But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. "Don't fear what they fear, neither be troubled."
happy are ye: "Happy" (makarios) means "blessed" (Thayer 386-2-3107). Those who suffer with and for Christ will be blessed. In this passage, Peter does not say every Christian will suffer persecution; but he teaches that if a Christian does suffer, he should consider it a blessing. "The spiritual state of those who suffer persecution because of their righteous lives is prosperous, spiritually prosperous" (Wuest, I Peter 88). What an amazing concept! Only those who are His could possibly understand or accept it.