13Therefore subject yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether to the king, as supreme;14or to governors, as sent by him for vengeance on evildoers and for praise to those who do well.15For this is the will of God, that by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:16as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God.
17Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Should we obey human or divine law?Acts 5:29 has Peter and the apostles declaring before the Sanhedrin that they must obey God rather than men.
Should we fear God?The Torah, prophets, and Wisdom literature relentlessly command fear of YHWH — Deuteronomy 6:13, Ecclesiastes 12:13, Proverbs 9:10, Matthew 10:28, and Hebrews…
Galatians 5:13(v16)For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don’t use your freedom for gain to the flesh, but through love be servants to one another.
Titus 3:1(v13)Remind them to be in subjection to rulers and to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,
Romans 13:1-7(v13)Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by…
Romans 6:22(v16)But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life.
1 Timothy 2:1-2(v13)I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and givings of thanks be made for all men: for kings and all who…
Show all 71 cross-references
Proverbs 24:21(vv13, 17)My son, fear Yahweh and the king. Don’t join those who are rebellious;
Romans 12:10(v17)In love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate to one another; in honor preferring one another;
1 Peter 3:17(v15)For it is better, if it is God’s will, that you suffer for doing well than for doing evil.
Romans 13:3-4(v14)For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. Do you desire to have no fear of the authority? Do that which is good, and…
Romans 13:7(v17)Therefore give everyone what you owe: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if customs, then customs; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
Luke 20:25(v13)He said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Titus 2:8(v15)and soundness of speech that can’t be condemned, that he who opposes you may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say about us.
1 Peter 2:12(v15)having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they…
Jeremiah 29:7(v13)Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Yahweh for it; for in its peace you will have…
Matthew 7:26(v15)Everyone who hears these words of mine, and doesn’t do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand.
Romans 6:18(v16)Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness.
1 Corinthians 7:22(v16)For he who was called in the Lord being a bondservant is the Lord’s free man. Likewise he who was called being free is Christ’s bondservant.
1 Thessalonians 5:18(v15)In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you.
1 Peter 5:5(v17)Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another;…
Matthew 22:21(vv13, 17)They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are…
Mark 12:17(v13)Jesus answered them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” They marveled greatly at him.
Galatians 5:1(v16)Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
Philippians 2:3(v17)doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;
James 1:25(v16)But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this man will be…
Ephesians 5:21(vv13, 17)subjecting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ.
1 Thessalonians 4:3(v15)For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality,
Exodus 20:12(v17)“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
Jeremiah 4:22(v15)“For my people are foolish. They don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil,…
Ephesians 6:6(v16)not in the way of service only when eyes are on you, as men pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,
1 Peter 1:22(v17)Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from…
2 Peter 2:10(v13)but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to…
Leviticus 19:32(v17)“ ‘You shall rise up before the gray head and honor the face of the elderly; and you shall fear your God. I am Yahweh.
Job 2:10(v15)But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not…
Proverbs 9:6(v15)Leave your simple ways, and live. Walk in the way of understanding.”
Romans 1:21(v15)Because knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, and didn’t give thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart…
2 Corinthians 7:1(v17)Having therefore these promises, beloved, let’s cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear…
Ephesians 6:6-7(v15)not in the way of service only when eyes are on you, as men pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with…
1 Timothy 6:1(v17)Let as many as are bondservants under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and the doctrine not be…
James 2:12(v16)So speak and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom.
2 Peter 2:12(v15)But these, as unreasoning creatures, born natural animals to be taken and destroyed, speaking evil in matters about which they are…
Psalms 107:42(v15)The upright will see it, and be glad. All the wicked will shut their mouths.
Ecclesiastes 8:2(v17)I say, “Keep the king’s command!” because of the oath to God.
John 8:32-36(v16)You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered him, “We are Abraham’s offspring, and have never been in bondage…
1 Timothy 1:13(v15)although I used to be a blasphemer, a persecutor, and insolent. However, I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
1 Peter 4:2(v15)that you no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
Jude 1:10(v15)But these speak evil of whatever things they don’t know. They are destroyed in these things that they understand naturally, like the…
1 Chronicles 29:20(v17)Then David said to all the assembly, “Now bless Yahweh your God!” All the assembly blessed Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and bowed down…
Psalms 111:10(v17)The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. All those who do his work have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!
Proverbs 1:7(v17)The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 17:11(v13)An evil man seeks only rebellion; therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.
Proverbs 23:17(v17)Don’t let your heart envy sinners, but rather fear Yahweh all day long.
Matthew 23:13(v16)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will…
Titus 3:3(v15)For we were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating…
2 Peter 2:19(v16)promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for a man is brought into bondage by whoever overcomes him.
Genesis 22:12(v17)He said, “Don’t lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son,…
Genesis 42:18(v17)Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this, and live, for I fear God.
Psalms 5:5(v15)The arrogant will not stand in your sight. You hate all workers of iniquity.
Matthew 25:2(v15)Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
John 13:35(v17)By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 15:22(v16)If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.
Galatians 3:1(v15)Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you not to obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed among you as crucified?
Colossians 3:24(v16)knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
1 Thessalonians 2:5(v16)For neither were we at any time found using words of flattery, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness (God is witness),
Jude 1:8-10(v13)Yet in the same way, these also in their dreaming defile the flesh, despise authority, and slander celestial beings. But Michael, the…
Genesis 20:11(v17)Abraham said, “Because I thought, ‘Surely the fear of God is not in this place. They will kill me for my wife’s sake.’
1 Samuel 15:30(v17)Then he said, “I have sinned; yet please honor me now before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and come back with me, that I may…
Job 5:16(v15)So the poor has hope, and injustice shuts her mouth.
Jude 1:4(v16)For there are certain men who crept in secretly, even those who were long ago written about for this condemnation: ungodly men, turning the…
Deuteronomy 32:6(v15)Is this the way you repay Yahweh, foolish and unwise people? Isn’t he your father who has bought you? He has made you and established you.
Zechariah 11:14(v17)Then I cut apart my other staff, even Union, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
71 distinct cross-references across this passage (74 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (24 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv13–1713 Submit yourselves He now comes to particular exhortations:…
13 Submit yourselves He now comes to particular exhortations: and as obedience with regard to magistrates is a part of honest or good conversation, he draws this inference as to their duty, “Submit yourselves,” or, Be ye subject; for by refusing the yoke of government, they would have given to the Gentiles no small occasion for reproaching them. And, indeed, the Jews were especially hated and counted infamous for this reason, because they were regarded on account of their perverseness as ungovernable. And as the commotions which they raised up in the provinces, were causes of great calamities, so that every one of a quiet and peaceable disposition dreaded them as the plague, — this was the reason that induced Peter to speak so strongly on subjection. Besides, many thought the gospel was a proclamation of such liberty, that every one might deem himself as free from servitude. It seemed an unworthy thing that God’s children should be servants, and that the heirs of the world should not have a free possession, no, not even of their own bodies. Then there was another trial, — All the magistrates were Christ’s adversaries; and they used their own authority, so that no representation of God, which secures the chief reverence, appeared in them. We now perceive the design of Peter: he exhorted the Jews, especially for these reasons, to shew respect to the civil power.
To every ordinance of man Some render the words, “to every creature;” and from a rendering so obscure and ambiguous, much labor has been taken to elicit some meaning. But I have no doubt but that Peter meant to point out the distinct manner in which God governs mankind: for the verb κτίζειν in Greek, from which κτίσις comes, means to form and to construct a building. Suitable, then, is the word “ordination;” by which Peter reminds us, that God the maker of the world has not left the human race in a state of confusion, that they might live after the manner of beasts, but as it were in a building regularly formed, and divided into several compartments. And it is called a human ordination, not because it has been invented by man, but because a mode of living, well arranged and duly ordered, is peculiar to men.
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Whether it be to the king So he calls Caesar, as I think, whose empire extended over all those countries mentioned at the beginning of the Epistle. For though “king” was a name extremely hated by the Romans, yet it was in use among the Greeks. They, indeed, often called him autocrat, (αὐτοκράτορα) but sometimes he was also called by them king, (βασιλεὺς.) But as he subjoins a reason, that he ought to be obeyed because he excelled, or was eminent or supreme, there is no comparison made between Caesar and other magistrates. He held, indeed, the supreme power; but that eminence which Peter extols, is common to all who exercise public authority. And so Paul, in Romans 13:1, extends it to all magistrates. Now the meaning is, that obedience is due to all who rule, because they have been raised to that honor not by chance, but by God’s providence. For many are wont to inquire too scrupulously by what right power has been attained; but we ought to be satisfied with this alone, that power is possessed and exercised. And so Paul cuts off the handle of useless objections when he declares that there is no power but from God. And for this reason it is that Scripture so often says, that it is God who girds kings with a sword, who raises them on high, who transfers kingdoms as he pleases.
As Peter referred especially to the Roman Emperor, it was necessary to add this admonition; for it is certain that the Romans through unjust means rather than in a legitimate way penetrated into Asia and subdued these countries. Besides, the Caesars, who then reigned, had possessed themselves of the monarchy by tyrannical force. Hence Peter as it were forbids these things to be controverted, for he shews that subjects ought to obey their rulers without hesitation, because they are not made eminent, unless elevated by God’s hand.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv13, 14, 15, 17By ordinance, is meant the framing and ordering of…
By ordinance, is meant the framing and ordering of civil government: which he calleth ordinance of man, not because man invented it, but because it is proper to men.
He preventeth a cavil which is made by some, that say they will obey Kings and the higher magistrates, and yet contemn their ministers: as though their ministers were not armed with their authority which sent them.
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The first argument: because the Lord is the author and revenger of this policy of men, that is, which is set amongst men: and therefore the true servants of the Lord must above all others be diligent observers of this order.
That which he spoke generally, he now expoundeth by parts, describing severally every man’s duty. And first of all he speaketh of obedience which is due both to the Laws, and also to the Magistrates both higher and lower.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv13–1713 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for…
13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
Ver. 13. Submit to every ordinance] That is, although the ordinance or government in the manner of its constitution be from man, yet because of the necessity of its institution it is from God; submit to it, though of man, for the Lord’s sake. (Fuller’s Answer to Dr Fern.) For although it is called here man’s creature or ordinance, either in respect of man the subject, by whom it is exercised, or man the object, about whom it is conversant, or of man the end, to whose emolument it tendeth; yet it is still the gift and institution of God, the primary author and provident ordaiuer. A Deo sane est sive iubente, sive sinente , Of God it is surely, either so commanding or so suffering it to be, saith Augustine (contra Faust. Man xxii. 7.).
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv13–17Every ordinance; of all kinds, whether supreme or subordinate.
Every ordinance; of all kinds, whether supreme or subordinate.
Ordinance of man; Greek, human creatures, which may be understood either, as Mar 16:15, every human creature for every man, only restraining it to the present subject whereof he treats, viz. magistrates, and the sense is, to every magistrate: or rather, (though to the same effect), to every human ordinance; or, as we translate it,
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ordinance of man; the word creature being taken for an ordinance, or constitution, and creating for ordaining, or appointing: so CEcumenius will have the word to signify, Eph 2:15, to make of twain one new man. But this creature, or ordinance, here is to be understood of the magistrate; (as appears by the following words), which is called human, not as if magistracy were not an ordinance of God, {for, Rom 13:1, the powers that are are said to be ordained of God} but either because it is only among men, and proper to them; or because it is of man secondarily and instrumentally, though of God primarily and originally, God making use of the ministry of men in bringing them into the magistracy; as, though church offices are God’s ordinance, yet he makes use of men to put them into office.
For the Lord’s sake; for God’s sake, who commands this obedience; and gave them the authority, and is represented by them, and honoured by that obedience which is yielded to them in all things agreeable to his will. The phrase seems to be of the same import with that of being obedient in the Lord, Eph 6:1.
To the king; to Caesar, the then supreme magistrate, under whose jurisdiction the Jewish Christians were; and this being a general command extending to all Christians, it follows, that obedience is due from them to those chief magistrates whose subjects respectively they are.
As supreme; not only above the people, but above other magistrates.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt1703 · Public DomainOn vv13, 16, 17Our apostle having exhorted them in general to take…
Our apostle having exhorted them in general to take care that their conversation be honest among the Gentiles, he now decends to particular duties, which he advises them to be very exemplary in the performance of.
And the first is, in their subjection to governors and government; submit yourselves, says he, to every civil ruler, both supreme and subordinate.
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Where observe, 1. How the apostle calls magistracy and civil government, though originally of divine institution, an ordinance of man.
First, As to the end of it, it being appointed and ordained for the good and benefit of man.
Secondly, In reference to the kind of it, every nation having a liberty to choose what kind and form of government human prudence shall direct them to, as most agreeable to, and commodious for, the people.
Observe, 2. The quality of that obedience and subjection which is to be given unto magistrates, it must be for the Lord’s sake, that is, in obedience to the command of God, and with an eye at the honour and glory of God. Christianity is no enemy to the civil right of princes, it requires subjection for conscience, Pro 8:15
By me, says God, kings reign; some read it, for me kings reign; both are true: princes then hold not their crowns either from the pope or from the people, to be kicked off by the one, or to be plucked off by the other, at their pleasure: Submit yourselves, says our apostle, to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake.
Observe, 3. The reasons assigned why magistrates should be thus subjected and submitted to; namely,
1. Because they are sent by God for the punishment of evil-doers, and the praise of them that do well; the magistrate’s office is to punish evil-doers; the fear of the magistrate’s sword awes many men more than the fear of God’s hand. If some men were not gods among men, many men would be devils among men; there would be no living among those who fear not the invisible God in heaven, if there were not some visible gods on earth to fear.
2. Because God will, by this their subjection given to magistrates and governors, silence, or, as the word signifies, put a muzzle upon the mouth of, foolish and unreasonable men, who rage against his people, as if they were enemies to order and government: by this kind of well-doing in particular, namely, by subjection and obedience to rulers in the Lord, and for the Lord’s sake, we put to silence the foolishness of wicked men.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v13The general rule of a Christian conversation is this,…
The general rule of a Christian conversation is this, it must be honest, which it cannot be if there be not a conscientious discharge of all relative duties. The apostle here particularly treats of these distinctly.
I. The case of subjects. Christians were not only reputed innovators in religion, but disturbers of the state; it was highly necessary, therefore, that the apostle should settle the rules and measures of obedience to the civil magistrate, which he does here, where,
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1. The duty required is submission, which comprises loyalty and reverence to their persons, obedience to their just laws and commands, and subjection to legal penalties.
2. The persons or objects to whom this submission is due are described, (1.) More generally: Every ordinance of man. Magistracy is certainly of divine right; but the particular form of government, the power of the magistrate, and the persons who are to execute this power, are of human institution, and are governed by the laws and constitutions of each particular country; and this is a general rule, binding in all nations, let the established form of be what it will. (2.) Particularly: To the king, as supreme, first in dignity and most eminent in degree; the king is a legal person, not a tyrant: or unto governors, deputies, proconsuls, rulers of provinces, who are sent by him, that is, commissioned by him to govern.
3. The reasons to enforce this duty are,
(1.) For the Lord's sake, who had ordained magistracy for the good of mankind, who has required obedience and submission (Rom 13:1-14), and whose honour is concerned in the dutiful behavior of subjects to their sovereigns.
(2.) From the end and use of the magistrate's office, which are, to punish evil-doers, and to praise and encourage all those that do well. They were appointed for the good of societies; and, where this end is not pursued, the fault is not in their institution but their practice. [1.] True religion is the best support of civil government; it requires submission for the Lord's sake, and for conscience' sake. [2.] All the punishments, and all the magistrates in the world, cannot hinder but there will be evil-doers in it. [3.] The best way the magistrate can take to discharge his own duty, and to amend the world, is to punish well and reward well.
(3.) Another reason why Christians should submit to the evil magistrate is because it is the will of God, and consequently their duty; and because it is the way to put to silence the malicious slanders of ignorant and foolish men, Pe1 2:15. Learn, [1.] The will of God is, to a good man, the strongest reason for any duty. [2.] Obedience to magistrates is a considerable branch of a Christian's duty: So is the will of God. [3.] A Christian must endeavour, in all relations, to behave himself so as to put to silence the unreasonable reproaches of the most ignorant and foolish men. [4.] Those who speak against religion and religious people are ignorant and foolish.
(4.) He reminds them of the spiritual nature of Christian liberty. The Jews, from Deu 17:15, concluded that they were bound to obey no sovereign but one taken from their own brethren; and the converted Jews thought they were free from subjection by their relation to Christ. To prevent their mistakes, the apostle tells the Christians that they were free, but from what? Not from duty or obedience to God's law, which requires subjection to the civil magistrate. They were free spiritually from the bondage of sin and Satan, and the ceremonial law; but they must not make their Christian liberty a cloak or covering for any wickedness, or for the neglect of any duty towards God or towards their superiors, but must still remember they were the servants of God. Learn, [1.] All the servants of Christ are free men (Joh 8:36); they are free from Satans' dominion, the law's condemnation, the wrath of God, the uneasiness of duty, and the terrors of death. [2.] The servants of Jesus Christ ought to be very careful not to abuse their Christian liberty; they must not make it a cover or cloak for any wickedness against God or disobedience to superiors.
4. The apostle concludes his discourse concerning the duty of subjects with four admirable precepts: - (1.) Honour all men. A due respect is to be given to all men; the poor are not to be despised (Pro 17:5); the wicked must be honoured, not for their wickedness, but for any other qualities, such as wit, prudence, courage, eminency of employment, or the hoary head. Abraham, Jacob, Samuel, the prophets, and the apostles, never scrupled to give due honour to bad men. (2.) Love the brotherhood. All Christians are a fraternity, united to Christ the head, alike disposed and qualified, nearly related in the same interest, having communion one with another, and going to the same home; they should therefore love one another with an especial affection. (3.) Fear God with the highest reverence, duty, and submission; if this be wanting, none of the other three duties can be performed as they ought. (4.) Honour the king with that highest honour that is peculiarly due to him above other men.
II. The case of servants wanted an apostolical determination as well as that of subjects, for they imagined that their Christian liberty set them free from their unbelieving and cruel masters; to this the apostle answers, Servants, be subject, Pe1 2:18. By servants he means those who were strictly such, whether hired, or bought with money, or taken in the wars, or born in the house, or those who served by contract for a limited time, as apprentices. Observe,
1. He orders them to be subject, to do their business faithfully and honestly, to conduct themselves, as inferiors ought, with reverence and affection, and to submit patiently to hardships and inconveniences. This subjection they owe to their masters, who have a right to their service; and that not only to the good and gentle, such as use them well and abate somewhat of their right, but even to the crooked and perverse, who are scarcely to be pleased at all. Learn, (1.) Servants ought to behave themselves to their masters with submission, and fear of displeasing them. (2.) The sinful misconduct of one relation does not justify the sinful behaviour of the other; the servant is bound to do his duty, though the master be sinfully froward and perverse. (3.) Good people are meek and gentle to their servants and inferiors. Our holy apostle shows his love and concern for the souls of poor servants, as well as for higher people. Herein he ought to be imitated by all inferior ministers, who should distinctly apply their counsels to the lower, the meaner, the younger, and the poorer sort of their hearers, as well as others.
2. Having charged them to be subject, he condescends to reason with them about it.
(1.) If they were patient under their hardships, while they suffered unjustly, and continued doing their duty to their unbelieving and untoward masters, this would e acceptable to God, and he would reward all that they suffered for conscience towards him; but to be patient when they were justly chastised would deserve no commendation at all; it is only doing well, and suffering patiently for that, which is acceptable with God, Pe1 2:19, Pe1 2:20. Learn, [1.] There is no condition so mean but a man may live conscientiously in it, and glorify God in it; the meanest servant may do so. [2.] The most conscientious persons are very often the greatest sufferers. For conscience towards God, they suffer wrongfully; they do well, and suffer for it; but sufferers of this sort are praiseworthy, they do honour to God and to religion, and they are accepted of him; and this is their highest support and satisfaction. [3.] Deserved sufferings must be endured with patience: If you are buffeted for your faults, you must take it patiently. Sufferings in this world are not always pledges of our future happiness; if children or servants be rude and undutiful, and suffer for it, this will neither be acceptable with God nor procure the praise of men.
(2.) More reasons are given to encourage Christian servants to patience under unjust sufferings, Pe1 2:21. [1.] From their Christian calling and profession: Hereunto were you called. [2.] From the example of Christ, who suffered for us, and so became our example, that we should follow his steps, whence learn, First, Good Christians are a sort of people called to be sufferers, and therefore they must expect it; by the terms of Christianity they are bound to deny themselves, and take up the cross; they are called by the commands of Christ, by the dispensations of Providence, and by the preparations of divine grace; and, by the practice of Jesus Christ, they are bound to suffer when thus called to it. Secondly, Jesus Christ suffered for you, or for us; it was not the Father that suffered, but he whom the Father sanctified, and sent into the world, for that end; it was both the body and soul of Christ that suffered, and he suffered for us, in our stead and for our good, Pe1 2:24. Thirdly, The sufferings of Christ should quiet us under the most unjust and cruel sufferings we meet with in the world. He suffered voluntarily, not for himself, but for us, with the utmost readiness, with perfect patience, from all quarters, and all this though he was God - man; shall not we sinners, who deserve the worst, submit to the light afflictions of this life, which work for us unspeakable advantages afterwards?
3. The example of Christ's subjection and patience is here explained and amplified: Christ suffered, (1.) Wrongfully, and without cause; for he did no sin, Pe1 2:22. He had done no violence, no injustice or wrong to any one - he wrought no iniquity of any sort whatever; neither was guile found in his mouth (Isa 53:9), his words, as well as his actions, were all sincere, just, and right. (2.) Patiently: When he was reviled, he reviled not again (Pe1 2:23); when they blasphemed him, mocked him, called him foul names, he was dumb, and opened not his mouth; when they went further, to real injuries, beating, buffeting, and crowning him with thorns, he threatened not; but committed both himself and his cause to God that judgeth righteously, who would in time clear his innocency, and avenge him on his enemies. Learn, [1.] Our Blessed Redeemer was perfectly holy, and so free from sin that no temptation, no provocation whatsoever, could extort from him so much as the least sinful or indecent word. [2.] Provocations to sin can never justify the commission of it. The rudeness, cruelty, and injustice of enemies, will not justify Christians in reviling and revenge; the reasons for sin can never be so great, but we have always stronger reasons to avoid it. [3.] The judgment of God will determine justly upon every man and every cause; and thither we ought, with patience and resignation, to refer ourselves.
4. Lest any should think, from what is said, Pe1 2:21-23, that Christ's death was designed merely for an example of patience under sufferings, the apostle here adds a more glorious design and effect of it: Who his own self, etc., where note, (1.) The person suffering - Jesus Christ: His own self - in his own body. The expression his own self is emphatic, and necessary to show that he verified all the ancient prophecies, to distinguish him from the Levitical priests (who offered the blood of others, but he by himself purged our sins, Heb 1:3), and to exclude all others from participation with him in the work of man's redemption: it is added, in his body; not but that he suffered in his soul (Mat 26:38), but the sufferings of the soul were inward and concealed, when those of the body were visible and more obvious to the consideration of these suffering servants, for whose sake this example is produced. (2.) The sufferings he underwent were stripes, wounds, and death, the death of the cross - servile and ignominious punishments! (3.) The reason of his sufferings: He bore our sins, which teaches, [1.] That Christ, in his sufferings, stood charged with our sins, as one who had undertaken to put them away by the sacrifice of himself, Isa 53:6. [2.] That he bore the punishment of them, and thereby satisfied divine justice. [3.] That hereby he takes away our sins, and removes them away from us; as the scape-goat did typically bear the sins of the people on his head, and then carried them quite away, (Lev 16:21, Lev 16:22), so the Lamb of God does first bear our sins in his own body, and thereby take away the sins of the world, Joh 1:29. (4.) The fruits of Christ's sufferings are, [1.] Our sanctification, consisting of the death, the mortification of sin, and a new holy life of righteousness, for both which we have an example, and powerful motives and abilities also, from the death and resurrection of Christ. [2.] Our justification. Christ was bruised and crucified as an expiatory sacrifice, and by his stripes we are healed. Learn, First, Jesus Christ bore the sins of all his people, and expiated them by his death upon the cross. Secondly, No man can depend safely upon Christ, as having borne his sin and expiated his guilt, till he dies unto sin and lives unto righteousness.
5. The apostle concludes his advice to Christian servants, by putting them in mind of the difference between their former and present condition, Pe1 2:25. They were as sheep going astray, which represents, (1.) Man's sin: he goes astray; it is his own act, he is not driven, but does voluntary go astray. (2.) His misery: he goes astray from the pasture, from the shepherd, and from the flock, and so exposes himself to innumerable dangers. (3.) Here is the recovery of these by conversion: But are now returned. The word is passive, and shows that the return of a sinner is the effect of divine grace. This return is from all their errors and wanderings, to Christ, who is the true careful shepherd, that loves his sheep, and laid down his life for them, who is the most vigilant pastor, and bishop, or overseer of souls. Learn, [1.] Sinners, before their conversion, are always going astray; their life is a continued error. [2.] Jesus Christ is the supreme shepherd and bishop of souls, who is always resident with his flock, and watchful over them. [3.] Those that expect the love and care of this universal pastor must return to him, must die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv13–17Or unto governors,.... Inferior magistrates, such as were under…
Or unto governors,.... Inferior magistrates, such as were under the Roman emperor; as proconsuls, procurators, &c. such as Pontius Pilate, Felix, and Festus, who had under the emperor the government of particular nations, provinces, and cities:
as unto them that are sent by him; either by the king, the Roman emperor, by whom they were sent, from whom they received their commission, and derived their authority, under whom they acted, and to whom they were accountable; or by God, by whom they are ordained, and whose ministers they are, and for the ends hereafter mentioned; so that this contains an argument or reason why they should be submitted to:
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for the punishment of evildoers; the breakers of the laws of God and men, on whom punishment is to be inflicted, by the civil magistrates, for the breach of them, by lines, scourgings, imprisonment, and death itself, according as the crimes are:
and for the praise of them that do well; who behave according to the laws of God and nations, and are obedient to magistrates, and subject to every ordinance; these have praise of men, of magistrates, and are rewarded by them; by protecting their persons, defending their properties, and preserving them in the peaceable enjoyment of their estates and possessions; see Rom 13:3.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv13–17Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man - To…
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man - To every secular power. Instrumentally these are ordained by men; but originally all their power is from God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv13–17Verse 13. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man]…
Verse 13. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man] In every settled state, and under every form of political government, where the laws are not in opposition to the laws of God, it may be very soundly and rationally said: "Genuine Christians have nothing to do with the laws but to obey them." Society and civil security are in a most dangerous state when the people take it into their heads that they have a right to remodel and change the laws. See the whole of this subject fully handled in the notes on "Ro 13:1", c., to which I beg every reader, who may wish to know the political sentiments of this work, to have recourse.
The words παση ανθρωπινη κτισει literally signify, not every ordinance of man, but every human creature yet κτιζειν signifies sometimes to arrange, order, as well as to create, and therefore our translation may do: but as the apostle is evidently speaking here of magistracy, or legislative authority, and as the appointment of magistrates was termed a creating of them, it is better to understand the words thus, All the constituted authorities. So, Decem tribunos plebis per pontificem creaverunt; Cor. Nep. "They created ten tribunes of the plebeians, by the high priest." Carthagine quotannis annui bini reges creabantur; Caesar. "They created two kings every year at Carthage." Consules creantur Caesar et Servilius; Sallust. "Caesar and Servilius are created consuls." Creare ducem gerendo bello. "To create a general to conduct the war." The meaning of St. Peter appears to be this: the Jews thought it unlawful to obey any ruler that was not of their own stock; the apostle tells them they should obey the civil magistrate, let him be of what stock he may, whether a Jew or a Gentile, and let him exercise the government in whatsoever form. This is the general proposition: and then he instances emperors and their deputies; and, far from its being unlawful for them to obey a heathen magistrate, they were to do it for the Lord's sake, δια τον κυριον, on account of the Lord, whose will it was, and who commanded it.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv13, 161Pe 2:13-15. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man…
1Pe 2:13-15. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man — Greek, παση ανθρωπινη κτισει, to every human constitution of government, under which you are placed by Divine Providence, and which is formed instrumentally by men, and relates to you as men, and not as Christians. Macknight translates the clause, Be subject to every human creation of magistrates; observing that “the abstract word creation is put for the concrete, the person created; just as governments and powers are put for persons exercising government and power. The phrase, human creation of magistrates, was formed by St. Peter with a view to condemn the principles of the zealots, who maintained that obedience was due to no magistrates but to those who were appointed by God, as the Jewish kings had been.” Whether to the king — That is, to the emperor; as supreme — For though at Rome the name of king was odious, the people in the provinces gave that name to the emperor, Joh 19:15; Act 17:7. When this epistle was written, Nero was emperor. Or to subordinate governors — Or magistrates, in the different provinces of the empire. “From this we learn that it is the duty of Christians, residing in foreign and even in infidel countries, to obey the laws of those countries in all things not sinful, without considering whether the religion of the magistrate and of the state be true or false.” That are sent by him — Commissioned by the emperor from Rome; for the punishment of evil-doers — The Roman governors had the power of life and death in such conquered provinces as those mentioned 1Pe 1:1. There is, therefore, the exactest propriety in the apostle’s style. And for the praise of them that do well — For protecting and rewarding them who give due obedience to the good laws of the state. For so is the will of God — As I assure you by inspiration; that by well-doing — By your due subjection to magistrates, and the performance of all other Christian duties; you may put to silence — Φιμουν, may bridle in, or restrain by a bridle or a muzzle, (so the word signifies,) the ignorance — The calumnies proceeding from the ignorance of foolish men — Of men destitute of the fear of God, who blame you because they do not know you, affirming that your religion makes you bad subjects.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv13–17Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man - Greek,…
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man - Greek, “to every creation of man,” (ἀνθρωπίνῃ κτίσει anthrōpinē ktisei The meaning is, to every institution or appointment of man; to wit, of those who are in authority, or who are appointed to administer government. The laws, institutes, and appointments of such a government may be spoken of as the creation of man; that is, as what man makes. Of course, what is here said must be understood with the limitation everywhere implied, that what is ordained by those in authority is not contrary to the law of God. See the notes at Act 4:19. On the general duty here enjoined of subjection to civil authority, see the notes at Rom 13:1-7.
For the Lord’s sake - Because he has required it, and has entrusted this power to civil rulers. See the notes at Rom 13:5. Compare the notes at Eph 6:7.
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Whether it be to the king - It has been commonly supposed that there is reference here to the Roman emperor, who might be called king, because in him the supreme power resided. The common title of the Roman sovereign was, as used by the Greek writers, ᾀυτοκράτωρ autokratōr, and among the Romans themselves, “imperator,” (emperor;) but the title king was also given to the sovereign. Joh 19:15, “we have no king but Cesar.” Act 17:7, “and these all do contrary to the decrees of Cesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.” Peter undoubtedly had particular reference to the Roman emperors, but he uses a general term, which would be applicable to all in whom the supreme power resided, and the injunction here would require submission to such authority, by whatever name it might be called. The meaning is, that we are to be subject to that authority whether exercised by the sovereign in person, or by those who are appointed by him.
As supreme - Not supreme in the sense of being superior to God, or not being subject to him, but in the sense of being over all subordinate officers.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv13, 16To every human creature,[5] to every one whom the…
To every human creature,[5] to every one whom the order of Providence has placed over you, whether it be to emperors or kings, who have the supreme power in kingdoms, or to governors of provinces; obey your temporal princes, though heathens and idolaters, (as the Roman emperors were at that time enemies to the Christian religion) in all that is not sinful and against the law of God: for this is the will of God, and all power is from God. See Romans xiii. In like manner (ver. 18) servants must be subject and obey their masters, though they be infidels. See 1 Corinthians vii. By this you will silence the ignorance and calumnies of foolish men, who pretended that the Christian religion taught them to be disobedient to princes, and to be subjects of Christ only, their supreme spiritual king. (Witham)
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
Omni humanæ creaturæ, Greek: ktisei, which the Protestants here translate, to every ordinance; but they translated, creature, Mark xvi. 15.; Colossians i. 15.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv13–17every ordinance of man--"every human institution" [ALFORD], literally, "every…
every ordinance of man--"every human institution" [ALFORD], literally, "every human creation." For though of divine appointment, yet in the mode of nomination and in the exercise of their authority, earthly governors are but human institutions, being of men, and in relation to men. The apostle speaks as one raised above all human things. But lest they should think themselves so ennobled by faith as to be raised above subordination to human authorities, he tells them to submit themselves for the sake of Christ, who desires you to be subject, and who once was subject to earthly rulers Himself, though having all things subject to Him, and whose honor is at stake in you as His earthly representatives. Compare Rom 13:5, "Be subject for conscience' sake."
king--The Roman emperor was "supreme" in the Roman provinces to which this Epistle was addressed. The Jewish zealots refused obedience. The distinction between "the king as supreme" and "governors sent by him" implies that "if the king command one thing, and the subordinate magistrate another, we ought rather to obey the superior" [AUGUSTINE in GROTIUS]. Scripture prescribes nothing upon the form of government, but simply subjects Christians to that everywhere subsisting, without entering into the question of the right of the rulers (thus the Roman emperors had by force seized supreme authority, and Rome had, by unjustifiable means, made herself mistress of Asia), because the de facto governors have not been made by chance, but by the providence of God.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv13–173. Subjection to civil authority, 1Pe_2:13-17.
