1 Peter 4:1

Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with that thought, because whoever has suffered in the flesh has come to a parting of the ways with sin.

Looking back to 1:13, we see Peter exhorting us to buckle the belts of our minds for action, keeping level-headed, setting our hope entirely on the grace that will be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Notice that in 4:1 Peter continues his appeal to us to prepare our minds. The principle that the true mortification of the flesh proceeds from the mind is prevalent throughout the NT (Romans 7:24-25, 8:5-6, 12:2; 2 Corinthians 3:14, 4:4-18; Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 1:21-23, 3:2, 3:10-12). Peter is exhorting us, in the very midst of our affliction, to look to Christ and His suffering and to ever keep before us in the front of our minds the thought that Christ has already suffered greatly on our behalf, and has done so in the flesh. In this is great hope and encouragement for the believer who is in the flame of persecution - to know that God of very God has suffered in the flesh before you as an example for you! In the previous chapter, Peter has just exhorted them to patience in doing good because of the example of Christ. In this verse he teaches us that because Christ suffered in the flesh we should deny ourselves, parting ways with sin and joining Him in suffering (see also Romans 6). The words “arm yourselves” here suggest that in the suffering of Christ we are truly supplied with every effectual weapon we need in order to subdue our flesh. This verse reminds us that if we would mortify the flesh, we must look to Christ and the efficacy of His suffering (death). It also reminds us that when we find ourselves suffering for righteousness’ sake, in that very suffering we are actual partakers in the power of His death! Now remember, the one who is in Christ is dead to sin (Romans 6). In the application of the death of Christ to our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are freed from sin’s dominion over our flesh. Therefore, Peter says, when we suffer in the flesh for doing good we are suffering as Christ did, and the very suffering itself is evidence that we have come to a parting of the ways with sin. Peter is teaching here that the very suffering that we experience for doing good is designed by God to produce in us perseverance and hope – which is exactly what his immediate audience was in need of! Suffering for righteousness’ sake is proof to the believer that he is denying his flesh and is being conformed to the very image of Christ Himself in His death (see Philippians 3:9-10).

Another point worthy of notice is Peter’s usage twice of the word “flesh”. It is used in two distinctly different senses. In the first usage of the term, where he says that Christ suffered in the flesh, what he means there is that the “mannishness” of Christ suffered and died. That nature which Christ took upon Himself, emptying Himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming like a human being (Philippians 2). Christ, as a man, naturally died. In the second usage of the term, he is using it in reference to us, meaning the corruption and sinfulness of our nature. Therefore what Peter means by the phrase “suffered in the flesh” here signifies the denying of ourselves. There is a great and deep truth here. Christ took on our flesh and suffered in it for our sake. Therefore, the whole of our flesh ought to be crucified: this is the heart of the doctrine of redemption.