“Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human
institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent
by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.
For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance
of foolish men.” (1 Peter 2:13–15, NASB95)
But God!! These are amazing words. They can be used to turn
that which is overwhelmingly burdensome to that which is bearable because we
turn our eyes to God and recognize that we are firmly placed in the center of
His strong hands. We can endure because He has promised to enable us to do so.
But, these words can also be used to argue against something that we believe
God would have us do when we desire to do something else. It is this later use
that is frequently followed by some form of justification or pleading. “But
God, ….”
It seems that many Christians today are responding to the
situations in our culture with this later “but God” rather than the first.
There is a great deal of dissension and frustration in our country right now.
There is even an intense anger prevalent among many, with even those in high
places of leadership walking away from their daily tasks to stonewall or
protest others with whom they are charged to work and serve. And, I imagine that
some of these are Christians. We have a difficult time in our political
structure drawing a line between where submission ends and rebellion begins as
we navigate the right we have as a people to protest, challenge, and even work
for change.
Peter’s words might be very hard to swallow. There is no
equivocation or setting up of conditions in them, and this has led over the
years to theologians and pastors seeking to guide their students and
congregations through who to obey and how far must we go. In response to this
we have the example of Scripture and the words of those who suffered at the
hands of others. Peter who wrote these words could speak to this first hand. He
was there at the unjust trials and crucifixion of Christ. He was there to see
countless Christians taken away for their faith and even be martyred. He saw
his fellow apostles arrested and dealt with harshly. He, himself, suffered
arrest and being placed on trial, and he provides for us the exception of
declaring that he could not heed a directive given to him by the scribes and
religious leaders when they told Him no longer to speak of Christ.
Peter lived in a very difficult political climate with
various competing authorities, all of whom were opposed to him, Christianity,
and Christ. But still, Peter wrote these words, “Submit yourselves for the
Lord’s sake to every human institution….” “Submit” has the meaning of coming
under or being in subjection to. It is the recognition that someone is in a
place of authority and you are to properly place yourself under that authority
just as a soldier would his commander. It is a word that encompasses both heart
and action, such that we are not acting grudgingly but as if we were serving
the Lord as we read to be the instruction of slaves to their masters in
Ephesians 6:5-8, “Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according
to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to
Christ; not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ,
doing the will of God from the heart. With good will render service, as to the
Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he
will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.” (Ephesians 6:5–8,
NASB95)
One commentator wrote, “As citizens in the world and under
civil law and authority, God’s people are to live in a humble, submissive way
in the midst of any hostile, godless, slandering society” (MacArthur Study
Bible). The apostle Paul words it strongly, “Every person is to be in subjection
to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and
those which exist are established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority
has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive
condemnation upon themselves.” (Romans 13:1–2, NASB95)
We see both from Paul and Peter that those to whom we are to
submit include all governing authorities, whether they be kings, governors, or
something else. This includes those agents of those authorities such as the police
and others who are endowed with authority to enforce or enact. Clearly this is
not the way of many in our country as we see acts of anarchy, obstruction and disruption
employed daily both in the streets and places of rule. Some may strongly
disagree, but we have a Constitution which determines the process by which
people are placed in authority through the election and even appointment
process. To resist a duly elected or appointed individual according to the
words of Scripture surely seems to be a violation of the very instructions
given to us by God.
The contrasting response to rebellion is to be “doing right”
or as Paul says to “be obedient … in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ,
not … as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the
heart.” Sure, Peter said that he could not keep his mouth shut regarding the
gospel of Christ, and sure Daniel opened his windows and prayed as he was
accustomed. But it is large leap from pointing to them and using their actions
to justify much of what we see happening today.
Today we do have doctors who have to take a stand for Christ
and lose their jobs because they will not perform procedures that may be
demanded of them. We have elected officials who have lost their jobs or who
might have had to seek exceptions because they could not perform acts demanded
of them. And, we’ve even have businesses who were sued and who have even lost
in court because they would not perform services demanded of them. Being a
Christian in an evil world is a difficult thing, and there will be consequences
for our having to stand for Christ. The real issue may not as much be the
actions taken by others, but how we represent Christ as we walk through those
trials. The greatest encouragement I find in Scripture is from the apostle Paul
who spent a great deal of time in prison for the gospel, but even in prison he
saw this as an opportunity to be a bond-slave of Christ even sharing his
testimony repeatedly before his accusers. Not once do we see him rebelling or
removing himself from their authority, but using where he was placed as an
opportunity for Christ.
In the United States, we have a lot of freedoms
and even responsibilities that people don’t have in other countries. We can
speak up freely and we can engage ourselves in the process. But at some point,
there is a line that all of us are not to cross, and the best way of our measuring
this is to look to our hearts and to bring them before God seeking His
direction for our steps, asking whether what we’re doing is right before Him
and if it will bring glory to His name. Then as an aside, hopefully our
detractors will be silenced by our response and that some will see the
difference, believe and be saved.
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