LESSON FOUR

1 Peter 2:13-25

Submission to Authorities  (2:13-25)

	13Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.  15For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.  16Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.  17Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
	18Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.  19For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God.  20But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it?  But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.  21To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
	22“He committed no sin,
	and no deceit was found in his
		mouth.”
23When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats.  Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.  24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.  25For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

	V. 13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men—Submission to authority is one of life’s most difficult lessons to learn.  By nature we are a proud and stubborn people.  The key to submission is found in the phrase “for the Lord’s sake.”  Out of reverence to Christ (who submitted Himself to death on the cross) Christians should submit to each other (Eph. 5:21).  Christian wives will submit to their husbands (Eph. 5:22) just as they would to the Lord Himself.  Because they are under the Lordship of Christ, Christians will be in submission to civil authorities.  
	whether to the king, as the supreme authority—Peter begins at the top—the king—or as the 20th Century New Testament reads, “the emperor.”  I am always impressed by this when I remember who was emperor at the time Peter penned these words.  Nero!  Has a bloodier tyrant ever ruled?  Yet, Peter writes, “Submit!”  The apostle understood what many professing churchmen don’t seem to realize: civil authorities, no matter how rank, have received their authority from God (Rom. 13:1-7).  This was a difficult but necessary lesson for the 1st century saints.  No less so today.  
	V. 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right—The next authority figure Peter mentions is governors, or “magistrates” (Knox Translation).  These men were commissioned by the supreme authority to do two things: (1) punish lawbreakers and, (2) praise lawkeepers.  I’ve often thought that if our local police would practice praising those who keep the law there would soon be a better relationship between the police and the public.  Who knows, maybe there would be even less crime to punish!
	V. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men—There is hardly anything an unregenerated person enjoys more than catching a Christian in a sin.  “I thought you were a Christian!  I guess all that church stuff isn’t worth much after all, huh?”  Peter tells us to live so as to put a stop to their ignorant prattle.  Christians will always have their critics but they should live in such a manner that no one will believe their critic’s charges.
	V. 16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil—The reason we are to live above reproach is so there will be no occasion for non-Christians to blaspheme the cause of Christ.  Christ has freed us from sin but we are not free to break the laws of the land.  We are still under authority.  We can only disregard the laws of the land when they come in direct conflict with the laws of God (Acts 5:29).
	live as the servants of God—We once were servants of sin but now we are servants of righteousness (Rom. 6:17, 18).  Being mindful of our servant status in society will keep us from putting ourselves above the laws of our government.
	V. 17 Show proper respect to everyone—Peter now calls for four Christian duties, the first being to honor, or respect, all men.  We belong to the brotherhood of man and ought to treat each person as a unique individual, made in the image of God.  Everyone has feelings.  Don’t trample on them.  Treat mankind with dignity.
	Love the brotherhood of believers—There is the brotherhood of man and then there is the brotherhood of believers, those whom God has adopted into His spiritual family, the church.  If God has adopted them, I am to accept them as brothers in the family.  More than just accept them, I am to love them as well.  Loving the brethren is not an option, it is a command!
	fear God, honor the king—These last two commands show the proper respect we should have for divine authority (God) and civil authority (the king).  Note that we are to fear God but not man (Matt. 10:28).  We are to honor the king but even then we are to give honor to God as well: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s” (Matt. 22:21).
	V. 18 Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect—Slavery was a cruel, demeaning, unChristlike practice that was prevalent in Peter’s day.  Yet, strangely enough, there is no apostolic denunciation of the practice in the New Testament.  There certainly is no condoning of slavery in the New Testament but neither is there any condemnation of the evil practice.  Christian slaves were admonished to respect and submit to their owners and give them a good day’s work; Christian slaveowners were told to treat their slaves right (Eph. 6:5-9).
	not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh—The principle of submission was to be followed even if the slave owner was a wicked and cruel tyrant.  Not all Christian slaveowners were “Simon Legrees” but evidently enough of them were to warrant this instruction.  It is relatively easy to work for a man who is kind and considerate.  It is quite another thing to work for a harsh taskmaster.  One can only imagine what some of these poor slaves were forced to endure.
	V. 19 For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God—Although this section of Scripture was directed to Christian slaves, I think we can also apply it to our modern employer-employee relationships.  If a Christian suffers on the job because of his Christian faith and convictions (such as refusing to lie or cover up for the boss), that is commendable.
	V. 20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it—Suppose we are desciplined or even fired for breaking the company’s rule (but not necessarily for our religious convictions).  That certainly is not to our credit or glory.  We have not only failed as a good worker, we have failed as a Christian example.
	But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God—The thing that pleases God is when we handle injustice in a mature Christian manner.  The Living Bible says, “Praise the Lord if you are punished for doing right!”
