1 Peter 4:1-6 – Adopting the call to a renewed attitude and conduct

Since Christ had successfully endured His suffering, believers should also arm themselves with the same attitude and purpose as Him. As Christ suffered and died, so also should the believers emulate Him and be willing to go through their suffering. What exactly did Peter mean when he said, “… he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin ...”? Peter was very likely referring to the baptism that he mentioned earlier. He wanted them to know that they had identified with Christ in His suffering, and death in water baptism. Due to that, they should now conduct their lives in a new way. Believers should no longer live the rest of their earthly life to gratify the sinful passion of their basal and carnal nature. They should instead live for the holy will of God.

In verse 3, Peter delineated some of those sinful activities of their past indulgences. The list of activities was mainly sex and alcohol related. He told them that they had spent far too much time in those unsavory practices. He wanted them to take action and change course now. In fact, the changes of some of the believers were so obvious that their persecutors were taken by surprise. They were puzzled that those regenerated believers would no longer do the same things as them, and so they slandered them. Peter wanted them to know that their persecutors would eventually have to answer to God, who would be sitting in judgment. It implies that they should, therefore, not return to their former lifestyle.

Peter’s point in verse 6 is this: some Christians who received the Gospel preached to them had already died. In their physical death, they had experienced judgment for their sins. They now lived on in a new spiritual realm of life since they were believers. Peter’s assertion was that physical death is sin's last effect on believers during their earthly lives. He was not implying that one could have another chance to hear the Gospel after death.

What Peter is asking believers to do can be traced to the very call that Jesus made for all His followers. What He instructed them to do is also what He is calling us to do today. He is still saying to us, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”