Peter uttered these weighty words concerning Christ as our Surety and Example in connection with a very common matter. He is writing to servants who, at the time, were mostly slaves. He teaches them “to be subject with all,” not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh and cruel. For, so he writes, if anyone do wrong and be punished for it, to bear it patiently is no special grace. But, if one does well, suffers it, and takes it patiently, this is acceptable with God; such bearing of wrong is Christlike. In bearing our sins as Surety, Christ suffered wrong from man. Following His example, we must be ready to suffer wrongfully, too.

There is almost nothing harder to bear than injustice from our fellow-men. Besides the sense of pain, there is the feeling of humiliation and injustice, and the consciousness of our rights being violated. In what our fellow-men do to us, it is not easy to at once recognise the will of God, who thus allows us to be tried, to see if we have truly taken Christ as our Example. Let us study that Example. From Him, we may learn what it was that gave Him the power to bear injuries patiently.

Christ believed in suffering as the will of God. He found in Scripture that the servant of God should suffer. He made Himself familiar with the thought, so that when suffering came, it did not take Him by surprise. He expected it. He knew that thus He must be perfected. And so, His first thought was not how to be delivered from it, but how to glorify God in it. This enabled Him to bear the greatest injustice quietly. He saw God’s hand in it.

Christian, do you want to have strength to suffer wrong in the spirit in which Christ did? Accustom yourself, in everything that happens, to recognise the hand and will of God. This lesson is of more importance than you think. Whether there is some great wrong done to you, or some little offence that you meet in daily life, before you fix your thoughts on the person who did it, be still and remember, God allows me to come into this trouble to see if I will glorify Him in it. Let me first recognise and submit to God’s will in it, then I will receive wisdom to know how to behave in it. With my eyes turned from man to God, suffering wrong is not as hard as it seems.

Christ also believed that God would care for His rights and honour. There is an innate sense of right within us that comes from God. But he who lives in the visible wants his honour to at once be vindicated here below. He who lives in the eternal is satisfied to leave the vindication of his rights and honour in God’s hands. He knows that they are safe with Him. It was thus with the Lord Jesus. Peter writes’ “He committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously” (1 Pet. 2:23). It was a settled thing between the Father and the Son – the Son was not to care for His own honour, but only for the Father’s. The Father would care for the Son’s honour. Let the Christian follow Christ’s example in this, and it will give him such rest and peace. Give your right and your honour into God’s keeping. Meet every offence than man commits against you with the firm trust that God will watch over and care for you. Commit it to Him who judges righteously.

Further, Christ believed in the power of suffering love. We all admit that there is no power like that of love. Through it, Christ overcomes the enmity of the world. Every other victory only gives a forced submission. Love alone gives the true victory over an enemy, by converting him into a friend. We all acknowledge the truth of this as a principle, but we shrink from the application. Christ believed that by silence and submission, and by suffering and bearing wrong, He would win the cause because love would have its triumph.

And this is what He desires for us, too. In our sinful nature, there is more faith in might and right than in the heavenly power of love. But, he who wants to be like Christ must follow Him in this also, that He seeks to conquer evil with good. The more another does him wrong, the more he feels called to love him. Even if it is necessary for the offender to be punished by law, he makes sure that there is no personal vendetta involved. As far as he is concerned, he forgives and loves.

Ah, what a difference it would make in Christendom and in our churches if Christ’s example were followed! If each one who was reviled, “reviled not again”; if each one who suffered, “threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously” (1 Pet. 2:23). Fellow Christians, this is literally what the Father would have us do. Let us read and read again the words of Peter, until our soul is filled with the thought, “If, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.”

In ordinary Christian life, where we mostly seek to fulfil our calling as redeemed ones in our own strength, such a conformity to the Lord’s image is an impossibility. But, in a life of full surrender, where we have given all into His hands in the faith that He will work all in us, there is the glorious expectation that the imitation of Christ is indeed within our reach. Would you not love to be like Jesus, and in bearing injuries act as He Himself would have acted in your place? Is it not a glorious prospect in everything, even in this, too, to be conformed to Him? It is too high for our strength, but in His strength it is possible.

Only surrender yourself to Him daily to be just what He would have you be. Believe that He lives in heaven to be the life and the strength of each one who seeks to walk in His footsteps. Yield yourself to be one with the suffering, crucified Christ, so that you may understand what it is to be dead to sins, and to live unto righteousness. And you will joyfully experience the wonderful power there is in Jesus’ death, not only to atone for sin, but to break its power; and in His resurrection, to make you live unto righteousness. You will find it just as blessed to fully follow the footsteps of the suffering Saviour, as it has been to trust fully and only in that suffering for atonement and redemption. Christ will be as precious as your Example as He has been as your Surety. Because He took your sufferings upon Himself, you will lovingly take His sufferings upon yourself. And, bearing wrong will become a glorious part of the fellowship with His holy sufferings. It will be a glorious mark of being conformed to His most holy likeness, and a most blessed fruit of the true life of faith.

Prayer: “O Lord my God, I have heard Your precious word: If any man endure grief, suffering wrongfully, and take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. This is indeed a sacrifice that is well-pleasing to You, a work that Your own grace alone has worked, a fruit of the suffering of Your beloved Son, of the example He left, and the power He gives in virtue of His having destroyed the power of sin. O my Father, teach me and all Your children to aim at nothing less than complete conformity to Your dear Son in this trait of His blessed image. Lord my God, I would now, once and for all, give up the keeping of my honour and my rights into Your hands, never again to take charge of them myself. You will care for them most perfectly. May my only care be the honour and the rights of my Lord! I especially beseech You to fill me with faith in the conquering power of suffering love. Let me fully comprehend how the suffering Lamb of God teaches us that patience and silence and suffering avail more with God, and therefore with man, too, than might or right. O my Father, I must, I would, walk in the footsteps of my Lord Jesus. Let Your Holy Spirit and the light of Your love and presence be my guide and strength. Amen.”