12 Godly Living (1 Peter 2:11–12)

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. (2:11–12)

In one important respect, today’s culture is similar to that of Peter’s time—unbelievers from all quarters constantly attack and criticize Christianity. Such opponents of the gospel are often vocal in their criticism and many have succeeded in capturing the major economic, social, and educational institutions of Western society. Christian apologist Wilbur M. Smith at the end of World War II correctly observed that the world has opposed Christianity ever since Jesus’ day and believers should not expect things to be different today:

At first one would think that a religion which exalts and seeks to follow the only perfect and righteous man who has ever lived on this earth, who never harmed anyone, whose words delivered from superstition and fear, whose works redeemed from pain, and demons, and death, and hunger, whose life was as a great shaft of light shot into the murky darkness of the Roman world, in that sensual and skeptic century, who died because He loved us, and who always sought to bring men into communion with God, to bestow upon them eternal life and a home in heaven, one would have thought that such a character, and the religion which His life and work on earth established, would have been welcomed with open arms the first moment it was announced, and would, by its very message, the good works which flowed from it, and the hope which it established, never know opposition, or attack, or denunciation, except from the demons of hell, and Satan, who is a liar and murderer from the beginning. But such has not been its history. In fact, the New Testament, itself, from the records of the birth of our Lord down to the end of St. John’s vision of the era of anarchy and persecution to come, testifies in the most startling way to the fact that Christ Himself was most viciously and constantly attacked, that His apostles suffered the same opposition, and that it was predicted by these very apostles that Christianity would continue so to suffer, down to the end of this age. (Therefore, Stand [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1945], 1)

It is often the scandalous conduct of so-called Christians that provides fuel for the critics’ and skeptics’ vicious accusations, whereas the godliness of true Christians does the most to silence Christianity’s opponents. Commentator Robert Leighton wrote,

When a Christian walks irreprovably, his enemies have no where to fasten their teeth on him, but are forced to gnaw their own malignant tongues. As it secures the godly, thus to stop the lying mouths of foolish men, so it is as painful to them to be thus stopped, as muzzling is to beasts, and it punishes their malice. And this is a wise Christian’s way, instead of impatiently fretting at the mistakes or wilful miscensures of men, to keep still on his calm temper of mind, and upright course of life, and silent innocence; this, as a rock, breaks the waves into foam that roar about it. (Commentary on First Peter [reprint; Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1972], 195)

The nineteenth-century Scottish preacher Alexander MacLaren commented, “The world takes its notions of God, most of all, from the people who say that they belong to God’s family. They read us a great deal more than they read the Bible. They see us; they only hear about Jesus Christ” (First and Second Peter and First John [New York: Eaton and Maines, 1910], 105). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told all who would seriously follow Him, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). That is the essence of what Peter in this passage exhorted his readers to do: live godly lives, which is the single most effective foundation for making the gospel attractive and believable.

The recipients of the apostle’s letter needed some motivation to persevere in their evangelism in the midst of the stressful and difficult trials and persecutions they were encountering. Peter called his readers to fortify their testimonies with two crucial aspects of righteous living: a personal, godly discipline that is inward and private, and a personal, godly deportment that is outward and public.

GODLY INNER DISCIPLINE

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. (2:11)

Peter began his exhortation by addressing his readers as beloved, which implied that they, as objects of God’s immeasurable love, had a duty to obey the One who loved them. On that basis he could urge (parakaleō, “to beseech” [KJV] or “to encourage, ” as in Rom. 12:1) them to reciprocate God’s love by living for Him.

Peter further identified his audience as aliens and strangers, which reminded them that they were not truly members of the world’s society. Paul wrote, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20). As spiritual aliens, believers must shun the things of this world (1 John 2:15–17; cf. Mark 4:19; John 12:25; 15:19; Rom. 12:2; Col. 2:8, 20; James 1:27; 1 John 5:4). Aliens (paroikous) literally means “alongside the house.” The word came to denote any person who lives in a country not his own and is therefore a foreigner. The term fits Christians who do not belong to this world’s system but live alongside those who do.

Peter also used the term strangers (parepidēmous), which is a synonym for aliens. It refers to a visitor (the KJV renders the word “pilgrims”) who travels through a country and perhaps makes a brief stay there. The writer of Hebrews reminded believers: “For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come” (13:14; cf. 11:13–16).

Since Christians are not part of the world, they must abstain from fleshly lusts (cf. Rom. 8:5–9, 12–13; 13:14; Gal. 5:13, 16–17). Even though regeneration produces a new disposition with holy longings, that new life force remains incarcerated within the old, unredeemed human flesh, precipitating an ongoing battle between the spirit and the flesh. Nevertheless, believers are no longer slaves of unrighteousness, and sin is not their master—they are free from its dominant and exclusive power. The command to abstain signifies that saints have the ability by the new life and the indwelling Spirit to restrain the lustful flesh, even in a postmodern culture dominated by sensuality, immorality, and moral relativism.

The term fleshly lusts is not limited to sexual immorality, but rather encompasses the evils of humanity’s sinful nature. The apostle Paul warned the Galatians, “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these” (Gal. 5:19–21). When they see Christ, believers’ unredeemed humanness will be redeemed (cf. Rom. 8:23).

