But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
Resuming 1 Peter 4:5.
The end of all things - therefore also of the wantonness (1 Peter 4:3-4) of the wicked, and of the sufferings of the righteous. The nearness is not that of time, but that before the Lord; as he explains, 2 Peter 3:8-9, to guard against misapprehension, and defends God from the charge of procrastination. We live in the last dispensation, not like the Jews under the Old Testament. The Lord will come as a thief: He is "ready" (1 Peter 4:5) to judge the world at any moment: it is only God's long-suffering, that the Gospel may be preached as a witness to all nations, that lengthens out the time which is with Him still as nothing. Sober, х soofroneesate (G4993)] - 'self-restrained.' The opposite duties to the sins, 1 Peter 4:3, are inculcated. "Sober," the opposite of "lasciviousness" (1 Peter 4:3).
Watch, х neepsate (G3525)] - 'be soberly vigilant;' not intoxicated with worldly cares and pleasures. Temperance promotes wakefulness; both promote prayer. Drink makes drowsy; drowsiness prevents prayer.
Prayer - Greek, 'prayers:' the end for which we should exercise vigilance.