1 Peter 4:12
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
Beloved are not to think the fiery trial strange, surprising, or extraordinary, but to expect it as the normal lot of the Christian life. The trial is as fire in a furnace for gold, consuming dross and what is worthless while leaving pure that which reflects meekness and purity. It comes only by the Lord's permission, and He permits no affliction except what is needed for present and eternal good, using it to test faith, reveal weakness and pride, remove dross, and shape believers into Christ's likeness. To suffer thus is to share in Christ's sufferings, and those who share them may rejoice now because they will be glad with exceeding joy when His glory is revealed. Therefore believers are to meet trial with rejoicing, trusting faith, patience, and peace rather than worry, complaint, surprise, or discouragement, entrusting their souls to God in doing good as to a faithful Creator.
Trial Is Not Strange
The fiery testing that tries believers is not to be thought strange, surprising, unusual, extraordinary, unexpected or inexplicable, but is to be expected as the normal part of Christian life. It is to be met with rejoicing as sharing in Christ's sufferings, so that there will be gladness with exceeding joy when His glory is revealed. The opening word shows the Lord speaking personally and affectionately to His loved ones in giving this warning, with a message to hear. Through trial they may have increased knowledge of the God of their salvation.
Peter wrote from experience, having learned that following Christ involves suffering, agony, and humiliation. Jesus Himself suffered, has plainly warned that believers will have tribulation, and has not promised exemption from trouble. Trials, losses, disappointments, and bereavements belong to moral discipline, and when they come trusting faith brings peace rather than surprise or discouragement. The trial is like metal or gold in a furnace, where fire consumes dross and what is worthless while preserving what is true, revealing character and whether believers can be shaped and used for His work. It removes faults such as selfishness and pride to lead to their correction, leaving pure gold refined to reflect meekness and purity.
Trials come only by the Lord's permission to His chosen ones, and He permits no affliction or trial except what is necessary for present and eternal good. He permits, shares, and accompanies His people through every trial sent, disciplining and purifying them from earthly desires, exposing hidden weaknesses to give opportunity to overcome them, and preparing them for service with deeper piety and greater strength. The enemy prepares these trials to tempt every soul, with Satan and the powers of darkness with his hellish army opposing all who enlist under Christ and work with Him. They resist their advance lest they become channels of light to the world, demanding earnest and long-continued struggle with all the powers of the being.
That opposition brings misleading influences even within the church, and opposes the giving of God's message with special anger and efforts to hinder as the work advances, yet it is no reason to turn back. The enemy may bring trials to harm God's servants and disturb their peace, but his power is limited, for Jesus and holy angels watch over the faithful, and the trial cannot destroy them. The verse applied to a church already sharing Christ's sufferings under severe persecution, when many leaders would soon die for the gospel and grievous wolves would threaten the flock. These trials were not to discourage those whose hope was centered in Christ, but to direct them beyond present and coming suffering to the everlasting inheritance and to God, who would strengthen and establish them after suffering awhile.
It also points to a coming time when God's law is made void and the church is sifted by opposition, threats, and abuse for loyalty to God's law in an atmosphere polluted with sin where iniquity abounds. The trial will reveal character and expose whether professed believers will remain loyal to God's commandments. The great proportion of those who now appear genuine and true will prove to be base metal, their love waxing cold, cowardly taking the side of the opposers and even turning to persecute those who stand for truth, while those who honor God in the trial will be honored by Him, so firm attachment to God's law must not lessen because others despise it.
God's Purpose in Trial
God uses trial and affliction as a refining fire to test character and faith, to humble His children, to reveal hidden weakness and selfishness and pride, to remove dross, and to mold and shape them into Christ's likeness so they can be shaped and used in His work and fitted for service. Like metal in a furnace and like gold in the fire, true believers lose what is worthless while what is true is preserved, until they reflect meekness and purity. Through testing He purifies the church, giving His people deeper piety and greater strength to advance the work of the cross.
