Bede : Resist strong in faith, etc. Be (he says) so much stronger in faith, have so much more patience to overcome the deceits of the devil, as it is certain that you are not tempted alone, but the same passion that wearies you is common to the Church of Christ which is throughout the whole world, that is to say, to your brotherhood. And because the righteous have always suffered since the foundation of the world, let it shame you to be unable to endure alone above all others. — Commentary on the Catholic Epistles Hilary of Arles : There is a world of difference between God and the devil. If you resist God, he will destroy you, but if you resist the devil, you will destroy him. — INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER Oecumenius : "knowing that the same kinds of suffering," as it is likely, those to whom Peter writes were being pressed by many afflictions for the sake of Christ: therefore, both in the preceding and in the following, he brings consolation to this: indeed, by the fact that the enduring become themselves partakers of the afflictions of Christ and heirs of the glory that is to be revealed; here, however, by the fact that they do not suffer alone, but all the faithful who are in the world: moreover, the company of companions lightens the severity. — Commentary on 1 Peter