The First Letter of Peter- 9

Subtitle: Our Witness before the World- Part 1

1 Peter 2:11-15.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, January 18, 2026.

In some ways, we can continue to see this passage as Peter talking about all the ways that this new spiritual people are to live out their faith.  However, Peter begins to emphasize the way that our life of faith affects the unbelieving world around us.  This is why I have subtitled this part of the series, “Our Witness before the World.”  This major section of Peter’s letter goes from 1 Peter 2:11-4:11.

Let’s look at our passage.

Abstain from fleshly lusts (v. 11-12)

This small section connects back to an earlier command but also serves to transition into this issue of the world around us.  In chapter 1 verse 14, Peter had challenged them not to be conformed to the former lusts that they had in their ignorance, i.e., before they believed in Jesus.  They had been living for themselves like everyone else in their society.  Now, they are following Jesus and learning to be holy as he is holy.

God’s plan to fix humanity’s sin problem is for us to put our faith in Jesus, live a mortal life fighting sin by faith, and then He will finish the work by Resurrecting us with glorified, heavenly bodies.  Of course, the world is feverishly trying to come up with a different plan.  Ultimately, it is taking us down a path of trying to overcome every obstacle of creation in order to perfect ourselves.  At the root of the human problem is the idea that God cannot be trusted.  His creation cannot be trusted.  We must do it for ourselves!  Instead of accepting the grace of God’s help, we choose to try and make “god” ourselves.  This will not end well.  Imagine the hubris of thinking that fallen mortals can make a perfect immortal.

Chapter 1 ended with the metaphor of an imperishable seed.  Humans are like grass, here today and gone tomorrow.  However, the Word of the Lord endures forever.  We have entered into this mortal grass-existence.  However, by faith in Jesus, we can participate in the immortal and imperishable existence of Jesus, the Word of God.

This led to the beginning of chapter two where Peter tells us to lay aside things like malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander.  These are specific lusts.

This brings us back to verse 11.  Lusts are strong, heated desires that have their source in our body.  We cannot let these strong desires rule over us.  Thus, Peter tells us to abstain from them.  In English, the idea of abstaining is often seen in voting.  A person can vote “yea,” or “nay,” or they can refuse to vote, abstain from voting.  This can be out of protest, or it can be out of protecting future opportunities. 

Regardless, the Greek word that it is used to translate literally means to have these lust away from yourself.  It ties in with the idea of taking off the deeds of the flesh and putting on the character of Christ.  In fact, Paul gives quite the list in Galatians 5:19-21.  He tells us that they are obvious.

Notice that Peter urges them to do this.  The New King James Version says “I beg you…”  Peter feels strongly about this.  The word pictures one who calls you to their side in order to exhort you strongly about something.

He also tells them to abstain from fleshly lusts like foreigners and exiles.  This image was used earlier as well.  He is not just using this image of the Jews among them.  He is also speaking to the Gentiles.  You may be in your homeland but to put your faith in Jesus is to choose to be a part of the exiles of Christ.  We become strangers in a land that is familiar to us.

This is one of the classic tests of character.  A person who is in a place where no one knows them can be tempted to do as the Romans (when in Rome…).  This is a common way for a spouse to take their first step of unfaithfulness.

We recognize that all of humanity is in exile from God.  But in Jesus, we become exiles with a promise of a promised land.  God is in the business of bringing people out of exile into His Promised Land.

We can be blind to all the ways that our culture is pulling us away from Christ, so Peter has focused on fleshly lusts.

Peter also describes these fleshly lusts as waging war against our soul.  This is a war of possession.  Your flesh wants control of you.  It will be all about the pursuit of satisfying its urges.  However, Jesus has called us to take a stand against it. He stated in Luke 21:19, “By your perseverance, take possession of your souls.”  If you let your flesh and its strong desires win, then you will find yourself in bondage to it.  The longer this goes on the harder it will be to break this bondage.  Yet, all things are possible with God!

The lusts of our flesh can wear us down.  We can grow weary of denying them and casting them aside.  On top of this, the world around us cajoles us, even badgers us, towards living a life of satisfying our lusts.

