1 Peter 2:16–17 (NET)
“Live as free people, not using your freedom as a pretext for evil, but as God’s slaves. Honor all people, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the king.”
I believe that these verses are so crucial for all of us at our present time! We are living in a society that scoff’s at the idea of slavery in any context, that dishonors just about anyone or any institution that goes against their ideals, that is growing more and more hostile to the Church (true Church!), and the Fear of God – where is it? We need the Truth of God’s word to transform us and renew our way of thinking!
I challenge you to consider when the last time was that you had a long conversation with someone and it didn’t end up being directed towards a polarizing issue driven by the narratives of our time (e.g. Coronavirus or politics). I am very passionate about these topics, so naturally I tend to be an instigator of these topics myself – sorry. It is just so hard not to talk about those things that irritate us and rub us the wrong way, hoping to get at least someone else to agree with us on our frame of thinking – because it is the right way of thinking, isn’t it? Ugh 🙁
I am not saying that it is a bad thing to discuss these topics, but we must do so in a wholesome way. The problem is this; inevitably when we get caught up in this sort of talk, we end up dishonoring someone. The Scripture above commands us to honor all people, then again to honor the king (President). I have heard this statement come out of people’s mouths and it is really upsetting to me, “He is not my President.” I don’t care your political stance, when you say that it is not only dishonoring the person and position of the Presidency and your country – it is dishonoring the God who placed the President in that place of leadership (Romans 13:1)!
“Although the emperor may cause them to suffer, believers must respect his position. Like Christ, believers are to be respectful even in the face of insult and hardship, for this gives them the opportunity to show the true character of Jesus.”1
As people who are free, we need to stop this sort of dishonoring talk and start honoring the position and person in the place of leadership. When we have someone in leadership positions over us, then let’s be the kind of people that are able to speak honorably (even if we disagree) in all conversations about them (I feel like I am so unqualified to talk about this, having this issue myself). Believe it or not, there is a way to disagree with someone without dishonoring that individual!
“Live as free people” is what the verse says above, and I believe it is profound! We all have the freedom to say anything that we want – at any time (As Americans anyways). That can be very bad, or that can be very good! In the negative sense, the Bible says that we have the power of death in our tongue (Proverbs 18:21). That is very scary and it should make us think twice before we speak! The very words we speak can and will shape our lives, the tone of the conversations, the disposition of the people around us, and so-on. Using the freedom we have to do evil (e.g. gossip, slander, dishonor, etc.) is never going to bring about anything good and profitable, so let’s not do that. On the contrary, in the verse referenced above it says that the power of life is in the tongue as well (Proverbs 18:21). This is where the “slaves to God” comes into play. Choosing to speak good and noble things instead of letting any unwholesome talk come out of our mouths (Ephesians 4:29), we are speaking life and encouragement into people’s lives as opposed to death and anxiety.
The actual translation of the word slave, mentioned in the opening verse, is better understood as bondservant. This word has the connotation of selling oneself into the service of another. Did you catch that? It is an act of the will, it is a free decision, and it is for the purpose of surrendering oneself to the purposes and plans of the one in which we are serving. Romans 6:12-14, 16-18 (I will do another blog at some point soon on this text! It is awesome) tells us that we all used to use our body parts as instruments of unrighteousness because we were enslaved to sin and our own evil desires, but now because we have accepted Christ and “..obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were entrusted to..” we have been “..freed from sin, and become enslaved to righteousness.”! That means that at the very core of our passions now we are freed to speak life, and hope, and peace, and comfort, and righteousness, and have discerning ability, and redirect the rhetoric of the day into a positive and encouraging one full of Truth! When someone speaks to us, they should know that we are not going to get caught up in the dishonorable rhetoric of the day, but that they can count on us to speak the truth and be a source of stability and encouragement for them – at all times – because we have decided to follow God in all of our conduct!
“Love the family of believers” is an interesting exhortation from Peter, isn’t it? Isn’t this a given? Don’t we all just get along? Don’t we all continually speak honorably and care for our family? I think the answer is obvious, and it needs to be stopped! There should be no divisions among the children of God, and yet there is Church’s and people whose soul mission in life seems to be to destroy any other Church or person that doesn’t align with their way of belief. O’ that God would revive the Church, and help us to stay centrally focused on the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ! This does not mean that every teaching and wind of doctrine is acceptable, but it does mean that we should be able to discuss these things and come to certain united conclusions without biting and devouring one another in the process! This is damaging to our witness to a lost and dying world that will know we are Christians by our love for each other (John 13:35). Furthermore, we are told in 1 John 3:16 that we have come to know love by watching Jesus lay His life down for us, so we ought to lay our lives down for our fellow Christian family members too! Love the family of believers!
Fear God. Speaking to a friend of mine yesterday, his synopsis of the world in which we live today is this, “there is just no fear of God anymore.”. I understand his frustration and the truth behind that statement. It seems as though we have lost a healthy fear of the God of the universe, and it is being displayed all around us daily! We must come back to standing in awe of our Great God, knowing the awesome power He has to create life and to take it away. We must come back to understanding the very child-like principles of; God is big and I am not, God is God and I am not, God is all-knowing and I am not, God has all of the answers and I do not, God is bringing Judgement upon the world, God is coming back soon to claim His Church, God is not going to be patient forever, God never allows sin to go unpunished (that means for a culture/nation as well as an individual). Hebrews 10:31 says that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God! We must believe that, and tell others that too. I know, I know – ‘Mark, that is “fear-mongering”’ is what you may be saying right now, but I see it as the Truth of the WHOLE counsel of God – and so I have to say it! My question is, Are you afraid right now at what I just pointed out, or are you confident that you have been spared from the wrath of God to come? The answer to that question should give you a clue on where you stand with God. The freedom I have to fear God is not rooted in trembling and being afraid, it is rooted in understanding what He is capable of and being in awe of the fact that He chose to spare sinful little me from it! That’s not fear-mongering, that is worship.
So, here is my sum up from a worshipers perspective:
Our freedom in Christ should compel us to fear God and start living and speaking in such a way that silences those ignorant and foolish people (1 Peter 2:15) around us, by living good and wholesome lives, full of honor and love for people!
God bless you.
1 Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (1 Pe 2:17). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.