What Does 1 Peter 3:13 Mean?

(13) **And who is he that shall harm you?**—There is always a ring of scornful assurance in an interrogative introduced by “and:” “And who, pray?” **If ye be followers.**—Rather, *if ye make yourselves zealots.* The phrase looks on into the future; not merely “if at present ye be.” And the word which means “follower” (*i.e., *imitator) is here a false reading for *zelotes, *the name by which St. Peter’s lesser namesake among the Apostles was known, probably because of his enthusiastic attachment to the old or to the new Law. The same *zelotes* is found in Titus 2:14 and elsewhere. The translation, “of Him which is good,” is perfectly possible, but does not quite so well suit the context. Some writers (Leighton among them) take the verse to mean, or at least to include, that when men see the goodness and loving-kindness of our lives they will not be *disposed* to hurt us. This thought is, however, foreign to the passage. It means that men and devils may try their worst, as they did on Christ, and cannot harm us.