Bird's-eye view
In this section of his letter, Peter brings his broad exhortations about submission to civil authorities down to the household level. Having just instructed believers to honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, and honor the emperor, he now applies this same Christ-centered ethic to the most intimate and often most difficult of hierarchical relationships: that between household servants and their masters. This is not a political treatise on labor relations, nor is it an endorsement of any particular economic system. It is a radical call to live out the gospel in the grittiest of real-world situations. The central point is that a Christian's behavior is not determined by the quality of the authority over him, but by his "conscience toward God." Peter is teaching that even in the face of unjust suffering at the hands of a "crooked" master, the believer has an opportunity to display a grace that is otherworldly. This endurance is not stoic resignation but a positive testimony that finds favor with God, precisely because it mirrors the undeserved suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ, which Peter will immediately go on to describe.
This passage sets the stage for the ultimate example of Christ's suffering. Peter establishes a crucial distinction: there is no spiritual credit in being punished for your own foolishness. But to endure hardship when you have done good, this is the hallmark of true Christian character. This is grace, this is what pleases God, and this is the calling to which we have been summoned. The entire Christian life is to be a reflection of the Savior who, when He suffered, did not retaliate, but entrusted Himself to the one who judges justly.
Outline
- 1. The Gospel in the Household (1 Pet 2:18-20)
- a. The Command: Submission to All Masters (1 Pet 2:18)
- b. The Commendation: Suffering for God's Sake (1 Pet 2:19)
- c. The Contrast: Deserved vs. Undeserved Suffering (1 Pet 2:20)
Context In 1 Peter
Peter is writing to scattered believers who are living as exiles and strangers in a hostile world. The theme of the entire epistle is how to live godly lives under pressure. In chapter 2, he has just laid the foundation of the believer's identity: we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, living stones built on Christ the cornerstone (1 Pet 2:4-10). Because of this high calling, we are to conduct ourselves honorably among the pagans (1 Pet 2:12). This honorable conduct includes submission to every human institution for the Lord's sake, from the emperor down (1 Pet 2:13-17). The instructions to servants in our passage are therefore a specific application of this general principle. It is not an isolated command but part of a seamless argument. From submission to the government, Peter moves to submission in the household, and from there he will move to submission in marriage (1 Pet 3:1). All of it is rooted in our identity in Christ and is meant to be a powerful witness to a watching world.
Key Issues
- The Nature of First-Century Servitude
- The Principle of Submission to Flawed Authority
- Conscience Toward God as Motivation
- The Distinction Between Just and Unjust Suffering
- The Theological Meaning of "Finding Favor"
The Grit of the Gospel
It is one thing to speak in lofty terms about submitting to the emperor, who is a distant figure for most people. It is quite another to talk about submission to the man whose roof you live under, whose food you eat, and whose orders you must follow every day. This is where the rubber of our theology truly meets the road of our lives. And Peter, being a fisherman and not a philosopher, takes us right there. He does not flinch from the hard cases. It is easy to submit to a master who is "good and considerate." Anyone can do that; it requires no grace. The real test of a man's faith is how he responds to the authority that is "crooked," unreasonable, and harsh.
Our modern democratic sensibilities chafe at such instructions. We are steeped in a culture of rights, of self-assertion, of throwing off any authority we deem to be inconvenient or unfair. But the gospel cuts straight across the grain of our natural inclinations. The kingdom of God is an inverted kingdom. Strength is found in weakness, exaltation in humility, and life in death. Here, Peter tells us that true spiritual glory is found not in fighting for our rights, but in patiently enduring wrong for the sake of our conscience toward God. This is not weakness; it is the strength of a man who knows he serves a higher Master and lives for an eternal reward. It is the very character of Christ.
Verse by Verse Commentary
18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are crooked.
Peter addresses "servants," or more specifically, household servants (oiketai). This was a common and integral part of the Roman world. This is not a command to seek out such a station, but an instruction for those who find themselves in it. The command is to "be subject," the same word used for submission to government. This submission is to be rendered with "all fear." This is not a cowering, servile terror, but a profound respect for the office and the God who ordained it. It is the fear of God, which manifests as proper respect for the delegated authorities He has placed in the world. Then comes the radical part. This submission is owed not just to the good bosses, the reasonable ones. It is also owed to the crooked ones, the harsh, the unjust. The basis of submission is the office, not the character of the man in the office. This is a hard pill for our rebellious hearts to swallow, but it is central to the biblical ethic of order.
19 For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unrighteously.
Here is the "why." Why should a man endure unjust treatment from a crooked master? Because doing so "finds favor." The Greek word is charis, or grace. This is a gracious thing, a beautiful thing, in the sight of God. But notice the conditions. The favor is found if the suffering is borne "for the sake of conscience toward God." This is the crucial qualifier. The servant is not just gritting his teeth and taking it. He is consciously, deliberately, acting with God as his audience. His integrity is not horizontal, aimed at pleasing the master, but vertical, aimed at pleasing God. He knows that God sees his patient endurance under unjust affliction, and God approves. He is bearing up under sorrows, not because he is a doormat, but because he is a man of profound conscience, and his conscience is bound to the living God.
20 For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this finds favor with God.
Peter now draws a sharp and common-sense distinction. He asks a rhetorical question: what "credit," or what glory (kleos), is there in getting what you deserve? If you are insubordinate, lazy, or dishonest, and your master punishes you for it, there is no virtue in taking your lumps. That is just the world working the way it is supposed to work. You are simply reaping what you have sown. But the second half of the verse presents the glorious alternative. When you do good, when you are a faithful, diligent, and honest servant, and you still suffer for it, perhaps because your master is simply a foul-tempered man, and you endure that suffering with grace, this is what finds favor with God. This is the supernatural response. This is the moment when the watching world, and the watching principalities and powers, see something that cannot be explained by natural human reactions. They see the grace of God at work in a redeemed soul. This is the kind of character that adorns the gospel and makes it beautiful.
Application
While few of us today are household servants in the first-century sense, the principle Peter lays down is timeless and applies to every hierarchical relationship we find ourselves in. It applies to employees with difficult bosses, soldiers with unreasonable commanding officers, and citizens under a crooked government. The command is not to enable sin or to ignore injustice. The Bible has plenty to say about crooked masters and their accountability before God. But the instruction here is for the one in the subordinate position. Your response to authority is not contingent on the moral perfection of that authority. Your response is governed by your conscience toward God.
We must ask ourselves: when we face unfairness at work or from some other authority, what is our first instinct? Is it to grumble, to grow bitter, to look for ways to subtly retaliate? Or is it to see this as an opportunity to display the grace of Christ? Do we recognize that when we suffer for doing good, we are walking a path that our Savior walked before us? This passage calls us to a radical, God-centered perspective on suffering. It is not a pointless evil to be avoided at all costs. It is a God-given opportunity to find favor with Him and to display the glory of the gospel. The world's response to injustice is rage and rebellion. The Christian's response must be a rugged endurance, fueled by the knowledge that our true Master is in heaven, and He sees, and He is pleased.