The verse starts with “therefore” (Revised Standard Version), connecting this section with the preceding one, particularly 3.18. Suffered recalls 3.18a, and some manuscripts have tried to assimilate 3.18 more closely to this verse by adding “for you” or “for us” (Revised Standard Version margin; compare Moffatt “suffered for us”; Phillips “suffer physically for you”), but clearly these are scribal additions (see Metzger Textual Commentary 649).
Christ’s suffering is described as “in the flesh” (Revised Standard Version), which recalls 3.18b and pinpoints Christ’s suffering as physical (Good News Translation, Phillips), bodily (Barclay, New English Bible), or in a wider sense, his suffering as a human being (Knox “Christ’s mortal nature”; compare Jerusalem Bible “Christ suffered in this life”). This may be a reference to Jesus’ suffering during his earthly life (compare Barclay, Jerusalem Bible), but since it is related to 3.18, it is more probable that it refers to one aspect of his suffering, namely, his death on the cross (compare Knox “crucified”). The use of the word “suffered” here makes a closer connection between the experience of Christ and the sufferings of the Christians.
As already noted in the discussion of the term physically in 3.18, there may be complications involved in speaking of “Christ’s suffering physically.” It is often possible to say “Christ suffered in his body,” but this may seem quite a redundant expression, since how else could a person suffer. Therefore, in some languages it may be preferable to simply say “since Christ suffered” or “since Christ suffered when he was on earth.” However, in view of the fact that this suffering is probably related to the act of atonement, one may translate “since Christ suffered when he died on the cross” or simply “since Christ suffered on the cross.”
At any rate, the suffering of Christ is now made a reason for further ethical admonitions. Christians are exhorted, first of all, to strengthen themselves with the thinking that he had. Strengthen yourselves is literally “arm yourselves” (Revised Standard Version), a military metaphor which is similar to other military metaphors in the New Testament (for example, Rom 6.13; 13.12; 2 Cor 6.7; 10.4; Eph 6.11-17; compare Isa 59.17, 18). To arm oneself is to equip oneself with the necessary tools in order to be ready for something or to achieve a particular purpose.
You too must strengthen yourselves is not a reference to an increase in mere physical strength. The admonition here is more in line with the concept of “becoming prepared.” Therefore, it may be more appropriate to translate you too must strengthen yourselves as “you too must become prepared to.”
But what must the Christians be prepared to do? In other words, what does “with the same thought” (Revised Standard Version) refer to? To answer this question, it is necessary to look at the next half of the verse, especially the word that connects the two parts together. The Greek word in question can be translated either as because (Good News Translation, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Barclay “for”) or as “that” (Moffatt; compare Jerusalem Bible). Taking the Greek word as because, “the same thought” must necessarily refer back to the idea of Christ suffering physically; what the author is saying then is that since Christ suffered physically, Christians must also be disposed and ready to suffer physically (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy; compare New English Bible, Phillips, Barclay). If, on the other hand, the Greek word is taken in the sense of “that,” then “the same thought” must necessarily refer forward; in other words, the content of the second half of the verse is what the Christians are encouraged to bear in mind and appropriate for themselves. The former of these two alternatives fits the context much better, since the suffering of Christ is being singled out as a model, a pattern, an example for the Christians to follow.
With the same way of thinking may be related to the preceding expression of strengthen yourselves or “become prepared to” as “strengthen yourselves by thinking the same way that Christ did” or “prepare yourselves to think in the same way that Christ did.” If one interprets the final clause of verse 1 as being the content of thinking, a less likely interpretation, then one may render the last part of verse 1 as “prepare yourselves to realize that whoever suffers physically is no longer….”
The last part of the verse (whoever … with sin) is probably a proverbial saying, similar to Romans 6.7: “When a person dies he is set free from the power of sin” (Good News Bible). Suffers physically is the same expression used at the beginning of this verse, but as we shall see later, it is possible that it has a different meaning here. Is no longer involved with sin is literally “has ceased from sin” and may convey three meanings: (1) In a general way, he has no further connection with sin. (2) Taking the verb as middle, the expression conveys an urgent resolve and active determination to stop sinning. (3) Taking the verb with a passive sense, the expression may have the meaning of having been delivered from the power of sin. Against this third interpretation is that sin in this letter primarily refers to an act, and not to a state or to a power which controls people and leads them to do wrong (compare 2.22, 24; 3.18).
The whole proverbial saying itself may be interpreted in different ways.
(a) The sense may be that suffering for what is right purifies the sufferer from sin, since it eradicates the desire or the tendency to commit sin.
(b) Suffering may refer to martyrdom, and martyrdom atones for sin. This interpretation faces two difficulties: first, it is not at all clear that suffering here refers to martyrdom, and secondly, it is difficult to get the meaning of “atoning for sins” from the expression “has ceased from sin.”
(c) The whole saying may refer to Christ instead of to the Christian. This involves taking the Greek word as “that” (see above) instead of “because.” Furthermore, this would mean taking “cease from sin” with the passive sense, that is, freed from the power of sin (see above), since to take it in any other way would give the idea that Christ himself committed sin, a notion which is already denied in the letter (see 2.22; 3.18).
(d) The whole proverbial saying may have reference to the Christian’s experience in baptism. “Suffering” is used metaphorically, referring to the Christian’s experience of “dying” with Christ at baptism, an event which is interpreted negatively as no longer having anything to do with sin, and positively as beginning to live according to God’s will (verse 2). Furthermore, “in the flesh” here (compare Revised Standard Version) must also be taken in another sense, not physically or bodily, but in the sense of “sinful nature,” the unregenerated self, or the person before he is converted and baptized. This self is the one that experiences “death” at baptism. Many scholars hold to this fourth alternative. However, it is not at all certain that “suffered” is used here in a metaphorical sense. It is more natural to take “suffered” and “in the flesh” with the same meaning they had at the beginning of the verse, and it is for this reason that the first of these four alternatives seems to be closest to what the author is trying to say.
The proverbial saying then means that anyone who in this life suffers physically has turned his back on sin, and no longer has any desire to keep on sinning.
Whoever suffers physically may be restructured as a conditional clause, for example, “if anyone suffers physically” or “… suffers in his body” or “if anyone’s body suffers.”
It may be very difficult to employ such a highly generic expression as is no longer involved with sin, and therefore one may need to indicate that there is no longer a tendency to sin or no longer a desire to keep on sinning, for example, “whoever suffers in his body doesn’t want to keep on sinning” or, expressed somewhat more figuratively, “… has said no to sinning” or “… has turned away from sinning.”
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 .