Healed by His Stripes to Suffer With Him

1 Peter 2:18-25 

18 Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. 19 For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 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. 21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 22 “Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth”; 23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

The principle given here for servants applies to us all, for we all serve someone.  Submission in fear of God to the good and the bad alike should be the guiding principle of our conscience toward God, knowing His mercy and forgiveness in grace to each of us.  If we do wrong, we should expect the consequences; if we do rightly and yet still suffer wrongly as if for consequences for something we have not done, this honors God if we patiently endure it all.  This is because we are called to follow Christ who was falsely accused and spitefully treated with injustice by the unjust.  He was utterly without sin, but endured unjust attacks patiently and honestly while speaking truth and living purely.  This is the seemingly impossible example given to us to get in step with as we follow after as His disciples.  He took the abuse, slander, and blasphemy and did not answer back with the same.  Instead, He committed Himself to the Father who judges everyone, not taking on the judgement Himself to get even.  Jesus took this to the utmost, taking our sins like these and nailing them to Himself on a cursed tree (Galatians 3:13, Colossians 2:13-14) that we could be healed by forgiveness by such atonement for the punishment we each deserve.  We are healed in our sinful souls by the whipping stripes which allows us to die to sin as He died for it first.  The healing of stripes in His bearing was not to cure us of disease of the body, but of the soul from our fall in Eden.  As wandering sheep, He has brought us back to watch over us and guide us that we might follow Him in all things, including adversity.