Peter, by use of the phrase which wage war against the soul, intensified his discussion of fleshly lusts. In the Greek, which indicates that it is the character of such lusts and cravings to wage war against the new heart God has created within the soul of every believer. Even Paul found himself in the midst of intense struggle that every Christian experiences:

For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. (Rom. 7:14–23; cf. Gal. 5:17–18)

Wage war is a strong term that generally means to carry out a long-term military campaign. It implies not just antagonism but a relentless, malicious aggression. Since it takes place in the soul, it is a kind of civil war. Joined with the concept of fleshly lusts, the image is of an army of lustful terrorists waging an internal search and destroy mission to conquer the soul of the believer.

Prior to conversion, all sinners live under the dominance of fleshly lust:

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. (Eph. 2:1–3; cf. 4:25–28; 5:8–11; Col. 3:5–11)

Once saved, however, God commands believers to abstain from being driven by lust:

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:15–17; cf. 2 Cor. 6:16–7:1)

The key to abstaining from fleshly desires and defeating fleshly temptations lies in walking in the Spirit’s power (Gal. 5:16), and exercising a godly discipline (1 Cor. 9:27; 2 Cor. 7:1). The battle is won or lost on the inside, as James reports,

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. (James 1:13–15)

This follows James’s call in verse 12 for the same kind of behavior Peter speaks of: “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”

GODLY OUTWARD DEPORTMENT

Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. (2:12)

In order to effectively evangelize, Christians’ transformed inner lives must be visible to the outside world. Peter thus commanded his readers to keep their behavior (daily conduct) at a high level. Excellent translates a word (kalēn) rich and varied in significance, usually meaning “beautiful of outward form.” At least six other English words and expressions offer insight into its meaning: lovely, fine, winsome, gracious, fair to look at, and noble. The term connotes the loveliest kind of visible goodness. Gentiles (ethnos) refers to “nations, ” or the unsaved world (cf. Luke 2:32; Rom. 2:14; 15:9–12, 16; 1 Cor. 5:1; 12:2, KJV; Gal. 3:8; 1 Thess. 4:5; 3 John 7). If Peter’s readers were to witness effectively among the Gentiles, it was essential for them to manifest behavior beyond reproach.

In the first century, the label evildoers (kakopoiōn) brought to mind many of the specific accusations pagans made against Christians—that they rebelled against the Roman government, practiced cannibalism, engaged in incest, engaged in subversive activities that threatened the Empire’s economic and social progress, opposed slavery, and practiced atheism by not worshiping Caesar or the Roman gods (cf. Acts 16:18–21; 19:19, 24–27).

In the very thing in which they slander, believers must live the opposite way, proving unbelievers wrong and demonstrating the validity of the gospel (Matt. 5:16; Titus 3:8). On the platform of such credibility, personal witness has an impact. Observing the exceptional life of such believers, some will believe, be saved, and glorify God in the day of visitation.

Day of visitation is an Old Testament concept (cf. Judg. 13:2–23; Ruth 1:6; 1 Sam. 3:2–21; Pss. 65:9; 106:4; Zech. 10:3) referring to occasions when God visited mankind for either judgment or blessing. The prophet Isaiah wrote of divine visitation for the purpose of judgment: “And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?” (Isa. 10:3, KJV; cf. 23:17). On the other hand, Exodus 3:2–10 tells of God’s visitation to announce Israel’s eventual deliverance from Egypt, which would be a blessing for His people. Similarly, Jeremiah prophesied God’s visitation to deliver the Jews from Babylon: “For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place’” (Jer. 29:10; cf. 27:22). The Old Testament records several other instances in which God visited people for blessing and judgment.

Usually in the New Testament visitation indicates blessing and redemption. In the immediate aftermath of John the Baptist’s birth, his father Zacharias prophesied, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people” (Luke 1:68; cf. v. 78; 7:16). On the other hand, concerning the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, Jesus said, “They will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation” (Luke 19:44). Because the Jews rejected Christ’s visitation of salvation, it turned to a visitation of judgment (cf. Matt. 11:20–24; 21:37–43; Rom. 11:17, 20; 1 Thess. 2:14–16).

God’s redemption is inherent in Peter’s reference to the day of visitation. The apostle used the expression to show that because of observation of Christian virtue and good works in the lives of believers, some would be privileged to glorify God when He also visited them with salvation.

A stirring twentieth-century example of how godly living can influence the salvation of unbelievers comes from the events in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in the Philippines during World War II. American missionaries Herb and Ruth Clingen and their young son were prisoners of the Japanese for three years. Herb’s diary told how his family’s captors tortured, murdered, and starved to death many of the camp’s other inmates. The prisoners particularly hated and feared the camp commandant, Konishi. Herb described one especially diabolical plan Konishi forced on the Clingens and their fellow inmates near the end of the war:

Konishi found an inventive way to abuse us even more. He increased the food ration but gave us palay—unhusked rice. Eating rice with its razor-sharp outer shell would cause intestinal bleeding that would kill us in hours. We had no tools to remove the husks, and doing the job manually—by pounding the grain or rolling it with a heavy stick—consumed more calories than the rice would supply. It was a death sentence for all internees. (Herb and Ruth Clingen, “Song of Deliverance, ” Masterpiece magazine [Spring 1989], 12; emphasis in original)

But divine providence spared the Clingens and others in February 1945 when Allied forces liberated the prison camp. That prevented the commandant from carrying out his plan of shooting and killing all surviving prisoners. Years later the Clingens “learned that Konishi had been found working as a grounds keeper at a Manila golf course. He was put on trial for his war crimes and hanged. Before his execution he professed conversion to Christianity, saying he had been deeply affected by the testimony of the Christian missionaries he had persecuted” (“Song of Deliverance, ” 13). Effective evangelism flows from the power of a righteous life.