Pastor David B. Curtis
Pastor David B. Curtis
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Good morning, Bereans. We are continuing our study of 1 Peter this morning. We will be looking at verses 11 and 12 of chapter 2. In this part of Peter's letter, he gives the following advice concerning Christian behavior in the world:
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 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. 1 Peter 2:11-12 ESV
Because Christians are sojourners and exiles whose citizenship is in heaven, we have been and always will be mocked and persecuted in the same manner in which it was happening to the believers in this context. Peter writes to encourage them but also to reinforce why they should continue to be different. In the midst of persecution and suffering for our faith, there can be a tendency to dull the light and the witness of our lives in order to avoid offense. There can be a tendency to begin to compromise.
Peter explained what Christian conduct should be negatively (v. 11) and positively (v. 12). Then he unpacked more specifically what it should be positively in 2:13 through 4:11.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 1 Peter 2:11 ESV
The address, "Beloved, I urge you," marks a shift from the identity of God's people to their consequent responsibility in a hostile world. "Beloved, I urge you," frequently marks off a new section of an epistle, as it does here (cf. Rom. 12:1; 15:30; 16:17; 1 Cor. 1:10; 16:15; 2 Cor. 10:1; 1 Thess. 4:1, 10b; 5:14; Heb. 13:22; cf. 4:12; 5:1).
Peter likes to use the word "beloved." He uses it eight times in the two epistles to remind his readers that God loves them and that they are beloved of God.
"I urge you"—this is the Greek word parakaleō which basically means: "to beg, to come alongside, to call you to this." It means "to encourage someone to do something or to exhort someone to action." It typically introduces exhortations. This is the same pleading we see Paul use in Romans 12:1.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1 ESV
Peter is begging them to do something. Parakaleō is the same word used for the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
"As sojourners and exiles"— in chapter 1 verse 1, he used the word "exiles" in his salutation ("to those who are elect exiles"). Exiles is from parepidēmos which in 2:11 is translated as sojourners. So, this is simply re-identifying those who have already been identified as sojourners and exiles. They are synonyms. Now what does he mean by this. Well, he means that you don't belong in the society you're in. It simply refers to a visitor who makes a brief stay, a sojourner who is just going through the country, a traveler who is just moving around in it, someone passing through. Peter uses these adjectives is to help them recognize that this is not their home. So, we are non-citizens who don't belong. We're just passing through. Paul put it this way:
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Yeshua the Christ, Philippians 3:20 ESV
This tells us that believers are citizens of a heavenly realm and not of this time-space physical reality only. Because this is not our home, we are different from everybody else. Therefore, we should not look like the world because this is not our home. There should be differences between us and the world because we are from another place with a different culture, language, and norms.
What differences should mark the life of believers because this is not their home?
Look at what Christ said about pagans in Matthew 6.
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:31-33 ESV
We must seek His kingdom and righteousness. In fact, it should be our supreme priority. The word "first" in our text comes from the Greek word proton which means "first in order or importance, first or "chiefest" of all, holding the highest place in all our affections." The Lord is saying that the first place in the priority of our affections must be His will.
When He is speaking of His kingdom, He is talking about our coming under submission to His reign and setting our priorities straight so the authority of His Word occupies the first place in our lives. It means "to walk under His reign, to live in obedience to the Lord."
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness …" Now please notice the end of the verse. "… and all these things shall be added unto you." What things? They are all the things the Gentiles seek and strive for. The Lord is telling us not to worry about those things. Just walk in obedience to Him, and He will provide them. We do not need to strive for material things. "… and all these things shall be added unto you," is the great reward for those who walk in the obedience of faith.
Sadly, the biblical concept of our being pilgrims in this world has largely been lost in the church. As a result, the church has become very ineffective, often even looking just like this world. Much of the church has settled down in this world instead of being pilgrims in it. The world culture is their culture. They clamor after the material aspects.
Because Peter's readers were sojourners and exiles. They considered themselves to be just "passing through" this world, therefore, they were viewed as different, were misunderstood, and were being persecuted. Peter told them:
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 1 Peter 4:12-13 ESV
Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. 1 Peter 4:19 ESV
For Christians to be persecuted is not unusual; it is the norm. Look at what Paul told Timothy.
Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Yeshua will be persecuted, 2 Timothy 3:12 ESV
Why are Christians persecuted for living godly? It is because we live in an anti-God, anti-Christ world where we don't fit in and, therefore, we are persecuted. And when we are persecuted, it reminds us that this earth is not our home. Our home is heaven.
Howard Hendricks has said, "Most people think that they're in the land of the living, heading toward the land of the dead. But the truth is, we're in the land of the dying, heading toward the land of the living."
"Abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul"—to abstain means "to hold oneself constantly back from." This is literally "continue to hold yourself back from" (present middle infinitive). Abstain, that's exactly what it means, stay away from, keep your distance from. From what?
