1 Peter 4:13, commentary and pictures

The fiery trial that tests faith is normal for believers, not strange or discouraging, and is to be met with rejoicing, gratitude and praise. To be partakers of Christ's sufferings is to have fellowship, companionship and partnership with Him, bearing as servants what the Master bore and sharing His character without retaliation. Every soul saved must share His sufferings here in order to share His glory hereafter, for no one can live for self-pleasure like the world and still reign with Him. God permits these trials to humble His loved ones, teach whole dependence on Him, remove impurity, and fit them to reflect Christ in meekness and purity. When His glory is revealed at His appearing, those who suffered with Him will be glad with exceeding joy, sitting with Him in triumph and seeing Him face to face.

Verse Wording and Background

The fiery trial that tests faith is not to be thought strange, surprising, or discouraging, for painful trials are normal for believers and are a share in what Christ Himself suffered. Rejoicing in them looks forward to great gladness when His glory appears, since partaking of His sufferings now leads to being glad with exceeding joy then. Joined to the next verse, disgrace borne for Christ's name brings happiness because God's glorious Spirit rests upon the bearer, so that while opponents dishonor Christ the faithful sufferer honors Him. Affliction is God's dark place of teaching where He shuts His children in with the one lesson He wants them to learn, as a master covers a caged bird so it learns its single song apart from other voices, and what is learned amid shadows can then be sung ever afterward in the light. In times of trial Christ helps keep words choice and attitude circumspect, and the verse calls believers to refuse conformity to the world's customs and to choose disgrace for Jesus, thereby displaying Christ before heaven, evil angels, and people.

The command to rejoice means meeting suffering with joy, gratitude, and praise, extolling God, which brings heaven near and lessens trials. Sharing Christ's sufferings is not a cause for discouragement but a reason for joy, with hope centered in Christ and in the eternal glory and lasting inheritance ahead after suffering for a while. Suffering with Christ helps believers grow in grace and knowledge, become like Him, test faith, increase love, and perfect trust, and does not mean God has abandoned His children, who can rejoice even in tribulation. This instruction is to be practiced in daily life, including family life, amid fiery trials and reproach for His name. Moses rejoiced that his own trials and sacrifices had allowed him even in small measure to share in Christ's suffering, and these seemed small beside Christ's suffering and sacrifice, while the coming joy is reflected in the vision of the risen Christ welcomed into heaven with songs of triumph.

Being partakers means fellowship, companionship, and partnership with Christ in His sufferings. Those who take His yoke share in both His joys and His sufferings, commit themselves wholly to God's work through self-denial and self-sacrifice, and are brought into deep sympathy with Him as the Man of sorrows who knew grief. Such suffering can deepen abiding love for Jesus and strengthen faith, and those who share His sufferings will also share His glory when it is revealed. This partnership must be testified by words that keep the Christian life in view, spoken at the right time instead of needless silence or excited haste, revealing the meekness, lowliness, and rest learned by taking His yoke. It means enduring hardship while showing Christlike character, which suffering can help perfect, so that when abused the believer does not retaliate but remains in right relation to God and gives a living example of sharing Christ's sufferings.

When His glory is revealed means at Christ's appearing on the throne of His glory, when believers will be glad with exceeding joy beyond measure. Patient endurance through trials is connected with tested faith more precious than perishable gold, resulting in praise, honor, and glory at Jesus Christ's appearing. Those who share Christ's sufferings in this life will share His glory hereafter, giving reason to rejoice in tribulation and to look forward to exceeding joy when His glory is revealed. These present sufferings are not a cause for discouragement, for after suffering for a while God will establish and strengthen His people and bring them to the eternal glory to which He has called them.

Peter once resisted the thought that Christ would suffer, but learned that Christ's earthly path led through agony and humiliation, and sharing that path brings gladness with exceeding joy when Christ's glory is revealed. Peter himself was made from a restless, boastful, self-confident disciple into a subdued and contrite follower of the Lord he had denied, comforted by the light that Christ had not denied and rejected him. He followed his Lord indeed, willing to be crucified from choice but with his head downward, gave his life to the stewardship of souls, and will be a partaker of His glory when Christ sits upon the throne of His glory. Paul, John the Baptist, and Moses illustrate the same fellowship: Paul in constant active labor despite many infirmities, continually followed by the bitter hatred and malice of the Jews who did all they could to hinder his work. John's imprisonment and death were such a share, giving courage to followers who suffer in prison or die apparently forsaken, showing that to be misunderstood and attacked for following Christ is a weighty trust and high honor.

Sharing Christ's Sufferings Now

Every soul saved must share Christ's sufferings here in order to share His glory hereafter. No one can please self, live and act like the world, have its pleasures and enjoy the company of those who are of the world, and still reign with Christ in glory. Christians must not seek their own interest and how best to please themselves, but seek to please God and advance His precious, suffering cause, sacrificing what is dear for the salvation of the scattered and torn flock of Jesus. The time left to work is very short, but those who make a covenant with God by sacrifice now will soon be gathered home to share a rich reward and possess the new kingdom forever and ever, inheriting all things as overcomers counted worthy to abide the day of His coming and stand when He appears. Fiery trials and costly sacrifices must be met in this life through self-denial and suffering for Christ's sake, with the cross not forgotten, because being a partaker is the condition for sitting down in triumph with Him on His throne. Choosing the easy path of self-indulgence and being frightened at self-denial keeps faith from becoming firm and keeps a person from knowing firm faith, the peace of Jesus, and the joy that comes through conscious victory, while patience, endurance, and prayer let suffering purify the heart and do its intended work.

For the remnant it will take all to enter glory. They must die that they may live, sacrifice all to God and lay all upon His altar, self and property and all, as a living sacrifice, lay up treasure in heaven, deny self all along the way, die to self daily, let Jesus alone appear, and keep His glory continually in view. They must get ready with a greater preparation to shun the seven last plagues and go to glory and enjoy all God has prepared for those who love Him and are willing to suffer for His sake. Those who have embraced the truth must know what suffering for Christ is, passing through keen and cutting trials in order to be purified and fitted through suffering to receive the seal of the living God, pass through the time of trouble, see the King in His beauty, and dwell in the presence of God and in the society of pure and holy angels. Heaven will be cheap enough if obtained through suffering, and this costly conflict of facing trials and accepting self-denial rather than choosing self-indulgence is part of overcoming that leads to peace in Christ and joy in victory, triumphing with Him and rejoicing when His glory is revealed. The redeemed who stand before God and the Lamb in white have come through great tribulation and have known this conflict, remaining pure and uncorrupted from the prevailing spirit instead of loving pleasure more than God and drifting with the current, breasting the waves of opposition through stern conflicts, washing the robes of character white in the blood of the Lamb, and then singing the song of triumph in the kingdom of glory, with no cause for complaint for those who stand bravely steadfast to the end to see the King face to face with His name in their foreheads.

Sharing His sufferings means bearing as a servant what the Master bore. Following the Majesty of Heaven, the King of glory, who left His riches, splendor, honor, glory and heavenly home, it is bearing the same humility, poverty, shame, reproach, insult, mockery, rejection, trial, sacrifice and self-denial that He bore unselfishly to save sinful man, and enduring the cross despising the shame for the joy set before Him. It is living a life of toil, humility, self-denial and overcoming temptation as Christ lived on earth to show how to resist temptation, treading the painful path and enduring rejection, mockery, and crucifixion. No one should wish to enter into the joy of the Lord while unwilling to partake of His sufferings, nor be sensitive to trial and reproach and shrink from a life of humility and sacrifice when Christ bore it for him, for that life of sacrifice is for his own eternal happiness by which he may finally obtain an exceedingly great, eternal reward. Those who seek pleasure without caring to consider Christ's sacrifice are not sharing His sufferings, and unwillingness to endure shows failure to consider His example, while those who overcome as Christ overcame and share His suffering cheerfully without complaint or discouragement may look forward to gladness and exceeding joy when His glory is revealed.

Sharing His sufferings includes being reproached for the name of Christ, enduring persecution, opposition, affliction and hardship for the truth and for defending the truth. Those who bear the royal name Christian when joined to Christ are to rejoice when they share His sufferings and are reproached for that name. While opponents dishonor Christ, the faithful sufferer honors Him and the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon him now, and Christ is glorified in him even while others speak evil of Him. This suffering does not defeat the followers but educates and purifies them, disciplines them, reveals God's character in them, and by painful experience teaches them to hate sin. Neither imprisonment nor martyrdom can daunt those devoted to the truth, who look beyond present hardship to the glory to be revealed and rejoice in that future hope of triumph and exceeding joy.

