1 Peter 2:11-17, Conduct Among Unbelievers

Because foreigners have different customs and ways of communicating, natives are often suspicious of them. But if they keep our laws and demonstrate human goodness, we are often able to see them positively. Christians are, in essence, foreigners in this world, their real native land being God’s kingdom. How should we conduct ourselves in this “foreign” context?

^2:11 Beloved, I urge you as exiles and foreigners to abstain from fleshly desires, which wage war against your souls, ¹² and conduct your life in a good way among the Gentiles, in order that they might not speak against you as evildoers, because seeing your good works they might glorify God in the day of visitation. ¹³ Submit to every divinely ordained authority for the Lord’s sake, whether to a king as governing, ¹⁴ or to governors as those sent by Him for judgment against evildoers and commendation of those who do good. ¹⁵ Because in this way it is the will of God, by doing good, to silence the ignorance of foolish people. ¹⁶ Live as free people and don’t use your freedom as a cover up of evil, but as servants of God. ¹⁷ Honor everyone, love the community of believers, fear God, and honor the king.

Though believers have “escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:4), we still have fleshly desires that “wage war against” our souls and that we might seek to satisfy wrongly. Peter has described who we are in God’s view, living stones in the building of God’s temple, a royal priesthood serving Him with sacrifices, even His special people. This demands that we conduct our lives in a good way among unbelievers (“Gentiles”), who will be suspicious of us as those not native to this world.

If we live in a “good way” there is every chance that unbelievers won’t think of us as evildoers. The Expositor’s commentary notes the kind of charges non-Christians made against believers in Peter’s time:

Some of the more common were disloyalty to the state or Caesar (Jn 19:12), upsetting trade or divination (Ac 16:16ff.; 19:23ff.), teaching that slaves are “free” (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:23; Gal 3:28), not participating in festivals because of “hatred of mankind” (cf. Col 2:16, Tacitus), holding “antisocial” values, and being “atheists” because they had no idols (cf. Ac 19:23-27).

But if they see our good works (Matthew 5:16) they may glorify God in the day of visitation. This day when God visits is most likely the last judgment (Isaiah 10:3). Unbelievers may glorify God by converting, or more likely, be forced to credit Him with the behavior they saw in us, vindicating that we belonged to Him, and they did not.

Believers must submit to the authorities God has put in place to punish evil and commend good (see Romans 13:1-3), and so silence “the ignorance of foolish people.” We are free people, free of the penalty of sin, free to serve God, even free to disobey human authority if it contradicts God (Acts 4:19; 5:29), but cannot use our freedom as a cloak to hide evildoing. We are servants of God.

Peter sums up our responsibility to God and to His Christ in four brief commands:

• Honor everyone: All human beings deserve to be respected as divine image bearers.
• Love the community of believers: Though we love all people, our love for fellow believers must be paramount (John 13:34,35)
• Fear God: We respect authorities, but our greatest respect and reverence is to God (Matthew 10:28), His authority and power exceeding all others.
• Honor the king: God’s ordained human authorities must be honored and obeyed.