"Passions of the flesh"—the word "passions" here is epithumia which is a neutral term denoting the presence of strong desires or impulses, longings or passionate craving directed toward an object (whether it is good or evil is determined by the context). Most New Testament uses of epithumia describe strong desires which are perverted and unrestrained. But it is also used in Scripture of good desires.
But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us. 1 Thessalonians 2:17-18 ESV
The phrase "with great desire" is from the Greek word epithumia which is often rendered "lust," in its pejorative sense. Rarely, as in the context here, is it used positively.
I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. Philippians 1:23 ESV
Desire here is epithumia.
Lusts are desires, but most lusts are desires that are based on the physical appetites of the body. The fact that the body desires to participate in an act does not make that act either right or wrong in and of itself. However, if we allow those appetites to control us, they will eventually lead us into doing wrong because they have no standard in themselves of good or evil. So, Peter refers to those desires that would lead us into evil as being passions of the flesh.
"Which wage war against your soul"—"soul" is the Greek term psuchē which is used often in Peter's writings. It is used as a Hebraic idiom for the entire person. Humans are not two-part or three-part beings but a single unity.
Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. Genesis 2:7 ESV
The Hebrew word translated here as "creature" is nephesh. It is often translated as soul. But it simply means "a breathing creature." Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words defines nephesh as, "The essence of life, the act of breathing, taking breath. The problem with the English term 'soul' is that no actual equivalent of the term or the idea behind it is represented in the Hebrew language. The Hebrew system of thought does not include the combination or opposition of the 'body' and 'soul' which are really Greek and Latin in origin" [1985, p. 237-238].
So, man is composed of dirt and the breath of God and not a combination of two or three separate entities (body, soul, and spirit). This helps us understand death. If you take away the body, or the breath of life, there is no longer a living creature.
"Which wage war against your soul": "wage war" is from the Greek strateuomai which points not to a single battle, but to a military campaign. Every believer faces a lifelong struggle against these fleshly desires which can destroy our physical body and ruin our life.
Just ask the alcoholic dying of liver disease, or ask the sexually immoral person with AIDS or one of the 350,000 people on this earth who contracted a sexually transmitted disease in the last 24 hours.
How can we have victory over the desires of the flesh?
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. Galatians 5:16-17 ESV
If we are going to understand this text, we must have an understanding of what is meant by "the flesh." Paul uses the word "flesh" here to mean: "something that is totally human, with no special grace attached." In Paul's use of the term "flesh" in Galatians, he does not simply mean: "possessed of a physical body"; rather, he means: "limited to only a physical body and the physical strength it contains."
So, the flesh is what you do in your own power, in your own strength. This is legalism. It is anything that we think we can do in order to make ourselves more righteous before God. It is human achievement and is, therefore, a form of self-righteousness.
In Paul's view, flesh and Spirit fall into redemptive-historical categories, serving to elucidate the contrasting natures of the two covenant ages. Seeking to live by law really boils down to seeking life independently of God. It is the basic sin of Adam. To walk after the flesh is to seek life in terms of what man can accomplish of himself.
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Galatians 6:7-8 ESV
If we take "flesh" here to refer to a sinful life, then sowing to the Spirit would mean living a holy life. This would mean that everlasting life is a product of living right. This would be salvation by works, but we know that salvation is not of works.
And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, Romans 4:5 ESV
Paul is teaching in Galatians 6:7-8 that when a man seeks to gain the gift of God by human possibility, the very act itself is sin. It is sin because it bears the fruits of self-righteousness. You cannot earn a right standing with God by what you do.
Walking after the flesh was not a problem only faced in the first century. Many today are walking after the flesh; they are trying to gain favor with God by their works. They are trying to please God by the things that they do. If you are trusting in something that you've done to get you into heaven, you'll never get there.
Paul tells the Galatians and us how to overcome the flesh by walking by the Spirit:
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Galatians 5:16 ESV
Here we see a contrast between the Spirit and the flesh. Paul says we are to "walk by the Spirit"—this is a present-tense command: "Continue to walk by the Spirit." The Christian walk is a daily routine. It isn't something you come to at one point in your life and say, "From now on I commit myself to walking in the Spirit." No. It's not a once-for-all event.
What does it mean to "Walk by the Spirit"? This is very important for us to understand, so let's see if we can practically define it. All of us have heard preachers say, "Let the Spirit lead you," or "Allow the Spirit to control you," and we have gone away puzzled as to what that means. How do we walk by the Spirit? You walk by the Spirit when your heart is resting in the promises of God. The Spirit reigns over the flesh in your life when you live by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave Himself for you and now is working everything together for your good.
