1 Peter 2:11-12 meaning

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Since our future is with Jesus in His kingdom, Peter challenges believers to have an eternal perspective which will motivate us to live holy lives and avoid sin. Even people hostile to Jesus and His followers will be silenced if believers have integrity, such that those who slandered believers might themselves change their minds, believe in the Messiah, and praise God when Jesus returns.

In 1 Peter 2:11-12, the Apostle Peter begins to describe behavior befitting of believers, who are born into God’s family and are, therefore, spiritual royalty. Peter has set forth a case that believers in Jesus are a holy priesthood and living stones of a great house (1 Peter 2:4-5). They are also a chosen people and a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9).

There is a great responsibility that comes with this royal identity in Christ which each believer is given. Each believer is granted an inheritance. But this inheritance must be possessed through obedience, doing all we do as unto the Lord (Colossians 3:23).

Peter’s challenge for believers to live consistently with our identity begins with Beloved. This is a term of affection indicating his readers are loved by both him and God. Peter writes to these Jewish believers he loves and disciples, Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul (v. 11).

The admonition to live as aliens and strangers refers to the perspective believers should have regarding our status in this world. Peter has previously described believers in Jesus as members of a royal family of a spiritual nation (1 Peter 2:9). Jesus said His kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36). Believers are to live as citizens of heaven who are residing as aliens and strangers in this world (Philippians 3:20).

Just as the Israelites were exiled from their homeland and dwelt as aliens and strangers in Babylon, so these Israelites of Peter’s day are to dwell in this earth as citizens of a heavenly Jerusalem. This is not new. In Hebrews 11:9-10, Abraham is commended for his faith for dwelling as an alien and stranger in a foreign land while believing in God’s promises.

There was a gap of roughly five hundred years between when God promised Abraham He would give the Promised Land to his descendants and the time Joshua entered the land (Genesis 15:15, 18). But Abraham continued to believe God’s promise and dwelt in the land in tents. Because of his deeds done in faith, Abraham was called the friend of God (James 2:23-24)

The word alien (v. 11) is the Greek word “paroikious” and refers to one who lives in a place that is not his home. This idea is reinforced by adding the words and strangers. The word strangers in verse 11 translates the Greek word “parepidemous.” Interestingly, “parepidemas” is translated the aliens in the opening verse of this letter (1 Peter 1:1).

The reference to aliens in 1 Peter 1:1 likely refers to Jews who had fled Israel due to persecution for following Jesus. Thus, the Jews receiving this letter from Peter were now dwelling in foreign lands (Acts 8:3-4). The parallel is that just as these sons of Abraham were dwelling away from their true earthly home, believers in Jesus should consider their true home as being in their heavenly home.

Rather than clinging to citizenship on this earth, believers should consider their primary citizenship being in a new heaven and a new earth that is to come (Philippians 3:20, Revelation 21:1). Believers in Jesus should consider themselves as temporary residents of this earth. As Peter will say in his second letter:

“But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”
(2 Peter 3:13)

Peter exhorts believers to have an eternal perspective of life. Life on this earth is brief and temporary (James 4:14). It is part of a grand journey on our way to our eternal home. That home will first be in heaven, then on a new earth (Revelation 21:1). Believers can be motivated to persevere in faith by looking forward with hope to the rewards God promises for persevering as faithful witnesses in this life.

If we understand the glories that are to come for suffering rejection from the world as Jesus suffered, then we can endure suffering on earth joyfully, knowing that glorious rewards await us in the next world (1 Peter 1:6-7, Romans 8:18-30, 2 Corinthians 4:17, Hebrews 11:6, 8-10, 24-26).

The urgent exhortation for how to live life in this alien land in a manner consistent with our royal and holy calling is to abstain from fleshly lusts. The Greek word translated lusts means strong desire. This strong desire can be for something good, as in Philippians 1:23 where Paul has a strong desire to be with the Lord. But the word is used often to refer to the strong desires that flow out of our sinful human natures. Thus, the modifier fleshly lets us know that the lusts being referred to are the strong desires that are produced by the flesh, our human sinful nature (Romans 7:17-18, 8:4-5, 8:12, Galatians 5:16-21).

