affection, and humility flourished among believers, these virtues
would put discord to the rout, and leave no occasion for rending the
oneness of the Christian body. They would also be proof against evil
from without, both in deed and speech, neither tempted to _render evil
for evil_ in their actions nor _reviling for reviling_ in their words.
They have a duty to the world, and cannot thus belie their Christian
profession. They are called to adorn the doctrine of their Saviour,
and the Master's sermon has among its prominent precepts "Bless them
that curse you." This is the spirit of St. Peter's exhortation, _But
contrariwise blessing_; that is, Be ye of those who bless. For there
is a law of recompense with God in good things as in evil; the
blessers shall be blessed: _For hereunto were ye called, that ye
should inherit a blessing_. It is as though he urged them thus: Ye
were aforetime enemies of God; but ye have been made partakers of His
heavenly calling (Heb. iii. 1), that ye may come to blessing. This
should move you to bless your enemies. And more than this, the servant
of God may receive no blessing from the world, may get curses for his
blessing; but yet he knows where to flee for consolation. He can pray
with the Psalmist, "Let them curse, but bless Thou" (Psalm cix. 28),
conscious that the Lord will stand at the right hand of the needy.
The psalmists knew much of such trials, and it is from the words of
one of them (Psalm xxxiv. 12-16) that St. Peter enforces his own
lesson. It is a psalm full of the knowledge of the trials of God's
servants: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous"; but it is rich
also in plenitude of comfort: "The Lord delivereth him out of them
all." The father of long ago teaches thus to his children the fear of
the Lord: _He that would love life, and see good days, let him refrain
his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: and let
him turn away from evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and pursue
it_. _For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears
unto their supplication: but the face of the Lord is upon them that do
evil._ A glance at the Psalm will show that the Apostle has not quoted
precisely; and though he has much in common with the Greek of the
LXX., he does not adhere closely to that. But he gives to the full the
spirit both of the Hebrew and the Greek. The life of which the
Psalmist speaks is life in this world. The original explains this by
making the latter clause of the verse, "and loveth _many_ days, that
he may see good." And the love is to be a noble feeling, a desire to
make his worth living. Such a life must exhibit watchfulness over
words and actions. The precepts begin at the beginning, with control
of the tongue. Control that, and you are master of the rest. "It is a
little member, but boasteth great things." "The world of iniquity
among our members is the tongue, which defileth the whole body" (James
iii. 5, 6). It needs to be kept as with a bridle, and not only when
the ungodly are in sight, but constantly. But the words of the Psalm
contemplate a further danger. Men may give good words with the lips
while the heart is full of bitterness. Then the lips are lying, and
this is an evil as great as the former, and more perilous to him who
commits it, because the sin does not come to the light that it may be
reproved, but contrives to wear the mask of virtue.
And the actions need watchfulness also. They must not only possess the
negative quality of abstinence from evil, but the positive stamp of
good deeds done. "By their fruits ye shall know them." And the work
will be no light one. Peace is to be sought, and the Apostle uses a
word which implies that a chase is needful to obtain it. St. Paul has
a passage very much in the spirit of St. Peter's teaching here, and
the words of which picture distinctly the difficulties which the
Christian will have to labour against: "Giving diligence to keep the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. iv. 3). This tells us
why our Apostle urges the pursuit of peace. It is the clasp which
binds the Christian communion together. From all sorts of causes men
are prone to fall apart, to break the oneness; and peace is able to
hold them fast. Hence the diligence in seeking it, the earnestness of
the pursuit that it may not elude us.
But when all is done, when men have not been sitting with folded hands
waiting and dreaming that peace would come without pursuit, but have
laboured for it, they do not always attain to it. "I am for peace,"
says the Psalmist, "but when I speak, they are for war" (Psalm cxx.
7). And so the disappointed struggler is directed to the sure source
of consolation amid discomfiture. The Lord marks his efforts, knows
their earnest purpose in spite of their ill-success. He beholds also
those who have withstood them, but with far other regard. St. Peter
has not quoted what the Psalmist says of their fate: "God will root
out the remembrance of them from the earth." God's righteous pilgrim
is not forgotten. His prayer is heard, and will be answered for good.
