Submission to Rulers and Masters
1 Peter 2:13-25


To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout the earth, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. That’s from the very beginning of the book of 1 Peter. It’s Peter’s greeting to the people he is writing to. 1 Peter is written to us also, so I’m repeating that greeting to you: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Today’s message is from 1 Peter 2:13-25. In this passage, Peter talks about submission to those whom God has placed in authority and tells us, speaking by the Holy Spirit, that we are to submit for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men. As we read the passage, remember that we are reading the word of God, not the words of men. The word of God has power. It is “living and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Heb. 12:4)

As always, I exhort you to read your Bibles every day. Read the Bible all the way through and then keep on reading it. Think carefully about what you are reading and pray to the Lord for understanding. The word of God sustains your life. As physical food sustains your physical body, the word of God sustains your soul! And your soul is much more important than your physical body which is going to be gone one of these days, anyway.

[Prayer]

Now let’s read the passage—1 Peter 2:13-25:

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.
18Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. 20But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 21To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”

23When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2:13-25 –NIV)

Last week I talked about Chapter 2 verses 4 through 12. In verse 12, God, who is our Creator and Redeemer, speaking through the apostle Peter, tells us this: “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.” God wants our lives to be testimonies for those who are not believers, so that even though they want to accuse us, they will not be able to find any wrongdoing, but only good deeds and finally, themselves, believe and be cleansed by the blood of Jesus and be sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit of God.

Through Peter’s letter, we have several examples of how we can live our lives to be testimonies for God—testimonies to his cleansing and sanctifying of our lives. The first part of today’s passage provides the first example—submitting ourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men. The authorities that Peter is talking about here are the governing authorities—the king, and all those to whom he has delegated his authority. Submitting to these authorities is a matter of faith—of trusting God.

It’s easy to think that those in authority in the government are just men, and that while we certainly must obey God who is all wise and almighty and perfect in every way, it would not be a good thing to obey sinful men. The NIV translation refers to “every authority instituted among men.” The wording of the translation makes it sound like men didn’t institute the authority themselves, but someone else did. And, in fact, it is certainly true that God instituted all governments and authorities. Romans 13:1 says, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” And Colossians 1:15 and 16 say (concerning Jesus), “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.”

But, where the NIV translators say “every authority instituted among men” (submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men), the literal translation is “every human creation.” The “human creations” (or institutions) are the various political offices. Men made them. They are only human institutions, or so it appears. Men establish governments—frequently with very high-sounding ideals of justice, integrity and service. But, we know that, in practice, those in authority are very much subject to favoritism, corruption and to their own desire to maintain themselves in power. Nevertheless, it is God who establishes the governing authorities. He establishes them to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.

The government that was in force when Peter wrote this letter was the Roman government. It was supposedly established on the principles of justice. But it was the Roman government that put Jesus to death. Pilate, the Roman governor, knew that Jesus was innocent of anything deserving death, but in order to keep peace with the Jewish leaders, he ordered that Jesus be crucified. When Pilate was trying to question Jesus, he said, “Don’t you realize that I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over me if it were not given to you from above.” (John 19:10,11)  The Roman government was also the government that presided over the persecution of many Christians.

Since the time of the Roman government, there have been many evil governments and there are many today that are extremely unjust and severely persecute Christians and others. Still, it is God who establishes the governing authorities. It is men who misuse the authority that God gave them.

How should we relate to the governing authorities? Peter says, “Submit yourselves to the governing authorities.” How do we do that? First by living as servants of God (verse 16b), then by showing proper respect for everyone: by loving the brotherhood of believers, fearing God and, finally, by honoring the king (verse 17).

Notice that, first of all we are told to live as servants of God. That means that in everything we do, we must be serving God. Do you serve God in everything you do? Do I serve God in everything I do? Live as servants of God. When we submit ourselves to the governing authorities, we are serving God. Nevertheless, we have to obey God before we obey the governing authorities. When Peter himself was told by the governing authorities to no longer speak in the name of Jesus, he said that he had to obey God and not the governing authorities. (Acts 4:18,19) (I’ll say more about the distinction between submission and obedience later.) In any case, we must honor the king.

I heard a story on the radio a while ago (Actually, I’ve heard several similar stories). This particular story was an account of a man who was a Christian in a communist country and was being repeatedly harassed by the police. One police official would arrest him and interrogate harshly. (This also was a country where the police could have arbitrarily locked him up indefinitely and tortured him.) The man always reacted to his interrogator with humility and with a friendly attitude as though he really wanted to be friends with the interrogator. This police official, the interrogator, was continually astounded by the man’s attitude. Eventually, he was won to Christ. Peter says, “Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil (verse 16).” I think that the evil is in the attitude of our hearts. The man in the story had a good heart toward his interrogator. It is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. It is also God’s will that foolish and ignorant men may see our good deeds and glorify him on the day he visits us (verse 12).

