Article October 24, 1936 ISSUE

Bible Notes

"They think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot" (I Pet. 4:4)—The rare Greek word translated "excess" means literally "outpouring" (Souter: Greek Lexicon, p. 21) or "the confluence of waters"—"then the cistern, sink, or cesspool into which waters have flowed" (Plumptre: Commentary on First Peter, p. 141); while the word rendered "riot" suggests by its derivation a state from which salvation is well-nigh impossible. Moffatt renders: "It astonishes them that you will not plunge with them still into the same flood of profligacy;" and Goodspeed: "They are amazed that you no longer join them in plunging into the flood of dissipation."

"Be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer" (I Pet. 4:7)—It may be observed that Aristotle and other early Greek writers pointed out that the verb here rendered "be sober" implied "the harmony of affections and desires with reason." Moffatt has: "Steady then, keep cool and pray;" and Weymouth: "Therefore be sober-minded and temperate, that you may give yourselves to prayer."

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