No shadow has come between him and God, though his lot seem very dark.
Neither can the wrong-doer raise a shadow to screen himself from the
all-seeing eyes. All things are naked and open before the eyes of Him
with whom we have to do.
Thus far St. Peter has used the language of the Psalmist, and among
the converts the Jews would be sure to supply from the context those
other words, "O fear the Lord, all ye His saints; for they that fear
Him lack nothing." The Apostle clothes that same thought in his own
words: _And who is he that will harm you, if ye be zealous of that
which is good?_ He has repeatedly dwelt on the power of goodness to
win unbelievers to its side (ii. 12, 15; iii. 1), and the same idea
shapes his words now. In those days the Zealots were well known, and
their unbounded enthusiasm for their evil cause. Josephus lays the
destruction of Jerusalem at their door. The Apostle would have
Christ's disciples "zealots" for Him. Let there be nothing
half-hearted in their service, and its power will be irresistible. It
will avail either to silence and confound the adversaries, or to
strengthen the faithful so that the smell of the furnace of
persecution shall not pass upon them. They shall be enabled to break
the chains with which their foes would bind them as easily as Samson
his green withes. _But and if ye should suffer for righteousness'
sake, blessed are ye._ If ye endure chastening, God is dealing with
you as with sons. He has called Himself your Father; Christ has
claimed you for brethren. He, the righteous, suffered; shall we not
reckon it for a blessing to be worthy to bear the cross? Only let us
be of good courage. He that endureth to the end shall find salvation.
_And fear not their fear, neither be troubled._ Again St. Peter
applies the promises of the ancient Scriptures. In the days of Isaiah
all Judah was in terror, king and people alike, before the gathering
armies of Syria and Israel. In their dread comes the prophetic
message, and says to the confederates, "Gird yourselves, and ye shall
be broken in pieces," and to the tiny power of Judah, "Let the Lord of
hosts be your fear, and let Him be your dread, and He shall be for a
sanctuary" (Isa. viii. 12, 13). The condition of these Asian converts
was one of heaviness through manifold temptations. While the believer
lives here he always has his assailants, and in those early days the
rulers of the earth were not seldom among the adversaries of the
Christians. Hence the Apostle's exhortation is most apposite: Fear not
their fear--the things which they would dread, and with which they
will threaten you. For what are they? They may take away your
property. Be not troubled; you would soon have had to leave it. The
loss a few years sooner is no terrible affliction. They may drive you
from one land to another. To strangers and sojourners what can that
signify? If they cast you into prison, the Lord who shut the lions'
mouths for Daniel is your Lord also; and I, Peter, know how
angel-hands have removed chains and opened prison doors. And should
they scourge and torture you, do you shrink from thus being made like
unto your Master? _Sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord._
Isaiah's message to disheartened Judah was, "The Lord of hosts, Him
shall ye sanctify." On His word shall ye rely, assured that He, the
holy God, will fail neither in wisdom nor power. To think otherwise is
not to sanctify Him. The Lord knoweth how to deliver out of
temptation. St. Peter, who knew Christ as the Son of the living God,
applies to the Son the words first spoken of the Father. The Son is
one with the Father. Hence he bids the afflicted converts, suffering
for righteousness' sake, not to be afraid of the world's terror, but
to sanctify Christ in their hearts as Lord. He is the Emmanuel, whom
Isaiah was sent to promise. God has dwelt among men, and will be the
God and the Deliverer of all His faithful ones. This sense of "God
with us" they know, and with the knowledge comes a power not their
own, and they fear no more the fear of their adversaries.
It is against foes of another sort that the Christian has now to hold
fast his faith, and sanctify Christ as his Lord. There are those who
deny Him all that is supernatural, all that speaks of the Divine in
His history; who treat the resurrection and ascension of the Lord as
groundless legends, due to the ignorance of His followers; and who
leave to the Jesus of the Gospels only the qualities of a better
fellow-man. These are the enemies of the cross of Christ.
