13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. ~ 1 Peter 2:13-15
Today, we return to our study of 1 Peter where the Apostle is providing for us many basic principles that invite the culture of God into our everyday existence. Today's emphasis is that we submit to the governing authorities whom God has placed over us. From the very beginning these principles have been given to us by God, and, He gave these principles with the ultimate motivation that man would be in submission to His authority.
In v.13-14 of today's passage we read, "13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right."
At issue here is how Christians should relate to the human authority that are over us who have derived their authority from God. At the time of the writing of this epistle, the King over the world was Nero who came to power when he was 16 years old. When he was 17, he poisoned a friend. At age 18, he plotted to kill his mother. Three times he failed at this; then he had his mother assassinated. Following the fire that destroyed a great part of the city of Rome, he persecuted the Christians unmercifully. Then his own Senate rebelled against him, but he forced many of them to kill themselves. His own armies turned against him and he subsequently fled for his life because the Senate of the Roman Empire condemned him to death. Following 14 years as Emperor, Nero took his own life at the young age of 31 years.
But, Peter says, we are to "submit to the Emperor!" God places men and women in power frequently for reasons we cannot understand, but we have to trust Him with His overall plan. The word "submit" means to arrange in orderly fashion a group of soldiers under the ranking of their commanding officers. This is a military term with a military use; however, it is used here and elsewhere in a nonmilitary sense. It speaks of voluntarily cooperating or even helping somebody carry a load. In other words, we, as believers in Christ are never to be known to be subversive troublemakers, but as model citizens.
When the Lord Jesus came to this earth and when the New Testament was written, the culture was politically corrupt. The world was filled with tyrants. When Peter wrote these words, there was not a democracy in Rome. People were not free; they didn't get to vote. There was no free speech. It was an autocracy. The king made the rules and everybody had to abide by them. This is the context into which Peter wrote these words. And, even if the government is evil, we are to do the right thing and silence the ignorance of foolish people. We must do what God has defined to be the right thing, even if we do not like who is ruling over us.
The governors are sent by God to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. And, when we submit to those in authority over us, we do so for the Lord's sake. We do this in order to honor God. He is honored when we obey Him or live according to His culture and in so doing we are found to be the stabilizers in our society.
The Apostle Peter also wrote "governors, who are sent by him." God appointed the king, and the king appointed the governors. They had two functions: "to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right." Rulers are chosen by God to punish wrong-doers, to provide order to society, and to reward those who do good. And yes, there are many illustrations of civil disobedience in the Bible. The Bible records times when civil disobedience was deemed necessary. But, civil obedience should be the default position of Christian citizens.
In Exodus 1:17, the Jewish midwives refused to abort the male children as Pharoah commanded. In Daniel 3:16-18, the three Hebrew boys refused to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image. In Daniel 6:10, Daniel openly prayed to God in violation of Darius’ edict. The authorities commanded the Apostles to stop preaching the gospel. In Acts 4:20 we read, "We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard." Also, in Acts 5:29 we read, "We must obey God rather than men."
In v.15 of today's passage we read, "For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people."
It is the will of God that we honor the human authority He has placed over us. One of the best witnesses to this lost world is to be a good citizen, because the way people often view God is by looking at Him through His people. One of the greatest apologetic for the gospel of Jesus Christ is the way we live our lives. The central message of the gospel is redemption. And, the purpose of our submission is to honor God through our righteous treatment of others, even those who treat us badly.
We do well to do the will of God in order to "silence the ignorant talk of foolish people." The word "silence" is to gag, to muzzle. This word literally means "to stop their mouths so they can say nothing." So, it is the will of God that we honor the human authority over us, and, when we do so, we gag the critics of God's culture.
The word "ignorance" means the willful, hostile rejection of the truth. Those who criticize Christianity, they do it out of willful hostility. They do this because they do not want God to rule over them. The word "foolish" means senseless or lacking reason. This word describes someone who lacks mental sanity. The "ignorant" are those who are reckless in their thinking because they are willful rejecters of the truth. These are those who will hopefully be reached to believe in the God of the Bible in a rather different way. And, this is where we are best used by God as road signs in their lives pointing them to Him through our civil obedience.
