Read & Study the Bible Online - Bible Portal
Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Peter 2:4-12

I. The apostle here gives us a description of Jesus Christ as a living stone; and though to a capricious wit, or an infidel, this description may seem rough and harsh, yet to the Jews, who placed much of their religion in their magnificent temple, and who understood the prophetical style, which calls the Messiah a stone (Isa. 8:14; 28:16), it would appear very elegant and proper. 1. In this metaphorical description of Jesus Christ, he is called a stone, to denote his invincible strength and... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Peter 2:11-12

2:11-12 Beloved, I urge you, as strangers and sojourners, to abstain from the fleshly desires which carry on their campaign against the soul. Make your conduct amongst the Gentiles fine, so that in every matter in which they slander you as evil-doers, they may see from your fine deeds what you are really like and glorify God on the day when he will visit the earth. The basic commandment in this passage is that the Christian should abstain from fleshly desires. It is of the greatest... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Peter 2:11-12

(ii) But there was for Peter another and even more practical reason why the Christian must abstain from fleshly desires. The early church was under fire. Slanderous charges were continually being made against the Christians; and the only effective way to refute them was to live lives so lovely that they would be seen to be obviously untrue. To modern ears the King James Version can be a little misleading. It speaks about "having your conversation honest among the Gentiles." That sounds to us... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Peter 2:11

Dearly beloved, I beseech you ,.... The apostle, from characters of the saints, and which express their blessings and privileges, with great beauty, propriety, and pertinency, passes to exhortations to duties; he addresses the saints under this affectionate appellation, "dearly beloved", to express his great love to them, and to show that what he was about to exhort them to sprung from sincere and hearty affection for them, and was with a view to their real good; nor does he in an... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Peter 2:11

As strangers and pilgrims - See the note on Hebrews 11:13 . These were strangers and pilgrims in the most literal sense of the word, see 1 Peter 1:1 , for they were strangers scattered through Asia, Pontus, etc. Abstain from fleshly lusts - As ye are strangers and pilgrims, and profess to seek a heavenly country, do not entangle your affections with earthly things. While others spend all their time, and employ all their skill, in acquiring earthly property, and totally neglect the... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Peter 2:11

Verse 11 11As strangers, or sojourners. There are two parts to this exhortation, — that their souls were to be free within from wicked and vicious lusts; and also, that they were to live honestly among men, and by the example of a good life not only to confirm the godly, but also to gain over the unbelieving to God. And first, to call them away from the indulgence of carnal lusts, he employs this argument, that they were sojourners and strangers. And he so calls them, not because they were... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Peter 2:11

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims. St. Peter returns to practical topics: he begins his exhortation in the affectionate manner common in Holy Scripture. He calls his readers "strangers and pilgrims ." The word here rendered " strangers " ( πάροικοι ) is equivalent to the classical μέτοικοι , and means "foreign set-tiers, dwellers in a strange land." The second word ( παρεοίδημοι , translated "strangers" in 1 Peter 1:1-25 .) means "visitors" who... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 Peter 2:11

Dearly beloved, I beseech you strangers and pilgrims - On the word rendered “strangers,” (παροίκους paroikous,) see the notes at Ephesians 2:19, where it is rendered “foreigners.” It means, properly, one dwelling near, neighboring; then a by-dweller, a sojourner, one without the rights of citizenship, as distinguished from a citizen; and it means here that Christians are not properly citizens of this world, but that their citizenship is in heaven, and that they are here mere sojourners.... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 1 Peter 2:11-12

1 Peter 2:11-12. I beseech you, as strangers Or sojourners; and pilgrims Who have no inheritance on this earth, but are travelling to the heavenly country. The former word, παροικοι , properly means those who are in a strange house, a house not their own: the second, παρεπιδημοι , those who are in a strange country, and among a people not their own. We sojourn in the body; we are pilgrims in this world; abstain from fleshly lusts Or carnal desires; from inordinate desires of any thing... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - 1 Peter 2:11-25

2:11-3:12 CHRISTIAN RELATIONSHIPSIn society (2:11-25)The present world is not the true home of those who have come into a living relationship with Jesus Christ. They are now God’s people and they belong to the heavenly kingdom. But their higher status and greater citizenship do not give them the right to do as they like in the present world. They must discipline and control themselves. Negatively, they must not give in to the desires of the sinful nature; positively, they must maintain right... read more

Group of Brands