urging you to behave

¹¹ Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. ¹² Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. ¹

Abstain from the passions of the flesh.

Keep your conduct before the unsaved honorable.

Y to keep a witness for the Lord Jesus

Once again, Peter refers to his readers as sojourners and pilgrims. He uses those same terms in chapter 1, verses 1 and 17 (see commentary on pp. 114 and 130). His instructions and encouragement fall into three specific areas of Christian lifestyle.

1. Live good lives (vv. 11–15). Peter shares three specific steps which we should follow in living good lives before God, the world, and one another.

“Abstain from fleshly lusts” (v. 11). Godly living always begins with the forsaking of sin. The word “abstain” (apéchomaı́) is the same word which Paul used when he wrote, “Abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thess. 5:22). These fleshly lusts are literally at war with our souls (psuché́)—the spiritual part of us. If we are to live good, godly lives, we must forsake those fleshly lusts.

“[Have] your conduct honorable among the Gentiles” (v. 12). Peter returns to one of the basic themes of this epistle—that of holy conduct. He reminds us vividly that God is not merely concerned with our profession; He is concerned with our possession—our lifestyle. He desires that we live holy and honorable lives; that our “conduct” (anastrophe) may be observed as good by outsiders (see commentary on 1 Pet. 1:15, p. 128).

In fact, they should not only see our good works; our honorable (honest) conduct should result in their glorifying God. As Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).²

5. He warns them to beware of fleshly lusts, v. 11. Even the best of men, the chosen generation, the people of God, need an exhortation to abstain from the worst sins, which the apostle here proceeds most earnestly and affectionately to warn them against. Knowing the difficulty, and yet the importance of the duty, he uses his utmost interest in them: Dearly beloved, I beseech you. The duty is to abstain from, and to suppress, the first inclination or rise of fleshly lusts. Many of them proceed from the corruption of nature, and in their exercise depend upon the body, gratifying some sensual appetite or inordinate inclination of the flesh. These Christians ought to avoid, considering, 1. The respect they have with God and good men: They are dearly beloved. 2. Their condition in the world: They are strangers and pilgrims, and should not impede their passage by giving into the wickedness and lusts of the country through which they pass. 3. The mischief and danger these sins do: “They war against the soul; and therefore your souls ought to war against them.” Learn, (1.) The grand mischief that sin does to man is this, it wars against the soul; it destroys the moral liberty of the soul; it weakens and debilitates the soul by impairing its faculties; it robs the soul of its comfort and peace; it debases and destroys the dignity of the soul, hinders its present prosperity, and plunges it into everlasting misery. (2.) Of all sorts of sin, none are more injurious to the soul than fleshly lusts. Carnal appetites, lewdness, and sensuality, are most odious to God, and destructive to man’s soul. It is a sore judgment to be given up to them.³

2:11 aliens and strangers. In this section, Peter called his readers to a righteous life in a hostile world. Christians are foreigners in a secular society because their citizenship is in heaven. There are 3 perspectives from which Christians can look at their obligations: 1) strangers (vv. 11, 12); 2) citizens (vv. 13–17); and 3) servants (vv. 18–20). In vv. 21–25, Peter shows how Christ set the example by living a perfect life in the midst of His hostile environment. abstain from fleshly lusts. Perhaps more lit. “hold yourself away from fleshly lusts.” In order to have an impact on the world for God, Christians must be disciplined in an inward and private way by avoiding the desires of the fallen nature (cf. Gal 5:19–21, where “fleshly lusts” include much more than sexual temptations). which wage war against the soul. “War,” i.e., to carry on a military campaign. Fleshly lusts are personified as if they were an army of rebels or guerrillas who incessantly search out and try to destroy the Christian’s joy, peace and usefulness (cf. 4:2, 3).

2:12 behavior excellent. The Gr. word for “excellent” is rich in meaning and implies the purest, highest, noblest kind of goodness. It means “lovely,” “winsome,” “gracious,” “noble,” and “honorable.” Having been disciplined in the inward and private side, the Christian must outwardly live among non-Christians in a way which reflects that inward discipline. evildoers. The early Christians were falsely accused of rebellion against the government with such false accusations as: terrorism (burning Rome; see Introduction: Background and Setting), atheism (no idols or emperor worship), cannibalism (rumors about the Lord’s Supper), immorality (because of their love for one another), damaging trade and social progress, and leading slaves into insurrection. Cf. Ac 16:18–21; 19:19, 24–27. day of visitation. A common phrase in the OT (Is 10:3; Jer 27:22) warning of God’s “visitation,” His drawing near to people or nations in either judgment or blessing. In the NT, “visitation” speaks of redemption (Lk 1:68; 7:16; 19:44). Peter was teaching that when the grace of God visits the heart of an unbeliever, he will respond with saving faith and glorify God because he remembers the testimony of believers he had observed. Those who don’t believe will experience the visitation of His wrath in the final judgment.⁴

2:12 conduct honorable. The Gr. word for “honorable” is rich in meaning and implies the purest, highest, noblest kind of goodness. It means “lovely,” “winsome,” “gracious,” “noble,” and “excellent.” Having been disciplined in the inward and private side, the Christian must outwardly live among non-Christians in a way which reflects that inward discipline. evildoers. The early Christians were falsely accused of rebellion against the government with such false accusations as: terrorism (burning Rome; see Introduction: Background and Setting), atheism (no idols or emperor worship), cannibalism (rumors about the Lord’s Supper), immorality (because of their love for one another), damaging trade and social progress, and leading slaves into insurrection. Cf. Acts 16:18–21; 19:19, 24–27. day of visitation. A common phrase in the OT (Is. 10:3; Jer. 27:22) warning of God’s “visitation,” His drawing near to people or nations in either judgment or blessing. In the NT, “visitation” speaks of redemption (Luke 1:68; 7:16; 19:44). Peter was teaching that when the grace of God visits the heart of an unbeliever, he will respond with saving faith and glorify God because he remembers the testimony of believers he had observed. Those who don’t believe will experience the visitation of His wrath in the final judgment.⁵

11. As strangers, or sojourners. There are two parts to this exhortation,—that their souls were to be free within from wicked and vicious lusts; and also, that they were to live honestly among men, and by the example of a good life not only to confirm the godly, but also to gain over the unbelieving to God.

And first, to call them away from the indulgence of carnal lusts, he employs this argument, that they were sojourners and strangers. And he so calls them, not because they were banished from their country, and scattered into various lands, but because the children of God, wherever they may be, are only guests in this world. In the former sense, indeed, he called them sojourners at the beginning of the Epistle, as it appears from the context; but what he says here is common to them all. For the lusts of the flesh hold us entangled, when in our minds we dwell in the world, and think not that heaven is our country; but when we pass as strangers through this life, we are not in bondage to the flesh.

By the lusts or desires of the flesh he means not only those gross concupiscences which we have in common with animals, as the Sophists hold, but also all those sinful passions and affections of the soul, to which we are by nature guided and led. For it is certain that every thought of the flesh, that is, of unrenewed nature, is enmity against God. (Rom. 8:7.)

Which war against the soul. Here is another argument, that they could not comply with the desires of the flesh, except to their own ruin. For he refers not here to the contest described by Paul in the seventh chapter of Romans, and in the fifth of the Galatians, as he makes the soul to be an antagonist to the flesh: but what he says here is, that the desires of the flesh, whenever the soul consents to them, lead to perdition. He proves our carelessness in this respect, that while we anxiously shun enemies from whom we apprehend danger to the body, we willingly allow enemies hurtful to the soul to destroy us; nay, we as it were stretch forth our neck to them.

12. Your conversation. The second part of the exhortation is, that they were to conduct themselves honestly towards men. What, indeed, precedes this in order is, that their minds should be cleansed before God; but a regard should also be had to men, lest we should become a hindrance to them. And he expressly says among the Gentiles; for the Jews were not only hated everywhere, but were also almost abhorred. The more carefully, therefore, ought they to have laboured to wipe off the odium and infamy attached to their name by a holy life and a well-regulated conduct.1 For that admonition of Paul ought to be attended to, “To give no occasion to those who seek occasion.” Therefore the evil speakings and the wicked insinuations of the ungodly ought to stimulate us to lead an upright life; for it is no time for living listlessly and securely, when they sharply watch us in order to find out whatever we do amiss.

That they—may glorify God. He intimates that we ought thus to strive, not for our own sake, that men may think and speak well of us; but that we may glorify God, as Christ also teaches us. And Peter shews how this would be effected, even that the unbelieving, led by our good works, would become obedient to God, and thus by their own conversion give glory to him; for this he intimates by the words, in the day of visitation. I know that some refer this to the last coming of Christ; but I take it otherwise, even that God employs the holy and honest life of his people, as a preparation, to bring back the wandering to the right way. For it is the beginning of our conversion, when God is pleased to look on us with a paternal eye; but when his face is turned away from us, we perish. Hence the day of visitation may justly be said to be the time when he invites us to himself.⁶

1 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (1 Pe 2:11–12). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

2 Cedar, P. A., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1984). James / 1 & 2 Peter / Jude (Vol. 34, pp. 143–144). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.

3 Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 2427). Peabody: Hendrickson.

4 MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (1 Pe 2:11–12). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

5 MacArthur, J., Jr. (Ed.). (1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed., pp. 1942–1943). Nashville, TN: Word Pub.

6 Calvin, J., & Owen, J. (2010). Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles (pp. 77–79). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.