2:11
This and the following verse encourage us to live godly lives, in this verse we have the negative aspect of that, ie what we should not do. First of all we need to recognise that we are strangers and aliens in this world. This world is not our home, in the sense that the world system is not our home. This world is living in rebellion against God, so we should not expect to feel at home here, and at times may feel very uneasy, or a lot worse. Whenever individual Christians or churches seek accommodation with the world, choose to follow the world’s wisdom they make a grievous mistake. So we are to abstain from sinful desires. The world may encourage us to follow them, whether it be sexual immorality, drunkenness, greed, using underhand or dishonest means etc. Sinful desires wage war against our souls, they are not good for us. There is a battle to be fought and we need to fight it.
2:12
How do we react to living in a hostile environment? We seek to live godly lives. The world may still falsely accuse us, but the accusations will be false. The Christians in the early church were often accused of all sorts of terrible things. The end result will then be that the pagans will give glory to God. This echoes the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:16. The world is to see our good deeds, not so that they glorify us, but so that they give glory to God. “The day He visits us” could be the day of judgement, but could also refer to interventions by God before then. The world is not on a uniform course to destruction, there are times when God acts in history to bring revival to a nation.
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