1 Peter 1-3 CSB
Submit to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the emperor as the supreme authority or to governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good. For it is God’s will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good. Submit as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but as God’s slaves. Honor everyone. Love the brothers and sisters. Fear God. Honor the emperor. (2:13-17)
The believers in Peter’s day were facing an impossible situation. They lived in a world where the Emperor was not only pagan and corrupt, but still worse, he was worshipped as God and had to be venerated by all. The Emperor was not a fan of the church and supported the wholesale persecution of those who claimed to be followers of Jesus. This was a double whammy where they were public enemy number one and had to not only put up with a government that treated them as outcasts, yet also had to walk the razor’s edge between refusal to worship the Emperor and still being good citizens.
This really puts our current political issues in stark contrast, and reminds us that things could definitely be worse. While in every country of the world Christians have to be good citizens and still stand for what is right, few have ever faced the kind of challenges and choices that those early believers endured. We might be unhappy with the current state of politics in our country, but it is a good reminder that the church has seen darker days. These verses from Peter are still helpful for us as we try to navigate the current climate. His exhortation is to “submit as free people,” “honor everyone,” and “fear God.”
Submission to each other, and even to Government authorities, is how we silence the ignorance of foolish people. We don’t submit because we agree with what they believe or condone their behavior—we submit because we are God’s slaves and we honor him by “freely” submitting to others. When we choose to obey civil law because we love Him, that honors Him, rather than obeying the law because we are forced to or fear punishment. Along with submission, honoring (respecting) others pleases Him… even when it is the Emperor. Honor doesn’t equal worship; we Fear God and we worship Him, but we honor and respect others—even those we don’t agree with. We do this because “of the Lord,” and we do this because it is a witness to the lost. We still walk that razor’s edge where we stand for what we believe no matter what it costs us, but still freely submit to authority and honor everyone, even the people on the other side of an issue who have no respect for us. That is what makes us different.
