STUDY THEME: TRANSFORMED ATTITUDES SS02-03-02 "DISRESPECT TO RESPECT." 1 PETER 2:13-17, 18-21, 3:1-2,7,14-18 PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO 1 PETER 2.
A theme that appears in the Bible but is not often acknowledged is that a part of the Christian life is a new respect. In this lesson, we will explore some of the dimensions of that new respect. We will seek to answer the questions, "Why should we respect all people and reverence Christ as Lord?
In the beginning it might be well to define the words "respect" and "reverence." The dictionary defines "respect’ as "to feel or show honor or esteem for." Reverence is defined as a feeling or attitude of deep respect, love, and awe." Reverence is the very first element of religion; it cannot help but be felt by everyone who has right views of the divine greatness and holiness, and of his own character in the sight of God. Reverence is the soul of the Christian religion. Reverence is one of the signs of strength, irreverence one of the surest indications of weakness…no man will rise high who jeers at sacred thing." Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 6:10 that "no revilers", that is people who try to destroy others with words, "will inherit the Kingdom of God." God asked the priests in Mal. 1:6 "If I am a Master, where is my reverence?"
There is a good use of the word respect in James 2:1-4. The man with a gold ring and good clothing is seated in a good place while the poor man in vile raiment was given no seat at all. James questions the faith of the individual who makes such inconsistency in his respect of persons.
Peter wrote this Epistle just before or shortly after the beginning of Nero’s persecution of the church in AD 64. Oct. 13, 54 AD the Roman Emperor Chaudius died. Nero, then a teenager, came to the throne. About 10 years later the city of Rome went up in flames and burned for three days. When the city of Rome was burned the Romans wee totally devastated. Nero spread the word quickly that the Christians had set the fires. As a result, a vicious persecution against Christians began and soon spread throughout the Roman Empire.
Since the believers wee scattered by the persecution that originated in Jerusalem following the death of Stephen they were living in areas in which they were strangers. Peter addressed them in Vs. 1 as "strangers" or "Pilgrims. They were sprinkled like salt throughout five of Asia Minor’s Roman provinces. Peter addressed his letter to these five provinces of the peninsula of Asia Minor. This area today is northern Turkey. The churches in these provinces were made up of both Jews and Gentiles."
This Epistle could be understood as a handbook, written for Ambassadors to a hostile foreign land. The author, knowing that persecution would soon arise, carefully prescribed conduct designed to bring to the One they represented. The purpose then of 1 Peter was to encourage Christians to face persecution so that the true grace of Jesus Christ would be evidenced in them.
Peter concretely linked doctrine with practice. The New Birth gives a living hope to those in the midst of persecution. New behavior is required to demonstrate the grace of God to an unbelieving and hostile world. And new responsibilities are placed on the leaders and members of the body of Christ since they should stand together as living stones against the onrushing tide of persecution.
In vs. 13 "submit" is a military term meaning "to put oneself in an attitude of submission" as citizens in the world and under civil law and authority, God’s people are to live in an humble, submissive way in the midst of any hostile, godless, slandering society. Though the Christians true citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20) he still must live as an obedient citizen in this world so that God will be honored and glorified. Rebellious conduct by a Christian brings dishonor on Christ. (See Rom. 13:1-5; Titus 3:1-2)
Christians are to live in obedience to every institution of civil and
social order on earth. This includes obedience to the national government (vs.
13. "King"), the state government, the police and judges. Only when the
government tries to force a Christian to do what is against the law of God
explicitly stated in Scriptures, should he refuse to submit. (Acts 4:18-20,
5:28-29, Titus 1:6; 3:1-2)
The purpose of our submission to authority, is in order that we should avoid condemnation and win commendation that shuts the mouths of those obstinately set against the faith who are looking for reason to criticize believers. This will silence foolish men. To be happy everyone should have (1.) something to believe in, (2.) someone to love and be loved by, (3.) something worth while to do.
While we should enjoy our freedom in Christ, we should never put on a veil or mask of freedom to cover what really is wickedness. Christian freedom is never to be an excuse for self-indulgence or license. Remember God not only rules---He overrules.
In Vs. 17 Peter summarized the previous commands. "Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king." Highly esteem is the idea, and it refers not just to obedient duty but inner respect. Love is used to describe how they were to respect the brotherhood of believers (the church). We are to fear—give ultimate respect to ---God. All men, without distinction, are to be honored, because in all there remains the image of God. It may be defaced and blurred exceedingly. The more needful is it to deal considerably with such, that we may help to restore what has been marred.
Recognizing the sovereignty of God, Peter addresses his readers as servants. In this letter he calls the Christians (1.) saints for their holiness, (2.) believers for their faith, (3.) brethren for their love, (4.) disciples for their knowledge, and (5.) servants for their labor.
