AND WHILE
BEING REVILED: hos loidoroumenos (PPPMSN): (Ps
38:12, 13, 14; Isa 53:7; Mt 27:39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44; Mk 14:60,61;
15:29, 30, 31, 32; Lk 22:64,65; 23:9,34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39; Jn
8:48,49; 19:9, 10, 11; Acts 8:32, 33, 34, 35; He 12:3)
(Torrey's Topic "Reviling
& Reproaching")
While being reviled He did not
revile - This passage parallels and fulfills the prophecies in the
Psalms and Isaiah 53...
Those who seek my life lay
snares for me and those who seek to injure me have threatened
destruction, and they devise treachery all day long. 13 But I, like a
deaf man, do not hear; and I am like a dumb man who does not open
his mouth. 14 Yes, I am like a
man who does not hear, And in whose mouth are no arguments.
(Psalms 38:12, 13, 14)
See Spurgeon's comments
Verse 12 ,
Verse 13 ,
Verse 14)
(Spurgeon comments that in Ps 38:14 "He repeats the fact of his
silence that we may note it, admire it, and imitate it. We have an
advocate, and need not therefore plead our own cause. The Lord will
rebuke our foes, for vengeance belongs to him; we may therefore wait
patiently and find it our strength to sit still.
He (Messiah) was oppressed and
He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. Like a lamb
that is led to
slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
so He did not open His mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)
(Comment: Observe that Christ's silence in the face of reproach
is emphasized by repeating it three times! Oh, the forbearance of God!
Reviled
(3058) (loidoreo
from loidoros = reviling, railing, one who reviles as in 1Cor
5:11) means to subject one to verbal abuse, and to
to reproach, vilify, speak in a highly insulting manner, insult
strongly. Revile implies a scurrilous, abusive attack prompted by
anger or hatred. Rail (against) means to scold someone using
harsh, insolent, or abusive language.
Note the
present tense
indicating that Christ was continually reviled and railed against
by His protagonists. Even continuous suffering at the hands of the
angry mob did not elicit from our Lord any retaliatory words.
To show the strong character
of the word, Moulton and Milligan cite Calvin on the use 1Co
4:12
Loidoria (derived from loidoreo is
used in 1Ti 5:14, 1Pe 3:9, "insult for insult")
is a harsher railing, which not only rebukes a man, but also sharply
bites him, and stamps him with open contumely (harsh language or
treatment arising from haughtiness and contempt). Hence loidoreo
is to wound man as with an accursed sting.
NIDNTT comments on the use
of loidoreo in classic Greek...
The group of words connected
with loidoreo (probably related to Lat. ludus, game), is
frequently found in classic Greek. In general it is not used in a
religious sense. It was rather in the political and social life of the
Greeks that importance came to be attached to slander, insult and
disparagement of an opponent, e.g. as a weapon of the orator in a
political dispute, or of the Homeric heroes...
They (loidoreo, loidoria,
loidoros = a reviler) retain the meaning which they have in classic
Greek, although they are used chiefly in religious contexts. If for
the Greek it was one of the arts of life to know how to insult others
or bear insults against oneself, for the believer the suffering of
slander and insults is evidence of the cross the Christian disciple is
called to bear (1Pe 2:23)
(Brown,
Colin, Editor. New International Dictionary of NT Theology. 1986.
Zondervan)
TDNT...
This common word group has the
secular sense of reproach, insult, calumny, and even blasphemy. In the
LXX it carries the nuance of wrangling, angry remonstrance, or chiding
as well as thee usual calumny. Philo has it for mockery or invective.
(Kittel,
G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. Theological Dictionary of the
New Testament. Eerdmans)
Loidoreo - 4x in 4v - John
9:28; Acts 23:4; 1Cor 4:12; 1 Pet 2:23. Here are the other 3 uses...
John 9:28 They reviled
him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
Acts 23:4 But the bystanders
said, "Do you revile God's high priest?"
1Corinthians 4:12 and we toil,
working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when
we are persecuted, we endure;
Loidoreo - 6x In the
Septuagint (LXX) -
Gen 49:23; Ex17:2; 21:18; Num 20:3, 13; Deut 33:8
Calvin defined revile as...
a harsher railing, which not
only rebukes a man but also sharply bites him, and stamps him with
open contumely. It is to wound a man with an accursed sting. (Note:
"Contumely" means harsh language or treatment arising from
haughtiness and contempt)
HE DID NOT REVILE IN RETURN: ouk anteloidorei (3SIAI): (Acts
4:29; 9:1; Ep 6:9)
Matthew
records one such example of His not reviling in return...
