The Armor of a Finished Man Text: 1 Peter 4:1-6
Introduction: The Great Reversal
The Christian life is a life of principled warfare. It is not a life of quiet contemplation in a monastery, detached from the grit and grime of the world. It is a life lived on the front lines, in enemy occupied territory. And on the front lines, you need armor. You need a settled purpose. You need to know what you are fighting for and what you are fighting against. The Apostle Peter, writing to scattered and pressured Christians, is not giving them sentimental encouragements. He is issuing them their battle gear.
The central conflict of all history is the conflict between the will of God and the lusts of men. These are two mutually exclusive, totally antithetical ways of life. One is the way of submission, fruitfulness, and life. The other is the way of rebellion, futility, and death. There is no middle ground, no truce, and no possibility of a negotiated peace. You are either living for the applause of heaven or for the fleeting pleasures of a world that is passing away. You are either oriented toward the will of a transcendent Creator or you are enslaved to the disordered passions of the creature.
Our text today presents us with what we might call the great reversal. The world looks at the Christian life, particularly a life that embraces suffering for the sake of righteousness, and it sees foolishness. It sees loss. It sees a man throwing his life away. But God looks at that same man and sees a man who has ceased from sin. The world looks at its own debauchery and calls it freedom. God looks at it and marks it down in His book for a future, and very certain, court date. The world looks at a martyred saint and sees a tragic end. God looks at that same saint and says that the gospel was preached to him precisely so that, though judged and condemned by men, he might truly live. Peter is arming us with this divine perspective. He is teaching us to see things as God sees them, which is the only way to see things as they actually are.
The Text
Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to no longer live the rest of the time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For the time already past is sufficient for you to have worked out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, maligning you, but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge theliving and the dead. For to this the gospel has been proclaimed even to those who are now dead, so that though they were judged in the flesh as men, they live in the spirit according to the will of God.
(1 Peter 4:1-6 LSB)
The Logic of the Cross (v. 1-2)
We begin with the logical connection to everything Peter has said before.
"Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to no longer live the rest of the time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God." (1 Peter 4:1-2)
The "therefore" anchors us in the reality of Christ's own suffering (1 Pet. 3:18). Christ suffered unjustly, in the flesh, and it accomplished our salvation. Because this is true, we are to "arm" ourselves with the same mind, the same purpose. The Christian life is not a drift; it is a deliberate, strategic arming of the mind. The primary weapon we are given here is a settled conviction about suffering. The purpose of Christ was to do the will of His Father, even though it meant immense suffering. Our purpose is to be the same.
Then Peter gives us a startling theological principle: "he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin." This does not mean that if you get a bad case of the flu or are persecuted by your boss you will attain sinless perfection. That is a kind of sentimental pietism the Bible knows nothing about. The Greek word for "ceased" means to be done with, to have a clean break from. The point is about a decisive change in allegiance. When a man is willing to suffer for righteousness, when he is willing to accept loss, scorn, and pain rather than compromise with the world, he has demonstrated that sin is no longer his master. He has made a clean break. The choice to suffer rather than to sin is the evidence that the power of sin has been broken in his life. Sin's primary weapon is the threat of pain and the promise of pleasure. The man who has armed himself with the mind of Christ has disarmed sin. He is saying, "You can't threaten me with that anymore. I serve another king."
Verse 2 clarifies the result of this armed mindset. It is a radical reorientation of your entire life. Your time "in the flesh", meaning, your mortal life in this body, is no longer to be governed by the "lusts of men" but by the "will of God." This is the great exchange. You were once a slave to your own appetites, and the appetites of the fallen world around you. But in Christ, you have been set free for a new obedience. You have been liberated from the tyranny of your own lusts in order to live for the glorious will of your Creator. This is not a trade from freedom to slavery; it is a trade from slavery to true freedom.
Enough is Enough (v. 3)
Peter then reminds his readers of their past, not to induce shame, but to stiffen their resolve.
"For the time already past is sufficient for you to have worked out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries." (1 Peter 4:3)
There is a holy bluntness here. "The time already past is sufficient." Enough is enough. You have already wasted enough of your life serving a false god, which is ultimately the god of self. The "desire of the Gentiles" is a summary of the pagan worldview. It is a life lived without reference to the true God, and when you remove the true God, all that is left is the mud.
