1 Peter 2:23

Context

First Peter is a letter written in the name of Peter to Christians scattered throughout Asia Minor (1 Peter 1:1). The passage 2:18–25 is an exhortation to servants working in their masters' households. The author says that when one does good and yet suffers unjustly, patient endurance is acceptable before God. He then states that Christ left an "example" (2:21) and goes on to describe that example; verse 23 stands at the center of this description.

The preceding verse (2:22) draws on Isaiah 53:9, and the following verse, 2:24, draws on the Suffering Servant passage of Isaiah 53. Verse 23 is therefore also read against the background of the silent sheep of Isaiah 53:7 ("as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth") and the Passion narratives of the Gospels. The Gospels report that Jesus remained silent before the council and before Pilate (Mark 14:61; 15:5).

Interpretation

• Reading as imitation: Most commentaries read the verse as a model of conduct for Christians to follow. On this view, the refusal to return insult for insult or to make threats is presented as the path that believers who suffer wrongfully should take.
• Reading with a focus on entrusting: In the original text, the verb "to commit" or "to entrust" (Greek paradidōmi) has no stated object. Interpreters are therefore divided over whether what Christ entrusted was himself, his cause and the wrong done to him, or those who harmed him. Whichever reading is adopted, interpreters agree that he handed judgment and recompense over to God. In this respect the verse is read alongside the exhortation in Romans 12:17–21 to leave vengeance to God.
• Reading with attention to verb tense: The verbs in the original are in the imperfect tense, which denotes repeated or continuous action. On this basis some commentators hold that the verse describes not a momentary reaction but an attitude that persisted throughout the Passion.

Debates and Issues

Translation and manuscripts: The Korean Revised Version renders the verb with butakhada, an older usage closer to "entrust" than to its modern sense of "request." Later Korean translations sometimes render it with words meaning "entrust." Some Latin traditions, including the Vulgate, are reported to contain a reading to the effect that he "handed himself over to one who judged unjustly." Modern translations, however, generally follow the reading "him that judgeth righteously."

Scope of application: Because the verse occurs within an exhortation to servants, pastoral counseling and Christian ethics have long asked whether it may be applied directly to people suffering abuse or violence today. Many interpreters hold that the verse calls for refraining from personal retaliation. They therefore point out that it cannot be used as grounds for requiring victims to endure dangerous situations or for forbidding them to seek legitimate legal protection.

Nonretaliation and public justice: Churches that emphasize nonviolence and nonresistance, such as those of the Anabaptist tradition, cite this verse as one of the grounds for their position. Many other denominations distinguish between the prohibition of personal retaliation and the legitimate exercise of public authority by the state (Romans 13:3–4). They read the verse together with the exhortation to honor authorities in 1 Peter 2:13–17.

Related Passages

• Isaiah 53:7
• 1 Peter 2:21–24
• Romans 12:17–21
• Luke 6:27–36
• Acts 7:60