This chapter is the theological foundation upon which the entire book rests. Without a sound doctrine of suffering, prison ministry degenerates into mere social work—well-intentioned but ultimately rootless, unable to answer the question that every incarcerated Christian asks in the darkness of his cell: “Why has God allowed this?”

The answer is not simple, and I will not insult you by pretending it is. But it is sufficient, and it is revealed in Scripture with a clarity that demands our attention even when it does not satisfy our emotions.

The Biblical Framework

The Apostle Peter, writing to first-century Christians living under the tyranny of Rome, laid down the foundational principle:

For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. (1 Peter 2:19-20)

The New King James version renders it:

For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. (1 Peter 2:19-20)

Peter is writing to slaves—men and women who had no legal recourse, no appeals court, no civil rights attorney. He tells them plainly that when they suffer for doing good, God commends them. The Greek word translated “commendable” is charis—grace, favor. The man who suffers unjustly and endures it patiently receives something from God that cannot be obtained any other way. This is not a peripheral doctrine. It is central to the Christian life.

The concept of “doing good” runs deep in the New Testament. The Greek terms used across nearly thirty occurrences—agathopoiéo, ergazomai agathón, kalós poiéo, and others—describe a life characterized by right action, honorable conduct, and works of kindness motivated by faith. The Christian who lives this way and yet suffers for it is walking the same road as Christ Himself, “who went about doing good” (Acts 10:38) and was crucified for it.

The Difference Between Suffering for Sin and Suffering for Righteousness

The Bible is precise about this distinction, and we must be equally precise. A man who robs a bank and goes to prison is not suffering unjustly. He is suffering the just consequences of his actions. “For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently?” (1 Peter 2:20). The thief on the cross acknowledged this reality: “We indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds” (Luke 23:41). The Bible never glorifies suffering that results from sin. It acknowledges it, instructs us how to deal with it, and points the repentant sinner toward the mercy of Christ—but it does not confuse just punishment with unjust persecution.

The suffering addressed in this book is of a different order. It is the suffering of those who, like Joseph, Jeremiah, Daniel, John the Baptist, Peter, or Paul, have done nothing wrong but find themselves in chains because of false accusations, political persecution, or unjust and evil laws. Joseph spent years in Potiphar’s prison on a fabricated charge of sexual assault. His suffering was real, prolonged, and undeserved. But it was not outside God’s sovereign purpose. “You meant it for evil,” Joseph told his brothers, “but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20). Note the precision: God did not merely permit the evil. He meant it. He ordained the means—the betrayal, the slavery, the false accusation, the imprisonment—in order to accomplish the end: the salvation of a nation and the preservation of the covenant line.

This doctrine is hard. It was hard for Joseph in the dungeon, and it is hard for the wrongfully convicted man in a Chilean prison cell. But it is true, and it is the only doctrine that can sustain you when the world’s justice has failed utterly and completely.

The Lineage of Suffering Saints

You are not alone. The man who suffers unjustly behind bars stands in a long and noble lineage of God’s people who have endured imprisonment, torture, and death at the hands of unjust authorities.