Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Peter 4:9

"using hospitality one to another without murmuring:" — 1 Peter 4:9 (ASV)

“Hospitality” (GK 5811) between Christians was an important, concrete expression of love in a world without our modern inns and hotels. This virtue was required of the overseers and widows (1 Timothy 3:2; 1 Timothy 5:10; Titus 1:8) and is commanded for us all (Matthew 25:35ff.; Romans 12:13; 3Jn 5–8). Hospitality is to be “without grumbling”—a phrase that connotes the difficulty of carrying out this command. In certain cultures that are strongly family-orientated, the bringing of strangers into a house may be somewhat shocking. Yet Christians overcome these conventions because God’s love has made them into a single great family.