"To Whom it May Concern"
1 Peter 2:11
To whom is 1 Peter 2:11 addressed? "Dearly
beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts
which war against the soul."
In the context, the answer is obvious. It is addressed to the elect, the saved,
to those who have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, to those who
purified their souls in obeying the truth, to those who have been born again, to
those who constitute a spiritual house, having been called out of darkness into
his marvelous light (1 Pet. 1:2, 18, 19, 22, 23; 2:5-9).
However, those who believe the Calvinistic doctrines of total depravity and
"once saved, always saved," cannot answer the question, "To whom is the passage
addressed?" Let us see why they cannot hold to their doctrines and be
consistent with the word of God and those addressed in 1 Peter 2:11.
First, is the text written to the unsaved, to children of the devil? No, as we
have shown, that cannot be the case. Further, the sinner cannot be spoken to,
for he, according to the creeds of men, is born totally depraved, completely
defiled in all faculties of the soul and body. Thus, fleshly lusts cannot war
against his soul. His soul is already as evil and corrupt as it can be. There
would be no need to say that fleshly lusts war against his soul. Those lusts are
in harmony with his corrupted nature, not at war with it. Hence, Calvinists
(Baptists, Presbyterians, etc.) cannot say that 1 Peter 2:11 is directed to the
lost.
Second, is the text aimed at the saved, the children of God? Yes, as we
previously noted in the context, it is pointed toward those who have been
redeemed by the blood of Christ. But this answer contradicts Calvinistic
conclusions. Those who subscribe to the doctrine of unconditional eternal
security cannot say the passage is speaking to the saved, because they do not
believe that "fleshly lusts war against the soul" of the saved.
They believe that a saved person's soul is untouched and untainted by the
assaults and ravages of "fleshly lusts." The body, they say, remains a child of
the devil, but the soul, once cleansed by the blood of Christ, cannot be
affected by sin. The soul of the redeemed is as pure and safe as God himself,
they say. Therefore, "fleshly lusts" cannot corrupt or condemn it. So, according
to their view Peter could not have focused his remark upon those who have been
born again.
As we have seen, Calvinists cannot consistently contend that 1 Peter 2:11 is
addressed to either the saved or to the unsaved. Then, to whom does it refer?
Will they tell us?
Often, when writing a letter and not knowing to whom it may apply, one may begin
his salutation with, "To whom it may concern." Perhaps this is what our
Calvinist friends will have to do with 1 Peter 2:11.
By Larry Ray Hafley
From Expository Files 7.2; February 2000
