1 Peter 4:1Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

“With the same thought” means “with the same striving,” or “with the same purpose.” The preposition κατά is lacking, because the expression is elliptical.

After recounting the divine economy of salvation, the Lord’s descent into Hades, and why He descended there, namely, for the salvation of those held in Hades, the apostle finds in the Lord’s death another occasion for exhortation to virtue.

If Christ died for us in the flesh, certainly not in His immortal and divine nature, then we also, in repayment to Him, must die to sin for His sake. We must no longer yield to human desires.

Rather, for the remaining time in the flesh, we must live only according to the will of God. For he who suffers in the flesh ceases from sin. “He who suffers” is put for “he who has died.”

So that men might believe in Him as the Savior of all, according to His economic acceptance of what was due to Him, He shows the sufferings of His body. This was spoken by the mouth of the prophet as though from His own person: "I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard. I did not hide My face from shame and spitting" (Is. 50:6).

In all these expressions spoken concerning Christ, we understand not two, not God separately and man separately, for He was One. We distinguish the nature of each only in thought. For Peter did not have two in mind when he said, "as Christ suffered for us in the flesh."

Therefore the Apostle himself said that Christ suffered not in the Godhead, but in the flesh, for us. Thus the sufferings are understood as not belonging by nature to the Word Himself, but as belonging by nature to the flesh itself. If the body belonged to another, then the sufferings would be called the sufferings of that other. But if this is the flesh of the Word, for "the Word became flesh" (Jn 1:14), then the sufferings of the flesh must be called the sufferings of Him whose flesh it is.

Christ suffered not in the Godhead, but in the flesh. For God is always impassible. He suffered in the flesh, as the Apostle teaches, so that from His wound salvation might flow to the whole human race, as the prophet Isaiah also foretold; see Is. 53:5. For Christ suffered for our sins, that righteousness might be granted to us.

Each of the saints who surrendered his body to torment at the hands of cruel persecutors undoubtedly abstained from sins to the end of his life, as far as human nature can bear.

For could one think of committing sin or of fleshly lusts? Could one turn his soul toward anything but the will of God, while crucified, stoned, thrown to beasts, raised upon a pyre, scourged with lashes, or subjected to other torments of any kind?

Such a man was compelled to desire only this: to receive the crown of life when this single combat was completed.

Therefore blessed Peter wishes us always to imitate their disposition, since the example of the Lord's sufferings has been given to us.

We believe that in Christ there are two natures, Godhead and humanity, united in one person yet unconfused. Therefore Christ our Lord is perfect God and perfect man, Who suffered for us.

But He suffered and died according to His human nature, not according to His Godhead. For the Godhead is passionless. It cannot endure pain, suffer from sickness, or die, but always remains unchangeably in its all-perfect blessedness.

Christ our God suffered in His soul and in His body, as was said above, while His Godhead remained passionless in His suffering.

Therefore beware, Christian, of attributing pain and suffering to Christ's Godhead. Read and listen attentively to the Church hymns read on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, and you will see this yourself.

“Arm yourselves with the same thought,” that is, rouse yourselves to the same dispositions that moved Jesus Christ to suffer for others. He suffered innocently, patiently, and humbly.

Christians must nourish the same feelings within themselves, so as to attain the same victory over sin that Jesus Christ won over death and the devil. For “he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.”

Here sufferings for the faith, for Christ, are meant. After such sufferings, life according to the will of God must begin for a man, a life pleasing to God and holy.

“Therefore, since Christ suffered,” and so forth. The apostle thus returns again to the thought of Christ’s sufferings (1 Pet 3:18), in order to ground new moral instructions to Christians upon it.

By this he shows that both the preceding and the following development of his instructions proceed from the thought of Christ’s sufferings.

“In the flesh.” The word “flesh” is taken here in the same sense as in 1 Pet 3:18. It means the bodily constitution of man in general, to which Christ’s death extended (1 Pet 3:18), ending His sufferings for us.

This means not only for those converted to Christ, but for the whole human race.

Instructions against the seductive sensual pleasures of the pagans (1 Pet. 4:1-7). The pagans were dangerous to Christians not only through threats and oppression, but also through various sinful enticements of sensuality. Against these enticements the Apostle urges every kind of resistance to the pagans and ascetic labors that humble the flesh. "For he who suffers in the flesh," whether through voluntary struggles of self-restraint or through violent oppression from outside, "has ceased from sin."

Having spoken earlier, in verse 17 of chapter 3, about the benefit of suffering without guilt, and having pointed to the great example in this regard, Jesus Christ Himself, the apostle now draws a conclusion from all this.

Reminding them that Jesus Christ suffered bodily, he speaks of the benefit of bodily sufferings in particular. In one who suffers bodily, the passions inevitably fall silent, and the sufferer's soul more often has occasion to turn to God for help.

Christians who crucify their flesh in sufferings in some way die to fleshly, sinful life. Therefore, as those free from sin, they must live wholly according to the will of God.

These words contain an instruction like that given in the commandment of Christ the Savior: "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me" (Mt 16:24). Only one who follows in His steps can be a true disciple of Christ.

Christ endured voluntary sufferings and death for us. "Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow His steps" (1 Pet 2:21). But how can this be fulfilled if there is no occasion to endure torments and death for faith in Christ?

Even without entering the contests of confession and martyrdom, one may become like confessors and martyrs through the thought of Christ's sufferings: since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind.