“Who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered,
He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who
judges righteously.” 1 Peter 2:23
The central and most striking – no pun intended – concept in
this verse is the nonretaliatory nature of Jesus Christ and our instruction to
be like Him. He was reviled but did not “back
revile” as the Greek vocabulary reads.
This is so not like me! When someone hits me with words, reviles me,
my instinctive, practiced, and usually very effective response is to hit them
back with more hurtful words. How
contrary to Christ that makes me!
Colossians 2:4 speaks to this same issue with these words, “being
reviled we bless….” That is being like
Christ. If something must be said, and
we almost always feel we must speak an answer, then let our reply be a
blessing. The culture will not do this,
ever; so returning a blessing when reviled will surely mark the believer as a
follower of Jesus Christ. It is this
separation that will mark the church as different from the world, and such
marks are vital to the cause of Christ.
