condition being the other. The unrepentant sinner is thus judged even “according to men” to be unworthy of what the Gospel holds out to men. The judgment work brought to view in verses 5 and 6 leads up naturally to the opening clause of verse 7.

6. For the end of all things is at hand.—That the apostle is not writing wholly of the days in which he lived may be reasonably inferred from what he says of the writings of the prophets (1 Peter 1: 10-12), which referred not always or wholly to the times in

which they lived, but had met their fulfilment, many of them, in the days in which Peter lived; and also from what he says in 2 Peter 1: 20. In verses 5 and 6 of this lesson Peter had been speaking of the judgment work. When that judgment work begins, then the end of all things will be at hand. Then especially will it behoove the people of God to be sober and to watch unto prayer; for there is a space between the beginning of God's judgment and the time when the Son of man shall appear in the clouds of heaven. See Rev. 14: 7.

7. Love covereth a multitude of sins.—In the first place, the love of God will cover the sins of every repentant sinner from Adam down through to the close of the Christian dispensation, accepting the righteousness of Christ in their stead, putting them as far from him as the east is from the west, casting them into the depths of the sea. In the second place, the love of the Christian for his fellow-man will cause him to cover the sins, mistakes, failures, of that individual from his own eyes, so that he will see in him a struggling soul for whom Christ died. It will enable him to seek for the good there may be in him, and to take up no reproach against him