It is just as important to obey God’s prohibitions as his positive commands.  His requirements for us directly relate to His character and our representation of it.  I ran across today’s command in a search for a NT command to be hospitable.  The Bible’s teaching on this responsibility of all believers is a fascinating study for me, and it needs to be revisited in light of our increasingly self-centered, individualistic, therapeutic culture.  The Greek word for an outsider, the target of hospitality in the Bible is ξένος (XENOS).  The verb form of this word is ξενιζω (XENIZO), but it does not mean alienate. It means to treat an outsider appropriately, or with hospitality, and I searched for an imperative use of this word.  What I found exposed a meaning of ξενιζω that is wholly distinct from what I was after.  But this command is a great study in and for the renewing of our minds.

The Command

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; ” (1 Peter 4:12, NAS)

Here the one-word prohibition is against being caught off-guard.  For many this will be another surprising command, given human nature, at least on the surface.  How can you prohibit someone from being surprised?  If you think about it, though, surprise is a result of ignorance.  You have to discover something you didn’t know before to be surprised.  This is an informative passage that gives you the necessary information to have stability in life despite the inevitable difficulties of being light in a dark world.

The Motivation

Peter calls his audience “beloved.”  The imperative “do not be surprised” or “do not think it strange (KJV)” is not a typical “command” in that Peter is not issuing a general prohibition against sin, like “do not covet.”  He is using the mood of command, the imperative, to encourage them, much as a father would say to a young child, “don’t cry, it’s going to be ok.”  This is a directive from the parent expressing his wish, but it does not seem so much like a command.  If the distraught child keeps crying in despair or some other suffering, would you consider it a problem of disobedience or would you keep trying to console him?  Don’t over-think that one!  Pain is not easily commanded away.

So before you get in the situation that requires consolation, that is, before you find yourself destabilized by circumstances, Peter gives a little pre-emptive guidance.

Hurt is coming for Peter’s Christian audience, hurt that he describes as fiery.  This is inevitable, and it is part of the Christian’s advance.  Look at v16:  suffering as a “Christian” means in the pattern of Jesus Christ.  It is coming, but they don’t have to be in the dark about it.  It doesn’t need to be a shock that testing is coming!  This is a very encouraging passage in which the Apostle Peter gives them a correct view of the mountainous terrain a believer has been called to traverse.  Mountain climbing is an ordeal, but it’s also an invigorating pursuit that compels climbers to suffer through.  And unlike mountain climbing, the suffering of the Christian life is not its own and only reward.  There is an evaluation coming at the end, according to v13, which helps us to contextualize the suffering now.  By “contextualize,” I mean rejoice now in light of exultation then.

The Play on Words

Two related words are used here by Peter that do not seem related in the NAS translation. Something has been lost in the art of the original for the sake of clarity of meaning in English.  What a shame!  In the KJV and NKJV, though, the word strange happens twice, translating a noun (XENOS) and its related verb (XENIZO).  The one verb (XENIZO) has two major and different meanings.  The meanings are disparate in that they are not signifying the same thing, even though their meanings derive from the same idea of being a stranger.  In the go-to Greek lexicon (dictionary) we call BDAG, the editors list these two different meanings:  1) to be hospitable and 2) to be astonished.  Yes, you can be astonished at someone’s hospitality, but these two valid meanings of XENIZO are not really related.  How did they get here?  Hospitality: this is the universally-accepted appropriate way to treat a stranger, at least in a Biblical worldview.  Astonishment:  this is the reaction you have to something strange or unknown.  It is that uncomfortable feeling you have when what you expect differs with what you experience.  The strangeness is the common origin (etymology) of two very different meanings possible from this one word.

This is a good example of how language works.  Words convey meanings commonly accepted within the language community in which they are used, but a particular instance of a word does not communicate meaning until a speaker uses it.  A word that is imparted by its speaker with a specific meaning in his specific context would be a term.

All this is so you can see the play on words intended by Peter.  The verb means “be astonished” but the noun means “a stranger.”  It’s sort of like me saying, “I’m going to the bank by the river bank.”  Little puns like this dot the landscape of our clever interactions with each other, and we find them often in the Bible.

Here’s my translation of v12, in context:

Beloved, do not be astonished (as with strangeness) by the fiery ordeal among you (all) which is coming to you (all) for testing, as though a strange happening is joining you.

This is a neat play on words.  The suffering to which believers have been called is not an unknown, not a stranger causing us to be shocked at the sudden arrival of something foreign and unexpected.  Rather we should be forewarned and forearmed!  Just like Jesus, Who suffered far more for us than we ever could for Him.

Three Thoughts

1.   Suffering (Sanctification):  We should not be surprised that if we’re following our Savior we will be put through some fiery testing.  This is part of God’s revealed will for your life.  A person can endure incredible adversity if he thinks it is for a purpose; yet the slightest pain for no purpose often seems unbearable.  Thanks to Charlie Clough for that last observation!

2.  Revelation (God’s Self-Communication):  We have the Word of God for a purpose.  Part of that purpose is our stability in the face of great adversity.

3.  Theology Proper (Doctrine of God):  Just a subtle note, but one that adds such flavor to our lives:  God is the original Artist, and we find in His Word all sorts of indications that He appreciates form as well as function.  There’s a reason why the Bible is infused with witty statements in narratives, amazing parallels in the poetic books, and even a symmetry in the outplay of history that focuses everything on the Cross. Q: “Why is the sky blue?”  A: “Because God likes blue.”  Of course “God loves the Infantry” too, though Jesus will arrive on the scene mounted (Rev 19:11ff).

Passage to Pray

Psalm 100

Memory Verse

1 Peter 4:12-13

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. ” (1 Peter 4:12–13, NAS)