The recurring theme of Peter’s epistle is sanctification. Sanctification means to be set apart unto God. To be holy. To live holy lives. And the point that has emerged again and again in this letter is that sanctification is a life that is characterized by living in the spirit and not in the flesh. It is a life of holiness, as opposed to a life of wanton pleasure.
In chapter 1 vs 2, Peter says we have been saved “by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ.” The Spirit sets us apart to be obedient to Christ. He says in vs2 that we have been born again. Just as Jesus said to Nicodemus, that the natural man cannot inherit the kingdom of God, so you must be born again by the Spirit, so that you are spiritual. So that you are reborn holy, righteous. Because the natural man is fleshly, self centered, and sinful.
And now that you are born again into a new life, reborn in holiness, we are to live holy. Your behavior is to be holy. In ch.1 vs15 Peter says “But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.” This change of behavior is sanctification. It begins by a sovereign act of God in salvation, and progressively continues as we are obedient to His commandments, resulting in righteous living.
To that end Peter says in ch 1 vs 22 that you are to purify your souls in obedience to the truth. That’s how we are to live holy, by obedience to the truth, which is God’s word. So that our soul, which is our mind and intellect and emotions, are purified. Having a purified mind is a tough thing to do when you are living in a corrupt world. Peter said about Lot in his second epistle that he was a righteous man who had his soul vexed because of the lawless deeds he saw while living in Sodom and Gomorrah. We are living in Sodom and Gomorrah today, ladies and gentlemen, no doubt about it. And as such we are in a battle for the purity of our souls as we observe the world around us. But we do so by obedience to the truth, through the renewing of our mind in the truth. That we might be holy, sanctified, a chosen people of God, and priests to our God in the midst of a perverse generation.
Peter establishes the source of our purification in ch 1 vs 23 saying that we are born again from the seed which is the word of God. That is the source of purification; our obedience to the word of God.
So having established the method of sanctification Peter goes on to present the goal of our sanctification in ch 2, saying that we are the chosen people of God, designed to be holy, royal priests unto God, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
But then in ch 2 vs 11 Peter makes it clear that sanctification is not a position which we ascend to and then that’s it, but he says that there is a continual battle that the world forces of darkness is waging against your soul. He says, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.” Let me be clear, the purpose of war is to destroy the enemy. And if you are a child of God then the devil is your enemy and he is determined to destroy you. Peter says he will attempt to destroy your soul through the lusts of the flesh. Though your spirit is preserved, yet in your flesh you can still be destroyed both in your effectiveness as a light to the world, and in terms of your reward, or your usefulness.
Peter goes on to warn in ch 5 vs 8, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” He wants to destroy your soul. And if you give into the flesh, he will succeed.
Now the key to being victorious in this battle is found in ch 2 vs 24, when he says, “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.” When we think of the cross, we often simply think of it as Christ died for our sins so that we might be saved and have eternal life. But notice what it says, it says, “so that we might die to sin.” That’s the key. Just as Jesus died for sin, so we also must die to sin.
And so Peter equates our sanctification to the principle of submission, to doing what is right, being “harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.” These behaviors, this attitude is a safeguard against fulfilling the lusts of the flesh. They are the perspectives of our behavior, of our attitude of obedience, by which we can live sanctified lives unto God. Lives that are characterized by seeking the good for others, rather than for seeking self gratification. That’s the nature of the new life we have in the Spirit which is directly contrary to the me centered theology which is so dominant in evangelical circles today. God is worthy only because He loves me, He accepts me, He blesses me, He does what I want Him to do. That’s a me centered theology. But the Biblical view is that I am the problem, I am a sinner, I am fleshly, I am corrupt, and I need to die to myself so that He might live in me.
So then Peter doubles back to that earlier principle of Christ dying for sin, so that we might also die to sin. He says in ch 3 vs 18, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.” This is the way to victory in this spiritual battle that we are engaged in. Christ was victorious over sin and death and the devil, and that came about by His death on the cross in His flesh, but He was alive in His Spirit and proclaimed victory even in the halls of death, that is Hades.
But as Christ suffered death so that He might reign victorious in His Spirit, so we do the same, dying to self, dying to our fleshly passions, in order that we might live in the Spirit. “Therefore,” Peter says in chapter 4 vs1, since Christ has suffered death in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered death in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.”
