1 Peter 2:11-12

How a Christian should behave

— 11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, 12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

We have now finished the first part of Peter’s letter.

So far the apostle has mainly been laying down the basic doctrines which he wants to teach to the scattered Christians of northern Turkey.

He has been exhorting them to live a life of holiness (1:15), love (1:22) and trust in God (related to ‘hope’ in 1:13).

Now, for the rest of his letter (right up until 5:11), he intends to give some practical examples

of how believers can live holy lives,

filled with love and trust in God.

What Christians are

He says that they are his dear friends. He commences verse 11 with, ‘Beloved’.

We can learn from this that these Christians were dear to Peter.

He knew them, or he knew about them, because they had become true followers of Jesus.

Because both Peter and they were joined to the Lord, these Christians were, therefore, Peter’s dear friends.

He does not say, ‘You are not as important as I am.’

He says, in effect, ‘We are all sinners saved by grace. I have an apostleship role to fulfil, and you have other duties, but that does not make me more important than you.’

He goes out of his way to point out to the elders among these believers that they should ‘not lord it’ over those entrusted to their care (5:3).

These Christians were dear, not just to Peter, but to the Lord also.

Jesus had died to cleanse them from their sins.

He had died to give them new life and bring them into the body of Christ (his people).

He had died to make them servants of God.

Peter next says that these believers were ‘sojourners’.

Sojourners are people who do not belong in the country where they are residing.

They have no citizenship rights in that land.

They cannot make any demands upon the rulers of the place where they are living.

The simple fact is that they are not part of that country at all.

Because believers are aliens in the world, they have to remember that this is not their true home, nor is it their final resting-place; they are just passing through.

They are temporary residents on this earth and they are to remain here only for a little while.

They really belong somewhere else.

Their true home is where their Lord is; and he dwells in heaven.

Peter then adds that these believers are ‘pilgrims’ these are strangers in the world.

In 1:1 he greets them as such.

He does not mean that it is wrong for them to have friends where they live.

There is no reason to infer from Peter’s statement that God’s people can act as though they were superior to the citizens of this world.

Verse 12 makes it clear that Christians,

although they are strangers on this earth,

are called to live exemplary lives.

They must always remember that they are ‘in the world’, even if they are not ‘of the world’

(Jesus gave his disciples this teaching in ); God’s people must

respect and obey the governments and laws of the land in which they live, provided that these do not contravene God’s law.

Peter calls them strangers because this world is not their real home.

They may be citizens of this world, but their true citizenship is in heaven (see ).

Their treasure is in heaven and that is where they will spend eternity.

Things Christians should not do

There is a negative as well as a positive side to holy living.

The Scriptures make it clear that, in order to live holy lives, God’s people must

stop doing certain things and must

start doing other things.

Peter deals with the negative aspect first, when he warns his readers ‘to abstain from sinful desires’, (or ‘fleshly lusts’).

— Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,

He says, ‘I beg you …’ These sinful desires are the things which are contrary to godliness and

Peter speaks most strongly against them.

He lists some of the things he is referring to in chapter 4:

— For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.

All of these evils are ‘public’ sins and Christians must never indulge in them. Each of them refers to over-indulgence. As an example of one of the things in Peter’s list, we could point to something which has recently been identified by many in authority as a great cause of much trouble—the imbibing of too many alcoholic beverages. While many people feel that it is right for Christians to abstain from these altogether, we have to admit that nowhere does the Bible teach that believers should never drink any alcohol. However, it is clear that if a Christian does ‘drink’ he should never over-indulge himself. If any Christian is ever in danger of becoming drunk at any time, then he or she should seriously consider whether it is right for him or her to drink any alcoholic beverage at all.

All of these evils are ‘public’ sins and Christians must never indulge in them.

Each of them refers to over-indulgence.

The apostle speaks most forcibly when he says that believers must abstain from these sinful desires.

Or, to take another of Peter’s examples, if there is a danger of a Christian making an idol of anyone or anything—be it a favourite singer or sportsperson—then it is better for that believer not to be a ‘fan’ of that performer at all. When we give greater affection or praise to anyone or anything than to the Lord, then we are making an idol of the object of our affection.

He means that they should have nothing to do with them. Paul, writing to young Timothy, put it like this, ‘Flee the evil desires of youth’ ()

The apostle speaks most forcibly when he says that believers must abstain from these sinful desires. He means that they should have nothing to do with them. Paul, writing to young Timothy, put it like this, ‘Flee the evil desires of youth’ () Wayne Detzler very graphically describes the kind of action required. He says, ‘When a massive juggernaut lorry is bearing down on the driver of a motor-cycle, it is highly advisable for the cyclist to flee from the lorry.’ He draws out the lesson by saying that Christians ‘do not lightly enter into battle with evil desires; they flee from them’.

