AP

Suffering as a Christian

1 Peter (11)                                                                                                     1 Peter 4:12-19

Verse 12 The phrase ‘Dear Friends’ is a rather weak translation from the Greek. The word means ‘dearly loved of God.’ It uses the agape word, indicating the divine, sacrificial kind of love. The readers should not be surprised at the ‘painful trial.’ The KJV has ‘fiery trial,’ which is better because it is a rendering of the word for a furnace and for the smelting process whereby gold or silver is purified. This purification takes place during our present life: there is no mention of a ‘purgatory’ in the Scriptures (as in RC doctrine). The fiery trial is used by God to purify our lives from sin. It should not be strange that our holy God wants to purify us from our sins.

Uke 24:26

Verse 13 Already in the early days after the ascension, the apostles, including Peter, rejoiced that they were worthy to suffer for the Name of Christ: “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name” (Acts 5:41). Paul writes, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:17-18). Peter repeats the same idea later in his epistle, “To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed” (1 Peter 5:1). Joy is a by-product of suffering for Christ’s sake: “You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 1:6). Suffering, joy, and glory are connected in these texts. For Jesus also, suffering preceded glory: “Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” (Luke 24:26).

Verse 14-16 More than just experiencing joy and anticipating glory, Peter states that his suffering readers are ‘blessed.’ We see plenty of examples in today’s culture of Christians being insulted when they speak God’s words. They are called: ‘bigots, homophobes, transphobes, haters’ etc. The suffering saints are blessed because God’s Spirit of glory rests on them. The Spirit of God is resting with refreshing power on the children of God, causing them to live a life which pleases God. The world will react to such a life by hurling venom and hate towards the Christian. This refreshing power will not rest on us if we suffer as a ‘murderer, thief, or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.’ Some of Peter’s readers, before they were saved, had suffered reproach as murderers, thieves, evildoers, and busybodies. Those sins must be left in the past.

On the other hand, if weare suffering as a Christian, we need not be ashamed, but should praise God. The Christian faith appeared as a rival religion to the worship of Caesar. Obedience to Caesar was not just a political duty, but a religious duty. It was the unifying factor that bound the many different people of the Roman empire into one. Christianity challenged the imperialism of the Caesars. That is why persecutions followed the arrival of Christianity. Caesars’ worshippers looked down on the Christians, but they did not need to be ashamed. Perhaps Peter remembered the night when he cowered before the might of Rome, and even before a servant girl, and denied his Lord, being ashamed to be associated with him. He certainly learned his lesson. He died as a martyr on a Roman cross. Jesus foretold (John 21:18,19) this, “’Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.’ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, ‘Follow me!’” Tradition tells us he died, head down, for he would not be crucified the same way as Jesus was. The word ‘martyr’ is the same as the word ‘witness.’ Instead of denying Jesus, he witnessed about him, and was crucified for doing so.

Verses 17-19 The judgment is the persecution these Christians were undergoing, a disciplinary judgment designed to purify their lives. The judgment starts at the family of God and from there it continues to the unsaved. The verse quoted from Proverbs 11:31, “If the righteous receive their due on earth, how much more the ungodly and the sinner!” is a little different from the NIV but conveys the sense of the difference between saints and sinners. If the righteous need disciplinary judgments (persecutions and sufferings), how much more will the unrighteous merit the wrath of God whose offer of righteousness in Christ they have rejected.

The Greek word for ‘commit’ is a banking term meaning ‘to give in charge as a deposit.’ Because persecutions are allowed to come to the believer from God, they are designed to purify the Christian lives. The Christians who suffer according to God’s will, are therefore confident that they can commit andentrust their lives to him, knowing that he will take care of them through all their sufferings. In addition, they can continue to do good.

Questions:

How might we distinguish between happiness and blessedness?

If persecution comes upon the contemporary church, how might we understand this as a judgment on the Christianity of our times?

– Alida Sewell