1 Peter 2:18-25 Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls (NIV).
I consider this to be one of the most important pieces I have ever written, because misinterpretation of this passage has resulted in some Christians supporting horrible human suffering, including in the United States before the victory of the Union in the Civil War.
Note this epistle passage is addressed to slaves, and no one else. Obviously that means there is a certain context here to adhere to. If you did not read my last blog concerning the principles of interpretation by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, reading that piece will help clarify principles we must apply here. To summarize the first two principles, in my own wording, the first is that we must not get bogged down in semantics, but rather gain the message of the passage. Why? Because semantics are a starting point, not an end point. They are the means to a goal, not the goal. For example, if I only focused on the first two words here in this passage, "Slaves, submit," that would be enough to derail me from getting at what Peter is really saying here. In fact, if I focused on only those two words, I would not learn anything from this letter.
The second principle is that we must take this passage in the context of the chapter, book, and even the entire Bible. Why? The Bible contains messages inspired by God which were given in specific historical and literary contexts. God’s eternal messages are not bound by context, yet they were given in context, and discernment is needed. Just as Paul gives an analogy of the parts of a body working together for the whole, similarly, the sixty-six books of the Bible, all of which were inspired by God, are like parts of a body. They function as a part of a whole. Granted there is such a scope of certain books that a person could gain a knowledge of Jesus by just reading that single book. However, the entire inspired Scripture works as a whole, and that was God's intention. Thirdly, we must interpret by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
So first, the institution of slavery is not endorsed. It may sound like it is off the top, considering that a comparison is made between slavery and the sacrifices made by Jesus. Yet at the same time, Peter is not endorsing “hurling insults.” And Peter is definitely not endorsing murder, though Jesus suffered abuse and was murdered. In fact, Peter states that Jesus entrusted Himself to the Father who “judges justly.” Peter is saying that wrongdoings will be judged.
The second principle requires us to look at other Scripture. Guess who I think got this one right? Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln’s argument: “…he who would be no slave, must consent to have no slave. Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, cannot long retain it”(1). The reasoning fits the teaching of Jesus, who said, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12 NIV). No sane person wants to be a slave, therefore no person should enslave another human being! To do so is going against the teaching of Jesus that used to be well known as “the Golden Rule.”
In my country, the United States of America, before and during the Civil War, there were some Christians who misinterpreted this passage. Two examples are Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, and Leonidas Polk, an Episcopal Bishop. Both served as generals in the Confederate military.
I recommend the classic movie The Robe. The movie shows how an evil cylinder in the machine of the Roman Empire was slavery. Peter was never supporting slavery. He was simply telling slaves to be witnesses for Christ even when in the horrible circumstance of being a slave. You can see that played out in The Robe.
I close with a quote from Abraham Lincoln, who made this statement a few days after signing the “Emancipation Proclamation,” in response to a sick joke: “It is a momentous thing to be the instrument under Providence for the liberation of a race”(2). May we Christians be reminded from this passage that all people, the human race, have been made in the image of God, and that all people have sinned. All of us human beings need Jesus, the Savior and Good Shepherd, and we blessed children of God sometimes do need to suffer as we witness the love of Christ to those who are lost. Jesus commands us all to love our fellow human beings (Matthew 12:29-31), and that entails enslaving no one!
Hunter Irvine
(1) Ralph Newman, ed., Lincoln for the Ages (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1960), 279-280.
(2) Ralph Newman, ed., Lincoln for the Ages (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1960), 235.
