Text for the Week: Seasoned with Understanding

Scripture: 1 Peter 3:8-17

⁸ Finally, all of you be of one mind, sympathetic, lovers of your fellow believers, compassionate, and modest in your opinion of yourselves. ⁹ Don’t pay back evil for evil or insult for insult. Instead, give blessing in return. You were called to do this so that you might inherit a blessing. ¹⁰ For

those who want to love life
    and see good days
should keep their tongue from evil speaking
    and their lips from speaking lies.
¹¹ They should shun evil and do good;
    seek peace and chase after it.
¹² The Lord’s eyes are on the righteous
    and his ears are open to their prayers.
But the Lord cannot tolerate those who do evil.

¹³ Who will harm you if you are zealous for good? ¹⁴ But happy are you, even if you suffer because of righteousness! Don’t be terrified or upset by them. ¹⁵ Instead, regard Christ the Lord as holy in your hearts. Whenever anyone asks you to speak of your hope, be ready to defend it. ¹⁶ Yet do this with respectful humility, maintaining a good conscience. Act in this way so that those who malign your good lifestyle in Christ may be ashamed when they slander you. ¹⁷ It is better to suffer for doing good (if this could possibly be God’s will) than for doing evil.

Questions

1. Are there differences between being sympathetic and compassionate and how do these ideas relate to one another in the Church?
2. How do being sympathetic and compassionate help the church to become like-minded?
3. How do the qualities of verse 8 relate to the witness and suffering of the Christian life and apologetic of verses 14-17?

Background

Related Scriptures: Psalm 34, Matthew 5:13-16, Romans 12:9-21, Ephesians 4:1-3

The word συμπαθής (sympathetic) is only used in the Bible in 1 Peter 3:8 and has a basic meaning of “to experience something with another”, though there is often a sense of suffering tied to it, particularly suffering caused by evil. In modern technical usage this idea would be best expressed by the word empathy which is a stronger feeling of sharing in someone’s suffering.

The word for having one mind, does not mean “to think alike” but rather “to share the same goal”.  

There is a deep connection between sympathy, love, and unity in both Greek and Jewish thinking, it is through sharing in suffering together that people develop deep bonds of affection that lead to a unity of purpose and action.

“[M]odest in your opinion of yourselves” is better translated “be subordinate” it is a reference to being in a lower social position than others, not a reference to how one thinks about one’s self.

For more background information check out my video here

Reflection

Every society has codes of conduct governing how people behave within that structure, these codes might be heavily structured or as in modern America vary widely from community to community or even household to household. 1 Peter 3:8-12 is the conclusion to his discussion on how Christians should relate to one another as they navigate the code of conduct within Roman households. Roman households were highly structured with everyone’s position within the house being determined by how close that person was to the father who was the head. Peter’s comments in the sections above help Christians find their place within such a structure, but all of that should be read in light of these concluding thoughts, because these are addressed to every believer and reflect how one believer should relate to another regardless of their relationship within the secular hierarchy. And in this one verse (v 8) Peter turns the patriarchal hierarchy on its head, by reminding believers that we have a common goal, and that we are to love one another and even place ourselves in lower social standing within the church to achieve that goal.

To this end, Peter highlights two characteristics translated sympathy and compassion. Compassion is that heartfelt concern for another person and a desire to see them do well in life. The idea of sympathy goes along with this, it literally meaning to go through suffering with another person. Together these characteristics describe a person who is willing to place another in  their emotional core look after that person and become that person’s servant as they suffer with the loved one as they walk toward a shared destination. Thinking about this definition it sounds like a loving and kind family, parents and siblings looking out for one another, stooping down to elevate each member of the family to reach their heights while walking together through the dark valleys. Peter goes on to discuss repaying evil with good and living a good life, and these ideas are rooted in how we organize our society. Living the good life and blessing people are outcomes of the person whose life is dedicated to living out 3:8. For Peter the ability to listen to people and suffer with them is directly connected to our ability to bless them and walk toward our goal of living fully in Jesus.

Jesus calls us to be the salt and light of this world, there is no better way to allow someone to see the flavor inherent to us than to show them empathy. Any person who is suffering or hurting wants to know that there are people willing to walk with them in the midst of the difficulty and the person who fills this role will be the light to the one suffering. What is the bland normal state of life, people unconcerned with one another, walking past one another with no concern, what is the spice that stands out, being truly respectful and good to another. It might not sound like much especially in a world where we see so many problems that truly do need to be fixed, but simply sitting with people where they are and allowing them to help you understand where they are in life and where they are hurting and in need goes a long way toward cementing a relationship. In displaying that you care and that you are going to walk through life with that person as they grow and heal while being a servant is exactly how Jesus enters our lives. So in doing this we are genuinely reflecting his light into the world and allowing people to taste and see the Lord is good. The greatest display of love is laying down one’s life, this does not mean dying, it means serving someone and this is particularly true when that service includes the kind of empathy that Jesus shows and that we all crave.

Takeaway

Many people crave to the knowledge that they are heard and seen and that their suffering is understood. Being empathetic is that salt that these people need and it is the opening that will allow us to help light the path of others as they navigate the many difficulties of this world.