Make a Defense

But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame (1 Peter 3:14-16).

At least part of that should look familiar. It should look familiar because I use it often enough. The phrase "always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks" is a key one for me. It is, to me, a command to be rational, thinking Christians, a command for Apologetics. We need to be prepared to give reasons for why we believe what we believe. And the phrase "yet do it with gentleness and respect" is equally important to me. We need to be prepared to defend the faith, but we need to keep gentleness and respect for others in that defense. All well and good.

The other day this whole passage struck me in a new way. It didn't nullify my understanding, but it sure did expand it. The topic is not "Apologetics", but suffering. How do we handle being mistreated? Well, we fight back! No, that's not what he says. We need to be prepared to give reasons for what we believe, but Peter speaks about gentleness and respect. That doesn't seem to be "Fight back!" And we need to keep our own consciences clean. Suffering for doing something wrong is to be expected. So, if you're suffering, the first question would be, "What did I do wrong? Do I need to apologize?" (Again with the apologetics, eh?)

There are two key issues built into this passage that offer more than "make a defense". The first is a heart attitude: "In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy." When you are mistreated or suffering and you're not at fault, the first item on your checklist is honoring Christ as holy. He is beyond sin. He is "other". He is above the mess. He is holy. The King James says, "Sanctify Christ in your hearts." Of course, we can't make Him holy, so the idea is recognize Him as holy. Bless Christ. That's the first response to suffering for the sake of righteousness.

The other point that it made I seemed to have missed. I always saw the "make a defense" part and the "gentleness and respect" part, but look what we're defending with gentleness and respect: "the hope that is in you". Maybe I didn't word that as well as I could. The concept that Peter is giving here is that we who know Christ and live as we should for Him ought to have such an other-worldly hope that people just have to ask about it. "Things are going so bad for you. You are being unfairly treated. You are being abused. And yet ... you have an attitude of hope that makes no sense to us. Why is that?"

I still believe the passage (and others) calls us to defend the faith. The interesting thing in this one is the focus on our hope. Have you been asked about the hope that lies within you? Have you been asked, "Why are you different in the face of hard times than we are?" Has anyone ever been struck by the hope you have that they clearly don't? If not, why not? It could be because we tend to work like the world, finding our own means of sustenance and support when we are supposed to lean on Him. It could be that they don't ask about the hope because they don't see it. Now that is something to consider.