<p>4:3 <i>For we have spent enough of our past lifetime doing the will of the Gentiles- </i>Peter, himself a Jew, was writing to believers who had once been very religious Jews, whom he had baptized at Pentecost. He says that their life before conversion to Christ was living as Gentiles do. Indeed, the life of legalism was associated with serious immorality and moral failure. The connection between serious moral failure and legalistic obedience is true to life; we can probably think of many such examples in our own experience. Paul likewise admits to a life of lust before conversion to Christ. See on Tit. 3:3.</p><p><i>When we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties and abominable idolatries</i><i>- </i>It's possible that sometimes &quot;fornication&quot; refers to a way of life and thinking rather than just the specific physical actions. Thus 1 Pet. 4:3 speaks of how before conversion &quot;we walked (lived day by day) <i>in</i> lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine...&quot;. It doesn't mean that all day every day Peter and those brethren had committed fornication; but it was a way of life that got a grip on their personality. And so it is today, although made much worse by the ingenuity of man. That sexual impurity is a state of mind was of course taught by the Lord Himself (Mt. 5:28). HerePeter, in a rare autobiographical comment on his life before conversion, admits that he &ldquo;walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine&hellip; running with them (the Gentiles) to the same excess of riot&rdquo; (1 Peter 4:3,4). He uses the same Greek word as in Lk. 15:13 regarding the riotous behaviour of the prodigal. He saw himself in that younger son, rejected by the Judaistic elder brother, who would not sit at meat in table fellowship with him. According to other NT allusion, we are to see the prodigal as a symbol of all of us who will ultimately sit at meat with the Father in His house. And yet Peter makes the link plain for all to see.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>