How is it to your credit if you are beaten for doing wrong and you endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
There is no credit in enduring deserved punishment, but suffering for good and enduring it is commendable before God.
This verse closes the section by distinguishing righteous suffering from deserved consequences.
13Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to the king as the supreme authority, 14or to governors as those sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. 15For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorance of foolish men. 16Live in freedom, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. 17Treat everyone with high regard: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king. 18Servants, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but even to those who are unreasonable. 19For if anyone endures the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God, this is to be commended. 20How is it to your credit if you are beaten for doing wrong and you endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.