Helen Roseveare was a British missionary in the 1950s and 60s. She served as a doctor in Congo. At age 39, she completed twelve years of missionary work with little response—the people wouldn’t listen to her. Then came a political upheaval in 1964. Rebel forces took control and, in the process, took hostages. That included Helen. Soldiers beat Helen and brutally raped her. Twelve years of doing good, now beaten and abused? For what purpose?

One day, two rebel soldiers came to get Helen. A hostage was pregnant and having problems. Helen went with the soldiers and came to a place holding about eighty Greeks. She had been their doctor for twelve years; but none of them would even look at her. Still, Helen began to care for the woman; and Helen asked God what he wanted her to do. Here’s what transpired next.

She knew English, French, Swahili, Benghala, but not Greek. Some of the Greeks knew English, but the soldiers didn’t know English or Greek. So, Helen helps the pregnant woman in languages the soldiers knew and intermittently shares the gospel with folks who knew English, and they translated into Greek. Eighty Greeks hear the gospel, and God saves many of them in that moment. “All these years,” she said, “they wouldn’t listen. But now, since I had suffered worse than they did, they were willing to listen.”

What gives a Christian like Helen the ability to keep doing good when suffering so much? What hope was beneath it all, upholding her? What hope sustains you in your sufferings? First Peter has been answering these questions. It’s written to help sojourners/you stand firm in God’s grace when suffering in Jesus’ footsteps. Today, in verses 13-17, Peter continues that theme of suffering while doing good. In that suffering, it’s crucial to remember our blessedness, our Lord, and our defense. Listen for those three ideas as we read, starting in verse 13…

¹³ Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, ¹⁵ but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶ having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may 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.

Peter has just quoted from Psalm 34. “The righteous” of Psalm 34 belong to the king—in our case, we belong to King Jesus. We belong to him, and our lives must display his goodness to others. That includes not only loving those likely to love us back; it includes blessing our enemies. The people who do us harm, the people who revile us because of our faith in Jesus—we must do good to them. Verse 13 now continues that theme of doing good while suffering from enemies; and in the process we learn how crucial it is to remember our blessedness, our Lord, and our defense.

Our Blessedness

Let’s start with our blessedness. “Who is there to harm you,” he asks, “if you are zealous for what is good.” “Good” has already been explained. It’s not simply deeds done in private. He’s talking about good deeds that are observable to non-Christians.[i] At a minimum, these are good deeds that make for a just social order. In 2:12, he called it “honorable conduct.” But in 3:11, he added pursuing peace, practicing justice, blessing your enemies. In 3:16, he also calls it “your good behavior in Christ.”

So, our pursuit of good will overlap with what non-Christians (by common grace) can discern is good. But there will be additional goods we pursue that grow from our special union with Christ. They’re the sort of good deeds that lead non-Christians to start asking questions about your hope. Your life doesn’t look like theirs—to quote an Irving firefighter I met at Discount Tire a few weeks ago: “Who the [heck] would love their enemies? That makes no sense.” That’s the point! Christ is better and he works better things in his people. Like Christ, Christians will be zealous for what is good.

The rest of verse 13 is harder to determine. It’s a rhetorical question usually understood in one of two ways. He could mean, “Who is there to harm you ultimately?” Verse 12 had just assured us that God’s ears are open to our prayers. He sees us. He will judge our enemies and not allow their evil to continue. So, when you look at the bigger picture, nobody can harm us in an ultimate sense—even though, right now, you should suffer for righteousness’ sake. That’s one way to take it.

Or his question could be stating a general pattern of how things tend to go. Our pursuit of good often overlaps with what non-Christians know is good—that’s why even non-Christian governors in 2:14 can praise those who do good. So, in general, who’s going to harm you if you’re not a lawbreaker or a troublemaker. In general, they’ll leave you alone. But, verse 14, that’s not always the case; sometimes you will suffer for righteousness’ sake. You can take home both options.

Either way, the main thrust in verses 13-14 is that when we suffer for righteousness’ sake, it’s crucial to remember that you are blessed. The suffering here isn’t for your own stupidity. It’s also not suffering in general. He’s talking about suffering because of your obedience to Jesus. In what sense are you blessed, then?

He doesn’t mean the sufferings themselves are a blessing. 1:6 says they grieve us. The point isn’t to pursue suffering as the blessing, but that if we suffer for Christ’s sake, it points to deeper truth. In 1:7, God uses our sufferings to refine our faith. There’s also a sense in which our sufferings confirm our solidarity with Jesus. 2:21 said that we follow in his steps. Also, three times before this, God’s sight is on those who suffer while doing good.[ii] And, if you glance over at 4:14, Peter says this: “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.”

