"Submission: Because It's God's Will" - 1 Peter 2:13-17

"13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, 14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. 15 For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. 16 Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. 17 Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king." - 1 Peter 2:13-17

     So after reminding the people of who they are - that they are heirs of God's Covenant with Abraham, that they are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, that they are exiles, and that they are to live differently than those around them - Peter follows up with these verses.  Were Peter of a different mind, this passage could very well be one of conflict; a call to incite rebellion.  "We are the Lord's chosen people!  We are free! We do not have to remain subject to the tyranny of Rome any longer!  God brought us out of Egypt, He brought us out of Babylon, stand up and fight my brothers!"  Many of the Jews already felt this way.  Even Peter himself at first believed that his master Jesus was there to overthrow the Romans and establish His earthly kingdom within Peter's lifetime.  But, Peter learned that that was not the Lord's plan.  He also observed Christ living peaceably with all, the righteous and the unrighteous, and stood nearby as Jesus taught lessons like, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's."
     And so Peter does not call for rebellion.  In fact, he calls for submission.  He models the Man he spent three years in ministry alongside, who once said, "Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two."  And Peter calls for this submission during the beginnings of the persecution of the early church by Rome.  It's a very practical instruction to be sure.  The Romans would be quick to end any such rebellion by force.  But, Peter is not just cautioning against open and organized rebellion, he is calling for there to not even be a rebellion of the spirit (or the attitude.)  "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake," He says.  Do it because you love God, not because Rome is stronger than you are.  And He doesn't just specify submission to a good king but to, "every human institution," the righteous, and the downright evil even.  That definitely takes trust in God; trust that He is ultimately in control.  Furthermore, it ties back into verses 11 and 12 with verse 15, that people around you will notice.  If you are a good citizen, even when you don't agree with the government, and you live peaceably, your detractors have nothing to say against you.  We're not called to anarchy.  We're not called to antiestablishmentarianism.
     His next words are, "Act as free men."  I know what you're thinking, "Wait, He just said to submit to authority, and now he's saying act like you're free- Aren't those in conflict?"  I say no.  The key here is about responsibility.  It's about having a choice.  A bondservant or slave in those times had little to worry about as far as basic survival went.  Your master was responsible for clothing you, feeding you, providing you with shelter, in some cases providing a wife for you, and even clothing and feeding your children.  All you were responsible for was the work assigned to you.  If that was working the master's field, then the only thing you had to worry about was your hours of work in that field for the day.  Everything else was the master's responsibility.  But, as a free man, there was risk involved.  You had to provide everything for yourself.  You had to make choices, and take responsibility for the direction of your own life.  Here is what Peter is getting at.  Choose to submit.  Choose to live in peace with authority.  Not under compulsion, but because you love God.  It is all about having a willing heart to love those in power over you, because really, God is the only one with power over you, but in order to have peace, you allow those with earthly power to have their power.  You would be justified as an heir and son of God to throw off the shackles of earthly authority if it weren't for the fact that it is not God's will and not loving.
          The last verse in this section sets up a sort of hierarchy of submission.  Honor all people.  You could reword that as "respect all people, acknowledge all people."  Basically, the golden rule of don't be self absorbed and only care about yourself.  We are called to show basic human decency (and above that, real genuine God-given love) to all.  Then he says, "love the brotherhood," which is referring to other Christians, and the form of love used here is "Agape," the self-sacrificing, God-given love that makes this kind of submission possible.  "Fear God," is the source here; the motivator.  It places God at the top.  Yeah, it says "Honor the King," but it is a very different word than fear.  That word fear is not like a spooky fear, but more a reverence for something wherein you understand its potential for destructive power.  Like how one might handle a cooking fire, or a firearm.  You have a healthy respect for and knowledge of what it is capable of.  The verbiage used with king is at merely the respect and acknowledgement level, not the fear level of God.  With a king or emperor like Nero around killing Christians just for being Christians, one might want to attribute that kind of fear to the man, but Peter is saying follow the king not because you fear him but because you both love and fear God and God wants you to submit to the king.  So, because God wills it, live in love and submission to everyone.