For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. If it begins first with us, what will happen to those who don't obey the Gospel of God?
Begin at the house of God ...  From the beginning, it had been the Jews who enlisted the power of the Roman state against Christ and his church; and the hatred they had fostered against Christianity throughout the empire was about to become a roaring tornado of extermination and death venting its full fury against the church of Jesus Christ.  Yes, indeed, the judgment would begin "at the house of God," the true temple of God, which is the church.  Little could the Jews have seen in the approach of this destruction, which they had done so much to foster and encourage, little could they have seen that it would also encompass themselves even more completely and more terribly than that coming on the Christians.  An apostle of Christ in this sentence prophetically foretold the fate as being even more terrible than that impending for Christians.