‘But even if you should suffer, for righteousness' sake, blessed ones are you: and do not be afraid of their fear, nor be troubled,'
Nevertheless it is possible that they may suffer. For those who live righteously and follow the Righteous One (1 Peter 3:18) are always likely to have to suffer because they are opposed by unseen foes, who influence the world against them.
To ‘suffer for righteousness' sake' was, for Peter, to suffer for the sake of the Righteous One (1 Peter 3:18). They suffered because they were walking in His obedience (1 Peter 1:2). And when that happened they could be sure that they would be ‘blessed', that is, spoken well of by God and rewarded with what is spoken well of, that is, with spiritual life and exaltation. That is why they need not be afraid of what their adversaries ‘fear', or be troubled in their hearts (compare Psalms 64:1-2). In Peter there are two types of ‘fear' (reverence, awe), the fear of God (1Pe 1:17; 1 Peter 2:18; 1 Peter 3:2) and the fear of false gods (1 Peter 3:6), which will later be connected with the Devil (1 Peter 5:8). To live in awe of God is to be on the road of obedience (1 Peter 1:16). To live in awe of false gods is to be on the road of disobedience, as those ‘gods' themselves were disobedient (1 Peter 3:20). And Christians were not to be afraid of what idolaters ‘feared' because such things were already defeated.
‘Even if you should suffer, for righteousness' sake, blessed ones are you.' The wording bears a close resemblance to Matthew 5:10, the words of which were probably in Peter's mind from the tradition. It indicates of course that they are blessed by God. In LXX the word regularly means blessed by God (see for example Psalms 1:1) and signifies religious exaltation because of God's active blessing. They have become ‘blessed ones' in contrast with the fearful ones.