1 Peter 2:12

1 Peter 2:12 ‘Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.'

‘Keep your behavior' -again, the language of choice and freewill. The final line of defense against sin, is the choice of the individual being tempted (Judges 1:21 ‘keep yourselves in the love of God'; 2 Timothy 4:7 ‘..I have kept the faith').

‘excellent' -‘praiseworthy, morally good, noble' (Thayer p. 322). This is in contrast to the vain manner of life, which we had formerly been engaged in living (1 Peter 1:18). ‘lovely, fine, attractive, winsome….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 p. 239)

POINT TO NOTE: 1. We should be encouraged by the word ‘excellent'. Instead of being drawn to. lifestyle in which people feel sorry for us. Shouldn't we rather be drawn to. lifestyle, which is noble, spiritually attractive, winsome and appealing? 2. You can live an excellent life! (Titus 2:9; Matthew 5:13)

‘among the Gentiles' -Which implies that Christians are to live among unbelievers. There is no place in Christianity for hermits and monks (1 Peter 2:15). ‘Gentiles'-many of their neighbors were probably non-Jewish. But the word Gentile here seems to include all non-Christians. The person of Jewish stock who doesn't accept Christ, is. ‘Gentile' in the mind of God (Romans 2:25).

‘so that' -one of the purposes of living an excellent life.

‘in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers' -‘to speak against, speak evil of, defame' (Arndt p. 412). This indicates that some of their trials had come in the form of verbal abuse (1 Peter 3:16).

POINTS TO NOTE: 1. The world often gets confused concerning what is right and what is wrong and often gets them reversed (Isaiah 2:20). 2. Barclay notes, ‘Christians were accused of cannibalism. This accusation took its rise from. perversion of the words of the Last Supper, “This is my body”, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood”. So the Christians were accused of killing and eating. child at their feasts. The Christians were accused of immorality and even of incest.' (p. 240) For they talked about loving each other and called each other, ‘brother and sister'. They were accused of being atheists because they refused to worship the politically correct ‘gods'. Of treason against the Empire and being disloyal citizens, because they refused to worship the emperor. (See Acts 17:6; Acts 16:21; Acts 28:22). ‘They (Christians) were held responsible for, and blamed with, all the national evils of the day', wrote Tertullian (died 220-240 A.D.) ‘If the Tiber rises to the walls of the city, if the Nile does not irrigate the fields, if an earthquake takes place, if famine or the pestilence arises, they cry forthwith: “Away with the Christians to the lions”. 3. And nothing has changed! In our own time Christians are accused of being unloving and uncaring because they won't jump on the pro-abortion bandwagon or endorse the idea of homosexuality is simply. matter of genetics.

‘they may on account of your good deeds' -A good example can overcome prejudice (1 Peter 3:1).

‘as they observe them' -‘Observe'-to view attentively and carefully. This implies that unbelievers are constantly watching the conduct of Christians. This ‘observing' may last for years or decades (1 Peter 3:2). This verse infers that people can get past even very severe prejudices and preconceived ideas. ‘though their original motive was to find occasion for further accusation, they are led from such minute scrutiny to reverse their attitude and glorify God.' (Woods pp. 68-69) Let us never think that our life isn't having an impact! People are watching us, watching how we handle life, watching our marriage, watching the way we raise our children, etc…..Don't give someone an easy excuse why they shouldn't obey the gospel.

‘glorify God' -to praise, magnify, extol, celebrate. The ultimate purpose of. good life isn't to bring glory to oneself, but rather, to glorify God (Matthew 5:16).

‘in the day of visitation' -‘Visitation'-‘inspection, investigation' (Thayer p. 242). The word may refer to either. visitation of mercy (Genesis 50:24; Exodus 2:19; Isaiah 2:17; Luke 19:44) or judgment (Job 2:18; Isaiah 2:3; Isaiah 2:6). POINT TO NOTE: 1. Two basic views exist concerning what ‘day' is the day of visitation. The Second Coming or the day that God visit's them with mercy when they obey the gospel, in part, due to the godly lives of these Christians. 2. ‘there is no definite article in the Greek text (‘the' in English) and ‘on. day of visitation' could be certainly. legitimate translation.' (Grudem p. 116) 3. Some see these Gentiles being forced to glorify God, ‘the forced acknowledgment by unbelievers that God has been right' (1 Peter 2:11). 4. Grudem argues, ‘The verb “doxazo”, “glorify”, occurs sixty-one times in the New Testament but it is never used to speak of unbelievers …They are converted and glorify God because of seeing your good deeds (cf. Matthew 5:16; 1 Peter 3:15). Peter gives. specific example of this in 1 Peter 3:1-2..' (p. 117)

Duties Toward Unbelievers:

Civil Authorities