4:4
When we live differently people will notice. We are to preach the gospel with our lives and with words, the two go together. The reaction at times may not be pleasant. If a new convert turns away from debauched behaviour it will surprise people, and they may feel convicted for it calls into question the way they live. The initial response may be to heap abuse on us. Now if we have been Christians for a long time there may come times when at work, or in some other context, our refusal to go along with a particular course of action may bring criticism or worse. We need to understand why this is, and to respond with quiet determination.
4:5
We also need to understand those who engage in wrong behaviour will have to give an account to God, the one who judges the living and the dead. We need to understand that while we are saved by grace, receiving complete forgiveness for all our sins, past, present and future, this does not mean that it doesn’t matter how we live. How we live, and how the world lives, manifestly does matter.
4:6
This is another verse that is a little difficult to interpret. There are some who take it as meaning that people are given a second chance to accept Christ after they die, but this has to be rejected as it goes against the whole teaching of Scripture. More likely Peter is talking about those who have died. Some may have asked, what was the point in believing if they died anyway? So what Peter is saying is that everyone is subject to physical death, this is part of the judgement upon all humanity as a consequence of our sin. But we are alive in regard of the Spirit. This has an effect now in the way that we live, and has an effect after we die in that we will be raised to new life on the last day.
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