In other words, our blessedness isn’t just future; it’s also a present reality. We experience it now in solidarity with Jesus. We experience the presence of God’s Spirit and the smile of God’s face now. We experience growth now. “You are blessed” in this way.

But our blessedness also holds a future promise. It was Jesus who first said, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” This ties in with what Peter described earlier as our imperishable inheritance. You are blessed because God has you a glorious inheritance that nobody can strip away—an inheritance that will never fade. Worst they can do is kill your body, but you get the new heaven and earth where sorrows are no more, and joy is complete. You are blessed in a present and future sense.

Beloved, do you know that you are blessed this way? Returning to Helen Roseveare from earlier. After suffering those awful things, listen to the way she describes God’s work in her life. She says, “On that dreadful night, beaten and bruised, terrified and tormented, unutterably alone, I had felt at last God had failed me. Surely, he could have stepped in earlier, surely things need not have gone that far. I had reached what seemed to be the ultimate depth of despairing nothingness.”

But in these sufferings, she also sensed the Lord saying, “You asked Me, when you were first converted, for the privilege of being a missionary. This is it. Don’t you want it? These are not your sufferings. They’re Mine.”[iii] “Through the brutal heartbreaking experience of rape, God met with me—with outstretched arms of love. It was an unbelievable experience: He was so utterly there, so totally understanding, his comfort was so complete—and suddenly I knew—I really knew that his love was unutterably sufficient. He did love me! He did understand!”

“One word became unbelievably clear, and that word was privilege. He didn’t take away pain or cruelty or humiliation. No! It was all there, but now it was altogether different. It was with him, for him, in him. He was actually offering me the inestimable privilege of sharing in some little way the edge of the fellowship of his suffering. In the weeks of imprisonment that followed and in the subsequent years of continued service, looking back, one has tried to “count the cost,” but I find it all swallowed up in privilege. The cost suddenly seems very small and transient in the greatness and permanence of the privilege.” Beloved, even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed.

I wonder, are you there? Do you know in suffering that you are blessed? We’re often tempted to equate blessedness with temporary comforts—relief from conflict; an easier day at work; zero animosity; a comfortable life that’s safe; people liking us and thinking much of us. But if that’s our ultimate hope, what will you have when it’s all stripped away in suffering? Jesus wants you to see that when you suffer for his sake, he’s got you. You are blessed beyond measure in the gift of himself in the present and the gift of heaven later. It’s crucial to remember, so that when you suffer in the path of obedience—like the apostles in Acts 5:40—you can walk away “rejoicing that [you] were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.” Sharing in Christ’s sufferings was more precious than all the comforts this world could offer. Remember your blessedness.

Our Lord

It’s also crucial to remember our Lord. He says in verse 14, “Have no fear of them [that would be their enemies, their persecutors], nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy.” That’s a quote from Isaiah 8:12-13. Peter has used Isaiah 8 before. In 2:8, he used it to describe Jesus as “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” Here, we learn more about our Lord.

Isaiah 8 is a prophecy that came when Ahaz was king of Judah. Judah was under threat. But instead of trusting the Lord to deliver, Ahaz makes an alliance with Assyria. Assyria helps Ahaz defeat his enemies. But the Lord then uses Assyria to judge Judah for not trusting in him. Assyria was going to ruin them like a river flooding outside its banks. But it would only reach their necks. In mercy God would spare Judah.

Why? Why does God spare them? Isaiah says, because “Immanuel,” because “God with us.” God wasn’t absent in their sufferings. He was present—Immanuel. The Lord was also trustworthy. Isaiah tells the people, “Don’t call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy.” Don’t give your minds to Assyria’s TikTok feed and Facebook posts. Give your minds to the Lord’s promise and his ongoing faithfulness to fulfill the promise in Immanuel.

The Lord is also sovereign. Isaiah continues, “and don’t fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, let him be your dread.” “Lord of hosts” is a title God uses to describe himself as Commander in Chief over all armies.[iv] Angel armies.[v] Israel’s armies.[vi] He also commands those armies he sent against Israel to discipline them, like Assyria. He is sovereign, in other words. They shouldn’t just look at the sufferings; they must look through the sufferings to see God’s sovereign purpose.

And when you trust that the Lord is present, that he’s trustworthy, and he’s sovereign, then you will also find him to be a sanctuary. That’s what Isaiah says: “let the Lord be your fear…and he will become a sanctuary [to you].” He will be your refuge, a place where you are kept in his holy presence.

Peter takes these lessons from Isaiah and applies them to the church. But here’s the difference—Immanuel has come. Did you see what Peter does in verse 15? He identifies “the Lord of hosts” in Isaiah 8 as Jesus Christ: “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy.” Jesus is the ultimate expression of Immanuel, of “God with us.” He is God in the flesh. In our sufferings, Jesus is our assurance that God is present.

