Devine Scripture

1 Peter 4:18

What does 1 Peter 4:18 mean?

A plain-English look at 1 Peter 4:18 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What 1 Peter 4:18 means

Peter cites a sobering principle: if the “righteous is scarcely saved,” meaning saved through many difficulties and with great seriousness, then the ungodly and sinner stand in far greater peril. Salvation is by grace, yet the path is narrow and marked by trials that test faith. This line exposes any complacency about judgment. If God’s children experience such refining rigor, what hope is there for those who persist in rebellion? The contrast is meant to awaken reverence and urgency. It validates the weight of Christian suffering while sounding a warning to the unrepentant: without turning to God, their appearance before Him will be dreadful.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

And if the righteous is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?

KJV

King James Version · 1611

And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

And if the righteous is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

And if it is hard for even the good man to get salvation, what chance has the man without religion or the sinner?

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

And if the righteous man is scarcely saved, the ungodly and sinner--where shall he appear?

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

And if the just man shall scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

And if the righteous is difficultly saved, where shall the impious and [the] sinner appear?

Context

Following the assertion that judgment begins with God’s house (v. 17), verse 18 heightens the contrast between the saved and the disobedient. It underlines the seriousness of salvation and the gravity of rejecting the gospel. This prepares for the concluding exhortation in verse 19, where Peter gathers the chapter’s threads—suffering, God’s will, doing good, and trusting the faithful Creator—into a final pastoral charge to endure with faith.

v.17For the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God: and if it begin first at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God?

v.18This passage

v.19Wherefore let them also that suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing unto a faithful Creator.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • 1 Samuel 15:18

    and Jehovah sent thee on a journey, and said, Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.

  • Jude 1:15

    to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have ungodly wrought, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

  • Luke 15:1

    Now all the publicans and sinners were drawing near unto him to hear him.

  • Zechariah 13:9

    And I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, Jehovah is my God.

  • Acts 14:22

    confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.

  • Genesis 13:13

    Now the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners against Jehovah exceedingly.

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