Sharing His sufferings means unselfish service and sacrifice with Christ in the plan of redemption. It is surrendering to God in unselfish service for humanity, cooperating with the Lord of glory and sharing His sympathies, working and sacrificing as He did and with the same spirit and earnestness that marked His work to save others. It is uniting in love and unity to work as He worked and to sacrifice as He sacrificed, cherishing the spirit of sacrifice, learning self-denial in every home, economizing and saving even pennies for missionary work, following His example who became poor to make others rich. It means willingly denying self and consecrating all one has and is to God's work in willing obedience and self-sacrifice, as a response of gratitude for His love and death rather than a hardship, counting sharing in His sacrifice a privilege by which, though He was rich, others may receive eternal riches. It joins Him in sorrow for sin and labor for the lost, ennobling the worker, sweetening all toil, bracing the will, and nerving the spirit to meet obstacles, opposition, and bitter, heart-breaking discouragement even when the fruit of toil is not seen, helping swell the tide of His joy and bringing honor and praise to His exalted name. Those in God's institutions who grasp surplus means from selfish covetousness disqualify themselves from this fellowship, while refusing display and large drafts on the Lord's treasury belongs to true partaking.

Sharing His sufferings is practiced in daily life, including family life, with words and works after the works of Christ and standing wholly under His control. It includes daily crucifying self, enduring the trial of faith that leads to eternal life and a crown of glory, honor, and immortality. It is more than being troubled when an unsubdued heart is crossed; those who truly follow give up self-confidence and self-sufficiency and seek to subdue the heart through prayer. It means practicing self-denial, following in the footsteps of Jesus, refusing a self-centered mind, controlling appetite and passion, dealing justly, loving mercy, walking humbly with God, and seeking to make happy those around them. It means coming out from the world, expecting to be unpopular and, like the Master, meek and lowly rather than seeking worldly honor, remaining faithful though opposed even by closest family or unbelieving friends, and humbly accepting hardship in assigned work rather than seeking an easy place, praise or exaltation.

Purpose of Trials

Fiery trials that test faith are not strange, but they refine the true believer by removing impurity until the life reflects Christ's meekness and purity. Patient endurance of faith tested in this way is more precious than perishable gold and will result in praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, when those who share His sufferings now will be glad with exceeding joy.

God permits trials to come upon His loved ones and subjects His people to trial for a purpose few understand. Through trial they gain increased knowledge of the God of their salvation, are humbled, are shown their weakness, and are taught to lean wholly upon Him and draw near to Him. The trial of faith builds spiritual strength, makes them more spiritual, and, when rightly received in humble obedience, prepares them for service to be done in His name so that He may reveal His power in a marked manner through their lives. These present sufferings are therefore no cause for discouragement, for after suffering a while God will establish and strengthen them and bring them to the eternal glory to which He has called them.

In all ages the chosen are educated and disciplined in the school of trial, walking narrow paths on earth and being purified in the furnace of affliction through opposition, hatred, slander, sore conflicts, self-denial and bitter disappointments endured for Jesus' sake. By painful experience they learn the evil, power, guilt, misery and woe of sin and look upon it with abhorrence and hate it. They are humbled by the sense of the infinite sacrifice made for its cure, are filled with gratitude and praise that those who have never fallen cannot appreciate, and love much because they have been forgiven much, while God's character is revealed in them and their hardships lead to future triumph and joy in His presence.

Sharing His sufferings brings believers into deep sympathy with the Man of sorrows who knew grief, reveals the meaning of the cross of Calvary, and constrains to fervent devotion to His cause. That fellowship deepens abiding love for Jesus, increases love, perfects trust in God, and causes growth in grace and knowledge of the truth until believers become like Him. God empties the believer from vessel to vessel and leads step by step deeper into the valley of painful humiliation only to bring close communion with Jesus, who has trodden every step, feels every pang of distress, has carried every sin, borne every cross, sympathized with every sorrow, and is touched with all human infirmity so that no step is walked alone. He lays only the light end of the cross on the shoulders and pours only a drop of His own sufferings into the cup, permitting a shadow on the soul while the glory of the Sun of Righteousness follows, and this fellowship is lived in lowly dependence on the blood and righteousness of Christ, accepting salvation as grace, believing the promise because He has spoken it, and looking to Jesus as comfort and hope.

