1 Peter 4:3

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Summary

For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

The time

Acts 17:30

Romans 8:12

1 Corinthians 6:11

To have

Lasciviousness

Jude 1:4

Excess

Ephesians 5:18

Revellings

Galatians 5:21

General references

Colossians 3:7

Bible References

The time

Now God made allowance for the times when people were still uninformed [about His complete will], but now [in the Gospel age] He requires all people everywhere to repent [i.e., change their hearts and lives].

So then, brothers, we are under obligation, but not to live under [the control of] the flesh,

And some of you have practiced such things, but you were washed [i.e., from your sins. See Acts 22:16]; you were dedicated [i.e., set apart for God's service]; you were made right with God in the name [i.e., by the authority] of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Holy Spirit of our God.

To have

As obedient children, do not pattern your lives after the evil desires you formerly had when you were ignorant,

For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities of eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, [capable of] being perceived through the things that He has made. So, these people have no excuse [i.e., for not believing in Him].

You practiced such things when you lived according to the evil ways of this world, and according to the ruler of the [spiritual] powers of the air. [Note: This refers to Satan, whose influence permeates life around us]. He is the [evil] spirit who is now at work in people who are disobedient [to God].

So, I tell you this, and insist [on it] by [the authority of] the Lord: Do not continue to live with worthless thoughts as [unconverted] Gentiles do.

not in passionate lust, as the [unconverted] Gentiles, who do not know God, do.

For we [Christians] were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various kinds of [evil] desires and [sinful] pleasures. [We used to] live in malice and envy, hating people and being hated by them.

Lasciviousness

greedy desires, wickedness, deceit, unrestrained indecency, envy, slander, arrogance and foolishness.

I am afraid that, when I come, my God will humiliate me in front of you, and I will be grieved over many [of those] who have sinned in the past without repenting of the [moral] impurity, sexual immorality and unrestrained indecency they have practiced.

Now those things done by the sinful, physical nature [of a person] are evident; they are these: sexual immorality, moral impurity, indecent conduct,

They have stopped caring [i.e., about morality], so God has abandoned them to lives of unrestrained indecency and to engage in all kinds of [moral] impurity, with a constant desire for more.

For certain men have secretly infiltrated [your ranks]; they are men who had been written about long ago that they should be judged [and condemned] for perverting the unearned favor of our God into [a license for] living unrestrained, indecent lives, and who deny [the identity and work of] our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Excess

And do not get drunk on wine, which results in ruined lives, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Revellings

envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you again, as I have done before, that those people who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

General references

You people also once lived like this when you practiced these things.