And of such dangerous teaching it would seem as if St. Peter had been
thinking in the words that follow: _Being ready always to give answer
to every man that asketh you a reason concerning the hope that is in
you._ The believer rests on Christ in faith. But though in his belief
there must be much which he cannot fathom, yet it is a belief for men.
His service is a reasonable service; he can point to abundance of
evidence as ground for his faith; he believes because he has
experienced the power of the Spirit, and fears not to trust the Christ
whom he has sanctified in his heart as Lord; he knows in whom he has
believed. But beside this, he can study the Old Testament; and there
he learns how the coming incarnation dominates every portion of the
volume, how from the first redemption through the seed of the woman
was made known; and he follows the revelation step by step till in the
evangel of Isaiah he has predictions almost as vivid and plain as the
narrative of the Gospels. Those four narratives are another warrant
for his faith, their wondrous agreement amid multitudinous
divergences, divergences so marked that none could have ventured to
put them forth as history except while the knowledge of those who had
seen the Lord and been witnesses of His actions was available to vouch
for and stamp as true these varicoloured pictures of the life of
Jesus. He has further vouchers in the lives and letters of those who
knew and followed the Lord, followed Him, most of them, on the road
that led through persecution unto death. And beside all this, there
stands and grows the Church built upon this history, strong with the
power of this faith and in her holy worship sanctifying Christ as her
Lord. These are things to which the Christian appeals. They are not
the only reasons for belief, but they are those of which he can make
other men cognisant, and to which the world cannot continue always
blind; and they have a force against which the gates of hell have not
yet been, nor ever will be able, to prevail.
These reasons he gives _with meekness and fear_--with meekness,
because in that spirit all the victories of the Lord are to be won;
with fear, lest by feeble advocacy the cause of Christ may suffer. And
he does not bring words alone with him to the struggle, but the power
of a godly life; he is prepared for the conflict by the possession of
a _good conscience_ before God and men; he bears in mind the prophetic
exhortation, "Be ye clean, ye that bear the vessels of the Lord" (Isa.
lii. 11). That injunction was given to those who were in their day
strangers and pilgrims. But with the good conscience, pureness of
heart in the service of the Lord, there need be no haste, no flight.
The Lord will go before them; the God of Israel will be their
rearward. And the good conscience has lost none of its efficacy:
_Wherein ye are spoken against, they may be put to shame who revile
your good manner of life in Christ_. Of the Christian's faith and hope
his revilers know nothing, but his good life and his reasons for it
men can see and hear. And these shall gain the victory. But they must
go hand in hand. The deeds must bear out the words. When he testifies
that his hope is placed where neither persecutions nor revilings avail
against it, his life must show him fearless of what the world can do.
His position toward it must be that which St. Peter himself took:
"Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than
unto God, judge ye" (Acts iv. 19). Men may marvel at what they see in
him, but they will take knowledge that he has been with Jesus. He is
created, new-created, in Christ Jesus unto good works (Eph. ii. 10).
His revilers use him despitefully; but, according to Christ's lesson,
he prays for them, and their shafts glance pointless off. Well does
St. Paul close his catalogue of the Christian armour "with all prayer
and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit" (Eph. vi. 18).
Thus does the believer wield his weapons effectually. His revilers
have no reason for their words; he is careful that they shall have
none. As with Peter and John the council could say nothing against
their good deed and let them go, finding nothing how they might punish
them, so shall it be with others of the faithful; and, for very shame
at the futility of their accusations and assaults, the revilers shall
be put to silence.
XI
_THE REWARDS OF SUFFERING FOR WELL-DOING_
"For it is better, if the will of God should so will, that ye
suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. Because Christ also
suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that
He might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened in the spirit; in which also He went and preached unto
the spirits in prison, which aforetime were disobedient, when the
long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark
was a-preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved
through water: which also after a true likeness doth now save
you, _even_ baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the
flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God,
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ; who is on the right
hand of God, having gone unto heaven; angels and authorities and
powers being made subject unto Him."--1 PETER iii. 17-22.
