“Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you, as if something unusual were happening to you. Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may also rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed.”
“Your Best Life Now.” “It’s Your Time.” “Total Life Prosperity.” “God’s Will is Prosperity.” “Powerful Principles of Increase Released in You.” “Name it and Claim It! The Power of Positive Confession.” “Prosperity: Good News for God’s People.” These are titles of books by popular Word of Faith teachers. “Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you, as if something unusual were happening to you.” These are the words of Peter. Quite the disconnect, don’t you think?
Paul warns in 2 Timothy 4: 3, “For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear.” That has been happening throughout history, but it is especially evident now. The thought of suffering is scary. No one wants to go through illness or trials. These prosperity teachers promise health and wealth if we follow them (and send them our money)! But are they biblical? No! We just have to look at 1 Peter to see that they are not.
Let’s start at the beginning. As he does in chapter 2 (verse 11), Peter again addresses them as “dear friends”. Arichea and Nida write in their commentary, “The Greek term translated by the phrase My dear friends is literally ‘beloved ones’ or ‘loved ones’, and there may be several different expressions which are equivalent in other languages, for example ‘dear ones’ or ‘you whom I love’, or ‘you, my cherished friends.’” He is about to reintroduce the topic of suffering, which he has already written about, and this address serves as a fitting introduction after his doxology of the previous section.
He goes on to tell them not to be surprised when “the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you.” Other versions read “fiery trial.” Notice that it says “when” not “if.” We will go through trials and ordeals. Some are of our own making, but many are not. Peter has already written about this in chapter one. “You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:6-7). James also writes, “Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing” (1:2-4).
It seems counterintuitive, doesn’t it? To rejoice in our trials? But this is how God grows us. Peter uses the word ‘fiery’. Several times in the Old Testament, the prophets used the example of Israel being refined by fire. In Zechariah 13:9 we read, “I will put this third through the fire; I will refine them as silver is refined and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’” And in Malachi, “But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will be able to stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire and like launderer’s bleach. He will be like a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the Lord in righteousness” (3:2-3). Again, Peter has already talked about our faith being refined by fire in chapter one. In Bible times, gold was heated to very high temperatures so the impurities could be skimmed off the top. What is left is a purer gold than what was started with. In the same way, God allows us to go through various trials. Paul Tautges writes this in his blog post titled The Refiners Fire (Sept. 18, 2020). “Just as the refining process is used to remove impurities, in order to bring out the beauty of gold, so trials reveal our inner self. This gives us the opportunity to repent of sin, and be made more like Christ.”
This leads to verse 13. We are to rejoice as we share in the sufferings of Christ, so that we may also rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed. Peter set the example for this in Acts. After the disciples were flogged, and released they were ordered not to speak in the name of Jesus. “Then they went out from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be treated shamefully on behalf of the Name. Every day in the temple, and in various homes, they continued teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah” (Acts 5:41-42). Paul wrote this while he was in prison. “My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death…” (Philippians 3:10). What does it mean to share in the sufferings of Christ? I like the way Edmund Clowney puts it in his commentary. “It seems best, therefore, to understand the sufferings of Christ as the sufferings that he endured. We partake of his sufferings, not by contributing to his atonement, but by following in his steps. (2:21) As we suffer for Christ, we are linked to him. Our sufferings witness to his. We did not see Jesus on the cross as Peter did, but like Peter we understand the meaning of his atoning death. Because he suffered for us, we can rejoice when we are counted worthy to suffer for him.”
Lastly, let’s look at Jesus’s own words in Matthew. “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (5:10-12). Peter ends verse 13 with “so that you may also rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed.” Jesus is coming back. Clowney writes, “The reality of our suffering for Christ becomes a pledge to us of the reality of our belonging to Christ. That in itself brings joy to our hearts. It also strengthens our hope. If, like Christ, we suffer according to God’s will, we know that, like Christ, we shall enter into the glory of the Father.”
Grace be with you!
Abundant Joy 