Here’s something else to think about. We don’t have anything remotely close to the kind of persecution here that is present in some other places in the world, but let me ask this: Do you really treat government officials with respect? Do you ever treat them as though they owe you something? Do you demand service and become irritated when you don’t get it? Would you treat an angel sent by God that way? Let me ask that again. Would you demand service from an angel sent by God and become irritated if you didn’t get it? The governing authorities are appointed by God to their respective offices as his servants to commend those who do right and to punish those who do wrong. The authorities that exist have been established by God (Romans 13:1).

Now I want to quote some things that God told the prophet Ezekiel. In Ezekiel chapter 33, God said this to him: “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.” (Ezekiel 33:8) Also, “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.” (Ezekiel 33:8a)

Through the apostle Peter, God has told us that we can testify against evil by the way we live our lives, and in this particular case, by the way we relate to the governing authorities. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He told Ezekiel that he would hold him accountable for the blood of anyone whom he didn’t warn. Do you want to be responsible, to be held accountable, for the death of anyone because of the way you relate to the governing authorities? Submit to the governing authorities for the Lord’s sake!

What all this is really all about is this: It is about trusting God. Foolish and ignorant men, pagans, nonbelievers, anyone that belongs to the world... They believe that they have to stick up for themselves and that it is necessary to resist anyone who tries to exercise any authority over them. But we trust God. We believe that if God says that by submitting to the governing authorities we can silence the talk of ignorant and foolish men, God will certainly uphold his word. In fact, the very fact that we submit to the governing authorities will be a testimony to the fact that we trust God and that he is trustworthy and that his sanctifying power is at work in us! We will reveal the glory and power and the mercy of Jesus to those around us!

Pray that all of us may testify about Jesus Christ in the way we relate to the people in the government and to other people as well.  To him be the glory. Amen.

Now let’s go on to verses 18 through 25. I’m going to read them again:

18Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. 20But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 21To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”

23When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2:18-25 –NIV)

We have already heard the scriptures, “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men (1 Peter 2:13),” and, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities (Romans 13:1).” Now we have, “Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect (verse 18).” We also have in chapter 3, “Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands (1 Peter 3:1),” and from Ephesians, “Children, obey your parents (Eph. 6:1).” These are quotations from the word of God—his commands to us. God has established human relationships that require submission. Why is that? Let’s see what we can learn from the passage.

Verse 18 says, “Slaves submit yourselves to your masters with all respect.” The word translated “slaves” in this verse generally refers to household servants. These would be people who would be likely to have continual interaction with the master of the house so that there would be plenty of opportunity to demonstrate submission. But, just what does it mean to submit to someone? One of the verses I quoted to show that God has established human relationships that require submission doesn’t use the word submit. It says, “Children obey your parents.” What’s the difference between obeying and submitting?

Submission is not simply a question of whether or not you do what you are told. Submission is an attitude of your heart. I have a story that I think illustrates the point. I read it a long time ago and have used it many times since, but I think it’s worth repeating. It was written to illustrate the very point I want to make.

According to the story, back in the 1800’s a farmer in Ohio bought some land in Kentucky and wanted to start a farm there. He sent his two sons to spend the summer clearing the land and to start the foundations for the house and the barn. He told them exactly where to put the foundations and also where to dig the well. When his sons arrived at the location, they agreed with theirs father’s choice of places for the house and for the barn and built the foundations in the designated places, but they didn’t agree with their father’s choice of the place for the well, so they dug the well in a different place. After telling the story, the writer asked this question: “Were the sons obedient to their father?” He said, “You might answer by saying that they were obedient in two out three cases; but the fact was that they did what they thought was right in every case.” In their actions, the sons were obedient two-thirds of the time, but inwardly they were not submissive at all.

I know the question of submission is a little more complicated than what the illustration I just gave implies. It really has to do with a servant’s having the master’s interests at heart rather than his own. That possibly was the case with the two sons in the story also.  They may have had their father’s best interests at heart, but I hope you get the point.

Now, before going on, I want to make one more point. According to the Law of Moses, God’s law given in the Old Testament, a person could only serve as a slave for six years. At the seventh year, he had to be set free. But, that slave could declare that he loved his master and his master’s family and didn’t want to leave him. The master would, then, make a hole in the slave’s ear lobe with an awl, and the slave would serve the master for life. The reason I brought this up, is because, in our present-day culture, we think that being absolutely subject to someone else’s authority is so onerous it is hard to imagine anyone voluntarily making himself a slave to anyone else. We might consider a person who would do such a thing to be mentally ill or mentally incompetent, and look down on him and pity him. We think that it’s OK to submit to someone else’s authority if we get paid for it, but only if it’s not for one hundred percent of the time and we are free to break the arrangement at any time. And even so, we are not too submissive. And we still tend to despise anyone who tries too hard to please the boss. If you look carefully at the Bible, you will find out that it is not slavery, as such, that God condemns, but oppression. I know that in the past people have used the fact that God did not condemn slavery as an excuse, but it was still the oppression that was evil.

