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.
From 1 Peter 1:3 up to 2:10 Peter has primarily informed believers of their privileged status as God’s chosen people. They have salvation, the promise of future glory, redemption by the blood of Christ, the living word of God, and they have been made into a chosen race, a royal priesthood and a people for God’s own possession. Verses 11 and 12 of chapter 2 function as a transition from the privileges of being chosen to the responsibilities and expectations of being chosen.
Peter reminds them, and us, once again that they and we are sojourners and exiles. The world is not our home. And since the world is not our home, we should not live like the world lives. Of course we eat, drink, work, have families, and do all sorts of other things that unbelievers do, but in other ways the lives f believers should be markedly different from the lives of unbelievers. Our behavior is different, our values are different, our worldview is different.
In verse 11 Peter urges his readers to abstain from fleshly passions, which wage war against the soul. When we think about fleshly passions we think of things like sexual immorality and greed, but the term being used really encompasses the spectrum of sin. Christians should abstain from sin.
So often our attitude towards sin is that God has made all the really fun stuff in life off-limits as some sort of test of our obedience. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sin kills. Sin enslaves. God, in his loving goodness, has told us what kills us, what separates us from his perfect love. The Biblical teaching is the unbeliever has no power to abstain from sin. But the believer is a new creation in Christ, walking in the power of the Holy Spirit, who now has the ability to choose to do what is right. Peter’s instruction is simple: abstain from sin, do what is right.
And we do this so that the unbelievers around us will us living holy and upright lives and recognize that there is actually power in the gospel. How can we preach of message of repentance and belief for salvation from sin and continue in sin? But if we preach a message of salvation from the penalty and power of sin, and live lives characterized by good works, unbelievers will notice and perhaps be brought to repentant faith as well.
Here are your questions today.
How does viewing as sin as something that kills us vs. a test of obedience change the way we fight sin? How does this change our view of God?
Is living a good, moral life alone enough to see unbelievers brought to faith? In other words, can we live the gospel without preaching the gospel and see people brought to repentance and faith?
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