I Peter 4:12-14, a segment that extends to verse 19, has the theme of suffering for good. As we have learned, Christians are finding that their identity in Christ causes problems. Professional, social and personal relationships are strained; being a Christian leads to social ostracism, persecution and suffering from the dominant pagan culture. The questions that Peter deals with are these: How do believers and the communities of the faithful cope during challenging times in an un-Christian world? What are the attitudes of the distinct enclave known as the church? The answer is: Endure, stay faithful, show mutual love, be steady, humble and patient; remember that other believers are suffering, too, and that the rewards of God's kingdom will come in time.
12Beloved, a title that is used in the gospels only for Jesus, but in the post-Resurrection church for all those who have become Christians, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal, suggesting an apocalyptic flavor, including every good work[1] that is taking place among you to test (πειρασμὸν) you, a view this author shares with Daniel and Revelation. Suffering is a way of testing faith and thus, do not treat it as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings. Thus, as Jesus suffered during his life, they should not have surprise if they experience hardship as well. The way of the cross is not an easy one. When those who follow Jesus experience suffering due to their faith, they are only walking in the footsteps of Jesus. Suffering itself becomes a form of the sacramental presence of the risen Lord among them. They participate in the suffering of Christ. Experiencing suffering in this way is so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. Suffering is the way God purifies the community in the age before the promised end. An understanding of the eschatological future as revelation of the divine glory determines what I Peter says about the future of Jesus Christ. Such statements occur within the apocalyptic notion of revelation, which he discusses in the context of the multiplicity of biblical ideas of revelation. Here, believers await their sharing in this coming revelation of the glory of Jesus. Further, he finds the renewal and consummation of the world by world-changing judgment under the sign of the divine glory that will be manifest as the glory Jesus Christ, as we find in this verse, by the completing of his reconciling of believers for participation in his life.[2] 14 If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, a notion that should remind us of the beatitudes. Reflect upon Luke 6:22-23, “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you ... Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven.” The reason you receive blessing in persecution is because the spirit of glory, (and power) which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. We again see the sacramental nature of suffering. We find here an equation of glory and Spirit implied, with the reference to the gift of the Spirit to believers. On them, the Spirit of the glory and the power of God rest already. Both glory and power (if that word is original to the text) are intrinsic to the nature and work of the Spirit. Therefore, the glory of Christ, which will find manifestation in the event of the final consummation and for which believers wait, will be the full bringing into view of the power and glory of the divine Spirit and the divine essence.[3]
I Peter 5:6-11, a segment that began in verse 5, has the theme of instructions to the faithful. It may contain an allusion to the burning of Rome in 64 AD, as Nero blamed the Christians for the fire.
5:6 Humble yourselves. The believers who are experiencing trials and tribulations are not, however, to take part in any kind of personal, political, or religious action against the persecution. Rather, according to Peter, Christians are to be passive and even suffer the abuse (2:19). At the same time, humility is not humiliation. Humility describes the attitude of every person before God. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, the Old Testament image pointing up the disparity between divine power and the humble human condition, so that he may exalt you in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. Since God will exalt them, there is no need to have anxiety about their life. See Matthew 6:25-34. Placing ourselves squarely in the hands of God is difficult because it is so hard for us to give up control of our choices. Submitting to the will of God is a hard and perilous thing. However, without our willing submission to God and a ready grasp of the will of God through prayer and meditation, all our choices fall at last to dust. Most congregations pray “Thy will be done,” regularly, and many Christians offer the prayer as a regular part of their daily meditation. This petition acknowledges that the greatest battle occurs within us, committing us to travel the path of the will of God regardless of where it may lead.[4] 8 Discipline yourselves. This disciplined or clear-headed stance keeps believers from any mental confusion or momentary passions. They train their hearts and minds on God. Keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. See Daniel 7:4-7 and II Timothy 4:17. 9 Resist him, here is how they resist, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. Such military images will prepare them for battle. The trials they are facing are part of a larger cosmic struggle. He argues that the devil wants people to leave the faith because of their sufferings.
To be clear, the suffering mentioned in this text is the result for taking principled stands against injustice, wickedness and wrongdoing and doing so in the name of Jesus Christ. In our modern and post-modern world, with all its secularity, it can be an act of courage to name something as genuinely evil. I want to pause for a moment and consider the cost we experience in losing the language of the devil and therefore the language of evil.
