Citizenship

Here is our focus passage again:

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority:whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.17 Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. (I Peter 2:13-17)

We have discussed the word "submit" and why we humans tend to bristle at that word....what we are taught and we learn in our lives, as well as our own attitudes about liberty and freedom all meld together in our view of the verb, "to submit."
We've also discussed that everyone on this earth has someone or something that is in authority over their life. Now we are going to look at Peter's words and try to discern his meaning.
Ready?

Many of the peeps who study here are living in the United States. We live in a country that was founded on a revolution....where defiance of governmental authority is viewed as one of our basic and constitutional rights. No wonder we get our hackles up when talking about submitting!!
Did ya know that our ole buddy Ben Franklin proposed not only that the turkey-bird be our national symbol, but he also drew up a design for the Great Seal of the United States? At least for the reverse side of it, anyway.
He envisioned it in this way:

"Pharaoh sitting in an open chariot, a crown on his head and a sword in his hand, passing through the divided waters of the Red Sea in pursuit of the Israelites. Rays from a pillar of fire in the cloud, expressive of the Divine presence and command, beaming on Moses, who stands on the shore and, extending his hand over the sea, causes it to overflow Pharaoh. Motto: Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God."  (I'm indebted to a commentary which noted this source: Vernon Grounds, Revolution and the Christian Faith, 1971.)

Wowser!
Now I know that Franklin was what we call a deist, not what we, today, would call an evangelical Christian. But his sentiment -- that rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God -- is shared by many, many devout and committed believers. Most evangelicals accept the revolution here in the United States as being a proper resistance to what was a corrupt authority. There is still debate over that, though.
Even today, many good-hearted believers struggle with these concepts. There is a huge difference of opinions when Christians discuss the civil disobedience of groups such as Operation Rescue, which works to change public opinion on the issue of abortion. So, I guess our study is extremely relevant to the world we live in!
What is the proper relationship of Christian citizens toward their government?

The believers that Peter was writing to lived in a world similar to our own; they lived with a government (and a society) that was not favorable toward the Christian faith. In fact, both Peter and Paul were executed at the hands of the Roman tyrant, Nero. Not until Constantine came into power, in the fourth century, was Christianity provided with legitimacy and protection by the government.

Earlier in this chapter, Peter has reminded his readers that Christians are to live holy lives as aliens and strangers on this earth. He has told them (and us) that we are not permanent residents here; he said that we are pilgrims on a journey, and our final destination is heaven.
Oh, boy, it would have been very easy for his readers to conclude that believers have no civic responsibility here on earth! (Grin)
They could have concluded that they could disregard and even disobey human government, since their citizenship was in heaven. Peter must have anticipated this....so he counters this conclusion and shows how Christian citizens must live.
In a nutshell, Christians must live as good citizens by submitting to human government.
Now, don't go bonkers on me here....keep reading!
There are exceptions.
We will get to those.
I promise.
"Submit" as Peter used it here, is a military word, meaning to put oneself under another in rank. It's an attitude of respect that results in two things: obedience to authority and positive good deeds. We are going to look at several things in our study, so hang in there. Without getting too bookish or boring, we are going to talk first about the purpose of human government, then we'll talk about the real meaning of submission to government, and next we will talk about why we submit, and then (finally), we will talk about the limits of submission to government.

Still with me?
I hope so.
See ya next time!