1 Peter 2:13-25 

Recently in a sermon I commented that one of the interesting aspects of our so called post-modern culture is the suspicion of authority and institutions. Our culture, and especially younger people (the so called generation X) in our culture are wary of authority figures and are more likely to question laws, policies, decrees and ask why such an act/decision/policy has been passed. We are living in a fast changing world and with increased education and the explosion of information available on the internet everyone has an opinion. This is a vast change from 100 years ago where there were fewer educated people and where authority figures were respected unquestioningly.

    How should the Christian respond to authority? How should we respond in a time which is very different from the 1st century when Peter wrote his letter? How do we respond in different countries where regimes range from the very democratic to the very dictatorial? These are important questions. If we believe that scripture as well as being written in a specific context to a specific people is also meant as God’s word for all times and with principles relevant to every culture and every people then we need to apply this word to today.

    In this and following sections of his letter Peter will spell out what it means to live a cross centred lifestyle in terms of our relationships – relationships with the state, with our employer, with our husbands or wives, with our church. This teaching touches central points of our lives and impacts how we relate to people all around us whatever our culture.

    In this passage before us Peter deals with how we relate to those who govern us and to those who employ us. Peter is specifically dealing with the master/slave relationship but I think there are principles here that are transferable to the employer/employee relationship.

    An interesting question to ask is why does Peter deal with these issues in a letter of encouragement written to a suffering and scattered church. I think I would answer this way.

- he writes for people who had been at the sharp end of government persecution. Christians needed to know how to relate to the governing authorities now.

- for Christians who were free in Christ. Did that mean they were not to be subject to anyone else, were they totally free agents?

- and thirdly he writes for Christians living in a hostile world it was important that they were good witnesses to Jesus Christ and their behaviour did not put people off their saviour.

How the Christians behaved was important – people were watching. In v12 Peter said “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”  So Peter gives us teaching on how we relate to these different sections of society. A Christian is in the world and we cannot escape our responsibilities. How should we live, for not only God is watching but the world is watching.

1. For the Lord’s sake

The first general principle in all of what Peter says is that whatever we do we do it ultimately for the Lord’s sake. Notice in v.13 it says  “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority…”

     I would argue that everything we do ultimately is for the Lord’s sake. This is what it means to glorify God in all of our lives. When we are driving our cars and there is a speed limit we obey the limit for the law’s sake, but as a Christian we also do it for the Lord’s sake. Then it becomes an act of worship, then it is more than obedience to the state, important as that is. There are echoes of this teaching in Paul’s letters because it is good for us to realise that if a general principles established in scripture then it should appear in a few places. In Col.3:23 Paul says “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord”. In 1 Cor.10:31 he says again “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”. Our eating, our drinking, our driving, our telephone calls and texting – we do it all for the glory of God.

    Being a Christian impacts everything we do. We cannot make a choice to follow Christ and our lives not be impacted. We do everything for the Lord’s sake, and for the Lord’s glory. It is not only an act of worship it is an act of witness, our actions impact on others and their perception of the God we claim to follow. We will come back to this later.

2. Another general principle in scripture which we see worked out in this passage is that we are called to relationships of submission. We are to submit to various people in our lives.  

    As Christians we are free men and women but  we are also called to submission. Martin Luther once famously said “a Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.”

    Here is the paradox - we are free and yet we are also servants – we are totally free yet we choose to serve and submit to certain people because of their office or role as well as the general respect and honour we give to every human being. So we will submit to certain people in authority or leadership over us. In these verses Peter speaks of the specific submission people give to governors and of employees to employers.

3. Submission to the state

Peter addresses the specific issue of how we as believers relate to the king, the governor, the ruler. As a general principle we are to submit to those who rule over us.  Remember that he is writing in the context of a ruler, probably Nero, who was hostile to christians and who had been responsible for some of the most intense and terrible persecution of christians in all of history. We remember that he blamed the Christians for the fire in Rome and he ordered that the roads be lined with crucified Christians who would be set on fire. This is the context, it was a dictatorship effectively, and a cruel one at that.  And yet Peter writes “Submit yourselves to every authority instituted among men….”  Also we have the well known words of Jesus, again in the context of reluctant Jews under Roman rule, he is asked “Is it right to pay taxes o Caesar? And he answers “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”. (Mt.22:17,21)

    Ultimately God is in control and God has allowed certain rulers to be in positions of authority. Granted such rulers are there to protect and to establish good laws but when there are bad laws passed, or when evil is done in the king’s name, or when government is not sympathetic to our faith that in itself does not provide an excuse for rebellion or lack of obedience. (Now there are two scriptural grounds we will come to supporting disobedience but at the moment we are looking at the general principle).  

    Here Peter seems to be saying that government is ultimately given by God for our good and the ordering of society but even bad government is better than anarchy, even bad dictatorship is preferable to chaos. Even bad government is ordained by God.

