Having mentioned God’s varied gifts, Peter now singles out two of these gifts, namely, preaching and service. The word translated preach is literally “speak,” but clearly refers to preaching, since the whole verse refers to the communal life of the Christian community, particularly in their worship of God (compare Phillips “If any of you is a preacher”; Barclay “If any of you speaks to the fellowship”).

Must preach God’s messages is literally “as the words of God,” with the one who speaks as the implicit subject, and “speaks” or “preaches” as the implicit verb. Some interpreters take “words” here as nominative, referring to Scripture (compare Rom 3.2); the meaning then would be that whoever preaches must preach as the Scriptures preach, or in other words, he must model his preaching on Scripture. Most, however, take “words” here to be accusative, referring generally to divine oracles (compare Revised Standard Version, New English Bible); the meaning then would be that whoever preaches must do so as if he is preaching the very words of God himself (compare Moffatt “he must preach as one who utters the words of God”). For word of God, see 1.23, 25.

A strictly literal translation of must preach God’s messages can be misleading, since it might be understood in the sense of a presumptuous taking over of God’s role. It is of course possible to render must preach God’s messages as “must preach the messages that come from God” or “must speak to people about the messages which God has proclaimed.” On the other hand, the quality of one’s preaching may be emphasized as “he must preach as one who represents God in what he says” or “… as one who has been commissioned by God to speak.” A strictly literal rendering of “who utters the words of God” might be understood merely in the sense of repeating God’s words after him in a more or less mechanical way.

The word for serves is a general term for any kind of service or ministry, which in the early church included feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, helping the poor, and welcoming strangers. Must serve with the strength that God gives him is literally “as out of the strength which God supplies,” with the person serving as the implicit subject, and the missing verb in the elliptical construction being “serves.”

In a number of languages serves can best be rendered as “helps,” so that whoever serves must serve with the strength that God gives him may be rendered as “whoever helps others should do so with the strength that God has given him for that work.”

So that marks the last part of this verse as purposive, but it is not clear whether this purpose clause is related simply to the injunctions of preaching and ministry, or to the whole passage beginning with verse 7b. The Good News Translation relates the clause to the immediately preceding injunction on service (compare Phillips, Moffatt); some other translations, however, make it quite clear by their restructuring that the purpose clause refers to the whole passage beginning with verse 7b (for example, Barclay “All your actions must be designed to bring glory to God…”; New English Bible “In all things so act that the glory may be God’s through Jesus Christ…”; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “With all that we do, we should give God the honor…”). This second position seems to be more attractive, since it is clear that in all things encompasses more than just preaching or service.

As a means of suggesting the broader implications of the purpose clause in verse 11, it is possible to translate “in whatever you do, be sure that this causes praise to be given to God through Jesus Christ” or “… causes people to praise God through Jesus Christ.”

Praise may be given to God through Jesus Christ is literally “God may be glorified through Jesus Christ,” with “glorified” having the meaning of “praised” or “honored” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Through Jesus Christ may be interpreted to mean either that it is Jesus Christ who enables them to praise God, or else that it is because of Jesus Christ (that is, their relationship to him) that they are now able to praise God.

If the phrase through Jesus Christ is interpreted to mean that Jesus Christ is the one who enables people to praise God, this meaning may be made clear by rendering the phrase through Jesus Christ as a separate clause, for example, “Jesus Christ causes this to be possible.” If, however, Jesus Christ is to be understood as the one who makes this possible because of the believer’s relationship to him, one may then render the phrase through Jesus Christ as “praise may be given to God because such a person belongs to Jesus Christ.”

To whom refers most probably to God and not to Jesus Christ, in view of the practice of ascribing glory and power to God in most doxologies in the New Testament (compare 5.11), although the word order in the Greek favors Jesus Christ rather than God.

Glory probably has the meaning “honor.”

The final clause of verse 11, namely, to whom belong glory and power forever and ever, must in a number of circumstances be made a separate sentence, for example, “God possesses glory and power forever and ever” or “there is no end to the glory and power of God.”

A number of languages have borrowed the expression Amen, but usually employ it only in terms of an ending to a prayer. It may therefore be far more appropriate to use some such expression as “indeed this is true” or “verily, this is so,” or in a somewhat more idiomatic form, “agreed, agreed!”

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The First Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .