Persecution: Clearly, we have God’s earthly and heavenly care (3:10-12). But does this mean we will never suffer in this life? No. Even though by God’s common grace, men in general do not attack those who do good (3:13), but in the fallen world, persecutions do occur (3:14a). In fact, Scripture even attests to its reality for believers who walk faithfully with the Lord.[1] Peter instructs us to respond rightly when we are persecuted.

Proper Response: Peter gives us a threefold Christian response.[2] He first tells us to be courageous (3:14b). Instead of fearing the persecutor’s intimidation and being shaken by it, we are to stand firm,[3] unmoved from our commitment to Christ as Lord and our obedience to His word. This brings us to our second response: be worshipful. Always hallow/worship (“sanctify”) Christ as God (“Lord”) and be intensely intent on obeying His word, which enables us to always be a ready voice for the message of hope in Christ (2:9; Acts 5:29-32). Our third response is to be righteous. This is true inner righteousness (“a good conscience”), and no mere external appearance of it (Matt. 5:20; 23:25-28), since Christ is sanctified as Lord in our hearts. Peter tells us the outcome of a true righteousness of the heart: slander and vilification against us will definitely be false; and the persecutors, not us, will be put to shame (3:17). The people of God ought never to suffer for doing evil (4:15-16), and when we live righteously, we may suffer harm but we will never suffer shame. These are our marching orders: Be courageous, be worshipful, and be righteous.

[1] Cf. Psalm 37:12, 14; Matt. 5:10-12; 10:25; John 15:19; 16:33; Acts 14:22; 2 Tim. 3:10-12; 1 Pet. 2:21.

[2] These commands are easy to identify here: “do not fear,” “sanctify Christ,” and “keep a good conscience.”

[3] Cf. Deut. 31:6; Josh. 1:7-9; 1 Chron. 22:13; 2 Chron. 32:7; Phil. 1:28; 2 Tim. 1:8; 2:1, 3; 4:5.