Discovery Box1 Peter 4:3-5 
Context4:3 For the time that has passed was sufficient for you to do what the non-Christians 1 desire. 2 You lived then 3 in debauchery, evil desires, drunkenness, carousing, drinking bouts, 4 and wanton idolatries. 5 4:4 So 6 they are astonished 7 when you do not rush with them into the same flood of wickedness, and they vilify you. 8 4:5 They will face a reckoning before 9 Jesus Christ 10 who stands ready to judge the living and the dead.
1 tn Grk “the Gentiles,” used here of those who are not God’s people.
2 tn Grk “to accomplish the desire of the Gentiles.”
3 tn Grk “having gone along,” referring to the readers’ behavior in time past.
4 tn According to BDAG 857 s.v. πότος the term refers to a social gathering at which wine is served, hence “drinking parties” (cf. TEV, NASB). However, the collocation with the other terms in v. 4 suggests something less sophisticated and more along the lines of wild and frenzied drinking bouts.
5 tn The Greek words here all occur in the plural to describe their common practice in the past.
6 tn Grk “in/by which,” referring to the change of behavior described in v. 3. The unbelievers are astonished by the readers’ moral transformation. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
7 tn Or “are surprised, are taken aback.” The same verb occurs in 4:12.
8 tn Grk “blaspheming,” giving the result of their astonishment. Here the target of their “blasphemy/vilification” is not God but the Christian.
9 tn Grk “give an account to.”
10 tn Grk “the one”; the referent (Jesus Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