And while He was being accused by
the chief priests and elders, He made no answer. Then Pilate said to
Him, "Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?" And
He did not answer him with regard to even a single charge, so that the
governor was quite amazed. (Mt 27:12, 13, 14)
Not (ouk)
signifies absolute negation. Jesus absolutely did not revile when
reviled! He is our example!
How are you doing, beloved of the Lord?
Remember, if you try to "not revile in return" in your old
self, you own strength, your natural ability, you don't stand a
chance! Even if we catch the wicked words before they are propelled
from our lips, we still have to deal with our heart, for out of our
mouth comes that which fills our heart. And so how do we "not
revile in return"? The truth is this response (or choice to not
give a response) is not possibly naturally but only be achieved
supernaturally. If Jesus is our example and He succeeded (which
He did) then we must surrender to the Spirit of Christ in us and rely
on His enabling power to give us the ability to "not revile
in return". There is simply no other way to live like Jesus, then
to live supernaturally by His Spirit. And He will give us many
"opportunities" to practice dying to self and acknowledging our
natural weakness so that we might begin to learn that it is only His
grace that is truly sufficient and that it is only in our weakness
that His power is made perfect. (2Cor 12:9-note;
2Co 12:10-note)
And then God will receive the glory for something we and everyone else
knows can only be achieved supernaturally! (Mt 5:16-note,
cp the similar command to do all things without grumbling! Php 2:14-note)
Revile in
return (486) (antiloidoreo
from anti = in turn, return, back + loidoreo = revile)
means to answer insults or slander with insulting or slanderous words.
Returning good for good is commendable
and even natural. Returning good for evil is Christ like and
supernatural. Christ is our Example. The Spirit of Christ is our
Enabler.
And why did
Christ not revile in return? As the perfect example of submission,
He had submitted His will to His Father in His time of agony in the
Garden of Gethsemane when He declared...
Father, if Thou art willing, remove
this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Thine be done. (Luke 22:42)
Remember that 1 Peter 2:13
through 1 Peter 3:9 deals repeatedly with submission, and in this
section we see Christ's submission as the highest
example of submission. And we are called to follow in His steps.
Note also that
the verb indicating Christ was entrusting Himself to His Father is
imperfect tense...this gives us the following picture of Jesus - each time He was attacked verbally with abusive insults, He
gave Himself over to His Father for vindication of the injustice and did
not seek to retaliate. This was His response again and again. Blessed
holy forbearance!
This is the example He left for
His disciples to follow when falsely accused or
maligned...this is not easy (in fact in our own strength it is
impossible!)...the temptation of the flesh will always
be to lash out at our adversaries...but we must master it. God
instructed Cain that
If you do well, will not your countenance be
lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching (waiting to
pounce like a lion, would fulfill its desire to overpower him) at
the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master (to rule,
reign, have dominion over) it. (Genesis 4:7)
So here we see
even in the OT that what God demanded in the way of righteous
behavior, He provided the power necessary to carry out (although we
can't state specifically how from this verse).
In the NT
we can be more specific, for Paul writes that
if
you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the
Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will
live. (Ro 8:13-note).
Paul is saying that the Spirit provides us with the energy and power
to continually and gradually be killing our sins (including
reviling in return!), and this is daily process (known as
sanctification) never to be completed in this life. One means the
Spirit uses to accomplish this process is our faithful obedience to
the simple commands of Scripture, giving us the desire to obey and the
power to obey.
So then, my beloved, just as you
have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in
my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for
it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good
pleasure. (Php 2:12, 13-See notes
Php 2:12;
2:13)
><> ><> ><>
Right and Wronged -
Several years ago, a university student who took the gospel of Christ
to a rough London neighborhood encountered a group of hostile men.
"You rat!" said one of the men, seizing him. "I've half a mind to
break your jaw!"
"My friend," the young man replied, "if that is going to help you at
all and make me less of a rat, go ahead and break it."
The writer who described the incident concluded his account by saying,
"The jaw was not broken, and the group dispersed."
That student's calm response to a personal threat was powerful and
Christlike. The apostle Peter said that when our Lord Jesus Christ was
reviled, He "did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not
threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously" (1Pe
2:23).
