1 Peter 2

      11, 12. I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims. They were all, like the fathers ( Heb. 11:13 ), only pilgrims and sojourners on the earth, seeking for a better home. Hence they should abstain from fleshly lusts, which would destroy their prospects of that home. 12. Having your conversation. Daily life. Let it be such as to refute slanders of their enemies. Evil doers. See Acts 17:6 . The Jews often accused Christians to heathen rulers of being seditious. Because they rejected the heathen gods, they were accused of being atheists. The best way to answer these charges was to live them down. By your good works. Compare Matt. 5:16 . Day of visitation. The day when God will make all clear and the heathen shall be converted.

      13-17. Submit yourselves. Obey human laws. For the Lord's sake. Because it is the Lord's will. Whether the king. The Roman emperor whom the Greeks styled king. 14. Governors. The magistrates placed over the provinces of the Roman empire. Rulers are necessary, both to punish the evil and to reward the good. Compare Rom., chapter 13 . 15. That with well doing. It is God's will that thus you may silence the charge that you are seditious persons. 16. As free. Christians, freed from the bondage of sin and of the law, and having the free spirit of children, must not use their liberty as a cloke, an excuse, for wickedness. Servants. They are God's servants. 17. Honor all men. Respect men of every station. Love the brotherhood. As Christ loved us. Fear God. With reverential fear.

      18-20. Servants. Compare Eph. 6:5 and Col. 3:22 . The Greek word here is not that of the former passages which means slaves. This may mean hired servants. Be subject. That is the duty of the relation. Nor is a faithful obedience due to good masters only, but to the froward. The perverse. 19. Thankworthy. "Acceptable" in the Revision. If a man suffers wrong for conscience sake, God notes his suffering and approves of his conduct. 20. For what glory is it? To bear with patience punishment for faults is no glory, but to bear patiently suffering inflicted for right doing is approved before God.

      21-25. Hereunto were ye called. It was the experience of the Christian calling in that age to suffer for right doing. Even so Christ our Lord suffered. He is our example. 22. Who did no sin. He had no fault. 23. When he was reviled. He resented neither insults nor the sufferings inflicted upon him. But committed. He gave our judgment between him and his enemies to God. 24. Who . . . bare our sins. Died for our sins, not his own. He took our burdens. On the tree. The wood of the cross. That we being dead to sins. "Crucified with him," penitent, the repentant sinner is baptized into his death, and rising to a new life, lives unto righteousness. By whose stripes. See Isa. 53:5,6 . 25. Ye were as sheep. Led astray by sin. Are now returned. By coming to Christ. The Shepherd and Bishop. The good Shepherd who died for the sheep; the Bishop who watcheth over and careth for them.