Notice the language Peter uses. This is a war. He says “arm yourselves.” Take up arms. It’s a call to the battle. The life of a Christian is a life of self sacrifice. It’s a life of service. It’s a life of warfare. The current view of some in the evangelical church that the Christian life is a life of pleasure, of living your best life now, of having fat wallets and good health, is a testimony to the schemes of the devil which wage war against the soul. It’s a strategy to get Christians to focus on living in the flesh instead of in the Spirit. But Paul tells us that such a self centered life results in putrefaction rather than purity. Gal. 6:8 “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”
So as counter intuitive as it may seem, the way to life is through death.The way to spiritual life is through physical death. Jesus said in Matt. 10:38-39 “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”
So then the secret to being victorious in this war we are engaged in, is to die to the flesh, particularly the lusts of the flesh. As Peter said, since Christ has suffered death in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered death in the flesh has ceased from sin. Peter isn’t saying that the only escape we have from the flesh is to commit suicide, or to be terminated in some fashion, but to die to the sinful passions of the flesh. Crucify the flesh. Paul said in Gal. 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” We die to the flesh so that we might live by the Spirit.
Now Peter says we must arm ourselves in three ways for this conflict. Number one, which I have already alluded to, we arm ourselves in our attitude. We need to have the same mind as Christ, the same way of thinking that He had. We need to have the attitude which Christ had regarding the flesh, purposefully willing to die to sin.
Paul tells us in Phil. 2:5-8 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, [and] being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” The point is not suffering for sufferings sake, but dying to the flesh. Christ was willing to die in the flesh. He did not try to avoid it, but welcomed it.
This attitude is a result of the battle for the mind. Rom 7:23 “but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.” Putting to death the lusts of the flesh sets us free to be alive in the Spirit. So the first way to arm ourselves is in our attitude, considering ourselves dead to the passions of the flesh.
The second way we arm ourselves is to live for the will of God. Vs 2, “so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.” No longer enslaved to the passions of the flesh. Peter talked about this back in chapter 1 vs 14, saying, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior.” Don’t give in to the former lusts, don’t be conformed to the lusts of the world. But instead be obedient to the will of God.
Now what is the will of God? He’s not talking necessarily about a career path for your life, or who you should marry or that sort of thing, but he’s talking about holiness in ch 1 vs 14. He’s talking about sanctification. We should be holy because He is holy according to chapter 1vs18.
That’s the will of God. Paul said in 1Thess. 4:3-7 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.” So in this new life, we should live for the will of God which is holiness.
The third way we arm ourselves is to leave fleshly passions behind. In vs 3, it says “For the time already past is sufficient for you…” Literally Peter is saying, “Enough!” The time you spent chasing after the lusts of the flesh is more than enough. It’s more than sufficient. Let’s get on to living now for the Lord.”
Now what are the passions that he’s speaking of? “For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.” All of these things promise self gratification, but end up in dissolution. Sensuality are things that appeal to the flesh, appeals through the senses; touch, feel, smell, taste and sight. Eve sinned because it looked good to the eyes. Faith though doesn’t rely on the senses. 2 Cor. 5:7 says “for we walk by faith, not by sight.”
In speaking of lusts, I believe Peter is speaking of self gratification through sexual immoralities, fornication, adultery, sexual impurity. In regards to drunkeness, carousing, and drinking parties- I think they are self explanatory. Though I would say that would include anything that undermines sobriety such as drugs. And idolatries include anything that you put on a pedestal, anything that you worship, anything that you serve. We aren’t so unsophisticated today as to worship an idol on a shelf, but we worship the idols of money, of fame, of possessions. Peter says the past life was more than enough time to spend on such things. Leave them behind now in this new life. Every day put the passions of the past further and further in your rear view mirror.
Paul gives us a parallel to this passage in Romans 13:12-14 “The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”
Now as you arm yourselves in these three ways, know that it will cost you to do so. And there are two costs involved. They are found in vs 4, “In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with [them] into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you.”
