The word “conduct” is the third command Peter gives in this paragraph (after “set your hope,” 1 Peter 1:13, and “be holy”, 1 Peter 1:15). The term itself refers to how you behave day by day. Given that his readers call on God as Father, and know him as an impartial Judge, Peter’s instruction to them is that they be very deliberate to factor God’s identity into their behavioural choices. They are reborn people living under the temptation to continue to conform to society’s expectations (1 Peter 1:14), but need to work consciously with their identity as his children in deciding what to do and how to do it. God the Judge will not take lightly his children’s refusal to be holy, different, as he is holy.
17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,