Affliction is the dark place of teaching where God shuts His children in with the one lesson He wants them to learn, as a master covers a caged bird so it learns its single song apart from the music of other voices. What is learned amid the shadows of suffering can then be sung ever afterward in the light. God never sends a trial without suffering it Himself, for Christ took humanity upon Him to bless humanity, to come close to humanity, and to encircle them in His everlasting arms. The Captain of salvation who threw down the walls of Jericho will be with His people, arming them with sufficiency and power and giving grace to walk through the fiery trials and temptations that come to every soul enlisted under His banner, and though trials may be severe and hope seem to fail, the enemy's power is limited and the trusting Christian is sustained by sufficient grace through trust wholly in the crucified and risen Saviour.

Future Glory and Joy

Sharing sufferings now leads to sharing exceeding joy and eternal glory when Christ's glory is revealed, for only those who are partakers of His sufferings through self-denial, sacrifice and daily crucifying of self will be sharers of His glory and be counted worthy to receive the overcomers' reward, to abide the day of His coming and to stand when He appears. That inheritance includes inheriting all things, the earth made new, the new kingdom forever, and a crown of glory, honor and immortality for enduring the trial of faith. The promise of that future glory makes the choice to follow Christ through suffering worthwhile.

The glory to be shared is sitting down in triumph with Him on His throne, the cross not forgotten and the peace of Christ received as reward. It is seeing the King in His beauty face to face with His name in foreheads for those who stand bravely and remain steadfast to the end without complaint. It is standing accepted in the Beloved before the throne with all sins blotted out and transgressions borne away, seeing Him as He is in immortality and praising God through all eternity. It is heaven to be won as the rich treasure God has prepared for those who love Him, received by His Spirit by those who come into sacred relation with Him, put away unbelief and infidelity, press close to Christ in His suffering, and cherish His Spirit.

The exceeding joy is sharing with Him the joy of seeing souls saved in the kingdom of God, which those who suffer and work with Him in the plan of redemption will rejoice in with Him and praise God for forever. Those who endure hardship in His service through self-denial and bearing the cross will share that joy of seeing people they helped turn to truth saved in the kingdom of glory. Present suffering is light and only for a moment, not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed, yet for those who look not at seen temporal things but at unseen eternal things it works a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, and the privileges and advantages of suffering with Christ are very great.

The glory to be shared with Him is the hope set before us, which is eternal life, and nothing short of eternal life will satisfy the Redeemer. His merits have purchased forgiveness and immortality for every sinful, perishing soul, and this hope laid hold of by living faith is an anchor to the soul sure and steadfast, a constant expectation of God's favor in the heavenly world purchased by the atonement and intercession of Jesus Christ that keeps believers steadfast and unmovable in every hour of conflict, so Satan must not be allowed to cast his hellish shadow across the pathway and eclipse the view of the future reward. Partaking with Him also brings reward even in this life through fellowship with God, with Christ and with holy angels, surrendering to God in unselfish service for humanity, cooperating with the Lord of glory and sharing His sympathies. That fellowship ennobles the worker, sweetens all toil, braces the will and nerves the spirit to meet obstacles, opposition and bitter, heart-breaking discouragement even when fruit is not seen, surrounds the worker with a heavenly atmosphere giving health to the body, vigor to the intellect and joy to the soul, brings joy and love and peace now through keeping Jesus always in view, makes those who abide in Christ and work for Him the happiest people in the world, and looks beyond temporary affliction to the great final reward of exceeding joy at His coming.

Faithful Endurance in Practice

Sharing in suffering now calls for steady endurance without discouragement, fainting, complaint, or despair, but with cheerful patience as followers of Jesus who trust God calmly through hardship, reproach, and trial. Self-denial and suffering required for His sake are privilege rather than grievance, fitting believers to share His glory. This means following His meek example, enduring hardship for Him, crucifying self daily, giving up self-confidence and self-sufficiency, and subduing the heart by prayer, since true following is more than being troubled when an unsubdued heart is crossed. Present suffering joined to future joy is to be borne mindfully of what Jesus suffered, whose poverty and suffering make believers rich in the inheritance of glory. Misunderstanding, misrepresented motives, unappreciated labor, losses, and self-denial belong to this hardship, and through them service to God continues faithfully rather than turning to discouragement or resentment.

In trial, partnership with Christ governs speech and bearing, keeping words choice and attitude circumspect. The partnership is testified by words that keep the Christian life in view, spoken at the right time rather than in needless silence or excited, hasty speech, revealing the meekness and lowliness and rest learned by taking His yoke. Since Christ was treated cruelly, similar treatment should not surprise His followers, who pray to have the mind that was in Him.

