1 Peter 3:15-18
Chapter 3
15
but honor the Lord Christ in your hearts. Always be ready to defend your hope to anyone who demands an accounting of it, but do so with humility and respect.
16
Maintain a clear conscience so that those who slander you will be ashamed of their accusations because of your good conduct in Christ.
17
It is better to suffer for doing good, if it is God’s will, than for doing wrong.
18
Remember how Christ died once for all for our sins. The righteous one died for the unrighteous to bring us to God. In the body, he was put to death; in the Spirit, he was raised to life,
Commentaries
Patience in Following Christ’s Example.
The ideal of family harmony extends throughout the entire Christian community, whose members, as brothers and sisters of one family, share in the blessings of a common inheritance. The disciple then returns to his favorite theme: suffering because of the faith they profess. If evangelistic witness involves persecution and suffering, suffering for doing good will make them like Jesus Christ. Verse 19 is one of the most mysterious texts in the entire New Testament, which has echoes even in our Christian Creed: “He descended into hell.” With this enigmatic image of Christ, the disciple aims to tell us that, through his death and resurrection, Jesus Christ offers salvation to all people at all times.