8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For
“Whoever desires to love life
and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit;
11 let him turn away from evil and do good;
let him seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
(ESV)
STOP! Think a little 🤔 What is God saying to you?
- What is the writer saying?
- How do I apply this to my life?
Peter has given instruction on how believers ought to live out their relationships with others with an emphasis on dealing with non-believers in various categories. Now he speaks about how believers should live in general in a pagan world. We should be unified and live in harmony with one another, even if we don’t have full agreement on everything. We should show sympathy to one another. We must have familial love for one another. Be tender-hearted to one another. Be humble. Instead of returning evil for evil, we should bless others because this is what we are called to. We should respond to evil with blessing because of our eternal destiny and the promise that we will be blessed for our faithfulness.
Peter quotes Psalm 34:12-16 which teaches that those who respond in retaliation to evil will face God’s judgement. God will judge both the victim and the instigator rather than bless the victim while punishing the instigator.
Jesus taught us to pray for those who persecute us (Mat 5:44) and Paul wrote “when we are cursed, we bless” (1 Cor 4:12). As believers, in all things, we should pursue peace.
As a general life principle, no harm comes to those who pursue good. But even if we do suffer for righteousness’ sake we will be blessed. We need not fear those who seek to persecute us. We must have the right attitude by focusing on bringing Christ honour. But we must also not remain silent. We must be ready to explain the reason to those who ask why we are responding in the way we are. When we respond to evil with blessing, that should cause people to ask, “why?” So we should be ready to explain our hope. But our answers must be gentle and respectful. Our answers for our faith must be God-honouring and not aggressive. When our responses are God-honouring, then we have a clear conscience and those who revile our good behaviour will be put to shame when they are confronted one day when they stand before God.
Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, should God should allow it, than it is to suffer for doing evil. That final statement seems obvious but there is no blessing in suffering for doing what is wrong. We will be blessed when we do good in the face of evil.
To do good in the face of evil is hard. But it is easier when you have confidence that justice will prevail in the end. Do you trust God to do what is right and bring about justice in His time and His way? Are you focussed on eternity and the promise of blessing for living faithfully?
Major Stories of the Bible Reading Plan
Zechariah’s Visions Part Three: Zechariah 5-6