Obeying God by Obeying the Government--1 Peter 2:13-17 (1 Peter Series)

            A number of years ago, John Lennon wrote a song called “Imagine,” in which he envisions a utopian society—an actual heaven on Earth. One of the institutions that he sees as holding us back from such a paradise is religion. In the first two verses, he sings:

Imagine there's no heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people living for today

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people living life in peace

            You might notice that another institution he apparently views as a hindrance is government. From time to time, various people have seen human government as a uniformly negative institution for humanity. They believe that we would be better off without government at all.

            The Bible takes a very different view of government, however. According to Scripture, government is actually part of God’s plan for human society, and we are called to obey our government to the fullest extent that we can without violating the commands of God.

            Last week in 1 Peter, the Apostle reminded us that we are sojourners and exiles in this world. Now, we could get the wrong impression from that idea and think that we are free to cast off and disregard the institutions that bring some order and stability to society. But in the heart of this letter from Peter, we’re going to see that God calls us to submit to these structures to the greatest extent that we can—that includes political structures, economic structures, and family structures.

            First of all in this section, Peter deals with political structures in 2:13-17, and that is what we will consider today. Let’s hear what Peter has to say.

1. Submit to the government out of obedience to God (vv. 13-14)

            In vv. 13-14, Peter writes [READ vv. 13-14]. It is clear what Peter is calling us to do—submit to our government—but the most important detail here is why we should submit to our government. Peter says we should do it “for the Lord’s sake.” We obey the government out of obedience to God, and—as we’ll see in a moment—so that we don’t put any unnecessary obstacles between other people and the message of the Gospel.

            Please understand, then, that the reason we are to obey the government doesn’t really lie in the government itself. Whether we love the system of government we have or not, we are called to submit to it. Whether we love the leaders in our government or not, we are called to submit to it. This is all because our highest master, the Lord Jesus Christ, tells us to submit to these lesser masters in the civil government.

            Now, we might ask ourselves at this point, “Does Peter really mean to say that we should be subject to any form of government at all?” Well, let’s consider the form of government that both Peter and his audience lived under.

            They were all subjects of the Roman Empire, which at that stage of history was ruled by emperors. Those emperors had basically unlimited and unchecked power to do as they pleased. There was certainly no democracy in the government at that level, nor at the level of the regional governors whom the emperor appointed to oversee the various parts of the Empire.

            The emperors thought of themselves as being at least godlike, and some of them may have actually considered themselves divine. And so, the emperors were worshipped throughout the Empire. People were allowed to follow their own religions to a certain point, as long as they gave their highest obedience to the emperor.

            At the time that Peter most likely wrote this letter, the Roman Emperor was Nero, who was known as being incredibly cruel toward Christians. He led a persecution against Christians, and several non-Christian historians record that at times when he wanted light in his gardens at night, he would call for Christians who had been arrested, have them covered in flammable oils and hung on high poles, and then burned to serve as human torches.

            So did Peter really mean that we should be subject to any old government under which we find ourselves? Apparently so. As we’ll see in just a moment, there is a limit to our obedience, but our general principle is to submit to our government to the fullest extent that we can.

            This principle really calls into question some practices that a minority of Christians have advocated over the years, such as not paying taxes. Just this week, as I was doing some research, I stumbled across a group based in Oregon called the Embassy of Heaven. They consider themselves citizens of Heaven, but they also consider it sinful to obey any form of human government, so they do not consider themselves citizens of Oregon or the United States.

            They have really taken their idea all the way—they issue their own passports, driver’s licenses, and license plates. They realize that driving around like that will eventually get them arrested, so they fully except to go to jail at some point in their lives. In fact, they have on their website a 127-page guide on what to expect while you’re in jail.

            I have no idea how they square their beliefs with a command like this in 1 Peter. Their behavior really shows the danger of losing balance in our application of Scripture. Yes, we are citizens of Heaven, but as Peter tells us here, we are also citizens in our various human governments—and we should act like it!

Another reason for our obedience to government is found in vv. 15-16.

2. Submitting to the government will silence some criticism of our faith (vv. 15-16)

            Peter writes in v. 15 [READ v. 15]. I think the ignorance he may have in mind here is the claim that Christians are a threat to the government. Believers faced that accusation in the Roman Empire because they would not give their highest allegiance to the emperor, and Christians still face that accusation today under totalitarian regimes like those in Cuba, China, Iran, and North Korea.

