Ver. 1. Christ hath suffered] As 1 Peter 3:18. In the flesh] In human nature; so must we suffer in sinful nature, subduing it to God, and ceasing from sin, hailing it and nailing it to the cross of Christ. First have sin to the cross of Christ; force it before the tree on which he suffered: it is such a sight as sin cannot abide. It will begin to die within us upon the first sight of Christ upon the cross. For the cross of Christ accuseth sin, shameth it, and by a secret virtue feedeth upon the very heart of it. 2. Use sin as Christ was used when he was made sin for us; lift it up, and make it naked by confession to God. And then pierce, 1. The hands of it, in respect of operation, that it may work no more. 2. The feet of it, in respect of progression, that it go no further. 3. The heart, in respect of affection, that it may be loved no longer.
Ver. 2. That he no longer, &c.] To spend the span of his transitory life after the ways of one’s own heart is to perish for ever.
Ver. 3. For the time past of our life may suffice us] We may every one say with Austin, Nimis sero te amavi Domine. It should be a burden to our souls that we begin no sooner to love God. In lasciviousness, lusts, &c.] The true picture of a pagan conversation, which yet is too common among those that call themselves Christians. The world is now grown perfectly profane, and can play on the Lord’s day without book; making it as Bacchus’ orgies, rather than God’s holy day, with piping, dancing, drinking, drabbing, &c. We may say as once Alsted of his Germans, that if the Sabbath Day should be named according to their observing of it, Daemoniacus potius quam Dominicus diceretur, it should be called not God’s day, but the devil’s. Excess of wine] οινοφλυγιαις, or, red and rich faces, as they call them. Revellings] κωμοις, stinks, saith the Syriac; drunkards are stinkards; as Luther called the Swenckfeldians, stink-feldians, fro m the ill savour of their opinions. Tacitus tells us that among the old Germans, it was no disgrace counted to continue drinking and spewing night and day, Diem noctemque continuare potando. Banquetings] Gr. ποτοις, compotations, or good fellow meetings; some render it bibbings, sippings, tipplings, sitting long at it, though not to an alienation of the mind. How much more when they leave not till they have drank the three “outs” first; viz. Wit out of the head, money out of the purse, and ale out of the pot! And abominable idolatries] Some idolatries then, say the Papists, are not abominable. A sweet inference. That all Papists are idolaters, Dr Reynolds hath plainly and plentifully proved in his learned work De idololatria Romana, never yet answered. Weston writeth that his head ached in reading it. But what a poor shift is that of Vasquez, expressly to maintain that the second commandment belonged to the Jews only; as holding it impossible to answer our arguments against their image worship? Other Popish writers utterly disannul the second commandment, making it a member of the first; and so, retaining the words, they destroy the sense and interpretation.
Ver. 4. They think it strange] Gr. ξενιζονται. That they think it a new world, marvelling what i s come to you of late. It is I, said the harlot; but it is not I, said the convert, At ego non sum. Into the same excess] Gr. αναχυσιν, bubbling or boiling, as the raging sea foaming out its own filth.
Ver. 5. Who shall give account] Of their ungodly deeds and hard speeches, Jude 15. Angels did their first execution in the world upon luxurious Sodomites; they will be very active doubtless against such at the last day. See 2 Peter 2:10, and mark that word, chiefly.
Ver. 6. For for this cause] [See Trapp on “1Pe 3:19”] That they might be judged] Either by God chastising them, 1 Corinthians 11:32, or by themselves, 1 Corinthians 11:31. The gospel melts the hearts of God’s elect with voluntary grief for sin, it makes them condemn themselves in the flesh. But live according to God] The Father of spirits, with whom the spirits of just men departed are made perfect, Hebrews 12:23. Eusebius and Austin make mention of certain Arabians, who said that the soul dies with the body, and revives not again till the resurrection of the body. This old heresy is now, among many others, dug out of the grave, and held by certain sectarians among us.
Ver. 7. Be ye therefore sober, &c.] To be sober in prayer (saith one) is to pray with due respect to God’s majesty, without trifling or vain babbling; to let our words be few, Ecclesiastes 5:3. Also it is to keep God’s counsel, not to be proud or boast of success, or speak of the secret sweetnes., of God’s love without calling; it is to conceal the familiarity of God in secret. Or, it is to submit our will to the will of God; being well pleased that He is in any way glorified, though we be not every way gratified. And watch unto prayer] Against dulness of body, drowsiness of spirit, Satanical suggestions, distractive motions, which else will muster and swarm in the heart like the flies of Egypt.