1 Peter - Following Jesus Sample

Peter has just told his friends to submit to every human authority, ‘for the Lord’s sake’ (2:13). Now Peter has more to say about how to think about this submission. He uses the language of freedom and slavery.

• How should believers live (v. 16)?

Christians are to live as free people and also as God’s slaves. What does this mean? A free person has the right to choose how he behaves. A slave is someone who belongs to his master and owes him total obedience.

Human authorities do not ultimately control how believers behave. We do not belong to them. In this sense all Christians are free. We are free to choose to obey human authorities, and we should. But we are also free to choose not to obey them, if needs be. Sometimes obeying human authorities will involve disobeying God. Our first loyalty is always to him. We belong to God and we are to live as his ‘slaves’.

The bottom line is that believers answer to God. We should fear his displeasure more than we fear earthly punishments. A fear of people is replaced by a fear of God. And that is very liberating!

• We are free to choose but what must Christians avoid choosing (v. 16)?

Christians must not use their freedom to choose as an excuse to do wrong. We are not to break the laws of the land without good reason and then excuse ourselves by saying that these laws don’t apply to us. Instead, we should use our freedom to relate to everyone in a way which pleases God.

Peter gives us a number of examples of this in verse 17. Some of these commands are about how to relate to God and God’s family: we are to ‘fear God’ and ‘love the family of believers’. Other commands include unbelievers too: ‘honour the emperor’ and ‘show proper respect to everyone’.

Peter interleaves these different sorts of commands to show his friends that God is concerned about all their relationships. There is an appropriate way for believers to behave in every relationship – in church, in work, in the family and in society.

Who will you meet today? How will you treat them? How will living as ‘God’s slave’ work out in your relationships today?

Pray

Ask God to help you choose to live as his ‘slave’ today, aiming to obey him in everything.