13Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. 16Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. 17Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
This continues the section from 2:11-4:11 about some specifics of Christian conduct in a culture/world that is sometimes in opposition.to real Christian values.
2:13-17 has a very different flavor than Revelation which is very negative toward ruling governmental authorities. Peter helps us figure out what he means by qualifying the kind of government authority Christians should submit to, especially in v. 14. For Peter, when a government is consistent in punishing wrong and commending right, it is doing what God intends authority to do. And, for the Christian, living responsibly with that kind of authority in place, and doing good, is God's will and is even consistent with 'freedom' (v. 16).
It would be interesting to talk about how this applies to us today. It need not be a political-party bashing discussion, in fact shouldn't be according to Peter. Do we/can we live as 'servants of God', doing right and submit to our human authorities? What's at stake? How do we better let or lives silence foolish people?
Hmmmm....
When I was a lad , Ike and Kennedy were the presidents ; people respected them and their
ReplyDeleteoffice .Today all I hear from many "Christians" is anger and hatred toward Obama , blacks , gays ,Jews , Democrats , and in particular anyone who avails themselves of any social welfare program.
Sorry , I've about had it with the anger and hatred . Peter here, and Paul ( Acts 23, Romans 13 )clearly tell us to not speak evil about our government officials .The Hillary tee shirt with a concentric circle target superimposed that was advertised on a Christian website put me over the top .
This has as much to do with matters of speech as matters of politics. That's why the Bible talks as much about sins of speech as almost any other sin. Slander, insult, half-truths, lies, etc. James isn't the only Bible writer to address this...David, Solomon, Peter, John, Paul, Jesus. And, unfortunately, this seems to be increasinly common regardless of who is elected and what political party is in the majority, liberal, conservative, whatever. It's in our culture, media, spirituality, families, communities, churches, etc. When Bush2 was in office, it was the same thing. It's now going on with BO, and I suspect whoever is (re)elected next term it will also be the case. We should be modelling honest, truthful and helpful talk, even if it means disagreement.
ReplyDeleteOne other thought...keep in mind that the New Testament includes several responses to governmental authority. 1 Peter and Romans seem to have some level of respect for government authority, especially if it is implementing a reasonable level of justice. Revelation on the other hand clearly bucks against the system...the injustice of the governmental authority reflected in that book seems to require Christian resistance and opposition, though still in a way that reflects God's sovereignty.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for rage against injustice and revolution against tyranny ( eg. American Revolution )but the level of anger and hatred toward democratically elected officials , particularly in a system of government such as ours with all the checks and balances , irks me ; I just can't picture Jesus
ReplyDeleteacting that way .
Well, I like the rational comments so far about bashing whoever is in office. It is hard to engage in politics at all these days, and therefore it seems that elections (or campaign strategies anyway) are left to far radicals on both sides. In either case, not the ones I want choosing our elected leaders...
ReplyDeleteHere's another slant on the passage to discuss. Regarding freedom in v16. I think this strikes as one of the most difficult thing to explain to non-believers. How can we simultaneously be free, and yet live as servants of God? I think I have a mental strategy of how that works, at least for me. Additionally, Peter says not only do we submit to God, but we submit to the (proper) authorities in government. Now we have even less freedom!?
Dave , you've struck a nerve here with the freedom thing . Perhaps if I don't feel free it's because I have not surrendered fully . First thing every
ReplyDeletemorning I check in with Oswald Chambers and he is always on my case about not being fully surrendered .( Have you two been talking ? )
Yeah...the freedom thing is hard to reconcile with having a lord/master. But as one pastor said, 'maximum freedom is found under God's authority.' Genesis 1-2 is a good picture of it. The story of Exodus (escape from Pharaoh and life under God's Lordship) is the story of liberation and freedom. And, as Paul reminds us, life under Christ's Lordship = maximum freedom. Galatians 5 is a good text about this. A probably not-to-good example, though it's all I can think of, is accepting and living and abiding by the laws/authority of gravity can set one free to be able to construct and fly planes.
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