Peter wanted the
“scattered” Christians to live “honest among the
Gentiles” because even though others would consider them
“evildoers”, they could by their “good works”
“glorify God in the day of visitation”. In chapter two and
verse thirteen of his letter, Peter began a series of instructions
for what “good works” look like with the first being
“submitting to every ordinance of man” where we read:
Submit yourselves to
every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake:
whether it be to the
king, as supreme;
The
verse begins, “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of
man for the Lord's sake:” Peter
began with the words, “Submit yourselves”
which means “arrange under, be subordinate, subject and yielding to
one's admonition or advice” “to every ordinance”
or “each, every, any, all, the whole and everyone of the
acts of founding, establishing, building and creating”
“of man” which
refers to “humans” “for the Lord's sake”
which means “he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he
has power of deciding; master and the title given to God the
Messiah”. The “scattered”
Christians were to be “subordinate to” each and every act of men
which serves as an act of being submissive to God.
The
verse continues, “whether it be to the king, as supreme;”Peter
added, “whether it be” which means “if and or” “to
the king” which refers to the “leader of the people, prince,
commander and lord of the land”, “as supreme” or
“better, higher, more excellent and surpassing”. Peter narrowed
his focus for submitting to the “ordinances of man” by
naming “the leader of the people” as the “supreme”
person to which Christians were to be subordinate.
When we
meditate upon Peter's words, we may find ourselves resistant to
obeying his charge. We might attempt to find exceptions for our
submission, however, he declared submitting to“every ordinance
of man” as his challenge. We know by other scriptures that we
are to resist government “ordinances” when they conflict
directly with God's word, however, most of the laws of man align with
His. Perhaps we should examine ourselves in light of Peter's
challenge, and understand that it is for “the Lord's sake”
that we obey man's laws, and as our “good works” are seen
by others, they will “glorify God” for our obedience.
Next
time Peter tells the “scattered”
Christians
to “submit to governors”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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