For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
If God wills it so, it is better to suffer for doing good, for the truth's sake, than to suffer for doing wrong. The call belongs together with keeping a good conscience and giving a meek and reverent answer for one's hope, even when falsely accused for faithful conduct in Christ. Affliction in itself is not evidence of guilt. Christ, the Prince of Peace, proves this, for though innocent He endured the greatest humiliation possible for a human being to suffer, giving Himself as a substitute to be punished in place of the sinner.
The verse encourages those laboring in church work, teaching that when a mistake is made the error is to be confessed, repented of, and changed, rather than holding that a position once taken must never be given up. It speaks a message of great importance to ministers of the gospel and to ministers' wives and families, calling them to search deep for the benefit of their own souls and to make clean work for eternity. It calls them to labor with zeal for unsanctified and unconverted companions in the home and in the churches, because dangers to ministers come from different sources, especially from unsanctified, unconverted wives. Unless the convicting, converting power of the gospel searches the hearts of ministers and their families, an irreligious element will remain in their homes.
If God wills it so, it is better to suffer for doing good, for the truth's sake, than to suffer for doing wrong. The call belongs together with keeping a good conscience and giving a meek and reverent answer for one's hope, even when falsely accused for faithful conduct in Christ. Affliction in itself is not evidence of guilt. Christ, the Prince of Peace, proves this, for though innocent He endured the greatest humiliation possible for a human being to suffer, giving Himself as a substitute to be punished in place of the sinner.
The verse encourages those laboring in church work, teaching that when a mistake is made the error is to be confessed, repented of, and changed, rather than holding that a position once taken must never be given up. It speaks a message of great importance to ministers of the gospel and to ministers' wives and families, calling them to search deep for the benefit of their own souls and to make clean work for eternity. It calls them to labor with zeal for unsanctified and unconverted companions in the home and in the churches, because dangers to ministers come from different sources, especially from unsanctified, unconverted wives. Unless the convicting, converting power of the gospel searches the hearts of ministers and their families, an irreligious element will remain in their homes.