How to read this page

An Intertextuality Pair — one connection between two passages, shown as linked verse cards: the Later text and the Earlier text it quotes, alludes to or echoes. The Significance essay explains why the link matters and where it points in Christ.

Reference Type— how explicit the link is: Quotation, Allusion, or Echo
Connection Method(s)— how it carries meaning: e.g. Typology, Promise-Fulfillment, Analogy, Longitudinal Theme
Found via— where the connection was identified, e.g. the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge or an Anchor-Text Network

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Intertextuality Pair

1 Peter 4:17-18 → Proverbs 11:31

Quotation

Later text

1 Peter 4:18BSB

And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

Earlier text

Proverbs 11:31BSB

If the righteous receive their due on earth, how much more the ungodly and the sinner!

Walk the Square · a single-voice walk of this pair around the Clowney square8:29

Significance

Peter quotes from the LXX of Proverbs 11:31: "If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?" (ei ho dikaios molis sōzetai ho asebēs kai hamartōlos pou phaneitai). The LXX rendering differs significantly from the Hebrew, which reads "if the righteous is recompensed on earth, how much more the ungodly and sinner." Peter follows the LXX's qal wahomer argument: if even the righteous barely escape judgment, the fate of the wicked is unimaginable. This quote supports Peter's larger argument in 4:17 about judgment beginning with God's household. The wisdom tradition's observation about the difficulty of righteous living undergirds Peter's pastoral encouragement — suffering believers should not be surprised by their trials but should entrust themselves to their faithful Creator (4:19).

Found via: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Direct Quotation
Connection Method(s): Analogy

Hermeneutical Notes

NT Use Pattern: Proverbial — If the righteous is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly appear? Peter cites the LXX form of the proverb as a wisdom warning to the suffering church.