¹¹ Beloved, I urge you as foreigners and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul. ¹²  Behave commendably among the Gentiles, so that with respect to the things through which they slander you as evildoers, they may in view  of your good works that they have witnessed, glorify God on the Day of Visitation (1Pet2:11-12).

There is plenty more on which to comment in the next couple of verses of 1Peter. Firstly, his reference to his readers as “foreigners and strangers”. In his second letter Peter will expand on that idea when he speaks of the disciple of Christ “looking for new heavens and a new earth [Greek: γῆ] where righteousness dwells” (2Pet3:13). In the same passage, which (God willing) I shall come to in a future post, Peter’s language if taken literally suggests that he anticipates  our cosmic landscape to be somewhat transformed at or after Christ’s coming. That is why I have highlighted the Greek in his reference to a new earth, γῆ^G1093   emphasizing the physical, solid, material, earthly nature of at least a part of what is to follow in the age to come.

Foreigner and strangers

The main point the apostle is making concerns the fact that the true disciple of Christ should not regard himself as being entirely at home – not so much with respect to planet earth, but concerning what the bible refers to as the κόσμος^G2889 , being the current world order and its values.  St John had expressed the matter quite adamantly: “Love not the κόσμος, neither the things that are in the κόσμος – if any man love the κόσμος , the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the κόσμος , the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the κόσμος. (1Jn2:15-16).

This is a hard saying, and Jesus is no easier (e.g. Mt16:25). It is unlikely to be lived out by the many who are Christians in name only, but by true disciples of Christ, whom Scripture affirms shall attain to the first resurrection (Phil3:11; Jn6:54; Rev20:5-6) or if alive at the time be “raptured” (Lk17:34-36; 1Thes4:16-17). In Paul’s words  such individuals are  “pressing on towards the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil3:13-14). My book explains the context of God’s elect  within His broader salvific agenda, whilst this earlier post focuses  on the passage from Philippians.

Flesh versus spirit

Regarding John’s teaching I have highlighted “lust” as  it takes us on to Peter’s second point. As foreigners and strangers we should “abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul” (v11). Highlighting here is to point out that what wars against something cannot be derived from it. It is affirming my interpretation of that pivotal passage in Rom7 concerning the battle between the flesh and the spirit. Paul was not referring to the Holy Spirit as so many infer but the human spirit which pertains to the soul. With Peter there is no lexical confusion; with Paul, in view of the fact that the Greek text was written without casing or punctuation, there unfortunately is. Peter and Paul (when the latter is rightly interpreted) affirm that the source of human sin is not the God-given soul (the spiritual part of us that returns to God at physical death – Eccles12:7) but  what I refer to as the procreated intellectual vessel (body and brain) that is finally buried or incinerated. This has profound  implications regarding the nature and outworking of original sin, also covered in an earlier post.

All true humanity shall glorify God

Peter’s final point in this short passage is about as far removed from my former “Reformed” theological perspective as it is possible to get. That is that Gentiles/non-Christians shall glorify God on the Day of Judgement for the good works Christians have performed (v12), and (by implication) endorse the rewards and honours Christ’s true disciples shall receive for so doing. Jesus spoke along similar lines in Mt5:16: “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven”.

That is because unlike the Protestant Reformers, Jesus and Peter knew that mankind (most but not all of it) is not rotten to the core, but has an innate sense of justice and fairness. But then is it not an observable reality that most people regardless of any religious faith genuinely applaud and delight in people past and present who have performed acts of bravery, heroism or made substantial contributions to humanitarian wellbeing and the like? And the latter virtues should certainly apply to  God’s elect, who are assuredly not intended to be merely “an assembly of justified sinners”. As Paul told Titus, they are those who have been “redeemed from all iniquity and purified to God as a peculiar people with a zeal to do good works” (Tit2:14).

The Day of Visitation

How much more then shall all men and women of good will glorify God for Jesus Christ when He comes to judge the world with His saints (1Thes3:13; Jud1:14), especially when it is shown and understood what our glorious Saviour and Lord has achieved though the victory of the Cross. This will occur on what Peter describes as the “Day of Visitation”. More usually referred to as the Day of Judgement, it is also depicted as the Restoration of all things (Acts3:21), the Regeneration (Mt19:28) and the dreadful Day of the Lord (Mal4:5). Of those alive at the time only God’s elect shall be entirely delivered from it  (1Thes4:16-17).

The rest of humanity will need (so much) to be enlightened, in many cases rebuked, and in the case of the truly wicked, despatched for age-enduring punishment. The latter are the children of the devil, described by Jesus in parables as goats or tares. Such could never worship or serve the One who is the pinnacle of Goodness, Truth and Light, concerning all of which they know nothing. The rest shall embark on yet to be disclosed activities (1Jn3:2) within Peter’s longed-for new heavens and new earth. Righteousness shall certainly dwell there, for Satan and his minions will have been despatched and John’s “κόσμος” will have been replaced by the rule of Christ with His saints.

REFERENCED TEXTS (in order quoted)

Mt16:25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

Phil3:11 in order that by some means I (Paul) may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Jn6:54 The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has(present tense) eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

Rev20:5-6 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. ⁶ Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

Lk17:34-35 I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. ³⁵ There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left. 

1Th4:16-17 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Ecles12:7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

1Th3:13 So that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.

Jud1:14 It was also about these people that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord has come with many thousands of His holy ones

Acts3:21 (Jesus) whom heaven must receive until the time of restoration of all things, about which God spoke by the mouths of His holy prophets from ancient times

Mt19:28  Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Mal4:5 Behold, I am going to send you “Elijah” the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord

1Jn3:2a Beloved, we are now children of God, but it has not appeared as yet what we will be.