Peter says 8"Finally" and addresses everyone at once with five dispositions: unity, sympathy, brotherly love, tenderness, and humility. After a long stretch about citizens, servants, wives, and husbands, the list describes a character. Every item is a settled disposition, something a person has already built before any situation arrives, and the next verse asks for a response that only a formed character can give.
9"Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless." The phrase 9"to this you were called" echoes 2:21, where it meant suffering with Christ as the example. Now it has another side. The same people called to suffer are called to bless, which means asking God's favor for the person who wronged you. The ancient world ran on repayment and the defense of honor, and Peter cut against all of it. Those who bless 9"obtain a blessing."
He supports the instruction with Psalm 34, which he already used in 2:3. The psalm's heading places David as a fugitive among foreigners, which suits a letter to exiles. It ends with a promise that ties back to 3:7: 12"the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer."
Then comes a question that sounds naive and is meant to. 13"Who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?" The word for zealous names intense devotion, the passion of someone all in. The answer is that ultimate harm cannot reach people who belong to Christ, even when physical suffering does.
14"Have no fear of them, nor be troubled." Peter borrows from Isaiah 8, where God told the prophet to honor the LORD of hosts as holy and let him be the fear. Peter puts Christ's name where the LORD of hosts stood. So the fear is redirected to the one who alone deserves it, and 15"in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy." The matter is settled inside a person before any confrontation begins.
Out of that settled heart comes readiness. 15"Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you." The Greek word, *apologia*, is a courtroom word, the account a person gives when somebody demands one. The question comes from outside, which means the hope was visible before anyone asked. It is the living hope of 1:3, and Peter expects it to show in a life. The delivery matters as much as the content: 15"with gentleness and respect." An accurate argument delivered with contempt tells the listener the hope is a weapon.
Behind the defense stands 16"a good conscience." The slander hurts, and the shame Peter promises falls on the accusers when a life contradicts what they said.
Ask who has asked you about your hope lately, what you would say, and in what tone you would say it.
Prayer
Father, make us of one mind, sympathetic, tender, and humble. When we are wronged, keep us from repaying evil for evil and teach us to bless. Set Christ apart as holy in our hearts so that no other fear rules us, and prepare us to give a reason for our hope with gentleness and respect. In Jesus' name, amen.