1 Peter 5:10-11 meaning

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Our suffering is temporary. God is still in control. He has brought us into His favor. He is growing us, building us up, preparing us through our suffering. He is sovereign over everything.

In 1 Peter 5:10-11, Peter sets forth the great hope of reward that will be gained by all believers who follow the will of God by resisting the devil and enduring as a faithful witness.

The readers of Peter’s letter are suffering persecution, as are other believers living in this world. Peter encourages them to remember, After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal Glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you (v. 10).

We might gain insight of emphasis from considering the order of the words that occur in the original Greek. The Greek order of words is:

“The God of all grace,
who called you to His eternal glory in Christ,
after you have suffered a little while,
will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”

“The God of all grace

Placing first the God of all grace would support the idea that Peter’s intended emphasis is to place our attention onto God, and off self. When we suffer, our inclination is to turn inward and become self-focused. One of Peter’s goals in writing this letter is to get his readers to take their minds off self and the pain of suffering and onto the grace/favor and glory of God (1 Peter 1:13, 4:12-13). It is to adopt an eternal perspective, that suffering rejection from the world now will result in a future glory that is unfading (1 Peter 1:4, 5:4, 6).

God’s immense favor that He will heap upon those who suffer for Him is to allow them to share in His glory. God is described as possessing all grace. The Greek word “charis” is translated as grace. “Charis” refers to favor, as in Luke 2:51 which says Jesus grew in favor (“charis”) with God and man. In this case, we are speaking the favor God grants to reward those who follow Him.

God’s favor is never earned in the sense of meeting a standard by which we can demand anything from God. God is above all standards; He is the standard. Therefore, God’s favor is always given. He possesses infinite ability to bestow grace or favor upon all whom He chooses. He tells us that anything we do as unto Him gains His favor (Colossians 3:23-24). But in order to benefit from His promise we must trust that He is both faithful and merciful, and choose a perspective that doing things for God now will lead to resistance and rejection from the world. And we must believe God is merciful and will reward us for our efforts as unto Him, for we cannot demand anything from God (Hebrews 11:6).

Who called you to His eternal glory in Christ,

It is the God of all grace that has called you to His eternal glory in Christ. The pronoun His in the phrase who called you to His eternal glory in Christ refers to God. The God of all grace has called believers to join His eternal glory and has provided a vehicle by which we might enter that glory. That vehicle is in Christ.

The Greek word translated of all in the phrase the God of all grace generally refers to all that is. This would be proper in this context because only favor given from God will endure. The particular grace or favor Peter has in mind is God’s favor of granting believers His eternal glory in Christ.

The eternal glory in Christ translates four Greek words:

eternal translates “aionios” which can refer to time or amount. With respect to amount, “aionios” generally refers to something that is without limit, such as “eternal life.” With respect to time, “aionios” sometimes refers to ages past (as in Romans 16:25). It often applies to the end of an age. But in this case, it likely refers to the entire span of eternity, both ages past and ages to come; Jesus is both the beginning and the end of all things (Revelation 1:8).

glory translates “doxa” which refers to the essence of something being observed, as in 1 Corinthians 15:41 where the sun, moon, and stars are said to differ in “glory” because their essence differs.

in translates “en” which is a positional word, one of station. Believers are in a position of being a new creation in (“en”) Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). Becoming part of Christ’s body comes through faith, believing in Christ’s work on the cross (John 3:14-15). Sharing in Christ’s glory comes through sharing in His sufferings (Romans 8:17b).

Christ translates “Christos” which means “anointed” as does the Hebrew word “masiah” which we transliterate to English as “messiah.”

Jesus Christ was chosen/anointed by God to fulfill the prophecies, restore the throne of Israel to David, and restore humanity to its design. Humans originally were “crowned” with the “glory and honor” of reigning over the earth in harmony with God, as servant leaders (Psalm 8, Hebrews 2:5-10). But we fell, and Satan gained the reign (John 16:11). Through the “suffering of death” Jesus was again crowned with the “glory and honor” of reigning and was granted authority over all (Hebrews 2:9, Matthew 28:18).

Those who endure, who overcome as Jesus overcame, will share the “glory and honor” of reigning with Christ (2 Timothy 2:12, Revelation 3:21).

Those who share in Christ’s sufferings will also share His inheritance as joint heirs to reign with Him (Romans 8:17b-19).

