1 Peter 3:8-12
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[Introduction]
Today we are going to go through 1 Peter 3:8-12 as our main verses. These verses wrap up a large section all the way back from 2:13. From 2:13 to 3:8, Peter is talking about how we live and treat each other. There was a small section on how to live under governing authorities, how to live as slaves, which by the way, was a completely different slave system then what happened in America. I’m not saying slavery is ever a good thing, but when the Bible refers to it, it’s a completely different context. After that Peter talks about how we treat each other as husbands and wives, and finally we get to this section, 3:8-12 where Peter discusses how to treat each other as Christians. Nothing to do with authority, slave, master, husband, or wife.
[Body]
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Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude. Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing. For the Scriptures say,
“If you want to enjoy life
and see many happy days,
keep your tongue from speaking evil
and your lips from telling lies.
Turn away from evil and do good.
Search for peace, and work to maintain it.
The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right,
and his ears are open to their prayers.
But the Lord turns his face
against those who do evil.”
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We know these verses are in conclusion to the verses before, specifically 2:13, because he starts it off with the word “Finally”. And we know This final section is instructions to all the Christians there because in verse 8 he writes “all of you.”
This is a message on how to treat people in general, it’s hard to tell if Paul is talking specifically about relationships within the church or with every person in general. One commentator has suggested that verse 8 applies more to the relationships with believers and verse 9 is more to towards the unbelievers, although there’s really no confirmation on this. Let’s start to break this down more.
Be of one mind. What Peter is saying is our general attitude and thoughts should be similar with those in the body of Christ. We’re all filled with different opinions and personalities, but overall we have the same role model and mission to accomplish given by Christ. So we should be going for the same target and be able to work together in harmony. That’s the main word, harmony. I don’t mean to imply that we can’t have disagreements with each other, that’s bound to happen. That’s why we must always stay grounded in the truth, so we can come to an agreement based on the Word of God. Season our conversations with salt. Because Satan is a deceiver and he knows how foolish we can be. He will try to mess with us in anyway to stop us from growing closer to Christ and doing God’s work. Satan will try to cause a disturbance from inside of the body and cause havoc from the inside out. So we must always be on guard.
I like the way one commentator summarized verse 8, which is that the commands here are very much linked together and you need to live out all them to achieve the brotherly and sisterly love.
So the first command “Be of one mind” or “Live together in Harmony” and then then the last “Be humble.” These go very well together, because pride can destroy yourself and your relationships, it’s tough to work with a prideful person.
Proverbs 29:23 says
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Pride ends in humiliation,
while humility brings honor.
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Pride leads to disgrace,
but with humility comes wisdom.
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Pride leads to conflict;
those who take advice are wise.
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Pride is definitely not a part of God and it’s something we need to always work on. It causes a lot of issues for us and I think the last verse, 13:10, makes the most sense for what we are talking about, “it leads to conflict”. We won’t find a lot of harmony in our relationships if we are prideful. Humility is crucial to us working together, with anyone really, and as we work towards it through our relationship with Christ, it will bring honor and wisdom. Paul was always reminding believers in his letters to live in harmony with each other.
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May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus.
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I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.
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He also mentions it in 2 Corinthians and Philippians. We won’t read them now, I think you get the picture. This is important, and it’s something that constantly needs work. As a Christian even though we know we all struggle with sin, it can still feel like I must be struggling more than others, or I’m a big failure because I can’t completely get rid of this. It always tries to creep back up, whatever that sin is. Look at this example, or many other instructions Paul gives to believers in his letters, he says similar stuff in all of them. He wrote letters to people in many different regions, but they all had similar struggles and needed the gospel given to them, multiple times. We come from the same brokenness that these people did, and we’ve been saved by the same Gospel that saved these people. The churches today need this message just as much as the churches did back then. Just like everything else it’s an ongoing battle, and it requires work.
Now let’s take a look at the next two statements that go well together, which is, “Sympathize with each other” and “Be tenderhearted” or “Be compassionate.”
Sympathy and Compassion go really well together, they’re very similar. Here a couple verses revolving around these things and contain some simple guidelines to follow.
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Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep.
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If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.
