1 Peter 1:14
in 1 Peter 1As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
as children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in the time of your ignorance:
KJV
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
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This verse in 1 Peter 1
Commentary
10 notes on this verseAnd Peter in his epistle says the same: "So that your faith and hope may be in God, because you have purified your souls in obedience to the truth," "as obedient children, not behaving after the fashion of the lusts in which in your ignorance you formerly indulged; but as he who has called you is holy, so also must you be holy in all your conduct; as it is written, Be ye holy for I am holy."
This site's exposition
not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts
on 1 Peter 1:14-16
As obedient children draws the family metaphor forward, obedience the mark of true sonship, set against not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts of a life lived in ignorance of God. The positive pattern is holiness itself: as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, holiness reaching every sphere of conduct rather than one compartment of life. Because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy, quotes Leviticus 11:44 directly, carrying the old covenant's own ground for holiness into the new.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, in your ignorance: but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written: "Be holy, for I am holy." [Lev. 19:2] Conforming [Συσχηματιζειν], however, means …
The Medieval Church2 voices
As children of obedience, etc. Rightly he wishes them to be children of obedience, whom he had called elect in the preface to the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
The Apostle calls "conformity" the being carried along by present circumstances. For even now some foolish people say that one must adapt to circumstances. But since surrendering oneself to the will of circumstances is frivolous, the Apostle commands that whether they had held to this …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
As obedient children,.... Or "children of obedience". This may be connected either with what goes before, that seeing they were children of God, by adopting grace, and in regeneration brought to the obedience of faith, to whom the inheritance belonged, therefore they ought to continue hoping for it; or with what follows, that since they were manifestly the children of God by faith in.
(3.) Persons, when converted, differ exceedingly from what they were formerly. They are people of another fashion and manner from what they were before; their inward frame, behaviour, speech, and conversation, are much altered from what they were in times past. (4.) The lusts and extravagances of sinners are both the fruits and the signs of their ignorance.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Not fashioning yourselves - As the offices of certain persons are known by the garb or livery they wear, so are transgressors: where we see the world’s livery we see the world’s servants; they fashion or habit themselves according to their lusts, and we may guess that they have a worldly mind by their conformity to worldly fashions.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
"Lusts" flow from the original birth-sin (inherited from our first parents, who by self-willed desire brought sin into the world), the lust which, ever since man has been alienated from God, seeks to fill up with earthly things the emptiness of his being; the manifold forms which the mother-lust assumes are called in the plural lusts.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
As obedient children - That is, conduct yourselves as becomes the children of God, by obeying his commands; by submitting to His will; and by manifesting unwavering confidence in him as your Father at all times. Not fashioning yourselves - Not forming or modeling your life. Compare the notes at Rom 12:2. The idea is, that they were to have some model or example, in accordance with which they were to frame their lives, but that they were not to make their own former principles and conduct the model. The Christian is to be as different from what he was himself before conversion as he is from his fellow-men. He is to be governed by new laws, to aim at new objects, and to mould his life in accordance with new principles. Before conversion, he was: (a) Supremely selfish; (b) He lived for personal gratification; (c) He gave free indulgence to his appetites and passions, restrained only by a respect for the decencies of life, and by a reference to his own health, property, or reputation, without regard to the will of God; (d) He conformed himself to the customs and opinions around him, rather than to the requirements of his Maker; (e) He lived for worldly aggrandizements, his supreme object being wealth or fame; or, (f) In many cases, those who are now Christians, gave indulgence to every passion which they wished to gratify, regardless of reputation, health, property, or salvation. Now they are to be governed by a different rule, and their own former standard of morals and of opinions is no longer their guide, but the will of God. According to the former lusts in your ignorance - When you were ignorant of the requirements of the gospel, and gave yourselves up to the unrestrained indulgence of your passions.
The words behind it
12 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ὡς | hos | as | G5613 → | 500 times |
| τέκνα | tekna | children | G5043 → | |
| ὑπακοῆς | hupakoes | of obedience | G5218 → | 14 times |
| μὴ | me | not | G3361 → | 1066 times |
| συσχηματιζόμενοι | suschematizomenoi | fashioning yourselves | G4964 → | |
| ταῖς | tais | to the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| πρότερον | proteron | former | G4386 → | |
| ἐν | en | in | G1722 → | 2738 times |
| τῇ | tea | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἀγνοίᾳ | agnoia | ignorance | G52 → | |
| ὑμῶν | humon | of you | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| ἐπιθυμίαις, | epithumiais | desires, | G1939 → | 38 times |
ὡςas
hosG5613 →500 times
τέκναchildren
teknaG5043 →
ὑπακοῆςof obedience
hupakoesG5218 →14 times
μὴnot
meG3361 →1066 times
συσχηματιζόμενοιfashioning yourselves
suschematizomenoiG4964 →
ταῖςto the
taisG3588 →19766 times
πρότερονformer
proteronG4386 →
ἐνin
enG1722 →2738 times
τῇthe
teaG3588 →19766 times
ἀγνοίᾳignorance
agnoiaG52 →
ὑμῶνof you
humonG4771 →2973 times
ἐπιθυμίαις,desires,
epithumiaisG1939 →38 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Romans 12:2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of…
it leads to
- Ephesians 4:22–24
to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
- 2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!
- Colossians 3:10
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
- 1 John 2:15–17
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- Ephesians 5:17
Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
- Ephesians 4:22–24
Through
Ephesians 2:2in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the…
it leads to
- Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
- 1 John 5:19
We know that we are of God, and that the whole world is under the power of the evil one.
- Ephesians 2:3
All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.
- Ephesians 6:12
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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On this verse
About 1 Peter
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on the Catholic Epistles; Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata Book 3; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oecumenius, Commentary on 1 Peter and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 Peter.