This it is that fills you with joy, notwithstanding the various tryals, which still necessarily afflict you,

Although you have not seen Jesus, you [still] love Him and believe in Him, and this causes you to have an indescribable, glorious joy.

But even if you have to suffer for doing what was right, you still have [God's] blessing. So, do not be afraid of the threats [of your persecutors], and do not let it worry you.

To the end that, no longer, in men's covetings, but in God's will, ye may live, the still remaining time.

and it astonishes them that you will not plunge with them still into the same flood of profligacy. They abuse you,

This is the purpose that the Gospel was preached to those who have died physically [for the faith]: It was so that, even though they had been judged physically [i.e., by suffering death at the hands of men], they could still live spiritually in the presence of God.