Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 1 Peter · About this commentary
Foreigners and Exiles
1 Peter 2:11-12
11 Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, · WEB
The letter's two words for not belonging are used one last time as a reason for restraint, and the audience for that restraint is hostile.
Verse 11 opens with an appeal rather than a command, and addresses the readers by the two terms that have run through the letter — resident foreigners and temporary residents 1 Peter 1:1 1 Peter 1:17. The request follows from the status: abstain from the desires of the flesh, which are described as waging war against the soul. The metaphor is military and the front line is internal.
Verse 12 turns outward, and it is the most practical sentence in the chapter. Keep your conduct good among the gentiles, so that when they speak against you as evildoers they may see the works and glorify God on the day of visitation.
Three things are conceded in that sentence and none is argued with. The readers are being slandered. The slander is not expected to stop because of anything they say. And the answer offered is not a rebuttal but a life carried on in view of the people making the accusation.
The last phrase is the one that gives the passage its reach. What is hoped for is not vindication but that the accusers will end up glorifying God themselves. That is a far larger hope than acquittal, and it explains why the letter never tells anyone to argue back 1 Peter 3:9.
settled What this mark means