"for judgment must begin at the house of the Lord," found in I Peter

4:17 .
I Peter 4:17 is totally misunderstood by most teachers. I Peter 4:17 is
commonly understood to refer to God's judgment upon the church.
However, a careful analysis of this verse results in a surprising
conclusion. It is not a prediction that judgment will begin upon the
corporate churches, as for example near the end of time. It is true from
other scriptures that corporate churches are judged by God for their
sin, but that is not the message of I Peter 4:17 at all. The message
concerns the role and experience of individual true believers. This can
be shown in two ways. One from the immediate context and another
from a careful analysis of the words in the verse.
First of all, let us look at the context of verse 17, in particular, to whom
the verse is addressed. The focus of verse 15 is upon a collection of
people who are "partakers of Christ's suffering" (verse 13). People
"partake of Christ's suffering" when Jesus suffered on their behalf in
payment for their sins. Also, people "partake of Christ's suffering" when
they suffer for bearing Christ's name in the world. In addition to that,
verse 14 states they are people upon whom "the spirit of glory and
God" rests. These verses show that true believers are in view.
The message of the context is, in the words of verse 15, "let none of
you suffer as a murderer, or ..." That is, they must not suffer for the
wrong reason. They must not suffer for actions that are similar to an
unbeliever's. They must not live as an unbeliever. As a complement to
that, according to verse 16, is that when they suffer for the right
reason, God is glorified. Verse 17 continues the focus upon believers
that is part of the preceding verses. Notice the connecting word "for"
that begins verse 17. That is, the message of verses 14-16 continues
into verse 17.
The judgment mentioned in verse 17 concerns "the house of God." As
it turns out, the word "house" refers to those people who really are the
house, that is true believers, as we read in Hebrews 3:6, "But Christ as
a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the
confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." In support
of that understanding of "the house," verse 17 goes on to state, "if it
first begin at us," in which the word "us" includes Peter and other
believers to whom he wrote. In fact, the verse ends with the words
"them that obey not the gospel of God," as a contrast to the "us" who
do obey the gospel. Therefore, the first idea to get straight is that I
Peter 4:17 is directed to true believers, and not the corporate church
that is a mixture of believers and unbelievers, or a totally apostate
church, with few if any saved members.

Furthermore, the word "at" in the phrase "at the house of God" is really
the word (apo) that means "away from." It always means "away from"
without exception. The judgment is not directed toward (pros) the
house, as if it were the target of the judgment. The judgment is not
placed upon (epi) the house, as if the house must bear the judgment.
The judgment issues away from the house into the world. Therefore the
second idea to get straight is that I Peter 4:17 tells us judgment goes
away from the house of God, away from true believers, because it is
"the time" for that to happen. In addition to that, the phrase "if it first
began at us" also uses the word "away from" (a different form of apo)
for the word "at," with the proper meaning of, "but if first away from
us."
Putting all of this together, we can come up with the following
understanding of I Peter 4:17. The time is now, and has been for a
while already, that judgment goes away from the believers out into the
world. When does this happen? As this passage itself tells us in verse
11, "if any man speak, let him speak the oracles of God." In other
words, it is because true believers bring a message of judgment, in
faithful obedience to God, that the "fiery trial" comes to them (verse
12), inasmuch as the unbelievers hate that message and persecute
anyone who brings it. Verse 17 continues to ask, "if that message first
comes out of us to the world, what will happen to those people who do
not obey the Gospel message that comes out of "us?" The answer, of
course, is that they will be judged.