John Calvin Commentary 1 Peter 5:9

"whom withstand stedfast in your faith, knowing that the same sufferings are accomplished in your brethren who are in the world." — 1 Peter 5:9 (ASV)

Whom resist. As the power of an enemy ought to stimulate us and make us more careful, so there would be danger that our hearts might fail through excessive fear, unless the hope of victory were given to us. This, then, is what the Apostle speaks of. He shows that the outcome of the war will be prosperous if we indeed fight under the banner of Christ, for he declares that whoever comes to this contest, endowed with faith, will certainly be a conqueror.

Resist, he says; but someone may ask, how? To this he answers, there is sufficient strength in faith. Paul, in the passage which I have already quoted, enumerates the various parts of our armor, but the meaning is the same (Ephesians 6:13), for John testifies that faith alone is our victory over the world.

Knowing that the same afflictions, or sufferings. It is another consolation that we have a contest in common with all the children of God, for Satan dangerously tries us when he separates us from the body of Christ. We have heard how he attempted to storm the courage of Job:

“Look to the saints, has any one of them suffered such a thing?” (Job 5:1).

The Apostle, on the other hand, reminds us here that nothing happens to us except what we also see happening to other members of the Church. Moreover, a fellowship, or a similar condition, with all the saints, ought by no means to be refused by us.

By saying that the same sufferings are accomplished, he means what Paul declares in Colossians 1:24, that what remains of the sufferings of Christ is daily fulfilled in the faithful.

The words, that are in the world, may be explained in two ways: either that God tests His faithful people indiscriminately everywhere in the world, or that the necessity of fighting awaits us as long as we are in the world. But we must observe that, having previously said that we are assailed by Satan, he then immediately refers to every kind of affliction. Therefore, we gather that we always have to contend with our spiritual enemy, however adversities may come, or whatever they may be—whether diseases oppress us, the barrenness of the land threatens us with famine, or men persecute us.