1 Peter 2:13-15 - Submit yourselves

2:13,14

We should submit to human authorities. Now this needs to be looked at carefully. First it tells us that human authorities are put there by God. If we go right back to Genesis we see that God gave man dominion over the earth. So the authorities are there to punish wrongdoers and to reward those who do right. Now of course we live in a fallen world, and no human authority acts perfectly, and some are downright corrupt and self-seeking, sometimes even perpetrating horrendous evil. What is important is our starting point. If we start from a position of rebellion then no matter how self-righteous we may feel, our actions will be coming from a source of rebellion and will produce the associated (bad) fruit. The book of Daniel gives us excellent examples of how to respond. Daniel and his friends were in Babylon, an utterly pagan nation. They showed respect for the rulers, yet did not compromise their faith at all. At times this led to them facing great danger, and seeing God’s miraculous intervention, but they were never acting out of a spirit of rebellion.

2:15

Now God’s will is that we will indeed silence foolish people, but we do so by doing good. As Rom 12:21 says, we are to overcome evil with good, not to be overcome by evil.  We need to guard our hearts with utmost care, for it is so easy to become full of ourselves, deceiving ourselves that we are doing good. We need to fight with God’s weapons, not the weapons of the world.