Suffering with Purpose
In First Peter, the Apostle took up his pen and wrote to Christians spread throughout modern day Turkey who were facing mounting persecution from the cultures in which they lived. With mounting persecution came mounting pressure to either cave to the sinful lifestyles of their neighbors (lifestyles once their own) or possibly to withdraw fully from the culture or maybe even to revolt against it entirely. To give in to any of these temptations would be a big mistake, therefore, Peter wrote to them so that they might endure their trials firm in their faith. "I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God," Peter explains, adding the command, "Stand firm in it" (5:12). They needed their hope set fully on "the true grace God."
With great pastoral care, Peter reminds these suffering Christians that they are indeed strangers in this world because God had called them "out of darkness into his marvelous light (2:9). They are not simply exiles, they "are elect exiles" (1:1). In relationship to the world, they were strangers (2:11) but in relationship to God they were now his chosen people (2:10), beloved. Their relationship to Christ is why they stood out like sore thumbs (4:16). This world was not their home anymore! They were now pilgrims passing through, awaiting the future inheritance God had already secured for them in heaven (1:4). They should rejoice in their foreign status just as we should.
Furthermore, Peter also encourages them that they were not suffering alone. These Christians wondered if their plight was unique. Were they the weird ones? They felt very alone, very strange in the world. They could not see it but their sufferings were also being shared by other Christians around the world (5:9). That knowledge, Peter was sure, would empower them to stand firm, resisting the temptations of the devil with their faith. "Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world" (5:9). It must have been a great comfort to know that what they were experiencing was "normal" for a Christian.
The persecution that our brothers and sisters faced in Asia Minor does not appear to have escalated to the point of bloodshed and martyrdom (though apparently some slaves may have been beaten, 2:20). At this point, under the reign of emperor Nero, there is no evidence of empire-sanctioned hostilities toward Christians. (Rome wouldn't persecute the Christians until the great fire of Rome in 64 AD, likely in the very near future from the stand point of Peter's writing of this letter.) Rather, these Christians were spoken against as evildoers (2:12), "slandered" and reviled (3:16), maligned (4:4), and "insulted" (4:14). They used to enjoy sins with everyone else. Now they were new, born again to a living hope (1:3). Due to the massive change, they now faced the ridicule of surprise when they would no longer dive in to sin like they once did (4:4).
From these clues, we can gather that their suffering was predominantly from verbal assaults, not physical ones. The "fiery trial" (4:12) stemmed from what people were saying to them and about them. In this way, First Peter is able to connect with Christians down through every century, in relatively free countries as well as religiously oppressed ones: Words hurt, too. Verbal persecution is a special class of torture that many Christians face just as our Lord Jesus told us: "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account" (Matt 5:10–11).
How were these Christians supposed to make sense of their suffering? First, they needed to see their suffering in light of God the Father's will for them. Their status as aliens came about because of God's election of them. God chose them out of the world (1:1) to be his holy people (2:9). Their status as Christians, loved by God and hated by the world, was "according to the foreknowledge of God the Father" (1:1a). God not only knew that they would be his people but he sovereignly brought about their conversion, causing them to be born again (1:3). Foreknowledge extends beyond omniscience. Foreknowledge describes God's predetermined plan to love these people in a particular way by uniting them to Christ thereby making them his children (Rom 8:28-30). And as soon as he made them his own, he made them enemies of the world. These Christians had been set apart "in the sanctification of the Spirit" (1:2b) and by that means, they were made into "a holy priesthood" (2:5) and "a holy nation" (2:9). Therefore, as God's set apart people, they were to be holy as God himself is holy (1:15-16).
Their suffering was in keeping with their calling. God had brought them into the very context where they now felt like strangers in a strange world. It was God's will that they were foreigners, sojourning as pilgrims here, but was it God's will that they suffer? Remarkably, Peter says that God had a purpose for their suffering! "For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil" (3:17). "For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people" (2:15). "Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good" (4:19).
Suffering is neither outside of God's control nor is it without purpose. God uses suffering for redemptive purposes, which is a great consolation. Peter's readers needed to see their suffering in light of these truths. We desperately need to as well.
This brings us to the next lens through which these Christians needed to view their trials. They needed to understand their exile and ordeal in light of the paradigm of Christ's own sufferings and the glory that will one day be revealed when he returns.
Just as God the Father's foreknowledge, calling, and election of the believers brought them into a blessed relationship with God himself and a hostile relationship with the world, Christ, too, was foreknown by his Father, chosen, and called to suffer in this world. God had ransomed these Christians, not with silver or gold, "but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you" (1:19–20). Christ himself was "rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious" (2:4), the chosen cornerstone of a new temple of God (2:6) in which each believer is being assembled together to form its metaphorical structure (2:5). Christ was rejected by men, ultimately by being crucified. Yet that precious blood of Christ has been applied to the believers in the new covenant, cleansing them from sin and ransoming them from death (1:2, 19; 2:24). Peter will return to the theme of Christ's sufferings over and over in this short epistle to underscore the blessedness that can come from trials.
Understanding Christ's sufferings, therefore, is key for Christians to understand their own suffering. And as surely as Christ suffered, he has also been exalted, now at God's right hand (3:22). The Holy Spirit not only predicted "the sufferings of Christ" but also "the subsequent glories" (1:11) which must not only include Christ's current role in heaven at God's right hand but also his coming glory when he returns. Though these Christians have been saved and are consequently suffering as Christians, they were boldly exhorted by Peter to set their "hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. They had been brought into glory but there was much more glory to come. That was cause for rejoicing "with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory" (1:8). Peter himself was a "partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed" (5:1).
Beloved, your trials are not wasted. your feelings of foreign-ness are because you are a Christian. And that is a glorious thing! Therefore, "rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed" (4:12).
