1 Peter 4:17 tells us that judgment begins in the house of God. Those words are frequently read in the light of perceived Old Testament parallels as Jeremiah 25:29; Ezekiel 9:5–6; Malachi 3:1–4. These passages, however, are not parallel since the Old Testament passages cited speak of God’s people breaking the covenant and God responding to their transgression with his promised covenant curses (per Leviticus 26:14–45; Deuteronomy 28:15–68). Peter’s readers are not transgressing God’s commands; instead, precisely because they are publicly seen to belong to Jesus Christ, they attract the abuse Jesus himself received. Hence the need to understand the meaning of the word judgment
in 1 Peter 4:17 not as condemnation or punishment but as the Judge beginning his work.
17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?