Hobbs’ commentary says, in these verses Peter addressed servants who worked in the household. This would include, not only cooks, maids, and other domestic servants but also slave who served as tutors and nurses for children. Not all slaves were from the lower classes; some were educated foreigners who had been captured in war. Many of the early Christians were slaves, only a few were slave-owners. Philemon was an exception. Paul addressed not only Christian slaves but also Christian masters in Ephesians 6:5-9. By contrast, Peter spoke to Christian slaves whose masters seem to have been non-Christian.
In vs. 18 Peter wrote that Christian slaves were to submit themselves to their masters. The masters had total authority over their slaves. Peter was making an appeal for slaves to submit themselves to their masters with all respect; no matter how unfair or harsh they may be. Since this letter was written during a time of persecution, non-Christian masters often took out their anger on their slaves who were Christians. Peter’s words called on these believing slaves to show by their endurance the reality of their faith.
In Vs. 19-20 Peter writes that favor with God is found when an employee treated unjustly, accepts his poor treatment with faith in God’s sovereign care, rather than responding in anger, hostility, discontent, pride, or rebellion. (See Matt. 5:11.)
Peter’s point in Vs. 21 is that a person called to salvation will, sometimes at least, have to endure unfair treatment. Commendable behavior on the part of the believer in the midst of such trials results in the strengthening and perfection of the Christian on earth, and his increased eternal capacity to glorify God. Christ is our pattern to follow in suffering with perfect patience. His death was exemplary, as a model of endurance in unjust suffering.
We no longer have slavery in this country, but some of the principles Peter wrote to Christian slaves apply to work settings in our day. One is that employees and employers owe each other respect. Another is that Christian workers, or managers, ought to live a Christian life in the workplace. Inconsistent living by professing Christians has a negative effect on non-Christians with whom the inconsistent Christians live and work. Consistent living can be used by the Lord to win others to salvation.
When it was recommended that the change be made in the Baptist Faith and Message at the 2000 Baptist National Convention there were several that protested the wording. In the section XVIII "The Family" it reads, "A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the Church." To this there was no objection. That to which several objected was the phrase "A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ." The one word "submit" was the fly in the ointment. At the Okla. Baptist Convention meeting in 2001 there was still objection raised and a vote taken if Oklahoma Baptist should accept this wording. It was voted by a huge majority, that the wording should be accepted.
Peter was so bold as to use the words "be in subjection to your own husbands." These verses deal with respect to be show by Christian wives who had non-Christian husbands. Since believers were taught to marry only believers, most of these situations were when the wife of a non-Christian marriage became a Christian but the husband did not.
Likewise points back to the principle of humble submission and respect for all people. It does not mean that a wife is the slave of her husband. The words be in subjection refer to the voluntary submission of Christian wives to their husbands; not to the husbands subjecting their wives to themselves. Paul used the same word in Ephesians 5:24 and Colossians 3:18 for the submission of Christian wives to their husbands. The difference may be that Paul was assuming an ideal description of marriage in which a Christian husband loved his wife and gave himself for her. Peter was writing to situations where the husband was unsaved. In either case, Christians wives are called on to submit themselves to their husbands.
In the next verses Peter describes husbands who were of that obstinate, non-persuadable type that will not listen to reason. Their wives had often given them the gospel, but they had met it with stiff-necked obstinacy. Although the wife was to voluntarily submit to her husband, she was not expected to give up her faith because her husband told her to do so. Instead, she should do what she could to see him won. This word meant "acquire" or "gain", but in Christian use it referred to conversion to Christ.
What was a Christian wife to do to win her husband who already had heard and rejected the Christian message. Peter called on the Christian wife to do three things. First of all, she was to live in humble submission to her husband insofar as it did not involve renouncing her faith. In other words, she was to win him by how she lived. The unbelieving husband already had heard "the Christian message": now what he needed was to see Christ in the way his wife lived day by day. Second, her way of life was also to be chaste. She was to be unquestionably faithful or "pure." Third, the Christian wife was to demonstrate her fear or reverence of God.
1 Peter 3:7 was addressed to Christian husbands. This it the only time the word translated dwell -with is used in the New Testament. The word indicates that a Christian husband is to be faithful to his lifetime commitment to his wife. Knowledge has the idea of understanding and consideration involved in it. Christian husbands are to see things from the point of view of their wives, not just form their own perspective.
Christian husbands were to give honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel. This use of weaker refers only to physical strength, not to moral, spiritual, or intellectual weakness. Honor means to recognize and affirm her value and worth. Another word for this is "respect".
The last part of Vs.7 adds further positive aspects of a Christian marriage. Although the wife is to recognize the leadership role of the husband, the husband should recognize that the two of them are heirs together of the grace of life. There is not hint of any spiritual inferiority. Both are joint heirs of the same grace of God. Peter emphasized this so that their prayers be not hindered. These words stress the spiritual foundation of Christian marriage. In a Christian marriage both husband and wife are to be committed to the same God of grace. Prayer is to be the foundation for their marriage. To build a marriage without prayer is like trying to build a house without nails.