The first cost is that your family and friends from the past life are surprised that you are no longer engaged in the things that they are. They don’t understand you anymore. They can’t relate. I think it’s a telling testimony of a Christian that he or she no longer has the same friends they had prior to being saved. Not because we are no longer interested in them, or because we are not friendly, but because they no longer understand you, and they no longer feel like hanging out with you. You’re no fun anymore. They can’t relate to you anymore. And to that extent, I would be suspicious of a Christian who seems to have a number of unsaved friends. As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. And if you’re a Christian, and you still have the same old friends you used to have, hanging out in the same old places, then chances are you’ve never crucified the flesh and are still living in sin.
It’s kind of like a man and woman when they are married. A guy that would rather hang out with his old buddies rather than be with his new wife is a man that really doesn’t love his wife the way he should. And so it is with the Lord. If you are married to Him, as the bride of Christ, then it stands to reason that you will forsake all others and cling only to Him. You will prefer to be with other Christians, or prefer to be in church, than to be in the world.
The other cost is that they malign you. That initial confusion of your old friends soon turns to ridicule. That hate your holiness because it makes them uncomfortable, even convicted. I believe that there are a lot of times when just our testimony of being a Christian makes some people hate you. They might try to pretend acceptance of who you are on the surface, but then something happens and it’s like a trigger and they go off on you. And it’s very disconcerting when that happens because you don’t know what you did to deserve their outrage. A lot of times it’s not what you did, but who you are. They hate you without cause, except that they hate Christ.
Jesus said in John 15:18-19 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”
In vs six, Peter presents one final accounting. He gives us a reminder of a final day of judgment. This war between the flesh and the spirit will one day come to an end by the appearing of Jesus Christ. And at that time there will be a judgment. I think Peter is especially thinking of those that maligned us in this life, those that persecuted the church to any degree. He says in vs 5, “but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”
I like the KJV rendering of that verse, it says “Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.” I believe Sam Elliot was in a movie called the Quick and the Dead. It was from a book written by my wife’s favorite author, Louis L’Amour. She loves those westerns. I worry that I’ll never measure up to those cowboys she reads about. But anyway, there is a final day of judgment for those who are considered in this verse as dead. That speaks of being spiritually dead. By rejecting the life through Jesus Christ they have remained spiritual dead, and they will be condemned to eternal death in the Lake of Fire.
So because of this final accounting, our position in this life as Christians is to leave judgment to God. There is no need to retaliate when they malign you. In fact, our goal is to win them to the Lord at all costs, even if it means we suffer their hatred. But know that the Lord will settle the books in the end.
The good news of the gospel for us who are saved is that Christ was judged in our place, and He took the punishment that was due to us, so that we might have spiritual life. We have been quickened. We have been given life in the spirit which will continue on after this flesh has fallen away. Peter referencing that says in vs 6, “For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.”
Now I don’t want you to confuse vs 6 with what was spoken of in chapter 3 vs 18 and 19. There are two different events being talked about. The first in ch 3 vs18 is when Christ died on the cross and in His Spirit He proclaimed victory to the demons in Hades. This second passage speaks of those who have heard the gospel preached while here on earth, they were saved as a result, and are now living in the spirit awaiting the resurrection.
The idea that Peter references that they are judged in the flesh as men does not speak to eternal judgment, but it speaks to the principle that it is appointed unto men once to die. All men are going to die in the flesh as a result of the fall. But those who believe in the Lord Jesus are made alive in the spirit, and thus they will never die but they live according to the will of God. There will come a day when Christ shall come again, and we will be raised in our spirits to meet Christ, and then receive a new a glorified body which will be incorruptible, and without sin. And that is the ultimate goal of our sanctification, that is glorification.
The question that I would leave with you today is which camp are you? Are you of the living or the dead? Are you living in the flesh, enslaved to the lusts of the flesh, at enmity with God and thus spiritually dead? Rom. 8:5-8 says, “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able [to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Or are you one who has been made alive in the spirit? That same passage goes on to say in Rom. 8:12-17 “So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh– for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”
I trust that you have been justified by faith in what Jesus has accomplished on our behalf through the cross, and that you have committed to live for Christ, trusting Him as your Savior and Lord, being sanctified and conformed to the image of Christ, so that you may do the will of God, that at His appearing you might receive the inheritance of glory which has been promised to those who are the children of God.