Our profession of faith in a just, sovereign God meets the acid test
when we are opposed for taking a stand for the truth. If we strike
back, we stand in our own strength. If we follow Jesus' example, we
stand in the power of God.
When the heat is on and we put our confidence in the Lord, we will be
able to do what's right even when we're wronged. —RBC Ministries (Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
Lord, help me not
retaliate
When someone's mocking You;
Instead, give me the strength to stand
For what I know is true. --Sper
WHILE
SUFFERING, HE UTTERED NO THREATS: paschon (PAPMSN) ouk epeilei (3SIAI):
Suffering (3958)
(pascho) means to undergo an experience, usually
difficult, normally with the implication of physical or mental
suffering. Note the
present tense indicates this was the
"Suffering Servant's" continual lot in life!
Pascho - 42x in 41v - Matt
16:21; 17:12, 15; 27:19; Mark 5:26; 8:31; 9:12; Luke 9:22; 13:2;
17:25; 22:15; 24:26, 46; Acts 1:3; 3:18; 9:16; 17:3; 28:5; 1 Cor
12:26; 2 Cor 1:6; Gal 3:4; Phil 1:29; 1 Thess 2:14; 2 Thess 1:5; 2 Tim
1:12; Heb 2:18; 5:8; 9:26; 13:12; 1 Pet 2:19ff, 23; 3:14, 17f; 4:1,
15, 19; 5:10; Rev 2:10. NAS = endured(1), endured...sufferings(1),
suffer(22), suffered(10), suffering(4), suffers(2).
Uttered (no)
threats (546)
(apeileo) means to menace, to warn, to threaten and so to declare
that one will cause harm to someone, particularly if certain
conditions are not met. The word for "no" is the Greek particle "ouk"
which speaks not of relative but of absolute negation...Jesus
absolutely did not make threats of revenge.
BUT KEPT ENTRUSTING HIMSELF TO HIM WHO JUDGES
RIGHTEOUSLY: paredidou (3SIAI) de to krinonti (PAPMSD)
dikaios: (1Peter 4:19; Ps 10:14; 31:5; 37:5; Lk 23:46; Acts
7:59; 2Ti 1:12, Ge 18:25; Ps 7:11; 96:13; Acts 17:31; Ro 2:5; 2Th 1:5;
2Ti 4:8; Rev 19:11)
As always Jesus yielded His will to His Father leaving
us the same example of "yet not My will, but Thine be done." [Lk
22:42]
Kept Entrusting
(3860)
(paradidomi
[word study]
from para = alongside, beside + didomi =
give) means to hand over to or to convey something to someone
particularly a right or an authority. Paradidomi was commonly used of delivering up a criminal
to police or court for punishment. It was included the idea of one
being given over into another's power and in this case means giving
one's self over to God the righteous Judge.
Peter's use of the
imperfect tense pictures Jesus surrendering Himself to His Father's righteous
judgment again and again, as one unfounded injustice after another was
hurled at Him.
John
MacArthur explains the idea conveyed by use of the
imperfect tense
writing that...
With each new wave of abuse, as it
came again and again, Jesus was always “handing Himself over” to God
for safekeeping. Luke records how that pattern continued until the
very end
‘Father, into Your hands I commit
(Ed note:
paratithemi
- not
paradidomi
but similar idea) My spirit.’
Having said this, He breathed His last” (Lk 23:46).
Undergirding Jesus’ peaceful,
resolute acceptance of suffering was an unshakeable confidence in the
perfectly righteous plan of Him who judges righteously (cf. Jn
4:34; 15:10; 17:25). He knew God would vindicate Him according to His
perfect, holy justice.
(MacArthur, J. 1 Peter. Chicago:
Moody Press or
Logos)
Judges
(2919)
(krino) primarily signifies to distinguish, separate or
discriminate and then, to distinguish between good and evil, right and
wrong, without necessarily passing an adverse sentence, though this is
usually involved.
Righteously
(1346)
(dikaios
[word study]
from díke = right, just) means
God judges equitably, justly and in a manner that always conforms to
His perfect justice. Why? Because God's judgments are an outcome of
His character. He judges righteously in full conformity to His
standard of truth and holiness. Christ could therefore with full
assurance commit His vindication into God's hands.
Let us (in the power of the
Spirit of Christ) follow His beautiful example and walk in His steps
to the glory of God and not revile in return, utter threats or speak
deceitfully when we suffer.