And Peter gives us a catalogue of that mud. "Sensuality" refers to a life without moral restraint. "Lusts" are the evil desires that drive such a life. "Drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties" all point to the loss of self control through substance abuse, a desperate attempt to find joy and fellowship apart from God. And it all culminates in "abominable idolatries." All this sin is fundamentally religious. It is the worship of the creature rather than the Creator. The pagan world was shot through with this, from their temple prostitutes to their drunken festivals in honor of false gods. And our modern world is no different; it has simply changed the names of the idols. The idol of Aphrodite is now the idol of pornography. The idol of Bacchus is now the weekend binge. The fundamental religion is the same: the worship of self-gratification.
Peter's point is that for the Christian, that chapter is closed. You have graduated. You have done your time in that prison. To go back to it would be as foolish as a free man volunteering to return to his chains.
The Surprise of the World (v. 4-5)
This radical change in lifestyle will not go unnoticed by the world. It will be met with confusion and hostility.
"In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, maligning you, but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead." (1 Peter 4:4-5)
When you stop running with the pack, the pack turns on you. Your old friends are "surprised." They think it is strange. Why? Because your new life is a quiet, steady rebuke to their own. Your sobriety condemns their drunkenness. Your chastity condemns their license. Your self-control condemns their dissipation. They don't understand it, and because it makes them uncomfortable, they "malign" you. They speak evil of you. They will call your holiness pride. They will call your convictions bigotry. They will call your faithfulness foolishness.
This is to be expected. If you are not being slandered by the world, it is likely because the world does not see much of a difference between you and it. When your life is a clear testimony to the will of God, it will necessarily be an offense to those who are still in rebellion against Him.
But there is a great comfort here. Their judgment of you is temporary and irrelevant. There is a higher court, and the ultimate Judge is seated and ready. They will give an account. Every slanderous word, every debauched act, every moment of rebellion will be brought into the light before "Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead." This is not a future event in the sense that Christ is idle now. He is Lord now. His judgment is an ongoing reality, but it will have its final consummation. This fact should fill the believer with courage. The verdict of the world is nothing. The verdict of Christ is everything.
The Vindication of the Dead (v. 6)
This final verse is notoriously difficult, but in the context, its meaning becomes clear. It is a word of profound encouragement concerning those who have gone before us.
"For to this the gospel has been proclaimed even to those who are now dead, so that though they were judged in the flesh as men, they live in the spirit according to the will of God." (1 Peter 4:6)
Some have twisted this verse to support a second chance for salvation after death. But this is to rip it from its context and ignore the clear teaching of Scripture elsewhere (Heb. 9:27). Peter is not talking about preaching to disembodied souls in some purgatorial waiting room. He is talking about believers who heard the gospel while they were alive, and who have since died, many of them as martyrs.
Think of the slander from the pagans. They would point to a Christian who had been thrown to the lions and say, "See? Your faith is useless. You were judged just like any other man. You died. Where is your God now?" Peter's response is a thunderclap. He says the very reason the gospel was preached to them when they were alive was for this exact outcome. "So that though they were judged in the flesh as men", that is, though they suffered the ultimate human judgment, physical death, at the hands of wicked men, "they live in the spirit according to the will of God."
The world's verdict was "guilty," and the sentence was death. But God's verdict is "righteous," and the result is eternal life. Their death was not a defeat; it was their entrance into glory. The gospel they believed in their life is vindicated in their death. The world thought it was silencing them, but it was merely sending them home. This is the ultimate great reversal. The world's judgment is overturned by the divine reality. They live. And they live according to God, not according to the failed standards of men.
Conclusion: Living as Finished Men
This passage calls us to live as finished men. It calls us to consider our old life of sin a closed case, a time that is "sufficient." It calls us to arm our minds with the purpose of Christ, which is to say that we would rather suffer doing the will of God than to find pleasure in the lusts of men. This is the mindset that has ceased from sin, that has broken its power.
This will make you strange to the world. Let it. Your strangeness is a testimony. Your willingness to suffer is a sermon. And your confidence in the final judgment is your strength.
And when you look at the saints who have gone before, those who were maligned, persecuted, and killed, do not see them as victims. See them as victors. They were judged in the flesh, but they are alive in the spirit. The gospel they lived for was true. The God they died for is faithful. And the Judge who will vindicate them, and you, is ready. Therefore, arm yourselves. The battle is real, but the outcome is secure.