Doing good is precisely what God has done and continues to do to unworthy people (Psalm 119:68; Psalm 145:9; Nahum 1:7). So Jesus told the disciples—including Peter!—to “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you…. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back” (Luke 6:27–30). God himself set the example, of course, in sending his Son into this world to save unjust people. In conformity with such a divine example, Abraham, though a sojourner and foreigner in the land of Canaan (Genesis 23:4), volunteered his abilities to free those whom the five invading kings had taken captive (Genesis 14:13–14). He used his relation with God to plead for the lives of the wicked population of Sodom (Genesis 18:22–33). When Abimelech demanded that Abraham swear with an oath that he would not deal falsely with his descendent (an out-of-place demand given that Abraham’s reputation was clean), Abraham bent over backwards to appease his neighbor (Genesis 21:22–24). When his wife Sarah died, Abraham willingly paid an exorbitant amount of money for a burial place (Genesis 23:16). Time and again he was content to be the least, do good, and serve the people of his wider community. In so doing he headed off suspicion and/or ill will that locals could have about him as a stranger in their land. In step with such precedents in Scripture, Peter could say plainly that doing good “is the will of God.”
15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.