Suffering Without Retaliation

Continuing our look at 1 Peter 2, we remember that while Jesus is more than an example to be imitated, He is certainly not less than that. How our Lord responded to suffering does serve as a paradigm for how we are to suffer even if there are aspects of Jesus’ suffering that we cannot imitate because of Christ’s unique role as our Mediator. Today’s verse tells us how we can imitate Jesus in our suffering even as we must also remember that there are things that Jesus did as Mediator that are not required of us.

In 1 Peter 2:23, the Apostle likely has Isaiah 53:7 in mind. Isaiah predicted that the Messiah would not open His mouth in response to the unjust suffering that He would endure, and Jesus fulfilled this when He did not respond in kind to His tormentors. When the soldiers and Jewish leaders reviled and threatened Him, He did not revile and threaten in return. Instead of retaliating, Peter writes, Jesus entrusted Himself to God, knowing that He judges justly and would vindicate Him (1 Peter 2:23; see Mark 15:1–20). Likewise, we are not to return insult for insult, threat for threat. In fact, when Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek, He is using a metaphor that means that we are not to respond to verbal revilings in kind (Matt. 5:39). John Calvin comments that like Jesus, we are “calmly to bear wrongs, and not to avenge wrongs. For such is our disposition, that when we receive injuries, our minds immediately boil over with revengeful feelings; but Christ abstained from every kind of retaliation. Our minds, therefore, ought to be bridled, lest we should seek to render evil for evil.”

While we must not retaliate in kind against those who cause us to suffer unjustly, this does not mean that we can never seek justice and must passively resign ourselves to unjust suffering. Jesus did not appeal to His legal rights or even to His own innocence to avoid suffering; He endured it all the way to death. This was a consequence of His unique role as Savior. Scripture’s teaching on the need to seek justice and the right to self-defense, as well as the Apostles’ example of appealing to their legal rights, indicates that we are not always to shun attempts to alleviate suffering (Ex. 22:1–3; Isa. 1:17; Acts 16:25–40). Yet if we use our rights or seek legal redress, it should be only when a crime has been committed or there is no other way to find restoration. Even then, we must not be motivated by a retaliatory spirit.