3. Subjection to civil authority, 1Pe_2:13-17.
13. Every ordinance—Rather, every human institution; here limited to civil government, which, though of divine authority, is framed, set up, and carried on by men. See notes, Rom_13:1-7.
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For the Lord’s sake— Not his command, which appears in 1Pe_2:15; but out of regard to the Lord Jesus, whom you love, and should exalt in the esteem of men, giving no occasion for reproach by disobedience and insubordination.
The king— Both Jews and Greeks gave this title to the Roman emperor.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv13–1713. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man] The…
13. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man] The precept, like those of Rom_13:1-7, points to this as the line of action which the circumstances of the time made most important, in order that the character of Christ’s disciples might be vindicated against the widely-spread suspicion that they were elements of disorder. The word for “ordinance,” usually translated “creature,” may possibly have that sense here. So taken, the counsel would stand parallel to the “honour all men” of 1Pe_2:17, to the “be ye subject one to another” of ch. 1Pe_5:5, and would express the thought that the Christian was to act and speak as a “servus servorum,” submitting himself, as far as God’s law would allow, even to the meanest. Against this view, however, it may be urged that “every human creature” would be a somewhat awkward periphrasis for “all men,” and that the subdivision that follows points to something more specific. On the whole, therefore, there seems sufficient reason for accepting the English Version, and taking the word in the sense which it will well bear of “ordinance,” or better, perhaps, institution. The obedience which is thus enjoined is to be rendered not through fear of punishment but “for the Lord’s sake,” partly as remembering His example (1Pe_2:21-22), partly in zeal for the honour of His name, lest that also be “blasphemed among the Gentiles” (Rom_2:24).
whether it be to the king, as supreme] The adjective is the same as in the “higher powers” of Rom_13:1. The “king” is of course the Emperor Nero, the Greek language not supplying a word with the full significance of the Roman Imperator. So we have prayers for “kings,” obviously including the Emperor, in 1Ti_2:2. The “Governors” include the Pro-consuls or Pro-praetors of Roman provinces, and all officials such as the town-clerk of Ephesus, the Asiarchs, and other municipal authorities. (Act_19:31; Act_19:35; Act_19:38.)
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv13–17(13) To every ordinance of man.—Second prudential rule, subordination.…
(13) To every ordinance of man.—Second prudential rule, subordination. Literally, to every human creation, i.e., to every office or authority which men have established. It is not only to ordinances of directly Divine institution that we are to submit. Mind that he does not say we are to submit to every law that men may pass. This passage is most directly modelled on Rom_13:1, et seq., where the reason assigned for submission is the same as that in Joh_19:11, viz., that ultimately the authority proceeds from God Himself. Here, however, the thought is quite different. They are to submit, but not because of the original source from which the authority flows, but because of the practical consequences of not submitting. It must be done “for the Lord’s” (i.e., Jesus Christ’s) “sake,” i.e., in order not to bring discredit upon His teaching, and persecution upon His Church. This difference of treatment, in the midst of so much resemblance, shows that at the date of St. Peter’s letter there was much more immediate cause for laying stress on political subordination. St. Paul, writing to the Roman Church, urges submission to Claudius, because the Roman Jews (among whom the Christians were reckoned) were often in trouble and expelled from the city of Rome (Act_18:2); St. Peter, writing in all probability from the Roman Church, urges submission to Nero and the provincial governors because “ignorant and foolish men” were beginning to misrepresent the Christian Church as a kind of Internationalist or Socialist conspiracy.
The king, as supreme.—First division of second prudential rule: subordination political. Of course it means the emperor. The name “king,” though detested in Latin, was used without scruple by the provincial Greeks to express the sovereignty of the Caesars. When he is described here as “supreme,” it is not intended (as our English version would convey) to contrast his supreme power with the inferior power of the “governors;” the word is only the same which is rendered “higher” in Rom_13:1. Huther rightly says, “The emperor was in the Roman Empire not merely the highest, but actually the only ruler; all other magistrates were but the instruments by which he exercised his sway.” Of course all Asia Minor, to which St. Peter was writing, was in the Roman Empire; the language would have been different had the letter been addressed to, or perhaps had it even been written from, the geographical Babylon.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv13–17Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man. The aorist…
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man. The aorist passive (uJpotaghte) is used, as often, in a middle sense. The word for "ordinance" is ktisiv, which in classical Greek means "foundation," as of a city; but in the New Testament is used elsewhere only of the works of God, in the sense of "creation," or "a creature" (see Mar_16:15; Col_1:23, etc.) Hence some, as De Wette, translate the words, "to every human creature," supporting their view bynh 1Pe_5:5. But on the whole this seems unlikely; ajnqrwpi ktisiv is a strange and awkward periphrasis for anqrwpov. It is better to understand it as meaning a human creation or foundation. Certainly "there is no power but of God"; (Rom_13:1) but the form which that power assumes is a human institution. St. Peter bids his readers to submit themselves to the de facto form of government. For the Lord"s sake. Not from human motives, as fear of punishment; but for the Lord"s sake, because "the powers that be are ordained of God," and in obeying them we obey the ordinance of God. Christians were commonly accused of insubordination, of doing "contrary to the decrees of Caesar"; (Act_17:7) they must show by their conduct that these accusations are false, that the progress of the gospel be not hindered. Whether it be to the king, as supreme. By "the king" is meant the Roman emperor, who was frequently so described in the Greek writers. Nero was emperor when St. Peter wrote. Christians were to obey even him, wicked tyrant as he was; for his power was given him from above, as the Lord himself had said of Pilate. (Joh_19:11)
Vers. 13-15.
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The Christian citizen.
The religion of the Lord Jesus entered practically into all the relations and interests of human life. The condition of the world, politically regarded, when the Roman empire exercised universal sway, was indeed very different from that which obtains at the present time. But the principles inculcated in the first century of our era are adapted to guide and govern the conduct of Christ"s people through all time.
I THE CHRISTIAN VIEW OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT.
1. Regarded in itself, it is a human institution, but it is nevertheless ordained by God. In this respect it is in the same case as the family. To believe in a Divine Ruler and a divinely appointed order, is to accept the state and its ordinances as appointed by the wisdom of God himself.
2. The Christian recognizes the Divine principle of government as personified in civil rulers. These are supreme-as kings; or persons commissioned, and exercising delegated power, as governors.
3. The Christian perceives the necessity of those functions which rulers are bound to discharge. There is no government worthy of the name which does not punish evil-doers, and protect, favor, and praise those who do well.
II THE CHRISTIAN"S DUTY TOWARDS CIVIL GOVERNMENT.
1. Generally speaking, that duty is submission, loyalty, and cheerful obedience. When laws are promulgated, the Christian respects and observes them; when taxes are levied, the Christian pays them; when service is required, the Christian renders it.
2. He acknowledges that this course of conduct is supported alike by the example and by the teaching of Christ.
3. Yet this obedience is within certain limits, and is subject to certain reservations. No man is under obligation to obey an ordinance of the civil power which is contradictory to the express and unmistakable law of God.
And when the ruler himself is disloyal, and violates the constitution to which ruler and subject alike are subject, there are cases in which even resistance is allowable, if not binding.
III THE CHRISTIAN"S MOTIVES TO OBEY THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT.
He does not act simply in his own interest, to avoid penalties, to secure place.
1. He obeys for the Lord"s sake, i.e. with a Christian aim before him.
2. He obeys because such is the will of God himself.
3. He obeys in order to remove hindrances from the way of the progress of Christianity among men. Scandals are avoided, prejudices are overcome, good will is conciliated; and the path is made clear for the progress of the gospel. Loyalty to the state and to the sovereign is loyalty to Christ, to God. J.R.T.
Vers. 13-17.
The Christian"s duty to the state.
We might regard vers. 11 and 12 as the text of which the rest of the Epistle is the sermon. The apostle first writes at length on their possession of personal redemption, and then says, "Now for the life that becomes it." And he begins with that citizenship which becomes the Christian. Very striking is it that the heavenly and the earthly citizenship should be brought here into such close connection; it is when the apostle has the highest conception of our relation to the spiritual kingdom (as in vers. 9, 10.) that he proceeds to speak of the lofty position we are to take as citizens of earth. Probably there was special reason for emphasis on this; he was writing to Jews, who had rather lax ideas of their obligations to human institutions in the Gentile world, and were charged by the empire with being "bad subjects;" that, for example, was the ostensible reason for the persecution by Nero. The subject is timely. Christians are often in doubt as to the Dart they should take in public affairs. Here we have Divine teaching respecting this.
I THE DUTY OF CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP,
"Submit yourselves to every human institution whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well that includes all human institutions for the well-being of the nation at large, whether in the wider circle of imperial, or the narrower circle of local, matters, and, says the apostle, "Submit yourselves to that.
1. What, then, is the submission which the Christian owes to the state?
The only submission possible to those to whom Peter wrote was that of tribute and obedience; under the despotic policy of the empire they could do no more; they had no power to ameliorate the laws nor to choose their rulers. With us it is not so. If we only pay the taxes and obey the authorities, we do not submit ourselves. "Submit yourselves unto God" means "give yourselves." So read the word "submit" here. The Christian is bound to give not only his substance and doings to these, but himself. As Christians, nothing ought to be alien to us which concerns the world our Lord loved and died for.
1. What are the limits of this submission? We must read this with the limitation everywhere implied. "Fearing God" comes before "honoring the king." Peter was himself an illustration of that, when he told the rulers "We must obey God rather than man." But the text refers to submission of ourselves; we must do that as far as we are to do all else that is right that is, as far as our opportunities and talents permit. Opportunity and talent are the limit of duty. Health, home-claims, higher claims, natural aptitude, etc., these show us where and how far we may go. God"s barriers are always plain to him who fears God.
2. What, then, is the objection to this submission? We are told that Christians are citizens of another world, and should have no part in this. But it is mean to get all the good out of the world we can, and refuse to do it all the good we can. We are told that Christ lived in the midst of political corruption, and did not raise his voice against it. But he was ever propagating those principles which undermine corruption, and his healing miracles show that his heart was set on ameliorating physical woe. We are told that we should come out of the world, and be separate. But that cannot mean that the Christian the Christian physician, say is to refuse to help the world. If the world chooses to help me to do a good work, I know no command which, because of their co-operation, bids me stand aloof.
II THE LOFTY PRINCIPLES ON WHICH THIS DUTY IS TO BE FULFILLED.
What is wanted is, not so much that Christians should take these things up, as that they should do so from sacred conviction, and "as becomes the gospel of Christ.
1. This must be done "for the Lord"s sake." "The earth is the Lord"s the world and they that dwell therein." How much does he care for men, who for them became incarnate, and endured the death of the cross! Then everything that tends to their development and enfranchisement is dear to him.
2. This must be done that "with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men." If the world come to regard Christianity as having to do mostly with beliefs and emotions, they will look upon it as unreal and worthless. It is not by fighting "more or less extinct Satans" that we secure the world"s respect for Christ, but by earnestly grappling, for his sake, with the real evils of the day.
3. This must be done "as servants of God." This duty is not without peril to personal spiritual life; it often calls the Christian to associate with those who have no fear of God, and work accordingly, and exposes him to the danger of falling to their level. The political atmosphere is often morally deadening Our safety is in going into this deliberately as God"s servants, to do his will, and that at any cost, wearing heaven"s livery, and making heavenly influences tell upon our fellows.
III THE DIVINE WARNING AGAINST THE DANGER IN THE FULFILLMENT OF THIS DUTY.
"As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of evil kakia, equivalent to "evil of any kind." The Christian public man needs anxiously to look beneath his activity, and see if any evil thing is concealed and fostered there.
1. There is the evil of self-seeking. Of doing this unconsciously, not for Christ, but for personal ends.
2. And there is the evil of love of the world. Public life has a terrible tendency to foster a spirit of worldliness, and to counteract this we need plenty of heart and closet work. There is no peril in this if we put "fear of God" before the "honor of the king if, whilst we "render to Caesar the things that are Caesar"s," we "render to God the things that are God"s;" if, whilst submitting ourselves "to every human institution," etc., we maintain the lofty feeling and character of "the chosen generation, the royal priesthood, the people peculiarly God"s own. C.N.
Vers. 13, 14.
The highest motive for a loyal life.
This passage teaches
I THE NECESSITY OF LOYALTY.
In our present condition there must be the ruled and rulers. It may be well to seek a change of rulers; it certainly is often well to seek a change of laws; but while rulers, whether "kings or governors," are for "vengeance on evil-doers, and a praise to them that do well," it is the duty of the true citizen to be loyal.
II THE FREQUENT CHARGE OF DISLOYALTY BROUGHT BY THE FOOLISH AGAINST REFORMERS.
Such men as St. Paul was addressing were, as Christians are, of necessity, reformers. There was all the more need that they should, by fitting loyalty, put to shame the ignorance of foolish men who calumniated them. Even their very freedom, as being under a higher than mere human law, might seem to be used as "a cloak of wickedness." Therefore they were to be the very bondservants of God.
III LOYALTY IS INCOMPLETE UNLESS IT INCLUDES HONOR FOR ALL MEN, LOVE FOR THE CHRISTIAN BROTHERHOOD, AS WELL AS OBEDIENCE TO THE RULER.
The true loyalist is no recluse, but a philanthropist and a Church-member.
IV THE SUFFICIENT AND ABIDING MOTIVE FOR SUCH LOYALTY IS DIVINE.
"For the Lord"s sake. U.R.T.
Vers. 13-17.
Relation of Christians to civil authorities.
I CATEGORY UNDER WHICH THE DUTY IN THE RELATION COMES.
"Be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord"s sake." There are various ordinances of man; i.e. Divine appointments for human relations which are subject to human molding. With reference to every such ordinance our duty is subjections, i.e. deference, even when we cannot give our approval. We are to be subject to the ordinance for the Lord"s sake. There is here the Pauline thought that it is Christ who is represented in the position of authority, and we are to be subject to those in authority for the sake of him whose representatives they are. There is thus the placing of society, not only on a religious, but on a distinctively Christian basis. "The relation of superiority and subordination which permeates the whole of human society, and excludes all abstract liberty and equality, this pervading relation of contrast, tending nevertheless to unity between authority and liberty, authority and obedience, authority and filial piety in its original source, in its inmost foundation, and in its actual essence, is not of man, cannot be deduced from the right of the stronger or the more able, nor from the common consent, but rests on God"s will and appointment, and is subject to his guidance. This implies that, in honoring his parents and obeying the laws, one obeys not only man, but also God. It implies that, whilst superiors and subordinates are mutually bound to each other, both are engaged to a higher third party, whose servants they both are, whose laws they must both obey, and to whom both must render an account. It implies, in one word, that the whole order of human society in its ultimate resort rests on the Divine will as its foundation" (Martensen).
II PARTICULAR DUTY OF SUBJECTION TO CIVIL AUTHORITIES.
"Whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as sent by him." There is here specified the ordinance of civil government. It is viewed concretely in the persons in whom it has reality. The highest authority is vested in the king; he is represented as sending governors, i.e. giving authority to magistrates under him. There is no determination here of the best form of civil government; that is left to human molding. The duty of being subject is not made dependent on the government under which we are placed being the best, nor is it made dependent on legitimacy; we have simply to do with the government in fact, and its acting head as representing to us, however imperfectly in the civil sphere, the government of Christ. Our subjection takes the form of obeying the laws, paying taxes, lending our influence on the side of authority. What we render to our civil rulers should be all the more satisfactory that we render it to them for the sake of that Lord in whose Name we regard them as acting.
III JUSTIFICATION OF THE ORDINANCE OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT.
"For vengeance on evildoers and for praise to them that do well." This language is connected with the under-magistrates, but with them as sent by the supreme magistrate. It therefore puts before us the idea of civil government. It is the employment of force, but for moral ends. It is for vengeance on evildoers; i.e. it sets itself to repress evil-doing (such as it takes notice of by proportionate punishments. It is also for praise to them that do well; i.e. it sets itself to encourage law-keeping and industrial enterprise by adequate protection to life and property. This is no human conception; it is the bodying forth (however imperfectly) of the Divine love for order, for settled institutions. "God is not the Author of confusion, but of order, and as in all the Churches of the saints," so also in the states great and small.
IV MOTIVE INFLUENCING SUBJECTION.
"For so is the will of God, that by well-doing ye should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men." It is implied that there was an impression abroad that the Christians were evildoers, or elements of disorder in the state. That impression was not founded on fact; the apostle sets it down to the ignorance of foolish men, i.e. their self-caused inability in their ignorance to understand the Christian position (rather than to malice). It was not the quiet voice of wisdom, but rather the loud voice of foolishness. The Christians were really the greatest friends of order, and it was not only their interest but their recognized duty to occupy no doubtful position toward the Roman state. It was a direction to ancient Israel in captivity in Babylon, "Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace." Paul gives directions even to give thanks for kings and for all that are in authority. So it is here declared to be not good policy, but the will of God (which should have the highest power to influence), that by well-doing, i.e. specially by the greatest exemplariness in keeping the laws, they should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.
V PRINCIPLE CONDITIONING LIBERTY.
"As free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God." We should rather read "malice" and "servants." It is against good interpretation to bring in here Christian freedom in general. We are free specially in relation to the state. We are free to obey, or not to obey, the laws of the land. We are free to aspire after better conditions for the state. But we are not to allow our freedom to degenerate into license. We are not to use it as a pretext for gratifying our private revenge. We are not to use it as a cloak underneath which we strike at established authority. How, then, are we to find the right course? It is by this consideration, that we are servants of God, and bound by his laws. And if the laws of the land require what his laws forbid, or forbid what his laws require, our duty is to refuse obedience to them. We have an example of the latter in the refusal of the apostles to cease teaching in the name of Christ. When brought before the authorities for breaking the laws, they said, "We ought to obey God rather than man." They were willing to take the consequences, but they would not cease preaching Christ. However much we are in love with order, are willing to be subject to the ordinance for the Lord"s sake, there is limitation. If a government were to seek to impose on us a form of religion of which in our conscience we did not approve, our choice would lie between suffering and exercising such power as we had. And if we as citizens had the power we believe that it would only be according to the mind of God that we should use it to overthrow the tyranny the higher consideration in this, as in many cases, overruling the lower.
VI SURROUNDINGS OF THE DUTY OF SUBJECTION.
1. All men. "Honor all men." We must understand the worst of men as included. The ground of the honor is the worth which essentially belongs to humanity by its Divine constitution. We are made in the image of God, made to think of God and to do the will of God, made for God and immortality. The form in which Kant puts it is the following: "No man can be employed, neither by others nor by himself, as a mere instrument, but is always to be regarded as an end. And as he cannot dispose of himself for any price (which would be subversive of his own self-reverence), neither is he at liberty to derogate from the equally necessary self-reverence of others as men; i.e. he is obliged practically to recognize the dignity of every other man"s humanity, and so stands under a duty based on that reverential observance which is necessarily to be demonstrated towards every other person." Besides this essential worth, there is superadded worth in the fact of the Incarnation. "The religion of Christ is a testimony to the worth of man in the sight of God, to the importance of human nature, to the infinite purposes for which we were framed. God is there set forth as sending to the succor of the human family his Beloved Son, the bright image and
2. representation of his own perfections; and sending him, not simply to roll away a burden of pain and punishment, but to create man after the Divine image, to purify the soul from every stain, to commute to it power over evil, to open before it immortality as its aim and destination. And these blessings it proffers, not to the few, not to the educated, not to the eminent, but to all human beings, to the poorest and the most fallen. Honor, then, man from the beginning to the end of his earthly course. Honor the child. Welcome into being the infant, with a feeling of its mysterious grandeur, with the feeling that an immortal existence has begun, that a spirit has been kindled which is never to be quenched. Honor the child. On this principle all good education rests. Never shall we learn to train up the child till we take it in our arms, as Jesus did, and feel distinctly that "of such is the kingdom of heaven." Honor the poor. This sentiment of respect is essential to improving the connection between the more and the less prosperous conditions of society. Till Christianity shall have breathed into us this spirit of respect for our nature, wherever it is found, we shall not know how to raise the fallen. Perhaps none of us have yet heard or can comprehend the tone of voice in which a man thoroughly impressed with this sentiment would speak to a fellow-creature" (Channing). This duty is fittingly made the basis; for when we have learned to honor all men for the worth of their nature, we shall come more readily to being subject to what God has appointed for man including civil government.
1. The brotherhood. "Love the brotherhood." We are to understand all that truly belong to the Christian circle. We are to love men beyond the brotherhood, but compassionately with a view to their being brought within the brotherhood. It is only within the brotherhood that we can get outlet for our brotherly feelings, because it is there only that there is community of life, that there are excellences on which we can rest with complacency. "In its true idea, or regarded as the union of those who partake in the spirit of Jesus Christ, I revere it as the noblest of all associations. Our common social unions are poor by its side. In the world we form ties of interest, pleasure, and ambition. We come together as creatures of time and sense for transient amusement or display. In the Church we meet as God"s children; we recognize in ourselves something higher than animal and worldly life. We come, that holy feelings may spread from heart to heart. The Church, in its true idea, is a retreat from the world. We meet in it that by union with the holy we may get strength to withstand our common intercourse with the impure. We meet to adore God, to open our souls to his Spirit, and, by recognition of the common Father, to forget all distinctions among ourselves. This spiritual union with
2. the holy is to survive all ties; the union of the virtuous friends of God is as eternal as virtue; and this union is the essence of the true Church." Let us, then, value the brotherhood as meeting the social side of our spiritual life; let our love go out towards all who have the reality of life in Christ, however much they may differ from us; let our love go out towards them even in proportion to the depth of their life; let us rejoice in the progress they are making; let us seek also the better realization of the brotherhood, including many conquests for it from the world. Stress was to be laid on this in connection with subjection to civil authorities; for if the brotherhood was dear to them as Zion of old to the captives, (Ps 137) great care was to be taken that there was no unnecessary collision with these authorities.
3. God. "Fear God." This is the feeling of reverence which we are to entertain towards God as infinitely exalted above us. We are to fear God because of the far-reaching power, wisdom, even goodness, which he has displayed in his works. Even in the contemplation of a little flower, Linnaeus said, "God eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, I saw him as he was passing by from behind, and I was amazed." We are to fear him because he gave us being, because he has bound us by natural law, because he has especially bound us as free responsible beings by moral law. We are to fear him who is the absolutely holy Lawgiver, and especially when he commands from Calvary. It is evident that this fear to God has to do with subjection to civil authorities. It will keep us from over-estimating the ruler, as though his word were simply to be obeyed, his example to be followed. We have first to inquire whether no injury is done thereby to Divine law. It will keep us, on the other hand, from under-estimating the ruler. As placed over us under God, he has (with the necessary reservation that has been pointed to) a right to our obedience.
1. The king. "Honor the king." We may esteem the king because of his personal excellence, and we may be attached to his rule because of the advantages connected with it; but we honor him because of the office which he holds. Without this feeling animating us, we cannot give subjection so as to enjoy the approval of our God. R.F.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv13, 17Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man.
1Pe_2:13-16
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man.
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The limits of subjection to civil rulers
What if the rulers themselves be wicked men, and the government itself a tyranny?
1. Let it be considered that there is probably no government, not even that of the worst slave plantation, that is not on the whole to be preferred to anarchy, or no government at all; and that, therefore, the argument from the uses of government never quite fails.
2. There is no question whatever that, when human government errs and transcends the limits prescribed by its very nature and the ends of its being, forbidding what God has commanded, or commanding what God has forbidden, our duty in every such case is to hearken unto God more than unto men. In the conflict of authorities the higher authority must rule.
3. The Christian law does not strip a man of whatever civil rights his countrys law allows him, nor does it prohibit him from defending those rights in any lawful way (Act_16:37; Act_22:25; Act_25:11).
4. These things being understood, the apostles rule may safely be taken as absolute and universal in its application. Reverencing still the dark and distorted shadow of the Divine sovereignty, they will leave it to His all-controlling providence, and to outraged humanity, to redress the wrongs of nations. (J. Lillie, D. D.)
The duty of submission to authority
I. All authority of every kind is from God, and is to be regarded as such. The Word of God goes further, and says, that there is no power but of God. Nor is this truth confined to the case of kings and their subjects; it applies to every authority whatever; all the relations in life, and our obedience, is due simply because it is the will and ordinance of God.
II. The persons who receive this their authority from God are but men. Now man in his natural state is full of corruption, pride, selfishness, unrighteousness, covetousness, maliciousness. It is therefore to be calculated upon, and God contemplated this when He gave the precept, that the persons who are in authority should abuse it in some way or another. And therefore it is nowhere written: Children, obey good parents; servants, obey kind masters; subjects, obey a good government; there is no such limitation, but quite the contrary, not only the good and gentle, but also the froward. If those in authority abuse or neglect their trust, they will assuredly have to give account to God; but our duty is to submit, while using all lawful means to be delivered from unjust treatment. (John Tucker, B. D.)
Submission to rulers
I. An authoritative command of obedience, Submit your selves.
II. The object, to which this obedience must be yielded, Every ordinance of man.
III. The division of this ordinance of man into supreme and subordinate. Submit to the King, as supreme; and to governors sent by Him, as subordinate.
IV. The duty of all governors, and the end of all governments expressed, and that is, The punishment of evil-doers, and the praise of them that do well.
V. The motive, which enforceth this exhortation and command: submit to them for the Lords sake. (Bp. E. Hopkins.)
Subjection to authority
I. No subjection is due to an unlawful and usurping power, upon Gods command, and for conscience sake.
II. Upon prudential and self preserving principles, submission may sometimes be yielded to the lawful commands of an unlawful and usurping power.
III. We ought to obey the commands of the lawful magistrate, in those things which are in themselves necessary to be done and our indispensable duty, and that, not only out of conscience to God, but also out of conscience to man.
IV. If the thing commanded be indifferently lawful, and appear so to us; that is, if it be in its own nature such as we may either do it, or not to do it without sin; then are we to be determined by the magistrates commands to do what he requires, and to abstain from what he forbids.
V. If the thing be indifferently lawful in itself, but appears doubtful unto us, and we cannot resolve ourselves whether it be lawful or evil, I think we are obliged, till we receive clearer light and information, to take that part of the doubt which the magistrate commands us, as being the safest and most satisfactory to conscience.
VI. If the thing enjoined be in itself sinful and unlawful, or at least appear so unto us, then take these two following rules-
1. We ought not, upon any pretences or inducements whatsoever, to yield active obedience to such a command.
2. Though we may not yield active obedience to the unlawful commands of our superiors, yet we are bound to yield passive obedience to them. VII. We ought, in no case whatsoever, to resist and rebel against the lawful powers which God hath set over us; yea, though they should use their power unlawfully; for whosoever resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God; and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. (Bp. E. Hopkins.)
Submission to government
1. The reasonableness of this apostolical precept is suggested by the terms used to convey it; for why rulers and governors, unless it be indeed their office to rule and govern, our duty to submit and obey?
2. But that there should be government, and that men should obey it, is the will and appointment of God.
3. A third reason assigned for obedience to government is the benefit derived from it to the community. It is instituted for the protection of good men by the punishment of evil ones.
4. A fourth reason for the precept inculcated is the honour of Christianity. (Bp. Horne.)
Bad riders to be obeyed
You will say the doctrine is unreasonable, and of tyranny there can be no end if it be unlawful to resist it. Perhaps, if we only lay aside for a moment our passions and prejudices, we shall see how much better God has provided for our happiness than we ourselves should do.
1. For, if you allow to subjects a power of taking arms and deposing their princes, who is to be judge when there is a sufficient reason for exerting such power? Men will never judge fairly and impartially in their own cause.
2. It should be considered that, although government may sometimes be bad, rebellion will generally be worse. The wrath of a king, says the Scripture, is as the roaring of a lion, he may destroy some; but the madness of the people is as the raging of a tempestuous sea when it has burst its bounds; it overwhelms all. Compare the mischief said to be done, or designed, by our unfortunate Charles I with the bloodshed, the devastations of the great rebellion, from the horrors of which the nation was at length obliged to seek protection by reestablishing the government that had been east off.
3. But respecting the principle of obedience, and the inconveniences to which it may sometimes subject us, we do not sufficiently rely upon the providence or the promises of God. The Scriptures teach us that as He setteth a righteous prince over a people that fear and serve Him, so He often sendeth an unrighteous one to punish a wicked nation. (Bp. Horne.)
Civil authorities have their authority from God
Water may be made to assume different forms, in fountains and cascades, and be made to flow in different channels or aqueducts by the hand of man; but the element itself, which flows in them, is from God. So again, marble may be hewn by mans hand into different shapes; under the sculptors chisel it may become a statue, a frieze, or sarcophagus, but the marble itself is from the quarry, it is from the creative hand of God. So it is with the civil power. The form which power may assume, and the person who may be appointed to exercise it, may be ordinances of man, but the authority itself is from God. (C. Wordsworth.)
Any kind of government better than none
There was a law amongst the Persians that when their governor was dead there should be a lawlessness for five days after, that every man should do what he list; now for those five days there was such killing and robbing, and such destroying one another, that by the time the five days were over, they were glad of government again. So that any kind of government is better than no government; but happy is that people that live under a good government, where justice flows from the Supreme as head, and is conveyed by subordinate ministers unto the people. (A. Burgess.)
That with well doing ye may put to silence.-
On silencing objections against Christianity
I. What was that cavil and objection against Christian religion which the apostle here hath respect unto, and would have silenced? From 1Pe_2:13-14 we learn that it was that old clamour, that Christian religion was an enemy to government, and the professors of it seditious persons. This was indeed the very masterpiece of Satans policy; by this he wrought the condemnation of the blessed Jesus, and even constrained Pilate to give sentence against Him (Joh_19:12-13). And by the same artifice he hoped also to destroy His religion, and to root the profession of it out of the world.
II. By what means the apostle would have this done. There is not a more excellent way to take off all scandals against religion than the exemplary lives of those that profess it. But the notion of well-doing here is that honest and regular, that ready and conscientious subjection to government, that he had pressed in the preceding verses. And it is certainly the most effectual way.
1. All men have not parts to examine what the principles of a religion are, or to understand what the natural consequences from them be; and many that can do this are idle, or cannot spare time to do it, and all these will go that near way of judging a religion to be such, as they behold the professors of it to be.
2. Actions are commonly more convictive, then principles and professions.
III. The great reason and argument upon which He presses it.
1. This is Gods will, because He knows this to be so very much for the good and happiness of the world.
2. The maintaining His own appointment and institution.
3. For the credit of His holy religion. (H. Hesketh.)
Why it is so hard to cure ignorance and silence ignorant men
1. Because it is natural to them to be hateful and hating others, and it is a hard task to overcome a natural disposition in man (Tit_3:3).
2. Because the unregenerate mind of man is full of objections, and the devil supplies them with cavils.
3. Because many withhold the truth in un righteousness; they love darkness and lies, and therefore resist the power of the truth.
4. Because they encourage one another in an evil way; they observe that the great men of the world, and many that are in reputation for wisdom, are scorners as well as they; they think they may revile securely.
5. Because many ignorant persons, when they are confuted, yet are so foolish that they will wilfully persist in their objections, though they cannot reply against the answer, yet they think if such and such were there, that have more experience and learning, they would make good what they say.
6. Because malice hath no ears; they hate the truth and godly men. If it be not as they say, yet their malice would fain have it so, and if it may disgrace the godly, they care not whether it be true or no.
7. Because many times God gives them over to such a reprobate sense, that through custom and evil surmises, they think verily they do not much amiss to oppose and hate such persons. This was the case of such as reviled and persecuted the apostles, they thought they did God good service. Uses-
(1) Therefore we should not wonder if we see this daily come to pass that men of all sorts should reproach the good way of God so unjustly, so pertinaciously.
(2) It shows that godly men had need to be circumspect, and that they which will confute ignorant men must strive to be thoroughly furnished with wisdom of words and abundance of good works.
(3) It shows that ignorant persons are in a lamentable case, that so wilfully run towards the gates of death and ruin, that are so hardly cured of this spiritual blindness.
(4) It imports that self-willed Christians that cannot be advised are to be reckoned in the rank of these fools, what show soever they make of a better estate.
(5) It does comfortably import that when one is teachable, and hates reproaching, and will do or say nothing against the truth, and uses the means to get the knowledge and love of the truth, that such a person is escaped from the congregation of these fools, and is in some measure enlightened with true wisdom from above.
(6) It may warn all that love their own souls, hereafter to take heed, to avoid wilfulness and self-conceitedness. (N. Byfield.)
The vices of Christians detrimental to the general interests of religion
I. The vices of believers afford an argument to infidelity. The vices of believers are not the consequences of religion, but of its abuse or neglect; the corruption of Christian manners cannot be at all compared with the enormous wickedness of the heathen nations; those excesses, which seem more peculiarly the offspring of Christianity, were the real production of ignorance and superstition. Unbelievers are not the only persons whom our misconduct may fatally mislead.
II. Even in professed Christians there is a cold or contemptuous neglect of public worship, and of revealed doctrines, which is often defended on the same pretence: that it does not appear that they have either of them any actual influence on the conduct of those who regard them most scrupulously. Belief in the doctrines of religion, and attendance on its solemnities, have plainly a natural tendency to awaken our sense of those duties which the Being, whom we adore, has commanded, and to quicken our pursuit of those virtues, which it is the end of revelation to promote. And though it must be acknowledged that these means, however wisely adopted, partake in the imperfection of everything relating to man, and often fail of their ends; yet is it far from being certain that they fail so frequently, or so considerably, as the objection supposes. Religious observances, it is true, cannot divest us of our natural frailty; but they certainly give us awful ideas of the moral Governor of the world, and have a peculiar tendency to encourage that serious disposition of mind which will best secure us from great or frequent excesses.
III. The vices of believers not only furnish a pretence to the infidelity of some, and the irreligion of others, but spread also a very dangerous snare in the plainer paths of moral virtue. The force of example on the minds and manners of mankind is universally acknowledged. Interest, inclination, and duty, the laws of man, the laws of nature, and the laws of God, are in vain united to resist its progress: every principle of action is perverted by the magic influence of prevailing fashion. As therefore the consequences of our conduct on the belief and manners of those around us are thus important in themselves; as they cannot be prevented by any prudence, nor averted by the sincerest repentance; they surely form a motive to goodness, which no thinking man can overlook, and no generous man will disregard. (James Fawcett, B. D.)
As free, and not using.-
Freedom and law
Freedom is one of those words which need no recommendation: it belongs to the same category as light, order, progress, law. It is one of the ideas which, in some sense or other, mankind accepts as an axiom; as a landmark or principle of healthful life which is beyond discussion. What do we mean by freedom? We mean the power of a living being to act without hindrance to the true law of its life.
I. Christ has given men political or social freedom. He has not indeed drawn out a scheme of government, and stamped it with His Divine authority as guaranteeing freedom. Yet with our Lord there came the germs of political liberty. When individual men had learnt to feel the greatness and the interest of life; the real horizon which stretches out before the souls eye beyond the grave; the depths of being within the soul; its unexhausted capacities for happiness and for suffering; the reality and nearness of God, of His Divine Son, of our fellow citizens the blessed angels; the awful, inexpressible distinction of being redeemed from death by the blood of the Most Holy, and sanctified by the Eternal Spirit; it was impossible not to feel also that each man had, in the highest sense, rights to assert and a bearing to maintain. Thus a Christian was a free man, simply because he was a Christian. It has often been alleged that, as a matter of fact, our Lord left the great despotisms of the world for a while untouched. Jesus Christ taught, He was crucified, He rose, He ascended. But the Caesar Tiberius still sat upon the throne of the Roman world. There never was a more odious system of personal government than that of the Roman Emperors; the surviving forms of the extinct republic did but make the actual tyranny which had succeeded it more hard to bear. Yet it was of such an Emperor as Nero that St. Paul wrote (Rom_13:1); and St. Peter (1Pe_2:13-14). And in the same way apostles advise Christian slaves to give obedience to their masters as unto the Lord; to obey, not with eye service, as if they had only to do as much as might be insisted on by a jealous owner, but with singleness of heart, as men who throw every energy into their work. It may be asked, How are such precepts compatible with the assertion that Christ gave us political freedom? The answer is that He gave us a moral force which did two things. First, it made every Christian independent of outward political circumstances; and, secondly, it made the creation of new civil institutions only a question of time.
II. Christ gave men also intellectual freedom. He enfranchised them by the gift of truth. He gave truth in its fulness; truth not merely relative and provisional, but absolute and final. Until He came the human intellect was enslaved. It was enslaved either to degrading superstition, or to false and one-sided philosophies. When Christ, in all the glory of His Godhead and His Manhood, had enthroned Himself in the soul, He taught men to think worthily of the greatness of God and of the greatness of man, notwithstanding mans weakness and corruption. He freed men from all the cramping influences of local philosophies, of local teachers, of petty schemes and theories for classes and races. He led men out into the great highways of thought, where, if they would, they might know the universal Father, manifested in His Blessed Son, as the Author of all existence, as its object, and as its end. Certainly our Lord has given us a body of Truth, which we can, if we like, reject, but which it is our happiness to believe. What He did for men in this way is embodied in His own teaching, in the writings of His apostles, and in the creeds of the universal Church. These are to intellectual liberty what law is to social liberty. They protect, they do not cramp it. They furnish a fixed point, from which thought may take wing.
III. Christ has made men morally free. He has broken the chains which fettered the human will, and has restored to it its buoyancy and its power. What had been lost was more than regained in Christ. Not merely was the penalty of old transgressions paid, so that man was redeemed from a real captivity: but the will was reinvigorated by a Heaven-sent force or grace, once more placing it in true harmony with the law of mans life (Rom_6:18). Here it is objected that moral freedom is not worth having if it be only a service after all. You talk of freedom, men say, but you mean rule. You mean restrictions upon action; restrictions upon inclination; restrictions upon speech. You mean obligations: obligations to work; obligations to self-discipline; obligations to sacrifice self to others; obligations to all the details of Christian duty. You are right: certainly we do. A Christian lives under a system of restrictions and obligations; and yet he is free. Those obligations and restrictions only prescribe for him what his own new heaven-sent nature would wish to be and to do. Whatever a Christian may be outwardly, he is inwardly a free man. In obeying Christs law he acts as he desires to act: he acts according to this, the highest law of his life, because he rejoices to do so. He obeys law; the Law of God. But then he has no inclination to disobey it. He is, as St. Peter says, a servant of God; but then, as he would not for all the world be anything else, his service is perfect freedom. (Canon Liddon.)
Freedom and servitude
It often happens that apparent contradictions disappear when we reach a purer and higher range of life. Many of the things which perplex us when children, and seem to our eyes to be inconsistencies on the part of our parents, now appear, when we look back on them with the clearer vision of later years, to be not only consistent, but perfectly justifiable. And may that not be the same in all the regions of life? Of course it might be said on a superficial view, that servitude and freedom were inconsistent with one another. But in the larger life I gather that it is not so. The apostle at all events speaks as though a man might be perfectly free, and at the same time be living a life of servitude.
I. The first law almost of existence is that which expresses itself in the struggle for freedom. Would you not say that the child that was born but yesterday is very much like a man that has just been drawn out of the water after drowning? All the struggle, all the painful symptoms you notice in that drowned man are the efforts of life, so to speak, to recover itself, and to take possession of those conditions under which its existence alone can continue. The child, in the same way, is not yet, as it were, adjusted to the conditions by which it is surrounded, and the earlier stages of life are the struggle to lay hold of the conditions in which it finds itself. Thus I should say the struggle of all early life is the struggle to get possession of the right of life. And this will become more apparent if we ask ourselves what we mean by freedom. Freedom is the educated capacity to live according to the capacity of our being. The least reflection will show us that this is true. Take, for example, what we know perfectly well, that our struggle as a child turns upon the conception that that is the meaning of freedom. When you take your child and say, It is now time that it began to learn those little physical exercises, whether you call them calisthenics or dancing classes. You say to yourself: The child is not yet in possession of its full power. These exercises are to give it mastery over itself with regard to its physical organisation, and we are trying to give it such a mastery that it may be able to use all its physical power according to the order, law, and condition of that physical framework. It is the same when you come to the mental region. The man who thinks freely thinks truly, and a man only thinks freely according to the law and order of thought; and when you take your lad and say, It is time you were educated, and send him to school, you do so because you know that exactly as physical training is to make him master of his own frame, so the mental training is to make him master of his own intelligence. It is the same thing in social life. The awkwardness which you see in your children is just that which arise out of the fact that they are not self-possessed. But when they go into society and are trained they become, by the education of mixing with their fellow men, possessors of themselves, and what you call ease, manner, grace, is only that the man is master of himself, that the self-consciousness which disturbs his own happiness has vanished in entering into his rightful heritage of being a self-possessed individual. Look at it from the religious point of view. It is also true that religion comes to set a man free. Religion is the great coordinating power of the moral and physical forces of life. It is that which gives us power over ourselves. It sets us free from false conceptions. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free, means, Stand fast in the possession of principles which clear your mind from false conceptions. The bulk of men are not to be charged with being slaves of the grosser or more vulgar passions, but they are very much the slaves of false conceptions of life. The competition for wealth, the desire to achieve physical ease, free from the anxieties of life-these things rise up in mens minds, and are fostered by the conditions of society, and man is the victim of a false idea of life. Christianity is sent surely to emancipate men from that, to show men what the real significance of life is, that those are little weaknesses in us which betray us into conditions and surroundings which make us less and lower than we ought to be. Therefore Christianity would not be a complete or valuable system if its only idea were that we should negative the positive sins in the world. No, we must reorganise humanity upon noble lines, make man master of himself and give him a true conception of life, that conception of life which God intends him to take.
II. The second stage is the stage of service. As truly as the earlier stage is the stage of struggle, so it is true equally that the second stage is a stage of service. It is true in our ordinary life. There is no difference, as I take it, between the religious point of view and the purely natural point of view. The man who is educated to freedom only reaches that freedom in serving. It is true in the fields of nature: you only bring a thing to maturity in making it of service the corn shall grow by slow degrees. That is the process by which it struggles into its freedom. It struggles first for bare existence and then for conditions under which it may reach its maturity; but the moment that maturity is reached the harvest is come, it has reached the condition of life in which service is absolutely imperative to it. This wheat grain means the law of service; therefore the moment its maturity is acquired it is acquired in order that it may be utilised. This is true with regard to human life. How we dreamed of what we would do when we were twenty-one! And yet, now that the twenty-one years are passed, the mans only freedom is service. He is not content to be a free man. Set him free and he is miserable. It comes in the gentle dawn of new emotions, which lead him to form his own little home nest. He has parted with freedom to dream of domestic life, a life in which he has pledged himself to service in the great citizenship of the world. Perhaps you are going to make your son a surgeon; you send him to his long training, in which his eye is skilled to perceive the symptom and meaning of every disease, to keep his nerve steady. The very moment the seven years of training are past, what is it that is springing up in his soul? The consciousness of power. But what does that lead him to? The necessity of service. Trained, we must use our powers. Make a man free in his whole nature, and you will make him thirst to lay down those powers for the service of his fellow men. Christ was free, but look at that life of our Lord: precisely because it was free, the whole of it was consecrated to service-so much so that to Him the only idea of human existence was this, that the powers of it should be used in the service of men. I am among you as one that doth serve.
III. The connection between these two principles is the important thing. It is not simply that we are to live a life of service, nor that we are to seek to be free men. It is because we do not see that there is an indissoluble connection between the two that we sometimes blunder in many of the matters submitted to us. It is the free man who can yield the true service. That is what we want to get hold of. It is not that we want to make men serve one another by compulsion. That would be of no value at all. You do not want the enforced service of your wife or child. What you ask is free service. You speak of a mans freedom because all his actions are free; he is a free man in the use of his powers. You speak also of the charm and the graciousness wherewith a thing is done. The meaning of it is that it is the homage of a free man. There is a difference between the attitude of the slave and the splendid homage of a free man. Make men conscious of their freedom, let them feel that what they do is the free homage of the free men, and you will have from them what is worth more than all the tyranny of law. (Bp. Boyd Carpenter.)
False notions of liberty in religion and government destructive of both
I. State the true notion of Christian liberty.
1. A. freedom from the power and dominion of sin and the devil, and the curse of the moral law.
2. A freedom from the ritual ceremonies of the Mosaic law and the spirit of bondage to fear, abrogated by our Saviour.
3. A free use of all things that are in their nature indifferent; that is, things concerning which the law has made no determination; leaving us at our own choice, either to act or not to act.
II. Instance some of the abuses of this liberty, wherein it may be so perverted as to be made a cloak of maliciousness.
1. As to principles. It would be endless to recount all the blasphemies, heresies, and errors maintained under this specious pretence.
2. Secondly, to their practice. Which we shall find to be a true transcript of their principles. For such a freethinker, if he be consistent with himself, must be a free actor too. He is equally without guide or governor, owes as little allegiance to his prince, as faith to his God; he is a rebel against both; sets up his own will as the supreme measure of his actions, for which he is answerable to nobody but himself.
III. Prove the absurdity, as well as wickedness, of such abuses of our liberty. Upon what bottom would these lawless men found their liberty? By what authority do they these things? Or who gave them this authority? Whence was it? From heaven or of men? They own the authority of neither. But they still insist, it is their natural right, as free-born men; whereby none is subject any further than compact and content obliges him. What do they mean by this so much talked of natural right? Is it essentially, and independently inherent in themselves, or communicated by another? If they say the former, can anything belonging to a dependent being be itself independent? If the latter, who is that other who so communicated this right? Who can communicate a natural right, but the author of nature? To speak strictly, no being has any natural right but God; who by virtue of creation has a natural essential right to the obedience of His creatures. But those creatures themselves have naturally no right to anything, unless it can be proved that they had a natural right to be created.
IV. The happy consequences of true liberty, and the misery and slavery of the mistaken notions about it. Having shown the absurdity and wickedness of this false principle in itself, as utterly inconsistent with reason and religion, gospel and law, the contrary position must be irrefragably true, and entirely agreeable to the laws of God and man; and there needs not much argument to prove that the effects must resemble the causes, and that happiness and prosperity, peace, and freedom must be the natural product of subjection to certain laws; and shame and misery, confusion and slavery, of their immunity from all. (H. Sacheverell, D. D.)
On freedom of thought
1. The great purpose for which the powers and the liberty of thought were bestowed was for the discovery of truth; for the discovery of those speculative truths which conduct us to the love of God, and of those practical truths which enable us to be the ministers of good to man. When, therefore, freedom of thought is employed as means to these its destined ends, it is a virtuous principle, and he who feels it is acting from some of the most respectable motives of his nature. He is acting, in the first place, in conformity to the laws of his constitution, and has the secret voice of conscience applauding him amid every difficulty of his progress. He is acting, in the second place, with the dignity that belongs to the character of man; and, while the world around him is swayed either by the prejudices of antiquity, or by the idler prejudices of novelty, he stands as the superior to all the prejudices which influence lower minds.
2. When freedom of thought is employed as an end in itself, it is a principle which arises from very different causes, and is productive of very different effects. There is naturally much admiration due to that strength and independence of mind which can detect error, or which can discover truth; and there is accordingly, much sincere admiration paid to it. It is in this admiration that the danger and the snare consist. Because freedom of thought has been the great instrument of the discovery of truth, it is hastily concluded that all this is due to the freedom of thought itself rather than to the effects produced. If you feel that opinions are valuable in your estimation, not because they are free but because they are true, then go on, in the sight of God and of man, to the true honours of your moral and intellectual being. It is in this discipline you can acquire for yourselves permanent fame. But if in the employment of the powers of thought you look only to your own distinction, and care not for the ends for which they were given, pause, I beseech you, before you advance farther. (A. Alison.)
Free will
Liberty, freedom! The young heart bounds at the thought. It speaks of the unloosing of chains, the free roaming of the uncaged soul the full freedom of the will. Man was born, created to be free; full freedom is his original endowment, the condition of his nobility of soul, his distinction from the irrational creatures, the image of God in which he was created. As contrasted with necessity, it is as indestructible as in Almighty God who created it. What then is the freedom which the prophets foretold, which Jesus said that He would give the glorious liberty of the sons of God? Christ freed us from the yoke of sin by the freedom of righteousness: He freed us from the dominion of concupiscence by the freedom of the Spirit and the dominion of love and grace. Tell me, says Socrates to a disciple, thinkest thou that freedom is a great and glorious possession alike to a man and a state? Most exceedingly. Whoso then is ruled by bodily pleasures and on account of them cannot do what is best, thinkest thou that he is free? Not at all. For to do what is best seemeth to them to be free; and so then, to have those who should hinder so doing to be unfree? Certainly. The incontinent seem then to you to be unfree? Assuredly. And they seem to you not only to be hindered from doing the best things, but to be constrained to do the foulest? Both alike. But what sort of masters deemest thou those to be, who hinder what is best, constrain to what is worst? The worst. And what slavery thinkest thou the worst? That to the worst masters. The incontinent then are enslaved to the worst slavery? concludes Socrates. I think so. You know how with one consent heathen philosophers said, The wise man alone is free. He alone is indeed free, says Philo, who taketh God alone for his commander. The good man alone is free; for the evil man, though he deny it, is the slave of as many lords as he has vices. Lust cometh, and saith, Thou art mine, for thou covetest the things of the body. In such or such a passion thou soldest thyself to me; I counted down the price for thee. Avarice cometh and saith, Thou art mine; the gold and the silver which thou hast is the price of thy slavery. Luxury cometh and saith, Thou art mine; amid the wine cups I purchased thee; amid the feasts I gained thee. Ambition cometh and said to thee, Thou art surely mine. Knowest thou not, that to that end I gave thee command over others, that thou thyself mightest serve me? Knowest thou not, that to that end I bestowed power on thee, that I might bring thee under mine own? All vices come, and one by one they chant, Thou art mine. He whom so many claim, how vile a slave is he! From this slavery Christ came to set us free. If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. But then are we not still under a law? and, if we are under a law, how have we that freedom which youth especially longs for? Is then lawlessness the only freedom? Men admire what is called the reign of law, throughout the boundless realms of Gods creation. So did they idolise the beauty of the conception, that they are jealous even of Almighty God Himself, and would not have Him, by any higher law of His love, suspend His usual modes of His operation, Law then is some thing beautiful. Even in human things, what in sights and sounds so thrills through us, as when many voices or minds through obedience to a law become as one? What are all these deeds of united heroism, when all lay with their back to the field and their feet to the foe, or that inscription, To Lacedaemon tell, that here, obeying her behests, we fell, but the wills of many, obeying, to the death, minds without them whose will they reverenced? And cannot Almighty God make us love a law, which is the transcript of His perfections, the law of love; a law which responds to the law of our better nature within; which brings our whole being into harmony with itself, with our fellow beings and with Him. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)
Liberty, its use and safeguards
I. Liberty.
1. Earliest references. No doubt the reference, in the first place, is to that liberty of the gospel which distinguished it from Judaism or the old Mosaic law. Then came the gospel, that more spiritual and manly dispensation, with its great rush of liberty. Law gave way to principle, pupilage to manhood, contracted interests to worldwide fellowship. But with that freedom came danger: the danger of excess, of self-assertion, of even licence.
2. But this early application and experience was no uncommon or exceptional one. It was an example and an illustration of a very common danger and a very common experience. The early Christians were tempted to excess, not because they had been Jews and had become Christians, but because they were men of like passions with the rest of mankind.
(1) There is a great freedom open to man, but a freedom which does not belong to man completely nor at once. Within certain wide limits, man has a great area of freedom. Physically, socially, providentially, man cannot do all he likes, but within a wide area he has a liberty so great that few of us in our daily life are ever brought up sharply by obstacles and reminded that we are hedged about by hindrances. It is only when we attempt the impossible or the extraordinary.
(2) Now, this liberty, great as it is, is not attainable at once; we enter upon it gradually, often slowly. There is childhood turning to manhood, the wider area of liberty becomes at the mans disposal; but this is reached only after the lapse of the years of childhood, and boyhood, and youth. Or again, look at what is called success in life, when the man becomes more and more his own master, and the resources of life become more and more his; but this, too, is gained in the vast majority of cases, after years of toil. Or, once more, take political freedom. But here, too, liberty is gained not so much at once or by leaps and bounds.
(3) Thus we have seen that a great freedom is open to man, and that this freedom is not attainable at once, but rather gradually. The question now presents itself as to the extent of that liberty. As regards the individual. He has liberty, even when he treads upon forbidden ground. It is true that sooner or later the violated law will vindicate itself. Nevertheless, he is free to violate these laws. So with regard to the rights and interests of others. Beyond a certain point, his fellow men will step in and restrain his liberty of action, and by pains and penalties contract his freedom. But up to this point the individual has a wide field for the exercise of even his selfishness. Once more, with regard to God. It is true man cannot thwart the great sweep of Gods providence. Yet, right or wrong, good or evil, wisdom or folly: these he can choose. And the great patience of God in allowing man to disregard Him is one of the great solemn facts of life. Mans liberty is great, and the wonder is not at mans lack of freedom; it is rather the other way: how fully and to what an extent he can act as if he were his own master.
3. But with this liberty comes the temptation to misuse it, to abuse it, to make it an occasion of evil rather than of good; and this individually, socially, religiously. Individually, by giving rein to the passions, turning liberty into licence. Socially, by defying the opinions and claims of others. Religiously-or rather, irreligiously-by ignoring God and His claim to our obedience, setting up self as the one great object of worship. And so liberty becomes a cloak of maliciousness and an occasion of evil.
II. The use and safeguard of liberty.
1. The conditions of the problem are two fold. There must be respect for freedom and the recognition of liberty on the one hand; and on the other, reckless and malicious use of freedom must be counteracted. These are the two sides of the problem which must be kept in view. Extreme methods violate both these. On the one hand, if mere restraint be adopted, the result must be a reduction of liberty. If, on the other hand, the absence of all restraint be allowed, the result will be the destruction of all true freedom.
2. What, then, is to be done if liberty is to be preserved, and yet not abused? Three conditions must be fulfilled:
(1) There must be respect for freedom, not the depreciation of it, if anything the enhancing of it.
(2) But that freedom needs to be guided towards noble ends to become a great spontaneous power which of itself will influence the life aright, and direct it towards what is high, and generous, and good. This is the more necessary the more freedom is granted. Side by side with freedom, if it is not to be abused, must be developed the spirit of voluntary acquiescence in what is right and a conscientious desire for what is best.
(3) The third condition is the sense of responsibility; that as each gift, power, opportunity has its corresponding responsibility, so has this freedom; that the greater the freedom, the greater will be the responsibility for its use.
3. Now, this is just what Christianity has done. At a critical period in human history, when the old order of tyranny and corruption was crumbling, and the ground was being prepared for the growth of liberty, Christianity came, implanting great principles, awakening the consciousness of wrong, and stirring up the love of what is right, and true, and good. Thus, as the old restraint of the law passed away, the new spirit of personal responsibility, that great spiritual force, came to men; and just because Christianity was this spiritual force, it could do what no other power did. It could do without the old Jewish economy, it could sap the foundations of tyranny, it could be the promoter of liberty. It is this action of Christianity which is illustrated in St. Peters words. See how naturally, instinctively, and comprehensively he deals with the question of liberty. As free-as if he said, You are free, you have been made free, you have a right to be free. The old bondage of the law is gone, gone forever, and the freedom which is yours has been brought to you by Christ. It is nothing less than a God-given possession. But every possession has its accompanying responsibility; the free man is not the same as the irresponsible man, In fact, our responsibility increases with our powers, our possessions, our gifts, our opportunities. What, then, is the great principle and power which is to direct each one in the use of this liberty? It is the great sense that while you are free, you are yet not free. You are to act as the servants of God. Liberty is recognised, but a service is presented as well; but one which is not enforced, it can be given or refused. But these two, liberty and service, are connected by a sense of responsibility: and that a responsibility which recognises the claims of God upon them. It is just that which imparts dignity, and power, and great gladness to duty, when it is thus seen in the light of the great and glorious service of God. For it is only as we use our liberty and all our powers in obedience to God that we can hope and accomplish much. While we stand, or try to stand, alone, while we reject God as the great end of our service, our powers are feeble, and our acts work little good, great evil, and weariness or dissatisfaction takes the heart out of our labour. But when we bring our liberty and all our powers into the service of God, all we have and all we are and all we do become connected with what is best, and, falling in with the great work of God, we become not only doubly free, but doubly useful and doubly strong. (A. Boyd Carpenter, M. A.)
Christian freedom
Liberty is the essence of Christianity. No one knows what it is to be quite free till he is a real Christian.
1. A converted man, by the fact, at once is free from his past. It is cast into the depths of the sea. It is gone away into a land not inhabited, to be mentioned no more! That is liberty! O how large, and how sweet. To know that the entail of the past is all cut off. Therefore the converted man is free, too, from thousands of chains which bind other men. He is free from death. To him death is only a liberator. All it can do is to unshackle his spirit from the thraldom of his body. The grave cannot hold him. Satan himself-the great captivator-is a captive.
2. He is in freedom from his present self. Sin does not rule in him any more; the world no longer fascinates, the flesh no longer drags him down. He has gone up far above those things. He walks his higher path, a path where the whole man can expand itself; a path worthy of his immortality, at large, satisfying, infinite! And beyond all this, that man in Christ has now free access to God. He can go up any moment, under any circumstances of life, and he can tell his Father. All this must go to make freedom. Who, then, is the free man, but he whom the Lord makes free? (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Christian liberty
There is not anything in the world more generally desired than liberty, nor scarce anything more generally abused. The apostles, therefore, especially St. Peter and St. Paul, the two chiefest planters of the Churches, endeavoured early to instruct believers in the true doctrine, and to direct them in the right use of their Christian liberty so often in their several epistles as fit occasion was offered thereunto. And we may further observe concerning these two apostles that St. Paul usually toucheth upon this argument of liberty as it is to be exercised in the case of scandal; but St. Peter oftener, as in the case of obedience. From which words I gather three observations, all concerning our Christian liberty, in that branch of it especially which respecteth human ordinances, and the use of the creatures and of all indifferent things. Either
1. In the existence of it, as free.
2. In the exercise of it, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness.
3. In the end of it, but as the servants of God. The first observation: We must so submit ourselves to superior authority, as that we do not thereby impeach our Christian liberty, as free. The second this: We must so maintain our liberty, as that we do not under that colour either commit any sin or omit any requisite office, either of charity or duty, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness. The third this: In the whole exercise, both of the liberty we have in Christ and of the respect we owe unto men, we must evermore remember ourselves to be, and accordingly behave ourselves as those that are Gods servants, but as the servants of God. The sum of the whole three points in brief this: We must be careful without either infringing or abusing our liberty at all times, and in all things to serve God. Now then to the several, points as they lie in the text. As free. Which words have manifest reference to the exhortation delivered three verses before the text. Submit yourselves to public governors, both supreme and subordinate, be subject to your own particular masters, honour all men with those proper respects that belong to them in their several stations; but look you, do all this, not as slaves but as free, do it without impeachment of the liberty you have in Christ. First, this liberty is purchased for us by the blood of Christ, and is therefore usually Called by the name of Christian liberty (Joh_8:36; Gal_5:1). Secondly, is revealed unto us outwardly in the preaching of the gospel of God and of Christ, which is therefore called the law of liberty (Jam_1:25; Jam_2:12). And thirdly, is conveyed unto us inwardly and effectually by the operation of the Spirit of God and of Christ, which is therefore called a free spirit (Psa_51:12; 2Co_3:17). Now this liberty, so dearly purchased, so clearly revealed, so firmly conveyed, it is our duty to maintain (Gal_5:1). A thing whereof it behoveth us to have a special care, and that for weighty respects. First, in regard of the trust reposed in us in this behalf. Every honest man taketh himself bound to discharge with faithfulness the trust reposed in him. Now these two, the Christian faith and the Christian liberty, are of all other the choicest jewels whereof the Lord Jesus Christ hath made His Church the depository. Especially since we cannot so do, secondly, without manifest wrong to Christ; nor, thirdly, without great dishonour to God. Not without wrong to Christ. St. Paul therefore disputeth it as upon a ground of right. Ye are bought with a price, be ye not the servants of men (1Co_7:22). You cannot dispose yourselves in any other service without apparent wrong to Him. Neither only do we injure Christ by making ourselves the servants of men, but we dishonour God also, which is a third reason. For to whom we make ourselves servants him we make our Lord and God. The covetous worldling therefore, by serving mammon, maketh mammon his god. Yea, and our own too, which may stand for a fourth reason. Ye see your calling, brethren, saith the apostle (1Co_1:26). He would have men take notice of their Christian calling, that so they might walk worthy of it. Now by our calling we are free men (Gal_5:13). And being so, we infinitely abase ourselves and disparage our calling, when of free men we become slaves. Leo the Emperor, therefore, by special and severe constitution, forbade all free men within the empire sale of their liberties, calling it facinus in those that were so presumptuous as to buy them, and no less than folly, yea, madness in those that were so base as to sell them; not without some indignation at the former laws for suffering such an indignity to be so long practised without either chastisement or restraint. And if he justly censured them as men of abject minds, that would for any consideration in the world willingly forego their civil and Roman liberty, what flatness of spirit possesseth us if we wilfully betray our Christian and spiritual liberty? Whereby, besides the dishonour, we do also, with our own hands, pull upon our own heads a great deal of unnecessary cumber. For whereas we might draw an easy yoke, carry a light burden, observe commandments that are not grievous in the service of God and of Christ, by putting ourselves into the service of men we thrust our necks into a hard yoke of bondage. Besides these, that do it thus by open assault, I would there were not others also that did by secret underminings go about to deprive us of that liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, even then when they most pretend the maintenance of it. We oftentimes betray away our own liberty when we might maintain it, and so become servants unto men, when we both might and ought to keep ourselves free. Which fault we shall be the better able to avoid when we shall know the true causes, whence it springeth; which are evermore one of these two, an unsound head or an unsound heart. Sometimes we esteem too highly of others, so far as either to envassal our judgments to their opinions, or to enthral our consciences to their precepts, and that is our weakness; there the fault is in the head. Sometimes we apply ourselves to the wills of others, with an eye to our own benefit or satisfaction in some other carnal or worldly respect, and that is our fleshliness; there the fault is in the heart. This latter is the worst, and therefore in the first place to be avoided. The most and worse sort, unconscionable men, do often transgress this way. There is, I confess, much reverence to be given to the writings of the godly ancient fathers, more to the canons and decrees of general and provincial councils, and not a little to the judgment of learned, sober, and godly divines of later and present times. But we may not build our faith upon them as upon a sure foundation. What is Calvin or Luther, nay, what is Paul or Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed? That is to say, instruments, but not lords of your belief. To do God and ourselves right, it is necessary we should with our utmost strength maintain the doctrine and power of that liberty wherewith Christ hath endowed His Church, without either usurping the mastery over others, or subjecting ourselves to their servitude, so as to surrender either our judgments or consciences to be wholly disposed according to the opinions or wills of men, though of never so excellent piety or parts. We must so maintain our liberty that we abuse it not, as we shall, if, under the pretence of Christian liberty, we either adventure the doing of some unlawful thing, or omit the performance of any requisite duty. As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness. The apostles intention in the whole clause will the better appear when we know what is meant by cloak and what by maliciousness. The Greek word ἐπικάλυμμα, which is nowhere else found in the whole New Testament but in this verse only, signifieth properly any covering, as the covering of badgers skins that was spread over the tabernacle is in the Septuagints translation called ἐπικάλυμμα. And it is very fitly translated a cloak, in respect of that notion wherein the word in our English tongue is commonly used, to note some fair and colourable pretence, wherewith we conceal from the knowledge of others the dishonesty and faultiness of our intentions in some things practised by us. It is a corruption very common among us; whatsoever we are within, yet we desire to make a fair show outwardly. We are loth to forbear those sins which we are ashamed to profess, and therefore we colour them and cloak them that we may both do the thing we desire and- yet miss the shame we deserve. You see what the cloak is; see now what is maliciousness. Κακία is the word, which is properly rendered by malice or maliciousness. And as these English words, and the Latin word malicia whence these are borrowed, so likewise κακία in Greek is many times used to signify one special kind of sin, which is directly opposite to brotherly love and charity, and the word is usually so taken, wheresoever it is either set in opposition to such charity or else ranked with other special sins of the same kind, such as are anger, envy, hatred, and the like. And if we should so understand it here, the sense were good; for it is a very common thing in the world to offend against brotherly charity under the colour of Christian liberty, and doubtless our apostle here intendeth the remedy of that abuse also. Yet I rather conceive that the word maliciousness in this place is to be taken in a larger comprehension for all manner of evil and of naughtiness. To use liberty for an occasion to the flesh, and to use liberty for a cloak of maliciousness is the very same thing, and it is a very great sin. For the proof whereof I shall need to use no other arguments than the words of the text will afford. First, every act of maliciousness is a sin; and, secondly, to cloak it with a fair pretence, maketh it a greater sin; but then, thirdly, to use Christian liberty for the cloak giveth a farther addition to it and maketh it a greater sin. First, it is a sin to do any act of maliciousness. Nor so only, but it is a hurtful thing, and of a noxious and malignant quality, as leaven souring the whole lump of our services to God. But if men will need be hypocrites, and must have a cloak for their maliciousness, they might yet at least bethink themselves of somewhat else of lighter price to make a cloak of, and not to use to so base a purpose so rich a stuff, as is this blessed liberty which the Son of God hath purchased with His most precious blood. As in nature, so in morality, by how much better anything is in the right use of it, by so much is it worse in the abuse. Now we see how great a sin it is thus to abuse our liberty it will be needful in the next place to inquire more particularly wherein this abuse consisteth, that so we may be the better able to avoid it. We are therefore to know that Christian liberty may be abused for a cloak of maliciousness these four ways following: First, we may make it a cloak of maliciousness if we hold ourselves by virtue thereof discharged from our obedience, either to the whole moral law of God or to any part of it. Great offenders this way are the libertines, who quite cancel the whole law of God under the pretence of Christian liberty, as if they that were in Christ were no longer tied to yield obedience to the moral law, which is a pestilent error and of very dangerous consequence. The law considered as a rule can no more be abolished or changed than can the nature of good and evil be abolished or changed. It is our singular comfort then, and the happiest fruit of our Christian liberty, that we are freed by Christ, and through faith in Him from the covenant and curse of the law; but we must know that it is our duty, notwithstanding the liberty that we have in Christ, to frame our lives and conversations according to the rule of the law. The second way whereby our liberty may be used for a cloak of maliciousness is when we stretch it in the use of things that are indeed indifferent beyond the just bounds of sobriety. It belongeth to every sober Christian advisedly to consider, not only what in itself may lawfully be done or left undone, but also what in godly wisdom and discretion is fittest for him to do, or not to do, upon all occasions, as the exigence of present circumstances shall require. He that without such due consideration will do all he may do at all times, under colour of Christian liberty, he shall undoubtedly sometime use his liberty for a cloak of maliciousness. It may be done a third way, and that is by using it uncharitably, which is the case whereon I told you St. Paul beateth so often. When we use our liberty so as to stumble the weak consciences of our brethren thereby. He that will have his own way in everything he hath a liberty unto, whosoever shall take offence at it maketh his liberty but a cloak of maliciousness by using it uncharitably. The fourth and last way, whereby we may use our liberty for a cloak of maliciousness is by using it undutifully, pretending it unto our disobedience to lawful authority. And so I pass to my last observation. The observation was this: In the whole exercise both of the liberty we have in Christ and of those respects we owe unto men, we must evermore remember ourselves to be, and accordingly behave ourselves as those that are Gods servants; in these last words, But as the servants of God, containing our condition and our carriage. For the first, We cannot imagine any consideration, that may be found in any service in the world, to render it desirable, which is not to be found, and that in a far more eminent degree, in this service of God. If justice may provoke us, or necessity enforce us, or easiness hearten us, or honour allure us, or profit draw us to any service, behold here they all concur. First, It is the most just service, whether we look at the title of right on His part or reasons of equity on ours. It is, secondly, the most necessary service. Necessary, first, because we are born to serve. We have not the liberty to choose whether we will serve or no; all the liberty we have is to choose our master. It is necessary, secondly, for our safety and security, lest, if we withdraw our service from him, we perish justly in our rebellion. It is necessary, thirdly, by our own voluntary act, when we bound ourselves by solemn vow and promise in the face of the open congregation at our baptism. It is, thirdly (which at the first hearing may seem a paradox, yet will appear upon further consideration to be a most certain truth), of all other the most easy service, in regard both of the certainty of the employment and of the help we have towards the performance of it. He that serveth many masters, or even but one, if he be a fickle man, he never knoweth the end of his work. It is some ease to know certainly what we must do; but much more to be assured of sufficient help for the doing of it. It is, fourthly, the most honourable service. He goeth for the better man that serveth the better master. It is, fifthly and lastly, the most profitable service. We are indeed unprofitable servants to Him, but sure we have a very profitable service under Him. These things among others the servant of God may certainly reckon upon as the certain benefits of his service wherein his Master will not fail him if he fail not in his service-protection, maintenance, reward. And he that will be Gods servant in truth, and not only in title, must perform all these to his heavenly Master. Reverence is the first, which ever ariseth from a deliberate apprehension of some worthiness in another more than in a mans self, and is ever accompanied with a fear to offend and a care to please the person reverenced; and so it hath three branches, whereof the first is humility. From which fear of offending a care and desire of pleasing cannot be severed. Obedience is the next general duty. Servants be obedient to your masters. We are to show our obedience to our heavenly Master yet further by submitting to His wholesome discipline when at any time He shall see cause to give us correction. The third and last general duty is fidelity. Who is a faithful and wise servant? Well done, thou good and faithful servant, as if the wisdom and goodness of a servant consisted in his faithfulness. The first whereof is heartiness in His service. There are many servants in the world that will work hard and bustle at it lustily for a fit and so long as their masters eye is upon them, but when his back is turned can be content to go on fair and softly and fellow like. Secondly, We must show our faithfulness to our Master by our zeal in His behalf. A faithful servant will not endure an evil word spoken of his master behind his back, but he will be ready upon every occasion to vindicate his credit and to magnify him unto the opinion of others. He will make much of those that love his master, and set the less by those that care not for him. And as to his credit principally, so he hath an eye also, in the second place, to the profit of his master. Thirdly, If we be His faithful servants, we should let it appear by our diligence in doing His business. No man would willingly entertain an idle servant. We see now what we are to do if we will approve ourselves and our services unto the Lord our heavenly Master. (Bp. Sanderson.)
A cloak of maliciousness.-
Maliciousness
The word translated maliciousness is a large word. Sometimes it means cowardice; sometimes baseness, It is elsewhere rendered evil, and (Jam_1:21) naughtiness-which perhaps best conveys the whole sense. As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of anything that is wrong. For instance, there are those who, having found forgiveness, are now walking very carelessly, and do not hold sin in sufficient abhorrence. Still more, there are those who, because they have escaped from one sin, allow themselves in another. As when a man only changes worldly pride for spiritual pride, or gives up carnal indulgence for some religious selfishness, or, worse still, when a man deliberately commits a sin, with a thought: God will forgive it, as He has forgiven other of my sins. When I have done it I shall pray, and I shall repent, and hear no more about it. Or, more dreadful yet, I am elect. It does not matter what I do. God does not see sin in His saints. Awful delusion! Or-if evil do not go to such a length as that-it may be your religious freedom has made you very severe in your judgment of others. You are free, but you are not sympathising with those who are doing the very thing which once bound you. You have still almost a malicious pleasure in hearing or speaking of somebodys faults! A free one should be always so humble in the recollection of his past bondage that he should be tender and gentle to the sin which he once did! But say you have liberty, how are you using it? All your powers, privileges, hopes; are you consecrating them to do all the good you can to the Lords free men? That serenity of mind that you have now learnt, that ease of heart, that sense of safety, that peace that God has given you, are they held as talents to use for others? All your former experience of the wickedness of the world, is it now being turned to good account? or are you content with your own exemptions, sitting, as indifferent to what may befall your fellow creatures? And is not all that using liberty as a cloak of maliciousness? Surely every free one should be a liberator! (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
As the servants of God.-
Gods servants
The good old word servant is going out of fashion. In a mission held lately, some services for domestic servants were advertised, and it was discovered that the notice gave offence. The servants were ashamed of their name. There is nothing to be ashamed of in the fact of being a servant, but there is a great deal to be ashamed of in the fact of being a bad servant. Liberty does not mean licence. We are not free to do wrong. Let us look at ourselves, then, as free, but as the servants of God, and learn some of the marks of a good servant.
I. A good servant should be humble. There is a great want of humility amongst us. We live in an age of advancement. Education is making gigantic strides, all classes are being put on the same political level, and all this has a tendency to make people less humble.
II. A good servant should be industrious. Dr. Livingstone took as his motto, Fear God, and work hard. It is a good motto for every Christian now. We are to be workers together with God. He is always working in us, and for us, and we must do our part. You know the Prince of Wales has for his motto-Ich Dien-I serve.
III. A good servant loves his master. The best work is always done where the heart goes along with the hands. We shall not find any work too hard, or any self-sacrifice too great, if we love our Master.
IV. A good servant will be good to his fellow servants. Jesus came to clasp all hands together, and make the whole world kin. We who are working Gods work should lend a helping hand to others. In Gods great house of this world we have our different stations and labours. Let the strong help the weak; let those who have learnt most of the service of God our Master teach the beginners. (H. J. Wilmot Buxton, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson1891 · Public DomainOn vv13–1713–17. Submit yourselves. Obey human laws. For the Lord's…
13–17. Submit yourselves. Obey human laws. For the Lord's sake. Because it is the Lord's will. Whether the king. The Roman emperor whom the Greeks styled king.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v131Pe_2:13. Submit yourselves.—This belongs to the care Christians should…
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
1Pe_2:13. Submit yourselves.—This belongs to the care Christians should take not to be in any sense an occasion of offence in Society (Rom_13:1-7). Ordinance of man.—Every human institution. A spiritual life can find expression in every form of governmental and social life. For the lord’s sake.—Lest reproach should come on Him, through reproach coming on you. King.—Here an abstract word for the person in chief authority. Then an emperor.
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1Pe_2:14.—Even an imperfect government aims to secure the general good. It is noticed that neither St. Peter nor St. Paul lay down any exceptions to the rule of complete obedience; and yet proper exceptions there must be.
1Pe_2:15. With well-doing.—Not with disputations, but with the irresistible persuasion of a holy life. Ignorance.—For the calumnies of Christians were spread by those who hated them without knowing anything correctly about them. The word implies a stolid and wilful ignorance.
1Pe_2:16. As free.—In regard to the ordering of personal life relations. Bound to meet all public obligations; free to shape their own life and conduct. Worldly maxims, social customs, common habits and opinions, have no binding force on Christians. In all this sphere the Christian is a “law unto himself.” Cloke of maliciousness.—“If under the pretence that they were asserting their Christian freedom they were rude, overbearing, insolent, regardless of the conventional courtesies of life,” this made the liberty a cloke of baseness.
1Pe_2:17. Honour.—By showing each one the respect that is due to him. Love.—With more than the love of complacency; with the love of family. Fear.—The feeling which recognises a supreme claim.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—1Pe_2:13-17
Fitting the New Life into Old Relations.—When a man is born of God, and made conscious of a new life, with new interests, new motives, new desires, and new sympathies, he is often troubled by the difficulty of fitting his new self to the old associations. Those old associations he must keep. He cannot change his family circumstances, or his business, or his obligations, or his social conditions. He must find out how to fit his new life into them, so that it may ennoble them, and they may in no way hinder or injure it. The difficulty is seen very clearly in the case of Christians who had been heathen, and must still keep in heathen surroundings. Those heathen round them were keenly on the watch for grounds of accusation against them; quick to discern any inconsistencies. The Christians were bound to be careful not to give offence, and bring the Christian name into disrepute. In this paragraph one form of practical difficulty with which the Christians had to deal is indicated. Their new life could not fail to bring to them a sense of dignity; it might easily take a bad form, and become an assumption of superiority, which would spoil their every-day relations with men, and make them unwilling to submit to existing rule and authority. Their new life would give them a sense of freedom from all restraints, which might readily pass into resistance to, and rebellion against, the constituted authorities. Apostolic advice was specially needed under such circumstances, and St. Peter is fully in harmony with St. Paul in the advice that he gives. The particular case before St. Peter’s mind is that of Christian Jews driven from their own country and lifelong associations by persecution, and finding shelter for a time in foreign lands, where there were different systems of government, different customs, and people of different temperaments. There could not fail to be very much that grieved them, very much that tried them, and very much that provoked them. The serious question for them to answer was: How can the new life in Christ fit to these strange surroundings? How does it inspire us to think and to act? The kind of feeling which the presence of Christians in a community then excited is illustrated by the exclamation of the rabble that dragged Jason and certain of the brethren before the rulers of Thessalonica, “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also” (Act_17:6). There evidently was a widespread suspicion that, wherever they went, Christians became elements of disorder.
I. Christians should loyally accept the governmental system of the country in which they dwell.—It may be monarchical, republican, colonial, or otherwise. There are different systems of government, and there must always be differences of opinion as to which is absolutely the best, and which is relatively the best for a particular nation, at a particular time in its history. A Christian has a perfect right to his own opinion, and is free to find wise occasions on which to express it; but so far as his practical conduct and daily life are concerned, he should loyally accept existing conditions, and take care to be no disturber of the peace. A question of casuistry arises here. Is it ever lawful for a Christian to resist the law? Assuming Hampden to have been a spiritual Christian, was he justified in refusing to pay the “ship-money”? The answer may be that no rule is without exceptions; and that cases may occur in which principle is involved, and loyalty to the absolute right, which is loyalty to God, demands resistance, even at the cost of being misunderstood, and of suffering. Still, the general rule is that Christians should make peaceable citizens, and in so doing they help to secure that general protection from evil-doers, and security for honest trade, which are the primary duties of social government, whatever form it may take.
II. Christians always have a power at command for the silencing of those who slander them.—“The ignorance of foolish men” means baseless, senseless slanders. Men in positions of authority are always subject to the malign influence of the slanderer. Christians in a heathen city could not fail to attract attention by their very difference from others. Slanders start with next to nothing, and grow until shamefully wicked things can be said, all utterly baseless, but too easily believed, because men find such strange pleasure in hearing of the failure of the good. Very seldom, indeed, can a slander be followed through, fought, and conquered. But the Christian can always live it down. He can be calm, he can be silent, he can keep on his life of purity and charity, and that will tell in the long run. Slanders have no staying power; well-doing has. The good man, if he will be persistent, is sure of victory, for God is on the side of the good.
III. Christians are free to sustain all gracious relations.—An old divine, dealing with the saying that “a Christian is a man who may do what he likes,” replied, “That is quite true, only a Christian is a man with a new set of likes.” The Christian is free unto righteousness; free to do everything right, and kind, and worthy. But the Christian is not free to do wrong. He is under the strictest obligations not to do anything unworthy of the name he bears. What sort of things a Christian is free to do is indicated in 1Pe_2:17.
1. Treat every man respectfully and considerately, as he would wish them to treat him. To a Christian man, every man, no matter how poor or ignorant he may be, is to be honoured for the image of God in him.
2. Keep up all that is becoming to the family relation within the Church of God.
3. Let the cherished, reverent sense of God put serious and careful tone on all the conduct and association of life.
4. Set good example of good manners in the social and national life. Good manners recognise what is due to persons placed in positions of trust and responsibility.
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
1Pe_2:16. Our Freedom in Christ.—There is not another word in human language with power to thrill human hearts like this word “liberty.” The victim of revolution exclaimed, “Oh, liberty! what crimes are committed in thy name!” And we may say, “Oh, liberty! what deeds of philanthrophy and heroism have been wrought under thy inspiration!” There must be some sentiment, common to humanity, to which this word makes its appeal. It must be this: throughout humanity there is an inward consciousness of bondage under sin. Every offer of outward liberty—liberty of circumstance—is caught up by men, in the hope, more or less distinctly cherished, that its final issue will be liberty of soul. The religion of the Lord Jesus Christ has its chief end “to set at liberty them that are bruised.” It proclaims “liberty to the captives.”
I. Freedom in Christ is freedom of the soul.—Men want
(1) freedom of circumstances;
(2) freedom of thought; or
(3) freedom to do wrong—the wrong that they wish to do. But freedom in Christ is no freedom such as these. It is the freedom of the soul. The sinner is the real slave. The drunkard, the worldling, the sensual, the passionate, the dishonest, the selfish, the proud, the unforgiving, the uncharitable, the unbelieving, are slaves. Christ comes, past all the fetters of human circumstance, right into the soul of man. He comes to strike off rings and chains from the wrists and anklets of the soul. This is the priceless boon. The only freedom worth having is liberty to do always the things that please God. And in that sense God has made us free in Christ Jesus. We are free to grow up into the likeness of God’s dear Son; our souls are free in righteousness. The Son has made us free, and we are free indeed.
II. Freedom in Christ is freedom by the truth.—Falsehood binds to a practical life of sin. The root of all evil is a lie. Truth works out into goodness and righteousness; untruth always works out into unrighteousness and misery. Nothing can stand but the truth. Nobody can endure who is not true. Every opinion has some practical issue; it works toward something. If it be false and unworthy, it will surely tie the soul down to a life of indulgence and wrong-doing. If it be true and noble, it as surely leaves the soul free to fulfil, in the earthly spheres, the righteousness for which it was made. The truth ever makes free. Every lesser phase of truth, whether it be political, or social, or scientific, or moral, is a liberation of men. But it is that truth brought to light by Christ, taught by Him, and embodied in His life, which is the great liberator. It frees hand, and conscience, and heart, to know that God is the heavenly Father, and the Saviour of men by sacrifice. It frees us for seeking after righteousness to apprehend the truth, that this world is not the real world, and that a time is coming when the whole humanity shall be glorified.
III. Freedom in Christ is freedom in the Spirit.—“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty. That Holy Spirit works within us, in the secrets of our spiritual natures. He moulds, and restrains, and impels, and purifies, and quickens our inclination, and passion, and affection, and imagination, and intellect, and habit, plucking all the self-bondages, all the society bondages, all the sin-bondages, away. He who is quite perfectly in the sway of God the Holy Ghost—if there be such an one among us—is free from all the enticements and allurements of evil—free to follow God fully. Distinguish between liberty and independence; between freedom and licence: and then we may readily recognise those reasonable abridgments and restraints under which Christian freedom is set. The Christian man will not only find necessary limitations of his freedom, he will also voluntarily abridge his liberty, and put himself under restraints. Cultured and sensitive conscience, in respect of right and wrong, is sure to set limitations. But Christian interest in others, positions of influence on others, and, above all, the sacrificings of Christian love and charity, lead us constantly to refuse to do what, in a strict sense, we have full liberty to do. We must take heed “lest our liberty become a stumbling-block to them that are weak.”
Liberty.—A brief sketch of history suffices for indicating the power which the cry for “liberty” has universally exerted. The hope of liberty called out of Egypt a tribe of slaves, and in seeking freedom they became one of the foremost nations of the earth. Liberty rallied the down-trodden sons of Israel round the banners of a delivering Barak, or Gideon, or Jephthah. Liberty fired the nation with a magnificent heroism, and led to the casting off of a foreign yoke, in the days of Judas Maccabeus. The freedom of the holy sepulchre from the hands of the infidel flung the noblest of Europe’s sons, in splendid and enthusiastic self-sacrifice, on the shores of Asia, in the time of the Crusades. Freedom from a hated tyrant’s power made a handful of Swiss mountaineers mightier than an empire of soldiers, in the legendary days of William Tell. Freedom to worship God sent the Pilgrim Fathers over the then almost trackless Atlantic, seeking new lands and homes. “Liberty, equality, fraternity”—grand words—have served for a sign that should arouse nations into hideous passions of revolution. Freedom for a million English slaves woke the response of the noblest English hearts in our fathers’ time. And still, if men would move the hearts of their fellows, they raise some cry of civil or religious liberty. False or true, worthy or unworthy, a host will surely follow him who offers a boon that is esteemed so priceless.
1Pe_2:17. Honour.—To “honour,” as the word signifies, is to estimate the value of anything, and to proportion our regards to the ascertained value. Apply this rule to man. Estimate his value by his Creator’s love, and by his Redeemer’s sufferings; by his own capacity of religion, of morals, of intellectual advancements, of pleasure, of pain, by his relation to a life and to a death to come; and you will then feel that to honour a man is to respect him under these views and relations; to be anxious for his welfare; to contemplate him, not only with benevolence, but even with awe and fear, lest a prize so glorious should be lost, lest a being so capable should be wretched for ever.—Richard Watson.
1Pe_2:1. Honour all Men.—The royal law of Christ rests not on the crumbling basis of varying ordinances, nor on the tottering foundation of disputable traditions, but on the foundation of broad, eternal truths, on the foundation of Christ Himself. For we cannot understand either why or how we should honour all men unless we know what this meaneth: “The Word became flesh.”
I. “Honour all men.”—There is a strange universality about the precept. All but the brutish understand the duty of giving honour where honour is due; all but the vile honour those whose lives are beautiful with the beauty of holiness, and noble with the nobleness of God. But are we to honour the mean, the base, the despicable, the depraved? Yes, we honour the majesty of their nature even in its fall. We honour the man in the men. As Michael Angelo sees in the rough block of marble the winged angel, struggling to be free; as Flaxman walking in the slums, sees the beauties and possibilities of the “human face divine” even under the dirt and squalor of the gutter-child;—even so with pity and reverence the true Christian sees, even in the lowest, the marred work of Him who breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life.
II. As life goes on, it is more and more our temptation to honour no man.—All our faith in human nature sometimes seems to be shaken to its foundations. Nor can we be surprised, our human nature being what it is, if even good and great men have succumbed at times to the fatal temptation of despairing of humanity. “Most men are bad;” there is the summary of the Greek philosopher, who deliberately left it as the maxim of his wisdom.
III. Though there is so much weight of authority and evidence to support this despairing view, it would be fatal to us; fatal to the hope by which we are saved, and which is as a vernal breeze amid poisonous fogs; fatal to the glad enthusiasm which leaps up like a fountain amid the briny waves and corrupted currents of the world. In spite of all the facts and evidence, we would say, with a living writer: “I trust in the nobleness of human nature, in the majesty of its faculties, in the fulness of its mercy, in the joy of its love.” Has it never struck you how marvellous is the fact that words so noble, so far-reaching as these—“Honour all men”—should be uttered by a poor Jew, a Galilean fisherman? Had this rule been followed, what a different world we should have seen in the past! Every great crime of governments and of nations has been a crime against the inherent rights of the human race—slavery, despotism, priestcraft, etc. “Honour all men”—their inherent dignity, the infinite possibilities of their nature, their freedom of conscience, the awful price of their redemption, their immediate accountability to God. While this honour leads us to deep reverence for all human goodness, let it inspire us also with such hope and compassion as shall feel none to be too low, too fallen, for our pity or our help. Let us see humanity in Christ, and it will be indeed transfigured with heavenly lustre.—Archdeacon Farrar.
The Sum of Our Duty.—These words have very briefly, and yet not obscured by briefness, but withal very plainly, the sum of our duty towards God and men; to men, both in general—honour all men; and in special relations, in their Christian or religious relations—love the brotherhood; and in a chief civil relation—honour the king. And our whole duty to God, comprised under the name of His fear, is set in the middle betwixt these, as the common spring of all duty to men, and of all due observance of it, and the sovereign rule by which it is to be regulated.—Leighton.
The Image of God in Man.—The fact that there are in every man traces of the image of God, after which he has been created, and infinitely undeveloped capacities which might issue in the restoration of that image to its original brightness, was in itself a reason for treating all, even the vilest and most degraded, with some measure of respect.—Dean Plumptre.
Honour Due to All Men.—Among the inestimable blessings of Christianity, not the least is the new sentiment with which it teaches man to look upon his fellow-beings—the new relation which it establishes between man and man. There is nothing of which men know so little as themselves. They understand incomparably more of the surrounding creation of matter, or of its laws, than of that spiritual principle to which matter was made to be the minister, and without which the outward universe would be worthless. Men have as yet no just respect for themselves, and of consequence no just respect for others. Nothing can make man a true lover of man but the discovery of something interesting and great in human nature. We must see and feel that a human being is something important, and of immeasurable importance. To show the grounds on which the obligation to honour all men rests, I might take a minute survey of that human nature which is common to all, and set forth its claims to reverence. But there is one principle of the soul which makes all men essentially equal, which places all on a level as to means of happiness. It is the sense of duty, the power of discerning and doing right, the moral and religious principle, the inward monitor which speaks in the name of God. This is the great gift of God. We can conceive no greater. It is this moral power which makes all essentially equal, which annihilates all the distinctions of this world. The idea of Right is the primary and the highest revelation of God to the human mind, and all outward revelations are founded on, and addressed to it. We little understand the solemnity of the moral principle in every human mind. We think not how awful are its functions. We forget that it is the germ of immortality. There is a foundation in the human soul for the honour enjoined in the text towards all men. By Christianity this duty is enforced by new and more solemn considerations. This whole religion is a testimony to the worth of man in the sight of God, to the importance of human nature, to the infinite purposes for which we were framed. True, Christianity speaks of man as a sinner—it deals with human sin; but it does not speak of this as indissolubly bound up with the soul, as entering into the essence of human nature, but as a temporary stain, which it calls on us to wash away. It gives none of those dark views of our race which would make us shrink from it as from a nest of venomous reptiles. The very strength of his temptations is one of the indications of his greatness. The sentiment of honour or respect for human beings is essential to the Christian character. A more faithful culture of it would do much to carry forward the Church and the world. I attach to this sentiment such importance that I measure by its progress the progress of Society. The various forms in which this principle is to be exercised or manifested, may be enlarged on. Honour man from the beginning to the end of his earthly course. Honour the child: on this principle all good education rests. Honour the poor; this sentiment of respect is essential to improving the connexion between the more and less prosperous conditions of Society. Perhaps none of us have yet heard or can comprehend the tone of voice in which a man, thoroughly impressed with this sentiment, would speak to a fellow-creature. It is a language hardly known on earth. The great revelation which man now needs is a revelation of man to himself. The faith which is most wanted is a faith in what we and our fellow-beings may become; a faith in the Divine germ or principle in every soul. Happy are they who have begun to penetrate that mystery of our spiritual nature, and in whom it has awakened feelings of awe towards themselves, and of deep interest and honour towards their fellow-creatures.—W. E. Channing, D.D.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
1Pe_2:14. Living Stones.—Figuratively, like plants, connected with and nourished by their roots. Stones still in the quarry are said to be living. The epithet means the firmness of that thing signified by the name of a stone, for nothing is firmer than stones growing in a quarry, as cleaving fast to a rock by the root.—Burder.
Seeming Life of Radiant Stones.—Of course a living stone means a human being. The figure takes its origin from the seeming life of radiant stones, whose gleams and flashes have the seeming, at times, of will and life. A man is said in the Bible to be more precious than the gold of Ophir; and of a woman it is said, “Her price is far above rubies.” These were common comparisons. There is something in the glow of precious stones that peculiarly fits them to serve for such spiritual figures. There is about them a subtle light—a brilliancy—that burns without fire; that consumes nothing, and requires no supply; that for ever shines without oil; that is ever-living, unwasting, unchanged by any of the natural elements. A diamond that glows in the sunlight flashes yet more beautifully in the night. No mould can get root upon it; no rust can tarnish it; no decay can waste it. The jewels that were buried two thousand years ago, if now dug up from royal and priestly tombs, would come forth as fair and fresh as they were when the proud wearer first carried them in his diadem—fit emblems by which to represent spiritual qualities, and the beauty and imperishableness of Christian virtue. And a company of holy men, resting upon the Lord Jesus Christ, may well be compared to a palace built upon broad foundations, and sparkling to the very summit with living stones which throw back to the sun a differing flash through every hour of his rise or fall through the long day.—H. W. Beecher.
Stones Left Unused.—Travellers sometimes find in lonely quarries, long abandoned, or once worked by a vanished race, great blocks, squared and dressed, that seem to have been meant for palace or shrine. But there they lie, neglected and forgotten, and the building for which they were hewn has been reared without them. Beware, lest God’s grand temple should be built without you, and you be left to desolation and decay.—A. Maclaren, D.D.
1Pe_2:13-17. Political Morality.—The teaching of the New Testament, as exhibited in this passage, imparts a new vitality to political economy. It forms a marvellous contrast to the ordinary teaching of Judaism—that civil obedience was not due to heathen governors except on compulsion. The Christian’s devotion to Jesus Christ is to be enthusiastic. All ordinary duties are His, and this consideration is to breathe a new spirit into the discharge of them. It makes the Christian, as circumstances require it, either the faithful public servant or the hero. It may be objected that the state is put forward rather in a negative than in a positive aspect. I ask, How, under existing circumstances, could it possibly have been otherwise? It was at this period so corrupt that to have taught a devotion to it would have been inconsistent with pure public morality. One cannot conceive of a holy man being fired with an ardent patriotism for such a condition of political society as that involved in the Roman empire during the first century of our era. Enthusiastic loyalty to the Roman emperors of that period was impossible. If, on the other hand, the writers of the New Testament had given a formal precept to Christians, enforcing on them the duty of becoming political reformers, this would have at once aroused the mighty power of the empire to crush the Christian Church. As there was nothing in the existing state of society to kindle a spark of enthusiasm in the discharge of duty, the New Testament asks the Christian to discharge his duties to the Lord Christ.—Row.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey1900 · Public DomainOn v1313-15. Though Paul and Peter both lived and died…
ARGUMENT 11
LOYALTY TO HUMAN AUTHORITY FOR THE LORD’S SAKE
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13-15. Though Paul and Peter both lived and died under the reign of Nero, the merciless Roman tyrant, they both enjoin submissive loyalty to human authority, both suffering martyrdom under the cruel edict of the brutal autocrat, for the Lord’s sake, while they and the one hundred millions whom the emperors slaughtered during the ensuing three hundred years might all have saved their lives by compromising their religion; hence the legitimate sequence from all these Scriptures relative to Christian loyalty to human authority, is the simple fact that we are to be loyal and obedient when compatible with duty and responsibility to God, otherwise non- resistingly to obey God rather than man, suffering persecution even to bloody martyrdom.
16. “As free and not having liberty as a cover of evil, but as the slaves of God.” We see from this verse that the perfect love slavery of entire sanctification is beautifully harmonious and co-existent with the very highest spiritual liberty. Really, they are synonymous, as perfect submission to God makes us participants of God’s own liberty, which is perfect freedom to do everything good and nothing bad. The Greek in this passage is douloi, “slaves,” and not oiketees, which always means a hired servant. Sinners are the devil’s slaves, unsanctified Christians, hired servants in the kingdom, e.g., salaried preachers, while sanctified people are God’s love slaves, serving him with all the power of soul, mind and body, for no remuneration this side of heaven but pure love alone, at the same time enjoying perfect spiritual liberty, utter freedom from every care.
17... “Love the brotherhood with divine love.” This is not human love which is full of carnality, selfishness and lust, but the holy agapee, poured out into the heart by the Holy Ghost. Rom 5:5.
18. The world was full of human slavery in the Apostolic age. While the Christian religion enjoins submission on the part of slaves, thus conserving peace and harmony, it enjoins upon both master and servant the divine agapee, whose normal effect is to revolutionize human society and forever abolish slavery.
19. “For this is grace, if for the sake of the conscience of God, any one endure sorrows suffering unjustly.” Human conscience, though the highest moral tribunal, and pertinent to be followed under all circumstances simply as the best alternative, nevertheless is not a correct guide unless transformed by the Holy Ghost, rendering it the “conscience of God,” and no longer that of fallen humanity.
20. While punishment corrective of evil conduct is a blessing, when it is received innocently for Christ’s sake alone, it is a transcendent means of grace. No wonder the crown of martyrdom during the persecutionary ages became a universal desideratum among the saints of God.
21. We have flippant singing about walking in the footprints of Jesus. Certainly this is the only way to heaven. We must walk in His footprints up rugged Calvary and be nailed to the cruel cross till the body of sin is crucified, if we would ever ascend with Him to glory, meanwhile we must be a candidate for all the popular contempt, denunciation and persecution which He endured.
22, 23. Nothing but entire sanctification, utterly eliminating the retaliatory spirit, can possibly qualify us to verify the character of our great and only Exemplar, who endured every conceivable insult, even spitting in His face. If we are going to heaven we must have the grace requisite to enable us to walk in His footprints, doing as He did.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v13Obedience to the constituted authorities:
Obedience to the constituted authorities:
v. 13. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether it be to the king, as supreme,
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v. 14. or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well.
v. 15. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men;
v. 16. as free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
v. 17. Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
Here the apostle mentions some specific instances in which his instructions concerning the behavior of the Christians over against the heathen should find their application: Submit yourselves to every human authority for the Lord’s sake, whether it be to the emperor, as supreme, or to the governors as deputed by him for the punishing of evil-doers, but for the praise of those that do well. This admonition, the necessity of which must be admitted in our days without question, was badly needed also in the days of the early Church. Not only was the doctrine of spiritual liberty liable to be misinterpreted by superficial Christians, but some of them might be under the impression that the government, being heathen, was none of their concern, and that they owed no allegiance to the emperor. Therefore the apostle plainly states that believers are to submit themselves, are to be subject and obedient to every human authority and institution. Whether men have chosen the democratic or the monarchical form of government makes no difference to the Lord, for by His authority all governments exist, Rom 13:1-2. It makes no difference either, as the apostle indicates, whether all authority is vested in a single man, as in an emperor, or whether this emperor, as the supreme, the preeminent head of the nation, commissions or deputes governors to administer justice in any section of the empire, the authority of the government should be recognized and its existence by divine order acknowledged. That is one of the functions of the government, that it punish such as are wicked, as refuse to keep the peace, as are disobedient to the laws of the country. The people that do well, on the other hand, those that live in conformity with the laws of the land, the government should acknowledge with proper praise, that is, by protecting them and their property against every form of wickedness. Note: It is self-evident that Christians cannot be obedient to the government if the latter tries to extend its authority to spiritual matters, Act 4:19.
The motive for the willing obedience of the Christians is given by the apostle: For so is the will of God, namely, that in well-doing you silence the error of foolish men, as free, and not having your freedom as a cloak of your malice, but as God’s servants. The statement just made by the apostle is not his own personal opinion, which the Christians may or may not accept, as they choose, but it is the will of God. The Christians in this way, by cheerful obedience to the constituted authorities, will do more to silence the wrong ideas, the errors which foolish men hold with regard to their status in the state, than by books written in explanation of their tenets. Mark: Also in our days, when the unbelievers are jeering at the otherworldliness of the true Christian religion and boldly declare that Christianity has proved a failure in coping with the special problems of our days, our most effective argument is to do our duty in good works, as citizens and as neighbors, meanwhile changing neither our religion nor the means of grace given to us by God. Christians should remember that they are free, that they are partakers of the wonderful freedom which the Son of God earned for them by His suffering and death. As free children of God we Christians will therefore show that willing submission to which the apostle admonishes. But no true believer will plead freedom from the Law as his excuse for not obeying the government, for not fulfilling the holy will of God in every possible way. He will not, under the pretense of standing fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, become guilty of sins and of various forms of wickedness. That would be a disgraceful abuse of the freedom to which Christ has called us, Gal 5:13. We are in the service of God; this is our highest boast, that we are not serving as unwilling slaves, but as servants, whose greatest delight it is to show the new spiritual life in works which will please our heavenly Father.
As such free men, that serve God in willing obedience, the Christians are glad to hear the apostle in his call: Give honor to all; love the brotherhood; fear God; honor the king. To all their fellow-men the Christians are to give the honor which is due them in whatever position they hold in the state or in society. TO all their brethren in the faith they should show that intimate, intensive love which is proper among children of the same heavenly Father. To God they should give fear and reverence, all other considerations being relegated to the background in view of this demand. To the king or emperor, that is, to the constituted government, they will give the honor which is due according to the Fourth Commandment. Altogether, it is not a mere passive attitude which the Lord here speaks of, but an active exhibition of a state of mind which is bound in loving obedience under the Word of God.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On v13for the Lord's sake
for the Lord's sake
Possible meanings are 1) that by obeying human authorities, they are obeying the Lord who established those authorities or 2) that by obeying human authorities, they will honor Jesus who also obeyed human authorities.
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the king as supreme
"the king as the highest human authority"
who are sent to punish
This can be stated in active form. AT: "whom the king has sent to punish" (See: Active or Passive)
in doing good you silence the ignorant talk of foolish people
"by doing good you stop foolish people from speaking about things that they do not know"
as a covering for wickedness
Peter speaks of their condition as free people as something that they should not use to hide sinful behavior. AT: "as an excuse to do wicked things" (See: Metaphor)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv13, 14, 172:13–3:7 This section revolves around the key phrase submit…
2:13–3:7 This section revolves around the key phrase submit to all human authority, which Peter applies to several relationships: Christians should accept the authority of those in government (2:13-17), Christian slaves should accept the authority of their masters (2:18-25), and Christian wives should accept the authority of their husbands (3:1-6). Peter seems to be following an early Christian usage of the traditional household code, in which a series of instructions was given for different members of the household (cp. Eph 5:21–6:9; Col 3:18–4:1; 1 Tim 5:1–6:2; Titus 2:1-10).
2:13 In Peter’s day, the king was the Roman emperor. Christians were suffering in the hands of the state and would soon suffer more intensely under Nero.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv13–17 13 Submit yourselves He now comes to particular exhortations:…
13 Submit yourselves He now comes to particular exhortations: and as obedience with regard to magistrates is a part of honest or good conversation, he draws this inference as to their duty, “Submit yourselves,” or, Be ye subject; for by refusing the yoke of government, they would have given to the Gentiles no small occasion for reproaching them. And, indeed, the Jews were especially hated and counted infamous for this reason, because they were regarded on account of their perverseness as ungovernable. And as the commotions which they raised up in the provinces, were causes of great calamities, so that every one of a quiet and peaceable disposition dreaded them as the plague, — this was the reason that induced Peter to speak so strongly on subjection. Besides, many thought the gospel was a proclamation of such liberty, that every one might deem himself as free from servitude. It seemed an unworthy thing that God’s children should be servants, and that the heirs of the world should not have a free possession, no, not even of their own bodies. Then there was another trial, — All the magistrates were Christ’s adversaries; and they used their own authority, so that no representation of God, which secures the chief reverence, appeared in them. We now perceive the design of Peter: he exhorted the Jews, especially for these reasons, to shew respect to the civil power.
To every ordinance of man Some render the words, “to every creature;” and from a rendering so obscure and ambiguous, much labor has been taken to elicit some meaning. But I have no doubt but that Peter meant to point out the distinct manner in which God governs mankind: for the verb κτίζειν in Greek, from which κτίσις comes, means to form and to construct a building. Suitable, then, is the word “ordination;” by which Peter reminds us, that God the maker of the world has not left the human race in a state of confusion, that they might live after the manner of beasts, but as it were in a building regularly formed, and divided into several compartments. And it is called a human ordination, not because it has been invented by man, but because a mode of living, well arranged and duly ordered, is peculiar to men.
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Whether it be to the king So he calls Caesar, as I think, whose empire extended over all those countries mentioned at the beginning of the Epistle. For though “king” was a name extremely hated by the Romans, yet it was in use among the Greeks. They, indeed, often called him autocrat, (αὐτοκράτορα) but sometimes he was also called by them king, (βασιλεὺς.) But as he subjoins a reason, that he ought to be obeyed because he excelled, or was eminent or supreme, there is no comparison made between Caesar and other magistrates. He held, indeed, the supreme power; but that eminence which Peter extols, is common to all who exercise public authority. And so Paul, in Romans 13:1, extends it to all magistrates. Now the meaning is, that obedience is due to all who rule, because they have been raised to that honor not by chance, but by God’s providence. For many are wont to inquire too scrupulously by what right power has been attained; but we ought to be satisfied with this alone, that power is possessed and exercised. And so Paul cuts off the handle of useless objections when he declares that there is no power but from God. And for this reason it is that Scripture so often says, that it is God who girds kings with a sword, who raises them on high, who transfers kingdoms as he pleases.
As Peter referred especially to the Roman Emperor, it was necessary to add this admonition; for it is certain that the Romans through unjust means rather than in a legitimate way penetrated into Asia and subdued these countries. Besides, the Caesars, who then reigned, had possessed themselves of the monarchy by tyrannical force. Hence Peter as it were forbids these things to be controverted, for he shews that subjects ought to obey their rulers without hesitation, because they are not made eminent, unless elevated by God’s hand.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 15, 17 By ordinance, is meant the framing and ordering of…
By ordinance, is meant the framing and ordering of civil government: which he calleth ordinance of man, not because man invented it, but because it is proper to men.
He preventeth a cavil which is made by some, that say they will obey Kings and the higher magistrates, and yet contemn their ministers: as though their ministers were not armed with their authority which sent them.
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The first argument: because the Lord is the author and revenger of this policy of men, that is, which is set amongst men: and therefore the true servants of the Lord must above all others be diligent observers of this order.
That which he spoke generally, he now expoundeth by parts, describing severally every man’s duty. And first of all he speaketh of obedience which is due both to the Laws, and also to the Magistrates both higher and lower.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv13–17 13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for…
13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
Ver. 13. Submit to every ordinance] That is, although the ordinance or government in the manner of its constitution be from man, yet because of the necessity of its institution it is from God; submit to it, though of man, for the Lord’s sake. (Fuller’s Answer to Dr Fern.) For although it is called here man’s creature or ordinance, either in respect of man the subject, by whom it is exercised, or man the object, about whom it is conversant, or of man the end, to whose emolument it tendeth; yet it is still the gift and institution of God, the primary author and provident ordaiuer. A Deo sane est sive iubente, sive sinente , Of God it is surely, either so commanding or so suffering it to be, saith Augustine (contra Faust. Man xxii. 7.).
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv13–17 Every ordinance; of all kinds, whether supreme or subordinate.
Every ordinance; of all kinds, whether supreme or subordinate.
Ordinance of man; Greek, human creatures, which may be understood either, as Mar 16:15, every human creature for every man, only restraining it to the present subject whereof he treats, viz. magistrates, and the sense is, to every magistrate: or rather, (though to the same effect), to every human ordinance; or, as we translate it,
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ordinance of man; the word creature being taken for an ordinance, or constitution, and creating for ordaining, or appointing: so CEcumenius will have the word to signify, Eph 2:15, to make of twain one new man. But this creature, or ordinance, here is to be understood of the magistrate; (as appears by the following words), which is called human, not as if magistracy were not an ordinance of God, {for, Rom 13:1, the powers that are are said to be ordained of God} but either because it is only among men, and proper to them; or because it is of man secondarily and instrumentally, though of God primarily and originally, God making use of the ministry of men in bringing them into the magistracy; as, though church offices are God’s ordinance, yet he makes use of men to put them into office.
For the Lord’s sake; for God’s sake, who commands this obedience; and gave them the authority, and is represented by them, and honoured by that obedience which is yielded to them in all things agreeable to his will. The phrase seems to be of the same import with that of being obedient in the Lord, Eph 6:1.
To the king; to Caesar, the then supreme magistrate, under whose jurisdiction the Jewish Christians were; and this being a general command extending to all Christians, it follows, that obedience is due from them to those chief magistrates whose subjects respectively they are.
As supreme; not only above the people, but above other magistrates.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv13, 16, 17 Our apostle having exhorted them in general to take…
Our apostle having exhorted them in general to take care that their conversation be honest among the Gentiles, he now decends to particular duties, which he advises them to be very exemplary in the performance of.
And the first is, in their subjection to governors and government; submit yourselves, says he, to every civil ruler, both supreme and subordinate.
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Where observe, 1. How the apostle calls magistracy and civil government, though originally of divine institution, an ordinance of man.
First, As to the end of it, it being appointed and ordained for the good and benefit of man.
Secondly, In reference to the kind of it, every nation having a liberty to choose what kind and form of government human prudence shall direct them to, as most agreeable to, and commodious for, the people.
Observe, 2. The quality of that obedience and subjection which is to be given unto magistrates, it must be for the Lord’s sake, that is, in obedience to the command of God, and with an eye at the honour and glory of God. Christianity is no enemy to the civil right of princes, it requires subjection for conscience, Pro 8:15
By me, says God, kings reign; some read it, for me kings reign; both are true: princes then hold not their crowns either from the pope or from the people, to be kicked off by the one, or to be plucked off by the other, at their pleasure: Submit yourselves, says our apostle, to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake.
Observe, 3. The reasons assigned why magistrates should be thus subjected and submitted to; namely,
1. Because they are sent by God for the punishment of evil-doers, and the praise of them that do well; the magistrate’s office is to punish evil-doers; the fear of the magistrate’s sword awes many men more than the fear of God’s hand. If some men were not gods among men, many men would be devils among men; there would be no living among those who fear not the invisible God in heaven, if there were not some visible gods on earth to fear.
2. Because God will, by this their subjection given to magistrates and governors, silence, or, as the word signifies, put a muzzle upon the mouth of, foolish and unreasonable men, who rage against his people, as if they were enemies to order and government: by this kind of well-doing in particular, namely, by subjection and obedience to rulers in the Lord, and for the Lord’s sake, we put to silence the foolishness of wicked men.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v13 The general rule of a Christian conversation is this,…
The general rule of a Christian conversation is this, it must be honest, which it cannot be if there be not a conscientious discharge of all relative duties. The apostle here particularly treats of these distinctly.
I. The case of subjects. Christians were not only reputed innovators in religion, but disturbers of the state; it was highly necessary, therefore, that the apostle should settle the rules and measures of obedience to the civil magistrate, which he does here, where,
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1. The duty required is submission, which comprises loyalty and reverence to their persons, obedience to their just laws and commands, and subjection to legal penalties.
2. The persons or objects to whom this submission is due are described, (1.) More generally: Every ordinance of man. Magistracy is certainly of divine right; but the particular form of government, the power of the magistrate, and the persons who are to execute this power, are of human institution, and are governed by the laws and constitutions of each particular country; and this is a general rule, binding in all nations, let the established form of be what it will. (2.) Particularly: To the king, as supreme, first in dignity and most eminent in degree; the king is a legal person, not a tyrant: or unto governors, deputies, proconsuls, rulers of provinces, who are sent by him, that is, commissioned by him to govern.
3. The reasons to enforce this duty are,
(1.) For the Lord's sake, who had ordained magistracy for the good of mankind, who has required obedience and submission (Rom 13:1-14), and whose honour is concerned in the dutiful behavior of subjects to their sovereigns.
(2.) From the end and use of the magistrate's office, which are, to punish evil-doers, and to praise and encourage all those that do well. They were appointed for the good of societies; and, where this end is not pursued, the fault is not in their institution but their practice. [1.] True religion is the best support of civil government; it requires submission for the Lord's sake, and for conscience' sake. [2.] All the punishments, and all the magistrates in the world, cannot hinder but there will be evil-doers in it. [3.] The best way the magistrate can take to discharge his own duty, and to amend the world, is to punish well and reward well.
(3.) Another reason why Christians should submit to the evil magistrate is because it is the will of God, and consequently their duty; and because it is the way to put to silence the malicious slanders of ignorant and foolish men, Pe1 2:15. Learn, [1.] The will of God is, to a good man, the strongest reason for any duty. [2.] Obedience to magistrates is a considerable branch of a Christian's duty: So is the will of God. [3.] A Christian must endeavour, in all relations, to behave himself so as to put to silence the unreasonable reproaches of the most ignorant and foolish men. [4.] Those who speak against religion and religious people are ignorant and foolish.
(4.) He reminds them of the spiritual nature of Christian liberty. The Jews, from Deu 17:15, concluded that they were bound to obey no sovereign but one taken from their own brethren; and the converted Jews thought they were free from subjection by their relation to Christ. To prevent their mistakes, the apostle tells the Christians that they were free, but from what? Not from duty or obedience to God's law, which requires subjection to the civil magistrate. They were free spiritually from the bondage of sin and Satan, and the ceremonial law; but they must not make their Christian liberty a cloak or covering for any wickedness, or for the neglect of any duty towards God or towards their superiors, but must still remember they were the servants of God. Learn, [1.] All the servants of Christ are free men (Joh 8:36); they are free from Satans' dominion, the law's condemnation, the wrath of God, the uneasiness of duty, and the terrors of death. [2.] The servants of Jesus Christ ought to be very careful not to abuse their Christian liberty; they must not make it a cover or cloak for any wickedness against God or disobedience to superiors.
4. The apostle concludes his discourse concerning the duty of subjects with four admirable precepts: - (1.) Honour all men. A due respect is to be given to all men; the poor are not to be despised (Pro 17:5); the wicked must be honoured, not for their wickedness, but for any other qualities, such as wit, prudence, courage, eminency of employment, or the hoary head. Abraham, Jacob, Samuel, the prophets, and the apostles, never scrupled to give due honour to bad men. (2.) Love the brotherhood. All Christians are a fraternity, united to Christ the head, alike disposed and qualified, nearly related in the same interest, having communion one with another, and going to the same home; they should therefore love one another with an especial affection. (3.) Fear God with the highest reverence, duty, and submission; if this be wanting, none of the other three duties can be performed as they ought. (4.) Honour the king with that highest honour that is peculiarly due to him above other men.
II. The case of servants wanted an apostolical determination as well as that of subjects, for they imagined that their Christian liberty set them free from their unbelieving and cruel masters; to this the apostle answers, Servants, be subject, Pe1 2:18. By servants he means those who were strictly such, whether hired, or bought with money, or taken in the wars, or born in the house, or those who served by contract for a limited time, as apprentices. Observe,
1. He orders them to be subject, to do their business faithfully and honestly, to conduct themselves, as inferiors ought, with reverence and affection, and to submit patiently to hardships and inconveniences. This subjection they owe to their masters, who have a right to their service; and that not only to the good and gentle, such as use them well and abate somewhat of their right, but even to the crooked and perverse, who are scarcely to be pleased at all. Learn, (1.) Servants ought to behave themselves to their masters with submission, and fear of displeasing them. (2.) The sinful misconduct of one relation does not justify the sinful behaviour of the other; the servant is bound to do his duty, though the master be sinfully froward and perverse. (3.) Good people are meek and gentle to their servants and inferiors. Our holy apostle shows his love and concern for the souls of poor servants, as well as for higher people. Herein he ought to be imitated by all inferior ministers, who should distinctly apply their counsels to the lower, the meaner, the younger, and the poorer sort of their hearers, as well as others.
2. Having charged them to be subject, he condescends to reason with them about it.
(1.) If they were patient under their hardships, while they suffered unjustly, and continued doing their duty to their unbelieving and untoward masters, this would e acceptable to God, and he would reward all that they suffered for conscience towards him; but to be patient when they were justly chastised would deserve no commendation at all; it is only doing well, and suffering patiently for that, which is acceptable with God, Pe1 2:19, Pe1 2:20. Learn, [1.] There is no condition so mean but a man may live conscientiously in it, and glorify God in it; the meanest servant may do so. [2.] The most conscientious persons are very often the greatest sufferers. For conscience towards God, they suffer wrongfully; they do well, and suffer for it; but sufferers of this sort are praiseworthy, they do honour to God and to religion, and they are accepted of him; and this is their highest support and satisfaction. [3.] Deserved sufferings must be endured with patience: If you are buffeted for your faults, you must take it patiently. Sufferings in this world are not always pledges of our future happiness; if children or servants be rude and undutiful, and suffer for it, this will neither be acceptable with God nor procure the praise of men.
(2.) More reasons are given to encourage Christian servants to patience under unjust sufferings, Pe1 2:21. [1.] From their Christian calling and profession: Hereunto were you called. [2.] From the example of Christ, who suffered for us, and so became our example, that we should follow his steps, whence learn, First, Good Christians are a sort of people called to be sufferers, and therefore they must expect it; by the terms of Christianity they are bound to deny themselves, and take up the cross; they are called by the commands of Christ, by the dispensations of Providence, and by the preparations of divine grace; and, by the practice of Jesus Christ, they are bound to suffer when thus called to it. Secondly, Jesus Christ suffered for you, or for us; it was not the Father that suffered, but he whom the Father sanctified, and sent into the world, for that end; it was both the body and soul of Christ that suffered, and he suffered for us, in our stead and for our good, Pe1 2:24. Thirdly, The sufferings of Christ should quiet us under the most unjust and cruel sufferings we meet with in the world. He suffered voluntarily, not for himself, but for us, with the utmost readiness, with perfect patience, from all quarters, and all this though he was God - man; shall not we sinners, who deserve the worst, submit to the light afflictions of this life, which work for us unspeakable advantages afterwards?
3. The example of Christ's subjection and patience is here explained and amplified: Christ suffered, (1.) Wrongfully, and without cause; for he did no sin, Pe1 2:22. He had done no violence, no injustice or wrong to any one - he wrought no iniquity of any sort whatever; neither was guile found in his mouth (Isa 53:9), his words, as well as his actions, were all sincere, just, and right. (2.) Patiently: When he was reviled, he reviled not again (Pe1 2:23); when they blasphemed him, mocked him, called him foul names, he was dumb, and opened not his mouth; when they went further, to real injuries, beating, buffeting, and crowning him with thorns, he threatened not; but committed both himself and his cause to God that judgeth righteously, who would in time clear his innocency, and avenge him on his enemies. Learn, [1.] Our Blessed Redeemer was perfectly holy, and so free from sin that no temptation, no provocation whatsoever, could extort from him so much as the least sinful or indecent word. [2.] Provocations to sin can never justify the commission of it. The rudeness, cruelty, and injustice of enemies, will not justify Christians in reviling and revenge; the reasons for sin can never be so great, but we have always stronger reasons to avoid it. [3.] The judgment of God will determine justly upon every man and every cause; and thither we ought, with patience and resignation, to refer ourselves.
4. Lest any should think, from what is said, Pe1 2:21-23, that Christ's death was designed merely for an example of patience under sufferings, the apostle here adds a more glorious design and effect of it: Who his own self, etc., where note, (1.) The person suffering - Jesus Christ: His own self - in his own body. The expression his own self is emphatic, and necessary to show that he verified all the ancient prophecies, to distinguish him from the Levitical priests (who offered the blood of others, but he by himself purged our sins, Heb 1:3), and to exclude all others from participation with him in the work of man's redemption: it is added, in his body; not but that he suffered in his soul (Mat 26:38), but the sufferings of the soul were inward and concealed, when those of the body were visible and more obvious to the consideration of these suffering servants, for whose sake this example is produced. (2.) The sufferings he underwent were stripes, wounds, and death, the death of the cross - servile and ignominious punishments! (3.) The reason of his sufferings: He bore our sins, which teaches, [1.] That Christ, in his sufferings, stood charged with our sins, as one who had undertaken to put them away by the sacrifice of himself, Isa 53:6. [2.] That he bore the punishment of them, and thereby satisfied divine justice. [3.] That hereby he takes away our sins, and removes them away from us; as the scape-goat did typically bear the sins of the people on his head, and then carried them quite away, (Lev 16:21, Lev 16:22), so the Lamb of God does first bear our sins in his own body, and thereby take away the sins of the world, Joh 1:29. (4.) The fruits of Christ's sufferings are, [1.] Our sanctification, consisting of the death, the mortification of sin, and a new holy life of righteousness, for both which we have an example, and powerful motives and abilities also, from the death and resurrection of Christ. [2.] Our justification. Christ was bruised and crucified as an expiatory sacrifice, and by his stripes we are healed. Learn, First, Jesus Christ bore the sins of all his people, and expiated them by his death upon the cross. Secondly, No man can depend safely upon Christ, as having borne his sin and expiated his guilt, till he dies unto sin and lives unto righteousness.
5. The apostle concludes his advice to Christian servants, by putting them in mind of the difference between their former and present condition, Pe1 2:25. They were as sheep going astray, which represents, (1.) Man's sin: he goes astray; it is his own act, he is not driven, but does voluntary go astray. (2.) His misery: he goes astray from the pasture, from the shepherd, and from the flock, and so exposes himself to innumerable dangers. (3.) Here is the recovery of these by conversion: But are now returned. The word is passive, and shows that the return of a sinner is the effect of divine grace. This return is from all their errors and wanderings, to Christ, who is the true careful shepherd, that loves his sheep, and laid down his life for them, who is the most vigilant pastor, and bishop, or overseer of souls. Learn, [1.] Sinners, before their conversion, are always going astray; their life is a continued error. [2.] Jesus Christ is the supreme shepherd and bishop of souls, who is always resident with his flock, and watchful over them. [3.] Those that expect the love and care of this universal pastor must return to him, must die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv13–17 Or unto governors,.... Inferior magistrates, such as were under…
Or unto governors,.... Inferior magistrates, such as were under the Roman emperor; as proconsuls, procurators, &c. such as Pontius Pilate, Felix, and Festus, who had under the emperor the government of particular nations, provinces, and cities:
as unto them that are sent by him; either by the king, the Roman emperor, by whom they were sent, from whom they received their commission, and derived their authority, under whom they acted, and to whom they were accountable; or by God, by whom they are ordained, and whose ministers they are, and for the ends hereafter mentioned; so that this contains an argument or reason why they should be submitted to:
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for the punishment of evildoers; the breakers of the laws of God and men, on whom punishment is to be inflicted, by the civil magistrates, for the breach of them, by lines, scourgings, imprisonment, and death itself, according as the crimes are:
and for the praise of them that do well; who behave according to the laws of God and nations, and are obedient to magistrates, and subject to every ordinance; these have praise of men, of magistrates, and are rewarded by them; by protecting their persons, defending their properties, and preserving them in the peaceable enjoyment of their estates and possessions; see Rom 13:3.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv13–17 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man - To…
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man - To every secular power. Instrumentally these are ordained by men; but originally all their power is from God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv13–17 Verse 13. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man]…
Verse 13. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man] In every settled state, and under every form of political government, where the laws are not in opposition to the laws of God, it may be very soundly and rationally said: "Genuine Christians have nothing to do with the laws but to obey them." Society and civil security are in a most dangerous state when the people take it into their heads that they have a right to remodel and change the laws. See the whole of this subject fully handled in the notes on "Ro 13:1", c., to which I beg every reader, who may wish to know the political sentiments of this work, to have recourse.
The words παση ανθρωπινη κτισει literally signify, not every ordinance of man, but every human creature yet κτιζειν signifies sometimes to arrange, order, as well as to create, and therefore our translation may do: but as the apostle is evidently speaking here of magistracy, or legislative authority, and as the appointment of magistrates was termed a creating of them, it is better to understand the words thus, All the constituted authorities. So, Decem tribunos plebis per pontificem creaverunt; Cor. Nep. "They created ten tribunes of the plebeians, by the high priest." Carthagine quotannis annui bini reges creabantur; Caesar. "They created two kings every year at Carthage." Consules creantur Caesar et Servilius; Sallust. "Caesar and Servilius are created consuls." Creare ducem gerendo bello. "To create a general to conduct the war." The meaning of St. Peter appears to be this: the Jews thought it unlawful to obey any ruler that was not of their own stock; the apostle tells them they should obey the civil magistrate, let him be of what stock he may, whether a Jew or a Gentile, and let him exercise the government in whatsoever form. This is the general proposition: and then he instances emperors and their deputies; and, far from its being unlawful for them to obey a heathen magistrate, they were to do it for the Lord's sake, δια τον κυριον, on account of the Lord, whose will it was, and who commanded it.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv13, 16 1Pe 2:13-15. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man…
1Pe 2:13-15. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man — Greek, παση ανθρωπινη κτισει, to every human constitution of government, under which you are placed by Divine Providence, and which is formed instrumentally by men, and relates to you as men, and not as Christians. Macknight translates the clause, Be subject to every human creation of magistrates; observing that “the abstract word creation is put for the concrete, the person created; just as governments and powers are put for persons exercising government and power. The phrase, human creation of magistrates, was formed by St. Peter with a view to condemn the principles of the zealots, who maintained that obedience was due to no magistrates but to those who were appointed by God, as the Jewish kings had been.” Whether to the king — That is, to the emperor; as supreme — For though at Rome the name of king was odious, the people in the provinces gave that name to the emperor, Joh 19:15; Act 17:7. When this epistle was written, Nero was emperor. Or to subordinate governors — Or magistrates, in the different provinces of the empire. “From this we learn that it is the duty of Christians, residing in foreign and even in infidel countries, to obey the laws of those countries in all things not sinful, without considering whether the religion of the magistrate and of the state be true or false.” That are sent by him — Commissioned by the emperor from Rome; for the punishment of evil-doers — The Roman governors had the power of life and death in such conquered provinces as those mentioned 1Pe 1:1. There is, therefore, the exactest propriety in the apostle’s style. And for the praise of them that do well — For protecting and rewarding them who give due obedience to the good laws of the state. For so is the will of God — As I assure you by inspiration; that by well-doing — By your due subjection to magistrates, and the performance of all other Christian duties; you may put to silence — Φιμουν, may bridle in, or restrain by a bridle or a muzzle, (so the word signifies,) the ignorance — The calumnies proceeding from the ignorance of foolish men — Of men destitute of the fear of God, who blame you because they do not know you, affirming that your religion makes you bad subjects.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv13–17 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man - Greek,…
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man - Greek, “to every creation of man,” (ἀνθρωπίνῃ κτίσει anthrōpinē ktisei The meaning is, to every institution or appointment of man; to wit, of those who are in authority, or who are appointed to administer government. The laws, institutes, and appointments of such a government may be spoken of as the creation of man; that is, as what man makes. Of course, what is here said must be understood with the limitation everywhere implied, that what is ordained by those in authority is not contrary to the law of God. See the notes at Act 4:19. On the general duty here enjoined of subjection to civil authority, see the notes at Rom 13:1-7.
For the Lord’s sake - Because he has required it, and has entrusted this power to civil rulers. See the notes at Rom 13:5. Compare the notes at Eph 6:7.
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Whether it be to the king - It has been commonly supposed that there is reference here to the Roman emperor, who might be called king, because in him the supreme power resided. The common title of the Roman sovereign was, as used by the Greek writers, ᾀυτοκράτωρ autokratōr, and among the Romans themselves, “imperator,” (emperor;) but the title king was also given to the sovereign. Joh 19:15, “we have no king but Cesar.” Act 17:7, “and these all do contrary to the decrees of Cesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.” Peter undoubtedly had particular reference to the Roman emperors, but he uses a general term, which would be applicable to all in whom the supreme power resided, and the injunction here would require submission to such authority, by whatever name it might be called. The meaning is, that we are to be subject to that authority whether exercised by the sovereign in person, or by those who are appointed by him.
As supreme - Not supreme in the sense of being superior to God, or not being subject to him, but in the sense of being over all subordinate officers.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv13, 16 To every human creature,[5] to every one whom the…
To every human creature,[5] to every one whom the order of Providence has placed over you, whether it be to emperors or kings, who have the supreme power in kingdoms, or to governors of provinces; obey your temporal princes, though heathens and idolaters, (as the Roman emperors were at that time enemies to the Christian religion) in all that is not sinful and against the law of God: for this is the will of God, and all power is from God. See Romans xiii. In like manner (ver. 18) servants must be subject and obey their masters, though they be infidels. See 1 Corinthians vii. By this you will silence the ignorance and calumnies of foolish men, who pretended that the Christian religion taught them to be disobedient to princes, and to be subjects of Christ only, their supreme spiritual king. (Witham)
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
Omni humanæ creaturæ, Greek: ktisei, which the Protestants here translate, to every ordinance; but they translated, creature, Mark xvi. 15.; Colossians i. 15.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv13–17 every ordinance of man--"every human institution" [ALFORD], literally, "every…
every ordinance of man--"every human institution" [ALFORD], literally, "every human creation." For though of divine appointment, yet in the mode of nomination and in the exercise of their authority, earthly governors are but human institutions, being of men, and in relation to men. The apostle speaks as one raised above all human things. But lest they should think themselves so ennobled by faith as to be raised above subordination to human authorities, he tells them to submit themselves for the sake of Christ, who desires you to be subject, and who once was subject to earthly rulers Himself, though having all things subject to Him, and whose honor is at stake in you as His earthly representatives. Compare Rom 13:5, "Be subject for conscience' sake."
king--The Roman emperor was "supreme" in the Roman provinces to which this Epistle was addressed. The Jewish zealots refused obedience. The distinction between "the king as supreme" and "governors sent by him" implies that "if the king command one thing, and the subordinate magistrate another, we ought rather to obey the superior" [AUGUSTINE in GROTIUS]. Scripture prescribes nothing upon the form of government, but simply subjects Christians to that everywhere subsisting, without entering into the question of the right of the rulers (thus the Roman emperors had by force seized supreme authority, and Rome had, by unjustifiable means, made herself mistress of Asia), because the de facto governors have not been made by chance, but by the providence of God.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv13–17 3. Subjection to civil authority, 1Pe_2:13-17.
3. Subjection to civil authority, 1Pe_2:13-17.
13. Every ordinance—Rather, every human institution; here limited to civil government, which, though of divine authority, is framed, set up, and carried on by men. See notes, Rom_13:1-7.
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For the Lord’s sake— Not his command, which appears in 1Pe_2:15; but out of regard to the Lord Jesus, whom you love, and should exalt in the esteem of men, giving no occasion for reproach by disobedience and insubordination.
The king— Both Jews and Greeks gave this title to the Roman emperor.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv13–17 13. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man] The…
13. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man] The precept, like those of Rom_13:1-7, points to this as the line of action which the circumstances of the time made most important, in order that the character of Christ’s disciples might be vindicated against the widely-spread suspicion that they were elements of disorder. The word for “ordinance,” usually translated “creature,” may possibly have that sense here. So taken, the counsel would stand parallel to the “honour all men” of 1Pe_2:17, to the “be ye subject one to another” of ch. 1Pe_5:5, and would express the thought that the Christian was to act and speak as a “servus servorum,” submitting himself, as far as God’s law would allow, even to the meanest. Against this view, however, it may be urged that “every human creature” would be a somewhat awkward periphrasis for “all men,” and that the subdivision that follows points to something more specific. On the whole, therefore, there seems sufficient reason for accepting the English Version, and taking the word in the sense which it will well bear of “ordinance,” or better, perhaps, institution. The obedience which is thus enjoined is to be rendered not through fear of punishment but “for the Lord’s sake,” partly as remembering His example (1Pe_2:21-22), partly in zeal for the honour of His name, lest that also be “blasphemed among the Gentiles” (Rom_2:24).
whether it be to the king, as supreme] The adjective is the same as in the “higher powers” of Rom_13:1. The “king” is of course the Emperor Nero, the Greek language not supplying a word with the full significance of the Roman Imperator. So we have prayers for “kings,” obviously including the Emperor, in 1Ti_2:2. The “Governors” include the Pro-consuls or Pro-praetors of Roman provinces, and all officials such as the town-clerk of Ephesus, the Asiarchs, and other municipal authorities. (Act_19:31; Act_19:35; Act_19:38.)
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv13–17 (13) To every ordinance of man.—Second prudential rule, subordination.…
(13) To every ordinance of man.—Second prudential rule, subordination. Literally, to every human creation, i.e., to every office or authority which men have established. It is not only to ordinances of directly Divine institution that we are to submit. Mind that he does not say we are to submit to every law that men may pass. This passage is most directly modelled on Rom_13:1, et seq., where the reason assigned for submission is the same as that in Joh_19:11, viz., that ultimately the authority proceeds from God Himself. Here, however, the thought is quite different. They are to submit, but not because of the original source from which the authority flows, but because of the practical consequences of not submitting. It must be done “for the Lord’s” (i.e., Jesus Christ’s) “sake,” i.e., in order not to bring discredit upon His teaching, and persecution upon His Church. This difference of treatment, in the midst of so much resemblance, shows that at the date of St. Peter’s letter there was much more immediate cause for laying stress on political subordination. St. Paul, writing to the Roman Church, urges submission to Claudius, because the Roman Jews (among whom the Christians were reckoned) were often in trouble and expelled from the city of Rome (Act_18:2); St. Peter, writing in all probability from the Roman Church, urges submission to Nero and the provincial governors because “ignorant and foolish men” were beginning to misrepresent the Christian Church as a kind of Internationalist or Socialist conspiracy.
The king, as supreme.—First division of second prudential rule: subordination political. Of course it means the emperor. The name “king,” though detested in Latin, was used without scruple by the provincial Greeks to express the sovereignty of the Caesars. When he is described here as “supreme,” it is not intended (as our English version would convey) to contrast his supreme power with the inferior power of the “governors;” the word is only the same which is rendered “higher” in Rom_13:1. Huther rightly says, “The emperor was in the Roman Empire not merely the highest, but actually the only ruler; all other magistrates were but the instruments by which he exercised his sway.” Of course all Asia Minor, to which St. Peter was writing, was in the Roman Empire; the language would have been different had the letter been addressed to, or perhaps had it even been written from, the geographical Babylon.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv13–17 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man. The aorist…
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man. The aorist passive (uJpotaghte) is used, as often, in a middle sense. The word for "ordinance" is ktisiv, which in classical Greek means "foundation," as of a city; but in the New Testament is used elsewhere only of the works of God, in the sense of "creation," or "a creature" (see Mar_16:15; Col_1:23, etc.) Hence some, as De Wette, translate the words, "to every human creature," supporting their view bynh 1Pe_5:5. But on the whole this seems unlikely; ajnqrwpi ktisiv is a strange and awkward periphrasis for anqrwpov. It is better to understand it as meaning a human creation or foundation. Certainly "there is no power but of God"; (Rom_13:1) but the form which that power assumes is a human institution. St. Peter bids his readers to submit themselves to the de facto form of government. For the Lord"s sake. Not from human motives, as fear of punishment; but for the Lord"s sake, because "the powers that be are ordained of God," and in obeying them we obey the ordinance of God. Christians were commonly accused of insubordination, of doing "contrary to the decrees of Caesar"; (Act_17:7) they must show by their conduct that these accusations are false, that the progress of the gospel be not hindered. Whether it be to the king, as supreme. By "the king" is meant the Roman emperor, who was frequently so described in the Greek writers. Nero was emperor when St. Peter wrote. Christians were to obey even him, wicked tyrant as he was; for his power was given him from above, as the Lord himself had said of Pilate. (Joh_19:11)
Vers. 13-15.
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The Christian citizen.
The religion of the Lord Jesus entered practically into all the relations and interests of human life. The condition of the world, politically regarded, when the Roman empire exercised universal sway, was indeed very different from that which obtains at the present time. But the principles inculcated in the first century of our era are adapted to guide and govern the conduct of Christ"s people through all time.
I THE CHRISTIAN VIEW OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT.
1. Regarded in itself, it is a human institution, but it is nevertheless ordained by God. In this respect it is in the same case as the family. To believe in a Divine Ruler and a divinely appointed order, is to accept the state and its ordinances as appointed by the wisdom of God himself.
2. The Christian recognizes the Divine principle of government as personified in civil rulers. These are supreme-as kings; or persons commissioned, and exercising delegated power, as governors.
3. The Christian perceives the necessity of those functions which rulers are bound to discharge. There is no government worthy of the name which does not punish evil-doers, and protect, favor, and praise those who do well.
II THE CHRISTIAN"S DUTY TOWARDS CIVIL GOVERNMENT.
1. Generally speaking, that duty is submission, loyalty, and cheerful obedience. When laws are promulgated, the Christian respects and observes them; when taxes are levied, the Christian pays them; when service is required, the Christian renders it.
2. He acknowledges that this course of conduct is supported alike by the example and by the teaching of Christ.
3. Yet this obedience is within certain limits, and is subject to certain reservations. No man is under obligation to obey an ordinance of the civil power which is contradictory to the express and unmistakable law of God.
And when the ruler himself is disloyal, and violates the constitution to which ruler and subject alike are subject, there are cases in which even resistance is allowable, if not binding.
III THE CHRISTIAN"S MOTIVES TO OBEY THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT.
He does not act simply in his own interest, to avoid penalties, to secure place.
1. He obeys for the Lord"s sake, i.e. with a Christian aim before him.
2. He obeys because such is the will of God himself.
3. He obeys in order to remove hindrances from the way of the progress of Christianity among men. Scandals are avoided, prejudices are overcome, good will is conciliated; and the path is made clear for the progress of the gospel. Loyalty to the state and to the sovereign is loyalty to Christ, to God. J.R.T.
Vers. 13-17.
The Christian"s duty to the state.
We might regard vers. 11 and 12 as the text of which the rest of the Epistle is the sermon. The apostle first writes at length on their possession of personal redemption, and then says, "Now for the life that becomes it." And he begins with that citizenship which becomes the Christian. Very striking is it that the heavenly and the earthly citizenship should be brought here into such close connection; it is when the apostle has the highest conception of our relation to the spiritual kingdom (as in vers. 9, 10.) that he proceeds to speak of the lofty position we are to take as citizens of earth. Probably there was special reason for emphasis on this; he was writing to Jews, who had rather lax ideas of their obligations to human institutions in the Gentile world, and were charged by the empire with being "bad subjects;" that, for example, was the ostensible reason for the persecution by Nero. The subject is timely. Christians are often in doubt as to the Dart they should take in public affairs. Here we have Divine teaching respecting this.
I THE DUTY OF CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP,
"Submit yourselves to every human institution whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well that includes all human institutions for the well-being of the nation at large, whether in the wider circle of imperial, or the narrower circle of local, matters, and, says the apostle, "Submit yourselves to that.
1. What, then, is the submission which the Christian owes to the state?
The only submission possible to those to whom Peter wrote was that of tribute and obedience; under the despotic policy of the empire they could do no more; they had no power to ameliorate the laws nor to choose their rulers. With us it is not so. If we only pay the taxes and obey the authorities, we do not submit ourselves. "Submit yourselves unto God" means "give yourselves." So read the word "submit" here. The Christian is bound to give not only his substance and doings to these, but himself. As Christians, nothing ought to be alien to us which concerns the world our Lord loved and died for.
1. What are the limits of this submission? We must read this with the limitation everywhere implied. "Fearing God" comes before "honoring the king." Peter was himself an illustration of that, when he told the rulers "We must obey God rather than man." But the text refers to submission of ourselves; we must do that as far as we are to do all else that is right that is, as far as our opportunities and talents permit. Opportunity and talent are the limit of duty. Health, home-claims, higher claims, natural aptitude, etc., these show us where and how far we may go. God"s barriers are always plain to him who fears God.
2. What, then, is the objection to this submission? We are told that Christians are citizens of another world, and should have no part in this. But it is mean to get all the good out of the world we can, and refuse to do it all the good we can. We are told that Christ lived in the midst of political corruption, and did not raise his voice against it. But he was ever propagating those principles which undermine corruption, and his healing miracles show that his heart was set on ameliorating physical woe. We are told that we should come out of the world, and be separate. But that cannot mean that the Christian the Christian physician, say is to refuse to help the world. If the world chooses to help me to do a good work, I know no command which, because of their co-operation, bids me stand aloof.
II THE LOFTY PRINCIPLES ON WHICH THIS DUTY IS TO BE FULFILLED.
What is wanted is, not so much that Christians should take these things up, as that they should do so from sacred conviction, and "as becomes the gospel of Christ.
1. This must be done "for the Lord"s sake." "The earth is the Lord"s the world and they that dwell therein." How much does he care for men, who for them became incarnate, and endured the death of the cross! Then everything that tends to their development and enfranchisement is dear to him.
2. This must be done that "with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men." If the world come to regard Christianity as having to do mostly with beliefs and emotions, they will look upon it as unreal and worthless. It is not by fighting "more or less extinct Satans" that we secure the world"s respect for Christ, but by earnestly grappling, for his sake, with the real evils of the day.
3. This must be done "as servants of God." This duty is not without peril to personal spiritual life; it often calls the Christian to associate with those who have no fear of God, and work accordingly, and exposes him to the danger of falling to their level. The political atmosphere is often morally deadening Our safety is in going into this deliberately as God"s servants, to do his will, and that at any cost, wearing heaven"s livery, and making heavenly influences tell upon our fellows.
III THE DIVINE WARNING AGAINST THE DANGER IN THE FULFILLMENT OF THIS DUTY.
"As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of evil kakia, equivalent to "evil of any kind." The Christian public man needs anxiously to look beneath his activity, and see if any evil thing is concealed and fostered there.
1. There is the evil of self-seeking. Of doing this unconsciously, not for Christ, but for personal ends.
2. And there is the evil of love of the world. Public life has a terrible tendency to foster a spirit of worldliness, and to counteract this we need plenty of heart and closet work. There is no peril in this if we put "fear of God" before the "honor of the king if, whilst we "render to Caesar the things that are Caesar"s," we "render to God the things that are God"s;" if, whilst submitting ourselves "to every human institution," etc., we maintain the lofty feeling and character of "the chosen generation, the royal priesthood, the people peculiarly God"s own. C.N.
Vers. 13, 14.
The highest motive for a loyal life.
This passage teaches
I THE NECESSITY OF LOYALTY.
In our present condition there must be the ruled and rulers. It may be well to seek a change of rulers; it certainly is often well to seek a change of laws; but while rulers, whether "kings or governors," are for "vengeance on evil-doers, and a praise to them that do well," it is the duty of the true citizen to be loyal.
II THE FREQUENT CHARGE OF DISLOYALTY BROUGHT BY THE FOOLISH AGAINST REFORMERS.
Such men as St. Paul was addressing were, as Christians are, of necessity, reformers. There was all the more need that they should, by fitting loyalty, put to shame the ignorance of foolish men who calumniated them. Even their very freedom, as being under a higher than mere human law, might seem to be used as "a cloak of wickedness." Therefore they were to be the very bondservants of God.
III LOYALTY IS INCOMPLETE UNLESS IT INCLUDES HONOR FOR ALL MEN, LOVE FOR THE CHRISTIAN BROTHERHOOD, AS WELL AS OBEDIENCE TO THE RULER.
The true loyalist is no recluse, but a philanthropist and a Church-member.
IV THE SUFFICIENT AND ABIDING MOTIVE FOR SUCH LOYALTY IS DIVINE.
"For the Lord"s sake. U.R.T.
Vers. 13-17.
Relation of Christians to civil authorities.
I CATEGORY UNDER WHICH THE DUTY IN THE RELATION COMES.
"Be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord"s sake." There are various ordinances of man; i.e. Divine appointments for human relations which are subject to human molding. With reference to every such ordinance our duty is subjections, i.e. deference, even when we cannot give our approval. We are to be subject to the ordinance for the Lord"s sake. There is here the Pauline thought that it is Christ who is represented in the position of authority, and we are to be subject to those in authority for the sake of him whose representatives they are. There is thus the placing of society, not only on a religious, but on a distinctively Christian basis. "The relation of superiority and subordination which permeates the whole of human society, and excludes all abstract liberty and equality, this pervading relation of contrast, tending nevertheless to unity between authority and liberty, authority and obedience, authority and filial piety in its original source, in its inmost foundation, and in its actual essence, is not of man, cannot be deduced from the right of the stronger or the more able, nor from the common consent, but rests on God"s will and appointment, and is subject to his guidance. This implies that, in honoring his parents and obeying the laws, one obeys not only man, but also God. It implies that, whilst superiors and subordinates are mutually bound to each other, both are engaged to a higher third party, whose servants they both are, whose laws they must both obey, and to whom both must render an account. It implies, in one word, that the whole order of human society in its ultimate resort rests on the Divine will as its foundation" (Martensen).
II PARTICULAR DUTY OF SUBJECTION TO CIVIL AUTHORITIES.
"Whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as sent by him." There is here specified the ordinance of civil government. It is viewed concretely in the persons in whom it has reality. The highest authority is vested in the king; he is represented as sending governors, i.e. giving authority to magistrates under him. There is no determination here of the best form of civil government; that is left to human molding. The duty of being subject is not made dependent on the government under which we are placed being the best, nor is it made dependent on legitimacy; we have simply to do with the government in fact, and its acting head as representing to us, however imperfectly in the civil sphere, the government of Christ. Our subjection takes the form of obeying the laws, paying taxes, lending our influence on the side of authority. What we render to our civil rulers should be all the more satisfactory that we render it to them for the sake of that Lord in whose Name we regard them as acting.
III JUSTIFICATION OF THE ORDINANCE OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT.
"For vengeance on evildoers and for praise to them that do well." This language is connected with the under-magistrates, but with them as sent by the supreme magistrate. It therefore puts before us the idea of civil government. It is the employment of force, but for moral ends. It is for vengeance on evildoers; i.e. it sets itself to repress evil-doing (such as it takes notice of by proportionate punishments. It is also for praise to them that do well; i.e. it sets itself to encourage law-keeping and industrial enterprise by adequate protection to life and property. This is no human conception; it is the bodying forth (however imperfectly) of the Divine love for order, for settled institutions. "God is not the Author of confusion, but of order, and as in all the Churches of the saints," so also in the states great and small.
IV MOTIVE INFLUENCING SUBJECTION.
"For so is the will of God, that by well-doing ye should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men." It is implied that there was an impression abroad that the Christians were evildoers, or elements of disorder in the state. That impression was not founded on fact; the apostle sets it down to the ignorance of foolish men, i.e. their self-caused inability in their ignorance to understand the Christian position (rather than to malice). It was not the quiet voice of wisdom, but rather the loud voice of foolishness. The Christians were really the greatest friends of order, and it was not only their interest but their recognized duty to occupy no doubtful position toward the Roman state. It was a direction to ancient Israel in captivity in Babylon, "Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace." Paul gives directions even to give thanks for kings and for all that are in authority. So it is here declared to be not good policy, but the will of God (which should have the highest power to influence), that by well-doing, i.e. specially by the greatest exemplariness in keeping the laws, they should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.
V PRINCIPLE CONDITIONING LIBERTY.
"As free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God." We should rather read "malice" and "servants." It is against good interpretation to bring in here Christian freedom in general. We are free specially in relation to the state. We are free to obey, or not to obey, the laws of the land. We are free to aspire after better conditions for the state. But we are not to allow our freedom to degenerate into license. We are not to use it as a pretext for gratifying our private revenge. We are not to use it as a cloak underneath which we strike at established authority. How, then, are we to find the right course? It is by this consideration, that we are servants of God, and bound by his laws. And if the laws of the land require what his laws forbid, or forbid what his laws require, our duty is to refuse obedience to them. We have an example of the latter in the refusal of the apostles to cease teaching in the name of Christ. When brought before the authorities for breaking the laws, they said, "We ought to obey God rather than man." They were willing to take the consequences, but they would not cease preaching Christ. However much we are in love with order, are willing to be subject to the ordinance for the Lord"s sake, there is limitation. If a government were to seek to impose on us a form of religion of which in our conscience we did not approve, our choice would lie between suffering and exercising such power as we had. And if we as citizens had the power we believe that it would only be according to the mind of God that we should use it to overthrow the tyranny the higher consideration in this, as in many cases, overruling the lower.
VI SURROUNDINGS OF THE DUTY OF SUBJECTION.
1. All men. "Honor all men." We must understand the worst of men as included. The ground of the honor is the worth which essentially belongs to humanity by its Divine constitution. We are made in the image of God, made to think of God and to do the will of God, made for God and immortality. The form in which Kant puts it is the following: "No man can be employed, neither by others nor by himself, as a mere instrument, but is always to be regarded as an end. And as he cannot dispose of himself for any price (which would be subversive of his own self-reverence), neither is he at liberty to derogate from the equally necessary self-reverence of others as men; i.e. he is obliged practically to recognize the dignity of every other man"s humanity, and so stands under a duty based on that reverential observance which is necessarily to be demonstrated towards every other person." Besides this essential worth, there is superadded worth in the fact of the Incarnation. "The religion of Christ is a testimony to the worth of man in the sight of God, to the importance of human nature, to the infinite purposes for which we were framed. God is there set forth as sending to the succor of the human family his Beloved Son, the bright image and
2. representation of his own perfections; and sending him, not simply to roll away a burden of pain and punishment, but to create man after the Divine image, to purify the soul from every stain, to commute to it power over evil, to open before it immortality as its aim and destination. And these blessings it proffers, not to the few, not to the educated, not to the eminent, but to all human beings, to the poorest and the most fallen. Honor, then, man from the beginning to the end of his earthly course. Honor the child. Welcome into being the infant, with a feeling of its mysterious grandeur, with the feeling that an immortal existence has begun, that a spirit has been kindled which is never to be quenched. Honor the child. On this principle all good education rests. Never shall we learn to train up the child till we take it in our arms, as Jesus did, and feel distinctly that "of such is the kingdom of heaven." Honor the poor. This sentiment of respect is essential to improving the connection between the more and the less prosperous conditions of society. Till Christianity shall have breathed into us this spirit of respect for our nature, wherever it is found, we shall not know how to raise the fallen. Perhaps none of us have yet heard or can comprehend the tone of voice in which a man thoroughly impressed with this sentiment would speak to a fellow-creature" (Channing). This duty is fittingly made the basis; for when we have learned to honor all men for the worth of their nature, we shall come more readily to being subject to what God has appointed for man including civil government.
1. The brotherhood. "Love the brotherhood." We are to understand all that truly belong to the Christian circle. We are to love men beyond the brotherhood, but compassionately with a view to their being brought within the brotherhood. It is only within the brotherhood that we can get outlet for our brotherly feelings, because it is there only that there is community of life, that there are excellences on which we can rest with complacency. "In its true idea, or regarded as the union of those who partake in the spirit of Jesus Christ, I revere it as the noblest of all associations. Our common social unions are poor by its side. In the world we form ties of interest, pleasure, and ambition. We come together as creatures of time and sense for transient amusement or display. In the Church we meet as God"s children; we recognize in ourselves something higher than animal and worldly life. We come, that holy feelings may spread from heart to heart. The Church, in its true idea, is a retreat from the world. We meet in it that by union with the holy we may get strength to withstand our common intercourse with the impure. We meet to adore God, to open our souls to his Spirit, and, by recognition of the common Father, to forget all distinctions among ourselves. This spiritual union with
2. the holy is to survive all ties; the union of the virtuous friends of God is as eternal as virtue; and this union is the essence of the true Church." Let us, then, value the brotherhood as meeting the social side of our spiritual life; let our love go out towards all who have the reality of life in Christ, however much they may differ from us; let our love go out towards them even in proportion to the depth of their life; let us rejoice in the progress they are making; let us seek also the better realization of the brotherhood, including many conquests for it from the world. Stress was to be laid on this in connection with subjection to civil authorities; for if the brotherhood was dear to them as Zion of old to the captives, (Ps 137) great care was to be taken that there was no unnecessary collision with these authorities.
3. God. "Fear God." This is the feeling of reverence which we are to entertain towards God as infinitely exalted above us. We are to fear God because of the far-reaching power, wisdom, even goodness, which he has displayed in his works. Even in the contemplation of a little flower, Linnaeus said, "God eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, I saw him as he was passing by from behind, and I was amazed." We are to fear him because he gave us being, because he has bound us by natural law, because he has especially bound us as free responsible beings by moral law. We are to fear him who is the absolutely holy Lawgiver, and especially when he commands from Calvary. It is evident that this fear to God has to do with subjection to civil authorities. It will keep us from over-estimating the ruler, as though his word were simply to be obeyed, his example to be followed. We have first to inquire whether no injury is done thereby to Divine law. It will keep us, on the other hand, from under-estimating the ruler. As placed over us under God, he has (with the necessary reservation that has been pointed to) a right to our obedience.
1. The king. "Honor the king." We may esteem the king because of his personal excellence, and we may be attached to his rule because of the advantages connected with it; but we honor him because of the office which he holds. Without this feeling animating us, we cannot give subjection so as to enjoy the approval of our God. R.F.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv13, 17 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man.
1Pe_2:13-16
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man.
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The limits of subjection to civil rulers
What if the rulers themselves be wicked men, and the government itself a tyranny?
1. Let it be considered that there is probably no government, not even that of the worst slave plantation, that is not on the whole to be preferred to anarchy, or no government at all; and that, therefore, the argument from the uses of government never quite fails.
2. There is no question whatever that, when human government errs and transcends the limits prescribed by its very nature and the ends of its being, forbidding what God has commanded, or commanding what God has forbidden, our duty in every such case is to hearken unto God more than unto men. In the conflict of authorities the higher authority must rule.
3. The Christian law does not strip a man of whatever civil rights his countrys law allows him, nor does it prohibit him from defending those rights in any lawful way (Act_16:37; Act_22:25; Act_25:11).
4. These things being understood, the apostles rule may safely be taken as absolute and universal in its application. Reverencing still the dark and distorted shadow of the Divine sovereignty, they will leave it to His all-controlling providence, and to outraged humanity, to redress the wrongs of nations. (J. Lillie, D. D.)
The duty of submission to authority
I. All authority of every kind is from God, and is to be regarded as such. The Word of God goes further, and says, that there is no power but of God. Nor is this truth confined to the case of kings and their subjects; it applies to every authority whatever; all the relations in life, and our obedience, is due simply because it is the will and ordinance of God.
II. The persons who receive this their authority from God are but men. Now man in his natural state is full of corruption, pride, selfishness, unrighteousness, covetousness, maliciousness. It is therefore to be calculated upon, and God contemplated this when He gave the precept, that the persons who are in authority should abuse it in some way or another. And therefore it is nowhere written: Children, obey good parents; servants, obey kind masters; subjects, obey a good government; there is no such limitation, but quite the contrary, not only the good and gentle, but also the froward. If those in authority abuse or neglect their trust, they will assuredly have to give account to God; but our duty is to submit, while using all lawful means to be delivered from unjust treatment. (John Tucker, B. D.)
Submission to rulers
I. An authoritative command of obedience, Submit your selves.
II. The object, to which this obedience must be yielded, Every ordinance of man.
III. The division of this ordinance of man into supreme and subordinate. Submit to the King, as supreme; and to governors sent by Him, as subordinate.
IV. The duty of all governors, and the end of all governments expressed, and that is, The punishment of evil-doers, and the praise of them that do well.
V. The motive, which enforceth this exhortation and command: submit to them for the Lords sake. (Bp. E. Hopkins.)
Subjection to authority
I. No subjection is due to an unlawful and usurping power, upon Gods command, and for conscience sake.
II. Upon prudential and self preserving principles, submission may sometimes be yielded to the lawful commands of an unlawful and usurping power.
III. We ought to obey the commands of the lawful magistrate, in those things which are in themselves necessary to be done and our indispensable duty, and that, not only out of conscience to God, but also out of conscience to man.
IV. If the thing commanded be indifferently lawful, and appear so to us; that is, if it be in its own nature such as we may either do it, or not to do it without sin; then are we to be determined by the magistrates commands to do what he requires, and to abstain from what he forbids.
V. If the thing be indifferently lawful in itself, but appears doubtful unto us, and we cannot resolve ourselves whether it be lawful or evil, I think we are obliged, till we receive clearer light and information, to take that part of the doubt which the magistrate commands us, as being the safest and most satisfactory to conscience.
VI. If the thing enjoined be in itself sinful and unlawful, or at least appear so unto us, then take these two following rules-
1. We ought not, upon any pretences or inducements whatsoever, to yield active obedience to such a command.
2. Though we may not yield active obedience to the unlawful commands of our superiors, yet we are bound to yield passive obedience to them. VII. We ought, in no case whatsoever, to resist and rebel against the lawful powers which God hath set over us; yea, though they should use their power unlawfully; for whosoever resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God; and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. (Bp. E. Hopkins.)
Submission to government
1. The reasonableness of this apostolical precept is suggested by the terms used to convey it; for why rulers and governors, unless it be indeed their office to rule and govern, our duty to submit and obey?
2. But that there should be government, and that men should obey it, is the will and appointment of God.
3. A third reason assigned for obedience to government is the benefit derived from it to the community. It is instituted for the protection of good men by the punishment of evil ones.
4. A fourth reason for the precept inculcated is the honour of Christianity. (Bp. Horne.)
Bad riders to be obeyed
You will say the doctrine is unreasonable, and of tyranny there can be no end if it be unlawful to resist it. Perhaps, if we only lay aside for a moment our passions and prejudices, we shall see how much better God has provided for our happiness than we ourselves should do.
1. For, if you allow to subjects a power of taking arms and deposing their princes, who is to be judge when there is a sufficient reason for exerting such power? Men will never judge fairly and impartially in their own cause.
2. It should be considered that, although government may sometimes be bad, rebellion will generally be worse. The wrath of a king, says the Scripture, is as the roaring of a lion, he may destroy some; but the madness of the people is as the raging of a tempestuous sea when it has burst its bounds; it overwhelms all. Compare the mischief said to be done, or designed, by our unfortunate Charles I with the bloodshed, the devastations of the great rebellion, from the horrors of which the nation was at length obliged to seek protection by reestablishing the government that had been east off.
3. But respecting the principle of obedience, and the inconveniences to which it may sometimes subject us, we do not sufficiently rely upon the providence or the promises of God. The Scriptures teach us that as He setteth a righteous prince over a people that fear and serve Him, so He often sendeth an unrighteous one to punish a wicked nation. (Bp. Horne.)
Civil authorities have their authority from God
Water may be made to assume different forms, in fountains and cascades, and be made to flow in different channels or aqueducts by the hand of man; but the element itself, which flows in them, is from God. So again, marble may be hewn by mans hand into different shapes; under the sculptors chisel it may become a statue, a frieze, or sarcophagus, but the marble itself is from the quarry, it is from the creative hand of God. So it is with the civil power. The form which power may assume, and the person who may be appointed to exercise it, may be ordinances of man, but the authority itself is from God. (C. Wordsworth.)
Any kind of government better than none
There was a law amongst the Persians that when their governor was dead there should be a lawlessness for five days after, that every man should do what he list; now for those five days there was such killing and robbing, and such destroying one another, that by the time the five days were over, they were glad of government again. So that any kind of government is better than no government; but happy is that people that live under a good government, where justice flows from the Supreme as head, and is conveyed by subordinate ministers unto the people. (A. Burgess.)
That with well doing ye may put to silence.-
On silencing objections against Christianity
I. What was that cavil and objection against Christian religion which the apostle here hath respect unto, and would have silenced? From 1Pe_2:13-14 we learn that it was that old clamour, that Christian religion was an enemy to government, and the professors of it seditious persons. This was indeed the very masterpiece of Satans policy; by this he wrought the condemnation of the blessed Jesus, and even constrained Pilate to give sentence against Him (Joh_19:12-13). And by the same artifice he hoped also to destroy His religion, and to root the profession of it out of the world.
II. By what means the apostle would have this done. There is not a more excellent way to take off all scandals against religion than the exemplary lives of those that profess it. But the notion of well-doing here is that honest and regular, that ready and conscientious subjection to government, that he had pressed in the preceding verses. And it is certainly the most effectual way.
1. All men have not parts to examine what the principles of a religion are, or to understand what the natural consequences from them be; and many that can do this are idle, or cannot spare time to do it, and all these will go that near way of judging a religion to be such, as they behold the professors of it to be.
2. Actions are commonly more convictive, then principles and professions.
III. The great reason and argument upon which He presses it.
1. This is Gods will, because He knows this to be so very much for the good and happiness of the world.
2. The maintaining His own appointment and institution.
3. For the credit of His holy religion. (H. Hesketh.)
Why it is so hard to cure ignorance and silence ignorant men
1. Because it is natural to them to be hateful and hating others, and it is a hard task to overcome a natural disposition in man (Tit_3:3).
2. Because the unregenerate mind of man is full of objections, and the devil supplies them with cavils.
3. Because many withhold the truth in un righteousness; they love darkness and lies, and therefore resist the power of the truth.
4. Because they encourage one another in an evil way; they observe that the great men of the world, and many that are in reputation for wisdom, are scorners as well as they; they think they may revile securely.
5. Because many ignorant persons, when they are confuted, yet are so foolish that they will wilfully persist in their objections, though they cannot reply against the answer, yet they think if such and such were there, that have more experience and learning, they would make good what they say.
6. Because malice hath no ears; they hate the truth and godly men. If it be not as they say, yet their malice would fain have it so, and if it may disgrace the godly, they care not whether it be true or no.
7. Because many times God gives them over to such a reprobate sense, that through custom and evil surmises, they think verily they do not much amiss to oppose and hate such persons. This was the case of such as reviled and persecuted the apostles, they thought they did God good service. Uses-
(1) Therefore we should not wonder if we see this daily come to pass that men of all sorts should reproach the good way of God so unjustly, so pertinaciously.
(2) It shows that godly men had need to be circumspect, and that they which will confute ignorant men must strive to be thoroughly furnished with wisdom of words and abundance of good works.
(3) It shows that ignorant persons are in a lamentable case, that so wilfully run towards the gates of death and ruin, that are so hardly cured of this spiritual blindness.
(4) It imports that self-willed Christians that cannot be advised are to be reckoned in the rank of these fools, what show soever they make of a better estate.
(5) It does comfortably import that when one is teachable, and hates reproaching, and will do or say nothing against the truth, and uses the means to get the knowledge and love of the truth, that such a person is escaped from the congregation of these fools, and is in some measure enlightened with true wisdom from above.
(6) It may warn all that love their own souls, hereafter to take heed, to avoid wilfulness and self-conceitedness. (N. Byfield.)
The vices of Christians detrimental to the general interests of religion
I. The vices of believers afford an argument to infidelity. The vices of believers are not the consequences of religion, but of its abuse or neglect; the corruption of Christian manners cannot be at all compared with the enormous wickedness of the heathen nations; those excesses, which seem more peculiarly the offspring of Christianity, were the real production of ignorance and superstition. Unbelievers are not the only persons whom our misconduct may fatally mislead.
II. Even in professed Christians there is a cold or contemptuous neglect of public worship, and of revealed doctrines, which is often defended on the same pretence: that it does not appear that they have either of them any actual influence on the conduct of those who regard them most scrupulously. Belief in the doctrines of religion, and attendance on its solemnities, have plainly a natural tendency to awaken our sense of those duties which the Being, whom we adore, has commanded, and to quicken our pursuit of those virtues, which it is the end of revelation to promote. And though it must be acknowledged that these means, however wisely adopted, partake in the imperfection of everything relating to man, and often fail of their ends; yet is it far from being certain that they fail so frequently, or so considerably, as the objection supposes. Religious observances, it is true, cannot divest us of our natural frailty; but they certainly give us awful ideas of the moral Governor of the world, and have a peculiar tendency to encourage that serious disposition of mind which will best secure us from great or frequent excesses.
III. The vices of believers not only furnish a pretence to the infidelity of some, and the irreligion of others, but spread also a very dangerous snare in the plainer paths of moral virtue. The force of example on the minds and manners of mankind is universally acknowledged. Interest, inclination, and duty, the laws of man, the laws of nature, and the laws of God, are in vain united to resist its progress: every principle of action is perverted by the magic influence of prevailing fashion. As therefore the consequences of our conduct on the belief and manners of those around us are thus important in themselves; as they cannot be prevented by any prudence, nor averted by the sincerest repentance; they surely form a motive to goodness, which no thinking man can overlook, and no generous man will disregard. (James Fawcett, B. D.)
As free, and not using.-
Freedom and law
Freedom is one of those words which need no recommendation: it belongs to the same category as light, order, progress, law. It is one of the ideas which, in some sense or other, mankind accepts as an axiom; as a landmark or principle of healthful life which is beyond discussion. What do we mean by freedom? We mean the power of a living being to act without hindrance to the true law of its life.
I. Christ has given men political or social freedom. He has not indeed drawn out a scheme of government, and stamped it with His Divine authority as guaranteeing freedom. Yet with our Lord there came the germs of political liberty. When individual men had learnt to feel the greatness and the interest of life; the real horizon which stretches out before the souls eye beyond the grave; the depths of being within the soul; its unexhausted capacities for happiness and for suffering; the reality and nearness of God, of His Divine Son, of our fellow citizens the blessed angels; the awful, inexpressible distinction of being redeemed from death by the blood of the Most Holy, and sanctified by the Eternal Spirit; it was impossible not to feel also that each man had, in the highest sense, rights to assert and a bearing to maintain. Thus a Christian was a free man, simply because he was a Christian. It has often been alleged that, as a matter of fact, our Lord left the great despotisms of the world for a while untouched. Jesus Christ taught, He was crucified, He rose, He ascended. But the Caesar Tiberius still sat upon the throne of the Roman world. There never was a more odious system of personal government than that of the Roman Emperors; the surviving forms of the extinct republic did but make the actual tyranny which had succeeded it more hard to bear. Yet it was of such an Emperor as Nero that St. Paul wrote (Rom_13:1); and St. Peter (1Pe_2:13-14). And in the same way apostles advise Christian slaves to give obedience to their masters as unto the Lord; to obey, not with eye service, as if they had only to do as much as might be insisted on by a jealous owner, but with singleness of heart, as men who throw every energy into their work. It may be asked, How are such precepts compatible with the assertion that Christ gave us political freedom? The answer is that He gave us a moral force which did two things. First, it made every Christian independent of outward political circumstances; and, secondly, it made the creation of new civil institutions only a question of time.
II. Christ gave men also intellectual freedom. He enfranchised them by the gift of truth. He gave truth in its fulness; truth not merely relative and provisional, but absolute and final. Until He came the human intellect was enslaved. It was enslaved either to degrading superstition, or to false and one-sided philosophies. When Christ, in all the glory of His Godhead and His Manhood, had enthroned Himself in the soul, He taught men to think worthily of the greatness of God and of the greatness of man, notwithstanding mans weakness and corruption. He freed men from all the cramping influences of local philosophies, of local teachers, of petty schemes and theories for classes and races. He led men out into the great highways of thought, where, if they would, they might know the universal Father, manifested in His Blessed Son, as the Author of all existence, as its object, and as its end. Certainly our Lord has given us a body of Truth, which we can, if we like, reject, but which it is our happiness to believe. What He did for men in this way is embodied in His own teaching, in the writings of His apostles, and in the creeds of the universal Church. These are to intellectual liberty what law is to social liberty. They protect, they do not cramp it. They furnish a fixed point, from which thought may take wing.
III. Christ has made men morally free. He has broken the chains which fettered the human will, and has restored to it its buoyancy and its power. What had been lost was more than regained in Christ. Not merely was the penalty of old transgressions paid, so that man was redeemed from a real captivity: but the will was reinvigorated by a Heaven-sent force or grace, once more placing it in true harmony with the law of mans life (Rom_6:18). Here it is objected that moral freedom is not worth having if it be only a service after all. You talk of freedom, men say, but you mean rule. You mean restrictions upon action; restrictions upon inclination; restrictions upon speech. You mean obligations: obligations to work; obligations to self-discipline; obligations to sacrifice self to others; obligations to all the details of Christian duty. You are right: certainly we do. A Christian lives under a system of restrictions and obligations; and yet he is free. Those obligations and restrictions only prescribe for him what his own new heaven-sent nature would wish to be and to do. Whatever a Christian may be outwardly, he is inwardly a free man. In obeying Christs law he acts as he desires to act: he acts according to this, the highest law of his life, because he rejoices to do so. He obeys law; the Law of God. But then he has no inclination to disobey it. He is, as St. Peter says, a servant of God; but then, as he would not for all the world be anything else, his service is perfect freedom. (Canon Liddon.)
Freedom and servitude
It often happens that apparent contradictions disappear when we reach a purer and higher range of life. Many of the things which perplex us when children, and seem to our eyes to be inconsistencies on the part of our parents, now appear, when we look back on them with the clearer vision of later years, to be not only consistent, but perfectly justifiable. And may that not be the same in all the regions of life? Of course it might be said on a superficial view, that servitude and freedom were inconsistent with one another. But in the larger life I gather that it is not so. The apostle at all events speaks as though a man might be perfectly free, and at the same time be living a life of servitude.
I. The first law almost of existence is that which expresses itself in the struggle for freedom. Would you not say that the child that was born but yesterday is very much like a man that has just been drawn out of the water after drowning? All the struggle, all the painful symptoms you notice in that drowned man are the efforts of life, so to speak, to recover itself, and to take possession of those conditions under which its existence alone can continue. The child, in the same way, is not yet, as it were, adjusted to the conditions by which it is surrounded, and the earlier stages of life are the struggle to lay hold of the conditions in which it finds itself. Thus I should say the struggle of all early life is the struggle to get possession of the right of life. And this will become more apparent if we ask ourselves what we mean by freedom. Freedom is the educated capacity to live according to the capacity of our being. The least reflection will show us that this is true. Take, for example, what we know perfectly well, that our struggle as a child turns upon the conception that that is the meaning of freedom. When you take your child and say, It is now time that it began to learn those little physical exercises, whether you call them calisthenics or dancing classes. You say to yourself: The child is not yet in possession of its full power. These exercises are to give it mastery over itself with regard to its physical organisation, and we are trying to give it such a mastery that it may be able to use all its physical power according to the order, law, and condition of that physical framework. It is the same when you come to the mental region. The man who thinks freely thinks truly, and a man only thinks freely according to the law and order of thought; and when you take your lad and say, It is time you were educated, and send him to school, you do so because you know that exactly as physical training is to make him master of his own frame, so the mental training is to make him master of his own intelligence. It is the same thing in social life. The awkwardness which you see in your children is just that which arise out of the fact that they are not self-possessed. But when they go into society and are trained they become, by the education of mixing with their fellow men, possessors of themselves, and what you call ease, manner, grace, is only that the man is master of himself, that the self-consciousness which disturbs his own happiness has vanished in entering into his rightful heritage of being a self-possessed individual. Look at it from the religious point of view. It is also true that religion comes to set a man free. Religion is the great coordinating power of the moral and physical forces of life. It is that which gives us power over ourselves. It sets us free from false conceptions. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free, means, Stand fast in the possession of principles which clear your mind from false conceptions. The bulk of men are not to be charged with being slaves of the grosser or more vulgar passions, but they are very much the slaves of false conceptions of life. The competition for wealth, the desire to achieve physical ease, free from the anxieties of life-these things rise up in mens minds, and are fostered by the conditions of society, and man is the victim of a false idea of life. Christianity is sent surely to emancipate men from that, to show men what the real significance of life is, that those are little weaknesses in us which betray us into conditions and surroundings which make us less and lower than we ought to be. Therefore Christianity would not be a complete or valuable system if its only idea were that we should negative the positive sins in the world. No, we must reorganise humanity upon noble lines, make man master of himself and give him a true conception of life, that conception of life which God intends him to take.
II. The second stage is the stage of service. As truly as the earlier stage is the stage of struggle, so it is true equally that the second stage is a stage of service. It is true in our ordinary life. There is no difference, as I take it, between the religious point of view and the purely natural point of view. The man who is educated to freedom only reaches that freedom in serving. It is true in the fields of nature: you only bring a thing to maturity in making it of service the corn shall grow by slow degrees. That is the process by which it struggles into its freedom. It struggles first for bare existence and then for conditions under which it may reach its maturity; but the moment that maturity is reached the harvest is come, it has reached the condition of life in which service is absolutely imperative to it. This wheat grain means the law of service; therefore the moment its maturity is acquired it is acquired in order that it may be utilised. This is true with regard to human life. How we dreamed of what we would do when we were twenty-one! And yet, now that the twenty-one years are passed, the mans only freedom is service. He is not content to be a free man. Set him free and he is miserable. It comes in the gentle dawn of new emotions, which lead him to form his own little home nest. He has parted with freedom to dream of domestic life, a life in which he has pledged himself to service in the great citizenship of the world. Perhaps you are going to make your son a surgeon; you send him to his long training, in which his eye is skilled to perceive the symptom and meaning of every disease, to keep his nerve steady. The very moment the seven years of training are past, what is it that is springing up in his soul? The consciousness of power. But what does that lead him to? The necessity of service. Trained, we must use our powers. Make a man free in his whole nature, and you will make him thirst to lay down those powers for the service of his fellow men. Christ was free, but look at that life of our Lord: precisely because it was free, the whole of it was consecrated to service-so much so that to Him the only idea of human existence was this, that the powers of it should be used in the service of men. I am among you as one that doth serve.
III. The connection between these two principles is the important thing. It is not simply that we are to live a life of service, nor that we are to seek to be free men. It is because we do not see that there is an indissoluble connection between the two that we sometimes blunder in many of the matters submitted to us. It is the free man who can yield the true service. That is what we want to get hold of. It is not that we want to make men serve one another by compulsion. That would be of no value at all. You do not want the enforced service of your wife or child. What you ask is free service. You speak of a mans freedom because all his actions are free; he is a free man in the use of his powers. You speak also of the charm and the graciousness wherewith a thing is done. The meaning of it is that it is the homage of a free man. There is a difference between the attitude of the slave and the splendid homage of a free man. Make men conscious of their freedom, let them feel that what they do is the free homage of the free men, and you will have from them what is worth more than all the tyranny of law. (Bp. Boyd Carpenter.)
False notions of liberty in religion and government destructive of both
I. State the true notion of Christian liberty.
1. A. freedom from the power and dominion of sin and the devil, and the curse of the moral law.
2. A freedom from the ritual ceremonies of the Mosaic law and the spirit of bondage to fear, abrogated by our Saviour.
3. A free use of all things that are in their nature indifferent; that is, things concerning which the law has made no determination; leaving us at our own choice, either to act or not to act.
II. Instance some of the abuses of this liberty, wherein it may be so perverted as to be made a cloak of maliciousness.
1. As to principles. It would be endless to recount all the blasphemies, heresies, and errors maintained under this specious pretence.
2. Secondly, to their practice. Which we shall find to be a true transcript of their principles. For such a freethinker, if he be consistent with himself, must be a free actor too. He is equally without guide or governor, owes as little allegiance to his prince, as faith to his God; he is a rebel against both; sets up his own will as the supreme measure of his actions, for which he is answerable to nobody but himself.
III. Prove the absurdity, as well as wickedness, of such abuses of our liberty. Upon what bottom would these lawless men found their liberty? By what authority do they these things? Or who gave them this authority? Whence was it? From heaven or of men? They own the authority of neither. But they still insist, it is their natural right, as free-born men; whereby none is subject any further than compact and content obliges him. What do they mean by this so much talked of natural right? Is it essentially, and independently inherent in themselves, or communicated by another? If they say the former, can anything belonging to a dependent being be itself independent? If the latter, who is that other who so communicated this right? Who can communicate a natural right, but the author of nature? To speak strictly, no being has any natural right but God; who by virtue of creation has a natural essential right to the obedience of His creatures. But those creatures themselves have naturally no right to anything, unless it can be proved that they had a natural right to be created.
IV. The happy consequences of true liberty, and the misery and slavery of the mistaken notions about it. Having shown the absurdity and wickedness of this false principle in itself, as utterly inconsistent with reason and religion, gospel and law, the contrary position must be irrefragably true, and entirely agreeable to the laws of God and man; and there needs not much argument to prove that the effects must resemble the causes, and that happiness and prosperity, peace, and freedom must be the natural product of subjection to certain laws; and shame and misery, confusion and slavery, of their immunity from all. (H. Sacheverell, D. D.)
On freedom of thought
1. The great purpose for which the powers and the liberty of thought were bestowed was for the discovery of truth; for the discovery of those speculative truths which conduct us to the love of God, and of those practical truths which enable us to be the ministers of good to man. When, therefore, freedom of thought is employed as means to these its destined ends, it is a virtuous principle, and he who feels it is acting from some of the most respectable motives of his nature. He is acting, in the first place, in conformity to the laws of his constitution, and has the secret voice of conscience applauding him amid every difficulty of his progress. He is acting, in the second place, with the dignity that belongs to the character of man; and, while the world around him is swayed either by the prejudices of antiquity, or by the idler prejudices of novelty, he stands as the superior to all the prejudices which influence lower minds.
2. When freedom of thought is employed as an end in itself, it is a principle which arises from very different causes, and is productive of very different effects. There is naturally much admiration due to that strength and independence of mind which can detect error, or which can discover truth; and there is accordingly, much sincere admiration paid to it. It is in this admiration that the danger and the snare consist. Because freedom of thought has been the great instrument of the discovery of truth, it is hastily concluded that all this is due to the freedom of thought itself rather than to the effects produced. If you feel that opinions are valuable in your estimation, not because they are free but because they are true, then go on, in the sight of God and of man, to the true honours of your moral and intellectual being. It is in this discipline you can acquire for yourselves permanent fame. But if in the employment of the powers of thought you look only to your own distinction, and care not for the ends for which they were given, pause, I beseech you, before you advance farther. (A. Alison.)
Free will
Liberty, freedom! The young heart bounds at the thought. It speaks of the unloosing of chains, the free roaming of the uncaged soul the full freedom of the will. Man was born, created to be free; full freedom is his original endowment, the condition of his nobility of soul, his distinction from the irrational creatures, the image of God in which he was created. As contrasted with necessity, it is as indestructible as in Almighty God who created it. What then is the freedom which the prophets foretold, which Jesus said that He would give the glorious liberty of the sons of God? Christ freed us from the yoke of sin by the freedom of righteousness: He freed us from the dominion of concupiscence by the freedom of the Spirit and the dominion of love and grace. Tell me, says Socrates to a disciple, thinkest thou that freedom is a great and glorious possession alike to a man and a state? Most exceedingly. Whoso then is ruled by bodily pleasures and on account of them cannot do what is best, thinkest thou that he is free? Not at all. For to do what is best seemeth to them to be free; and so then, to have those who should hinder so doing to be unfree? Certainly. The incontinent seem then to you to be unfree? Assuredly. And they seem to you not only to be hindered from doing the best things, but to be constrained to do the foulest? Both alike. But what sort of masters deemest thou those to be, who hinder what is best, constrain to what is worst? The worst. And what slavery thinkest thou the worst? That to the worst masters. The incontinent then are enslaved to the worst slavery? concludes Socrates. I think so. You know how with one consent heathen philosophers said, The wise man alone is free. He alone is indeed free, says Philo, who taketh God alone for his commander. The good man alone is free; for the evil man, though he deny it, is the slave of as many lords as he has vices. Lust cometh, and saith, Thou art mine, for thou covetest the things of the body. In such or such a passion thou soldest thyself to me; I counted down the price for thee. Avarice cometh and saith, Thou art mine; the gold and the silver which thou hast is the price of thy slavery. Luxury cometh and saith, Thou art mine; amid the wine cups I purchased thee; amid the feasts I gained thee. Ambition cometh and said to thee, Thou art surely mine. Knowest thou not, that to that end I gave thee command over others, that thou thyself mightest serve me? Knowest thou not, that to that end I bestowed power on thee, that I might bring thee under mine own? All vices come, and one by one they chant, Thou art mine. He whom so many claim, how vile a slave is he! From this slavery Christ came to set us free. If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. But then are we not still under a law? and, if we are under a law, how have we that freedom which youth especially longs for? Is then lawlessness the only freedom? Men admire what is called the reign of law, throughout the boundless realms of Gods creation. So did they idolise the beauty of the conception, that they are jealous even of Almighty God Himself, and would not have Him, by any higher law of His love, suspend His usual modes of His operation, Law then is some thing beautiful. Even in human things, what in sights and sounds so thrills through us, as when many voices or minds through obedience to a law become as one? What are all these deeds of united heroism, when all lay with their back to the field and their feet to the foe, or that inscription, To Lacedaemon tell, that here, obeying her behests, we fell, but the wills of many, obeying, to the death, minds without them whose will they reverenced? And cannot Almighty God make us love a law, which is the transcript of His perfections, the law of love; a law which responds to the law of our better nature within; which brings our whole being into harmony with itself, with our fellow beings and with Him. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)
Liberty, its use and safeguards
I. Liberty.
1. Earliest references. No doubt the reference, in the first place, is to that liberty of the gospel which distinguished it from Judaism or the old Mosaic law. Then came the gospel, that more spiritual and manly dispensation, with its great rush of liberty. Law gave way to principle, pupilage to manhood, contracted interests to worldwide fellowship. But with that freedom came danger: the danger of excess, of self-assertion, of even licence.
2. But this early application and experience was no uncommon or exceptional one. It was an example and an illustration of a very common danger and a very common experience. The early Christians were tempted to excess, not because they had been Jews and had become Christians, but because they were men of like passions with the rest of mankind.
(1) There is a great freedom open to man, but a freedom which does not belong to man completely nor at once. Within certain wide limits, man has a great area of freedom. Physically, socially, providentially, man cannot do all he likes, but within a wide area he has a liberty so great that few of us in our daily life are ever brought up sharply by obstacles and reminded that we are hedged about by hindrances. It is only when we attempt the impossible or the extraordinary.
(2) Now, this liberty, great as it is, is not attainable at once; we enter upon it gradually, often slowly. There is childhood turning to manhood, the wider area of liberty becomes at the mans disposal; but this is reached only after the lapse of the years of childhood, and boyhood, and youth. Or again, look at what is called success in life, when the man becomes more and more his own master, and the resources of life become more and more his; but this, too, is gained in the vast majority of cases, after years of toil. Or, once more, take political freedom. But here, too, liberty is gained not so much at once or by leaps and bounds.
(3) Thus we have seen that a great freedom is open to man, and that this freedom is not attainable at once, but rather gradually. The question now presents itself as to the extent of that liberty. As regards the individual. He has liberty, even when he treads upon forbidden ground. It is true that sooner or later the violated law will vindicate itself. Nevertheless, he is free to violate these laws. So with regard to the rights and interests of others. Beyond a certain point, his fellow men will step in and restrain his liberty of action, and by pains and penalties contract his freedom. But up to this point the individual has a wide field for the exercise of even his selfishness. Once more, with regard to God. It is true man cannot thwart the great sweep of Gods providence. Yet, right or wrong, good or evil, wisdom or folly: these he can choose. And the great patience of God in allowing man to disregard Him is one of the great solemn facts of life. Mans liberty is great, and the wonder is not at mans lack of freedom; it is rather the other way: how fully and to what an extent he can act as if he were his own master.
3. But with this liberty comes the temptation to misuse it, to abuse it, to make it an occasion of evil rather than of good; and this individually, socially, religiously. Individually, by giving rein to the passions, turning liberty into licence. Socially, by defying the opinions and claims of others. Religiously-or rather, irreligiously-by ignoring God and His claim to our obedience, setting up self as the one great object of worship. And so liberty becomes a cloak of maliciousness and an occasion of evil.
II. The use and safeguard of liberty.
1. The conditions of the problem are two fold. There must be respect for freedom and the recognition of liberty on the one hand; and on the other, reckless and malicious use of freedom must be counteracted. These are the two sides of the problem which must be kept in view. Extreme methods violate both these. On the one hand, if mere restraint be adopted, the result must be a reduction of liberty. If, on the other hand, the absence of all restraint be allowed, the result will be the destruction of all true freedom.
2. What, then, is to be done if liberty is to be preserved, and yet not abused? Three conditions must be fulfilled:
(1) There must be respect for freedom, not the depreciation of it, if anything the enhancing of it.
(2) But that freedom needs to be guided towards noble ends to become a great spontaneous power which of itself will influence the life aright, and direct it towards what is high, and generous, and good. This is the more necessary the more freedom is granted. Side by side with freedom, if it is not to be abused, must be developed the spirit of voluntary acquiescence in what is right and a conscientious desire for what is best.
(3) The third condition is the sense of responsibility; that as each gift, power, opportunity has its corresponding responsibility, so has this freedom; that the greater the freedom, the greater will be the responsibility for its use.
3. Now, this is just what Christianity has done. At a critical period in human history, when the old order of tyranny and corruption was crumbling, and the ground was being prepared for the growth of liberty, Christianity came, implanting great principles, awakening the consciousness of wrong, and stirring up the love of what is right, and true, and good. Thus, as the old restraint of the law passed away, the new spirit of personal responsibility, that great spiritual force, came to men; and just because Christianity was this spiritual force, it could do what no other power did. It could do without the old Jewish economy, it could sap the foundations of tyranny, it could be the promoter of liberty. It is this action of Christianity which is illustrated in St. Peters words. See how naturally, instinctively, and comprehensively he deals with the question of liberty. As free-as if he said, You are free, you have been made free, you have a right to be free. The old bondage of the law is gone, gone forever, and the freedom which is yours has been brought to you by Christ. It is nothing less than a God-given possession. But every possession has its accompanying responsibility; the free man is not the same as the irresponsible man, In fact, our responsibility increases with our powers, our possessions, our gifts, our opportunities. What, then, is the great principle and power which is to direct each one in the use of this liberty? It is the great sense that while you are free, you are yet not free. You are to act as the servants of God. Liberty is recognised, but a service is presented as well; but one which is not enforced, it can be given or refused. But these two, liberty and service, are connected by a sense of responsibility: and that a responsibility which recognises the claims of God upon them. It is just that which imparts dignity, and power, and great gladness to duty, when it is thus seen in the light of the great and glorious service of God. For it is only as we use our liberty and all our powers in obedience to God that we can hope and accomplish much. While we stand, or try to stand, alone, while we reject God as the great end of our service, our powers are feeble, and our acts work little good, great evil, and weariness or dissatisfaction takes the heart out of our labour. But when we bring our liberty and all our powers into the service of God, all we have and all we are and all we do become connected with what is best, and, falling in with the great work of God, we become not only doubly free, but doubly useful and doubly strong. (A. Boyd Carpenter, M. A.)
Christian freedom
Liberty is the essence of Christianity. No one knows what it is to be quite free till he is a real Christian.
1. A converted man, by the fact, at once is free from his past. It is cast into the depths of the sea. It is gone away into a land not inhabited, to be mentioned no more! That is liberty! O how large, and how sweet. To know that the entail of the past is all cut off. Therefore the converted man is free, too, from thousands of chains which bind other men. He is free from death. To him death is only a liberator. All it can do is to unshackle his spirit from the thraldom of his body. The grave cannot hold him. Satan himself-the great captivator-is a captive.
2. He is in freedom from his present self. Sin does not rule in him any more; the world no longer fascinates, the flesh no longer drags him down. He has gone up far above those things. He walks his higher path, a path where the whole man can expand itself; a path worthy of his immortality, at large, satisfying, infinite! And beyond all this, that man in Christ has now free access to God. He can go up any moment, under any circumstances of life, and he can tell his Father. All this must go to make freedom. Who, then, is the free man, but he whom the Lord makes free? (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Christian liberty
There is not anything in the world more generally desired than liberty, nor scarce anything more generally abused. The apostles, therefore, especially St. Peter and St. Paul, the two chiefest planters of the Churches, endeavoured early to instruct believers in the true doctrine, and to direct them in the right use of their Christian liberty so often in their several epistles as fit occasion was offered thereunto. And we may further observe concerning these two apostles that St. Paul usually toucheth upon this argument of liberty as it is to be exercised in the case of scandal; but St. Peter oftener, as in the case of obedience. From which words I gather three observations, all concerning our Christian liberty, in that branch of it especially which respecteth human ordinances, and the use of the creatures and of all indifferent things. Either
1. In the existence of it, as free.
2. In the exercise of it, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness.
3. In the end of it, but as the servants of God. The first observation: We must so submit ourselves to superior authority, as that we do not thereby impeach our Christian liberty, as free. The second this: We must so maintain our liberty, as that we do not under that colour either commit any sin or omit any requisite office, either of charity or duty, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness. The third this: In the whole exercise, both of the liberty we have in Christ and of the respect we owe unto men, we must evermore remember ourselves to be, and accordingly behave ourselves as those that are Gods servants, but as the servants of God. The sum of the whole three points in brief this: We must be careful without either infringing or abusing our liberty at all times, and in all things to serve God. Now then to the several, points as they lie in the text. As free. Which words have manifest reference to the exhortation delivered three verses before the text. Submit yourselves to public governors, both supreme and subordinate, be subject to your own particular masters, honour all men with those proper respects that belong to them in their several stations; but look you, do all this, not as slaves but as free, do it without impeachment of the liberty you have in Christ. First, this liberty is purchased for us by the blood of Christ, and is therefore usually Called by the name of Christian liberty (Joh_8:36; Gal_5:1). Secondly, is revealed unto us outwardly in the preaching of the gospel of God and of Christ, which is therefore called the law of liberty (Jam_1:25; Jam_2:12). And thirdly, is conveyed unto us inwardly and effectually by the operation of the Spirit of God and of Christ, which is therefore called a free spirit (Psa_51:12; 2Co_3:17). Now this liberty, so dearly purchased, so clearly revealed, so firmly conveyed, it is our duty to maintain (Gal_5:1). A thing whereof it behoveth us to have a special care, and that for weighty respects. First, in regard of the trust reposed in us in this behalf. Every honest man taketh himself bound to discharge with faithfulness the trust reposed in him. Now these two, the Christian faith and the Christian liberty, are of all other the choicest jewels whereof the Lord Jesus Christ hath made His Church the depository. Especially since we cannot so do, secondly, without manifest wrong to Christ; nor, thirdly, without great dishonour to God. Not without wrong to Christ. St. Paul therefore disputeth it as upon a ground of right. Ye are bought with a price, be ye not the servants of men (1Co_7:22). You cannot dispose yourselves in any other service without apparent wrong to Him. Neither only do we injure Christ by making ourselves the servants of men, but we dishonour God also, which is a third reason. For to whom we make ourselves servants him we make our Lord and God. The covetous worldling therefore, by serving mammon, maketh mammon his god. Yea, and our own too, which may stand for a fourth reason. Ye see your calling, brethren, saith the apostle (1Co_1:26). He would have men take notice of their Christian calling, that so they might walk worthy of it. Now by our calling we are free men (Gal_5:13). And being so, we infinitely abase ourselves and disparage our calling, when of free men we become slaves. Leo the Emperor, therefore, by special and severe constitution, forbade all free men within the empire sale of their liberties, calling it facinus in those that were so presumptuous as to buy them, and no less than folly, yea, madness in those that were so base as to sell them; not without some indignation at the former laws for suffering such an indignity to be so long practised without either chastisement or restraint. And if he justly censured them as men of abject minds, that would for any consideration in the world willingly forego their civil and Roman liberty, what flatness of spirit possesseth us if we wilfully betray our Christian and spiritual liberty? Whereby, besides the dishonour, we do also, with our own hands, pull upon our own heads a great deal of unnecessary cumber. For whereas we might draw an easy yoke, carry a light burden, observe commandments that are not grievous in the service of God and of Christ, by putting ourselves into the service of men we thrust our necks into a hard yoke of bondage. Besides these, that do it thus by open assault, I would there were not others also that did by secret underminings go about to deprive us of that liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, even then when they most pretend the maintenance of it. We oftentimes betray away our own liberty when we might maintain it, and so become servants unto men, when we both might and ought to keep ourselves free. Which fault we shall be the better able to avoid when we shall know the true causes, whence it springeth; which are evermore one of these two, an unsound head or an unsound heart. Sometimes we esteem too highly of others, so far as either to envassal our judgments to their opinions, or to enthral our consciences to their precepts, and that is our weakness; there the fault is in the head. Sometimes we apply ourselves to the wills of others, with an eye to our own benefit or satisfaction in some other carnal or worldly respect, and that is our fleshliness; there the fault is in the heart. This latter is the worst, and therefore in the first place to be avoided. The most and worse sort, unconscionable men, do often transgress this way. There is, I confess, much reverence to be given to the writings of the godly ancient fathers, more to the canons and decrees of general and provincial councils, and not a little to the judgment of learned, sober, and godly divines of later and present times. But we may not build our faith upon them as upon a sure foundation. What is Calvin or Luther, nay, what is Paul or Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed? That is to say, instruments, but not lords of your belief. To do God and ourselves right, it is necessary we should with our utmost strength maintain the doctrine and power of that liberty wherewith Christ hath endowed His Church, without either usurping the mastery over others, or subjecting ourselves to their servitude, so as to surrender either our judgments or consciences to be wholly disposed according to the opinions or wills of men, though of never so excellent piety or parts. We must so maintain our liberty that we abuse it not, as we shall, if, under the pretence of Christian liberty, we either adventure the doing of some unlawful thing, or omit the performance of any requisite duty. As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness. The apostles intention in the whole clause will the better appear when we know what is meant by cloak and what by maliciousness. The Greek word ἐπικάλυμμα, which is nowhere else found in the whole New Testament but in this verse only, signifieth properly any covering, as the covering of badgers skins that was spread over the tabernacle is in the Septuagints translation called ἐπικάλυμμα. And it is very fitly translated a cloak, in respect of that notion wherein the word in our English tongue is commonly used, to note some fair and colourable pretence, wherewith we conceal from the knowledge of others the dishonesty and faultiness of our intentions in some things practised by us. It is a corruption very common among us; whatsoever we are within, yet we desire to make a fair show outwardly. We are loth to forbear those sins which we are ashamed to profess, and therefore we colour them and cloak them that we may both do the thing we desire and- yet miss the shame we deserve. You see what the cloak is; see now what is maliciousness. Κακία is the word, which is properly rendered by malice or maliciousness. And as these English words, and the Latin word malicia whence these are borrowed, so likewise κακία in Greek is many times used to signify one special kind of sin, which is directly opposite to brotherly love and charity, and the word is usually so taken, wheresoever it is either set in opposition to such charity or else ranked with other special sins of the same kind, such as are anger, envy, hatred, and the like. And if we should so understand it here, the sense were good; for it is a very common thing in the world to offend against brotherly charity under the colour of Christian liberty, and doubtless our apostle here intendeth the remedy of that abuse also. Yet I rather conceive that the word maliciousness in this place is to be taken in a larger comprehension for all manner of evil and of naughtiness. To use liberty for an occasion to the flesh, and to use liberty for a cloak of maliciousness is the very same thing, and it is a very great sin. For the proof whereof I shall need to use no other arguments than the words of the text will afford. First, every act of maliciousness is a sin; and, secondly, to cloak it with a fair pretence, maketh it a greater sin; but then, thirdly, to use Christian liberty for the cloak giveth a farther addition to it and maketh it a greater sin. First, it is a sin to do any act of maliciousness. Nor so only, but it is a hurtful thing, and of a noxious and malignant quality, as leaven souring the whole lump of our services to God. But if men will need be hypocrites, and must have a cloak for their maliciousness, they might yet at least bethink themselves of somewhat else of lighter price to make a cloak of, and not to use to so base a purpose so rich a stuff, as is this blessed liberty which the Son of God hath purchased with His most precious blood. As in nature, so in morality, by how much better anything is in the right use of it, by so much is it worse in the abuse. Now we see how great a sin it is thus to abuse our liberty it will be needful in the next place to inquire more particularly wherein this abuse consisteth, that so we may be the better able to avoid it. We are therefore to know that Christian liberty may be abused for a cloak of maliciousness these four ways following: First, we may make it a cloak of maliciousness if we hold ourselves by virtue thereof discharged from our obedience, either to the whole moral law of God or to any part of it. Great offenders this way are the libertines, who quite cancel the whole law of God under the pretence of Christian liberty, as if they that were in Christ were no longer tied to yield obedience to the moral law, which is a pestilent error and of very dangerous consequence. The law considered as a rule can no more be abolished or changed than can the nature of good and evil be abolished or changed. It is our singular comfort then, and the happiest fruit of our Christian liberty, that we are freed by Christ, and through faith in Him from the covenant and curse of the law; but we must know that it is our duty, notwithstanding the liberty that we have in Christ, to frame our lives and conversations according to the rule of the law. The second way whereby our liberty may be used for a cloak of maliciousness is when we stretch it in the use of things that are indeed indifferent beyond the just bounds of sobriety. It belongeth to every sober Christian advisedly to consider, not only what in itself may lawfully be done or left undone, but also what in godly wisdom and discretion is fittest for him to do, or not to do, upon all occasions, as the exigence of present circumstances shall require. He that without such due consideration will do all he may do at all times, under colour of Christian liberty, he shall undoubtedly sometime use his liberty for a cloak of maliciousness. It may be done a third way, and that is by using it uncharitably, which is the case whereon I told you St. Paul beateth so often. When we use our liberty so as to stumble the weak consciences of our brethren thereby. He that will have his own way in everything he hath a liberty unto, whosoever shall take offence at it maketh his liberty but a cloak of maliciousness by using it uncharitably. The fourth and last way, whereby we may use our liberty for a cloak of maliciousness is by using it undutifully, pretending it unto our disobedience to lawful authority. And so I pass to my last observation. The observation was this: In the whole exercise both of the liberty we have in Christ and of those respects we owe unto men, we must evermore remember ourselves to be, and accordingly behave ourselves as those that are Gods servants; in these last words, But as the servants of God, containing our condition and our carriage. For the first, We cannot imagine any consideration, that may be found in any service in the world, to render it desirable, which is not to be found, and that in a far more eminent degree, in this service of God. If justice may provoke us, or necessity enforce us, or easiness hearten us, or honour allure us, or profit draw us to any service, behold here they all concur. First, It is the most just service, whether we look at the title of right on His part or reasons of equity on ours. It is, secondly, the most necessary service. Necessary, first, because we are born to serve. We have not the liberty to choose whether we will serve or no; all the liberty we have is to choose our master. It is necessary, secondly, for our safety and security, lest, if we withdraw our service from him, we perish justly in our rebellion. It is necessary, thirdly, by our own voluntary act, when we bound ourselves by solemn vow and promise in the face of the open congregation at our baptism. It is, thirdly (which at the first hearing may seem a paradox, yet will appear upon further consideration to be a most certain truth), of all other the most easy service, in regard both of the certainty of the employment and of the help we have towards the performance of it. He that serveth many masters, or even but one, if he be a fickle man, he never knoweth the end of his work. It is some ease to know certainly what we must do; but much more to be assured of sufficient help for the doing of it. It is, fourthly, the most honourable service. He goeth for the better man that serveth the better master. It is, fifthly and lastly, the most profitable service. We are indeed unprofitable servants to Him, but sure we have a very profitable service under Him. These things among others the servant of God may certainly reckon upon as the certain benefits of his service wherein his Master will not fail him if he fail not in his service-protection, maintenance, reward. And he that will be Gods servant in truth, and not only in title, must perform all these to his heavenly Master. Reverence is the first, which ever ariseth from a deliberate apprehension of some worthiness in another more than in a mans self, and is ever accompanied with a fear to offend and a care to please the person reverenced; and so it hath three branches, whereof the first is humility. From which fear of offending a care and desire of pleasing cannot be severed. Obedience is the next general duty. Servants be obedient to your masters. We are to show our obedience to our heavenly Master yet further by submitting to His wholesome discipline when at any time He shall see cause to give us correction. The third and last general duty is fidelity. Who is a faithful and wise servant? Well done, thou good and faithful servant, as if the wisdom and goodness of a servant consisted in his faithfulness. The first whereof is heartiness in His service. There are many servants in the world that will work hard and bustle at it lustily for a fit and so long as their masters eye is upon them, but when his back is turned can be content to go on fair and softly and fellow like. Secondly, We must show our faithfulness to our Master by our zeal in His behalf. A faithful servant will not endure an evil word spoken of his master behind his back, but he will be ready upon every occasion to vindicate his credit and to magnify him unto the opinion of others. He will make much of those that love his master, and set the less by those that care not for him. And as to his credit principally, so he hath an eye also, in the second place, to the profit of his master. Thirdly, If we be His faithful servants, we should let it appear by our diligence in doing His business. No man would willingly entertain an idle servant. We see now what we are to do if we will approve ourselves and our services unto the Lord our heavenly Master. (Bp. Sanderson.)
A cloak of maliciousness.-
Maliciousness
The word translated maliciousness is a large word. Sometimes it means cowardice; sometimes baseness, It is elsewhere rendered evil, and (Jam_1:21) naughtiness-which perhaps best conveys the whole sense. As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of anything that is wrong. For instance, there are those who, having found forgiveness, are now walking very carelessly, and do not hold sin in sufficient abhorrence. Still more, there are those who, because they have escaped from one sin, allow themselves in another. As when a man only changes worldly pride for spiritual pride, or gives up carnal indulgence for some religious selfishness, or, worse still, when a man deliberately commits a sin, with a thought: God will forgive it, as He has forgiven other of my sins. When I have done it I shall pray, and I shall repent, and hear no more about it. Or, more dreadful yet, I am elect. It does not matter what I do. God does not see sin in His saints. Awful delusion! Or-if evil do not go to such a length as that-it may be your religious freedom has made you very severe in your judgment of others. You are free, but you are not sympathising with those who are doing the very thing which once bound you. You have still almost a malicious pleasure in hearing or speaking of somebodys faults! A free one should be always so humble in the recollection of his past bondage that he should be tender and gentle to the sin which he once did! But say you have liberty, how are you using it? All your powers, privileges, hopes; are you consecrating them to do all the good you can to the Lords free men? That serenity of mind that you have now learnt, that ease of heart, that sense of safety, that peace that God has given you, are they held as talents to use for others? All your former experience of the wickedness of the world, is it now being turned to good account? or are you content with your own exemptions, sitting, as indifferent to what may befall your fellow creatures? And is not all that using liberty as a cloak of maliciousness? Surely every free one should be a liberator! (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
As the servants of God.-
Gods servants
The good old word servant is going out of fashion. In a mission held lately, some services for domestic servants were advertised, and it was discovered that the notice gave offence. The servants were ashamed of their name. There is nothing to be ashamed of in the fact of being a servant, but there is a great deal to be ashamed of in the fact of being a bad servant. Liberty does not mean licence. We are not free to do wrong. Let us look at ourselves, then, as free, but as the servants of God, and learn some of the marks of a good servant.
I. A good servant should be humble. There is a great want of humility amongst us. We live in an age of advancement. Education is making gigantic strides, all classes are being put on the same political level, and all this has a tendency to make people less humble.
II. A good servant should be industrious. Dr. Livingstone took as his motto, Fear God, and work hard. It is a good motto for every Christian now. We are to be workers together with God. He is always working in us, and for us, and we must do our part. You know the Prince of Wales has for his motto-Ich Dien-I serve.
III. A good servant loves his master. The best work is always done where the heart goes along with the hands. We shall not find any work too hard, or any self-sacrifice too great, if we love our Master.
IV. A good servant will be good to his fellow servants. Jesus came to clasp all hands together, and make the whole world kin. We who are working Gods work should lend a helping hand to others. In Gods great house of this world we have our different stations and labours. Let the strong help the weak; let those who have learnt most of the service of God our Master teach the beginners. (H. J. Wilmot Buxton, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv13–17 13–17. Submit yourselves. Obey human laws. For the Lord's…
13–17. Submit yourselves. Obey human laws. For the Lord's sake. Because it is the Lord's will. Whether the king. The Roman emperor whom the Greeks styled king.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v13 1Pe_2:13. Submit yourselves.—This belongs to the care Christians should…
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
1Pe_2:13. Submit yourselves.—This belongs to the care Christians should take not to be in any sense an occasion of offence in Society (Rom_13:1-7). Ordinance of man.—Every human institution. A spiritual life can find expression in every form of governmental and social life. For the lord’s sake.—Lest reproach should come on Him, through reproach coming on you. King.—Here an abstract word for the person in chief authority. Then an emperor.
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1Pe_2:14.—Even an imperfect government aims to secure the general good. It is noticed that neither St. Peter nor St. Paul lay down any exceptions to the rule of complete obedience; and yet proper exceptions there must be.
1Pe_2:15. With well-doing.—Not with disputations, but with the irresistible persuasion of a holy life. Ignorance.—For the calumnies of Christians were spread by those who hated them without knowing anything correctly about them. The word implies a stolid and wilful ignorance.
1Pe_2:16. As free.—In regard to the ordering of personal life relations. Bound to meet all public obligations; free to shape their own life and conduct. Worldly maxims, social customs, common habits and opinions, have no binding force on Christians. In all this sphere the Christian is a “law unto himself.” Cloke of maliciousness.—“If under the pretence that they were asserting their Christian freedom they were rude, overbearing, insolent, regardless of the conventional courtesies of life,” this made the liberty a cloke of baseness.
1Pe_2:17. Honour.—By showing each one the respect that is due to him. Love.—With more than the love of complacency; with the love of family. Fear.—The feeling which recognises a supreme claim.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—1Pe_2:13-17
Fitting the New Life into Old Relations.—When a man is born of God, and made conscious of a new life, with new interests, new motives, new desires, and new sympathies, he is often troubled by the difficulty of fitting his new self to the old associations. Those old associations he must keep. He cannot change his family circumstances, or his business, or his obligations, or his social conditions. He must find out how to fit his new life into them, so that it may ennoble them, and they may in no way hinder or injure it. The difficulty is seen very clearly in the case of Christians who had been heathen, and must still keep in heathen surroundings. Those heathen round them were keenly on the watch for grounds of accusation against them; quick to discern any inconsistencies. The Christians were bound to be careful not to give offence, and bring the Christian name into disrepute. In this paragraph one form of practical difficulty with which the Christians had to deal is indicated. Their new life could not fail to bring to them a sense of dignity; it might easily take a bad form, and become an assumption of superiority, which would spoil their every-day relations with men, and make them unwilling to submit to existing rule and authority. Their new life would give them a sense of freedom from all restraints, which might readily pass into resistance to, and rebellion against, the constituted authorities. Apostolic advice was specially needed under such circumstances, and St. Peter is fully in harmony with St. Paul in the advice that he gives. The particular case before St. Peter’s mind is that of Christian Jews driven from their own country and lifelong associations by persecution, and finding shelter for a time in foreign lands, where there were different systems of government, different customs, and people of different temperaments. There could not fail to be very much that grieved them, very much that tried them, and very much that provoked them. The serious question for them to answer was: How can the new life in Christ fit to these strange surroundings? How does it inspire us to think and to act? The kind of feeling which the presence of Christians in a community then excited is illustrated by the exclamation of the rabble that dragged Jason and certain of the brethren before the rulers of Thessalonica, “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also” (Act_17:6). There evidently was a widespread suspicion that, wherever they went, Christians became elements of disorder.
I. Christians should loyally accept the governmental system of the country in which they dwell.—It may be monarchical, republican, colonial, or otherwise. There are different systems of government, and there must always be differences of opinion as to which is absolutely the best, and which is relatively the best for a particular nation, at a particular time in its history. A Christian has a perfect right to his own opinion, and is free to find wise occasions on which to express it; but so far as his practical conduct and daily life are concerned, he should loyally accept existing conditions, and take care to be no disturber of the peace. A question of casuistry arises here. Is it ever lawful for a Christian to resist the law? Assuming Hampden to have been a spiritual Christian, was he justified in refusing to pay the “ship-money”? The answer may be that no rule is without exceptions; and that cases may occur in which principle is involved, and loyalty to the absolute right, which is loyalty to God, demands resistance, even at the cost of being misunderstood, and of suffering. Still, the general rule is that Christians should make peaceable citizens, and in so doing they help to secure that general protection from evil-doers, and security for honest trade, which are the primary duties of social government, whatever form it may take.
II. Christians always have a power at command for the silencing of those who slander them.—“The ignorance of foolish men” means baseless, senseless slanders. Men in positions of authority are always subject to the malign influence of the slanderer. Christians in a heathen city could not fail to attract attention by their very difference from others. Slanders start with next to nothing, and grow until shamefully wicked things can be said, all utterly baseless, but too easily believed, because men find such strange pleasure in hearing of the failure of the good. Very seldom, indeed, can a slander be followed through, fought, and conquered. But the Christian can always live it down. He can be calm, he can be silent, he can keep on his life of purity and charity, and that will tell in the long run. Slanders have no staying power; well-doing has. The good man, if he will be persistent, is sure of victory, for God is on the side of the good.
III. Christians are free to sustain all gracious relations.—An old divine, dealing with the saying that “a Christian is a man who may do what he likes,” replied, “That is quite true, only a Christian is a man with a new set of likes.” The Christian is free unto righteousness; free to do everything right, and kind, and worthy. But the Christian is not free to do wrong. He is under the strictest obligations not to do anything unworthy of the name he bears. What sort of things a Christian is free to do is indicated in 1Pe_2:17.
1. Treat every man respectfully and considerately, as he would wish them to treat him. To a Christian man, every man, no matter how poor or ignorant he may be, is to be honoured for the image of God in him.
2. Keep up all that is becoming to the family relation within the Church of God.
3. Let the cherished, reverent sense of God put serious and careful tone on all the conduct and association of life.
4. Set good example of good manners in the social and national life. Good manners recognise what is due to persons placed in positions of trust and responsibility.
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
1Pe_2:16. Our Freedom in Christ.—There is not another word in human language with power to thrill human hearts like this word “liberty.” The victim of revolution exclaimed, “Oh, liberty! what crimes are committed in thy name!” And we may say, “Oh, liberty! what deeds of philanthrophy and heroism have been wrought under thy inspiration!” There must be some sentiment, common to humanity, to which this word makes its appeal. It must be this: throughout humanity there is an inward consciousness of bondage under sin. Every offer of outward liberty—liberty of circumstance—is caught up by men, in the hope, more or less distinctly cherished, that its final issue will be liberty of soul. The religion of the Lord Jesus Christ has its chief end “to set at liberty them that are bruised.” It proclaims “liberty to the captives.”
I. Freedom in Christ is freedom of the soul.—Men want
(1) freedom of circumstances;
(2) freedom of thought; or
(3) freedom to do wrong—the wrong that they wish to do. But freedom in Christ is no freedom such as these. It is the freedom of the soul. The sinner is the real slave. The drunkard, the worldling, the sensual, the passionate, the dishonest, the selfish, the proud, the unforgiving, the uncharitable, the unbelieving, are slaves. Christ comes, past all the fetters of human circumstance, right into the soul of man. He comes to strike off rings and chains from the wrists and anklets of the soul. This is the priceless boon. The only freedom worth having is liberty to do always the things that please God. And in that sense God has made us free in Christ Jesus. We are free to grow up into the likeness of God’s dear Son; our souls are free in righteousness. The Son has made us free, and we are free indeed.
II. Freedom in Christ is freedom by the truth.—Falsehood binds to a practical life of sin. The root of all evil is a lie. Truth works out into goodness and righteousness; untruth always works out into unrighteousness and misery. Nothing can stand but the truth. Nobody can endure who is not true. Every opinion has some practical issue; it works toward something. If it be false and unworthy, it will surely tie the soul down to a life of indulgence and wrong-doing. If it be true and noble, it as surely leaves the soul free to fulfil, in the earthly spheres, the righteousness for which it was made. The truth ever makes free. Every lesser phase of truth, whether it be political, or social, or scientific, or moral, is a liberation of men. But it is that truth brought to light by Christ, taught by Him, and embodied in His life, which is the great liberator. It frees hand, and conscience, and heart, to know that God is the heavenly Father, and the Saviour of men by sacrifice. It frees us for seeking after righteousness to apprehend the truth, that this world is not the real world, and that a time is coming when the whole humanity shall be glorified.
III. Freedom in Christ is freedom in the Spirit.—“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty. That Holy Spirit works within us, in the secrets of our spiritual natures. He moulds, and restrains, and impels, and purifies, and quickens our inclination, and passion, and affection, and imagination, and intellect, and habit, plucking all the self-bondages, all the society bondages, all the sin-bondages, away. He who is quite perfectly in the sway of God the Holy Ghost—if there be such an one among us—is free from all the enticements and allurements of evil—free to follow God fully. Distinguish between liberty and independence; between freedom and licence: and then we may readily recognise those reasonable abridgments and restraints under which Christian freedom is set. The Christian man will not only find necessary limitations of his freedom, he will also voluntarily abridge his liberty, and put himself under restraints. Cultured and sensitive conscience, in respect of right and wrong, is sure to set limitations. But Christian interest in others, positions of influence on others, and, above all, the sacrificings of Christian love and charity, lead us constantly to refuse to do what, in a strict sense, we have full liberty to do. We must take heed “lest our liberty become a stumbling-block to them that are weak.”
Liberty.—A brief sketch of history suffices for indicating the power which the cry for “liberty” has universally exerted. The hope of liberty called out of Egypt a tribe of slaves, and in seeking freedom they became one of the foremost nations of the earth. Liberty rallied the down-trodden sons of Israel round the banners of a delivering Barak, or Gideon, or Jephthah. Liberty fired the nation with a magnificent heroism, and led to the casting off of a foreign yoke, in the days of Judas Maccabeus. The freedom of the holy sepulchre from the hands of the infidel flung the noblest of Europe’s sons, in splendid and enthusiastic self-sacrifice, on the shores of Asia, in the time of the Crusades. Freedom from a hated tyrant’s power made a handful of Swiss mountaineers mightier than an empire of soldiers, in the legendary days of William Tell. Freedom to worship God sent the Pilgrim Fathers over the then almost trackless Atlantic, seeking new lands and homes. “Liberty, equality, fraternity”—grand words—have served for a sign that should arouse nations into hideous passions of revolution. Freedom for a million English slaves woke the response of the noblest English hearts in our fathers’ time. And still, if men would move the hearts of their fellows, they raise some cry of civil or religious liberty. False or true, worthy or unworthy, a host will surely follow him who offers a boon that is esteemed so priceless.
1Pe_2:17. Honour.—To “honour,” as the word signifies, is to estimate the value of anything, and to proportion our regards to the ascertained value. Apply this rule to man. Estimate his value by his Creator’s love, and by his Redeemer’s sufferings; by his own capacity of religion, of morals, of intellectual advancements, of pleasure, of pain, by his relation to a life and to a death to come; and you will then feel that to honour a man is to respect him under these views and relations; to be anxious for his welfare; to contemplate him, not only with benevolence, but even with awe and fear, lest a prize so glorious should be lost, lest a being so capable should be wretched for ever.—Richard Watson.
1Pe_2:1. Honour all Men.—The royal law of Christ rests not on the crumbling basis of varying ordinances, nor on the tottering foundation of disputable traditions, but on the foundation of broad, eternal truths, on the foundation of Christ Himself. For we cannot understand either why or how we should honour all men unless we know what this meaneth: “The Word became flesh.”
I. “Honour all men.”—There is a strange universality about the precept. All but the brutish understand the duty of giving honour where honour is due; all but the vile honour those whose lives are beautiful with the beauty of holiness, and noble with the nobleness of God. But are we to honour the mean, the base, the despicable, the depraved? Yes, we honour the majesty of their nature even in its fall. We honour the man in the men. As Michael Angelo sees in the rough block of marble the winged angel, struggling to be free; as Flaxman walking in the slums, sees the beauties and possibilities of the “human face divine” even under the dirt and squalor of the gutter-child;—even so with pity and reverence the true Christian sees, even in the lowest, the marred work of Him who breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life.
II. As life goes on, it is more and more our temptation to honour no man.—All our faith in human nature sometimes seems to be shaken to its foundations. Nor can we be surprised, our human nature being what it is, if even good and great men have succumbed at times to the fatal temptation of despairing of humanity. “Most men are bad;” there is the summary of the Greek philosopher, who deliberately left it as the maxim of his wisdom.
III. Though there is so much weight of authority and evidence to support this despairing view, it would be fatal to us; fatal to the hope by which we are saved, and which is as a vernal breeze amid poisonous fogs; fatal to the glad enthusiasm which leaps up like a fountain amid the briny waves and corrupted currents of the world. In spite of all the facts and evidence, we would say, with a living writer: “I trust in the nobleness of human nature, in the majesty of its faculties, in the fulness of its mercy, in the joy of its love.” Has it never struck you how marvellous is the fact that words so noble, so far-reaching as these—“Honour all men”—should be uttered by a poor Jew, a Galilean fisherman? Had this rule been followed, what a different world we should have seen in the past! Every great crime of governments and of nations has been a crime against the inherent rights of the human race—slavery, despotism, priestcraft, etc. “Honour all men”—their inherent dignity, the infinite possibilities of their nature, their freedom of conscience, the awful price of their redemption, their immediate accountability to God. While this honour leads us to deep reverence for all human goodness, let it inspire us also with such hope and compassion as shall feel none to be too low, too fallen, for our pity or our help. Let us see humanity in Christ, and it will be indeed transfigured with heavenly lustre.—Archdeacon Farrar.
The Sum of Our Duty.—These words have very briefly, and yet not obscured by briefness, but withal very plainly, the sum of our duty towards God and men; to men, both in general—honour all men; and in special relations, in their Christian or religious relations—love the brotherhood; and in a chief civil relation—honour the king. And our whole duty to God, comprised under the name of His fear, is set in the middle betwixt these, as the common spring of all duty to men, and of all due observance of it, and the sovereign rule by which it is to be regulated.—Leighton.
The Image of God in Man.—The fact that there are in every man traces of the image of God, after which he has been created, and infinitely undeveloped capacities which might issue in the restoration of that image to its original brightness, was in itself a reason for treating all, even the vilest and most degraded, with some measure of respect.—Dean Plumptre.
Honour Due to All Men.—Among the inestimable blessings of Christianity, not the least is the new sentiment with which it teaches man to look upon his fellow-beings—the new relation which it establishes between man and man. There is nothing of which men know so little as themselves. They understand incomparably more of the surrounding creation of matter, or of its laws, than of that spiritual principle to which matter was made to be the minister, and without which the outward universe would be worthless. Men have as yet no just respect for themselves, and of consequence no just respect for others. Nothing can make man a true lover of man but the discovery of something interesting and great in human nature. We must see and feel that a human being is something important, and of immeasurable importance. To show the grounds on which the obligation to honour all men rests, I might take a minute survey of that human nature which is common to all, and set forth its claims to reverence. But there is one principle of the soul which makes all men essentially equal, which places all on a level as to means of happiness. It is the sense of duty, the power of discerning and doing right, the moral and religious principle, the inward monitor which speaks in the name of God. This is the great gift of God. We can conceive no greater. It is this moral power which makes all essentially equal, which annihilates all the distinctions of this world. The idea of Right is the primary and the highest revelation of God to the human mind, and all outward revelations are founded on, and addressed to it. We little understand the solemnity of the moral principle in every human mind. We think not how awful are its functions. We forget that it is the germ of immortality. There is a foundation in the human soul for the honour enjoined in the text towards all men. By Christianity this duty is enforced by new and more solemn considerations. This whole religion is a testimony to the worth of man in the sight of God, to the importance of human nature, to the infinite purposes for which we were framed. True, Christianity speaks of man as a sinner—it deals with human sin; but it does not speak of this as indissolubly bound up with the soul, as entering into the essence of human nature, but as a temporary stain, which it calls on us to wash away. It gives none of those dark views of our race which would make us shrink from it as from a nest of venomous reptiles. The very strength of his temptations is one of the indications of his greatness. The sentiment of honour or respect for human beings is essential to the Christian character. A more faithful culture of it would do much to carry forward the Church and the world. I attach to this sentiment such importance that I measure by its progress the progress of Society. The various forms in which this principle is to be exercised or manifested, may be enlarged on. Honour man from the beginning to the end of his earthly course. Honour the child: on this principle all good education rests. Honour the poor; this sentiment of respect is essential to improving the connexion between the more and less prosperous conditions of Society. Perhaps none of us have yet heard or can comprehend the tone of voice in which a man, thoroughly impressed with this sentiment, would speak to a fellow-creature. It is a language hardly known on earth. The great revelation which man now needs is a revelation of man to himself. The faith which is most wanted is a faith in what we and our fellow-beings may become; a faith in the Divine germ or principle in every soul. Happy are they who have begun to penetrate that mystery of our spiritual nature, and in whom it has awakened feelings of awe towards themselves, and of deep interest and honour towards their fellow-creatures.—W. E. Channing, D.D.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
1Pe_2:14. Living Stones.—Figuratively, like plants, connected with and nourished by their roots. Stones still in the quarry are said to be living. The epithet means the firmness of that thing signified by the name of a stone, for nothing is firmer than stones growing in a quarry, as cleaving fast to a rock by the root.—Burder.
Seeming Life of Radiant Stones.—Of course a living stone means a human being. The figure takes its origin from the seeming life of radiant stones, whose gleams and flashes have the seeming, at times, of will and life. A man is said in the Bible to be more precious than the gold of Ophir; and of a woman it is said, “Her price is far above rubies.” These were common comparisons. There is something in the glow of precious stones that peculiarly fits them to serve for such spiritual figures. There is about them a subtle light—a brilliancy—that burns without fire; that consumes nothing, and requires no supply; that for ever shines without oil; that is ever-living, unwasting, unchanged by any of the natural elements. A diamond that glows in the sunlight flashes yet more beautifully in the night. No mould can get root upon it; no rust can tarnish it; no decay can waste it. The jewels that were buried two thousand years ago, if now dug up from royal and priestly tombs, would come forth as fair and fresh as they were when the proud wearer first carried them in his diadem—fit emblems by which to represent spiritual qualities, and the beauty and imperishableness of Christian virtue. And a company of holy men, resting upon the Lord Jesus Christ, may well be compared to a palace built upon broad foundations, and sparkling to the very summit with living stones which throw back to the sun a differing flash through every hour of his rise or fall through the long day.—H. W. Beecher.
Stones Left Unused.—Travellers sometimes find in lonely quarries, long abandoned, or once worked by a vanished race, great blocks, squared and dressed, that seem to have been meant for palace or shrine. But there they lie, neglected and forgotten, and the building for which they were hewn has been reared without them. Beware, lest God’s grand temple should be built without you, and you be left to desolation and decay.—A. Maclaren, D.D.
1Pe_2:13-17. Political Morality.—The teaching of the New Testament, as exhibited in this passage, imparts a new vitality to political economy. It forms a marvellous contrast to the ordinary teaching of Judaism—that civil obedience was not due to heathen governors except on compulsion. The Christian’s devotion to Jesus Christ is to be enthusiastic. All ordinary duties are His, and this consideration is to breathe a new spirit into the discharge of them. It makes the Christian, as circumstances require it, either the faithful public servant or the hero. It may be objected that the state is put forward rather in a negative than in a positive aspect. I ask, How, under existing circumstances, could it possibly have been otherwise? It was at this period so corrupt that to have taught a devotion to it would have been inconsistent with pure public morality. One cannot conceive of a holy man being fired with an ardent patriotism for such a condition of political society as that involved in the Roman empire during the first century of our era. Enthusiastic loyalty to the Roman emperors of that period was impossible. If, on the other hand, the writers of the New Testament had given a formal precept to Christians, enforcing on them the duty of becoming political reformers, this would have at once aroused the mighty power of the empire to crush the Christian Church. As there was nothing in the existing state of society to kindle a spark of enthusiasm in the discharge of duty, the New Testament asks the Christian to discharge his duties to the Lord Christ.—Row.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v13 13-15. Though Paul and Peter both lived and died…
ARGUMENT 11
LOYALTY TO HUMAN AUTHORITY FOR THE LORD’S SAKE
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13-15. Though Paul and Peter both lived and died under the reign of Nero, the merciless Roman tyrant, they both enjoin submissive loyalty to human authority, both suffering martyrdom under the cruel edict of the brutal autocrat, for the Lord’s sake, while they and the one hundred millions whom the emperors slaughtered during the ensuing three hundred years might all have saved their lives by compromising their religion; hence the legitimate sequence from all these Scriptures relative to Christian loyalty to human authority, is the simple fact that we are to be loyal and obedient when compatible with duty and responsibility to God, otherwise non- resistingly to obey God rather than man, suffering persecution even to bloody martyrdom.
16. “As free and not having liberty as a cover of evil, but as the slaves of God.” We see from this verse that the perfect love slavery of entire sanctification is beautifully harmonious and co-existent with the very highest spiritual liberty. Really, they are synonymous, as perfect submission to God makes us participants of God’s own liberty, which is perfect freedom to do everything good and nothing bad. The Greek in this passage is douloi, “slaves,” and not oiketees, which always means a hired servant. Sinners are the devil’s slaves, unsanctified Christians, hired servants in the kingdom, e.g., salaried preachers, while sanctified people are God’s love slaves, serving him with all the power of soul, mind and body, for no remuneration this side of heaven but pure love alone, at the same time enjoying perfect spiritual liberty, utter freedom from every care.
17... “Love the brotherhood with divine love.” This is not human love which is full of carnality, selfishness and lust, but the holy agapee, poured out into the heart by the Holy Ghost. Rom 5:5.
18. The world was full of human slavery in the Apostolic age. While the Christian religion enjoins submission on the part of slaves, thus conserving peace and harmony, it enjoins upon both master and servant the divine agapee, whose normal effect is to revolutionize human society and forever abolish slavery.
19. “For this is grace, if for the sake of the conscience of God, any one endure sorrows suffering unjustly.” Human conscience, though the highest moral tribunal, and pertinent to be followed under all circumstances simply as the best alternative, nevertheless is not a correct guide unless transformed by the Holy Ghost, rendering it the “conscience of God,” and no longer that of fallen humanity.
20. While punishment corrective of evil conduct is a blessing, when it is received innocently for Christ’s sake alone, it is a transcendent means of grace. No wonder the crown of martyrdom during the persecutionary ages became a universal desideratum among the saints of God.
21. We have flippant singing about walking in the footprints of Jesus. Certainly this is the only way to heaven. We must walk in His footprints up rugged Calvary and be nailed to the cruel cross till the body of sin is crucified, if we would ever ascend with Him to glory, meanwhile we must be a candidate for all the popular contempt, denunciation and persecution which He endured.
22, 23. Nothing but entire sanctification, utterly eliminating the retaliatory spirit, can possibly qualify us to verify the character of our great and only Exemplar, who endured every conceivable insult, even spitting in His face. If we are going to heaven we must have the grace requisite to enable us to walk in His footprints, doing as He did.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v13 Obedience to the constituted authorities:
Obedience to the constituted authorities:
v. 13. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether it be to the king, as supreme,
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v. 14. or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well.
v. 15. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men;
v. 16. as free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
v. 17. Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
Here the apostle mentions some specific instances in which his instructions concerning the behavior of the Christians over against the heathen should find their application: Submit yourselves to every human authority for the Lord’s sake, whether it be to the emperor, as supreme, or to the governors as deputed by him for the punishing of evil-doers, but for the praise of those that do well. This admonition, the necessity of which must be admitted in our days without question, was badly needed also in the days of the early Church. Not only was the doctrine of spiritual liberty liable to be misinterpreted by superficial Christians, but some of them might be under the impression that the government, being heathen, was none of their concern, and that they owed no allegiance to the emperor. Therefore the apostle plainly states that believers are to submit themselves, are to be subject and obedient to every human authority and institution. Whether men have chosen the democratic or the monarchical form of government makes no difference to the Lord, for by His authority all governments exist, Rom 13:1-2. It makes no difference either, as the apostle indicates, whether all authority is vested in a single man, as in an emperor, or whether this emperor, as the supreme, the preeminent head of the nation, commissions or deputes governors to administer justice in any section of the empire, the authority of the government should be recognized and its existence by divine order acknowledged. That is one of the functions of the government, that it punish such as are wicked, as refuse to keep the peace, as are disobedient to the laws of the country. The people that do well, on the other hand, those that live in conformity with the laws of the land, the government should acknowledge with proper praise, that is, by protecting them and their property against every form of wickedness. Note: It is self-evident that Christians cannot be obedient to the government if the latter tries to extend its authority to spiritual matters, Act 4:19.
The motive for the willing obedience of the Christians is given by the apostle: For so is the will of God, namely, that in well-doing you silence the error of foolish men, as free, and not having your freedom as a cloak of your malice, but as God’s servants. The statement just made by the apostle is not his own personal opinion, which the Christians may or may not accept, as they choose, but it is the will of God. The Christians in this way, by cheerful obedience to the constituted authorities, will do more to silence the wrong ideas, the errors which foolish men hold with regard to their status in the state, than by books written in explanation of their tenets. Mark: Also in our days, when the unbelievers are jeering at the otherworldliness of the true Christian religion and boldly declare that Christianity has proved a failure in coping with the special problems of our days, our most effective argument is to do our duty in good works, as citizens and as neighbors, meanwhile changing neither our religion nor the means of grace given to us by God. Christians should remember that they are free, that they are partakers of the wonderful freedom which the Son of God earned for them by His suffering and death. As free children of God we Christians will therefore show that willing submission to which the apostle admonishes. But no true believer will plead freedom from the Law as his excuse for not obeying the government, for not fulfilling the holy will of God in every possible way. He will not, under the pretense of standing fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, become guilty of sins and of various forms of wickedness. That would be a disgraceful abuse of the freedom to which Christ has called us, Gal 5:13. We are in the service of God; this is our highest boast, that we are not serving as unwilling slaves, but as servants, whose greatest delight it is to show the new spiritual life in works which will please our heavenly Father.
As such free men, that serve God in willing obedience, the Christians are glad to hear the apostle in his call: Give honor to all; love the brotherhood; fear God; honor the king. To all their fellow-men the Christians are to give the honor which is due them in whatever position they hold in the state or in society. TO all their brethren in the faith they should show that intimate, intensive love which is proper among children of the same heavenly Father. To God they should give fear and reverence, all other considerations being relegated to the background in view of this demand. To the king or emperor, that is, to the constituted government, they will give the honor which is due according to the Fourth Commandment. Altogether, it is not a mere passive attitude which the Lord here speaks of, but an active exhibition of a state of mind which is bound in loving obedience under the Word of God.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v13 for the Lord's sake
for the Lord's sake
Possible meanings are 1) that by obeying human authorities, they are obeying the Lord who established those authorities or 2) that by obeying human authorities, they will honor Jesus who also obeyed human authorities.
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the king as supreme
"the king as the highest human authority"
who are sent to punish
This can be stated in active form. AT: "whom the king has sent to punish" (See: Active or Passive)
in doing good you silence the ignorant talk of foolish people
"by doing good you stop foolish people from speaking about things that they do not know"
as a covering for wickedness
Peter speaks of their condition as free people as something that they should not use to hide sinful behavior. AT: "as an excuse to do wicked things" (See: Metaphor)
the brotherhood
This refers to all Christian believers.
translationWords
obey
authority
lord
king
govern
punish
evildoer
praise
good
will of God
fool
free
evil
servant
honor
love
brother
fear
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv13, 14, 17 2:13–3:7 This section revolves around the key phrase submit…
2:13–3:7 This section revolves around the key phrase submit to all human authority, which Peter applies to several relationships: Christians should accept the authority of those in government (2:13-17), Christian slaves should accept the authority of their masters (2:18-25), and Christian wives should accept the authority of their husbands (3:1-6). Peter seems to be following an early Christian usage of the traditional household code, in which a series of instructions was given for different members of the household (cp. Eph 5:21–6:9; Col 3:18–4:1; 1 Tim 5:1–6:2; Titus 2:1-10).
2:13 In Peter’s day, the king was the Roman emperor. Christians were suffering in the hands of the state and would soon suffer more intensely under Nero.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.