11 Beloved , I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul . 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles , so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers , they may because of your good deeds , as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation .
13 Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution , whether to a king as the one in authority , 14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right . 15 For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men . 16 Act as free men , and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil , but use it as bondslaves of God . 17 Honor all people , love the brotherhood , fear God , honor the king .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Peter 2:11-17
Commentary on 1 Peter 2:11-12
(Read 1 Peter 2:11-12)
Even the best of men, the chosen generation, the people of God, need to be exhorted to keep from the worst sins. And fleshly lusts are most destructive to man's soul. It is a sore judgment to be given up to them. There is a day of visitation coming, wherein God may call to repentance by his word and his grace; then many will glorify God, and the holy lives of his people will have promoted the happy change.
Commentary on 1 Peter 2:13-17
(Read 1 Peter 2:13-17)
A Christian conversation must be honest; which it cannot be, if there is not a just and careful discharge of all relative duties: the apostle here treats of these distinctly. Regard to those duties is the will of God, consequently, the Christian's duty, and the way to silence the base slanders of ignorant and foolish men. Christians must endeavour, in all relations, to behave aright, that they do not make their liberty a cloak or covering for any wickedness, or for the neglect of duty; but they must remember that they are servants of God.