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1Pe_4:2. εἰς τὸ μηκέτι κ . τ . λ .] The words may be connected either with the exhortation ὁπλίσασθε or with πέπαυται ἁμαρτίας . De Wette, Brückner, Wiesinger, Schott, and Hofm. justly prefer the former connection, inasmuch as the infinitival clause expressive of a purpose stands related more naturally to the imperative, than to a subordinate clause containing a general statement (otherwise Zezschwitz and the former exposition in this commentary). Still, it is incorrect to connect εἰς here with ὁπλίζεσθαι , as in the common phrase: ὁπλίζεσθαι εἰς τὸ μάχεσθαι (Schott). Had the apostle meant this, he could not have separated by a parenthesis words which so directly belong to each other; εἰς can only add the nearer definition of the aim to which ὁπλιζ . is directed.
ἀνθρώπων ἐπιθυμίαις . ἀλλὰ θελήματι Θεοῦ ] The datives are to be explained either as τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ ζῆν , chap. 1Pe_2:24 (Brückner, Wiesinger), or they express the pattern according to which (Hofm.); as in Act_15:1, Gal_5:16; Gal_5:25, etc. Gerh.: praecipit ut normam vitae nostrae statuamus non hominum voluntatem, sed Dei voluntatem. The latter view is to be preferred on account of the idea τὸν … βιῶσαι χρόνον . “ ἀνθρώπων and Θεοῦ are antitheses, as are also the manifold lusts of men and the one uniform will of God” (Wiesinger). The notion that by ἐπιθυμίαι are to be understood the lusts, not of the readers, but of those only by whom they were surrounded (Schott, Hofm.), must be rejected as arbitrary.
τὸν ἐπίλοιπον ἐν σαρκὶ βιῶσαι χρὸνον ] With ἐν σαρκί , comp. 2Co_10:3, Gal_2:20; Php_1:22; Php_1:24. σάρξ expresses as little here as in 1Pe_4:1 an ethical conception; it denotes the earthly human nature to which the mortal body belongs.
The verb βιοῦν is ἅπ . λεγ . in the N. T. The form βιῶσαι is to be found in the Attic writers, but it is less common than the 2 aor.: βιῶναι .
ἐπίλοιπος , in like manner, ἅπ . λεγ .: “the remaining time in the flesh;” an idea similar to ὁ τῆς παροικίας χρόνος , chap. 1Pe_1:17. With the whole thought, comp. Rom_12:2.