1 Peter 4:17 is not the Local Church

One of the teachings of the Depart Out belief is that 1 Peter 4:17 is speaking of the local church. We will see that this is another false tenet of that false system.    Based on this verse they teach that God is now judging the present local church and that is why believers are to leave.

 

(1 Pet 4:17 KJV) For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

 

Many people believe that this verse is speaking about God’s judgment on the local church when that is an absolute misrepresentation of this verse. This verse refers specifically to the redeemed body of believers. What trips everyone up on this verse is the phrase, “must begin,” which makes it look like some future event. The truth is that the phrase should really be translated “to have begun.” The word is “arxasqai” (arxasthai) which is derived from the word “arcw” (archo) which means to “rule, reign, or begin.” Our word is not in the present tense but is in the Aorist tense. The Aorist Tense denotes an action without any reference to duration, repetitive, or completeness.

 

This same word is used in Acts 11:15: (Acts 11:15 KJV) And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. As you see, this verse is not saying that the Holy Ghost began to fall, it states He fell. It is interesting to note that the only two times we see this word used in the New Testament is when Peter is using it.

 

Now let us return to 1 Peter 4:17. We read a little bit more clearer that judgment had already begun on the House of God in Peter’s time. It is believed the two Books of Peter were written between 64 & 68 AD. So now let us ask the question, when did judgment previously happen on the body of believers? It was at the cross when the body of believers was judged. Christ became the atonement for all the Elect He planned to save. This is the meaning of the Household of God being judged. We were judged and found not guilty because the Lord Jesus Christ took our sins on Him and removed them. God judged the Lord Jesus Christ as He became sin for us. As we think in the Aorist tense about the judgment, we realize that the completeness of Christ’s atonement for the entire body of Christ will be complete on the last day, when the last one is saved.

 

As we continue to look at 1 Peter 4:17, we see the next part of that verse deals with judgment of the unsaved. Peter is making a comparison between the judgment of the body of Christ and the judgment of the unsaved. He was posing a rhetorical question in that what will happen to those who do not obey the gospel AKA the unbelievers? He goes on in verse 18:

 

(1 Pet 4:18 KJV) And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

Peter states that if the righteous scarcely (with difficulty or toil - not our works but the work of the Lord Jesus Christ) be saved, where shall the ungodly appear. They shall appear before the Great White Throne Judgment. So we see that the context of 1 Peter 4:17-18 is salvation of the redeemed and not the local church.

 

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