Re:Verse passage – 1 Peter 3:8-17 (day three)
“For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.”
What is the difference in the quality of suffering in each of the cases Peter mentions? Why is one better than the other? Righteous suffering would seem to be primarily formative in effect, while punitive suffering would seem to be primarily corrective in effect. If that is true, then punitive suffering would involve a costly repair of one’s standing within earthly systems of authority. Righteous suffering, on the other hand, is an opportunity to spend all of one’s God-given internal resources not on repair, but on more direct identification with Christ. Christ walked the path of the innocent sufferer. All who suffer for doing good walk right beside him.
