1 Peter 2:17

1 Peter 2:17. Honour all men. A group of four precepts now follows, which Leighton compares to ‘a constellation of very bright stars near together.' They are remarkable for the clear-cut form of expression in which they are cast, and for their absolute tone. Each is perfectly intelligible in itself. But it is not easy to discover the relation, if any, in which they stand to each other, and the reason for their introduction at this particular point. The first deals with what is due to men as such. For the ‘all men' is not to be limited to ‘all to whom honour is due' (Bengel), nor to all governors such as those already mentioned. Apart from all questions of station or even quality, and besides what we owe them in the distinctive relations of brotherhood and magistracy, all men are to receive our honour. By this is meant not exactly the ‘submission' previously enjoined, nor even the somewhat conditioned esteem which Huther (with Weiss, Wiesinger, Schott, etc.) calls ‘recognising the worth which any one possesses, and acting on that recognition,' but, more broadly still, the practical acknowledgment of the dignity of man as such, and of his natural claims upon our consideration and respect. It is the recognition of what all men are as bearers of the Divine image, ‘the idea of a dignity belonging to man as man,' which, as Neander says, ‘was unknown to the times preceding Christianity' (see also Dr. John Brown in loc.) .

love the brotherhood. The followers of Christ were distinguished by Himself from the mass of men as brethren (Matthew 23:8), and that name they seem to have adopted naturally as their own earliest designation. The ‘brethren' in their social or corporate capacity are the ‘brotherhood,' and to this fellowship we owe the deeper debt of personal affection. The precept has been given already in rich detail (1 Peter 1:22). It is re-introduced here, however, in an entirely new connection.

fear God. With this compare Christ's own words in Luke 12:4-5, and see also note on 1 Peter 1:17. The reverential awe which is due from the subject to supreme authority, and from the child to supreme perfection, which makes it to the one a dread and to the other a pain to offend, is what is to be rendered (cf. for its New Testament position, Heb. 13:28; 2Co 7:1; 2 Corinthians 7:11; Philippians 2:12, etc.) to Him who is the Maker of all men, the Father of the brotherhood, the King of kings.

honour the king. That is, in the practical form of fealty, and, where that is impossible, in submission. The two latter precepts occur together, and in the same order, in Proverbs 24:21. Are these four precepts so many pearls unstrung? Or are they a connected series, in which the one limits or defines the other? By some they are regarded as four particulars in which the previous ‘well-doing' (1 Peter 2:15) is to be exhibited. In this case, too, a climax is usually discovered in the first three, while the fourth is taken to be a return to the relation which suggested the general statement of' well-doing' (Huther, etc.). Others think the first a general statement, of which the three following are applications (Alford, etc.). But this can scarcely suit the third at least. Others consider them to cover the two great departments of life, the civil and the religious, and to show how duty in the former is limited or defined by duty in the latter (Schott). If any inherent connection is to be found at all, it is in this last direction that it is to be sought. The closing precept indicates that Peter has still in view the civil and political duties. The verse, therefore, is introduced perhaps as a final qualification or explanation of his statement of these duties. It is appended as a safeguard against the supposition that such ‘submission' to rulers must interfere with other obligations. The general principle of giving to all their dues, he means, is unaffected by what has been said. Honour to men as such, and the deeper sentiment of love to the brotherhood, reverence to God and honour to the king, are in no manner of conflict. The one is not to be rendered at the cost of the other. The last three precepts are expressed in the present tense, as dealing with habitual modes of conduct. The first precept is given in a tense which does not express habit or continuance. The difference is explained by some (e.g. Alford) as due to the fact that the honour which is to be rendered to all men is presented here as a due which is to be given promptly and at once to each as occasion arises.