1 Peter 4:13

but rejoice The words of the beatitude of Matthew 5:12 come back upon the Apostle's mind, and are reproduced as from his own personal experience. When he had first heard them, he may well have counted them a strange thing. Now he has tried and proved their truth.

inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings The Greek conjunction expresses more than the ground of the joy. Men are to rejoice in proportion as they are sharers in the sufferings of Christ. On the thought of this intercommunion in suffering between Christ and His people, see note on chap. 1 Peter 1:11. Here "the sufferings of Christ" are those which He endured while on earth, those also which He endures now as the Head of His body, the Church, in His infinite sympathy with each individual member. Each faithful sufferer, accordingly, in proportion to the measure of his sufferings, becomes ipso factoa sharer in those of Christ. He fills up, in St Paul's bold language, "what was lacking in the sufferings of Christ" (Colossians 1:24).

that, when his glory shall be revealed The thought is again closely parallel to that of chap. 1 Peter 1:11. Literally the words run, in the revelation of His glory. As thought of by the Apostles, the "revelation of Christ" is identical with His coming to judge the quick and dead (Luke 17:30). The precise phrase "the revelation of His glory" is not found elsewhere, but it has an analogue in "the throne of His glory" in Matthew 25:31.