1 Peter 4:16
Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
Study Note
Study Note
Peter's instruction that those who 'suffer as a Christian' should 'not be ashamed but glorify God on this behalf' engages directly with the honor-shame value system governing social life in Asia Minor. The term 'Christian' (Christianos) appears only three times in the New Testament (Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16) and seems to have functioned initially as an outsider label with derogatory intent — Peter rehabilitates the term by using it in the context of glorifying God through suffering. The instruction to 'glorify God on this behalf' transforms what would normally be a humiliation event within honor-culture into an act of divine worship, a thoroughgoing revaluation of the social economy. The passage contributed to the early church's construction of a counter-cultural honor system in which suffering for Christ conferred rather than removed status.
Other Translations
but if a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name.
and if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; and let him glorify God in this respect;
But if he undergoes punishment as a Christian, that is no shame to him; let him give glory to God in this name.
Cross References
Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles …
For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like …
Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: …
And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his …
And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year …
Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the …
And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost …
Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,