1 Peter 2:17

1 Peter 2:17 ‘Honor all men; love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.'

‘Honor all men' -‘Show honor to everyone'(Wms). 1. ‘Honor' is in the aorist tense, suggesting that we are to adopt this principle as. definite rule in our lives. 2. Honor is due to all, even the humblest of men, because every man and woman is created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26); their soul is worth more than all the world contains (Matthew 16:26); and Jesus died for all men (1 Timothy 2:6). 3. Being. Christian doesn't give us the right to look down upon others (Luke 18:9). 4.. religion that breeds contempt, arrogance and disrespect is not Christianity. We are to be courteous and respectful of all people. 5. ‘when Peter wrote this letter it was something which was quite new. As we shall go on to see, there were 60,000,000 slaves in the Roman Empire. Everyone of them was considered in the eyes of the law to be, not. person, but. thing, with no rights whatever. In effect, Peter is saying, “…..remember the dignity of every man; remember that every man in this world is. person, and not. thing.” It is still possible to treat people as things. An employer may treat his employees as simply so many human machines for producing so much work…When we regard anyone as existing simply and solely to minister to our comfort, and to further our plans, we are in effect regarding them, not as persons, but as things. And the most tragic danger of all is that we may come to regard those we live with, those who are nearest and dearest to us as existing to make things comfortable for us…..' (Barclay p. 247) (Romans 13:7)

‘love the brotherhood' -present tense. (John 13:34; Romans 12:9; Ephesians 1:15; 1 Peter 2:2). ‘Practice love for the brotherhood'. Not only respect, but. strong and deep love (1 Peter 1:22). 1. The Universal Church is composed of. brotherhood of believers, not. sisterhood of various denominations. Individuals compose the Church, not separate religious bodies (1 Corinthians 12:12; 1 Corinthians 12:27). 2. But too often, we fail to love properly, those who we should love first and foremost, i.e. fellow Christians. Familiarity should never be used as an excuse not to love brethren, as we should.

‘fear God' -reverential fear, awe. Present tense, ‘keep on fearing God'. The fear of offending or causing pain through misconduct (Woods p. 75) ‘Practice reverence to God' (Wms). Concerning Proverbs 1:7 ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom', Barclay notes, ‘the fear of the Lord is the principal part, the very foundation of wisdom…It is only when God is given His proper place in the centre of things that all others things will take their proper place.' (p. 248) Our ‘love' for God can never be allowed to degenerate into mere sentimentality. Our love for God, must always respect God, realize He will punish the rebellious, and that if we really love Him, then we wouldn't want to do anything which would hurt Him.

‘honor the king' -Even if the king is as morally corrupt as was Nero. Even if the king is opposed to Christianity. This would include praying for him (1 Timothy 2:1). (Romans 13:7) 1. The verse makes it clear: While we honor the emperor, we do not honor him as God. 2. What wonderful balance we have in the teachings of Jesus Christ! (Matthew 22:21). How practical and at the same time, lofty teachings.

Servants and Masters: