1 Peter 2:19

τοῦτο γὰρ χάρις (see Robinson Eph. p. 221 ff.). Besides its special Christian sense of God’s free favour, especially as bestowed upon Gentiles, χάρις in the N.T. retains (a) some of its purely Greek significations, (b) the significations which it acquired in the LXX. as a translation of חֵן = favour.

So here A.V. “this is thankworthy,” something which meets with God’s “Well done, good and faithful servant,” cf. Luke 6:32-34 “What thank have ye?” Luke 17:9, “Doth he thank that servant” (χάριν ἔχει).

R.V. “This is acceptable,” something which finds favour with God, cf. Luke 1:30; Luke 2:52; Acts 2:47; Acts 7:46, etc. This is a very common meaning in the O.T. and is probably intended here.

διὰ συνείδησιν θεοῦ. A.V. and R.V. “conscience towards God,” but when συνεὶδησις is followed by an objective genitive it means rather consciousness of, e.g. conscious sense of sins Hebrews 10:2, a conscious sense of the idol’s existence 1 Corinthians 8:7 T.R. (v.l. συνηθεία). So here it means prompted by a conscious sense of God’s presence and will, cf. Ephesians 6:7; Colossians 3:23 ὡς τῷ θεῷ καὶ οὐκ�. Such consciousness of the watchful presence of a just God, who demands submission to authority from them, can enable servants to bear man’s injustice with patience as Christ did.