1 Peter 2:20

My Notes

What Does 1 Peter 2:20 Mean?

1 Peter 2:20 draws a razor-thin distinction between two kinds of suffering — and declares that only one of them has value in God's eyes. The verse is addressed to household servants (v. 18) but the principle extends to every believer.

"For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently?" — the Greek poion kleos (what kind of glory/credit/fame) asks a rhetorical question. The Greek kolaphizomenoi (being struck, being buffeted — literally punched with fists) for hamartanontes (sinning, failing, doing wrong) describes punishment you earned. You did something wrong, you got hit, you endured it. What credit is that? The patience isn't impressive because the suffering was deserved. You're not being persecuted. You're being corrected.

"But if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently" — the Greek agathopoiountes kai paschontes (doing good and suffering) reverses the equation. You did the right thing — and suffering came because of it, not despite it. The good behavior produced the punishment. And you endured it without retaliating.

"This is acceptable with God" — the Greek touto charis para theō (this is grace/favor before God). The KJV's "acceptable" translates charis — literally grace or favor. Undeserved suffering borne patiently isn't just tolerable to God. It's gracious. It has spiritual value. It catches God's attention in a way that deserved suffering doesn't.

The distinction is crucial and easily missed. Suffering for your own failures is just consequences. Suffering for doing good is Christlike. Verse 21 makes the connection explicit: "Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps." Jesus suffered not for His sins (He had none) but for doing good. When you suffer for doing right and bear it patiently, you're walking in His steps.

The verse doesn't glamorize suffering. It categorizes it. And it says that only the undeserved kind — the kind that comes from doing good in a world that punishes goodness — registers as grace before God.

Reflection Questions

• 1.Peter distinguishes between suffering for doing wrong and suffering for doing right. Which kind of suffering are you currently experiencing — and does the distinction change how you carry it?
• 2.Only undeserved suffering borne patiently is called 'grace before God.' When have you suffered specifically because you did the right thing? How did you respond?
• 3.Verse 21 connects this to Christ's example. How does knowing that patient suffering for doing good is walking in Jesus's steps change its meaning for you?
• 4.The verse implies that suffering for your own faults has no special spiritual credit. How honest are you with yourself about whether your current pain is consequence or persecution?

Devotional

Two kinds of suffering look identical from the outside. Only one matters to God.

Peter draws the line clearly. If you suffer because you messed up — because you earned the consequences, because the punishment fits the crime — there's no special credit in bearing it patiently. You're just absorbing what you deserved. That takes endurance, sure. But it's not the kind that catches God's eye.

But if you suffer because you did the right thing — if you were honest and it cost you, faithful and it hurt, kind and it was punished — and you bear it patiently without retaliating? That, Peter says, is charis. Grace. Favor before God. That's the suffering that means something.

The next verse connects it to Christ: He suffered for us. Not for His own sins. For doing good. For being righteous in a world that crucifies righteousness. And when you follow that pattern — when your suffering comes from goodness, not failure — you're walking in His steps.

This distinction matters because most of us conflate all suffering into one category. We assume that all pain is spiritually valuable, or conversely that all pain is meaningless. Peter says neither. Some suffering is just consequences. Bear it, learn from it, but don't expect a medal. Other suffering — the kind that arrives because you did the right thing — is participation in Christ's own experience. And that suffering has weight with God.

The question this verse asks isn't "are you suffering?" — almost everyone is. It's "what are you suffering for?" The answer determines whether your patience is just endurance or whether it's grace.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture