FIRST PETER 2:17

The Bible says to Christians in First Peter 2:17, “Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.” Let’s look at the last two phrases of this verse. We are told to “fear God.” The word that is translated “fear” means fear. God is the Judge. God is holy. God hates sin, and He judges righteous judgment. He punishes sin. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” “Judgment must begin at the house of God.” Speaking of God’s chastisement in the lives of believers, First Corinthians 11:30 says, “For this cause are many weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” A healthy fear of the great God and Savior is needed by every believer. We should all have our behavior checked by this thought: “What will God think and what will God do, if I do this thing that is set before me?”

Every believer should “honor the king.” We were already told in First Peter 2:17 to “honor all men,” so why are we told to “honor the king?” We are probably told this for emphasis. Human beings tend to be rebellious against the rightfully constituted authorities. Be careful. Rebellion is sin. Obey the laws of the land. Pay your taxes. Honor the king. This is the will of God. Who was the king when the Apostle Peter was given these words by the Holy Spirit? The king was Caesar. Christians were told to “honor the king” when living in the Roman Empire under the authority of a heathen leader. Christians should always value and respect those in positions of governmental leadership, whether or not those leaders are good or evil. This is God’s will.

What should the attitude of a Christian be towards those who have positions of leadership on the job, at a corporation, or in whatever career that Christian works in? First Peter 2:18 gives the answer to that question. It says, “Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.” Everyone serves someone. If you are a believer, whoever you serve, you should serve properly. The point being made by First Peter 2:18 is that you cannot qualify your willingness to serve based upon the kind of person that the master is. The worst master should be served in the same way that the best master is served. If your boss or bosses are bad enough, you always have the option to pray and find another job.

A believer should be a servant of God and of Christ. That should always be the primary motivation in any situation. What does God want me to do? Concerning the human hierarchical structures where each person has one or more masters, God wants every believer to have the proper attitude of willingness to follow leadership. The Bible says in First Peter 2:19, “For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.” With such an attitude of submission, it may very well be that a person will suffer wrongfully. The next Bible verse makes it clear that there is no reward for suffering for one’s errors. There is only a reward if we suffer wrongfully. First Peter 2:20 says, “For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.”

The most important reason that we should be willing to suffer wrongfully from those in authority is because that is exactly what happened to the Lord Jesus Christ when He was on the earth. The Bible says in First Peter 2:21, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.” The life of Christ is an example for those who believe in Him. Jesus showed us that suffering wrongfully and then responding the right way to those sufferings is an important part of serving God in this world. Jesus suffered terrible injustices from those in authority, yet He opened not His mouth. He said nothing to defend Himself. He did not strike back at those who caused Him such horrible punishments.

An interesting thing to note about the next couple of verses is the fact that we are told what Jesus did not do when He was unjustly punished. The things that He did not do refer directly to what He did not say. It says in First Peter 2:22-23, “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.” Many things start with the mouth. If you can avoid saying what you should not say, you will probably also be able to avoid doing what you should not do. Instead of having guile in His mouth, and instead of reviling, and instead of threatening, what did Jesus do? Jesus “committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.” To not strike back when we suffer is directly related to having a living faith in God. If I am truly trusting in God as the all powerful One who loves me and takes care of me, then I can leave it to God to decide who should be punished and when. God does not want to punish. He wants to touch hearts so that every individual will turn to Jesus and find forgiveness.

Being on the subject of the sufferings of Christ, it is not surprising that the Holy Spirit spoke through Peter concerning exactly what the sufferings of Christ accomplished for the believer. The Bible says in First Peter 2:24, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” This verse mentions three things that Jesus accomplished for us on the cross of Calvary. He did “bare our sins.” We are “dead to sins,” and we are “healed.” By saying that Jesus did “bare our sins” the Bible is reminding us that Jesus took the punishment of our sins. We should be punished, but we are not. We should be condemned, but we are not. We should be rejected, but we are not. Jesus did not just take your sins, and He did not just take my sins: He bore all “our sins.” What a terrible burden Jesus had to bear. We can never even imagine how great that burden must have been. We cannot even bear our own individual sins, but Jesus bore the sins of the whole world. He who knew no sin became sin for us. No wonder that Jesus cried out into the darkness while hanging on the cross, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” The Son became separated from the Father at the time that the Son had taken the burden of sin upon His soul. Now those who believe in Jesus will never be separated from God.

We have been “healed” by means of the stripes that were laid upon Christ. Of course, this is talking about spiritual healing. There is a great sickness that exists in the human race. It is a sin sickness. People are not healthy. They have problems: spiritual problems. All spiritual problems can be traced to the sin problem. The solution to those spiritual problems is found at the cross of Christ. Anyone who has been healed spiritually owes it all to what Jesus accomplished on the cross of Calvary. There is a balm in Gilead. There is healing there. Come to the cross of Calvary and to the One who died there and find the healing that your soul needs.

The Biblical phrase “dead to sins” is a wonderful phrase for the believer. A dead man cannot be judged. A dead man cannot be condemned. A dead man can no longer be held accountable for what he may have done. If God accounts you as being dead to sins, you will not be judged for your sins, you will not be condemned for your sins, and you will not be held accountable for your sins. There is an important application to the fact that we are dead to sins, and that is that we are alive to righteousness. If you are dead to sins by faith in Christ, then you should also be alive to righteousness. Once you are saved by faith in Christ, God’s will is that you start living a life that leads to righteousness. “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked.”

One more statement is made in the last verse of this chapter to describe to us what Jesus has done for us. First Peter 2:25 says, “For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” Human beings are often compared to sheep in the Bible. One thing about sheep is that they need a shepherd. A sheep without a shepherd is in big trouble. A human being without a shepherd for his soul is in big spiritual trouble too. God loves lost sheep, and He wants to find every one and bring them safely into the fold. How sad that lost souls must go through this life without a shepherd. There are so many decisions to be made in life, and sometimes the consequences are very important. How wonderful to have a Shepherd and a Bishop who promises to protect us and guide us through the maze of life and beyond.

Jesus is called a Shepherd and a Bishop. The word “shepherd” means pastor, and it is translated as “pastor” once in the New Testament. A pastor is the shepherd of the flock. The shepherd guides, protects, and feeds the flock. The word that is translated “bishop” means one who watches over. A bishop is a watchman or an overseer. In time of danger or trouble someone needs to be on watch. Because the watchman is vigilant, the watchman can sound the alarm if danger is seen. The danger might be a false teacher. The danger might be a pending decision where grave consequences would result if the wrong decision were made.

The Word of God promises us who believe that Jesus is our shepherd and bishop. “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Jesus is both shepherd and bishop. The same person is both shepherd and bishop. The same person is pastor and bishop. The words “pastor” and “bishop” do not describe separate individuals, but they do describe various aspects of the responsibilities of one individual. The words are used interchangeably to describe the same person. In the case of Jesus, He is the shepherd and bishop of our souls. In the case of a pastor of a local church he is the shepherd who should be feeding the flock with the Word of God, and he is the bishop who should be watching the flock with their well-being in mind.

The last part of First Peter chapter two had been presenting the requirement that believers live under the authority of the civil government in the country in which they live, and Christian workers should live in subjection to their “masters” or “bosses” on the job or in their chosen profession. Rebellion of any kind is not the will of God. This theme is continued in chapter three in the family situation. Christian wives are spoken to first of all. The Bible says in First Peter 3:1, “Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives.”

Notice carefully the word that the Holy Spirit used to describe the attitude that the Christian wife should have toward her husband. The word is subjection. The best way to know what this means is to look in the context. First Peter 2:18 used the exact same word for the worker-master relationship. It said to Christian workers, “Servants be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the forward.” A Christian wife needs to go to the Lord and ask for wisdom to understand this teaching. First Peter 3:1 does not mean that the husband is permitted to abuse his wife or control her, but it does speak to the issue of leadership. A Christian wife is not a slave to her husband. She is an equal partner in the journey of life, but she must find a way to be in subjection to her husband, at the same time that she pursues a path of equality in partnership with him. There are also times when a man should submit to the wishes of the wife because he loves her.

A wife is a person of great authority in the home. She is not a servant. Proverbs 31:10-17 says, “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the merchants ships. She bringeth her food from afar. She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. She considereth a field, and buyeth it. With the fruits of her hands she planteth a vineyard. She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.” Someone who considers a field and buys it, is someone who has authority over finances and decisions. A spiritual wife is a woman of power and authority. But the point that First Peter chapter three is making is that she must wield that power and authority in subjection to her husband.

Of course, this principle of subjection is written to Christian wives. It is not written to the people of the world. It can only be understood by those who are spiritually-minded. The best way to understand this kind of subjection is to first of all become subjected to Jesus Christ the Savior.

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