1 Peter 3:16

Peter wrote this letter to believers scattered through Asia Minor (1 Peter 1:1), a minority among pagan neighbours. Their refusal to join in pagan rites and the worship of the emperor, their devotion to Christ alone and their different way of life made them objects of suspicion, and they met slander, exclusion and at times official persecution. Since 1 Peter 2:11 Peter has been teaching them how to live under that pressure: honest conduct among the Gentiles, submission to rulers, and servants enduring hard masters (1 Peter 2:13–25). In 1 Peter 3 he has spoken to wives and husbands (1 Peter 3:1–7) and then called everyone to unity, compassion, brotherly love and humility, answering evil and railing with blessing (1 Peter 3:8–9). He backed that call with Psalm 34:12–16, quoted in 1 Peter 3:10–12: “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.”

Verse 13 draws the conclusion: “And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?” The verb for harm, kakóō, means to injure, to do evil to someone, to hurt or to vex. Peter asks it as a confident statement, and the answer he expects is plain: those who live under the Lord’s eye are beyond the reach of any lasting harm.

“Followers” translates mimētḗs, an imitator, someone who copies a pattern. “That which is good” is agathós, good in every sense, both what is morally right and what is truly beneficial, and so a reflection of God’s own character. Peter is describing people who take goodness as their pattern and copy it actively in what they think, say and do. Believers are called to be followers of Christ in the same way, as Paul writes: “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). Such goodness is also a witness that often disarms critics. Peter has already said that the Gentiles who speak against believers as evildoers may, by their good works, come to glorify God (1 Peter 2:12).

There is a paradox here. In a world where doing good often provokes hostility, goodness is still what keeps the believer safe in the end, because it places us under the watchful and protective eye of God.

The word for suffer, páschō, means to undergo something, to have something done to you, and usually something painful. Peter uses it again and again in this letter, both for the trials of believers and for the sufferings of Christ himself, so believers who suffer share in what Christ went through. The “if” admits plainly that such suffering happens.

“For righteousness’ sake” names the cause. Dikaiosýnē is righteousness, rightness of character and of action, and suffering for its sake means suffering because you live rightly: keeping God’s standards, holding to the truth, or simply bearing the name of Christ. A believer might lose out for refusing to compromise his integrity in business, for speaking against injustice, or for being known as a Christian in a hostile place. Suffering that comes from one’s own sin or folly is another matter, which Peter takes up in verse 17.

“Happy” is makários, blessed or happy. It is the word of the Beatitudes, and the New Testament uses it of God himself, “the blessed God” (1 Timothy 1:11). “Blessed” carries its sense well here. The blessing is God’s favour and his nearness to those who suffer for his sake, and it holds through every outward hardship. Peter is echoing Jesus: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10–12). Luke records the same promise: “Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake” (Luke 6:22). Paul goes so far as to call such suffering a gift: “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake” (Philippians 1:29).

To sanctify the Lord in your heart is to set him apart there as holy and to honour him as supreme Lord over every thought, desire and loyalty. Hagiázō means to make holy, to consecrate or hallow, and since God’s holiness is already complete, here it means to hallow him within. Verse 15 opens with “But”, so this reverence for the Lord is set against the fear of verse 14. In practice it means consciously acknowledging his lordship, putting his will above our own, seeking his glory in all things, and letting his truth be the standard we live by. It is a continual surrender that makes Christ the centre of our lives, with our minds set on things above, where he sits at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1–4).

The Lord we hallow here is Christ, the Lord God come in the flesh and worthy of all worship. This inward act comes first. A witness that honours God flows out of a heart devoted to him, and the readiness that follows grows from it.

We give it readily, at any time, to anyone who asks. “Be ready always” joins hétoimos, ready or prepared, with aeí, always, so Peter wants a standing readiness for any day and any conversation. “An answer” is apología, a plea or a defence, the word from which we get “apologetics”. Among the Greeks and Romans it meant a reasoned defence given in a court or in public. Peter uses it for everyday life, where a believer’s hope will naturally make people ask questions, and it means a clear explanation of what we believe and why. “A reason” is lógos, an account, a coherent explanation that others can follow and weigh.

What we explain is “the hope that is in you”. Elpís means hope or expectation, looking forward with confidence to what God has promised. Here it stands for the whole Christian faith and its promised future, the salvation and eternal life that rest on the resurrection of Christ, which stands at the heart of the gospel Paul received and passed on (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). This hope is meant to be visible. Peter expects “every man” to ask about it, so our lives should give people reason to wonder.

