Central Idea:

I highlighted the conjunctions in this arc to help bring out the flow of logic. There are three main units of thought:

v.13-14b, No one can finally destroy you; yes, you may suffer, but this will not undo your joy.

Therefore...

v.14c-16, Do not be afraid of man, rather honor Christ (fear the Lord) by always being ready to reveal the source of the hope that sustains you. Do so gently and respectfully, and without offense so that it is those who despise Christ who are the ones put to shame.

The truth of the matter is...

v.17, God may indeed ordain suffering in your life; better this than suffering as a consequence of your sin.

Explanations / Questions:

v.13, Peter is clearly not saying that no harm will come to believers in this life - the entire letter is aimed at helping believers face trials and persecution in a way that honors Christ. When this verse seen in the light of 1:6-7, 13; 2:12, it is evident that Peter is pointing the reader's heart - and hope - to the last day, where, "no one can harm you."  v.14 helps explain then, that though you may indeed suffer in this life, you will be blessed.

v.14a-b, I did not relate this as an If-Th clause because the emphasis is not on a condition or the consequence of a condition met, but on the even if (a), you still will (b) That is, though it seems like it would, the condition presents no obstacle to the result. =CSV.

v.14c-16b, My understanding of the logic is this: The way to regard Christ as holy and show that it is the Lord you fear and not man is to always be prepared to open your heart and mind to those who see that Christ is your hope - show them the truths that sustain you. This in turn ought to be done in a respectful manner. The purpose in responding in this way is so that the very things for which you are slandered will be that which puts to silence the slanderers (see 2:12 &15).

Insights:

14c-15a, It is Isaiah 8 (:12-13) that again comes to the surface (see 2:8). The warning given to Isaiah becomes the encouragement Peter passes on: Do not fear men (as the people of Judah did in Isaiah's day), fear God.  I've mentioned this in several previous arcs, but it continues to strike me how immersed in the OT Scriptures Peter must have been. There are passages that seem to so saturate Peter's thinking, they just become a part of his own discourse. I am reminded of a godly man named Mr. Cotton who taught a Sunday School class in the small church I attended when I first became a Christian. He had been a nursery farmer all his life and was still working in his 70's and 80's when I knew him. Scripture was so integrated into his conversation that it was sometimes hard to discern where the words of Scripture ended and his own began. (I mean this in the best possible of ways.) I remember once examining his bible closely and being amazed to see a large spot, browned and worn by his thumb and forefinger, about 2/3 the way down the edge of every page. Each page of his Bible bore the marks of familiarity and friendship. While he had spent a lifetime with his hands in the dirt, he had had his heart and mind in the Word.

v.17, Peter qualifies his statement about suffering for doing good by adding a conditional clause.  Peter understands that Christian suffering is part of God's sovereign design (1:6-7; 4:19, et.al.), but the conditional clause, "if that should be God's will," adds a careful nuance to his point. Though suffering is an inescapable part of life on earth, the believer ought to show wisdom in discerning the nature of that suffering. Negatively, there is a caution here against those who would label all suffering as Christian persecution, wearing their 'victimology' as though it were a badge of honor. Positively, there is help in understanding that not every believer will necessarily experience persecution - that as it is in God's hands as to who, and when, and how severe, we need not go looking for it. John Bunyan, who knew suffering and persecution well, wrote for the benefit of his Bedford congregation, that they might learn to be wise in the world and keep Christ at the center of everything, even suffering. He considers several passages from 1 Peter in his booklet, Seasonable Counsel: or Advice to Sufferers (London: 1684). Concerning this discerning of suffering and the will of God he writes,

"It remaineth, then, that we be not much afraid of men, nor yet be foolishly bold; but that we wait upon our God in the way of righteousness, and the use of those means which his providence offereth to us for our safety; and that we conclude that our whole dispose [disposition], as to liberty of suffering, lieth in the will of God, and that we shall, or shall not suffer, even as it pleaseth him."   (p.41, pdf version accessed online at www.johnbunyan.org/bunyan)