“For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.” (1 Peter 2:15-16, NKJV)

After an opening exhortation to live good lives among the pagans (1 Peter 2:11-12), Peter urges his readers to submit “for the Lord’s sake” first, toward the governing authorities (2:13-17) and, second, the Christian household slaves to their pagan masters (2:18-25, especially when treated unjustly.

God desires life in human society to be orderly, and we should cooperate with his purpose by obeying civil authorities. The civil authorities, on their part, should be just and fair in punishing those who do wrong and rewarding those who do good. Our right conduct in this matter will prevent criticism from our opponents. It will also show that though we are free, we know how to make the proper use of our freedom. We respect, love and honor people as true Christians should, and above all we reverence God.

God as our supreme ruler, shows us that it is his will that we should act uprightly and obediently at all times. We should avoid making impression to people that our faith made us bad citizens. We ought to be good citizens insofar as possible, be law-abiding and obedient.

We are free from sin and Satan, but we are servants of God – bound to obey him. Being “free men” does not authorize rebellion against constituted authority, but urges us freely to submit to God and to earthly authorities (as long as such submission does not conflict with the law of God). Genuine freedom is the freedom to serve God, a freedom exercised under law. Liberty is not license to do as we please.

And as God made it our duty to obey civil authorities, we serve God by submitting to their ordinance for the Lord’s sake.

Sources:

Fee, Gordon D. & Stuart, Douglas. How to Read the Bible Book by Book. A Guided Tour. Manila, Philippines: OMF Literature, Inc., 2004.

Halley, Henry H. Halley’s Bible Handbook. ePub Format. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2000.

MySword for Android. Riversoft Ministry, 2011-2019.

Olive Tree Bible Software, 1998-2020.

Zondervan NASB Study Bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1999.

http://www.biblegateway.com

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