Bible Strands
1 Peter 2:20
How is it to your credit if you are beaten for doing wrong and you endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Peter addresses believers navigating social persecution, placing the verse between a command to endure unjust suffering for God's sake and a call to follow Christ's example of righteous suffering.
The words — The Greek ὑπομενεῖτε (hupomeneite) literally means "you will endure" or "remain under," describing steadfast persistence rather than passive resignation. The term κλέος (kleos) translates to "credit" or "praise," framing endurance as a matter of divine evaluation.
The thread — This distinction between enduring punishment for sin versus enduring reward for righteousness echoes 1 Peter 3:17 and Matthew 5:10, which both prioritize suffering for doing good. The immediate context in 1 Peter 2:19 establishes that commendable endurance requires conscious awareness of God amid unjust pain.
Why it lands — The text demands a conscious choice to persist in righteousness despite painful consequences, treating such endurance as a matter of divine approval rather than human merit. It requires readers to evaluate their own suffering by its moral cause before assessing its spiritual value.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
Cross-references
- 1 Peter 2:19 For if anyone endures the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God, this is to be commended.
- 1 Peter 3:17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
- Matthew 5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- Luke 6:32 If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.
- 1 Peter 3:14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be shaken.”
- 1 Peter 4:14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
- Matthew 5:47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even Gentiles do the same?
- Ephesians 5:10 Test and prove what pleases the Lord.
- Matthew 26:67 Then they spit in His face and struck Him. Others slapped Him
- Mark 14:65 Then some of them began to spit on Him. They blindfolded Him, struck Him with their fists, and said to Him, “Prophesy!” And the officers received Him with slaps in His face.