Submission To Authority

Submit To The Governing Authorities

Peter is encouraging believers to live in submission tot the governing authorities. Specifically the king and governors that make end enforce the laws. In a perfect world they are to punish evil doers and praise those who do good. For those that fill this role we are to give them honor. We may not like the person they are or their political position, but we are to honor their governing position.

Though we bring honor to their position we do not have to agree or obey their laws when they contradict the law of God. Peter says we are free to live in accordance to the law of God when it contradicts the law of the land.

13 Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them [k]as having been with Jesus. 14 And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply. 15 But when they had ordered them to leave the [l]Council, they began to confer with one another, 16 saying, “What shall we do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy [m]miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17 But so that it will not spread any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no longer to any man in this name.” 18 And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all [n]in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; 20 for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” 21 When they had threatened them further, they let them go (finding no basis on which to punish them) on account of the people, because they were all glorifying God for what had happened; 22 for the man was more than forty years old on whom this [o]miracle of healing had been performed.

This is a perfect example of the governing authorities telling Peter not to do something that God told him to do. He did not disrespect their position but simply stated that they consider if what they were commanding them to do was of God. They told them that they were going to do what God told them to do.

I noticed that they demanded them to do something outside of their jurisdiction. They didn’t tell them not to preach about Jesus in the synagogue, but to anyone anywhere. Peter told them that they would not stop testifying about what they have seen and heard.

This would be like your employer telling you that you cannot tell people about Jesus or you cannot work there. This is outside their jurisdiction. They may say while you are on the clock and we are paying you, you are not to tell people about Jesus. We should honor this. However while we are on our own time they cannot tell us not to tell people about Jesus.

The same holds true for the government. When the laws say that while in school ministers cannot come in and proselytize students, we must honor those laws in the schools. When the student leaves the school we have every right to share the gospel with them. Also, the law protects the rights of students to pray in school. We are to make disciples of our students so they can exercise their right to pray in schools and lead others to Jesus.

Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king

Peter reminds us to honor all people. We never have the right to disrespect anyone. We must respect them even if they have a different viewpoint than us. Even if they disrespect us, we are to respect them.

Love the brotherhood by supporting them and helping them. Fellow Christians are to live in harmony with one another. We are to have deep affection for one another.

Fear God. This is the beginning of wisdom. To acknowledge that God is the highest authority and controls all things is why we should fear God. Fear of God promotes healthy choices. We should not fear God because He will punish us for doing evil. We should fear God because His promises of decisions we make will come to fruition.

Honor the king. God places the kings where He wants them. You may not like the president or his policies, but you are to respect him and pray for him.

Submit To Your Employer

Peter reminds the Christians that were slaves to honor those who were their masters. Some of the new Christians that were slaves thought that since they were free in Christ, they didn’t have to obey their masters. Peter told them that they still needed to obey their masters even if they treated them harshly.

We too are to submit to our bosses. Even if they are unfair and unreasonable. As long as they do not ask us to do something illegal or unethical, we are to respect their authority.

We are not to talk about them to other employees.

Be willing to suffer for doing right.

When you feel you are being treated unfairly by your boss for doing what is right, then accept the treatment and know that it finds favor with God. Am I saying that we look for opportunities to be unfairly treated? no! But I am saying that there will be times that you will be treated unfairly for doing the right thing. We are not to seek vengeance, but know that God finds favor on your willingness to suffer for doing right.

Submit To Governing Authorities and Employers, As A Demonstration of your Submission To Christ.

Jesus is the prime example for suffering for doing right. He never made a mistake or sinned, yet He was killed as a result of this. When He was being mistreated and beaten he did not strike back or speak evil of those that were mistreating Him. To the contrary, He ask the Father to forgive them.

You are now a child of God, for what He has done for you. We need to live as examples of His children. This will require going against our natural tendencies to compromise right to void mistreatment. We must stand firm in our Biblical values and live with the suffering that comes along with it.