Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Peter 4:3

"For the time past may suffice to have wrought the desire of the Gentiles, and to have walked in lasciviousness, lusts, winebibbings, revellings, carousings, and abominable idolatries:" — 1 Peter 4:3 (ASV)

The counsel of pagans is now contrasted with God’s will. This verse clearly supports the position that the recipients of the letter had, before their conversion, been pagans. The “detestable idolatry” (or “illicit idolatries”) distinguished the Jews from their pagan neighbors. The other items listed (cf. comment on 2:1) are the common excesses of drink, sex, and wild parties found among the nonChristians then (and now).