Through trial believers are disciplined and purified from earthly desires, strengthened in patience, educated for strong and symmetrical character, drawn nearer to God, and given increased knowledge of the God of their salvation. Like a master who covers the caged bird so it listens only to the one song to be learned, God places His children in the shadows of affliction and in darkness to teach a song they would not learn fully in the light amid other voices, where they try and try again until the melody is learned perfectly, and then they can sing it ever afterward in the light. The trying of faith works patience, and meeting difficulties is necessary education for forming such character, so the sea of life will not always be smooth but will have storm and tempest.
Fiery trial is certain for those gaining mastery over temptation and sin and growing up into Christ, requiring earnest and long-continued struggle with all the powers of the being. Temptations and trials come to every Christian as well as to those who do not follow Christ, with the difference that the unbeliever serves a tyrant in mean drudgery while the Christian serves the One who died to give eternal life.
Suffering is sharing in Christ's sufferings, and those who share them may rejoice now because they will be glad with exceeding joy when His glory is revealed. The testing of faith is more precious than perishable gold and will result in praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Being reproached for the name of Christ brings happiness, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon the one reproached, so that Christ is evil spoken of by opposers yet glorified in the sufferer.
In trial God speaks peace, directs believers to look to Jesus and to the cross for grace and strength that brings sure conquest, arms them with sufficiency and power, and sends angels to guard those who follow the counsel of His Word. Like a shepherd's crook He turns them from evil toward good so they may offer righteousness. Looking beyond present affliction to future glory and to the everlasting inheritance, they learn to hate sin, see God's character revealed through them, and find that things that perplex now will be understood in the future life, when it will be realized how strong a helper Christ was.
Enduring Trial Faithfully
The fiery trial is not to be met with surprise, discouragement, worry or complaint, but with rejoicing, trusting faith, patience and peace as sharing in Christ's sufferings, with gladness that will become exceeding joy when His glory is revealed. Reproach suffered for the name of Christ is cause for happiness, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon the one reproached, so that Christ is evil spoken of by opposers yet glorified in the sufferer. Those who suffer according to God's will are to commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well-doing as to a faithful Creator, and trusting faith in the midst of severe trial brings peace. The testing of faith is more precious than gold that perishes, and will be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
Opposition stirred up against God's work is no reason to turn back or to stop, for the enemy's anger will be especially manifest as the giving of God's message advances. To wait for a time free from temptation is to wait until probation closes and the soul is left unsaved, since fiery trials prepared to tempt every soul are to be expected. The trial cannot destroy the faithful, for Jesus and holy angels watch over them and its power to harm and disturb their peace is limited. In seasons when hope seems to fail, believers must rely wholly on the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour, whose grace is sufficient, and Christ the Captain of salvation arms them with sufficiency and power to walk through the trial.
The verse calls each believer to examine whether Christ is magnified in him before the universe of heaven, before satanic agencies, and before the world. It belongs to daily home and family life, calling husband and wife to a higher and holier experience that does not seek the world's applause or outward display but does the will of the heavenly Father and blesses others. Lived out with sobriety and watchfulness unto prayer, with fervent charity, with hospitality without grudging, and with faithful stewardship of God's gifts to His glory through Jesus Christ, it removes the foolishness that hinders growth in grace and brings peace and joy in the Lord.
Believers must be careful not to question and criticize the course of those who walk in the light as Christ is in the light, must refuse to listen to evil speaking, and must guard against letting another person's feelings, impressions and imaginings shape their words or leaven their minds, lest clear discernment be lost and they be disqualified for a position of trust. Obedience may bring a severe trial that tests and proves, presenting pressure to choose temporary advantages, display and the approval of the world over love for God and the hope of heaven. Losses, disappointments and bereavements belong to this moral discipline, and endured in God's strength and in nearness to Him they teach valuable lessons and develop precious graces.
When the world at large attempts to make God's law void, fiery trial will come through opposition, threats and abuse against loyalty to that law, in an atmosphere polluted with sin where iniquity abounds. The trial will reveal character and sift the church, exposing whether professed believers will remain loyal to God's commandments. The great proportion of those who now appear genuine and true will prove to be base metal, their love waxing cold, and instead of being strengthened they will cowardly take the side of the opposers and even turn to persecute those who stand for the truth. Those who honor God in the trial will be honored by Him, so firm attachment to God's law must not lessen because others despise it.