	V. 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you—The calling of God is not just to blessing and pleasantries.  There is hardship and suffering as well.  Paul told Timothy to endure hardship as a good soldier (II Tim. 2:3).  Christ suffered on our behalf; where do we get off thinking we owe Him nothing in return?
	leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps—Many would like to follow Jesus until they discover where His steps lead: “o’er the cold dark mountains...in homes of the poor and lowly” (Mrs. M.B. Slade).  Do we really follow the steps of Jesus, “where’er they go.”  As we will soon see in v. 23, the example of Christ being referred to here is non-complaint when suffering injustice.  Do we moan and groan about all the things we have to go through for being a Christian, real or imagined?
	V. 22 “He committed no sin—The quotation is from Isaiah 53:9.  Jesus had every right to complain.  Not only was He innocent of all charges, He was sinless!  The sinlessness of Christ is what set Him apart from all other men, even great men.  Abraham, “the friend of God,” sinned (Gen. 20:2).  David, “the man after God’s own heart,” sinned (II Sam. 11:4).  The great apostle Paul considered himself “the worst of sinners” (I Tim. 1:15).  Only Jesus was without sin.  Only Christ was uniquely qualified to become the perfect substitute for the sins of the world.
	and no deceit was found in his mouth—Jesus “never told a lie” (The Living Bible).  Only one other man in the Bible is commended for guilelessness (Nathaniel, John 1:47).  Jesus had plenty of lies told about Him but He never resorted to untruths for He was “the truth” (John 14:6).  To be like Christ we must be totally honest. 
	V. 23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate—Horrible insults were hatefully screamed at Christ on the cross (Matt. 27:39-44).  Yet He never once opened up His mouth to retaliate.  That’s “Amazing Grace” for sure!  Christ left us this example.  Are we following in His steps?
	when he suffered, he made no threats—Cicero wrote that the taunting at crucifixions sometimes got so bad that the soldiers on duty would cut out the tongues of the tormented creatures on the crosses.  Their language became so vile, their useless threats and curses became so obscene that this terrible action was taken.  But Jesus, as Isaiah predicted, opened not His mouth (Isa. 53:7).
	Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly—Jesus had the power to call 12 legions of angels to destroy His tormentors (Matt. 26:53).  But He left things in the hands of God.  “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Rom. 12:19).
	V. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body—The purpose of Christ’s death on the cross was not to become a martyr for His disciples but to become the Saviour of the world (I John 4:14).  This was the purpose for which He came to earth.  Charles H. Gabriel wrote, “He took my sins and my sorrows, He made them His very own; He bore the burden to Calv’ry, and suffered and died alone.”  That is what the atonement is all about.  Jesus, the sinless one, personally absorbed the sins of all humanity in His body on the cross.  In fact, God made Him to be sin for us so we could be right with God through the atonement (II Cor. 5:21).  The heart of the gospel is found in this verse.  Jesus is the great sin-bearer.
	on the tree—An interesting thing here, “the tree.”  Why not “the cross”?  In all of the writings of Peter not once does he use the word cross (stauros).  It is always tree (xulon).  Paul uses the word “cross” time and time again.  But Peter never once.  Why?  We can only speculate.  Perhaps his horror and shame over having denied Christ, thereby sending his Lord to the cross, had something to do with it.  We do know that Peter was a highly emotional person.  He wept bitterly after his denial.  Tradition says whenever a rooster crowed when Peter was preaching he would break down and could go no farther in his message.  Perhaps the word “cross”—with all its memories and implications—was just too much for Peter.  We are told that Peter requested to be crucified upside down because he felt he was not worthy to die in the same manner as his Lord. 
	so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness—Unless we grasp this truth and live it out each day, the death of Christ was in vain.  There is a dual reason for the atonement: one purpose was to take away our sins, the other to take us away from the life and love of sin.  Changed lives is what the cross is all about.  Christ died for our sins, we are to die to our sins.
	by his wounds you have been healed—The healing spoken of here is obviously spiritual healing, i.e., the forgiveness of sins.  The context makes this clear:  “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.”  Later we read, “Christ died for our sins” (3:18).  The popular charismatic position, based on Isaiah 53:4,5, is that the atonement was for our sicknesses as well as our sins finds no support in this passage.  Matthew 8:16, 17 clearly shows that Christ, in his ministry of healing, fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah.  The purpose of the atonement was for sin (I Cor. 15:4).  
	V. 25 For you were like sheep going astray—This well-known analogy is from Isaiah 53:6.  It is the common tendency of sheep to drift away from the fold.  That’s why we need Jesus, the Good Shepherd.  That’s why the church needs godly shepherds, or elder (1 Peter 5:1-4).
	but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls—Man has a way of botching things up. “It is not for man to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23).  Man needs someone to guide and watch over him.  That someone is Jesus, our personal shepherd and overseer. 

Study Questions

1.	What authority figures does Peter say we should be in submission to?

2.	When does submission to governing authorities end?  Or does it ever end?

3.	What is the best way for a Christian to silence his critics?

4.	Is a Christian above the laws of his land?  Explain.

5.	What do we owe to our brethren?  God?  The king?  Everyone?

6.	What is your explanation for the absence of censure of slavery in the New Testament?

7.	What is the Scriptural context of following “in his steps”?

8.	How did Jesus react to his tormentors?

9.	What is the significance of the word “tree” in Peter’s writings?

10.	For what purpose did Christ bear our sins in his own body?

11.	Is the healing by Christ’s wounds physical or spiritual?  Explain.

12.	In what ways are men like sheep?