Now, to go on, the text says, “Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.” “...not only to those who are good and considerate, but also, to those who are harsh.” We have trouble imagining ourselves voluntarily (or even involuntarily) submitting completely to anyone’s authority, even if that person is good and considerate, let alone if he is harsh.

And verse 19 says, “It is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God.” And in this passage, pain means being beaten! Verse 20 says, “But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it?” We think that nothing we could do would deserve a beating, and that anyone who would do such a thing ought to be locked up in prison for a while. We have laws to that effect.

But Peter says—that is, the Holy Spirit of God, speaking through Peter, says, “If you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called.” Isn’t that an incredible statement?!  To this you were called! To suffer for doing good and to endure it is what we were called to. Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, “Do not resist an evil person. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” We usually take “Turn the other cheek” to mean, “Walk away,” but Peter is telling us that a person who is literally beaten should just accept it. (At this point, I should also point out that, if there a danger of personal injury because of someone’s violent behavior, there are “governors who are sent by [the king] to punish those who do wrong—1 Peter 2:14.”—or in our case, police and courts who are empowered by law to punish those who do wrong. The point is not retaliation, but protection, and to teach that it is wrong to harm another person.)

But, to continue, why are we called to endure unjust suffering—to “turn the other cheek?” It’s because Christ died for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth (verse 22).” And, to continue that quote from Isaiah, chapter 53, where Peter was quoting, “It was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer...” and to make his life a guilt offering. (All these things were planned by God from the beginning and foretold hundreds, and even thousands of years before they took place.)

Verse 23: “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” Jesus had the choice of retaliating. He certainly could have retaliated. He could have called on his Father and he would have sent more than 12 legions of angels. He had the choice of retaliating—or entrusting himself to the one who judges justly. Which choice do you think was better?  Which choice do you think it would be better for you to make? Do you think that if you are mistreated you should threaten or retaliate? Or is it better for you to entrust yourself to the one who judges justly? Jesus did not threaten or retaliate. He entrusted himself to the one judges justly. Our heavenly Father wants us, more than anything, to trust him, to submit ourselves to his authority and to believe that that is the best possible thing we can do. He has established human authority so that we can learn to submit ourselves to his heavenly authority.

When Jesus was arrested, he would have been right to utterly destroy those who were beating and insulting him. They were beating the one through whom the universe was made—their creator—the source and giver of life. Why would he not execute on them what they deserved? But, when they crucified him, he said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Jesus did not do what would have been right and just. Instead, he did what would seem to be unjust beyond all measure—infinitely so. He let us put him to death by our sin. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness (verse 24).” By his wounds we have been healed. All of us were like sheep going astray (going astray to our death), but now we have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls (verse 25).

Jesus suffered unjustly and did not threaten or retaliate. Instead, he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He is asking us to follow in his steps. He is our master. Do you think he is harsh in telling us to do this? Or, do we have a good and considerate master? He, himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; by his wounds we have been healed. He is a good and considerate master. He loves us. He wants us to be like him.

Let’s sing hymn number 284 in the old book. The author of the hymn, Frances Havergal, is repeating to us what Jesus himself has told us through the word of God, the Bible. The title of the hymn is I Gave My Life for Thee. Let’s sing it. Number 284:

[I gave my life for thee; My precious blood I shed,
That thou might’st ransomed be, And quickened from the dead.,
I gave, I gave My life for thee. What hast thou giv’n for Me?
I gave, I gave My life for thee. What hast thou giv’n for Me?

My Father’s house of light, My glory-circled throne,
I left for earthly night, For wand’rings sad and lone.
I left, I left it all for thee. Hast thou left aught for Me?
I left, I left it all for thee. Hast thou left aught for Me?

I suffered much for thee, More than thy tongue can tell,
Of bitt’rest agony, To rescue thee from hell.
I’ve born, I’ve born it all for thee. What hast thou born for Me?
I’ve born, I’ve born it all for thee. What hast thou born for Me?

And I have brought to thee, Down from My home above,
Salvation full and free, My pardon and My love.
I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee. What hast thou brought to Me?
I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee. What hast thou brought to Me?

Frances R. Havergal, 1836 – 1879]

Pray for us to not think that we need to threaten or retaliate, but that we will entrust ourselves to the one who judges justly, the one who gave his life for us.

[Prayer]