Dearly
beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts,
which war against the soul; having your conversation honest among the Gentiles:
that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works,
which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Submit
yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the
king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the
punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the
will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish
men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as
the servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the
king.
A Sympathetic Pastor
His
manner of address, every word is important. Dearly beloved:
His
method of encouraging.An appeal rather than an order; beseech
Encouragement
not judgement
Acknowledge
their difficulties
If ever a people were entitled to excuse themselves, surely these people were.
The situation they were in: Strangers &
Pilgrims ch1.1
Words
of Encouragement
1
Abstain
From what is wrong
Fleshly
lusts = Gal
5:19
-21
Now
the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations,
wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, revelling,
and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time
past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
2
Honest: kalos
Do what is right
To modern ears the Authorized Version can be a little misleading,
although in the seventeenth century, when it was first made, it was perfectly
accurate. It speaks about “having your conversation honest among the
Gentiles.” To modern ears that sounds as if it meant that the Christian must
always speak the truth, and that in his words and in his talk with others he
must never be guilty of dishonesty. The word translated conversation is anastrophe,
which means a man's whole conduct, not simply his words and talk.
That is, in fact, what conversation did mean in the seventeenth
century; it means a man's whole conduct and his whole way of life. The word
translated honest is kalos; this
word kalos, means good, and also lovely, fine, attractive,
winsome. That is what honestus means in Latin;
it means fine, gracious, fair to look upon. So, what Peter is saying is that the
Christian must make his whole way of life so lovely and so fair and so good to
look upon that the slanders of his heathen
enemies may be undeniably demonstrated to be false.
(Barclay)
The result will be that
others will glorify God
Here, then, is the great timeless truth. The best
argument for Christianity is a real Christian; and, therefore,
whether we like it or not, every Christian is an advertisement for
Christianity. By his life he either commends Christianity to others, or
he makes others think less of Christianity. The strongest missionary force in
the world is a Christian life.
(Barclay)
Honest
- becoming (1 Peter
3:16
). Contrast 1 Peter 1:18, end. A good walk does not make us pious: we must first
be pious by believing before we can lead a good course. Faith first receives
from God, then love gives to our neighhour (Luther).
Whereas
they speak against you - now (1 Peter
2:15
); they may at some time glorify God. Because as Christians they could not
conform to pagan customs, they were accused of disobedience to legal authority;
to rebut this charge, they are told to submit to every ordinance of man (not
sinful). No Christian was found in prison for crime, but only for the faith. The
pagan excluded slaves from some of their religious services; Christians had some
of their presbyters of slaves. Slavery silently and gradually disappeared by the
power of the Christian law of love: "Whatsoever ye would that men should do
to you, do ye even so to them." When the Pagans deserted their nearest
relatives in a plague, Christians ministered to the sick. When Gentiles left
their dead unburied after the battle, and cast their wounded into the streets,
the disciples hastened to relieve the suffering. Justin Martyr, 'We formerly
rejoiced in fornication, now we welcome chastity alone; then we loved the
procuring of goods and money more than anything else, now we bring all we have
to a common fund, and share it with everyone who needs. We who hated one
another, now pray for our enemies, and try to persuade those who unjustly hate
us to become, by living according to Christ, sharers of the hope of obtaining
the came blessings with us from God the ruler of all.'