The self-deception of humanity is deep. We believe in ourselves. We do not believe in others. What we permit in ourselves we can excuse because we might view it as our experiment. We assume the same act in others is sin. We have faith in ourselves. We give ourselves latitude that we do not extend to others. We do not believe ourselves to be lost. We have not committed the crime of the felon. We can always rationalize our actions as moral. The intellect can always rationalize away the immorality of our actions. Our intellect can diminish our sin. We can rationalize any crime, no matter how horrifying, from so many different angles that it excuses the behavior. The culture of the West, academia being the chief culprit, has transformed sin and evil into the transgression of a moral experiment. Evil becomes cool. Conscience, which focuses upon the will, magnifies it. The conscience can see the simplest and smallest act as an expression of essential evil.[5] For some literary examples of evil at this level, consider “The Renegade of Avignon” in Rameau’s Nephew (1761) by Diderot, “Ethan Brand” (1850) by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and “The Unfortunate Glazier,” (1862) by Baudelaire. We often think of evil on a grand scale. Yet, evil is an intimate matter of the heart. Evil takes many forms and is easy. Yet, evil can take the form of the quest for the good and pure. Investing oneself in a moral mission may pass for good, for example, and yet lead to profound evil. We can think of evil as natural disaster, as moral actions designed to harm and exploit, as radical evil that pervades a society (think the Soviet gulag or the Nazi Holocaust), and metaphysical evil that justifies moral or radical evil and therefore nullifies attempts to constrain them through law and social compact. Russian authors Dostoevsky and Chekhov are worth exploring with a view toward their narration of the intimate nature of evil.[6]
Many Americans today share the Islamic revulsion to Christian Europe, the Middle Ages, and especially the Crusades. Thus, with 9/11/2001, instead of recognizing the evil for what it was, analyzed it away by saying, “America’s chickens have come to roost.” The victim of evil on that day quickly became the persecutor. Many Americans believe that America is an evil presence in the world. Therefore, they have intellectually rationalized away the horror of 9/11. This intellectual approach even finds a way to ignore the treatment of women, homosexuals, and Christians that we find in many Islamic countries. Conscience takes a back seat to intellect, leading to a distorted form of relativism. They turn a blind eye to the many advances made in the West for individual liberties while magnifying its imperfection. The West has a long way to go. It has not achieved its goal. Islamic countries, in contrast, have not even started on the journey. They have turned themselves into splendidly wicked people. Many of these persons, with intense self-loathing of the West, also excused communism and fascism. Islamic militancy has learned much from fascism. No amount of intellectualizing it out of existence will remove it.
Part of the problem in the West is that philosophy and psychology are losing the ability to speak of evil. Yet, the idea of evil is essential to a healthy society. Without this idea, society runs the risk of sterilizing the imagination and muffling the conscience. Let us be clear. We have not eliminated the idea of evil. We have distorted the idea. We have localized evil into groups by a process of demonization. We are part of a tribe that is good, while the other tribe is evil. Recognizing that evil is present in the human heart is to say that evil is close to each of us. Evil is so close we may participate in it without having self-awareness that we are doing so. We do this because we intellectualize our actions. Seen from a different angle, any evil can appear justified, thereby involving us in the perpetuating the evil we have justified.
10 And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. They should receive some strength in knowing that their suffering puts them in solidarity with others who suffer. In the face of great difficulty, Peter prompts the reader to recall that God is a God of the bigger picture. Thus, far from detaching us from God, suffering connects with God. 11 To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.
[1] Barth CD IV.2 [66.6] 609
[2] Pannenberg Systematic Theology Volume 1, 209, Volume 3, 626-7.
[3] Systematic Theology Volume 3, 624.
[4] -Dag Hammarskjöld, Markings (London: Faber and Faber, 1964), 82.
[5] Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Experience.”
[6] When Evil is Cool by Roger Shattuck, Atlantic Monthly, January 1999, inspired these thoughts.
! get your point and agree with it. However, I think your application is biased. We do need to call evil, evil but how do we decide what is evil? What form does our condemnation take?
ReplyDeleteIf by biased you mean I am bothered by the coddling Islam receives from many in the West who hate their cultural home, and their attempts to explain away the evil that accompanies a certain brand of Islam, then I plead guilty.
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