Jesus is also our assurance that God is trustworthy. Despite Ahaz’s stupidity, despite Judah’s unfaithfulness, despite Assyria’s threats, despite all the nations chattering their conspiracies over the centuries—only one Lord has kept his word; and that word has been fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Your sufferings don’t have the last say. Just look at Jesus’ own sufferings on the cross. The evil rulers didn’t have the last say—God raised Jesus from the dead, as he promised.

And if Jesus is risen from the dead and reigning on high, then we have no need to fear or be troubled. In our sufferings, we need not panic and grow paranoid. Jesus is sovereign. Isn’t it the temptation, when suffering, to allow all the conspiracies to sink us into a panic? Anxiety is through the roof because we don’t know who to trust; so we start scrambling to things besides the Lord to be our deliverance. Like Ahaz and Judah, we start leaning into political powers as our hope. We start giving our minds to all sorts of chatter about the next thing or person or policy to make you safe.

But Peter says, “Have no fear of them or be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy.” This isn’t just verbal assent, but a recognition in the heart. What you need most in times of fear is to honor Christ as holy. The word behind “honor…as holy” is the same word found in the Lord’s prayer: “Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Peter Davids says, “it’s to set [Jesus] apart above all human authority.” The antidote to fear of man in suffering is fear of the Lord.

Some will not recognize this about Jesus. For those who reject Christ as Lord and turn to other saviors—both Isaiah and Peter say that Jesus will be like “a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling” to them. But for those who trust in Jesus, God will be for them a sanctuary. No matter what sufferings you face in the path of obedience, the Lord himself will be your refuge, your hiding place, that place where he keeps you in his presence. Like Helen put it in her sufferings: “he was so utterly there.” Jesus will be that for you, beloved, now—until you see him face to face and he wipes away all your tears.

Our Defense

Our blessedness. Our Lord. In our sufferings, we must also remember our defense. When you hear the words “in your hearts honor Christ the Lord,” don’t reduce that to what you do in private. Peter has consistently shown that Christianity isn’t about withdrawing from society but witnessing to society. That’s present again here.

One of the ways we honor Christ as Lord is “always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that’s in you.” To get this, let’s zoom out and remember what Peter means by hope. He first mentioned our hope in 1:3—you were “born again to a living hope.” It’s a living hope because it’s bound to a living person, Jesus Christ—God raised Jesus from the dead—and that means our future, unfading inheritance is secure. When you have this living hope, your life looks different from the world. Your inner hope drives an outward behavior that others find peculiar.

So peculiar that they start asking questions. When someone at work mocks you for your faith, and you patiently respond by serving them, people ask questions: “What makes you do that?” When you suffer abuse and then respond by blessing your enemies, people want to know, “What makes you tik? You’re not like us. We’d want revenge, but you keep blessing people. Why? What are you hoping in?”

I wonder, does your response to suffering compel others to ask about your hope? If we’re hoping in the same things the world hopes in, they won’t ask. But if your hope is Christ, that will produce a different kind of life; and people will start asking question. Suffering while doing good presents opportunity for a defense.

But what does that mean? What’s included in our defense? The same word appears in Philippians 1:7 alongside another word: “the defense and confirmation of the gospel.” Both are legal terms used in proceedings where you provide evidence for your case. One author put it this way: “all efforts [we make] at disarming prejudice and overcoming objections to the [gospel].”[vii] Disarming prejudice—meaning, we clear up misconceptions about Christianity; we help people discern bias against the truth. We overcome objections by presenting sound arguments that confirm what we believe.

Also helpful are the examples of the apostles in the book of Acts. Paul defends the gospel in various settings; and that includes things like “reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus” or “trying to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.” Acts 22:1 uses the same word found in our passage. After he’s arrested in the temple, Paul makes a defense; and that defense includes his personal testimony—what he experienced on the Damascus road—and the naming of well-respected witnesses like Ananias. So, our defense includes both testimony and proofs.

Be ready, Peter says, to give a defense. In that sense, all Christians are apologists. J. Ramsey Michaels puts it this way: “Peter sees his readers as being ‘on trial’ every day as they live for Christ in a pagan society.” That doesn’t mean you’ll be able to satisfy every skeptic—sometimes the heart will be so hardened to the truth that all the evidence you give won’t matter. Still, we must be faithful to do our part in giving reasons for the hope within us. You should be able to present good reasons for why the message of Christianity is true. If you want to grow in your ability to make a defense, there’s a whole shelf in the Book Nook devoted to defending the truthfulness of Christianity. I’d recommend that you start with Neil Shenvi’s book, Why Believe?

