Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh,
Christ Jesus has suffered death for us when He didn't deserve it.
arm yourselves also with the same purpose,
We must also be willing to suffer when we don't deserve it. Have the same mind-set and thinking processes Jesus had, submitting His will to the Father's.
because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,
Someone who is willing to face opposition and persecution for his faith is not likely to fall back into a sinful lifestyle.
so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
This person will live the rest of his life seeking God's will for him, not looking for how to gratify fleshly desires.
For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles,
These hearers have been saved out of sensuous lifestyles, and have already done all they could do in living worldly. That is all past now.
having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.
These are all the facets of the lifestyle they have left to follow Christ.
In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you;
Now all their old friends don't understand this change, and they just want them to do what they always did before. They don't want to admit that this change is really possible, so they mis-characterize it by accusing and slandering.
But they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
Those "friends" that are not willing to see this change honestly and turn to the Lord themselves, also; but push against the good, choosing to destroy themselves; they will be judged for that, too.
For the Gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.
This is a difficult verse to understand. So we must go to scriptures we do understand to shed some light on this.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians to deal with some situations that were going on there.
One thing was that there was a member of their congregation who was committing incest with his father's wife, and they were "puffed up" in tolerating this situation rather than disciplining this man (I Corinthians 5:1-2). Paul told them to kick him out of the local church, delivering him unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord Jesus (I Corinthians 5:5). This man could have died.
This assumes that the offender here is a Christian. And it turns out that he was, because he did forsake that relationship and repented and asked them to take him back. In his second letter to them, Paul says to forgive him and take him back: sufficient to such a man is this punishment, ... confirm your love toward him, ... this is why I wrote to you (II Corinthians 2:6-9). So that man didn't die, he returned.
Another issue Paul addressed to the church at Corinth was how they observed the Lord's Supper, or Communion. He said that they should examine themselves so that they wouldn't partake "unworthily"; and because they were not doing this, For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep (I Corinthians 11:30). This means that, because they did not take seriously the import of this ordinance, God was causing some of them to fail in their physical health, and some had even died.
This did not mean that they didn't have faith, but God wants us to have a good witness to the World, so if His child is straying and refusing to come back, or is causing God's reputation to be tarnished, then He is not beyond taking that child out of the Earthly picture; but he will still enter into the Kingdom as His child.
So I would understand this verse in I Peter 4:6 as those who responded to the Gospel and were saved, but died by reason of judgment for fleshly sins, having returned to their former lifestyles. But they would not lose their Salvation, they would also be raised to Life at the Resurrection.
Let's see how this works out.
Paul says that we will all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ in Romans 14:10, and in II Corinthians 5:10 he says, For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to what he has done, whether it be good or bad.
Paul explains what will happen at this Judgment of the saints:
No man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, each man's work will become evident; for the Day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire (I Corinthians 3:11-15).So we must take care how we live our lives. If we want to honor our Lord and promote His Kingdom, then what we do will withstand the fire and we will get a reward.
But if all we've done is to enjoy God's blessings and spend all His resources on ourselves; or we have done great things to help people, but for our own fame, then those works will be burned up, and we will suffer the loss of any rewards we might have otherwise gotten.
The very next verses here, I Corinthians 3:16-17, say that we are God's Temple here in this life, because the Spirit of God lives in us; so, if any man destroys the Temple of God, God will destroy him, for the Temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.
That is why some Christians die. They have fallen back into those unhealthy lifestyles that detract from our physical health, and have "destroyed the Temple of God."
But that is not for us to judge. God is the judge, and we are not to be condemning any brother or sister, but encouraging them to follow our Lord in His footsteps.
If we "love them back" then they may return in repentance, as that Corinthian brother did. But even if they don't, then it still is not for us to judge if they were believers or not.
In any wise, we who have been born into His family will not ever be "unborn" to be lost again. Some will have great rewards, some few, and some may not have hardly any at all.
But we all will enjoy our great Prize, our Lord Jesus Christ! He is our Bridegroom, our Brother, our King; and we will live with Him forever!
O my Father,, thank You for all the wonderful plans You have made for all of Your Creation! You have purpose for everything You have made, and every detail will add to the great Story, the Tapestry of Time, the Great Symphony of the Ages!
You have told us everything we need to know to come to You, to learn who You are and how You see us, and how we are to respond to You and live for You. Your encouragement and promises are precious! You have told us that You will reward us just for letting You work through us by Your Holy Spirit living in us! You are doing the work, yet we are rewarded for it! You are Amazing!
Father, please help all of Your children to understand how important it is for us to avoid all of the seductions of the enemy to "live on the edge" instead of seeking You and Your ways with all our hearts. The enemy only wants to destroy our testimonies, to nullify our efforts to grow Your Kingdom.
And You are very serious about fulfilling Your Plan of the Ages. If you tell one of Your children to put themself out in the line of fire, and they don't realize that You will sustain them through it and they back out, then You will have someone else do it (See Esther 4:14).
Or when one of Your children spoils the picture of Your character, You are very serious about how we understand who You are, so they will also suffer a major loss, as Moses did, by striking the Rock instead of speaking to it, and was not allowed to enter the Promised Land after all that 40 years. That Rock was a picture of Jesus, who only died once (I Corinthians 10:14).
O Father, help your children to take You seriously! To realize how important it is to submit our wills to Yours every time we are tempted to take matters into our own hands. Father, whenever we do that, we get into trouble and mess things up. And we must suffer the consequences.
You are Holy! You are God! You have ultimate Authority! You will receive all the Glory, all the Accolades and Applause, all the Credit for all You have done!
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord over all, to the glory of God the Father!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
