Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? (1 Peter 3:13).
The rhetorical question expresses an ideal. This is how it
should be:
- people who do good are applauded and rewarded, and
- people who do harm are reprimanded and punished.
But the world doesn’t work like that. Being eager to do what is good is no guarantee for people wishing you well. Treasuring the truth, seeking the good, doing what is right can even get you into trouble.
But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you
are blessed (1 Peter 3:13) — how so?
How can this be true? How can unjust suffering be a
blessing?
(1) This is a question of what we fear and what we hope
for [what we think lies ahead of us].
Do we fear being uncomfortable now? Do we fear being
side-lined? Put differently: Do we hope to be respected by those around us and
to have a comfortable life? Such hopes and fears will lower our pain threshold.
Or do we, e.g., fear being a part of the problem rather than
a part of the solution in relation to climate change? Are we truly afraid of
benefitting from the exploitation of others? Such fears would increase our
threshold for pain. We would be more ready to make sacrifices or to pay more
for the products we buy to ensure fair compensation of workers and minimising
our negative impact on the environment.
Examples could be multiplied. Our hopes and fears profoundly shape what kind of suffering we are prepared to tolerate or desperately seek to avoid.
Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated…Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:14-15)
It would be good to examine our hopes and fears and, if need
be, seek to correct them. Do we hope to hear the ‘well done, good and faithful
servant’ (Matthew 25) from the lips of Jesus on the last day? And so we are
talking about
(2) A question of authority [who or what holds sway over
us].
Are we governed by our hopes and fears? Or are we submitting our hopes and fears and everything else to Christ our Lord? But in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord (1 Peter 3:15).
Are we ready to follow his example, trusting that all powers
are subject to him?
Conflict challenges us to take sides. Sometimes such a
challenge to take sides should not be taken up. But when it is a matter of
truth or falsehood, good or bad, right or wrong, we proclaim our trust in Christ
by choosing what is true, good, and right even if this seems to get us nowhere,
nowhere pleasant anyway.
And so this is also
(3) A question of conscience [what we listen to within
us]
Do we believe that there is good and evil, right and wrong,
true and false? That life is not simply about powers and preferences? Keep
your conscience clear (1 Peter 3:16). God wills that we do what is
right…even if and when this results in suffering.
Christ has forged ahead and shown us suffering as a path to
glory. And so this is also
(4) A question of our belonging/calling [what carries us underneath]
A righteous one has led us unrighteous people to God through
his death and resurrection (1 Peter 3:17). Christ was put to death in the
flesh, in the weakness of human nature, but made alive in the spirit,
in the power of the life to come (1 Peter 3:18). He has moved from a mortal
existence into the realm of undying resurrection life.
Christ has suffered even unto death but has overcome death
and reigns victorious over the forces of evil. He thereby demonstrates that the
way of suffering for doing good leads to glory and vindication from God. Are we
Christians? Then we can and should be confident following on this path that he
has trod before.
Back in 1 Peter 3:9 we have a basic principle
expressed:
- don’t give as good as you get (responding to abuse with abuse)
- but give what you expect to get (repay abuse with a blessing).
The natural human response to hostility (in the flesh) is
retaliation. But giving as good as you get perpetuates the cycle of violence
and death. Our giving what we expect to get (in the spirit) breaks through the
cycle of violence and death and is evidence of resurrection life.
Now what about the second half of our text?
1 Peter 2:19-22 counts as one of the most difficult texts in
the NT. But there are big clues to the correct understanding if we first of all
bear in mind that this is still about Jesus showing the power of suffering for
doing good.
Suffering for doing good was vindicated when Jesus was made
alive in the spirit. He then went to the underworld to make a proclamation to
‘the spirits in prison’. Who are they? In Jewish tradition they are the
supernatural beings whose intercourse with human beings was a key factor in God
bringing the flood (Genesis 6).
Their imprisonment in the underworld is the punishment for their disobedience. They are suffering for having done evil and this holds them imprisoned. But Jesus entered death having done no evil, therefore death has no hold over him. When he enters the underworld he says in effect ‘hello – and goodbye’, thereby announcing his victory over death.
In other words, Christ announced his triumph over evil – bad
news for the imprisoned spirits but good news, comfort and encouragement for
the few who suffer now for their righteousness. Like Noah for whom the destructive
waters of the flood were also a means of salvation, as they carried the ark.
‘The water of the flood washed away sin and wickedness and brought a new world with a fresh start before God. The water of baptism does the same thing, providing a passage from the old to the new.’ (David Guzik)
This is because the death of Christ washed away sin and
wickedness and the resurrection of Christ brought a new world into being.
Baptism saves us (1 Peter 3:21) in the sense that it unites
us with Christ who has made all powers subject to him. Not automatically but
‘as an appeal to God for a good conscience’ (NRSV) or perhaps better ‘a pledge
of a good conscience towards God’ (NIV, cf. NRSV footnote).
Such a pledge is made possible through the resurrection of
Jesus. He has forged ahead and shown us suffering as a path to glory, His
perfect righteousness bringing victory over death.
If we give as good as we get, we reveal our fear that if we
don’t defend ourselves, forcefully if need be, no one will. (We thereby reveal
that we do not really trust that God’s eyes and ears are open towards us, verse
12.)
If we respond to abuse with blessing, we give expression to
the hope of our calling and wonderful inheritance (shortly I will come into so
much blessing that I can afford to be generous now). This expression of hope is a blessing.
If we are prepared to suffer for doing good, we proclaim that
Jesus is Lord and that we trust in his victory. This proclamation and expression of trust is a blessing.
If we seek the good even in the face of criticism, insult
and worse, we keep a clear conscience, as pledged in our baptism. A clear conscience is a blessing.
If we follow Christ on the path of suffering to glory, we
reveal to whom we belong. The greatest blessing is belonging to Christ.