Jesus was given the reward of being a “Son” as a human because of His faithful service (Hebrews 1:5). It is Jesus’s desire to bring “many sons to glory” with Him (Hebrews 2:10). Jesus was made a Son through the suffering of death. Believers who share in that suffering also share in his reward (Revelation 3:21).

Jesus endured shame because of the “joy” that was set before Him. That “joy” was to share His Father’s throne, as a human (Hebrews 12:1-2). Believers are called to follow His example, that we might share His reward.

We might look at sharing in God’s eternal glory in Christ in three phases.

We might look at Phase One of sharing God’s eternal glory in Christ as being initial faith, the faith that causes a new spiritual birth (John 3:3). Believers are placed into Christ when they believe. The only faith required is enough to look in hope. Jesus used the example of the bronze snake in the wilderness. All that was required for the people to be healed from the poisonous venom of snakes was to have sufficient faith to believe Moses’s word and look at the snake in order to be healed.

In like manner, Jesus said He would be “lifted up” on a pole, in His case a cross (John 3:14-15). All who recognize they are dying from the poisonous venom of sin and wish to live rather than die can look at Jesus on the cross and they will be saved from eternal death. At that moment of faith, believers are placed into Christ and become a forever member of God’s forever family. They are now citizens of the kingdom of heaven. We become members of Christ’s body because we are justified in God’s sight through His grace by faith through being placed into Christ (Romans 3:24).

We might consider Phase Two of sharing God’s eternal glory in Christ as being citizens of the kingdom of heaven who learn to enjoy the advantages of their citizenship while living in exile. As citizens of heaven living as exiles in this fallen world, believers can still enter into Jesus’s kingdom during this life through faith. When we follow Jesus’s commands, we enter His kingdom and enjoy its benefits. Otherwise, we are like exiles living in the world but without the benefits of our true citizenship, which is in heaven. We gain the benefit of Christ’s eternal glory in this life through a daily walk of faith (Galatians 5:22, 6:8).

Then we might consider Phase Three of sharing God’s eternal glory in Christ being our potential to gain the reward of sharing in Christ’s physical administration in the new earth and sharing in His reign as faithful stewards. We see in Jesus’s parable of the talents that the great reward the master (representing Jesus) gives to his stewards who were faithful in this life is the great responsibility to reign with Him (Matthew 25:21). We see in 2 Timothy 2:12 the promise that if we endure in living as faithful stewards then we will gain the reward of reigning with Him. Jesus Himself promises that to all who overcome as He overcame, He will give to them to share His throne, just as He overcame and shared His Father’s throne (Revelation 3:21).

We can take that Jesus is looking for faithful stewards who are willing to faithfully serve even through difficulty. Jesus provided the example, coming first as a servant (Matthew 20:28). Because of His willingness to learn obedience as a servant, He was granted to reign over all (Philippians 2:5-11). The Apostle Paul exhorts believers to have the same mindset Jesus had, who forsook all to do the will of the Father and was accordingly granted the great reward of reigning (Philippians 2:5).

The word glory in the phrase eternal glory in Christ is “doxa” in Greek and refers to the essence of something being observed, as in 1 Corinthians 15:41 where the moon, stars, and sun are said to have different glory (because they have a different essence that can be observed). Jesus’s essence is as the “Son” who has been given authority to reign over all creation (Matthew 28:18, Hebrews 1:5).

Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth because of His faithful witness and obedience to the Father (Philippians 2:8-10, Matthew 28:18). Jesus has restored the right for humans to reign in the earth. Jesus regained this authority through having been “crowned” with the “glory and honor” of having dominion over the earth through the “suffering of death” (Hebrews 2:9-10).

Peter drives home the same point as Paul, and the same point that he witnessed: God will greatly reward all who serve Him. God called you to His eternal glory in Christ, and it is also He who will perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you in Christ (v. 10). This maturation to perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish comes through suffering rejection from the world for doing what is right, just as Jesus suffered.

After you have suffered a little while,

After emphasizing God first (The God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ) Peter talks about his readers’ suffering, saying this reward of sharing in Christ’s glory will come after you have suffered for a little while. By saying you have suffered, Peter acknowledges the reality and intensity of what his readers have suffered (1 Peter 1:6, 2:19-20, 3:14, 17, 4:19).