This internal battle will have an outward effect, which he turns to next.

“Keep your behavior excellent among the nations.”  The inner battle leads to external behavior, or conduct.  This is seen and even experienced by the world, the nations, in which we live.  This is really the same command with parallel language.

What is excellent behavior?  Peter clearly means excellent by God’s definition and not by the definition of the world around you.  This word excellent has the idea of good as well as a moral good.  It is connected to beauty.  Can we live in a way that is beautiful and morally good to God?  Jesus is the pattern and the help for us to do so.

They are to do this in the face of slander.  Early Christians were slandered a lot, whether ignorantly or maliciously.  Some of the slanders were as follows:

1. Communion was often described as a ritual of eating the flesh and drinking the flesh of babies.
2. Their times of communion involved a meal called the love feast.  It was common to claim that these were nothing more than orgies (gluttony on food and sexual immorality). 
3. Christians were accused of being antisocial because they didn’t participate in the entertainments of the culture.
4. They were also accused of being atheists because they didn’t worship all of the gods.

Such slanders are done because they tend to be effective upon weak people.  It can affect some by causing them to be angry and respond in an unchristian way.  It affects others by stirring fear in their heart.  The fleshly lust of being accepted, approved by others, can lead us away from Christ and into the world.

Christians should not be quick to believe statements about others that we have not personally observed.  Of course, we shouldn’t overly defend people that we do not know either.  Have you noticed that we are a society that is pushed to and fro by slanders and libels galore?  This is a part of the sinful culture in which we live.  Can I continue to abstain from fleshly lusts when others around me deploy them against me?

No matter how the world describes our actions, we are to live out the excellent behavior that Christ leads us to do.  Like the good Samaritan, we do the right thing whether others do or not. 

Again, they may malign us, but here is the main thing.  Peter says that they will observe our good deeds.  Have you ever thought that God gives us sacrificial things to do in order to get the attention of the world and to be a witness to it?  They need to see us doing Christ-like things!  They may be perplexed at why you don’t do what they do, and they may even be angry that you are not like them.  Yet, they will see us doing the righteousness of Christ nonetheless.

Peter then says that they will glorify God in the day of visitation.  This visible evidence of the work of God’s Spirit within us will have an effect one way or another.

The day of visitation mentioned here simply means a day when God shows up, whether for good or bad.  This can be contemplated in the ultimate sense when all the wicked are brought before Jesus for judgment.  How will they glorify God then?  They will recognize in the moment that they were wrong and that we were right.  As they declare that Jesus is Lord, they are also declaring that His work in us was true.

It is also possible to see the day of visitation in regard to the times that the Spirit of God touches a person’s heart and mind.  This visitation of grace begs the question.  What will you do with this Jesus?  When we demonstrate the goodness of Christ to a sinful world, some of them may glorify God by putting their faith in Jesus at a later date.  This is the best revenge upon enemies.  Show them Jesus and give them the opportunity to become a part of the new spiritual people of God, a brother!

Submit to every human institution (v. 13-15)

Peter now focuses particularly upon human authority structures in our lives.  These people were not under the authority of these United States of America.  They were under the Roman Empire and the Roman Emperor, Caesar.  This was a dictatorship with local governors and magistrates serving the purposes of Caesar.

We have talked about this word “submit” in the past.  It refers to taking your proper place under a particular authority.  It does not mean to obey every command.  This is exampled by Peter and the apostles in Acts 5.  They were told by the authorities to stop teaching about Jesus.  Peter stated, “We must obey God rather than men.”  How did they take their proper place under authority?  They did not obey the command that was contrary to God, but they did submit to the arrests and beatings.  They did not use the arrogance of these human authorities as a justification for fighting back with weapons.  In fact, we saw this during the arrest of Jesus.  Jesus had done exactly what God had commanded him to do.  However, he submitted to their arrest.

