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1Pe_4:11. Species duas generi subjicit (Vorstius). From the general term χάρισμα , Peter selects two special functions for greater prominence.
εἴ τις λαλεῖ ] λαλεῖν is here the preaching in the church, which includes the προφητεύειν , διδάσκειν , and παρακαλεῖν , mentioned in Rom_12:6-8. Pott is inexact in paraphrasing εἴ τις λαλεῖ by εἴ τις ἔχει τὸ χάρισμα τοῦ λαλεῖν (so, too, Schott: “if any one have the gift and vocation to speak”), for λαλεῖν is not the gift, but the exercise of it. It is arbitrary to limit the application of the term to the official duties of the elders (Hemming: si quis docendi munus in ecclesia sustinet), for in the assemblies every one who possessed the necessary χάρισμα was at liberty to speak.
ὡς λόγια Θεοῦ ] λαλείτω ἃ λαλεῖ must be supplied; or better still, with Wiesinger: λαλοῦντες ; cf. ἕκαστος … διακονοῦντες above; λόγια —as in classical Greek, chiefly of oracular responses—is applied in the N. T. only to the utterances or revelations of God; either to those in the O. T., as in Act_7:38, Rom_3:2, or those in the N. T., as Heb_5:12. The idea, prophecies, is too narrow. This exhortation presupposes that whoever speaks in the congregation, gives utterance, not to his own thoughts, but to the revelations of God, and it demands that he should do so in a manner ( ὡς ) conformable to them.
εἴ τις διακονεῖ ] διακονεῖν must not be understood as applying to the official work of the appointed deacons only; it embraces quaevis ministeria in ecclesia ab docendi officio distincta (Gerhard; so, too, Wiesinger, who here cites Rom_12:8 and 1Co_12:28), but it refers specially to the care of the poor, the sick, and the strangers, either official, or according to the free-will of individual members of the church.
ὡς ἐξ ἰσχύος κ . τ . λ .] sc. διακονείτω , or better διακονοῦντες : “so ministering, as of,” etc. Here, too, it is presumed that the person ministering is not wanting in that strength which God supplies, and the exhortation is, that he should exercise his ability in a way corresponding with the fact, that he received the strength necessary thereto from God, and not as “of himself possessing it.” χορηγεῖν , besides in this passage, occurs only in 2Co_9:10. ( ἐπιχορηγεῖν is to be met with frequently, e.g. 2Pe_1:5.)
ἵνα ] as stating their purpose, refers back to the exhortations in 1Pe_4:10-11, with special reference to the determinative clauses introduced by ὡς .
ἐν πᾶσιν ] “in all things” (Wiesinger), i.e. “in the practice of all the gifts, the exercise of which was connected with matters relating to the churches” (Schott); not equivalent to ἐν πᾶσιν ἔθνεσιν (Oec.), or “in you all” (de Wette: “as His true instruments”); cf. 1Ti_3:11.
δοξάζηται ὁ Θεός ] “in order that God may be glorified,” i.e. that He obtain the praise, since it will be evident from your conduct that you as His οἰκονόμοι have received ( καθὼς ἔλαβε ) all things ( τὰ λόγια , τὴν ἰσχύν ) from Him.
διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ] belongs to δοξάζηται , and points out that not the ability only, for the λαλεῖν and διακονεῖν , is communicated to the Christian through the agency of Christ,[251] but that all actual employment of it is effected by Christ. It is mistaken, with Hofmann,—who is not justified in appealing to Rom_16:27 and Heb_13:21 in support of his assertion,—to connect ΔΙᾺ Ἰ . ΧΡ . with the following relative clause. Such a view is opposed not only to the natural construction, but to the thought, since God did not receive His ΔΌΞΑ and His ΚΡΆΤΟς first through Christ.
As a close, the doxology: ᾯ , may be referred either to ΘΕΌς (Oecumenius Calvin, Bengel, de Wette, Brückner, Wiesinger, Weiss, Schott, Hofmann) or to Ἰ . ΧΡΙΣΤΟῦ (Grotius, Calov, Steiger). The first is the correct application, since Ὁ ΘΕΌς is the subject of the clause and Ἡ ΔΌΞΑ points back to ΔΟΞΆΖΗΤΑΙ . Comp. chap. 1Pe_5:11. The doxology states the reason of the ἽΝΑ ΔΟΞΆΖΗΤΑΙ Ὁ ΘΕΌς (Schott); because God is ( ἐστιν ) the glory and the power, therefore the endeavours of the church should be directed to bring about a lively acknowledgment of this, to the praise of God.
Identical with this is the doxology, Rev_1:6 (cf. also Rev_5:13).
[251] Calvin: quia quicquid habemus ad ministrandum virtutis solus ipse nobis suggerit.