By describing the sufferings as lasting for a little while, he affirms that their sufferings are only temporary (1 Peter 1:6). The word after indicates that something will follow their sufferings. What will follow the sufferings is that their faith will be completed and they will be greatly rewarded.

In his second letter, Peter addresses the thought expressed by some that God is taking too long to return. In 2 Peter 3:3-9, Peter uses Noah’s flood as an example, as he does in this first letter, and says the scoffers will be taken unaware when Jesus returns. Further, he says that to God a thousand years is like a day, and God has delayed His return as an act of mercy, that more might come to repentance.

As James asserts, our lives on this earth are like a wisp of vapor in time as compared to eternity (James 4:14). From that perspective, any amount of suffering is a little while. However, scripture does not make light of the reality that suffering is difficult. It makes the point that Jesus suffered as we do and as a result is a sympathetic High Priest we can call on for help (Hebrews 2:17-18).

Will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”

What comes after suffering is that God will, indicating a time in the future, Himself, an intensive marker setting God as the one in contrast to anyone else. What God Himself will do after a believer has suffered is He will perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

After a Christian suffers, God promises that He will do four things for him:

Will perfect…you—indicating completion or a restoration to a proper position.

Will confirm…you—containing the ideas of confirming (Romans 16:15), establishing (1 Thessalonians 3:13), and strengthening (Acts 18:23).

Will strengthen…you—endowing you with the capability to accomplish God’s will (used only here in New Testament)

And will establish you—into the glory of Christ, to live in this life as a servant then to share in His reward of having the glory to reign as a faithful servant leader.

Taken together, these four words signify that it is through suffering rejection and loss from the world for doing what it right that God will bring His people to fulfillment. Suffering faithfully leads to completing our purpose for living on earth (perfect). Suffering opposition and rejection from the world for living obediently for Christ also equips us for the work God has for us to do both in this life as well as the next (confirm, strengthen, establish).

It is to the completion of this journey believers are called. Jesus describes the same basic thought using a metaphor of a path. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that the path to gain the reward and experience of “life” is narrow and difficult (Matthew 7:14). It could be that Peter had this parable in mind in writing this letter. To be completed, confirmed, strengthened, and established in the fulness of our calling is to experience the fulness of “life.”

Jesus asserted that many are called but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14). This can apply to believers. Believers are called to suffer rejection and opposition from the world for doing what is right. It is a difficult path that many avoid. Peter desires that all these believers endure in order to gain the fulness of reward available to them for living as faithful witnesses.

Peter closes this section praising God for His power and acknowledging that His reign will be forever: To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen (v. 11).

The word dominion is from the Greek “kratos” meaning power and authority to rule (1 Peter 4:11, Revelation 5:13). In the future Jesus will reign over all (Revelation 11:15). Believers are called to share His reign by enduring as He endured, overcoming as He overcame and sharing in His sufferings (2 Timothy 2:12, Revelation 3:21, Romans 8:17b).

Peter has elevated the fact that suffering is something to be expected (1 Peter 4:12). Enduring faithfully through unjust suffering is a means to share in God’s glory in Christ.

The expression for ever and ever refers to eternity future (Jude 1:25). The age that is to come will be without end (Revelation 22:5). The term Amen is a word used to indicate a strong affirmation of what has been stated (1 Corinthians 14:6, 1 Peter 4:11).

Peter encourages Christians enduring suffering to raise their eyes upward, to focus on God, who will provide His grace to strengthen and grow them until they reach God’s eternal glory in heaven. He encourages them to adopt this eternal perspective, which will cause temporal suffering for doing what is right. This is the same mindset which Jesus had during His life on earth, and the same mindset which Paul imitated and taught.

Paul said he considered the suffering he endured for his faithful witness as being “light” and “momentary” as compared to the “eternal weight of glory” awaiting him for living as a faithful witness (2 Corinthians 4:17). Jesus “despised the shame” He endured, meaning He gave it no value. But this was because of a perspective He chose. Jesus chose to compare the affliction He endured on earth to the “joy set before Him” (Hebrews 12:2). That “joy” was to be seated “at the right hand of the throne of God.” It is this glory He desires to share with believers who follow in His footsteps, those who suffer “for a little while.” It is those who overcome as He overcame whom He will “confirm” and “establish” as fellow servant leaders in His kingdom (Revelation 3:21).