1Pe 3:17 | JFB | STEP | 17. better —One may object, I would not bear it so ill if I had deserved it. Peter replies, it is better that you did not deserve it, in order that doing well and yet being spoken against, you may prove yourself a true Christian [GERHARD ]. if the will of God be so —rather as the optative is in the oldest manuscripts, "if the will of God should will it so." Those who honor God's will as their highest law ( ) have the comfort to know that suffering is God's appointment ( ). So Christ Himself; our inclination does not wish it.

1 Peter 3:17

17. better—One may object, I would not bear it so ill if I had deserved it. Peter replies, it is better that you did not deserve it, in order that doing well and yet being spoken against, you may prove yourself a true Christian [GERHARD].

if the will of God be so—rather as the optative is in the oldest manuscripts, "if the will of God should will it so." Those who honor God's will as their highest law (1Pe 2:15) have the comfort to know that suffering is God's appointment (1Pe 4:19). So Christ Himself; our inclination does not wish it.