SEV Biblia, Chapter 2:11
Amados, yo os ruego como a extranjeros y peregrinos, que os abstengis de los deseos carnales que batallan contra el alma,
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 Peter 2:11
Verse 11. As strangers and pilgrims] See the note on Hebrews xi. 13. These were strangers and pilgrims in the most literal sense of the word, see chap. i. 1, for they were strangers scattered through Asia, Pontus, &c.
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 salvation of their souls; they are not strangers, they are here at home; they are not pilgrims, they are seeking an earthly possession: Heaven is your home, seek that; God is your portion, seek him. All kinds of earthly desires, whether those of the flesh or of the eye, or those included in the pride of life, are here comprised in the words fleshly lusts.
Which war against the soul] aitinev strateuontai kata thv yuchv? Which are marshalled and drawn up in battle array, to fight against the soul; either to slay it, or to bring it into captivity. This is the object and operation of every earthly and sensual desire. How little do those who indulge them think of the ruin which they produce!
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 11. Dearly beloved, I beseech you , etc.] 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 authoritative way command, as he might have done, as an apostle, but, as a friend, he entreats and beseeches them: as strangers and pilgrims ; not in a literal sense, though they were in a foreign country, in a strange land, and sojourners there, but in a spiritual and mystical sense; they were strangers, not to God and Christ, and to the Spirit, to themselves, to the saints, and to all that is good, as they had formerly been, but to the world, the men of it, and the things in it; and therefore it became them to separate from it, and not conform to it; to abstain from all appearance of evil, to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts: and they were pilgrims; whose habit is Christ and his righteousness; whose food is Christ and his fulness; whose staff is Christ and the promises; whose guide is the blessed Spirit; the place for which they are bound is heaven, the better country, where is their Father's house, their friends, and their inheritance; this world not being their country, nor their resting place, it became them to have their conversation in heaven, and to abstain from fleshly lusts ; which spring from the flesh, and are concerned about fleshly things, and are exercised in and by the members of the flesh, or body; hence, in the Syriac version, they are called, the lusts of the body: these are to be abstained from; not that the apostle thought that they could be without them; for while the saints are in the body, flesh, or corrupt nature will be in them, and the lusts thereof; but then these are not to be indulged, or provision to be made for them, to fulfil them; they are not to be obeyed and served, or lived unto, but to be denied and crucified, being unsuitable to the character of strangers and pilgrims, and also because of their hurtful and pernicious nature: which war against the soul ; (see Romans 7:23 James 4:1 Song of Solomon 6:13), these are enemies to the spiritual peace, comfort, and welfare of the soul; and being of a man's household, and in his heart, are the worst enemies he has; and are to be treated as such, to be shunned and avoided, watched and guarded against; for though they cannot destroy the souls of true believers, they may bring much leanness upon them, and greatly distress them, and spoil them of their inward joy, and spiritual pleasure.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 11, 12 - Even the best of men, the chosen generation, the people of God, need to be exhorted to keep from the worst sins. And fleshly lusts are mos destructive to man's soul. It is a sore judgment to be given up to them. There is a day of visitation coming, wherein God may call to repentance by his word and his grace; then many will glorify God, an the holy lives of his people will have promoted the happy change.
Greek Textus Receptus
αγαπητοι 27 παρακαλω 3870 5719 ως 5613 παροικους 3941 και 2532 παρεπιδημους 3927 απεχεσθαι 567 5733 των 3588 σαρκικων 4559 επιθυμιων 1939 αιτινες 3748 στρατευονται 4754 5731 κατα 2596 της 3588 ψυχης 5590
Vincent's NT Word Studies
11. Beloved (agaphtoi). A favorite term with Peter, occurring eight times in the epistles. See the phrase, our beloved Barnabas and Paul, Acts xv. 25, in the letter sent by the council at Jerusalem to the Gentile Christians, the account of which, doubtless, came from Peter. Compare our beloved brother Paul, 2 Pet. iii. 15.
Strangers (paroikouv). Rev., sojourners. Compare ch. i. 17, "the time of your sojourning (paroikiav)."
Which (aitinev). The compound pronoun denotes a class, of that kind which, classifying all fleshly desires in one category.
