PETER’S EPISTLES: PREPARING FOR ETERNITY

IX. Living In Constant Self-Restraint From The World

(1 Peter 2:11-12)

I. Introduction

A. Before the Apostle Peter began to minister for the Lord in the Church, his outlook was impacted by Christ’s prophecy in John 21:18-19 that he would be crucified for Christ. Eternity was thus often on Peter’s mind.

B. We view Peter’s epistles that highlight preparing for eternity, and in 1 Peter 2:11-12, Peter taught us to live in constant self-restraint from the world. We view this passage for our insight, application and edification:

II. Living In Constant Self-Restraint From The World, 1 Peter 2:11-12.

A. Peter revealed that we believers are to live lives that are in constant self-restraint from indulging the lusts of this world since this restraint was necessary for the spiritual benefit of our inner man, 1 Peter 2:11:

1. In 1 Peter 2:11a, Peter addressed his believing readers as “Beloved,” indicating that they were loved by God as His people. (Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 846)

2. In great contrast to this spiritual union that Peter’s readers had with the Lord in heaven, they were “aliens” (paroicous), “those who live in a place that is not their home,” referring to Christians whose true home is in heaven, and they were “strangers” (parepidemois) or sojourners, a word “that emphasizes both foreign nationality and temporary residence,” 1 Peter 2:11b; op. cit., p. 846, 839. The ungodly world greatly contrasted to the believers’ righteous, loving God in heaven, creating a big tension for the Christian life.

3. Since they were aliens and sojourners in this world, Peter’s readers were to function as such: He used the term apechesthai, the present middle infinitive of apecho, “abstain from” (U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 795; The Analyt. Grk. Lex. (Zon.), 1972, p. 39), to teach that his readers were to abstain from the worldly desires that war against a believer’s “soul,” his inner man, 2 Peter 2:11c. (Theol. Dict. of the N. T., vol. IX, p. 653) The present tense of apechesthai indicates continuous action as a way of life, and the middle voice reveals that this self-abstinence activity is meant for the spiritual welfare of the believer’s inner man. The verb is thus translated as “hold oneself constantly back from.” (Bible Know. Com., N. T., loc. cit.)

4. Peter did not mention the means by which we believers were to live this way, but Galatians 5:16 asserts that if we rely on the indwelling Holy Spirit of God, we will not fulfill the lusts of the sin nature. Thus, the means by which we live in constant self-restraint from worldly lusts is by a life of faith, Galatians 2:20.

B. In addition, this lifestyle of spiritual self-restraint from worldly lusts as empowered by the Holy Spirit also equips us believers to have an effective testimony before the ungodly, 1 Peter 2:12:

1. The verb rendered “having” (echontes, U. B. S. Grk. N. T., loc. cit.) is a present participle (The Analyt. Grk. Lex., op. cit., p. 180), so the action described in 1 Peter 2:12 coincides with the 1 Peter 2:11 order to “abstain from” the world’s lusts (by relying on the Holy Spirit), 1 Peter 2:12a.

2. We should then rely on the Holy Spirit to abstain from worldly lusts, what leads us to have our “way of life” (anastrophen, U. B. S. Grk. N. T., loc. cit.; Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 61) among the (pagan) Gentiles “good” (kalos), “a positive Christian lifestyle” that “is a powerful means of convicting the world of its sin (cf. Matt. 5:16).” (1 Peter 2:12b; Bib. Know. Com., N. T., loc. cit.)

3. When the onlookers are convicted of sin, they can either repent or persecute the believer who is being used of God to convict them of sin. In the latter case, Peter revealed that where convicted unbelievers slander believers as evildoers, they may by believers’ good works “glorify God on the day of visitation,” 1 Peter 2:12c. The “on the day of visitation” phrase “is literally ‘in the day of [His] visitation)” (en hemera episkopes), what may refer to God’s looking on the wicked in judgment or to His looking on them in mercy when He brings them to salvation. (Ibid.) Either way, the idea is that unbelievers will be held accountable for their reaction to the lifestyle testimonies of godly believers.

4. [By way of application, carnal believers can also come under conviction by the lives of godly believers, and God will also hold them accountable for how they respond to seeing believers live godly lives.]

Lesson: Godly believers, beloved of God, are aliens and sojourners in the world, and God calls them to live in constant self-restraint from worldly lusts that war against the inner man. Such a life convicts the ungodly of their sin, so God will hold the ungodly accountable to repent due to what they have seen lived in the lives of the godly.

Application: May we believers accept God’s calling that as aliens and sojourners, we must live in constant self-restraint from worldly lusts to protect our spiritual inner man and to uphold a godly testimony before the ungodly.