We are not going to fix the authorities of this world through revolution, swords, and guns.  Christians are not called to be purposefully rebelling against authorities.  However, we are not called to blind obedience to them either.  We are called to be like Christ, to share his Gospel.  We image the good Character of Christ.  What they do with us between them and Christ.

The Roman Empire no longer exists today.  That is the judgment of Jesus Christ!  And, if we are not careful, the judgment of Jesus Christ may cause the United States of America to no longer exist. 

The only thing that can fix the authorities is for enough of this Republic to repent, trust the Word of God in Jesus, and to live out that faith boldly.  In truth, to submit to the human authorities is to submit to the authority of Jesus.

In all of this, we must be led by the Holy Spirit.  Men like Jeremiah were accused of not submitting to the government because they didn’t like what he was saying.  Jeremiah did what he did for the Lord.  This is what Peter means when he says for us to submit “for the Lord’s sake.”  We can be led by God to be a rebuke to authorities all the while staying in proper submission to the authority they have.

We may not feel like doing this, but we do it for Jesus.  Jesus is King over Ceasar, over the POTUS, over any leader of a nation today.  We may ask why God let’s some of them do wicked things.  It is because He gives people time to see the error of their ways, to see His people living righteously in spite of their evil.  Yet, in the end, Jesus does judge these nations.  Do you not realize that most nations today are less than 200 years old?  As these United States of America approach 250 years since our formation, we should do so with great humility and repentance.

Regardless of the level of the authority, we respect the command of Christ.  These authorities are responsible for punishing evildoers and praising those who do right.  They may do a horrible job at this.  They may even have totally corrupted the processes that were set up to ensure this.  Yet, God will have the final word.

We are not under the Roman Empire.  The average American does not understand how authority works in this Republic.  We tend to believe that the citizens have the least authority, then the cities and counties, then the States, and finally, the Federal government is the top authority.  Those who crafted the wording of the Constitution would be perplexed at how ignorant we are in these matters.

If you think of authority as a sphere of operation, then we can recognize that a man and woman would have authority over their home and what happens in it.  This is a sphere in which the State and the federal government had no authority.  These other groups may have more power than you and can abuse that power, but in the end, they have no authority over your home.

They did not see the federal government as above or below the State governments.  Some of the powers invested in the States were delegated to the federal government.  It was a delegated authority.  The federal government is the highest authority only in those enumerated spheres that we stipulate in the Constitution.  Anything outside of that is an abuse of power without proper authority.

In those spheres that were not given to the federal government, the States would be the highest authority, but only if the people of those States had given them that sphere of authority in their State constitutions.

All authority is given by We the People through constitutions to our State and federal servants.  If a particular authority is not stipulated in a constitution, then it is retained by the people.

This brings up the question of sovereignty.  Jesus is the capital S Sovereign of these United States.  However, We the People are the little s sovereign of this land.  We need to always be asking who have We the People made to be the proper authority in this area?  We need to also ask, “What is God’s purpose?”

If we are willing to do anything in order to “fix” the government, then we will find it is easier said than done.  This is a spiritual problem not a political problem.  Many evildoers have pushed themselves into our authority structures.  In those structures, they have arrogated powers to themselves that were never properly given them.  Until We the People repent and call our elected servants to heel, corruption and wickedness will rule over the land.  This will only bring the judgment of Christ against this great Republic.

In the end, Peter states that God wants us to submit to the authorities in order to silence the ignorance of foolish men.  Many of these foolish men are not Christians, but some of them are.  Those who do not accept the truth of the authority of Jesus have a vested interest in maligning His Church.  On top of this, certain parts of the Church have not followed this admonition perfectly in the past.

God is teaching this world about righteousness and freedom.  We can work in harmony with that teaching, or we can be at odds with what God is doing through Jesus.

This is where controlling the fleshly lusts can help us.  Much of politics is about manipulating the fleshly lusts of the populace in order to gain power against an opponent.  We can be manipulated to work against our own best interests!  No politician and no political party can fix this land.  Only a repentant people surrendered to the authority of Jesus can be truly set free from the bondage into which they have fallen.  That will transform our society!

Our Witness 1 audio