People ask whether this verse is mainly about intellectual argument. It begins with a heart that hallows the Lord, and the hope it speaks of is a living reality that shapes character and conduct, so the reason we give covers both the truth of the faith and the difference it makes in us. Being ready means understanding what we believe and why, and staying alert to the openings the Spirit gives. Jesus speaks of the same witness: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Paul joins wise conduct and gracious answers in the same way: “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man” (Colossians 4:5–6).

A clear conscience and an upright life answer slander by showing it to be false. Syneídēsis is the conscience, our inner awareness of right and wrong, and a good one is clear and free of guilt, at peace before God because we have lived as he wills. “Good” is agathós, the same word as in verse 13. This inward integrity guides everything we do outwardly.

Peter expects the slander to come. “They speak evil of you” is katalaléō, to speak against or slander, and “as of evildoers” is kakopoiós, a wrongdoer or criminal. Early Christians were accused of social and religious crimes, and because they would take no part in pagan worship they were suspected of “atheism” and looked like a threat to public order. In a culture where honour and reputation counted for a great deal, a false charge could be devastating. “That” is hína, which here gives the purpose of keeping a good conscience. “Falsely accuse” is epēreázō, to insult, to slander, to treat with spite, and it describes deliberate lies meant to ruin a person’s name.

“Conversation” in the KJV translates anastrophḗ, which means behaviour, conduct, the whole way of life, and the older English word carried that meaning. So “good conversation in Christ” is a consistently upright life, lived in union with Christ and drawing its strength from him, in whom we are made the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). The hoped-for result is that the accusers “may be ashamed”, kataischýnō, put to shame or made to blush, when their charges are laid beside the plain facts of a believer’s life.

The shame comes from the truth itself, so believers can leave their vindication with God and refuse to retaliate. Paul teaches the same: “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:17–21). He tells Titus to show a pattern of good works and “Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you” (Titus 2:7–8). The aim is the glory of God. Accusers may be silenced, and some may even be convicted by the very truth they slandered.

Suffering for doing good is nobler and of more spiritual profit, while suffering for wrongdoing is deserved and brings shame. Verse 17 begins with gár, “for”, which gives the reason for what came before, especially the call to keep a good conscience. “Better” is kreíttōn, a comparative that means stronger, and so nobler or more excellent.

“Well doing” is agathopoiéō, to do good, which is active and deliberate goodness. In this letter it covers a good conscience, respect for those in authority (1 Peter 2:13–17), honest conduct among unbelievers, and readiness to give a reason for our hope with gentleness and respect. “Evil doing” is kakopoiéō, to do wrong, to harm, to sin, and “than”, ḗ, sets the two side by side. Suffering for wrongdoing is earned, for “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), and it brings shame on the one who suffers and on the church. Peter returns to this later in the letter, warning against suffering as a murderer, a thief or an evildoer, and adding, “Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf” (1 Peter 4:15–16).

This calls for honest self-examination when hardship comes. If our trouble comes from our own sin, foolishness or disobedience, the way forward is repentance and God’s forgiveness and restoration. If it comes from faithfulness to Christ, we can take heart, because God sees our well doing and honours it, even while the world reviles it.

Every part of this passage finds its fullest meaning in Jesus. Peter has already set him before his readers as the example of suffering for well doing: he “did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth”, and “when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously” (1 Peter 2:21–23). He was reviled as a winebibber and a glutton and accused of casting out devils by the prince of the devils, and he met it all without retaliation, entrusting himself to the Father. The terror Peter speaks of fell on him in full, and he faced it with a heart at peace.

His suffering was wholly for well doing and wholly within the will of God, as he prayed in Gethsemane, “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:5–8). He was always ready with an answer, in his parables, in the temple and before his accusers, so that the officers said, “Never man spake like this man” (John 7:46). And he suffered for others: “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). He is “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

Suffering was the path to his victory. By the cross he spoiled principalities and powers and triumphed over them (Colossians 2:15), and his resurrection is the foundation of our hope. That is why any harm done to his followers is temporary. Believers who suffer for righteousness share in the fellowship of his sufferings (Philippians 3:10), and if we suffer with him, we shall also be glorified together (Romans 8:17). His witnesses carry that hope to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8), and to everyone who asks.

These verses give us a way to live among people who misunderstand or oppose our faith. Our part is to keep doing good, to give Christ the place of honour in our hearts, and to let our hope show. When someone asks why we live as we do, we can answer with reasons, warmly and respectfully, as people who take both God and the questioner seriously. When we are slandered, we can let an honest life speak and leave our vindication with God. When suffering comes, we can ask honestly whether it comes from our own wrongdoing or from following Christ. If it is the second, we are blessed, and the Lord whose eyes are over the righteous is watching over us.