But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
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1 Peter 3:13-17
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871) (public domain).
sanctify--hallow; honor as holy, enshrining Him in your hearts. So in the Lord's Prayer, Mat 6:9. God's holiness is thus glorified in our hearts as the dwelling-place of His Spirit. the Lord God--The oldest manuscripts read "Christ." Translate, "Sanctify Christ as Lord." and--Greek, "but," or "moreover." Besides this inward sanctification of God in the heart, be also ready always to give, &c. answer--an apologetic answer defending your faith. to every man that asketh you--The last words limit the universality of the "always"; not to a roller, but to everyone among the heathen who inquires honestly. a reason--a reasonable account.
Other Bible passages linked to this one, most cited first.
Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.
In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.
And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.
Authorship: the book itself or Christian tradition. Approximate dates, as in Carson and Moo, An Introduction to the New Testament, and Longman and Dillard, An Introduction to the Old Testament.