Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 101:401 (Jan 1944)
Article: Exegetical Studies in 1 Peter Part 14
Author: John Henry Bennetch

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BSac 101:401 (Jan 44) p. 83

Exegetical Studies in 1 Peter
Part 14

John Henry Bennetch

(Continued from the October-December Number, 1943)

All that Peter has urged so far in directing the sufferer how to endure unjust trial is negative in character. Important as steeling of mind and heart may be, however, it can hardly be all. Why? Simply because even men of the world, if they possess strong wills, will suffer bravely. And surely Christianity is more than Stoicism or Spartanism, fatalism or a sort of fanaticism. What, then, makes the Christian faith distinctive? Is it not the message of reconciliation with God through the Cross? Peter has himself summed up this message, time and again. In previous chapters of 1 Peter notice 1:18–21 and 2:22–25, for example, while in the present section a redemptive emphasis starts with verse 18 : “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, etc.” If the proclamation of the Cross distinguishes Christianity, not to forget besides the “great”-the one-commission left behind by Christ, it would be only natural to expect something of the evangelistic in connection with suffering saints. And so it is. 1 Peter 3:15 reads: “But sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord: being ready always to give answer to every man that asketh you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness and fear” (R.V.).1 So the afflicted are asked not only to bear ill but also to set apart Christ as Lord, and that specifically by testifying of Him. There is even psychology to be found here. Whenever the burdened

BSac 101:401 (Jan 44) p. 84

lift eyes off of themselves and become occupied with something else more important, as witnesses of necessity will, they are sure to feel less conscious of their burden and less distraught.

Still, an order like this may appear to demand more than is humanly possible. It seems difficult enough, at times, to bear a testimony, though conditions be more or less favorable. How much more so when persecuted unjustly and severely! But no, experience actually proves it otherwise. Peter is witness himself to this. Acts 4, a passage already spoken of, details the witness borne by Peter and his companions while standing trial for testimony. Here they dared, though it meant arousing the court to rage and a murderous pitch of excitement, to face the very men who had secured the Cross for Christ. Note, however, the fearless, lucid, and reverent prese...

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