Man’s Good, God’s Approval

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

1 Peter 3:8-12

Two-thirds of this passage is simply Peter quoting Psalm 34:12-16. This comes at what seems like a conclusion to his series of imperatives for Christian submission. One might ask why this would follow directly after his instructions to Christians to submit in various earthly institutions, and why it is that Peter begins this thought with the word “Finally.” That is the ESV’s rendering of τέλος, which is the regular noun for “end” or “design.” With the conjunction δέ, which may just as well mean, “Now” or “So” or “Moreover,” it can continue the prior thought or conclude it. In any case, it certainly doesn’t mean that Peter was thinking of closing the letter here.

Both facts must form our context here. If David wrote that Psalm when he fled from Saul into the country of Abimelech, as the Psalm’s heading in our English Bibles suggest, then the prohibitions against repaying evil for evil are not prohibiting fleeing evil or avoiding evil or outwitting evildoers. So long as one is looking to God and not their own might to settle the scores. I think that is a necessary bit of context, but the more crucial contextual point is how Peter is using the Psalm to anchor his reader’s mind in the character of God (which is the same as it was for holy men back then) and the nature of the good life, which is also unchanging.

Doctrine. The good life is defined by God and rewarded by God.

(i.) The good life is defined by God.

(ii.) The goodlife is rewarded by God.

The good life is defined by God.

Peter lists a series of social qualities to possess: meaning, things that we must be in relation to others. This is not a “to-do list,” even a very moral to-do list. These are things that you are, or at least, things you become by practicing the virtue attached to each. But they all have counterfeits, so we have to define them the way that God defines them; and the Scriptures do not leave us to guess on their true meaning. Over the past generation, there is even a pseudo-virtue that poses as being all of these words that Peter mentions, all wrapped up in one super-virtue called WINSOMENESS. But, as I suggested, this is a pseudo-virtue. Peter wants to get the church to the genuine article.

First, there is ‘unity of mind’ (v. 8). Paul called for unity of mind to the Corinthians. A lot of people think that means checking the mind at the door to keep the peace. False! Paul’s rebuke of the Corinthians was of party spirit, that is, dividing up the body of Christ according to mere human personalities. This is to divide precisely by what is non-essential. But Paul blamed divisions on those who divide from the truth:

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those whocause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them (Rom. 16:17).

The Apostle everywhere insisted that there was a basis for unity in truth. If not, then what difference would it have made if everyone agreed with Paul or not? If the only thing that matters is unity, then what would be wrong with being unified by the heresy of Arianism, or being all agreed to start a polygamist cult, or being of one mind with the devil himself! If such ideas are absurd, then this unity of mind must mean something more like that old maxim: In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in all things, charity. But in order to tell the essentials from the non-essentials, we will all be needing those minds to be studying together.

Second, there is ‘sympathy’ (v. 8), which has been hotly debated of late. The idea of “toxic empathy” …  The word Peter uses here, συμπαθής, is indeed where we get the English, but it just means “fellow-feeling,” so it is not merely feeling sorry for someone else’s pain (though it encompasses that). Paul shows this fuller sense in the imperative: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15). It is a shared whole heart, which starts to make more sense the more there is a shared mind.

Third, there is ‘brotherly love’ (v. 8). Again, the ordo amoris—a love that is ordered by God according to the nearness of real people to us. We treated this in depth earlier in this epistle (See the sermon “Christian Love”). But one thing I will say by way of repetition is that this is that same Greek word, , and it recalls that statement by C. S. Lewis in The Four Loves. This is that “side-by-side” love: that “look out at the word from a common perspective” love, fellow soldiers in a Great Crusade love. You can’t manufacture that any other way. This is also demonstrative love. It is love that witnesses. Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn. 13:35). The same John who authored that Gospel spends a good part of the fourth chapter of his first letter saying the same thing in different ways, that God’s love is first proven in Christ, and then further evidenced in the love that Christians have for each other.

Fourth, ‘a tender heart’ (v. 8). Other translations will use the words “pitiful” or “compassionate” here. God’s mercy is described as a “tender mercy” (Luke 1:78), and when the covenant people of God are compared to a bride that He rescues, it says that even after all our sin against Him, He will “speak tenderly to her” (Hos. 2:14). A tender heart is one rid of all resentment.

And finally on this list: have a ‘humble mind’ (v. 8). How young minds need to be humble minds today more than ever! With the internet—the ubiquity of information-based podcasts that do all the work for someone’s curiosity—and now AI only multiplying the speed of access to the most amount of the most relevant information, the illusion of unprecedented wisdom is irresistible. What a mighty force for the kingdom such young minds could be if they only combined their busy minds with a humble mind. The Bible has a lot to say about someone who is “wise in his own eyes” (Prov. 26:12), and the diagnosis is not good.

The good life is rewarded by God.

