Translated by Qwen who notes: This translation renders Noël Alexandre's (1639–1724) characteristic blend of literal exegesis and moral application, typical of his Commentaria in Sacram Scripturam. The text reflects his Augustinian-Thomistic theological framework, emphasizing the gratuity of grace, the necessity of humility in apologetics, the efficacy of Christ's once-for-all sacrifice, and the pastoral responsibility of clergy to instruct the faithful. Biblical citations follow the Vulgate; patristic references (Bede, Ambrose) are preserved as in the original.
Father Noël Alexandre's Commentary on 1 Peter 3:15-18
Literal Commentary:
1 Pet 3:15-16
"But sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts, always ready to give satisfaction to everyone asking you for a reason concerning the hope that is in you" (1 Pet 3:15).
Give glory to the holiness of the Lord Jesus Christ and offer Him praise and thanks from the innermost affection of a pious heart. But be ready to respond in defense of yourselves to all who ask you for a reason for the hope that you have in Christ—that is, for the faith which teaches you to hope for eternal life and glory in heaven.
Be ready, I say, to respond—whether to those who question you with good intent, for the sake of learning, or to those who question with ill intent, namely, unbelieving magistrates who, by judicial authority, demand from you a reason for your hope, which they consider vain. But respond with modesty and fear, having a good conscience, so that in that very thing in which they speak evil of you, they may be confounded, because they calumniate your good conduct in Christ.
Respond with gentle and modest words, and with the reverence due to persons according to each one's condition or dignity, preserving a good conscience in every action, which provides confidence in speaking; so that those who speak evil of you and calumniate your life, which you lead according to the Gospel of Christ, as though it were criminal and wicked, may be affected with shame and compelled to fall silent, when from the innocence of your morals and the purity of your conduct the holiness of the Christian Religion which you profess shines forth.
1 Pet 3:17-18
"For it is better to suffer doing good, if the will of God so wills, than doing evil."
It is more useful, more glorious, and more desirable to suffer for justice, if God has so decreed by the counsel of His will, than to suffer on account of crimes.
"Because Christ also once died for our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might offer us to God, put to death indeed in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit."
Indeed, Christ Himself once suffered for our sins, that He might lead us to God and offer us to Him—dying indeed in the flesh, but by the power of His divinity, or of the Holy Spirit, or of His blessed soul returning to His body and imparting to it new life, raised to immortal and glorious life.
Moreover, when Scripture says that Christ suffered once for the sins of all men by the passion of death, it means that this passion, once undergone, has infinite power to abolish all the sins of all men of all times; so that the efficacy of His death extends to the sins of all men and of all ages.
Moral Commentary:
1 Pet 3:14-16
"But even if you should suffer something for justice' sake, blessed are you. And do not fear their fear, nor be troubled" (1 Pet 3:14).
The world does not recognize the blessedness of patience—the happiness that follows from, or is joined with, adversities endured for God's sake. Indeed, men for the most part consider themselves wretched in afflictions; they complain, murmur, are troubled in mind, and fall into despair. "Happy are those who suffer nothing," says the world. "Blessed are those who suffer persecution for justice' sake," says Christ (Matt 5:10).
Who would call blessed those distinguished men whom the world smiles upon—sinners who spend their days in prosperity and in a moment descend to hell? To suffer for justice is glorious. The hardships of this life, torments, death itself for faith and justice—these the Christian whose mind is strengthened in God through faith and charity does not dread.
He who is ashamed of the Christian Religion and of Christian justice does not render to the holiness and greatness of God the glory and honor due to Him, nor does he worship Him as he ought with sincere affection of heart and proclaim Him by his works.
Those are confounded in their hope who place it in earthly things, who trust in men, who presume upon their own strength—not those who hope for eternal goods, whose entire confidence is in God's promises, grace, and protection.
Everyone who is rightly instructed in the Catholic Christian Religion, and in whose soul faith and hope live and have taken root, can give a reason for his faith and hope to those who ask, according to his state and ability. Let pastors take care that all and each of those committed to their charge may know what they ought to believe in order to attain blessed life, even though all cannot know how this very truth both aids the pious and is defended against the impious.
It is not necessary for all Christians to possess the science of theology for salvation, but it is necessary that they be instructed in living faith and hope, and be ready and prepared to give a general account of what they believe and hope, from the general principles of faith which no Catholic Christian can ignorantly neglect without fault, and to profess and retain the faith constantly in persecutions.
"But sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts, always ready to give satisfaction to everyone asking you for a reason concerning the hope that is in you."
In two ways, says the Venerable Bede, ought we to give a reason for our hope and faith to those who ask: first, that we may intimate to all—whether faithful or unfaithful who inquire—the just causes of our hope and faith; second, that we may always preserve unstained the very profession of our faith and hope, even amid the pressures of adversaries, showing by our patience how reasonably we have learned that it must be preserved, for love of which we do not fear to endure adversities or even to undergo death.
Moreover, in giving a reason for our faith and hope to the unbelieving, or in instructing the simple, arrogance and ostentation must be avoided; modesty and humility must be preserved; and reverence must be shown for the Religion which we profess, by holy conduct and blameless morals, both among those of the household of the faith and among unbelievers and enemies.
"But with modesty and fear, having a good conscience, so that in that very thing in which they speak evil of you, they may be confounded, because they calumniate your good conduct in Christ."
1 Pet 3:17-18
"For it is better to suffer doing good, if the will of God so wills, than doing evil."
To endure the hardships of this life patiently for the expiation of one's own sins, or to afflict one's flesh by voluntary mortifications, is a grace of God—common to the penitent. To suffer for justice is a singular grace—proper to Martyrs. To suffer innocently for the blotting out and expiation of the sins of others is a grace proper to the man of God, who both dedicated penance in Himself and, suffering for us all, the just for the unjust, by His passion and death initiated, animated, and strengthened the Martyrs.
When we endure adversities, let us submit ourselves to the will of God, who wills us to suffer either for the proving and exercise of virtue, or for the expiation of our sins. We are unworthy to suffer as Martyrs; let us suffer as penitents; let us be conformed to Christ dying for us; let us nail our desires to His cross; let us die to sin and to the world; mortified in the flesh, let us live in the spirit with Jesus, so that Christ, our High Priest, who once died for us, may offer us as spiritual victims to God the Father.
Christ once died for us; we must die daily for glory, by the preparation of loving penitence, so that we may perpetually receive the fruit of His death. For as Saint Ambrose says: "Indeed, He died once for the sins of the people, but He is daily about to redeem the sins of the people."
CONTINUE
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