16 Act as free people, and [s]do not use your freedom as a [t]covering for evil, but use it as bond-servants of God. 17 Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the [u]king.

1 Peter 2:16-17 (NASB) 中文 

Submit and honor authority

In the previous passage, Peter instructed us on submitting to authority. Here (v17) he gives a one sentence summary on honor – including as it relates to submitting to authority. 

Freedom usage

Before we get to that, he cautions us in how we use the freedom we have. Peter hasn’t really talked about freedom in this letter yet so he’s referring to their general knowledge of the freedom we have in Christ. Paul talks much about this topic in Romans. Very relevant is Romans 6:1-2: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 Far from it! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”

I tend to think most Christians err on the side of being legalistic rather than free – at least in their life theology. By that I mean if you ask the Biblical basis of their sinful behavior, not many will say, “I do whatever I want because Christ has freed me from the law.” Rather, they would simply say, “Everyone does it.” Or, “The Bible doesn’t talk about it.” Or even, “But it makes me feel good”.

Fear God, honor the King

Both are difficult – to fear God and to honor the King. What does it mean to fear God? “For the unbeliever, the fear of God is the fear of the judgment of God and eternal death, which is eternal separation from God (Luke 12:5; Hebrews 10:31). For the believer, the fear of God is something much different. The believer’s fear is reverence of God.” (gotquestions.org) See Hebrews 12:28-29.

Regarding honoring the king (and those in authority over us as Peter recently instructed us) is not easy. For these he was writing to, Nero may have been the Roman emperor who was persecuting Christians. But today, in countries that do not protect personal freedoms – like speech, religion, etc., it is also a temptation to not honor. 

Constable commentary has this nice summary: “[W]e may not be able to respect certain government officials because of their personal character, behavior or beliefs. Still we can and should honor them because they occupy an office that places them in a position of authority over us. We honor them because they occupy the office; we do not just honor the office.”

RЯeflection

• Where are you on the spectrum of “freedom in Christ”?
• How are you doing with honoring the authorities over you? Be careful. For example, if you dislike a political leader, watch how you speak about them. If you don’t like the president for example, you can still honor them by calling them President {fill in the blank}.