The context of the Psalm—not to mention the overall teaching of Scripture—reminds us that the first reward is by grace, and that grace contains all other blessings. No creature even exists apart from creation. To be a creature at all is to be a monument to God’s sovereignty: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (Jas. 1:17). Do you want to understand good and blessing? Start with creation. There is no such thing as creaturely good without a creature’s existence, and there is no creaturely existence until the Creator is good and ready to give it. So when we speak of blessing in the context of reward (as the Scripture often does) never forget that the first blessing that contains all others is the life and existence that is in God Himself: “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). So the first blessing is existing!

The second interesting thing is that what God requires of us is also a blessing. We could also say here that the good life is commanded by God since this is in the form of an imperative. Think of where John says that, “his commandments are not burdensome” (1 Jn. 5:3). In other words, the doing of what God requires is itself a blessing. To ‘have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind’ (v. 8)—these are all good for you. I didn’t say these are immediately comfortable for you. I didn’t say these will make you win friends and influence people the world’s way. But these are a reward that will outlast this world. To become these things is to be blessed.

The third thing to catch about this reward is that the good life waits on God for this good. Note that this is another place—one of several in the New Testament—where vengeance is deferred. It’s where Peter says, ‘Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless’ (v. 9a). Whereas those five virtues were others-directed in the church especially, this has clear application toward all mankind, especially since it is a recurring theme in this letter (2:12, 23; 3:9, 16; 4:14, 19). There is a parallel in Paul’s words to the Roman Christians: “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them” (Rom. 12:14). And then that chapter ends with a larger setting, theologically and practically:

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Rom. 12:19-21).

Here the reward is either God’s justice on the LastDay, or, perhaps the conversion of someone convicted by that surprising kindness.

Fourthly and finally, Peter puts his own “big idea” to that section of the Psalm. It’s in those words that introduce it: ‘for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing’ (v. 9b). By the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit who inspired the Psalm in David, clearly Peter is interpreting those words of Psalm 34 as God motivating us to the good life with more good life. Not that this is the only motive, but God does reward godliness with things in this life. That immediately creates an objection: “I thought there were many places in the Bible that reserve reward for the eternal state, or that guarantee persecution in this life specifically because we have done good!” Yes. Both of these can be true.

The Psalm is meant by to reinforce the point that this has always been God’s way. God has always rewarded His people, in a sense, with more of the same. Good life for good life, blessing for blessing. The expression that ‘the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer’ (v. 12a) recalls how God may not receive the prayers of that overbearing husband. This only supports that this is referring to God’s hand for us in this life. The eyes and ears suggest a personal relationship: an awareness of God’s presence, a hearing with Him and, yes, His approval. We don’t want to pit the truth that all will be made right in the end with the truth that God fixes blessing to godliness in the present, and, on the flip side, more of the curse to ungodliness: ‘But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil’ (v. 12b). Again, the face calls attention to the personal sense of God’s disapproval, and of hating to think of Him being there.

Practical Use of the Doctrine

Use 1. Instruction.Recall that those five conditionsof the believer in verse 8 are social. If this is the good life as defined by God, then it implies that we are better together as believers. People know this by nature, and yet we repress it when we have been hurt or disappointed by others, or, in our day especially, when technology pulls us away from others into isolation. So what is our action item here? Well, it’s pretty simple.

Stop it. Get over it. Get off the screens. Get to know each other. If you say, “Well that’s more easily said than done,” for this reason or for that, there is actually a greater level of difficulty that this passage has already confronted us with. It is not enough to get together. We are given these five states or dispositions of our minds and hearts that get us out of ourselves.

Use 2. Exhortation. And this is an exhortation withamotivation. Peter’s other point here is that such a good life out of you will ‘obtain a blessing’ (v. 9) for you. It is really an application of that truth that, “‘It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). So here is the challenge: Do you want to have good friends? Be a good friend in these five ways: one mind, sympathy, brotherly love, tender heart, humble mind. This may seem like a simple truth, but our day especially calls for it. We became more aware of isolation and the mental health issues that resulted during the pandemic season; but what I think we found is that it is loneliness itself that is the pandemic that has persisted. The church is uniquely designed to reintroduce the world around us to the good life together. Each of us builds that good life together by being a blessing.

Use 3. Consolation. Jesus was all of these things forus before He had Peter call us to the same. Take them in order:

First, He was of one mind with God, as the divine Son, by nature: “I and the Father are one” (Jn. 10:30), but also in the Incarnation, “whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise” (Jn. 5:19).

Second, He had compassion for us: “For we do not havea high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses” (Heb. 4:15).

Third, Jesus links Himself in brotherly love to everysingle believer: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Mat. 25:40).

Fourth, His tenderness. “I am gentle and lowly in heart,” He says, and in Him, “you will find rest for your souls” (Mat. 11:29).

Finally, “Have this mind among yourselves, which isyours in Christ Jesus”—and what mind did Jesus have as a model for ours?

who, though he was in the form of God, did not countequality with God ra thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Phi. 2:6-8).

Jesus was these things in your place first. He earnedGod’s approval once and for all, so that you can have God’s approval, and share it with others.

“Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomedyou, for the glory of God” (Rom. 15:7).

______________________________________