Alan Stibbs
explains that there...
is a double sense in which He
(Jesus) may have acknowledged God as the righteous Judge. On the one
hand, because voluntarily, and in fulfillment of God’s will, He was
taking the sinner’s place and bearing sin, He did not protest at what
He had to suffer. Rather He consciously recognized that it was the
penalty righteously due to sin. So He handed Himself over to be
punished. He recognized that in letting such shame, pain and curse
fall upon Him, the righteous God was judging righteously. On the other
hand, because He Himself was sinless, He also believed that in due
time God, as the righteous Judge, would vindicate Him as righteous,
and exalt Him from the grave, and reward Him for what He had willingly
endured for others’ sake by giving Him the right completely to save
them from the penalty and power of their own wrongdoing. (The Tyndale
New Testament Commentaries, The First Epistle of Peter. Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1971)
><> ><> ><>
In God's Hands-
READ: 2 Samuel 16:5-14
It may be that the Lord will look on my affliction, and that the Lord
will repay me with good. —2Sa 16:12
In 2 Samuel 16:5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 we read of King David being cursed by Shimei. This
happened while David was fleeing from his son Absalom, who wanted to
kill him.
Unlike David, we often want to silence our critics, insist on
fairness, and defend ourselves. But as we grow in our awareness of
God's protective love, we become less concerned with what others say
about us and more willing to entrust ourselves to our Father. Like
David, we can say of each critic, "Let him alone, and let him curse"
(2Sa 16:11). This is humble submission to God's will.
We may ask our opponents to justify their charges, or we may counter
them with steadfast denial. Or, like David (2Sa 16:12), we can wait
patiently until God vindicates us.
It is good to look beyond those who oppose us and look to the One who
loves us with infinite love. It is good to be able to believe that
whatever God permits is for our ultimate good—good, though we're
exposed to the curses of a Shimei; good, though our hearts break and
we shed bitter tears.
You are in God's hands, no matter what others are saying about you. He
has seen your distress, and in time He'll repay you for the cursing
you have received. So trust Him and abide in His love.
—David H. Roper (Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
THINKING IT OVER - Read 1Pe 2:20, 21, 22, 23. How did Jesus respond to
words spoken against Him? What did He do and not do? In what
situations can you follow His example?
We can endure life's wrongs because we know that God will make all
things right.
TORREY'S TOPIC
Reviling and reproaching
Forbidden -1
Peter 3:9
Of rulers specially forbidden -Exodus 22:28; Acts 23:4,5
THE WICKED UTTER, AGAINST
God -Psalms 74:22; 79:12
God, by opposing the poor -Proverbs 14:31
Christ -Matthew 27:39; Luke 7:34
Saints -Psalms 102:8; Zephaniah 2:8
Rulers -2 Peter 2:10,11; Jude 1:8,9
Of Christ, predicted -Psalms 69:9; Romans 15:3; Psalms 89:51
The conduct of Christ under -1 Peter 2:23
SAINTS
Endure -1 Timothy 4:10; Hebrews 10:33
Endure for God’s sake -Psalms 69:7
Endure for Christ’s sake -Luke 6:22
Should expect Matthew 10:25
Should not fear -Isaiah 51:7
Sometimes depressed by -Psalms 42:10,11; 44:16; 69:20
May take pleasure in -2 Corinthians 12:10
Supported under -2 Corinthians 12:10
Trust in God under -Psalms 57:3; 119:42
Pray under -2 Kings 19:4,16; Psalms 89:50
Return blessings for -1 Corinthians 4:12; 1 Peter 3:9
Ministers should not fear -Ezekiel 2:6
Happiness of enduring, for Christ’s sake -1 Peter 4:14
Blessedness of enduring, for Christ’s sake -Matthew 5:11; Luke 6:22
Excludes from heaven -1 Corinthians 6:10
Punishment for -Zephaniah 2:8,9; Matthew 5:22
Exemplified
Joseph’s brethren -Genesis 37:19
Goliath -1 Samuel 17:43
Michal -2 Samuel 6:20
Shimei -2 Samuel 16:7,8
Sennacherib -Isaiah 37:17,23,24
Moabites and Ammonites -Zephaniah 2:8
Pharisees -Matthew 12:24
Jews -Matthew 27:39,40; John 8:48
Malefactor -Luke 23:39
Athenian philosophers -Acts 17:18