If heeded, these desires birth sin, which grows up and leads to death (James 1:13-15). Death is separation, as with a human spirit departing from a human body (James 2:26). The fleshly lusts from our sinful nature separate us from our divine design. These fleshly lusts lead us toward behavior that is self-destructive and away from behavior that leads to flourishing and fulfillment.

This is why Peter is able to assert that these fleshly lusts are sinful desires which wage war against the soul. The Greek word translated soul is “psyche.” About half the time, “psyche” is translated as “life.” It refers to our full existence. Our life on earth can be wasted if lived in bondage to sinful, fleshly desires. As Romans 1:24, 26, 28 tells us, choosing to walk in sin leads to a progression of decay of our lives: lust turns to addiction then to a loss of mental health (a debased mind.) Having a debased mind means we are separated from realty, a particularly damaging form of death.

The Greek word translated wage war is “strateuontai” meaning to engage in a battle. We see this word used similarly to refer to a spiritual battle in 2 Corinthians 10:3 and James 4:1. In Ephesians 6:14-18, the Apostle Paul uses the image of a Roman centurion’s gear to make the point that believers should view each day as a spiritual battle.

Notice the fleshly lusts’ battle is against the soul. The preposition against translates the Greek “kata” implying a hostile action against. By this, Peter emphasizes that the war arising from the fleshly desires is waged against the soul, not within the soul. This points to the fact that when we believe on Jesus and are born anew, we are made new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Sin still dwells within believers, in our flesh, but it is not us. Sin is a foreign agent in the bodies of believers that we should recognize and resist (Romans 7:17-18, Galatians 5:16-17). Setting aside sin allows us to run the race of life unencumbered and win the great prize of life (1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Hebrews 2:9-10, 12:1-2, Revelation 3:21).

The application of this concept that sin wages war against our souls is in line with a theme of this letter—“obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:9). If we want to make our lives count for eternity and gain the greatest benefits possible from living in this life, then this provides a motivation to abstain from the fleshly desires that are battling to keep us from achieving that goal!

Believers who become entangled with the deeds of the flesh are in danger of wasting the opportunity to live by faith in this life. They risk losing out on being rewarded for faithful obedience to Christ when He returns. There will be no opportunity to live by faith in the age that is to come; then we will know by sight.

With the eternal perspective of being an alien and stranger on earth in their journey toward their heavenly home, believers are challenged to keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles (1 Peter 2:12).

This exhortation breaks down this way:

The action keep is a translation of the Greek “echontes” meaning having or keeping continuously.
The focus of this action of continuous keeping is your behavior referring to our conduct or way of life.
The kind of conduct is described as excellent “kalen” suggesting a highly ethical, blameless way of living.
The group of people watching their behavior are identified as among the Gentiles referring to the non-Jewish unbelievers living near them.

The inference is that Peter desired the lives of these Jewish believers to whom he ministered to be a living testimony to the Gentiles in their neighborhoods.

The reason for the exhortation for believers to continue to live in a blameless way among unbelievers is given: 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 (v. 12).

The holy, blameless way believers in Jesus live in their communities often makes sinful unbelievers (and believers) feel uncomfortable (John 3:19-20). To help ease the discomfort of their own conscience, they will sometimes use slander (Greek “katalalousin”) meaning to speak degradingly or to falsely defame someone. It is interesting to note that the same word slander (“katalalias”) was used previously as part of a list of things believers are to put away from their lives (1 Peter 2:1).

To help themselves feel better about themselves, the flesh will use slander as a means of deflection. In this case, the slander portrays morally blameless people as evildoers, meaning someone doing something bad or even criminal. Outside of the Gospel of John (John 18:30), Peter is the only New Testament writer to use the word translated evildoer (1 Peter 2:12, 14, 3:16, 4:15).

