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

Peter’s original readers were very likely a mixture of Jewish and Gentile ethnicity (cf. 1:1).  Thus, verse 12 is probably not meant to tell Jewish Christians to watch their behavior among the Gentiles where they lived.  The New Testament figuratively correlates Christians with Israel, God’s chosen people under the previous covenant (cf. Rom. 2:28-29; James 1:1).  Thus, Peter’s reference to “Gentiles” here likely refers to non-Christians.  We must keep our behavior excellent when we are around the lost.  The result we strive for is that even though they malign and persecute us, our conduct in the end might influence them to convert and thus “glorify God on the day of visitation” (i.e., Judgment Day).  The Lord had given a similar command in Peter’s presence decades earlier while preaching the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:14-16).

Keep in mind that Peter had just directed us “to abstain from the passions of the flesh” (2:11).  Resisting the influence of this sinful world in which we live is a constant struggle for the faithful Christian.  The unfaithful, apostate Christian has already surrendered to the enemy and has succumbed to the desire to be like the world, all while in many cases deceiving himself into thinking he still serves Christ (e.g., Rev. 3:14-22).  Therefore, faithful Christians who are still actively and consciously fighting the good fight to “not be conformed to this world” (Rom. 12:2a) should take caution that they unwittingly are not allowing themselves to be more like this sin-filled world than they realize (cf. 1 Cor. 10:12).

Christians, we might read verse 11’s “abstain from the passions of the flesh” and think of nothing more than sins some of us might have never committed like adultery or fornication, and thus sincerely say to ourselves, “Well, that’s not something that I have to worry about.”  We might read verse 12’s “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable” and automatically think, “You know, I’m generally a good person and, while I’m not perfect, my conduct is certainly better than a lot of people’s!  So I think it’s pretty clear that I am doing exactly what this verse wants me to do.”  However, is that always the case?

Consider the illustrations Peter gives in the subsequent verses.  Read verses 13-17, for instance.   The very first readers of 1 Peter would have immediately thought of the tyrannical emperor who was killing them.  The most natural thing in the world to feel in response – the most human, carnal, worldly response – would be to do the exact opposite of what verses 13-17 commands.  Do we do the same with our governmental rulers today?  Read 1 Peter 2:18-25 and 1 Peter 3:9-17.  If you were a slave back then and you had a very cruel, unjust master, what God is telling you to do as a Christian would be against every human, worldly impulse you had on probably a daily basis…but to obey those verses would mean that you were acting exactly like Jesus would – and did – act.  How do we act today when we are mistreated in any way?  Consider the spouses in 1 Peter 3:1-7.  Her first impulse in response to his sinful ways – the more natural, worldly one – would likely be to berate and nag him to change.  To influence him through respectful, pure, submissive conduct would be harder and would take longer, yet that’s what God wants.  It would be more like the rest of the world for him to not try to understand her and condescend to her due to being physically stronger than her, but God wants the opposite.  How do we treat our spouses today?  Are we any different from the world in these areas?

We will dive deeper into the point Peter is making in future articles.  For now, ask yourself this question.  “Are there ‘passions of the flesh’ I actually allow myself to have, and have done so for quite a while?  Is my ‘conduct among the Gentiles’ truly ‘honorable’ and ‘good’ in every respect…or am I more like the world than I think?”

— Jon