Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Peter 2:11

"Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lust, which war against the soul;" — 1 Peter 2:11 (ASV)

This next division of the letter deals with some practical implications of what it means to be God’s people in a hostile world. Peter begins by reminding them of their position. He calls them “Dear friends” (lit., “beloved”; GK 28) because they are bound together by Christ’s love. Then he exhorts them as “foreigners and strangers.” These titles are rich in content, going back to Abraham (cf. Genesis 23:4; cf. also Ps 39:12; Hebrews 13:14, 1 Peter 1:1, 17). Christians are only in the world, not of it, for their true destiny is the renewed earth in which righteousness will dwell. Therefore, they are not to derive their values from what is transitory. So Peter warns of “sinful desires.” The body’s desires are not wrong or sinful in themselves, but sin perverts them; and the Christian is tempted to satisfy the bodily desires in ways contrary to God’s will. “Which war against your soul” speaks of the warfare that is a mortal threat against the entire person (cf. comment on 1:9). Peter’s exhortation means that Christians are not to participate in pagan immorality.