1 Peter 1:6

1:6 This brings you great joy, ¹  although you may have to suffer ²  for a short time in various trials.

1 Peter 3:17

3:17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if God wills it, ³  than for doing evil.

1 Peter 4:15-16

4:15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or thief or criminal or as a troublemaker. ⁴  4:16 But if you suffer as a Christian, ⁵  do not be ashamed, but glorify ⁶  God that you bear such a name. ⁷ 

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¹ tn Grk “in which you exult.”

² tc ‡ The oldest and best witnesses lack the verb (א* B, along with 1505 pc), but most mss (Ì⁷² א² A C P Ψ 048 33 1739 Ï) have ἐστίν here (estin, “[if] it is [necessary]”). The verb looks to be an explanatory gloss. But if no verb is present, this opens up the time frame in the author’s mind even more, since the conditional particle for both the first class condition and the fourth class condition is εἰ (ei). That may well be what was on the author’s mind, as evidenced by some of his other allusions to suffering in this little letter (3:14, 17). NA²⁷ has the verb in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

tn Grk “Though now, for a little while if necessary, you may have to suffer.”

³ tn Grk “if the will of God should will it.” As in 3:14 the Greek construction here implies that suffering for doing good was not what God normally willed, even though it could happen, and in fact may have happened to some of the readers (cf. 4:4, 12-19).

⁴ tn The meaning of the Greek word used here is uncertain. It may mean “spy, informer,” “revolutionary,” or “defrauder, embezzler.” But the most likely meaning is “busybody, one who meddles in the affairs of others, troublesome meddler.” The translation given in the text is intended to suggest this general idea.

⁵ tn The verb is implied by the context but not expressed; Grk “but if as a Christian.”

⁶ tn These are third-person imperatives in Greek (“if [one of you suffers] as a Christian, let him not be ashamed…let him glorify”), but have been translated as second-person verbs since this is smoother English idiom.

⁷ tn Grk “in this name.”