<p>4:18- see on Mt. 14:30; 2 Pet. 3:15.</p><p><i>And if the righteous are scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?<br />- </i>The judgment of their persecutors was not to make these Jewish converts feel that they were justified just because their persecutors were evil. Those who enter the Kingdom will genuinely, from the very depth of their being, feel that they shouldn't be there. Indeed, they shouldn't be. For Christian believers aren't good people. We are saved by grace alone. The righteous are &quot;scarcely saved&quot; (1 Pet. 4:18). The righteous remnant who spoke often to one another about Yahweh will only be &quot;spared&quot; by God's grace (Mal. 3:17). The accepted will feel so certain of this that they will almost argue with the Lord Jesus at the day of judgment that He hasn't made the right decision concerning them (Mt. 25:37-40). It's only a highly convicted man who would dare do that. Thus the Father will have to comfort the faithful in the aftermath of the judgment, wiping away the tears which will <i>then</i> (see context) be in our eyes, and give us special help to realize that our sinful past has now finally been overcome (Rev. 21:4). We will be like the labourers in the parable who walk away clutching their penny, thinking &quot;I really shouldn't have this. I didn't work for a day, and this is a day's pay&quot;.</p><p>Peter is here quoting, liberally and mixing quotation with interpretation, from the LXX of Prov. 11:31. Peter never introduces his quotations as Paul does, with an &quot;It is written...&quot;. And he always quotes from the LXX, and often in a rather loose way. Peter was illiterate, and would know the LXX quotations by memory, recollecting how they had been read to him, rather than having read them with his own eyes and memorized them. And this shows in the way he quotes the OT- although the whole process and final product was Divinely inspired.</p>