If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ - To be reproached for the name of Christ is to be reproached for being a Christian, that is, for being like Christ. This is the highest honor to which any man can arrive in this world, and therefore the apostle says to such? Happy are ye.
The Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you - As this Divine Spirit rested upon Jesus, so does it rest upon his persecuted followers. There is a various reading here, και δυναμεως, and of power, which is found in some of the chief MSS., (the Codex Alexandrinus, and above twenty others), the later Syriac, all the Arabic, Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Vulgate, some copies of the Itala, Athanasius, Theophylact, Cyprian, and Cassiodorus; and in them the whole verse reads thus: If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory, And of Power, and of God, resteth upon you. This is agreeable to our Lord's words, Matthew 5:11, Matthew 5:12. So that what constituted them unhappy in the sight of the world was their chief happiness in the sight of God; they carried Christ the fountain of blessedness in their heart, and therefore could not be unhappy.
On their part he is evil spoken of - Κατα μεν αυτους βλασφημειται, κατα δε ὑμας δοξαζεται· By them he is blasphemed, by you he is honored.