For in Christ Yeshua neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. Galatians 5:6 ESV
Living faith always produces love. But Galatians 5:22 says love is a fruit of the Spirit. So, if love is what faith necessarily produces, and love is a fruit of the Spirit, then the way to walk by the Spirit is to have faith:
Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. Galatians 3:23 ESV
The coming of faith liberates a person from being under law. But what does 5:18 say? "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law." How then are we led by the Spirit? By faith. By meditating on the trustworthiness and preciousness of God's promises until our hearts are trusting in Him. This is how the Holy Spirit fills and leads:
Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—Galatians 3:5 ESV
The Spirit does his mighty work in us and through us only by the hearing of faith. We are sanctified by faith alone. The way to walk by the Spirit and so not fulfill the desires of the flesh is to know the promises of God and trust them and rest in them.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 ESV
Who is the Christ who lives in Paul? He is the Spirit.
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" Galatians 4:6 ESV
How, according to 2:20, does the life of the Son produce itself in Paul? How does Paul walk by the Spirit of the Son? "The life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God." Day by day Paul trusts the Son. Day by day he casts his cares on God and is borne along by the Spirit. How, then, do we walk by the Spirit? The answer is plain. We walk by faith. And we do this by meditating on His unspeakable promises day and night and resting in them. We should be trusting in Him all the time. The more we think about our dependence on Him, the more consistent we will be in trusting in Him and in walking by the Spirit.
Listen to what Martin Luther had to say: "When the flesh begins to cut up the only remedy is to take the sword of the Spirit, the word of salvation, and fight against the flesh. If you set the Word out of sight, you are helpless against the flesh. I know this to be a fact. I have been assailed by many violent passions, but as soon as I took hold of some Scripture passage, my temptations left me. Without the Word I could not have helped myself against the flesh."
Paul put it this way to the Colossians:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:16 ESV
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly"— the word of Christ can be either the subjective genitive (the word delivered by Christ) or the objective genitive (the word about Christ). I think we can take it both ways - we should let the word delivered by Christ and the word about Christ richly dwell in us.
Paul tells the Colossians that they are to let the word of Christ "dwell in you richly." Dwell is from the present active imperative of enoikeo, and means "to live in," or "to be at home." Paul calls upon believers to let the Word take up residence and be at home in their lives. We are intimately familiar with our home. We know where all of the closets are and where we have items stored. In like manner, we must thoroughly acquaint ourselves with the Word. The Word should become so familiar to us that we know it like we know our homes. The idea is to let the Word of God dwell inside and live at home in our lives. The Word of God needs to inhabit us. This is more than just reading the Bible.
Paul adds that the word is to "dwell in you richly." "Richly" is from an old adverb (plousios), which has the twofold meaning of quantity and degree. It means" abundantly, applying it and using it in all its teaching, but also using it constantly, at all times and in all circumstances."
Now, I want you to see something about this text in Colossians that is very important. Look with me at Ephesians 5.
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, Ephesians 5:18 ESV
Paul tells the Ephesians to "be filled with the Spirit," then he says
addressing oneanother in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Yeshua the Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. Ephesians 5:19-22 ESV
Paul tells the Colossians, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly," then he says
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Yeshua, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Colossians 3:16-18 ESV
It is clear that these two concepts, "letting the word of Christ dwell in you richly," and "being filled with the Spirit" are identical, because the passages that follow each are so similar. The result of being filled with the Holy Spirit is the same as the result of letting the Word richly dwell in one's life. Therefore, the two are the same spiritual reality viewed from two sides. We see the same thing in our text in 1 Peter.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 1 Peter 2:11 ESV
How do we abstain from the passions of the flesh? By being controlled by the Spirit which results in submission.
Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 1 Peter 2:13 ESV
To be filled with the Spirit is to be controlled by His Word. To have the Word dwelling richly is to be controlled by His Spirit. Since the Holy Spirit is the author and the power of the Word, the expressions are interchangeable. In other words, the WORD-FILLED CHRISTIAN is a SPIRIT-FILLED CHRISTIAN.
When Paul says, "Be filled with the Spirit," he is giving a command. The word "filled" is the Greek word pleroo, which means "controlled." Believers who have the Spirit are commanded to be controlled by Him. So, the question is: How are we controlled by Spirit? The Spirit's control is not an automatic, mechanical control. The Spirit's control is brought about by means. We must take possession of the divine strength He has made available to us in Christ. We appropriate the controlling grace of the Spirit through the means of letting the word of Christ richly dwell within us.
Believers, we need more than a casual acquaintance with the Bible. God's word is to dwell in us abundantly—it is to saturate us. It must become part of our very being, transforming the way we think and act. To use an illustration from the area of computer technology, it must be the program that is always running so that it controls everything else. Everything depends on it.
