Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Peter 2:15

"For so is the will of God, that by well-doing ye should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:" — 1 Peter 2:15 (ASV)

For so is the will of God.—This refers to the command contained in the last two verses, which is then further explained by the clause that follows, that with well-doing. See a very similar construction in 1 Thessalonians 4:3. The “well-doing” of this and the last verse has the most general sense of good conduct, not the special sense noted in connection with the “fair works” and “fair life” of 1 Peter 2:12.

Put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.—This phrase is very contemptuous; the word for “put to silence” is the same as in 1 Corinthians 9:9 and 1 Timothy 5:18 (meaning “to muzzle” or “to gag”), implying that there is something of the animal about these “foolish men.” The same contempt appears in each word of the clause, even down to “men,” which could be rendered “people” or “creatures.” The word for “ignorance” implies a stolid and willful ignorance, and is used this way by pagan authors, as well as very markedly in the only other place it appears in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 15:34. “Foolish,” too, contains moral reprobation (Luke 12:20; 1 Corinthians 15:36), suggesting thoughtlessness rather than senselessness.

The definite article is also used in the Greek (as in 2 Thessalonians 3:2), and again seems to indicate that St. Peter had some particular enemies in view who had brought the charges. This accusation was evidently one of a political nature; indeed, history shows us that the hostility of the empire to the faith was entirely based on the corporate nature of the Christian religion. They would not have minded the cultus, but they could not tolerate the Church. Pliny distinctly says in his letter to Trajan that it was as a result of Trajan’s issuing an order against hetaeriae or societies that he was led to contend with the Christians in Bithynia.