Upside Down Glory (1 Peter 4:12-19)
When we think of the Reformation, our minds go quickly to Martin Luther and the recovery of justification by faith alone. But one of the overlooked gifts of the Reformation was the recovery of what the apostle Peter speaks of here, what Luther called the theology of the cross.
Contrary to the assumption of many, the Christian life is not a steady climb up the ladder of success, an ever-ascending path toward glory. No, as Jerry Bridges reminds us, the Christian life is marked by weakness, failure, and, as Peter insists here, suffering.
This section of Peter’s letter pushes us back against any false comfort of glory in this life, as well as the assumption that our relationship with God is transactional. The idea whispers: If I am faithful, then surely my life will be smooth. But far from biblical, this is what Martin Luther and the Reformers called the theology of glory. a view of the Christian life that expects victory without the cross.
Peter dismantles this illusion with the blunt force of reality. The life of a believer is not marked by steadily ascending steps toward visible success, but by daily conformity to the crucified Christ. To be joined to Him in faith is to be united not only to His resurrection life, but also to His suffering and reproach (cf. 2:21).
To be clear, the Apostle states that suffering is not proof of God’s absence or displeasure; rather, it is evidence of our union with Christ. Just as the Son suffered and entered glory by way of the cross, so also His people must walk the same road. Glory will come, but not on this side of eternity. For now, the mark of Christianity is not the removal of trials but endurance through them.
Peter unfolds this by showing us three things: first, the awareness of suffering (vv.12–13), second, the nature of suffering (vv.14–16), and third, the outcome of suffering (vv.17–19).
The Awareness of Suffering (vv.12–13)
“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.”
Peter begins not with harsh commands but with a gentle reminder: beloved. Before anything else, believers must be anchored in the truth that no matter what trial they face, they are loved by their Father.
That word “beloved” pushes back against the theology of glory. Suffering is not proof that God has turned against us, so Peter says, “do not be surprised,” and expect suffering.
If we are shocked when hardship comes, we reveal that we’ve misunderstood the Christian life. Exile in this life is not the exception; it is the norm. As Jesus Himself promised, “In the world ye shall have tribulation” (John 16:33).
But more than not being surprised, Peter says we are to rejoice in suffering, which, if we are honest, sounds impossible, at least until we see why.
First, we rejoice in suffering because it is in suffering that we are made partakers of Christ. Union with Him is not a selective union; it does not allow us to share only in His blessings while avoiding His wounds. Rather, it is a comprehensive union, joining us to both His cross and His crown.
Paul makes this clear in Philippians 3:10, where he longs to “know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings.” Notice the order: to know Christ fully is not simply to experience the triumph of His resurrection, but also to enter into the fellowship of His sufferings.
This fellowship is not suffering for suffering’s sake; it is suffering with Christ and in Christ. Our trials become a participation in His story, a living testimony that we belong to Him. Where the world may see weakness, faith sees the deeper reality: our Savior bore reproach, and so reproach for His name is a mark of our sonship and fellowship with Him.
And here is the great paradox: this fellowship in suffering is not a detour from glory but the very path to it. Peter and Paul both insist that suffering with Christ is what guarantees glory with Christ (Rom. 8:17). Each tear shed, each reproach borne, each cross carried is not wasted; it is the Spirit’s seal that we are truly His, and it is one of the Father’s ways of shaping us into the likeness of His Son.
So, when Peter tells us to rejoice in suffering, he is not minimizing pain or romanticizing hardship. He is reminding us that suffering in union with Christ is never meaningless. It is fellowship now, and it is glory to come.
This is why Peter Davids states that our suffering only finds its true significance when it is attached to Christ’s. His suffering for us dignifies and transforms our suffering in Him.
Additionally, the apostle says that we rejoice because glory is coming. Present trials are not the whole story; rather, they are but the prelude to eternal joy. As cliché as it may sound, it is true: every day of suffering brings the believer one day closer to home.
This perspective reorients how we see our pain. The world tells us that suffering steals life from us, robbing us of joy and cutting our days short. But Peter says to us the opposite: suffering actually carries us forward, hastening us along the road toward everlasting life. Every step marked by tears is also a step closer to the day when Christ Himself will wipe those tears away (Rev. 21:4).
Paul echoes this hope when he writes that “our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17). Notice, though, our suffering is not only temporary, it is purposeful. It is working for us, preparing us for a glory so heavy, so lasting, that all present pain will one day seem light by comparison.
