1 Peter 2:12 (ESV) — 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so
that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and
glorify God on the day of visitation.
NOTE:
"According to many cultural anthropologists, the pivotal social value of
the biblical world was honor,…" (Mark Allan Powell, The HarperCollins
Bible Dictionary (Revised and Updated), 2011, 388). Honor does not seem to be
as valuable today, that may be part of our descent into sin and our unshackling
ourselves from morality and virtue. But while society may not espouse it,
individuals still do. We do have an expectation of honor from others, that is,
we expect them to be honest before our face, or to return something borrowed,
or to follow through on a commitment. We may not be surprised when our
expectations are not met, but we still retain the expectation. Which is why a
Christian, for the sake of his witness, needs to extol the virtues of honor
even if we no longer live in a biblical world. It is the way we want to be
treated and it is the way we want to interact with people around us. When we as
believers fail, it is one more nail in the coffin where the coffin contains the
concept "Christians are different because we have been transformed by
Jesus." The world wants to argue that there is no difference. But there is
a fundamental difference and we must expose that difference to the world so
that they may wake up and come to Jesus, the only salvation for their souls.
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