1-е Петра 3:17

better--One may object, I would not bear it so ill if I had deserved it. Peter replies, it is better that you did not deserve it, in order that doing well and yet being spoken against, you may prove yourself a true Christian [GERHARD]. if the will of God be so--rather as the optative is in the oldest manuscripts, "if the will of God should will it so." Those who honor God's will as their highest law (Pe1 2:15) have the comfort to know that suffering is God's appointment (Pe1 4:19). So Christ Himself; our inclination does not wish it.

Wherein the apostle describes the duties of husbands and wives one to another, beginning with the duty of the wife (Pe1 3:1-7). He exhorts Christians to unity, love, compassion, peace, and patience under sufferings; to oppose the slanders of their enemies, not by returning evil for evil, or railing for railing, but by blessing; by a ready account of their faith and hope, and by keeping a good conscience (Pe1 3:8-17). To encourage them to this, he proposes the example of Christ, who suffered, the just for the unjust, but yet punished the old world for their disobedience, and saved the few who were faithful in the days of Noah (Pe1 3:18 to the end).