This is why the Christian can rejoice in suffering: not because pain is pleasant, but because it is never final. It is always moving us closer to the day when faith becomes sight.
The Nature of Suffering (vv.14–16)
“If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.”
The nature of suffering is upside down from what we are prone to think; Peter says it is actually a blessing. Jesus taught this paradox in Matthew 5:11: “Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you,” and Kim Riddlebarger rightly notes the irony: the very thing the world sees as a curse, God uses as a blessing.
Peter gives two reasons why suffering for Christ is, paradoxically, a blessing.
First, the Spirit rests on you. In verse 14, Peter draws from Isaiah 11:2, where the promised Messiah is described as the One upon whom the Spirit of the Lord would rest. That prophecy found its ultimate fulfillment at Jesus’ baptism, when the Spirit descended upon Him like a dove, but here, Peter makes the claim that what was true of Christ is also true of all who are united to Him by faith. The Spirit of glory rests on you in your suffering.
This means that when reproach comes, and when you feel the isolation of walking with Christ in a hostile world, you are not abandoned. Quite the opposite: you are indwelled by the same Spirit who was upon the Son. Though everything around you may suggest rejection, heaven declares acceptance.
Second, God is glorified in your suffering. What the world intends as shame, God transforms into honor. When believers endure trial with patient faith, they magnify the sufficiency of Christ before watching eyes. Insults become opportunities to display Him, and Weakness becomes the display for His strength. As Paul reminds us, “when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Cor. 12:10).
But Peter is careful to add that this is not true of all suffering. Not all suffering glorifies God in the same way. If you suffer for sin, as a murderer, thief, or meddler, that suffering is deserved. It is only suffering for Christ, for righteousness’ sake, that glorifies God. To clarify, Peter’s call is not to seek suffering for its own sake, but to live faithfully in a world where such suffering will inevitably come.
The Outcome of Suffering (vv.17–19)
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God…”
Here, Peter flips our expectations upside down again.
He cites Ezekiel 9:5, where judgment began at the sanctuary because Israel had broken the covenant, but in Peter’s application, the emphasis is not on purification but on contrast.
For the church, suffering begins now because that is the pattern of life in this fallen world. To belong to Christ is to share in His rejection and reproach, but glory is coming.
For the unbelieving, the opposite is true. They may enjoy their “glory” now, albeit a poor substitute of ease, honor, and prosperity, judgment is coming. What looks like a blessing is only temporary, a fragile shadow before the weight of God’s justice falls.
Peter presses this home with Proverbs 11:31: “If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” His point is not that the believer’s salvation is uncertain, but that the path of the righteous is hard. If it is bad for those who belong to Christ here, how much more dreadful will the end be for those who reject Him?
So Peter’s logic is clear: suffering has a flipped outcome. For believers, it is suffering now and glory later. For unbelievers, it is glory now and judgment later.
What looks like loss for the Christian is actually the signpost pointing toward eternal gain. What looks like gain for the unbeliever is actually the mask hiding eternal loss.
Peter concludes his argument with a call to hope. “Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator” (v. 19).
The keyword here is commit. In the original, it’s a banking term that means to deposit something valuable into another’s safekeeping. It’s the same imagery Paul uses in 2 Timothy 1:12 when he writes, “I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.”
The Christian, in the midst of fiery trial, is to make a deposit, not of money, but of the very soul into God’s trustworthy hands. Suffering tempts us to hold tightly, to protect ourselves, to retreat into self-preservation, but Peter’s exhortation flips that impulse on its head. We are not called to grasp, but to give.
And notice the title Peter chooses: faithful Creator.
This is striking, because nowhere else in the New Testament is God given this name. Peter intentionally reaches for it here to remind suffering believers that the One who upholds the galaxies also upholds them. The God who called the universe into being is the same God who calls His children through suffering to glory.
But there is more. The hands that fashioned the heavens are the hands that fashioned you in the womb (Ps. 139:13). Those same hands stretched out on a cross and were pierced for your redemption. The Creator is not only faithful in power, but faithful in covenant love. He who created you has also re-created you in Christ, and therefore He will not lose you in the fire of trial.
Thus, Peter leaves his readers with the strongest possible assurance. The faithful Creator who made you, redeemed you, and indwells you will keep you. His hands both created and now carry, and those hands will not let you go until they have brought you safely home.