The Apostle comes back to his solemn subject. Why are the righteous
called to suffering? The question was perplexing these Asian
Christians when St. Peter wrote. Previous ages had pondered over it,
Job and his friends among the number; and men ponder over it still.
St. Peter has suggested several answers: The faith of Christ's
servants after trial will be found praiseworthy at the appearance of
their Lord; to bear wrong with patience is acceptable with God; it is
a happy lot, Christ has said, to suffer in the cause of righteousness.
His next response to the question is more solemn than these: Suffering
is sent to the righteous by the will of God. It never comes
otherwise, and is meant to serve two several purposes: it is intended
to benefit the unrighteous, and to be a blessing and glory to the
righteous who endure it.
He shows that this is God's will by two examples. Christ, the sinless,
suffered at the hands of sinful men, and for their sakes, as well as
for all sinners; and though we only can approach the subject with deep
reverence and use the language of Scripture rather than our own about
the effect of suffering on Christ Himself, we are taught therein that
He was made perfect as the Leader of salvation by the things which He
suffered: and the Apostle here describes the sequel of those
sufferings by the session on the right hand of God in heaven, where
angels and authorities and powers are made subject unto Him.
But God's ordinance in respect of the suffering of the godly has been
the same from of old. In the ancient world Noah had found grace in
God's sight in the midst of a graceless world. He was made a witness
and a preacher of righteousness; and the faithful building of the ark
at God's command was a constant testimony to the wrong-doers, whose
sole response was mockery and a continuance in the corruption of their
way. But God had not left them without witness; and when the Deluge
came at length, some hearts may have gone forth to God in penitence,
though too late to be saved from the destruction. To Noah and those
with him safety was assured; and when the door of the ark was opened,
and the small band of the rescued came forth, it was to have the
welcome of God's blessing and to be pointed to a token of His
everlasting covenant. In this wise St. Peter adds once more to the
consolations of those who endure grief and suffering wrongfully, and
thus does he set forth the general drift of his argument. But the
whole passage is so replete with helpful lessons that it merits the
fullest consideration.
_For it is better, if the will of God should so will, that ye suffer
for well-doing than for evil-doing._ For evil-doing suffering is
certain to come. It cannot be escaped. God has linked the two together
by an unalterable law. Such suffering is penal. But when the righteous
are afflicted their lot is not of law, but of God's merciful
appointment and selection, and is ordained with a purpose of blessing
both to themselves and others. The words of St. Peter are very
emphatic concerning God's ordinance: _If the will of God so will_. It
is not always clear to men. Therefore St. Paul (Eph. i. 9) speaks of
the mystery of the Divine will, but in the same place (i. 5) of the
good pleasure thereof. It is exercised with love, and not with anger.
It was the feeling[10] with which God looked forth upon the
new-created world, and, behold, it was very good (Rev. iv. 11). With
the same feeling He longs to behold it rescued and restored. Such is
the desire, such the aim, with which God permits trial and distress to
fall upon the righteous. And that the sufferers may be kept in mind of
God's remedial purpose herein, the Apostle adduces the example of
Christ Himself: _Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the
righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God_. The
suffering Christ should give pause to all questionings about the
sufferings of His servants. Their lot may be hard to explain. But be
their lives ever so pure, their purposes ever so lofty, "in many
things we offend all," and need not murmur if we be chastened. But as
we think of the sinless Jesus and His unequalled sufferings, we learn
the applicability of the prophet's lamentation, "See if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow" (Lam. i. 12). The burden of the
unrighteous world was laid upon the righteous Son of God, and this
because of God's love for sinners. Herein was the love of God
manifested in us. Sinful men were the material chosen for the display
of the Divine love, and God sent His only-begotten Son into the world
that we might live through Him. It was of God's ordinance and the
Son's obedience that redemption was thus purchased. That we might
live, the sinless Christ must die, and ere He died must be put to
grief by the opposition of those whom He came to save; must lament and
be hindered in His works of mercy by the want of faith among His own
kindred, by the persistent sins of those cities in which His mightiest
works were wrought; must shed tears of anguish over the city of David,
which would know nothing of the things which belonged unto her peace.
