1 Peter 4:18 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And if the righteous, &c.— St. Peter having, in the preceding verse, compared the case of the Christians with that of the unbelieving Jews, he intimated that the approaching calamities were only to begin at the house of God; but the end, the weight of the storm, would fall upon the unbelievingJews, because of their refusal of the gospel. But in this verse he seems to have enlarged his view, and to have compared the present case of faithful Christians, to the case of the idolatrous and wicked world at the last day, as he had already done, 1 Peter 4:5. The verse before us is taken from Proverbs 11:31 according to the text. The apostle seems to have quoted the words, not by way of proof, but as alluding to that ancient proverb, and according the words of the Wise King to his present subject. The word scarcely, or with great difficulty, must allude to the difficulties arising to good men in their Christian course, from the dangerous snares and temptations of sin and the world. St. Peter has put it by way of question, Where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? In which he alludes to an earthly court of judicature, where the innocent, or such as are sure of pardon, may appear with courage and cheerfulness; but the guilty are afraid and unwilling to appear at all. The turn of the expression in the original is very lively: The ungodly and the sinner—where shall he appear? It seems as if the apostle were solicitous to lead the sinner to consider where he should hide his head, since wherever he was, he would find God immediately appearingagainst him as an irresistible enemy. This he might say, by way of warning to persecutors, and to encourage Christians to hope and trust that God would vindicate their cause, and preserve them from turning aside to crooked paths.