Bible Strands
1 Peter 4:16
But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God that you bear that name.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Peter addresses believers scattered across Roman Asia Minor who are facing social pressure and likely local persecution for their identity. The verse sits between a warning against suffering for actual wrongdoing (v. 15) and a statement that judgment has begun with God's own household (v. 17).
The words — Χριστιανός (Christianos) is a Greek coinage, first attested in Acts 11:26 as a label applied to the Antioch community, and here it is the specific cause of suffering that triggers the command. The aorist imperatives αἰσχυνέσθω and δοξαζέτω are blunt commands, not suggestions.
The thread — 1 Peter 3:17 frames the same contrast (suffering for good vs. evil); Philippians 1:29 presents suffering for Christ as a granted privilege; 1 Peter 4:19 immediately follows with the response of entrusting one's soul to the faithful Creator.
Why it lands — The verse draws a hard boundary: suffering for crime is your own failure, but suffering for the name is not. It asks the reader to stop absorbing the world's contempt as self-evidence and instead treat the same event as an occasion to glorify God.
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
Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
Cross-references
- 1 Peter 3:17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
- Philippians 1:29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him,
- 1 Peter 4:19 So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should entrust their souls to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
- James 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds,
- Acts 5:41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
- 2 Timothy 1:12 For this reason, even though I suffer as I do, I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.
- Ephesians 3:13 So I ask you not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.
- Philippians 1:20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have complete boldness so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
- Isaiah 50:7 Because the Lord GOD helps Me, I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set My face like flint, and I know that I will not be put to shame.
- Romans 5:2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.