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17. ὅτι [ὁ] καιρὸς τοῦ ἄρξασθαι τὸ κρίμα ἀπὸ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ θεοῦ.
The sufferings of Christians are the initial stages in the judgment of the world. The process of judgment begins with God’s own house first. οἶκος might mean merely household (cf. Heb 12:7, where chastisement is regarded as a proof of sonship), but it may mean God’s temple—and the idea that judgment is to begin at God’s house may be borrowed from Eze 9:6, where God’s agents of punishment are instructed to “begin at my sanctuary” (LXX. ἀπὸ τῶν ἁγίων μου). Again in Mal 3:2-3, the coming of the Lord is compared to a refiner’s fire (cf. πύρωσις in 1Pe 4:12): He will come to His Temple and purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness … pleasant unto the Lord. Then, when the purification of the priesthood is accomplished, sudden judgment will descend upon sinners and all who do not fear God. So St Peter (1Pe 2:5) has described his readers as a spiritual house or temple—a priesthood to offer sacrifices acceptable to God, and (1Pe 4:12) their sufferings are regarded as a refining or “trial by fire.” If the purging of God’s own house is thus painful how far more terrible will be the judgment of sinners which follows it. For the idea that the judgment of aliens will be more terrible than that of God’s own city cf. Jeremiah’s language about Jerusalem Jer 25:29, Jer 49:12[2].
[2] An entirely different interpretation of the passage is given by Selwyn (St Luke the Prophet, pp. 141 ff.). He connects it with the Book of Henoch (of which there are probably traces elsewhere in this Ep.), in which the history of the world is divided into “Weeks.” In the “Eighth Week” the House of the Great King (so Selwyn interprets βασίλειον in 1Pe 2:9 to mean Royal Palace) will be built in glory for evermore. After that in the “Ninth Week” the righteous judgment will be revealed to the whole world and all the works of the godless will vanish from the whole earth, &c.
So St Peter has described his readers as living stones built into God’s house, and here he means, if a man suffer as a Christian, a follower of the Messiah, let him not be ashamed, for though persecuted now unjustly by his fellow-men and so “saved with difficulty,” he will share the approaching victory of Messiah the Great King, whose spiritual house is now being built in glory with us first. The Seven Weeks are past and the Eighth is now at its close, and we of this generation are “the house of the Great King.” If the judgment begins with the building of us, what shall be the end of those who reject the Gospel which we preach?
This interpretation is very improbable. In this section St Peter is not referring to the “building up” of Christians as a Temple, but to the “trial by fire” which they have to undergo. The righteous as God’s Temple are the first to undergo judgment, whereas in Henoch during the eighth week sinners are delivered into the hands of the righteous.
τί τὸ τέλος. τέλος may mean: (a) What shall be the end or fate of? or (b) what shall be the final stage of the judgment? as contrasted with its initial stages (ἄρξασθαι—πρῶτον) as seen in the sufferings of Christians.