1 Peter 3:13-17 · Featured Study
Ready to Give an Answer
Peter writes to believers who may suffer simply for doing good, and in the middle of that setting he gives the church its charter for defending the hope it holds. The verse does not say be ready with an answer. It commands the readiness, the manner, and the ground together, in one breath. This page walks the charge in the text’s own order: the setting, the command itself, the manner Peter will not separate from it, the good conscience underneath it, and the principle it rests on.
Summary
Peter tells suffering believers to sanctify Christ as Lord in their hearts, and always be ready to give a reasoned defense for the hope they hold, but never apart from gentleness, respect, and a clear conscience. The readiness and the manner are one command, not two options.
- The setting is suffering for doing good, not a courtroom or a debate stage; Peter quotes Isaiah 8:12-13 directly on not fearing intimidation (3:13-14)
- The command has a content, apologia, a reasoned defense, and a subject, the hope that is in you, asked for by "everyone who asks" (3:15)
- The manner is named in the same breath as the readiness: gentleness and respect, meekness and fear, not merely a bonus if convenient (3:15)
- The defense stands on a good conscience, so that the accusation itself is what gets put to shame (3:16)
- The principle: suffering for doing good, if God wills it, is better than suffering for doing evil (3:17)
Who Can Harm You
3:13-14: the setting the whole charge stands inside
Who can harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be shaken.”Even if you suffer for doing right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, quoting Isaiah 8:12-13 directly.
Peter is not writing to believers preparing for a debate. He is writing to believers who may be slandered or harmed for doing good, and the words “do not fear what they fear” are Peter quoting Isaiah 8:12-13 word for word. The fear language in this whole passage comes from the Old Testament, not from Peter’s own invention.
And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? - This question is meant to imply, that as a general thing they need apprehend no evil if they lead an upright and benevolent life. The idea is, that God would in general protect them, though the next verse shows that the apostle did not mean to teach that there would be absolute security, for it is implied there that they might be called to suffer for righteousness” sake.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1870Evangelical
1 Peter 3:13
But and if--"But if even." "The promises of this life extend only so far as it is expedient for us that they should be fulfilled" [CALVIN]. So he proceeds to state the exceptions to the promise (1Pe 3:10), and how the truly wise will behave in such exceptional cases.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871Reformed
1 Peter 3:14
Sanctify Christ as Lord
3:15a: the charge itself, and what apologia actually asks for
But in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you. But respond with gentleness and respect,Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you.
The Greek word for “defense” is apologia, the same word used of a defendant’s formal answer in a Roman courtroom, but Peter’s own setting here is an ordinary conversation, “to everyone who asks,” not a tribunal. The word Peter asks the hope itself to supply is logos, a reasoned account, an intelligible explanation. Faith, on this reading, is not asked to hide from a question. It is asked to answer one.
This refutes Rome's dogma, "I believe it, because the Church believes it." Credulity is believing without evidence; faith is believing on evidence. There is no repose for reason itself but in faith.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871Reformed
1 Peter 3:15
There may be a good reason given for religion; it is not a fancy but a rational scheme revealed from heaven, suited to all the necessities of miserable sinners, and centering entirely in the glory of God through Jesus Christ. Thirdly, Every Christian is bound to answer and apologize for the hope that is in him.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Nonconformist
1 Peter 3:15
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts - In Isaiah Isa 8:13 this is, “sanctify the Lord of hosts himself;” that is, in that connection, regard him as your Protector, and be afraid of him, and not of what man can do. The sense in the passage before us is, “In your hearts, or in the affections of the soul, regard the Lord God as holy, and act toward him with that confidence which a proper respect for one so great and so holy demands.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1870Evangelical
1 Peter 3:15
With Gentleness and Respect
3:15b: the manner Peter will not separate from the content
Peter pairs the readiness with two qualifiers in the same breath. BSB reads “with gentleness and respect”; KJV and ASV read “with meekness and fear.” The content of the defense and the manner of giving it are one command, not a command and an optional suggestion. A confident, reasoned case presented without contempt for the one asking is exactly what this verse commands, and it is the same posture the site’s own Evidence Room carries: present the evidence plainly, and never with scorn for the one who has not yet seen it.
