The conception that the consummation of all things is at hand fills the thought of the section with urgency. All work is to be done in that spirit of earnest, prayerful readiness that all life may prove a practical thanksgiving to God as it reflects the life of Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 4:8. love covereth a multitude of sins (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:5 f., James 5:20 *). The love of Christ covers sins (Luke 7:47); and love of the brethren, flowing as it does from the love of Christ, may be regarded as a kind of secondary atonement. Brother becomes a Christ to brother, and in so far as he renews the great Sacrifice, becomes a partaker in its effects and a channel through which the effects are made operative for others (Bigg).
1 Peter 4:9. hospitality: this new conception was one of the greatest contributions of the Christian Church to the society of the time. This and all the gifts subsequently named are to be used with the clear recollection that they are God's gifts. As Gunkel says, the peculiar - gifts-' of the early Church are no longer ours, but the ideal of a community in which each serves his neighbour, and in which each regards his position as a call of God this remains with us.