Endurance refuses conformity to the world's customs and comes out from the world, choosing disgrace for Jesus rather than loving pleasure more than God. Painful trials that test faith are normal as a share in what Christ suffered, to be met with joy in view of great gladness when His glory appears. Disgrace borne for His name brings happiness because God's glorious Spirit rests on the bearer, so that while opponents dishonor Christ the faithful sufferer honors Him and displays Him before heaven, evil angels, and people. Those who bear the royal name Christian rejoice when reproached for that name, for Christ is glorified in them even while others speak evil of Him, and they will be glad with exceeding joy when His glory is revealed. Remaining pure from the prevailing spirit instead of drifting with the current means breasting waves of opposition through stern conflicts and great tribulations, washing robes of character white in the blood of the Lamb, then singing the song of triumph in the kingdom of glory.

Going where Jesus leads requires doing individual duty and leaving consequences, burdens, and interests in God's hands. The fiery trial that tries faith is not strange, and trust rests wholly in the crucified and risen Saviour whose power is sufficient, for the enemy's power is limited and trusting Christians are sustained by sufficient grace even when trials are severe and hope seems to fail. Looking above and away from annoying trials to what Jesus endured, laying burdens on Him in unquestioning faith and perfect confidence in a love greater than earthly parents' love, brings freedom in His love. Keeping Jesus always in view and trusting Him to lead aright brings joy and love and peace now, and makes those who abide in Him and work for Him the happiest people in the world. Sharing His conflicts in continual self-denial, suffering, and self-sacrifice without complaint perfects through suffering as He was made perfect, so as to see His triumph, share His joy, and wear the crown of victory, knowing the darkest path is safe with Christ the Light of the world for guide.

Suffering wrongs for Christ is service to the Lord, for complaints and neglect aimed at a servant in the Master's work are ultimately against the Master. The servant leaves battles and vindication to the Lord to fight and to vindicate, and will finally receive a precious reward. This partaking means enduring pressure, submitting to wrong and bearing the suffering part of religion rather than sinning against God to deliver self, leaving interests in His hands instead of taking them in hand, enduring an evil name, loss of temporal interests, and false accusation as Jesus bore them. Under tribulation there is no fainting, no bitterness or estrangement from Jesus, but overcoming evil with good in trust in His love.

Fellowship with Christ works out in unity, in removing differences between believers, praying together, and showing tenderness and pity while working for one another's salvation. It embraces coming out from the world and accepting the sacrifices required to follow Him and to prepare children for eternal life. Those who partake are God's family on earth, faithful warriors and heirs of salvation, living amid temptations and trials and very near to God's heart of love. Communication is kept up between them and heaven, with angels from the courts above sent to minister to them and connection established with the church above, Christ dwelling in His people who must be fed with meat in due season, as God cares for them as a husbandman for a vineyard.

Faithfulness appears in home life and church life, in sowing gospel seed everywhere and stewarding grace wherever placed. The Majesty of heaven left royal throne, heavenly home, honor, and glory and came where He was unappreciated, despised, and rejected to save perishing souls, and the Master of the house suffered that believers might have eternal life, so trials, opposition, and hardships are the Christian legacy. Meeting opposition, misrepresentation, unkindness, and hatred even for well-doing is met by representing Christ in meekness without hatred, not worrying over unruly tongues, living not to self, bearing the testimony of truth, and standing faithfully with the last message to a guilty world. Real trials come in plenty without manufacturing trials that do not exist to cause difference, disunion, disrespect, and dissension, for frail, sinful, tempted, bruised believers bear about the hidden essential life as Jesus in lonely, suffering, tempted, tried humanity bore it, workers together with God with the life of the living Head enshrined and concealed with Christ in God and His love binding heart with heart. Those who share trials among God's people belong with the faithful who pass through them, while McCullagh and Hawkins are described as unlikely ever to return to harmony with them.

Faith that costs little yields easily and fails to sustain in trial or comfort in affliction, while faith that sends down a clinging taproot is made strong by effort and pure by sacrifice. Those willing to suffer find more joy in suffering for Him than in knowing He suffered for them to show His love, and those who win heaven put forth noblest efforts and labor with all long-suffering to reap the fruit of toil. Choosing Christ as portion means sharing with Him in sufferings now in order to be partaker with Him in His joy, and remaining close to the Redeemer keeps believers secure so none can pluck them out of His hand.