Suffering for the Right Reasons

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1 Peter 3:13 - 4:11
Undeserved Suffering

13.) And who will harm you if you are deeply committed to what is good?
14.) But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear or be disturbed,
15.) but honor the Messiah as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.
16.) However, do this with gentleness and respect, keeping your conscience clear, so that when you are accused, those who denounce your Christian life will 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.

18.) For Christ also suffered for sins once for all,
the righteous for the unrighteous,
that He might bring you to God,
after being put to death in the fleshly realm
but made alive in the spiritual realm.

19.) In that state He also went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison
20.) who in the past were disobedient, when God patiently waited in the days of Noah while an ark was being prepared. In it a few—that is, eight people—were saved through water.
21.) Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
22.) Now that He has gone into heaven, He is at God’s right hand with angels, authorities, and powers subject to Him.

Chapter 4
Following Christ

1.) Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, equip yourselves also with the same resolve—because the one who suffered in the flesh has finished with sin—
2.) in order to live the remaining time in the flesh, no longer for human desires, but for God’s will.
3.) For there has already been enough time spent in doing what the pagans choose to do: carrying on in unrestrained behavior, evil desires, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and lawless idolatry.
4.) So they are surprised that you don’t plunge with them into the same flood of wild living—and they slander you.
5.) They will give an account to the One who stands ready to judge the living and the dead.
6.) For this reason the gospel was also preached to those who are now dead, so that, although they might be judged by men in the fleshly realm, they might live by God in the spiritual realm.

End-Time Ethics

7.) Now the end of all things is near; therefore, be serious and disciplined for prayer.
8.) Above all, maintain an intense love for each other, since love covers a multitude of sins.
9.) Be hospitable to one another without complaining.
10.) Based on the gift each one has received, use it to serve others, as good managers of the varied grace of God.
11.) If anyone speaks, it should be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, it should be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To Him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.




Holman Christian Standard Bible
(HCSB) Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.