Believers should counter the false accusations of evildoing by the highly ethical way they live. This means we should never react. We should always resist by maintaining consistency. This kind of behavior may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation (1 Peter 2:12c).

The believer’s excellent behavior is now described as doing good deeds. The word deeds is from the word “ergon” meaning an activity of any kind. Peter uses “ergon” four times in his letters (1 Peter 1:17, 2:12, 2:8, 3:10).

The specific activity in this context is described as good, meaning beautiful, useful, and praiseworthy. The same Greek word is translated as excellent at the beginning of this verse (v. 12) and later in this letter describes believers using their spiritual gifts as “good” stewards (1 Peter 4:10).

Good deeds can be biblically defined as actions prepared by God (Ephesians 2:10), performed by a believer (Titus 2:15, Titus 3:8), promoting the benefit of another (Titus 3:14), for the purpose of bringing God glory (Matthew 5:16; Hebrews 13:21). In all cases, good deeds are only profitable if they are done in love, which is choosing to seek the best for others (1 Corinthians 13:3).

These good deeds in the context of Peter’s letter have an intentional goal: as they observe them, they will glorify God in the day of visitation (v. 12d). This phrase breaks down this way:

They refers to the people who are slandering the believers, calling them evildoers.
The verb observe means to pay close attention to and is only used in the New Testament by Peter (1 Peter 3:2).
Them indicate the good works done by believers.
Glorify means to praise, honor and extol, or clothe in splendor. The word is used four times by Peter (1 Peter 1:8, 4:11, 4:16, and our current verse 12)
God refers to the triune Godhead (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) the One to whom all glory belongs (Matthew 6:13; John 17:5; Romans 11:36; 1 Corinthians 10:31; 2 Corinthians 3:8).
The day of visitation refers to the time when the Lord Jesus will return to judge the world. He will either bestow blessing or adverse judgment. This time of visitation can be rewarding or unpleasant depending on what the Lord finds us doing when He comes (1 John 2:28, 2 Timothy 4:1).

There are a number of ways unbelievers might glorify God in the day of visitation due to their observation of good deeds done by believers while living on earth. One way is for the good deeds to provide a witness that brings the unbelievers to believe in Jesus. This will be anticipated by Peter in the next chapter (1 Peter 3:14-16). Another is that the testimony of these believers glorify God in the day of visitation when their righteous deeds are recognized by the witnesses assembled (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20, Philippians 2:10-11, Hebrews 2:10).

God will turn false accusations into a way of glorifying Him when Jesus returns because His children are faithfully doing the good deeds God has designed for them to do (Ephesians 2:10; Matthew 5:16). Later in this letter, Peter will exhort believers to not be ashamed for suffering “as a Christian” because suffering for doing good glorifies God’s name (1 Peter 4:16). He goes on say that God’s judgement will be a serious affair that should cause us to judge among ourselves that we might be pure in that day (1 Peter 4:16-17).

God’s judgment of our lives on earth ought to be the focal point of motivation for all we do in this life. Therefore, Peter will assert in Chapter 4:

“Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.”
(1 Peter 4:19)

Believers are to gladly submit to persecution for doing good because we are entrusting to God that He will appropriately reward our deeds in the day of judgement. Peter will also note that “And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner?” (1 Peter 4:18).

Peter might be referring to the fact that Jesus had to give His life in order to ransom the world from sin; that certainly lives up to the standard of great “difficulty.” What then will become of the godless who seek to be saved on their own? It will not go well for them.

Peter uses the contrast to urge these Jewish believers he is discipling to lift their eyes to seek future rewards and trust the promises of God rather than the fleeting pleasures of the world. These pleasures wage war against the soul in part because they distract us from focusing on living a life of good deeds that we might receive good rewards in the day of judgement (1 Corinthians 3:14-15, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Colossians 3:23). They also distract us from living the reality that living in the obedience of faith allows us to live according to our divine design, leading to resist fleshly lusts which wage war against our lives.