    We must also realise that most governments are not Christian. We have moved far from the position of theocracy where the king of Israel was effectively sitting in the place of God over the people and the laws of the state reflect the law of God. Those days have passed. All governments are imperfect and fallen and although some may be founded upon Christian principles few if any could be described as entirely Christian although they may have individual Christians involved. So we are all being asked to submit at least to rulers who may not even be Christians. But they are ordained by God, this is one of the human institutions encouraged by God which orders and stabilises society.

    Now you may ask are there circumstances in which we can disobey a governing authority? Well scripture gives us two circumstances which many of you will know. These are when we are asked to do something which scripture explicitly forbids, or when we are we are forbidden to do something which scripture explicitly commands us to do. (Acts 5:29  “We must obey God rather than men”;  Acts 4:19 “Peter and John replied – judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard”)  Now when we speak out, where we have been forbidden by law but commanded by God, we may find that we have to live with the consequences of that – and for many believers that could mean imprisonment or even death.

    If we believe that the government is asking us to do something expressly forbidden by God what can we do? If we are in a democratic society there may be a certain amount of protest that we can engage in. In our society it is permissible for example to hold a meeting or a march to express disatisfaction with a government policy. We can send in letters or petitions – this is part of the democratic process. However when we do this we must also bear in mind the principle of doing that which glorifies God and is a positive witness to Jesus. Thus while we may pray, persuade, peacefully protest I do not think under any circumstances we should resort to violence and even passive protest may reach a point where it becomes a negative witness for Christ.

    Christians through the ages have disagreed as to the forms and degree of legitimate protest but we must be careful to stand under Peter’s two overriding principles here – in all we do seek to glorify God and obey the institution that is set over you. Where that government is obviously tyrannical, or abusive, or withholds basic rights Christians have sometimes met in secret to pray and worship; some christians have openly supported opposition movements eg the movement against apartheid in S Africa, or the Solidarity movement in Poland, or the race protests in the USA. Or currently, the church may validly speak out in support of the growing opposition to Mugabe in Zimbabwe.

Where issues of justice and human rights are obviously at stake perhaps the church needs to be more outspoken as this is the working out of other biblical principles, standing up for justice, for the poor, for the downtrodden, for the disenfranchised. Christians through history have been in the forefront of civil rights, campaigning for racial equality, rights for women and  protection of children and this is right. The church should be agitating for positive change, but seeking to do it in a God honouring way. But life is complex and this working through of general supportiveness while retaining a Christian critique is not easy. We live with this tension in a fallen world and we seek to do what is right before God.

    Or what of the other relationship Peter mentions. In his context is that between master and slave but again we may be justified in taking the principle and applying it to our general employer/employee relationships. The general principle is that we submit to those who employ us. Peter again suggests that even when we are harshly or wrongly treated the default position is obey. So what then of strikes? Is it permissible for a Christian to strike if pay or work conditions are unreasonable? Some say yes, some say no. It is good again to ask questions like what the strike is about. If I go on strike will that harm innocent third parties? In striking am I showing solidarity with a group of people who have a genuine grievance? Again these are difficult issues but we start and finish by asking does this action glorify God and his values or will it harm the cause of Christ and his church?    

4. Entrust ourselves to God

Peter finishes this passage again by reminding us of a general principle that as people who are seeking to live the cross centred life we need to follow Jesus’s way. Jesus often chose the path of persecution, of the minority, of bowing to unjust suffering and God’s purposes were fulfilled not through protest but through surrender. It says in v.23 “he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” Here is the final principle for the Christian in these authority issues. Ultimately we entrust ourselves to God’s care and we err on the side of submission. God is in control and ultimately he will judge and he will establish justice in his eternal kingdom and we can rest in that truth.

    But we also know that sometimes God’s ways are not our ways and through submission and servanthood there is great power. Though the cross was an instrument of human weakness and an instrument of abuse and violence God redeemed it, God baptised it, God recreated it and used it to become a symbol of salvation, of hope, of  forgiveness. When we entrust ourselves to God we find that he can overturn a tyranny, he can bring down empires, he can humble proud governments – we must just be patient and pray. He will have the last word and many Christians who have been mistreated, abused, persecuted, killed, will one day reign. 2 Tim.2:12 says   “here is a trustworthy saying. If we died with him we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign with him.”.

Rev.20:4 “I saw thrones on which wee seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God…they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years…”

And in Rev. 22, the closing chapter of the bible in v.3  “No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him, and they will reign for ever and ever…”.

    Even if when we are dismayed by government, even when we are persecuted for our faith, even when we are disenfranchised we have this hope, a real hope, a certain and sure hope, for it is a hope based on the sure word of God, the resurrection of the Son of God and the indwelling power of the Spirit of God and that is why we submit to the one who is the king of kings and the Lord of Lords and we call others to follow him.

    Rise up O church of God.

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