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There are many ways to show compassion and sympathy, but I think probably the toughest way is forgiveness. Showing compassion for a friend can feel pretty easy at times, but forgiving someone that’s wronged you, that’s where things can get dicey. Whenever we do feel that resistance though, we need to remember the ultimate example of compassion, grace and forgiveness, which is what Christ did for us on the cross. This is how Paul encouraged people to forgive.
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Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
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The statement in the center of verse 8 is to love each other. There are different Greek words used for the different contexts of the word love. The word here is “philadelphoi” which means to love as brothers. This is referring to the body of believer’s loving each other as family. And all the other commands Paul made support this brotherly love. It’s at the center of it all.
Remember what John had to say about this.
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If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?
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That’s a powerful and bold statement. Harmony, humility, compassion, sympathy, loving the body of believers. All ways which we are to live by.
Let’s continue on and go over verses 9-12 now. Verse 9 is another tough challenge. Let’s re-read that.
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Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing.
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Basically don’t ever seek revenge on anyone or respond to anyone in whatever way they have hurt you. But instead “bless” them when they do evil things to you and insult you. By “bless” commentators have suggested Peter means that believers are to pray for them, ask God to show his favor and grace towards them. When you’re hurt by someone, it’s easy to think “they don’t deserve any blessings.” Sometimes our attitudes towards others might align more with James and John when they wanted Jesus to call down fire from heaven to burn up some Samaritans. In those times you gotta keep remembering who your serving and know that if everyone received what they deserved, we would receive hell. If it was an unbeliever that wronged us, we need to remember those people are our mission field. They are the one’s that need the gospel, and your response to them could lead them to Christ. And really when an unbeliever has wronged us, it’s what we should be expecting anyways, because they are blind to the truth and don’t have a reason to want to live another way. They haven’t received the grace and love of Christ like we have, we have the Holy Spirit, we’ve been blessed even though we don’t deserve it, so we should desire that they get the chance to experience Christ as well.
When Peter refers to Old Testament scripture in verses 10-12 here, he is referring to Psalm 34:12-16.
And if you continue on a little bit in Psalm 34 there’s a nice conclusion to 12-16 in verse 19.
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The righteous person faces many troubles,
but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.
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Enjoying life, as mentioned in verse 10 of 1 Peter 3 is not referring to a problem free life. Certainly doing what these scriptures say, not speaking evil and not telling lies can probably relieve you of some self-afflicted issues, but ultimately challenges will always be there. The thing is we have joy in Christ in all circumstances. We are not slaves to sin anymore, we obey Christ because of our love for him and can enjoy life no matter what comes at us because He is our rescuer and he never fails.
Verse 11 “Search for peace, and work to maintain it.” This is similar to living in harmony and also supportive of verse 9 where it says “we must not retaliate against people who commit evil against us”. Matthew 5:9 says:
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God blesses those who work for peace,
for they will be called the children of God.
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Be a peacemaker. That’s how you can please God. I think sometimes peace can be misunderstood for being tolerant though. The world looks to make peace by trying to tolerate everyone’s desires. I’m not saying to judge everyone you come in contact. We definitely won’t make a lot of friends that way. There are ways we can confront issues and make a stand for what the Gospel says without disrupting peace. We can do it in a loving way. Like many things, it’s not a one time thing, it’s ongoing. It requires work and care. We don’t just achieve peace and we’re good. Not within a single relationship or within a group of people. Peace is something we work towards and work to maintain day-by-day. We definitely have to confront our own issues as well if we want to help others and make peace. Being humble and compassionate will get you a long ways towards being a peacemaker. Be a peacemaker that is grounded in the truth.
Verse 12, the Lord sees all, so when it says “He’s watching over those who do right”, it’s not meaning he’s just acknowledging them and the things they do, it’s more in line with the end of psalm 34:19. He’s watching over you as a protector, ready to rescue you. And he listens to our calls for help. Larry had a great sermon last week on prayer. When you wanna retaliate against someone, speak evil, tell lies, commit evil, ask the Lord to help you to be strong. His ears are open to your prayers. He knows what you need before you even ask, but he still says to ask Him for it. Be disciplined in acknowledging your dependence on Him and trusting Him. He has unlimited resources and he wants to provide them to you as you go through life and do His work.