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. 1 Peter 2:12 ESV
"Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable"—the word conduct here is from anastrophē which simply means behavior or lifestyle. The word "honorable" is from the Greek word kalos. Which is one of those almost untranslatable Greek words. It takes six English words to give you the sense of it. It means lovely, fine, winsome, gracious, fair to look at, noble, excellent; it is the purest, highest, noblest kind of goodness.
He says that your behavior is to be honorable among the ethnos, the nations. He means the unsaved world. "Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles" is a present active participle used as an imperative. Unbelievers are watching! How believers live and react to the common struggles of life are loud witnesses to all who know them. Often our lives speak louder than our words!
Christians need to maintain a reputation so that there is absolutely no reason for people to criticize and condemn them. They may criticize and condemn us anyway but it will be unjustified.
"So that when they speak against you as evildoers"—part of the suffering that Peter's original readers were experiencing was evidently due to "slander" from unbelievers. They appear to have been accusing his readers unjustly of doing evil. This has led some commentators to conclude that Peter wrote this epistle after A.D. 64, when Nero began an official persecution of Christians allegedly for burning Rome. This may be true.
Christians were falsely accused of great crimes in the early church. The early Christians were accused of cannibalism. Can you guess why? Because of the Lord's Supper terminology. They were accused of incest because they loved each other. They were accused of atheism because they wouldn't worship the Emperors or the Roman gods and because their God was invisible. They were accused of treason because they would not serve in the army or pledge allegiance to Caesar. They were accused of immorality possibly because of the holy kiss. They said that Christian "agape feasts" were wild orgies.
This is surely the case in our day. People who stand for right are often criticized, while those who are practicing evil are justified and defended. We see this clearly in the area of abortion.
"They may see your good deeds"—the word "see" is the Greek epopteuō which only occurs here and in 1 peter 3:2. It has the nuance of long-term, reflective observation. Even if you're not aware of it, unbelievers are watching your life. How we live as Christians reflects the God we claim to know and serve.
William Barclay writes, "The striking fact of history is that by their lives the Christians actually did defeat the slanders of the heathen. In the early part of the third century, Celsus made the most famous and the most systematic attack of all upon the Christians in which he accused them of ignorance and foolishness and superstition and all kinds of things — but never of immorality."
"And glorify God on the day of visitation"—their good conduct will give proof that they are not evildoers and their good works will give glory to God on the day of Christ's return. Sam Storms writes, "the day of visitation" likely refers to the Parousia; see 1:5, 7, 13; 4:13). How would their good works in the first century glorify God at the Parousia over two thousand years later?
"The day of visitation"—the word "visitation" is from the Greek word episkopē which Strong says means inspection (for relief); by implication superintendence; specifically, the Christian "episcopate": - the office of a "bishop", bishopric, visitation. This word is only used four times in the New Testament, two of them refer to an office and one of which is in Luke.
For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation." Luke 19:43-44 ESV
This is talking about the destruction of Jerusalem which we know happened in AD 70.
This Greek word episkopē is used 30 times in the Septuagint. Let's look at a few.
What will you do on the day of punishment, in the ruin that will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth? Isaiah 10:3 ESV
Day of punishment here is episcopē.
At the end of seventy years, the LORD will visit Tyre, and she will return to her wages and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. Isaiah 23:17 ESV
Here "visit" is episcopē. This word episcopē refers to any time that God draws near, for judgment or blessing.
They shall be carried to Babylon and remain there until the day when I visit them, declares the LORD. Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place." Jeremiah 27:22 ESV
Here we see that God also visits for blessing, for deliverance, for rescue, for salvation. In the Tanakh, God is said to visit His people to bring them out of Egyptian bondage. God is said to visit His people to bring them also out of Babylonian bondage. In 1 Samuel chapter 2 it says, "God visited Hannah" to rescue her from barrenness, and thus it was a visit for blessing. And then there are other times, several of them in the Tanakh, when God visited sinners and enemies for judgment.
I think Peter uses "The day of visitation" as a reference to the second coming which was a blessing to the believers but a judgment for unbelievers. Paul demonstrates this in 2 Thessalonians 1.
This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 2 Thessalonians 1:5-7 ESV
The Second Coming brought judgment and blessing.
Let me close this morning by reminding you that we are pilgrims on this earth; it is not our home. Our home is heaven. Jonathan Edwards has a sermon titled, "The Christian Pilgrim" (The Works of Jonathan Edwards [Banner of Truth], 2:243-246). In that sermon he wrote. (p. 244):
God is the highest good of the reasonable creature; and the enjoyment of him is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams; but God is the sun. These are but streams; but God is the fountain. These are but drops; but God is the ocean. Therefore it becomes us to spend this life only as a journey towards heaven, as it becomes us to make the seeking of our highest end and proper good, the whole work of our lives; to which we should subordinate all other concerns of life. Why should we labor for, or set our hearts on, anything else, but that which is our proper end, and true happiness?
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