1 Peter 2:11

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; As heretofore he exhorted them to walk worthily of their calling, in contrast to their former walk, so now he exhorts them to glorify God before unbelievers. DEARLY BELOVED. He gains their attention by assuring them of his love. STRANGERS AND PILGRIMS - (1 Peter 1:17.) [ Paroikous (G3941) kai (G2532) parepideemous (G3927), sojourners, having a house in a city, without the rights of citizenship: a picture of the Christian's position on earth; and pilgrims, staying for a time in a for...

11_As strangers, _or _sojourners_. There are two parts to this exhortation, — that their souls were to be free within from wicked and vicious lusts; and also, that they were to live honestly among men, and by the example of a good life not only to confirm the godly, but also to gain over the unbelieving to God. And first, to call them away from the indulgence of carnal lusts, he employs this argument, that they were sojourners and strangers. And he so calls them, not because they were banished from their country, and scattered into various lands, but because the children of God, wherever they may be, are only guests in this world. In the former sense, indeed, he called them sojourners at the beginning of the Epistle, as it appears from the context; but what he says here is common to them all. For the lusts of the flesh hold us entangled, when in our minds we dwell in the world, and think...

11,12 Even the best of men, the chosen generation, the people of God, need to be exhorted to keep from the worst sins. And fleshly lusts are most destructive to man's soul. It is a sore judgment to be given up to them. There is a day of visitation coming, wherein God may call to repentance by his word and his grace; then many will glorify God, and the holy lives of his people will have promoted the happy change....

Verse 11. _AS STRANGERS AND PILGRIMS_] Hebrews 11:13. These were _strangers_ and _pilgrims_ in the most literal sense of the word, see 1 Peter 1:1, for they were _strangers_ scattered through Asia, Pontus, c. _ABSTAIN FROM FLESHLY LUSTS_] As ye are _strangers_ and _pilgrims_, and profess to seek a heavenly country, do not entangle your affections with earthly things. While others spend all their time, and employ all their skill, in acquiring earthly property, and totally neglect the salvation of their souls _they_ are not _strangers_, they are here at _home_; they are not _pilgrims_, they are seeking an _earthly possession_: Heaven is _your home_, seek _that_; God is your _portion_, seek _him_. All kin

DEARLY BELOVED, I BESEECH YOU STRANGERS AND PILGRIMS - On the word rendered “strangers,” (παροίκους paroikous,) see the notes at Ephesians 2:19, where it is rendered “foreigners.” It means, properly, one dwelling near, neighboring; then a by-dweller, a sojourner, one without the rights of citizenship, as distinguished from a citizen; and it means here that Christians are not properly citizens of this world, but that their citizenship is in heaven, and that they are here mere sojourners. Compare the notes at Philippians 3:20, “For our conversation (citizenship) is in heaven.” On the word rendered “pilgrims,” (παρεπιδήμους parepidēmous,) see the...

EXPOSITIONS 1 PETER 2:1 WHEREFORE LAYING ASIDE. Those who would wear the white robe of regeneration must lay aside the filthy garments (Zechariah 3:3) of the old carnal life. So St. Paul bids us put off the old man and put on the new (Ephesians 4:22, Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:8, Colossians 3:10; comp. also Romans 13:14

DEARLY BELOVED, I BESEECH YOU,.... The apostle, from characters of the saints, and which express their blessings and privileges, with great beauty, propriety, and pertinency, passes to exhortations to duties; he addresses the saints under this affectionate appellation, "dearly beloved", to express his great love to them, and to show that what he was about to exhort them to sprung from sincere and hearty affection for them, and was with a view to their real good; nor does he in an authoritative way command, as he might have done, as an apostle, but, as a friend, he entreats and beseeches them: AS STRANGERS AND PILGRIMS; not in a literal sense, though they were in a foreign country, in a strange land, and sojourners there, but in a spiritual and mystical sense; they were "strangers", not to God and Christ, and to the Spirit, to themselves, to the saints, and to all that is good, as they h...

1 Peter 2:1. _Wherefore laying aside all malice,_ This is one of the old corruptible things, so put it away from you 1 Peter 2:1. _And all guile,_ All crafty tricks, all falsehood, exaggeration, double meanings to your words, and the like,- 1. _And hypocrisies, and envies,_ All hatred of those who are either better or better off than you are,- 1 Peter 2:1. _And all evil speaking,_ Thus the tongue expresses what the heart feels. Laying all these evil things aside, you will prove that you have been born again, born of the incorruptible seed which liveth and abideth for ever....

III. CHRIST THE PATTERN FOR HIS SAINTS CHAPTER 2:11-3:9 _ 1. Abstinence and submission (1 Peter 2:11)_ 2. Christ the pattern for those who suffer (1 Peter 2:18) 3. Glorifying Christ in the marriage relation (1 Peter 3:1) 4. True Christian character (1 Peter 3:8) 1 Peter 2:11 The first exhortation is addressed to them as strangers and pilgrims. Such all true believers are. Because we belong to a heavenly home we cannot be at home in a world which lieth in the wicked one, which has cast out the Lord of glor

1 Peter 2:11 F. Three reasons are here given for a life of purity and moderation: (1) that it is in agreement with pilgrim life (a figure frequent in OT and familiar to us from Bunyan's _Pilgrim's Progress),_ (2) that it may not give offence to the Gentiles, (3) that it may win the latter, by the force of example, to the same life. We know what wicked and groundless accusations were made against the Christians, and how, as Harnack shows in the _Mission and Expansion of Christianity,_ it was by the conduct of the Christians that the truest headway was made in the spread of the faith....