But rejoice; be so far from being offended at your sufferings, as rather to reckon that there is great matter of rejoicing in them; their being trials makes them tolerable, but your being in them partakers of Christ's sufferings makes them comfortable. Inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; i.e. ye suffer:
1. As Christ did, for the confession of the truth, and so ye are such kind of sufferers as Christ was.
2. As members of Christ, ye suffer those evils which are laid out for those that belong to Christ, 1 Thessalonians 3:3.
3. Ye are hereby conformed to Christ your Head.
4. Ye partake of the influence of what Christ suffered, for the sanctification of your sufferings: see Philippians 3:10. That, when his glory shall be revealed; viz. at his second coming, 1 Peter 1:7 Colossians 3:4 2 Thessalonians 1:7. Ye may be glad also with exceeding joy; a joy without any the least mixture of pain or grief. The rejoicing of the saints here is mixed with pain and heaviness, but shall be pure hereafter; they rejoice in hope now, but in enjoyment then.