1 Peter 3:14

ἀλλʼ … μακάριοι. Nay if ye should actually suffer if some one, despite the prophet (1 Peter 3:13), should harm you for the sake of righteousness, blessed are ye. Peter appeals to the saying, μακάριοι οἱ δεδιωγμένοι ἕνεκεν δικαιοσύνης (Matthew 5:10). πάσχοιτε, ει with optative (cf. 1 Peter 3:17, εἰ θέλοι) is used to represent anything as generally possible without regard to the general or actual situation at the moment (Blass, Grammar, p. 213). The addition of καί implies that the contingency is unlikely to occur and is best represented by an emphasis on should. The meaning of the verb is determined by κακώσων above, if ye should be harmed, i.e., by persons unspecified (αὐτῶν). δικαιοσύνην. perhaps suggested ζηλωταί, cf. 1Ma 2:27-29, πᾶς ὁ ζηλῶν τῷ νόμῳ … ἐξελθέτω … τότε κατέβησαν πολλοὶ ζητοῦντες δικ. καὶ κρίμα. τὸν δὲ φόβον … ὑμῶν. An adaptation of Isaiah 8:12 f. LXX, τὸν δὲ φόβον αὐτοῦ μὴ φοβηθῆτε οὐδὲ μὴ ταραχθῆτε · κύριον αὐτὸν ἁγιάσατε καὶ αὐτός ἔσται σου φόβος. The scripture corresponding to the saying, Fear not them that kill the body; but fear rather him that can destroy both soul and body (Matthew 10:28 parallels Luke 12:4 f. where the description of God is modified). The sense of the original, fear not what they (the people) fear; Jehovah of Hosts Him shall ye count holy and let Him be the object of your fear, has been in part abandoned. For it is simpler to take the fear as referring to the evil with which their enemies try to terrify them, than to supply the idea that their enemies employ the means by which they themselves would be intimidated. Compare 1 Peter 3:6. τὸν χριστόν, gloss on κύριον = Jehovah; cf. 1 Peter 2:3. ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις sc. mere profession. Peter is probably thinking of the prescribed prayer, Hallowed be thy name, elsewhere in N.T. it belongs to God to sanctify Christ and men. ἔτοιμοι ἀεὶ πρὸς ἀπολογίαν, ready for reply. The contrast between the inward hope (parallels sanctification of Christ in the heart) and the spoken defence of it is not insisted upon; the second δέ is not to be accepted. The use of the noun in place of verb is characteristic of St. Peter. The play upon ἀπολογίαν back-word and λόγον cannot be reproduced. Properly speech in defence, ἀ. is used metaphorically ([153] [154] παντί) here as by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:3, ἡ ἐμὴ ἀπολογία τοῖς ἐμὲ ἀνακρίνουσιν; where also, though another technical word is introduced, no reference is intended to formal proceedings in a court of law. St. Peter is thinking of the promise which he himself once forfeited lor unworthy fear, I will give you mouth and wisdom (Luke 21:14 f., Luke 12:11, uses ἀπολογεῖσθαι; Matthew 10:19, λαλεῖν). παντι … λόγον, to every one (for dative cf. 1 Corinthians 9:3) that asketh of you an account. The phrase (compare Demosthenes Against Onetor, p. 868, ἐνεκάλουν καὶ λόγον ἀπῄτουν) recalls the Parable of the Steward of Unrighteousness, of whom his lord demanded an account (Luke 16:1 ff.), as also the metaphor of 1 Peter 4:10, ὡς καλοὶ οἰκονόμοι. μετὰ πραΰτητος καὶ φόβου, with meekness (cf. 1 Peter 3:4) and fear of God (Isa. l.c. has the same play on the senses of fear). συνείδησιν ἔχοντες ἀγαθήν, intermediate step between διὰ σ. θεοῦ and the quasi-personification of σ. ἀ. in 1 Peter 3:21; so St. Paul says οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐμαυτῷ σύνοιδα (1 Corinthians 4:4) but goes on beyond the contrast between self-judgment and that of other men to God's judgment. 1 Peter 3:17 supplies the explanation here. ἵνα … ἀναστροφήν, generalisation of Peter's personal experience at Pentecost, when the Jews first scoffed and then were pierced to the heart (Acts 2:13; Acts 2:37). Misrepresentation is apparently the extent of their present suffering (17) and this they are encouraged to hope may be stopped. The heathen will somehow be put to shame even if they are not converted (1 Peter 2:12). ἐν ᾧ, in the matter in respect of which; see 1 Peter 2:12. ἐπηρεάζοντες, occurs in Luke 6:28, προσεύχεσθε περὶ τῶν ἐπηρεαζόντων ὑμᾶς, and therefore constitutes another hint of contact between St. Luke and Peter (cf. χάρις, 1 Peter 2:19). Aristotle defines ἐπηρεασμός as “hindrance to the wishes of another not for the sake of gaining anything oneself but in order to baulk the other” the spirit of the dog in the manger. Ordinarily the verb means to libel, cf. λαλῆσαι δόλον (10). ὑμῶν … ἀναστροφήν, your (possessive genitive precedes noun in Hellenistic Greek) good-in-Christ behaviour : ἑν Χριστῷ (1 Peter 4:14; 1 Peter 4:16) is practically equivalent to Christian, cf. if any is in Christ a new creature.

[153] cod. Purpureus. 6th century (fragments of all the Gospels).

[154] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.