1 Peter 2:11-17
So far in Peter’s first letter, the focus has been on who we are in Christ. There have been some ethical considerations, but they have focused on how we are to act, given that we are declared holy and carry the name of Christ. Now, Peter is going to take that identity and tell us what we must do with it for others. We are not holy for the sake of being holy. We must do something for other people because Christ has made us holy. That is the mission of the Church.
Verses 11 and 12 could be their own unit because this is the instruction, but verses 13 through 17 then give us how this instruction looks practically. That is why we are going to cover them together.
“Dear Friends” is a variation of the word agape, which we know means love. The idea here is that the people Peter is writing to are beloved, people whom we have a sacrificial, unequivocal, and unconditional love towards. In other words, believers in Christ. We will come back to this in verse 17. To further cement the understanding that these are believers, Peter again refers to them as strangers and exiles. This has been a theme in the letter so far; believers are strangers living in a land that they do not belong to.
Because we are strangers and exiles, we must abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul. Why is it important to abstain from sinful desires because we are strangers? Think about when you were a child or with your children. When did you or your parents expect the best behavior? It was when you were away from home. That could be school, church, the store, or even a friend’s house. The expectation is that you were on your best behavior because how you acted reflected on the parent.
As bearers of the name of Christ, how we behave reflects on Jesus. People judge Christ by how Christians act. Is that right or fair? No, but it is the truth. Too often, we use the notion that we are not perfect, so don’t judge Jesus by our actions, to allow us to act contrary to Jesus. We are visitors in a land that is not our own, so we must be on our best behavior.
What does it mean that these sinful desires wage war against the soul? Soul is one of those words that can mean different things in different contexts. Here, the idea is that our sinful actions, if left unchecked, can destroy human beings. For those who believe in Christ and are saved, it is not referring to eternal separation, but when we sin, it still causes us harm. For those who do not know Christ and are not saved, our sinful desires can have the effect of causing them not to seek out Christ, which does have eternal consequences.
But don’t they still have a choice? Yes, they do, and they must live with that choice, but that does not give the Christian license to sin. We are commanded to conduct ourselves honorably amongst the non-believers. The word Gentile in the CSB here is just the generic word for nations or people groups. The idea here is those who do not believe in Christ.
This next part is really important. These non-believers are going to slander you. Most English translations say, “when they slander.” The Greek preposition used here most often is translated as “in” but can be “when.” What it cannot be is “if.” As a believer, you are going to be slandered. The important part of this is that their conduct does not change the Christian’s conduct.
How someone else acts has no bearing on how the Christian responds. You could argue that Peter’s point is that it is more important for the Christian to conduct themselves honorably in this situation. The reason for that is that the one doing the slandering will observe your good words, and they will glorify God on the day he visits. What does it mean by “on the day he visits?”
Peter is speaking of Jesus’ return, and he says that when we respond as Christ expects us to respond to hatred, there is a chance that those doing the slandering will see who Christ is and be won over. When Jesus returns, they will then be counted among the saints and glorify God alongside all other believers. That is the goal. The goal is not to get even with others but to see them give their lives over to Christ.
In verses 13 through 17, Peter is going to explain how this looks in real life. As believers, we are to submit to every human authority because of the Lord. There are two senses to this statement. First is what we have been talking about. Jesus expects us to do this. The second is what Jesus did while he walked the earth. Jesus submitted to human authority in that he didn’t try to overthrow them if he thought they were illegitimate, or if they abused their power, or spoke against him. Jesus paid the taxes due and acted respectfully and honorably with all human authorities.
Peter gives us a lesson in politics here. The role of human authority is to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good. Whether they do this is irrelevant. If you break the law and do evil, it is their job to punish, and they are justified in doing so. Now, if you do what is good, they are supposed to praise you, but even if they don’t, it does not give justification to do evil. There is never justification for doing evil.
Verse 15 says it plainly. It is God’s will that you silence the foolish people by doing good. Give them nothing to criticize you about. You are to submit as free people, but freedom comes with responsibilities.
Freedom is not so that you get whatever you want at any cost. Too often, we use freedom as an excuse to cover up all manner of evil deeds. Simply because the law allows you to do something does not mean God approves of what you have done. No matter how free we think we are, we are still slaves to someone. Nobody is ever completely free.
If we feel like we can do whatever we want without consequences, we are slaves to our sinful and selfish desires, as James talks about. If we have given our lives over to Christ, then we are slaves to God, as Peter talks about here. Either way, we are slaves to someone.
True freedom, then, is not the ability to do whatever you want at any cost but understanding that there is a better way to live. Being free is understanding that Jesus paid the price for sin and that your freedom is owed to him. Whom the Son has set free is free indeed.
In verse 17, we see an interesting pattern if we know what to look for. Peter begins by saying we are to honor everyone and ends by saying we need to honor the emperor. The emperor gets no more, and no less, honor and respect than is given to every other person. There is a baseline level of honor that Christians are to give to everyone. That is what we have just looked at.
Sandwiched in between this baseline level of honor are two stronger commands. Love the brothers and sisters and fear God. The word for love, the brothers and sisters, is agape. This is the love we talked about at the beginning. Peter is not saying we are not to love non-believers, but we have a different level of love towards fellow Christians.
Fear of God is to have a deeper level of respect for God and his laws than we do for human authorities. We are still called to follow human authorities, but only until they violate God’s commands. Even then, it does not justify us to do evil. How far can I go until I am doing evil? If you are asking that it is probably too far already. We are still called to do good. Anything that doesn’t do good for someone else may, in fact, be doing evil.
We are not called to see how close we can get to that line. Fearing God is just as much about not doing evil as it is about honoring God. Our mission is always to seek the well-being of others and to be a faithful witness to who Jesus is. In doing that, we show people the love of Christ so that they too may glorify him on the day he returns.