1 Peter 4:1-2, Uriah the Hittite Study – “Ceased From Sin”

1 Peter 4:1-2: “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.”

Though Christ never gave into temptation, He still had to suffer to deny Himself to not give into sin when faced with temptation as well as suffer as a consequence of being faithful in doing the will of God. These verses show that even though we cannot die to atone for our own own sins, or for anyone else’s sins like Christ died on the cross to provide an atonement for mankind, we must yet follow Him in dying to sin to do the will of God in order to partake of His atonement (this is the narrow way to life as Matthew chapter 7 proves).

We also see in these verses that the lusts of men and the will of God are incompatible. It is impossible to follow both, though many double minded people delude themselves somehow that both can be pursued.

1 John 2:15-17: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh (my note- that is, the body; Peter uses the term “flesh” to refer to service to natural gratification which goes beyond the physical body- and as we continue in this passage we’ll see that John intended the same thing, though John elaborates more), and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”

Uriah the Hittite is an example in the Bible of arming oneself with a mind prepared to suffer in the flesh in order to do the will of God (everything said about him here is found in 2 Samuel chapter 11).

Though Uriah was a soldier, he had armed himself with something much more important than his military weapons. He had armed himself with a mind to walk in God’s commandments and ways. He is a fitting example of what it means to suffer in the flesh in order to have a good conscience towards God (referring to the closing verses of 1 Peter chapter 3 which led up to the verses analyzed here at the beginning of 1 Peter 4).

King David, in that sad period of his life when he had departed from doing what is right in God’s eyes himself, was seeking to have Uriah killed because David had committed adultery with Uriah’s wife and made her pregnant (which Uriah didn’t know about since it wasn’t a public matter at this point). David wrote a letter to Joab (the Chief Captain of the Israelite Army) commanding him to put Uriah at the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, so that Uriah would die in the battle. Uriah feared God so greatly, and had trained himself to walk in God’s principles and keep within his appointed boundaries, to the point where he would not meddle in communications between his superiors nor open a letter which was not addressed to him. David knew that Uriah was so stable in righteousness that he could trust him with one hundred percent confidence to carry a letter which was basically a plan for Uriah’s murder (and yes, this proves that actually doing right in God’s eyes may hurt you on earth- and Peter is making that point himself in the epistle of 1 Peter).

Shortly before, David had called Uriah back to Jerusalem on the pretext of inquiring about the war with the Ammonites. Uriah would not at that point even go back to his house to be with his wife- despite David pushing him to do so. Uriah’s refusal was due to how his fellow soldiers were at war and in discomfort. Uriah was willing to be put in the most dangerous place in a battle, and carry a letter between his superiors without ever looking at its contents, yet he would not betray his fellow soldiers by using a trip to Jerusalem for personal pleasure when the trip was supposed to be in relation to the war he was fighting in.

Consider here Luke 16:10: “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.”

It is obvious that Uriah had trained himself to be faithful to do his duty in bigger things, and to refrain from evil in more obvious ways, since he was that faithful to do right even in matters which many people would say were not a big deal; and which probably no one would have criticized him over if he had done wrong in them. He illustrates what it really means to live for the approval of God rather than the approval of men (those who say they are doing are lying if they are doing things that are actually wrong and blameworthy- Uriah was blameless before both God and men).

Uriah also fits in especially well with the theme in 1 Peter since he is a man who was greatly harmed in his righteousness. Yet with Judgment Day and eternity in the equation, he will yet be victorious and his suffering for righteousness’ sake will be proven to be exceedingly wise and profitable in spite of the calamity which he faced on earth.

It’s also notable that Peter could talk to Christians in Apostolic churches about suffering in the flesh to cease from sin and do the will of God without having to make a 30 minute or more detour to explain what he meant. Now however, churches have another problem altogether, one that is downright damnable: The preacher might take a detour to explain away what Peter said here.

As Peter is concluding this epistle he tells the Christians he wrote to within 1 Peter 5:12: “that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand.”

God’s grace and man’s need to cooperate with his own rescue are not opposing concepts like many teach. Christ died to redeem us from our sins. His will is to deliver us from their guilt and power- and thereby gain faithful subjects for His kingdom. One must be obedient and walk in a living faith in Jesus Christ which submits to His righteous authority, and suffers in doing so, to be in His grace. When one gives heed to the instructions from the Lord which are calculated to their rescue out of sin, they are not working to earn His grace nor devising their own way to save themselves any more than a drowning person who is listening to the instructions of, and cooperating with, a good Samaritan who is laboring in wisdom to save their life.