This week's epistle reading may give us two different sets of texts, yet they share similar themes. As the author begins to wind up his first letter to the feeble Gentile Christians of Asia Minor, he continues to offer them encouragement in the midst of confusing and challenging days. There is a distinctly eschatological note sounded by the writer in his continuing advice and comfort. In 4:7, he declares outright that "the end of all things is near," and the images he invokes in the first half of today's text hold an unmistakable eschatological edge to them.

Verse 12 begins with the gentle and compassionate address that he used in 2:11 "Beloved." 1 Peter has a genuine concern for these Gentile Christians. What the "beloved" are experiencing, 1 Peter now defines as a "fiery ordeal" designe…