Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Peter 2:11

Having described the high privileges of the new Israel of God, St Peter proceeds in this second section of the Epistle to draw various moral lessons from them. In 1 Peter 2:11-12 he describes the personal duty of the Christian as regards self-conquest, remembering the influence which his life will have upon others.

ἀγαπητοί only occurs again in St Peter in 1 Peter 4:12 at the beginning of the third section of the Epistle, but it is common in other books.

παροίκους καὶ παρεπιδήμους. The same two ideas have already been presented in 1 Peter 1:1 παρεπιδήμοις and in 1 Peter 1:17 παροικίας. In classical Greek πάροικος means “a neighbour” and μέτοικος is the word for a resident alien which is the Biblical sense of πάροικος. In Hebrew two words were used for foreign sojourners.

(a) רגֵּ (Gêr), i.e. one who comes as a guest, is generally translated προσήλυτος, which originally merely meant an immigrant but eventually was used of foreigners who adopted the Jewish faith, “a proselyte,” but eleven times it is translated πάροικος.

(b) תּו̇שָׁב (Tôshav) or settler was generally used of temporary residents. It is always translated πάροικος, except in three passages where גֵּר and תּו̇שָׁב occur together. In two of these it is translated παρεπίδημος, and πάροικος is transferred to רגֵּ.

In Genesis 23:4 Abraham in asking leave to purchase a burial place says, “I am a stranger (πάροικος) and a sojourner (παρεπίδημος) with you,” and in Psalms 39:12 man’s life on earth is described as that of a “stranger and sojourner.” So in Hebrews 11:13 the patriarchs are shewn to have described themselves as “strangers and sojourners,” not with reference to the old home from which they had migrated but because they desired a heavenly fatherland.

σαρκικῶν. The flesh is here used, as in St Paul, in a bad sense as opposed to the spirit. The flesh is not however regarded as being in itself bad. It is “a good servant but a bad master.” Fleshly desires include selfishness, envy, etc., as well as such things as fornication or drunkenness, cf. Galatians 5:19 ff.

αἵτινες =such as by their very nature.

στρατεύονται. These fleshly desires are described as mutineers raising an insurrection against the true self. ψυχή in the N.T. does not mean “soul” in the modern sense of the word, i.e. the highest element in man. Originally it meant “life” and then the “true self” of a man, of which his bodily life is only a transient phase. The same idea of an internal warfare in man is found in Romans 7:23, “I see a different law in my members (ἀντιστρατευόμενον) taking up war against the law of my mind,” and in James 4:1, “your pleasures that war (στρατευομένων) in your members.” (See Introduction, p. lvii.)

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Peter 2:11

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