We are to arm ourselves with the same attitude that Christ had. What attitude did He have? Jesus was prepared to obey God whatever the cost, whatever the suffering demanded of Him, even if this suffering was grossly "unfair". We need to arm ourselves with this attitude. Remember again that it is Peter writing here. he knew how easy it was to give in to our weak desires if were not prepared, as he found out when he denied Jesus. Our natural reaction is to consider it unfair or unreasonable to suffer, we naturally want the easy way. But if we are to conquer sin then we need to be prepared to suffer.
The overriding driving force in our life is to be doing the will of God, not living by earthly desires. Peter's teaching here is very similar of Paul's teaching about living by the flesh and the spirit in Romans 8. Peter here is speaking primarily about overtly sinful actions, such as various forms of debauchery. The world considers it strange that we do not want to join in with its ways, and its ideas of "fun". They may even heap abuse on us because we choose to live differently.
The truth is that at the end all of us will have to give an account to God for how we have lived.
Verse 6 is another difficult verse. Some have seen it as referring to a chance to hear the gospel being given to those who have died. There is not a lot to support this view, and it is out of context with the rest of the letter (not to mention the rest of the Bible). Another view is that it is referring to preaching to the spiritually dead, bringing them to life when they believe. While this is true, again it does not fit in with the current context. The best view seems to be to take it as Peter dealing with what has happened to those who have died in the faith. They died physically, as we all will, because of sin, but they will be raised to new life at the last day.
The overriding driving force in our life is to be doing the will of God, not living by earthly desires. Peter's teaching here is very similar of Paul's teaching about living by the flesh and the spirit in Romans 8. Peter here is speaking primarily about overtly sinful actions, such as various forms of debauchery. The world considers it strange that we do not want to join in with its ways, and its ideas of "fun". They may even heap abuse on us because we choose to live differently.
The truth is that at the end all of us will have to give an account to God for how we have lived.
Verse 6 is another difficult verse. Some have seen it as referring to a chance to hear the gospel being given to those who have died. There is not a lot to support this view, and it is out of context with the rest of the letter (not to mention the rest of the Bible). Another view is that it is referring to preaching to the spiritually dead, bringing them to life when they believe. While this is true, again it does not fit in with the current context. The best view seems to be to take it as Peter dealing with what has happened to those who have died in the faith. They died physically, as we all will, because of sin, but they will be raised to new life at the last day.
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