Seeing it is. — Literally, if so be it is fair: a form very common in St. Paul, when he wishes to argue from some fact which he knows his readers will recognise (e.g., Romans 8:9). “Your persecution is a clear indication what God’s fair verdict will be — that He will pronounce you fit — unless indeed you deny (as you will not) that it is fair to recompense the persecutors with tribulation and the persecuted with rest.” The context shows that St. Paul does not mean that all suffering deserves a requital with bliss, but he does put it as a matter of common fairness that when men have suffered for the kingdom’s sake God should so reward them hereafter.
With God. — Such a system of requital commends itself as fair to men: is it likely to seem less fair in the eyes of God? Holy Scripture always sets forth the power of the human conscience to recognise God’s principles of action: whatever is righteous for men is so for God, and vice versâ.