Slaves to God

1 Peter 2: 11-25

Life as a slave of God. This quote is in many ways controversial, because of the nature of slavery. The understanding of slavery is that one loses self-autonomy. We can say slavery is to become the property of another, the consequence is you have no say. To have no autonomy means a person is like a plastic bag in the wind. It goes where ever the wind blows.

Peter addresses slaves in our reading, that is household servants working for their masters. Peter is advising these Christian house servants on how to act towards their masters. He is not promoting slavery, rather he is guiding people who are in a certain predicament. The guidance is to live with goodness, because to suffer for doing good is commendable before God. It is far better to suffer due to an act of kindness than to be punished for doing evil. Peter is laying down the foundation for why they should endure through circumstances. He is guiding them to the reason for living with goodness even though life is cruel.

This guidance is of importance for us as well: We are called to follow the example of Christ. Follow the steps of Christ, in that he committed no sin, but still where sentenced to death. In His suffering, he did not retaliate or made threats. Rather, he entrusted himself to God who judges justly. This is a beautiful pastoral message for us, that is, if we feel stuck, if we are forced into a situation, if we lose control, or even if we are in an unfortunate position of not having full autonomy. In those situations place your/our trust in God who judges justly. In other words, become aware of the higher connection to God whilst in your unique circumstances.

Peter is trying to make clear that our real identity is of being servants of God. In our unique circumstances, live as a servant to God. Orientate ourselves to behave as a servant of God rather than to be enslaved by all the dangers this life can bring. The paradox here is when we become a slave of God we then become truly free. When we anchor and chain ourselves to God in heaven, only then do we become free in this world. To be a servant of God is to be free.

We have our unique circumstances, in those circumstances we are God’s servants living in freedom. This understanding brings about responsibility.

“Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil;”

The new identity in God gives us the responsibility not to promote a lie or to do evil.

A recently watched a documentary about the collapse of a South African company called Steinhoff. Through many years of business, Steinhoff made transactions in a way that artificially increased the value of the company. The consequence was that the company seemed to be extremely valuable, but in reality, the opposite was the case. Fraudulent, complex transactions and deals gave the impression that the company was very valuable, whereas, in reality, it was just a smoke screen. Steinhoff had the freedom to do business, but one lie on top of a lie, led to the ultimate implosion of the company. Many people in Africa lost their hard-earning savings and pensions.

Our responsibility is to embrace our freedom to do good and not to promote evil. It means to show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, and honour the emperor. We can simply say to live with a clear conscience in front of God, trusting in him who judges justly. Chain yourself to God, and live with a clear conscience.

It seems to me that the leaders of this Steinhoff company did not chain themselves to God, but rather they enslaved themselves to worldly success and wealth. They did so to such an extent that they were willing to bend the truth and to be in a very sophisticated way corrupt.

Do not enslave oneself to this world but rather become a servant of God. And if we are in that unfortunate potion of being extremely stuck, look up towards our trusting God. In every situation, give yourself over to God and avoid being pulled towards doing evil. When circumstances enslave us, become aware of our higher enslavement that is to God.

To have no autonomy means a person is like a plastic bag in the wind. It goes where ever the wind blows. However, Peter gives us hope that in our faith this is not the case. Rather, we are chained and anchored to a God who gives securaty and stability.

Peter is not promoting slavery, rather he is guiding people who are living in a certain predicament. In our unique predicaments, we can very calmly utter that our salvation is in the knowledge that we are servants of God.