In explaining this hope, they are to do it with gentleness and respect (literally “humility and fear”). For gentleness, see 3.4. Here it includes the idea of “courtesy” (Knox, Jerusalem Bible), “considerateness,” or negatively, “without arrogance or insolence.” For “fear,” see 2.18 and 3.2. As in 2.18, “fear” may refer to reverence to God or respect toward people. For the former, see Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “with responsibility to God”; for the latter, see Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “respectful fashion.” Many translations leave the object implicit, thus allowing for either interpretation or both (for example, Moffatt “a sense of reverence”; Knox “due reverence”).

With gentleness may be expressed as “not trying to force people to believe” or “not trying to put pressure on people.” In fact, it is often far easier to use a negative statement to express gentleness than it is to find an appropriate positive equivalent.

If respect is regarded as something related to other people, one may employ such an expression as “respecting other people’s views” or “being sympathetic with what others think” or “with courtesy toward others.” If one relates respect to God, then one may sometimes translate “considering how God would want one to act” or “thinking about what God would have you do.”

Keep your conscience clear is literally “having a good conscience,” with the participle having once again an imperative force. The word for “conscience” is the same word used in 2.19, but with a different focus. The word here seems to be used in its classical sense, that is, awareness of what is right and what is wrong. In a Christian sense, conscience is the awareness of one’s moral obligations as a child of God. The expression “good conscience” also appears in other parts of the New Testament, for example, Acts 23.1; 1 Timothy 1.5, 19; 3.9; 2 Timothy 1.3; Hebrews 13.18, and therefore is a vital part of Christian teaching. To have a clear conscience is to act in such a way so as not to offend God, and so as not to violate one’s accepted moral standards.

Keep your conscience clear may be rendered as “behave in such a way that you do not feel guilt” or “act in such a way that your heart does not tell you that you have sinned.” Frequently conscience is expressed in an idiomatic way, for example, “the little person within us.” Therefore, one might translate Keep your conscience clear as “whatever you do, be sure that the little one inside of you has no reason for talking to your heart.”

So that (literally “in which”) refers to the preceding thought, either from the beginning of the verse (for example, Jerusalem Bible “give it with courtesy and respect and with a clear conscience, so that…”), or more specifically to a clear conscience (Good News Translation and most translations). For the analysis of “in which,” see 2.12.

For insulted, see 2.12. The people doing the “insulting” are those who speak evil in the following clause, a fact which is made clear in many translations (for example, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Phillips “so that if men should speak slanderously of you as rogues they may come to feel ashamed of themselves for libeling your good Christian behavior”). Speak evil translates a rare word in the New Testament (used only here, in Matt 5.44, and Luke 6.26). It is synonymous with but more intense than the word for “insulted”; it includes the elements of “insult,” “false accusation,” “abusive and hard words” (compare Jerusalem Bible “accusations”; New American Bible “libel”).

There is of course a measure of duplication in the two expressions when you are insulted and those who speak evil of your good conduct. In fact, the shift from the passive to the active form may cause certain complications, and therefore in some languages it may be preferable to put the two expressions together: “so that if people speak evil of your good conduct…, they will become ashamed….”

It may be somewhat difficult to translate in some languages those who speak evil of your good conduct. Such a relationship of diverse concepts may require some restructuring, for example, “those who say that the good you have done is really bad” or “those who say you are bad even though you have been good” or “those who say, ‘These people are very bad,’ even though you yourselves have only done what is good.”

For good conduct, see 1.15, 18; 2.12; 3.1, 2. As followers of Christ is literally “in Christ,” a favorite expression of the apostle Paul to describe the Christian’s relationship to Christ (it is used 164 times in Paul’s letters). It gives the idea that the believer is united with Christ and one with him. Many translations (including the Good News Translation) do not take the expression in 1 Peter as expressing the rich theological content which it has in Paul’s letters; instead they take it as a synonym for followers of Christ, or “Christians” (Phillips, Barclay, Moffatt, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, New English Bible). In any case, the believer’s good conduct is grounded on and made possible by his relationship to Christ, either as united with him or as his follower.

The phrase as followers of Christ adds a further complication to the expression your good conduct, and it may be necessary to translate as followers of Christ as a separate clause, for example, “the good that you do because you are followers of Christ” or “… since you are followers of Christ” or “… because you are one of Christ’s own.”

Will become ashamed (compare Phillips “feel ashamed of themselves”; New American Bible “may be shamed”) may also be translated with the focus on the result of such feeling as shame (for example, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “plug up the mouth/shut up”). Will become ashamed is often expressed idiomatically, for example, “will become red in the face” or “will feel bad for what they have done” or “will have their hearts tell them that they have done wrong.”

The Greek construction allows for the possibility of connecting will become ashamed with good conduct, so that what Peter is saying may be rendered thus: “those who speak evil of you may become ashamed because of your good conduct as followers of Jesus Christ.” This is preferred by some interpreters but most translations prefer a rendering similar to that of the Good News Translation. Of what they say may be expressed in a number of languages as a clause of cause, for example, “they will become ashamed because of what they have said” or “their words against you will cause their hearts to hurt.”

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The First Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .