“Now ‘If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?'” (1 Peter 4:18).
It is often difficult to maintain clarity when we are in the midst of an affliction or distressing situation. The pain of our experience may sometimes cloud our ability to look beyond our circumstances to see God’s objective in allowing such things. Knowing that the path of salvation is often difficult, we should pray and seek God’s empowerment to meet those challenges in a way that honors Him.
With this in mind, the Apostle Peter makes an allusion to Proverbs 11:31 in the penultimate verse of this chapter. While we might naturally expect the “…ungodly and the sinner” to be recompensed for their actions, this passage reminds us that God does not exempt His own people from trial and suffering, either. The following commentator unpacks these concepts for us…
“In this verse, Peter contrasted the intensity of the two experiences of suffering, by disciples now and by unbelievers in the future. It is ‘with difficulty’ that righteous people pass through this phase of our existence into the next phase, because this phase involves suffering for us. ‘Saved’ (Gr. sozetai) here means ‘delivered,’ in the sense of being delivered from this life into the next. Yet it will be even more difficult (‘What will become of …?’) for godless people to pass from this phase of their lives to the next, because they will have to undergo God’s wrath. Their future sufferings will be far more intense than our present sufferings.
The purpose of Peter’s quoting Proverbs 11:31 (loosely) was to show that the Old Testament also taught that both the righteous and the wicked will receive from the Lord. The point in the proverb is that: since God rewards the righteous on earth, how much more can we count on His rewarding wicked sinners! If God disciplines His own children, how much more severely will He deal with those who are not His children?! Our sufferings are light compared with those the ungodly will experience in the future.” (1)
Thus, the trials and persecutions we encounter serve a dual purpose. In a positive sense, they produce a purifying effect upon our lives and provide demonstrable evidence of our faith. From a negative perspective, they illustrate God’s righteousness in judging those who are “…godless and sinful” (CEB). So our response to life’s challenges serves to reveal our true nature and identity, no matter what form those challenges take. This holds true for those who are God’s people, as well as those who are not.
(1) Constable, Thomas. DD, Notes on 1 Peter 2023 Edition “2. Suffering as Christians 4:15-19” [4:18] https://www.planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/html/nt/1peter/1peter.htm