‘And if you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man's work, pass the time of your sojourning in great and reverent awe,'
The stress in the verse is on ‘Father'. We might paraphrase, ‘And if it is AS FATHER that you call on Him.' That is the glorious truth. We can call on Him as Father because he has begotten us again as His own. But the point is that when we do so we must remember Who and what our Father is. Believing that God is our Father is not a let out from holiness, it is a commitment to holiness. Because God is our Father we have a greater responsibility than all others to be holy, for we are our Father's sons, and our behaviour reflects on Him. If we are not holy then men will not glorify our Father Who is in Heaven (Matthew 5:16), rather they will ridicule His Name. Thus we are to pay to Him the reverence and respect that is due to the One Who is Father and Judge of His family in all that we do and are. We are to be children of obedience.
Indeed, our Father is the Judge of all the world (Genesis 18:25). He treats none with favouritism. He does not excuse men because of their high status or their wealth. He judges all equally according to their lives. As Peter says elsewhere, ‘of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he who fears Him and works righteousness is accepted with Him' (Acts 10:34). And therefore we should conduct ourselves with greatest care, and with deep discernment. We should live a life that results from reverent awe as we realise Who God is. For knowing Him as we do, we have a greater responsibility than if we did not know Him.
‘The time of your sojourning.' This is Peter's continual emphasis, that we are living as strangers and sojourners as we make our way towards our heavenly home. It is in this light that we must constantly determine our attitudes.