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts - Have an holy fear, and a full trust in his wise providence. The hope - Of eternal life. With meekness - For anger would hurt your cause as well as your soul.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755Wesleyan
1 Peter 3:15
Fear of God, or respect for the one askingthe two senses named, and why the page picks neither exclusively
The word rendered “fear” here is the same Greek word Peter used two verses earlier for the terror believers are told not to fear (3:14), now used a second, different way: reverence toward God, not nervousness toward the questioner. Some commentators allow the sense could also extend to a proper deference toward the person asking. Both readings are named here because the pool itself does not settle the question, and the two senses are not really in tension: a defense held in reverence before God comes out gentle toward people as a matter of course.
A Good Conscience
3:16: the ground the whole defense stands on
keeping a clear conscience, so that those who slander you may be put to shame by your good behavior in Christ.Keeping a clear conscience, so that those who slander you may be put to shame by your good behavior in Christ.
The defense Peter commands does not stand on cleverness alone. It stands on a life the accusation cannot honestly match. When the charge is false, the believer’s own good conduct is what puts it to shame, not merely a better argument.
It is translated, "despitefully use," Mt 5:44; Lu 6:28. conversation--life, conduct. in Christ--who is the very element of your life as Christians. "In Christ" defines "good." It is your good walk as Christians, not as citizens, that calls forth malice (1Pe 4:4, 5, 14).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871Reformed
1 Peter 3:16
Having a good conscience - So much the more beware of anger, to which the very consciousness of your innocence may betray you. Join with a good conscience meekness and fear, and you obtain a complete victory. Your good conversation in Christ - That is, which flows from faith in him.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755Wesleyan
1 Peter 3:16
Better to Suffer for Good
3:17: the principle, and where it points
For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.If it is God's will, better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,Christ himself suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God. The ground the whole passage stands on.
Peter closes the thought with a plain principle: if suffering must come, let it come for doing right rather than wrong. He then points, in the very next verse, to why that suffering is never wasted: Christ suffered first, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring believers to God. That single verse carries its own deep and difficult questions (what it means that he “went and preached unto the spirits in prison,” 3:19-22), which this page does not take up. It is quoted here only as the ground 3:13-17 rests on.
For it is better, if the will of God be so - That is, if God sees it to be necessary for your good that you should suffer, it is better that you should suffer for doing well than for crime. God often sees it to be necessary that his people should suffer. There are effects to be accomplished by affliction which can be secured in no other way; and some of the happiest results on the soul of a Christian, some of the brightest traits of character, are the effect of trials.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1870Evangelical
1 Peter 3:17
- 3:13-14the setting: suffering for good
- 3:15apologia and logos: the charge
- 3:16a good conscience: the ground
- 3:18Christ's own suffering: the reason
The words underneath
apologia: defence
Greek · G627Strong's entry: a plea ("apology")
15's own word: apologia, a reasoned defense. The term used of Paul's own courtroom defenses; here, an ordinary conversation, not a tribunal.
7 times in the New Testament · apologia, in full →
logos: word
Greek · G3056Strong's entry: something said (including the thought); by implication, a topic (subject of discourse), also reasoning (the mental faculty) or motive; by extension, a computation; specially, (with the article in John) the Divine Expression (i.e. Christ)
15's other word: logos, a reason. Peter asks the hope itself to be explainable, not merely felt.
329 times in the New Testament · logos, in full →
praytes: gentleness
Greek · G4240Strong's entry: mildness, i.e. (by implication) humility
15's manner: prautes, gentleness. The same word used of Christ himself and of the fruit of the Spirit.
2 times in the New Testament · praytes, in full →
phobos: fear
Greek · G5401Strong's entry: alarm or fright
15's other manner: phobos, fear or respect. The same noun used at 3:14 of a terror not to be feared, now used of reverence toward God.
46 times in the New Testament · phobos, in full →
The Voices
with the work named
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) · public domain
The single sharpest line in the pool on 3:15: faith rests on evidence, not on credulity, the load-bearing quote for this page's Evidence-wing door.
Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710) · public domain
States the passage's own three-part charge in his own words: a rational scheme, not a fancy, that every Christian is bound to answer for.
Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755) · public domain
Names the manner-matters point in one sentence: anger would hurt the cause as well as the soul.
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869) · public domain
Ties "sanctify the Lord God" directly back to its source in Isaiah 8:13, and names the principle of 3:17 as one God often sees necessary.
Marcus Brown's own commentary leads above all; within a tier, all voices are equal. No roster apologetics voice (Missler, Prince, Strobel, Sproul) carries a verified quote on this exact passage in the site's quote pool, so none is named here; this is a gate-honoring omission, not an oversight. The Evidence Room itself carries the fuller apologetic project this verse charters.
Word studies
The Hebrew and Greek under this study, each word in its own room.
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