For the time of having the judgment begin from the house of God [is come]; but if first from us, what [shall be] the end of those who obey not the glad tidings of God?
God's house is where He dwells. Peter says that is where His judgment starts. So why does God begin with His own people? And what does that mean for everyone else?
Peter does not describe something far off. Even in the apostles' own day, something was visible in the church that God's Spirit marked out for judgment.
I say this on the authority of the word of God. Even then, at the very beginning, something was going on outwardly which the Spirit of God could discern. He could testify to it as the ground of final judgment, though it was already showing itself in the church of God.
The pattern is older than the church. When God judged Jerusalem in Ezekiel's day, He fixed the starting point Himself.
When God begins to judge He will begin at the circle nearest to Himself, for He shows no partiality. It was so in the days of Ezekiel. The people had defiled the house of the Lord with their idols, and the city of Jerusalem was about to be struck. The Lord told the men charged with carrying out His judgment to begin at His sanctuary (Ezekiel 9:6). So when God begins to judge the world, He will begin at His own house.
For Peter's first readers, that judgment came as persecution.
These early Christians had to accept the fires of persecution. God permitted them, to purify His house. We all know there is nothing like persecution for weeding the false out from among the true.
Commentators differ on how heavy the word "judgment" is here. In one reading, God is governing His own household now, dealing with evil among believers as He did at Corinth.
It would be contrary to the nature of God to allow evil to pass unnoticed in His own house. This judgment of God in His house is wholly a matter of His government, and it applies to the present time. It has to do with believers... We have a solemn example of this in the Corinthian assembly. Some behaved in an unworthy way, so God chastened them, as we read: "That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died" (1 Corinthians 11:30).
Others take it more heavily. For them this is wrath, not correction, and it falls on what only bears the name of Christ.
This is not, as some have thought, mere discipline. Discipline was always the portion of those God loves (Hebrews 12:6). This is judgment in the sense of the execution of wrath... God will not let any of His own perish. But what professes the name of Christ in this world will come under His judgment, just as surely as the sanctuary where He had lived for centuries.
Grace does not cancel God's right to judge those who turn from Him. William Kelly sees the confidence that ruined Judah repeating itself.
No doubt salvation was always of God and in sovereign grace... But from the first God kept His right to judge every turning away from Him. And no one should confess sin so readily and so thoroughly as those who admit that everything they enjoy and boast in comes from His grace. The plague-spot in Christendom, as in Israel, is this: at its most guilty and apostate, it still claims the immunity that belongs to God's purposes of grace. Judah's claims were never higher, and its sense of security never louder, than on the eve of unsparing judgment.
The verse ends with a question, not an answer, and it points at those outside. God does not overlook failure in the family He loves. So what hope is left for the person who refuses His good news?
It is a great thing to remember the government of God. It begins with us. He has His own blessed purpose to work out in our souls. If He lets suffering and trial come in, we do not like it, but He sees the need. But if judgment begins with us, what will the end of the gospel rejecter be? This is a serious question for all such.
- Begins now. Peter's judgment was not a distant threat. What called for it was visible in the apostles' own day.
- Begins nearest. God starts with the circle closest to Himself. Ezekiel 9 sets the pattern: "begin at my sanctuary."
- Begins as chastening. For believers this is God's government of His household now. Evil is not passed over; at Corinth He chastened it. Others read the word more heavily, as wrath on what only bears Christ's name.
- Begins by exposing false security. Privilege is no shelter. Judah was loudest about its safety on the eve of ruin. Claiming grace as immunity is the plague-spot of Christendom too.
- Ends elsewhere. Judgment starts with those God loves. So Peter's closing question presses hardest on those who will not obey the gospel.
And if the righteous is difficultly saved, where shall the impious and [the] sinner appear?
Peter ends his words on suffering with a question that has unsettled readers ever since. If God's own people only just get through, where does that leave those who never obeyed the gospel? Everything turns on one word — "scarcely." Does it mean a doubtful outcome, or a hard road?
Commentators agree the word describes a hard journey, not a doubtful arrival.
The words "scarcely saved," used of the righteous, hardly give the true sense. They mean, "If the righteous is saved with difficulty." That does not suggest any uncertainty about their being saved. Remember, the salvation in this letter is the full and final deliverance of the believer when Christ comes in glory.
What makes the way so hard? And what brings the believer through?
The righteous saved with difficulty! Yes — because it takes in all the conflict and opposition of every principle of the world and of the power of the enemy. It takes in all the trial and danger that lie along their path. God's power, through faith, keeps the Christian and brings him safely through to the glorious end.
The greatest obstacle was never the road ahead. It was our sins — and Christ dealt with them at the cross.
God has undertaken to save the righteous, though it is with difficulty. They face a staggering mass of opposition and trial, and their own utter weakness as well. All this makes it hard indeed. But what we cannot get past is an opening for the glory of God. He has got over the greatest difficulty, for that difficulty lay in our sins. Is sin — even all sin — any longer a difficulty for Christ? Has He not blotted out the believer's sins and made peace by the blood of His cross? No difficulty is left for God, but there are many for us. The words "the righteous scarcely are saved" have to do with our dangers along the way.
We learn this word by experience, when life sifts us.
We can understand the word "scarcely" when our path is sifted. It does not mean that the salvation which comes from God is uncertain or imperfect. It teaches us that salvation must come from God, and that we need it all the time. Salvation is finished and complete in itself, yet faith grasps it as always needed, as if our whole life were one long series of escapes.
The verse follows Peter's word that God's judgment begins at His own house. That judgment is happening now, and it falls on His own people.
It would go against the nature of God to let evil pass unnoticed in His own house. This judgment in His house is wholly a matter of how He governs His people, and it applies to the present time. It concerns believers, for the Apostle has only "living stones" in view. We have a solemn example of this in the church at Corinth. Because some behaved unworthily, God chastened them, as we read, "That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died" (1 Corinthians 11:30).
Their persecution was part of that same dealing.
These early Christians had to accept these fires of persecution as allowed by God to purify His house. We all know there is nothing like persecution for weeding out the false from among the true.
Peter asks where the ungodly will appear, and then he stops. One writer answers from elsewhere in Scripture.
If the righteous are saved with difficulty — that is, through the discipline of trial, sorrow and distress — where will the ungodly appear, who have not known such things? The answer is not given here, but Revelation 20:11-15 is plain. They will appear before the Great White Throne, be judged according to their works, and cast into the lake of fire. If a believer feels tempted to envy the unbeliever, let him stop and think how differently their two paths end.
The same argument rules out any comfortable idea that everyone arrives at the same destination in the end.
He evidently knew well enough that no one with any show of truth could turn round and say, "Why, of course, the end of those that obey not the Gospel will be just the same as that of those who obey."
The righteous person in this verse is himself a sinner saved by grace.
If the righteous — the sinner saved by grace — can scarcely be saved as he walks through the wilderness, if it takes the very power of God to keep him, what will be the fate of the ungodly and the sinner? So when the believer suffers, he commits his soul to the One who is able to sustain him and carry him through.
- Difficult — "Scarcely" means "with difficulty." The road is hard, but the arrival is sure.
- Difficult for whom — The difficulties are ours, not God's. Our sins were the one real obstacle, and Christ removed them at the cross.
- Kept — The way is that hard, so God's power brings the believer through, not his own. Salvation is complete in itself, yet needed every day.
- Home first — God starts with His own house. He corrects His people now, because He will not let evil pass unnoticed there.
- Then the rest — If judgment starts with those He loves, the question about the ungodly answers itself. So the sufferer commits his soul to the One who can carry him through.