Shew honour to all, love the brotherhood, fear God, honour the king.
Peter ends his teaching on submission with four short commands. Each names one relationship — the world, fellow believers, God, and the ruler — so what do you owe a stranger, and what do you owe a king?
Each phrase names a party and the response that fits it:
Verse 17 sums the matter up briefly, and we find what suits "the servants of God." As to all men — honour. As to the brotherhood, that is, all believers — love. As to God — fear. As to the king, the representative of all human authority — honour. Carrying this out, we do the will of God and silence foolish opponents.
Why these four commands? One writer starts from where Christians stand in the world:
A "stranger" is one who has no home in the place where he finds himself. A "pilgrim" is one who knows where his home is and is going to it. That is our position as Christians in this scene. We have no part in the governing or ordering of the vast system called the world; if we had, we would not be strangers.
Why honour everyone? The reason is not what people do, but what God made them:
They were to "honour all men" — men as men, men in the character which God has given them as His creatures, men as the representatives of God on earth. This holds however far they may in fact have departed from it. How important to give this honour to manhood, even in the most ruined person... If they have in fact sunk to beasts, they still are not beasts. The very penalty they bring on themselves is a witness to the higher destiny God meant them for.
That honour has a practical shape. It saves us from two opposite mistakes:
Naturally we tend to go to one of two extremes, according to our bent. Either we sink too far to the level of other men, or we take on an air of superiority and act the Pharisee. Scripture points out a middle course which, if adopted, would be both a safeguard to ourselves and a help to those who are at present outside.
The verse uses two different words. One writer explains what each one carries:
We are not told to love all men. Love is for the family. We are to esteem all. Those competent to judge say the original word for "esteem" is more the act done when the occasion arises. The word for "love" implies the constant habit of mind.
Kelly adds that this constant love still takes its shape from the state of the person:
Loving the brotherhood is a constant duty; but the love takes a shape according to their state... Love would take pains with those guilty of smaller faults. It would warn the disorderly, comfort the faint-hearted, support the weak, and stay patient with everyone. It is the very opposite of either self-seeking or indifference.
This fear is not dread of a tyrant. It is the settled awareness of who God is, and it displaces every other fear:
Then how necessary to cultivate the fear of God as a habit! Nothing is right where this fails. The holy fear of God shuts out every dishonouring fear of man, and all tormenting fear of God. We know His majesty, His holiness, and His righteous character; and we know also that He loves us beyond a father's love.
Peter wrote this while Nero ruled Rome. Commentators press the point:
Both apostles firmly insisted that the saints render obedience and honour to Nero the Emperor — one of the worst and cruellest men who ever sat on the throne of the Caesars. It is not the character of the ruler, but the office he fills, that demands the respect and reverence of the saints of God.
Honouring the king is one way of fearing God. It also shapes how we love the brotherhood:
We are to "love the brotherhood," but we are also to "honour the king." ... if the king happens to be a brother, do not forget that he is still the king, or if the master happens to be a brother, do not forget that he is still the master. This is one way in which we may fear God. For if we truly fear Him, we will also fear those He has set up, and show them reverence.
- Four-sided. One verse covers the whole of a Christian's duty: to the world, to the family of faith, to God, and to the ruler.
- Honour rests on creation. Honour every person as God's creature and representative, however far they have fallen from that — which keeps us from both looking down on people and copying them.
- Love is narrower and deeper. Esteem meets the occasion. Love is a settled habit, and it is for the family of believers.
- Fear frees. Holy fear of God drives out the fear of man and the tormenting fear of God. The God we stand in awe of loves us beyond a father's love.
- Honour the office. Respect belongs to the position, not to the character of the man who holds it. Peter wrote this while Nero ruled.
Servants, [be] subject with all fear to your masters, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the ill-tempered.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.