To Encourage You

1 Peter 3:13-14 “Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed.”

God has told believers that they are to “always (be) prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).  However, as we read a passage like this the obvious question is, “Who would ask anyone such a thing?” What is the context in which this command is made?  What is it that would cause an unbeliever to ask a believer what it is that makes them tick?  We find the answer to this in the verses above, which immediately precede the verse just mentioned.  

Here Peter is writing to persecuted Christians.  He has just told them that they should be people who do good and that seek and pursue peace.  He encourages them that if they do this, if they are zealous to do good, then it’s likely that they will reap goodness in return, or at least it won’t be likely that people will act to harm them.  It’s the human norm to return good for good and evil for evil. Therefore, be good!  However, Christians are to also understand that it doesn’t always work that way. Peter wants us to be aware that just as Jesus suffered evil in return for his perfect righteousness, Christians may be treated in the same way.  I imagine the words of Christ were ringing in Peter’s ears as he wrote his letter, for hadn’t Jesus said, “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).  But it’s this very thing, the believer’s reaction to suffering unjustly, that catches the attention of people who live their lives marked by giving tit for tat.  The believer, in contrast to the world, is to return good for evil, and when evil is rendered for words they speak or actions they take in obedience to God, they are not to take revenge, but entrust themselves to God, for wasn’t that the example that the One they are following laid down for them?  

Earlier Peter had said of Jesus, “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23).  But it is such a life that stands out in the spiritual darkness that enfolds this world. It’s a life that shines like light in the darkness (John 15:20). It’s a life wherein believers show themselves as “children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom (they) shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15).  And it’s a life that will inevitably raise questions in an unbeliever’s mind, such as questions about the reason for this hope that we have.  

You see, it was as Jesus hung on the cross, the just for the unjust, that those who stood and watched saw the awesome righteousness of God on display.  It was as the Roman centurion watched this that he said “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:54).  And it is as the followers of Jesus, likewise, bear His cross, suffering for righteousness’ sake, yet experience blessing in the face of it, that others can see the life and light of Jesus in them, for it’s Jesus and what He has done for us that is the reason for the hope that we have.