John Calvin Commentary 1 Peter 4:16

"but if [a man suffer] as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name." — 1 Peter 4:16 (ASV)

Yet if any man suffer as a Christian. After having forbidden Christians to do any hurt or harm, so that for their evil deeds, like unbelievers, they would not become hateful to the world, he now instructs them to give thanks to God if they suffered persecutions for the name of Christ.

And truly it is a special kindness from God that He calls us, freed and exempted from the common punishment of our sins, to such an honorable warfare as to endure for the testimony of His Gospel either exiles, prisons, reproaches, or even death itself.

Then he suggests that those are ungrateful to God who complain or grumble on account of persecutions, as if they were treated unfairly, since, on the contrary, they should consider it gain and acknowledge God’s favor.

But when he says, as a Christian, he is not referring so much to the name as to the cause. It is certain that the adversaries of Christ did everything possible to discredit the Gospel. Therefore, whatever reproachful words they used, it was enough for the faithful that they were suffering for nothing other than the defense of the Gospel.

On this behalf, or, In this respect. For since all afflictions originate from sin, this thought should occur to the godly, “I am indeed worthy to be punished by the Lord with this and even with greater punishment for my sins; but now He would have me suffer for righteousness, as if I were innocent.” For however much the saints may acknowledge their own faults, yet in persecutions, as they focus on a different purpose which the Lord sets before them, they feel that their guilt is blotted out and abolished before God. On this behalf, then, they have reason to glorify God.