This was the chastisement of the innocent to gain peace for the
guilty, that God might thus commend His love to men, and Christ might
bring them back to the Father. And this bringing back is not the mere
action of a guide. This He is, but He is far more: He helps those who
are coming at every step, and as they draw near they find through Him
that the Father's house and the Father's welcome are waiting for their
return. Shall men complain, nay shall they not be lost in praise, if
God will at all consent to use their trials to extend His kingdom and
His glory, and thus make them partakers of the sufferings of Christ?
Such a lot had been welcome to St. Peter: "They departed from the
presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to
suffer dishonour for the name" (Acts v. 41); and here in his epistle
he publishes the joy of such shame, publishes it that others through
all ages may suffer gladly, trusting their God to use the pains He
sends to magnify His glory. The lesson is for all men at all times.
Christ suffered for sins once; but once here means once for all, and
proclaims to each generation of sinners that Jesus bore His cross for
them.
[10] The LXX. translators use the word θέλω very frequently
to translate such expressions as "to delight in," "to have pleasure
in." Cf. Deut. xxi. 14; 1 Sam. xviii. 22; 1 Kings x. 9.
_Being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit._ The
suffering of Jesus went thus far, that there might be nothing in the
cup of human woe which He had not tasted. His spirit was parted from
the flesh, as when we die. The body lay in the grave; the spirit
passed to the world of the departed. But the triumph of death was
short. After the three days' burial came the miracle of miracles. The
dead Jesus returned to life, and that resurrection is made the earnest
of a future life to all believers. Thus began the recompense of the
righteous Sufferer, and the power of the resurrection makes suffering
endurable to the godly, makes them rejoice to be conformed unto
Christ's death and forgetful of all things save the prize of the high
calling, which lies before them to be won. Nor was it with Christ's
spirit during those three days as with the souls of other departed
ones. He, the sinless One, had no judgement to await; His stay there
was that dwelling in paradise which He foreknew and spake of to the
penitent thief.
_In which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which
aforetime were disobedient, when the long-suffering of God waited in
the days of Noah._ At this point we come upon a twofold line of
interpretation, occasioned by the difficulty which constantly arises
of deciding whether πνεῦμα--"spirit" is to be understood of
the Divine Spirit or of the spiritual part of man's nature as
distinguished from the flesh. Those who have taken the words
"quickened in the Spirit" of the previous verse in the former of these
senses explain this passage of the preaching of Christ to the
antediluvian world through His servant Noah. The Divine fiat had gone
forth. The Flood was to come and bring destruction to the bodies of
all but Noah and his family. But within those doomed bodies souls were
shut up, and these the love of Christ would not willingly give over.
They should hear, while still in their prison of the flesh, the offer
of His grace; and should they repent, the waves which wrought
destruction of the body might release them from the bondage of
corruption. This was the purpose of God's long-suffering, which waited
and appealed while the ark was a-preparing. Thus did the Divine Spirit
of Christ go forth as a herald of mercy to the impenitent, proclaiming
that for their souls the door of forgiveness was not yet closed.
Those, on the contrary, who refer "quickened in the spirit" to the
human soul of Christ, take this text as an additional authority for
the doctrine in the Apostles' Creed that our Lord's human soul after
the Crucifixion descended into hell. Thus, they hold, His pure spirit
went beyond this world to experience all that human spirits can know
before the judgement comes. Thither He came but as a Herald. Death and
the grave had no power to detain Him. In mercy to those who had passed
away before the Incarnation, He brought the message of the mediatorial
work which He had completed in His crucifixion. The sinners before the
Flood are singled out for mention by St. Peter as sinners above all
men, so sunk in wickedness that but eight were found worthy to be
saved from the Deluge. Thus the magnitude of Christ's mercy is
glorified. He who goes to seek these must long to save all men. And to
carry this message of glad tidings is part of the recompense for the
agonies of Gethsemane and Calvary, a portion of what made it a
blessing to suffer for well-doing.