A good way to think about the kind of action required is this:

When a massive juggernaut semi is bearing down on the driver of a motor-cycle, it is highly advisable for the cyclist to flee from the semi.

In the same way, Christians do not lightly enter into battle with evil desires; they flee from them.

These sinful desires must be avoided because, Peter says, they ‘war against your soul’.

Christians are in a battle here in this world.

Satan is constantly trying to lead us astray.

He is waging war against our souls.

Whenever anyone declares war, then he intends to do all in his power to win that war.

Let us never be deceived into thinking that Satan does not mean business. He is certainly out to trap and ensnare us.

If we are true Christians then Satan will never be able to snatch us from our Father’s hand,

but he will do everything he can to make our lives a misery.

He will play upon our selfish natures.

He will encourage us to look inwards.

He will trick us by making us think that no one cares about us, or how we feel.

He will make us think that there is only one side to any question, and that is, ‘How does this situation affect me?’

Satan designs every temptation to bring as much discomfort as possible to the saint,

hoping to rob him of his peace, and

create self-doubts about his position in Christ.

What Christians should be doing

Peter warns his readers that living among the world will cause them problems.

— having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

When worldly people see real Christians, they recognize that there is something different about God’s people.

It is as though Peter were saying to these Christians,

‘You will seek to live a life of holiness.

You will try to put God’s laws first in your lives.

You will try to serve Christ where you live.

But non-believers will find this all very strange.

They live their lives in order to get as much for themselves as possible.

They may not cheat, steal or murder anyone, but their basic desire is their own happiness.

They will find it very strange that, while you desire and work for these things too,

God’s people have an even higher aim in life.

You serve the risen Christ.’

Wherever people live lives which are different, then suspicion is bound to arise.

If you were to have a Hindu family move next door to you, then you would be suspicious of their offerings to their deities each day, especially if this was done in their garden where you could see it. If you were to have a Muslim family move near you, then you would be suspicious of their devotion to Allah and the teachings of the Qu’ran.

We cannot understand why gypsies prefer to live as they do, but that is the life-style they choose. Wherever there are different customs being observed, then prejudiced behaviour against such people is likely to follow. Customs and ceremonies which we cannot understand cause us to be wary of the people who perform them. When it comes to some of the ceremonies and traditions of evangelical Christians then we can imagine that the people of the world find them very difficult to comprehend.

History tells us that Nero wanted to redesign Rome but there were many old houses in the way.

Because the owners of these houses would not give their consent, Nero had them set aflame,

and then he falsely blamed the new sect called Christians

for their destruction.

This accusation gained acceptance because the Christians had such strange rituals, and

they refused to let their God, Christ,

be lumped together with all the Roman gods, upon an equal footing with them.

Inevitably this led to much persecution for God’s people.

Many believers were thrown to the lions and

numbers of them were sewn into animal skins and

then left for wild dogs to pull to pieces.

Things like this were done to provide entertainment for the crowds.

Many Christians were crucified,

had boiling oil poured upon them and were then set aflame, just to make a torchlight avenue leading to Nero’s palace.

There were dreadful tortures inflicted upon God’s people,

just because they were different from the people of the world—

the people whom Peter calls ‘pagans’ or ‘Gentiles’ (AV).

He means that unbelievers are not the true people of God.

If such persecution should befall us, how ought we to react to it?

We should do as Jesus did.

He never said a word.

He never spoke up in his own defence.

He allowed himself to be ill-treated.

He suffered death, never once opening his mouth in his own defence.

To counteract the opposition which Christians were already beginning to face,

Peter gave the believers these injunctions: ‘It OK. Live good lives among them … Let them see your good deeds.’

Christians should be those who ‘overcome evil with good’.

The word ‘good’ in verse 12 means ‘beautiful’ or ‘attractive’.

That is how our lives ought to be. Jesus said,

‘Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven’ ().

What does Peter say will happen as a result of Christians living holy lives?

Unbelievers will ‘see’ their good deeds.

Christians today are watched very closely by the people of the world.

They will take special notice, over a long period of time, of how you behave.

They will be influenced by the way in which you cope with problems and troubles.

And one day some of them will come to glorify God.

They will do that on the day He visits them with His salvation.

Oh may our lives and words lead others to salvation through Christ!

Some questions we should ask ourselves

What do these instructions of Peter’s have to do with Christians today? Perhaps the following list of questions will help us to sum up what is being taught in these two verses.

1. Do I always try to live a holy life?

2. Do I try to abstain from harmful desires?

3. If I find the first two questions difficult do I keep looking to Jesus and ask him to create a greater desire in my heart for God than the longings I have for worldly things?

4. Do I always seek to live a life which will force people to see the inadequacies of their own selfish attitudes?

5. Do I long that more people will be converted through the witness of my life lived for the glory of God?