            But this claim is simply made out of ignorance, because even though we give our highest allegiance to Jesus, He commands us to submit to the government. So Christians by and large are actually good citizens—we’re not troublemakers, and in fact we seek to do good for our neighbors. It’s important that we live this way because it removes the hindrance to the Gospel of people thinking that we are some kind of dangerous element in society.

            Its not hard to see why governments might view us as a threat because we will not give them our highest allegiance—nor should we, as Peter reminds us in v. 16 [READ v. 16]. Peter is reminding us here that as servants of God, our highest allegiance is to Him. That does mean that we are free from human governments in this sense. They are not our highest authority, and this can be seen clearly through various examples in the Bible.

            According to examples we see in Scripture, our responsibility to obey the government does not apply when the government commands us to do something that is sinful. Peter himself provides one such example in Acts 4-5. In those chapters, Peter and John had been arrested in Jerusalem for preaching that Christ had risen from the dead. The Jewish authorities ordered them to stop preaching the Gospel, but they refused, saying, “We must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29).”

            We can also think of the Hebrew midwives in the Book of Exodus. The Pharaoh of Egypt had specifically told them to kill any boys who were born to the Jews, but Exodus 1:17 states that they “feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them.” The text then says that God dealt well with the midwives, so He was obviously pleased by the choice they had made, even though it defied the human government.

            We can also think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the incident of the fiery furnace. King Nebuchadnezzar commanded everyone to bow down and worship the idol that he had made, but those three men refused to do so out of obedience to God. As we know, God Himself came to their rescue to deliver them from the fiery furnace.

            These examples teach us that our responsibility to obey the government does have its limits. When they command us to sin, we must not obey them. That is the sense in which we are “free” according to Peter in v. 16. But as Peter also says, we are not to think of our freedom as a license to disregard what is good and proper in the sight of God. Rather, our freedom consists of being servants of God. And once again, since He has commanded us to obey human government, that is what we must do unless its commands violate the commandments of God.

            Now, our own government is creating a lot of questions for us these days about exactly when we should choose to disobey them. These questions are a bit complex and very important, and they deserve some careful attention, so next Sunday we will be looking at these questions specifically and studying some principles that will help us navigate these bizarre days.

For today, however, let’s finish looking at Peter’s instructions in this passage.

3. Act toward everyone in the way that your relationship with them calls for (v. 17)

            In v. 17, Peter gives us four brief commands about how we should act toward various people in our lives. I think it’s a bit helpful to focus on these two at a time, because that approach creates some nice comparisons and contrasts.

            So first of all, “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood.” There is a basic level of respect that I am to show to everyone around me. That’s a bit different from what we hear in our culture, where we often hear people say that others have to earn my respect. I think a helpful clarification would be to say that other people do have to earn my admiration or praise, but everyone should receive respect from me.

            We do have a heightened level of responsibility toward fellow Christians, however. They are to receive not only our respect, but our affection as well. We as believers should have bonds of friendship and affection that are unique and special, exceeding a simple respect and moving toward affection.

            Peter then writes, “Fear God. Honor the emperor.” Fear in this context is related to our deepest loyalties and our highest allegiance. That belongs to no one else but God. He alone is the one whom we should fear.

            But don’t overlook the fact that Peter calls us to honor the emperor. We are supposed to show honor to the people who are in positions of governing authority. What a good and perhaps convicting reminder for us during this election season—and obviously anytime, for that matter.

            Here in our country, we’re free to speak our minds about politics and about politicians—and boy do we ever exercise that freedom! Sadly, so much of our political discourse today is so caustic and hateful and disrespectful that it should really put us to shame. And according to this command right here, Christians should not contribute to the hateful tone that is often used toward politicians today.

            You don’t have to agree with every policy that someone promotes or every decision that they make, but you must express your disagreement with respect and honor. A Christian’s discussion of politics should have no place for name-calling or hateful rhetoric. This is not only right, it is also wise—other people are much more likely to hear you with an open mind if you engage them with respect and honor.

            So my friends, whatever you do, don’t contribute to the cesspool that is political discourse in our country today. I’m not saying that you have to be silent about politics—not at all! But when you speak, make sure you conduct yourself with respect and honor toward those who are in authority and toward whoever you may be speaking with.

            As we see so often in Scripture, we are to conduct ourselves at all times with a motivation to promote the Gospel and make our Lord look glorious in the eyes of others. So in our discussion of politics, we should not create any unnecessary barriers that close people’s minds to the Gospel. And by living as good citizens as much as we can, we can show people that faith in Christ is beneficial to our countries and communities, and hopefully draw our fellow citizens to embrace the Lord.