What Does 1 Peter 3:17 Mean in the King James?
For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse measures suffering by what you are doing when it comes, not by how much it hurts.
THE MEANING
You can be doing what is good and still suffer; the suffering does not turn your good into evil. Pain from doing good and pain from doing evil are not the same thing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that suffering proves you have done something wrong.
THE ROOT
ἀγαθοποιοῦντας
agathopoioûntas
GROWS FROM
ποιέω
poieō
do, make
“well doing” in this verse is agathopoioûntas. Both expressions are built on ποιέω (poieō, do or make), with ἀγαθός (agathos, good) or κακός (kakos, bad or evil) changing what is done. The verse keeps suffering connected to the action behind it: pain alone does not tell you whether that action is good or evil.
ALSO GROWS
agathopoieō: to do good
ἀγαθοποιέω
This is the good-action branch in the verse: suffering can come while you are doing good.
kakopoieō: to do evil or harm
κακοποιέω
The paired verb uses the same root for doing, but names a different kind of action and a different cause of suffering.
πάσχειν
paschein
GROWS FROM
πάσχ-
pasch-
undergo, experience
“suffer” in this verse is paschein. The verb names what you undergo without making pain a verdict on your character. The verse locates its moral distinction in whether the action is good or evil, not in suffering itself.
ALSO GROWS
pathēma: an experience undergone; suffering
πάθημα
This noun names suffering as something undergone, keeping the focus on the experience rather than treating it as proof of wrongdoing.
pathos: what one undergoes; passion or strong feeling
πάθος
This related noun carries the sense of an experience that happens to someone, echoing the verse’s distinction between the pain and its cause.
THE PATTERN
Suffering can accompany good action, so pain alone is not evidence of wrongdoing.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.THE THREAD
Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.The verb translated “suffer” in both verses comes from πάσχω (paschō, undergo or experience): it appears here as πάσχειν (paschein, to suffer) and in 1 Peter 4:16 as πάσχει (paschei, suffers). The next verse names the cause, suffering “as a Christian”, and keeps painful consequences distinct from wrongdoing.
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