I Pet. 2:15 ... "For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men."
Christians must live in a world that is not friendly to them. Our Lord foretold that this would be the case and also gave the reason for it when He said, "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you," (John 15:19). In other words, discipleship to Christ means being appointed to a lifestyle that is in marked contrast to that which characterizes the unregenerate. And it is only natural for people to speak against those who differ from the norm. The more someone varies in his values and manner of life from whatever prevails, the more he subjects himself to censure. This phenomenon of human nature perhaps more than anything else drew the disapprobation of Judaism upon Christ. He was fully aware of this and, knowing that it would later shift upon his disciples, He warned them, "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you," (John 15:18).
The world's animosity toward Christians takes many forms, but that under consideration in Peter's statement (above) is verbal abuse. Irreligious people often resort to spoken attacks against the lives, the convictions, and the institutions of those who are religious. Perhaps many of them feel they are right in their unbelief and owe it to society to expose the errors of the religious, although one may wonder about their resort to an ad hominem approach. For the most part, however, it is more likely that their verbal abuse is a diversionary maneuver to distract attention from their own lost and undone lives.
One way or the other, Christians must learn to cope with it; and to do that successfully they must first look to their own lives. If any inconsistency exists between our doctrine and our conduct, we expose ourselves to the charge of hypocrisy. If we become careless and allow our confidence to run ahead into self-confidence, then we are setting ourselves up to be accused of arrogance and self-righteousness. If we are harshly critical of the irreligious and can speak naught to them but rejection and condemnation, we will be categorized as Pharisaical bigots. And if we neglect the business of the routine functions of life to breathe only the rarified air of withdrawn sanctity, we will be proclaimed as fanatics.
Correcting these faults, all of which are so easily committed by the religious, we go a long way toward silencing the critics. But a great deal more is required, and our text (above) shows us what it is, namely, we must be diligent in doing right. Three verses earlier we also read, "Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation." The ungodly may debate the faith vs reason issue, but they have no grounds for arguing against feeding the starving, clothing the ragged, and relieving the suffering of the orphan, the widow and the infirm. The ungodly may ridicule worship, Bible teaching and confidence in prayer, but they cannot help but respect the works of beautification, construction and public utility which Christians promote in the environment. Worldly people appreciate the courtesy, kindness, forebearance, cooperation in beneficial community projects, and patriotism of Christians even though they may want to show contempt for the idea of church organization and membership, and submission to a religious standard.
When Christians diligently correct their lives until they accord with the doctrine they teach, and then go beyond that to devote themselves to good works that promote discernible improvements in the lives of people other than themselves, it will indeed "silence the ignorance of foolish men."