But let’s consider another detail before we get too sidetracked from the context of 1 Peter. All of you who are Christians have a reason for the hope that is in you. The reason for your hope is the resurrection of Jesus. 1:4, you were born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That’s your defense. That’s your guarantee that his cross forgives sins and that you have a future inheritance. When someone asks about the hope within you, that’s your reason: Jesus is risen from the dead, and here’s how I know that’s true: historical proofs—eyewitness testimony, empty tomb, Jesus’ physical body, the apostles’ willingness to die; then you can speak to your own personal testimony, freedom from sin, changed life, and so on.

Peter also speaks to the manner of our defense: “yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience.” Gentleness/meekness is that “quality of not being overly impressed by a sense of one’s self-importance.”[viii] Respect means we treat God’s image bearers with high regard. As 2:17 put it, “honor everyone.” Timothy Miller says, “Some people are drawn to apologetics because they love to argue…Peter warns them that proper apologetic speech is filled with meekness and respect for the listener. Those who lose sight of pointing to Christ through gracious words and good works may win an intellectual battle…but lose the war for the unbeliever’s soul.”

He also says, “having a good conscience.” As God’s image bearers, we are moral creatures. We make moral judgments about right and wrong. The conscience is that part of you that shines the moral spotlight back on yourself.[ix] We know that we’ll have to answer to God. Thus, being ready to give a defense isn’t about merely intellectual preparation; it’s also about moral preparation. Are you practicing the things you preach?

This goes hand in hand with “doing good” in verse 13 and “good conduct in Christ” in verse 16. Even when you experience a guilty conscience for doing wrong, is it the case that you’re taking that to Christ? He’s the one that purifies the conscience (Heb 9:14). In verse 21, our union with Christ in baptism is an appeal to God for a “good conscience.” Are we approaching our defense with moral integrity? God isn’t concerned with only what we say; he’s also concerned with how we say it.

Lastly, Peter states the purpose of our defense: “so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.” Not every Christian will suffer the same way. Nor will they suffer all the time. But it is, at times, within God’s will that some should suffer for their faith. God is in control; and his design in those sufferings is to shame those who slander his people.

Now, some will say that this “putting to shame” is reserved for final judgment. God will eventually expose them on the last day. That’s true—the enemies of God’s people will experience great shame on judgment day. That’s implied by Peter’s words in 2:6, “whoever believes in [Christ] will not be put to shame.” What’s the flipside? Those who don’t believe in Christ will be put to shame.

But it’s also possible that Peter sees the shame as a present effect. Like when Jesus healed on the Sabbath. Luke 13—there was a woman who had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. Jesus heals her. The ruler of the synagogue objects: “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” Jesus says, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” Then it says this: “As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.”

So, yeah, ultimately, those who reject Christ will be put to shame at final judgment. But perhaps God shames them in the present to humble and save as well. Either way, our defense has an important purpose in God’s plan.

In our sufferings, then, we not only remember our blessedness and our Lord; we also remember our defense. We seize every opportunity that might present itself to help people understand our hope. So, what about you? Does your commitment to Jesus play out in such a way that others wonder about your hope in Christ? In our sufferings, do we respond in such a way that provokes others to ask about our hope? And are we ready for a defense when those questions come? Are you a gentle person? Respectful to others?

As I said before, books on apologetics can further equip you to answer others. But books alone won’t prepare you to suffer in Jesus’ steps. You must first honor Christ the Lord as holy in your hearts. You must first possess the hope in Christ that Peter is speaking about. You can’t give a reason for the hope if you don’t have the hope. Gaining that hope only comes by trusting in the good news of Jesus—he died for your sins and God raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God (1 Pet 1:21). Helen Roseveare lived out this hope well in her sufferings. The Spirit of Christ can work the same hope in you, so that you too will be ready for a defense.

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[i] 1 Pet 2:15, 20; 3:6.

[ii] 1 Pet 2:20; 3:4, 12.

[iii] Justin Taylor, “A Woman of Whom the World Is Not Worthy: Helen Roseveare,” The Gospel Coalition (December 7, 2016), accessed at https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/a-woman-of-whom-the-world-was-not-worthy-helen-roseveare-1925-2016/.

[iv] Ps 24:8-10; Isa 9:7.

[v] Isa 6:3; cf. Josh 5:14; 1 Sam 4:4.

[vi] 1 Sam 17:45; Ps 24:8-10.

[vii] Peter O’Brien, Philippians, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 69.

[viii] BDAG, s.v. “prautēs.”

[ix] Image taken from Andy Naselli and J. D. Crowley, Conscience: What It Is, How to Train It, and Loving Those Who Differ (Wheaton: Crossway, 2016), 23.