Commentaries:
Jesus teaches self-denial to His disciples not only with His words but also by His actions. Notice that His call to self-denial comes immediately after predicting His own sacrificial death. He is the supreme model of the self-denial to which He calls others. He even denies Himself any urge to avenge Himself or to threaten His persecutors for what they had done to Him. In Jesus' example, we see that, by committing ourselves to God who judges rightly, we deny ourselves the temptation of worldly lusts.
Martin G. Collins
Overcoming (Part 5): Self-Denial
Peter's choice of words makes suffering a requirement! God called us to emulate Jesus Christ in doing good, and because of the anti-God bent of the world, some suffering is guaranteed to result from doing the right thing. It often offends our sense of justice to see the wicked prospering while the righteous endure hardship and grief. In the long term, God's justice will be served, but in the meantime, we may need to adjust our expectations for leading a comfortable or easy life. If we have been called by God, we must follow the example of Christ, which epitomized unjust suffering while always doing good.
David C. Grabbe
A Look at Christian Suffering (Part Three)
Peter is not saying that suffering is a commendable thing. What is commendable is that one has submitted to God's will and that he is suffering, not because he did something wrong, but because he did something right. In addition, he is not striking back, which is what his emotions would lead him to do.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Satan (Part 4)
There is oppression and abuse all over the world. "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." People abuse when they amass power'whether it be in the family, in the community, or in the nation. There is plenty of abuse of authority. In this nation, we are moving rapidly toward the time when Christians will be abused far worse than they have ever been in the past. We have been called to this'to submit to evil out of respect for God, out of faith. This does not mean we are submit to do evil, but to submit to God in the face of evil.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Submitting (Part 2)
Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing 1 Peter 2:20:
Ecclesiastes 8:14
Matthew 5:10-12
Galatians 3:4
1 Peter 2:19
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