Lesson 51
Study of
First Peter Chapter 3
Verse 13
begins a new section that runs through
Exhortations
dealing with the believers response to persecution and
external pressure.
In
Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is
good?
The rhetorical form gives intensity to the aspect of the
unexpectedness of such suffering, since the readers had been doing what was
right, yet were still persecuted.
Here
the term "harm" includes any hostile and injurious
attitude or activity that produces real damage to the object of the
persecution.
- this next phrase is a conditional clause, ean + Aor middle subjunctive;
- this is 3cc indicating that volition is involved,
that is your mental attitude à
BD
- for what is good (tou/ avgaqou/) the good = DGP
Observations:
1. This rhetorical question that Peter asks requires a
negative answer, NO One!
2. He is not saying or attempting to delude them (or us)
that if they are positive to doctrine and consistent in application of it that
we will escape the verbal abuse or persecution, the CHP's of life.
3. No matter what disaster may strike the believer who has
a F/R of truth that disaster, whatever it is,
cannot harm or injure his spiritual integrity and momentum without
his/her choice for it to do so!
4. The how, it can harm, is by our reacting to it,
rejecting doctrine, therefore a failure to apply the F/R of truth we have and
what have we done? Put the sin nature in rulership.
5. The believer who is tenacious
toward doctrine is protected having the spiritual resources available and a
willingness to use them.
Prov
16:7; Psa 56:4; 118:6; Rom 8:31-32
6. Peter's use of the noun for zealous rather than the
adjective implies not merely having the possession of zeal but its active
embodiment in the readers' lives. It conveys "the idea of wholeheartedness
and singleness of purpose."
7. The zealous believer then is the one who is
consistently positive to the Word and is uncompromising in its application in
their life.
But even
if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness,
- this is a 4th class
conditional statement which is very rare
But even if perchance says that there is a possibility
that even if you are positive to doctrine and are applying it at every
opportunity that you may indeed suffer!
Peter has just given us 4 paragraphs dealing with some
major areas of God's will for us in various situations all designed to prepare
us for living the CWOL.
1. 2:13-17 our mental attitude towards the national entity, the
ruling government; we are under authority of the leaders and must comply with
the laws of the land
2. 2:18-25 deals with authority orientation on
the job, response to our boss whether good or unfair.
3. 3:1-7
authority orientation in marriage, not arbitrary or dictatorial,
the husband has responsibility to show her honor and respect, commanded to love
her
4. 3:8-12 in general terms we have some principles for one
who desires to love life and realize beneficial days;
But even if perchance you should suffer for the sake of righteousness
- experiential righteousness is an increment of divine
good produced in life as you live out the truth, this is what will become
evident at the JSC.
There
is a key difference between responding to the various situations encountered in
life as we've
already noted and what we are seeing here in this context which is suffering
that is directly the result of one's living out the truth in their life.
Here
the "if" clause is But even if perchance you should suffer for the sake of righteousness
Next
we have an incomplete "then" clause you are blessed
Blessed maka,rioj points to a state which the
believer is able to experience in his/her life even amid adverse external
circumstances.
blessed Grk maka,rioj
or Heb. asheri yrev.a; both are plural nouns that describe the
state of happiness, contentment or satisfaction in life; it is used of a spiritual quality or
characteristic in one's life.
Need
to remember that God vindicates His Word in time as we use the principles and
promises in life, blessed in time and He also vindicates His Word in eternity,
blessed at the JSC, rewarded based on the use of the Word in time.