What is involved in showing respect for one’s spouse in Christian marriage? One thing it means is avoiding anything that shows disrespect for one’s spouse. A Christian marriage is based on a lifetime commitment to each other and to the Lord. Any enduring marriage passes through many stages as the couple matures. In today’s world one non-Christian assumption of many people is that the purpose of life is for each person to find happiness on his or her own terms. Many married people use this as a reason for destroying their marriage in the self-centered search for happiness and fulfillment. Those who look toward the needs of the other spouse ride out the rough spots in marriage because they show respect and love for each other.
Remember this letter was written to those who had or will soon experience persecution because of their allegiance to Jesus Christ. If called upon to suffer for righteousness sake let it be counted a privilege. There is no need to fear nor to live in dread of threatened terror, for God is over all, and none can go beyond that which He permits for our blessing. He who stopped the lions’ mouths and protected Daniel, and walked in the fiery furnace with the three Hebrew youths, will ever keep a watchful eye upon His saints and upon their enemies too, lest they go beyond His permissive will.
Back in Vs. 13 Peter asked "who is he that will harm you, if you be followers of that which is good? There can no evil happen to the righteous, for, "All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." (Rom. 8:28)
This includes persecution, sickness, financial distress,—anything that men think of as evil, but all of which God sanctifies to the good of the Christian.
Peter had just written in Vs. 13 that in a just society, good people should have nothing to fear. In Vs. 14, he dealt with how to respond if they were called on to suffer for righteousness sake. This was one of Jesus’ Beatitudes (Matt. 5:10-12). Peter, like Jesus, pronounced such people as happy or blessed, those who do this. Then Peter summarized Isaiah 8: 12-13, saying, Be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. Thus the first two responses are to be willing to suffer for righteousness’ sake and not to fear the ones who threaten.
Peter concentrated on the third response, however: Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Sanctify mans to "set apart". The word has two ideas: reverence for Christ and commitment to Him. Most of vs. 15-16 describe how to do this.
In the words be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason for the hope that is in you. The key word is answer. This word was used for the defense made in a court room or an explanation given for one’s actions. The non-Christian world of the first century was raising questions and making false charges against the life and beliefs of Christians. Peter said that each believer needed to be ready always to respond to such challenges, seeing these opportunities to bear testimony to our hope in Christ. In our day this calls for some Christians to be Christian apologists, who present the intellectual basis for our faith and thus help all Christians be able to tell others why they are Christians.
This witnessing is to be done with meekness or "gentleness" and "respect". Christians are to be meek and respect those to whom they witness. Or, it may be that the first term meekness refers to the attitude Christians are to have toward others in witnessing and the second term (fear) refers to their attitude toward God.("reverence.)
Hobbs only gave God His rightful place in the heart. Let is be separated to Him, and when called to give an answer to all who inquire concerning the basis of our faith, with becoming lowliness and reverence; being careful to maintain a good conscience so that there will be no truth in the charges if accused of evil behavior by wicked men who give false testimony regarding your upright manner of life in Christ.
Vs. 14 declares that it is better, if it pleases God to allow it, that one suffer for doing right rather than for what is wrong. Slandered Christians should have a good conscience because the charges against them are false. They are not evildoers as their persecutors charged. The hoped-for result of this approach was that the persecutors and critics would be ashamed because their slanders proved to be unfounded. The godly way of life of believers could have such an effect.
In Vs. 18 Peter wished to encourage his readers in their suffering by again reminding them that even Christ suffered unjustly because it was God’s will. Ultimately, however, Christ was marvelously triumphant to the point of being exalted to the right hand of God while all of those demon beings who were behind His suffering were made forever subject to Him. God also caused Peter’s suffering readers to triumph.
SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATIONS:
Several forms of moving from disrespect to showing respect for others are as follows: (l) Submit to the authority of government leaders, masters, (employers), and husbands, (2) honor government leaders, all people, and wives. (3) Love fellow Christians, spouses, and seek to win unsaved husbands and persecutors to the Lord. (4) Reverence Christ as Lord by telling the lost the reasons we are Christians, enduring unjust suffering, living a consistent Christian life, having a Christian marriage, and praying.
Respecting other people has several levels, depending on the person or group. On the basic level we ought to respect all people as fellow human beings. We ought to acknowledge the authority of those in positions of authority. We ought to show tender mutual respect for our spouses. And we ought to respect those to whom we share the good news of Jesus Christ. This respect for others grows out of our reverence for the Lord.
NEXT SUNDAY FROM JAMES 2 WE MOVE FROM PREJUDICE TO ACCEPTANCE.
A.V. DAUGHERTY 2-03-02