1:14a
As obedient children: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as As obedient children is literally “as children of obedience.” There are two ways of understanding the way in which this phrase functions in this verse:
(1) It is the grounds for what Peter tells the believers to do. The meaning is that they are obedient. The English versions that use “as” are following this interpretation.
One translation that makes this interpretation explicit is God’s Word, which says:
Because you are children who obey God, don’t live (God’s Word)
(Berean Standard Bible, God’s Word, New Century Version, New International Version, Revised Standard Version, King James Version, New American Standard Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, NET Bible)
(2) It describes what the believers’ behavior should be like. For example:
Behave like obedient children (Contemporary English Version)
(New Revised Standard Version, New Living Translation (2004), Revised English Bible, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1) as the majority of versions listed do.
Another way to say this is:
Since ⌊you are God’s⌋ obedient children
children: Peter called his readers children. This means that they were sons and daughters of God. God calls Christians his children, his sons and daughters, whether they are young or old (see John 1:12). If it is unnatural in your language to use the word children in this way, you may instead be able to refer to Christians as having God as their Father. For example:
Since you obey God as your Father
-or-
Since you are God’s obedient sons and daughters
1:14b
do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as do not conform to means “do not mold/pattern your lives after.” This verb is also found in Romans 12:2. Because Peter’s readers had become children of God, they were no longer to gratify their passions as they formerly did. Some other ways to translate this include:
do not allow your lives to be shaped by those desires you had (Good News Translation)
-or-
Don’t let your lives be controlled by your desires (Contemporary English Version)
the passions of your former ignorance:
The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as passions is simply “desires.” This word generally implied wrong or selfish desires. The New International Version has made this explicit:
the evil desires
If your language has a word or phrase that describes human desire to do something that is against God’s will, you could use it here. You do not necessarily need to include the word “evil.” For example, for “the passions” you could say:
the lusts
-or-
your lusts
of your former ignorance: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as your former ignorance refers to the time before Peter’s readers believed in Christ. At that time they were ignorant of God and his ways and his salvation. This phrase does not imply that Peter’s readers were uneducated or unintelligent people. Some other ways to translate this phrase are:
when you did not know any better
-or-
when you were unaware of God’s truth
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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
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