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11 Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to keep away from fleshly desires that do battle against the soul, 12 and maintain good conduct[a] among the non-Christians,[b] so that though[c] they now malign you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God when he appears.[d]

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Peter 2:12 tn Grk “keeping your conduct good.”
  2. 1 Peter 2:12 tn Grk “the Gentiles,” used here of those who are not God’s people.
  3. 1 Peter 2:12 tn Grk “in order that in what they malign you.”
  4. 1 Peter 2:12 tn Or “when he visits.” Grk “in the day of visitation,” denoting a time when God intervenes directly in human affairs, either for blessing (Luke 1:68, 78; 7:16; 19:44) or for judgment (Isa 10:3; Jer 6:15). This phrase may be a quotation from Isa 10:3, in which case judgment is in view here. But blessing seems to be the point, since part of the motive for good behavior is winning the non-Christian over to the faith (as in 3:1; also apparently in 3:15; cf. Matt 5:16).

Life as strangers in the world

11 Dear friends, since you are immigrants and strangers in the world, I urge that you avoid worldly desires that wage war against your lives. 12 Live honorably among the unbelievers. Today, they defame you, as if you were doing evil. But in the day when God visits to judge they will glorify him, because they have observed your honorable deeds.

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