To God be the Glory FOREVER, AMEN AND AMEN! ! !

How this is the case becomes clear when we examine God's judging in Jewish tradition. In an Old Testament tradition, judgment begins at God's house. For example, Ezekiel 9:5-6 reads, "Follow him through the city and kill. . . . Begin at my sanctuary." Jeremiah, in speaking to the nations, says, "See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears my Name, and will you indeed go unpunished?" (Jer 25:29). The nations will not go unpunished, for judgment has begun with God's own people. Likewise, at the end of the Old Testament period, Malachi 3:1-6 speaks of the Lord coming to his temple and purifying the Levites. He concludes, "So I will come near to you for judgment." Does the Lord judge his people? The answer of the Old Testament is yes, and if so, how much more severely will he judge the pagan nations.

In Malachi and continuing in the intertestamental period, this judgment is interpreted as a purifying judgment, which will bring God's people to repentance. "Therefore, he did not spare his own sons first. . . . Therefore they were once punished that they might be forgiven" (2 Baruch 13:9-10).1 The New Testament shares this position. Not only is the story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) a graphic example, but Paul clearly states this teaching. Speaking to Christians who were ill because of their sin, Paul writes, "If we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world" (1 Cor 11:31-32). Hebrews 12:7-11 also speaks of the suffering of Christians as discipline, although discipline can come for two reasons. Soldiers go through the discipline of training programs to harden themselves so that they may stand in battle; children are disciplined when they have done wrong. Both appear to be in the mind of the author of Hebrews, although the latter is foremost for Paul.

There is, then, a New Testament teaching that God will judge his church, his people. This judgment is a discipline to harden them so that they will not sin or to turn them from the sin into which they have already fallen. It is therefore grace, for God disciplines so that he will not have to condemn Christians in the concluding phase of the final judgment (that is also the hope of church discipline; 1 Cor 5:5). It is based on grace, for we never hear of God judging Christians for sins that they have repented of. Yet, gracious as it is, such a judgment is very real and very painful, a point upon which all of the New Testament authors agree.

Part of the graciousness of God's act is seen in Peter's question "What will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel?" If the beginning of the final judgment, the purifying action of God within his church, is so severe, despite the fact that they are God's own family and have obeyed the gospel, what will the conclusion of the final judgment be like when he turns his attention to those who have refused to obey him? It is a mercy that God turns his church to repentance and spares it from the fate of the unbeliever. That is precisely what Peter concludes, citing the Greek form of Proverbs 11:31, "If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?" (1 Pet 4:18). Faith will be tested (1 Pet 1:6; 4:12), for Jesus said that the way to life was narrow (Lk 13:23-24), but for the unbelievers, "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb 10:31).

In this passage, then, Peter has three ways of looking at persecution. First, it is a test of faith, showing if the commitment of the professed Christian is genuine or not (1 Pet 4:12). Second, it is an identification with the sufferings of Christ, which will not only result in glory in the future, but leads to the Spirit of glory resting upon them now (1 Pet 4:13-14). Finally, it is a discipline or judgment, which shows that they are in fact God's family and purifies them to live more in the character of the family. The final judgment has begun, but it has begun with the purification of God's church, God's people, just as happened in the Old Testament. It will be consummated, however, not in condemnation for his people--they are his family and will be saved after being purified--but in terrible conclusive judgments upon unbelievers, which Jesus described so graphically (for example, Mt 24--25) and Revelation pictures in visions (Rev 15--16; 20).

I still do not like the idea of judgment, but my suffering does not necessarily mean that I am specially sinful. Since I am committed to Christ, the persecution I suffer is a sign that I am part of the household of God. He, as a good father, is purifying his family for our good. It is a sign of belonging. I may not enjoy the experience, but I can rejoice that I am among those facing judgment now, being purified in preparation for heaven, rather than among those who will face the full force of divine judgment later.