SUBMISSION - 1 PETER 2:13-17
I turned 18 years old in January of 1967 and had to register for the draft. Viet Nam was raging and young men my age were being drafted into the military to fight the Viet Nam war.
On top of being 18 years old, I wasn’t in school and was working full time, making me a prime candidate for the draft. Nothing happened until March of 1968, when I got the draft notice in the mail.
I decided to enlist in the Army. Instead of them drafting me, I decided to enlist and submit to the rules of my own accord. The military is much different today, as it’s an all-volunteer force.
Jesus Kingdom is an all-volunteer force without a draft on this side of the day of the Lord. To volunteer to be under Jesus’ rule is to be under submission to Him.
In 1 Peter 2:13 through 3:7 the Apostle Peter deals with all the aspects of submission. Today, we’re going to take a look at 1 Peter 2:13-17 and deal with primary submission and secondary submission, a subject that’s deeply confusing to Christian people today. First, lets look at the text.
1 Peter 2:13-17, “(13) Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: Whether to the king, as the supreme authority,
(14) or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and commend those who do right.
(15) For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.
(16) Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a coverup for evil, live as servants of God.
(17) Show proper respect for everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.” (NIV)
First, lets look at primary submission.
Verse 13 is clear we’re to submit ourselves. What does that mean? It means you voluntarily subject yourself to the authority of another!
The NIV translation says, “submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men.” (NIV 1 Peter 2:13A) The phrase “every authority instituted among men is, “ANTHROPINE KTISEI” in Greek and means every human creation.
The word, “KTISEI” always means creation or creature in the Greek New Testament.
The point is to submit to every creation of God! That seems to be a wild statement, doesn’t it? Why are we to submit to every creation of God? Peter is clear about why. He says it without any doubt, “for the Lord’s sake.”
“For the Lord’s sake,” is literally, “because of the Lord.”
The translation is confusing because it’s just hard to translate what’s being said here. It comes down to this, “submit yourself to every human creation because of the Lord.”
We don’t submit to the human creation because of its own power or authority, but we submit to it because of the Lord, with the understanding that the thing created, that we’re under submission to is the creation of the Lord.
Colossians 1:16 puts a flood light on the issue, “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.” (NIV)
We submit ourselves to all the things He created because He created them. Notice they were created by Him and for Him. We submit to all these things, the kings and governors because they’re powers and authorities He created, and they exist for Him!
The last five words in our text, 1 Peter 2:17C say, “fear God, honor the king.” (NIV) We’re under submission to the king, meaning federal government authority because it’s an authority created by God, but notice just before honor the king we’re to fear God. Honoring the king is one thing, fearing God is quite another.
Fearing God is elevated above and trumps honoring the king or the federal government authority.
Jesus put it this way in Matthew 10:28, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell.” (NIV)
Jesus elevated fear of the Lord, who can kill both body and soul in hell, above government who can kill the body here.
What do we do when the Lord and government are in conflict? That’s not a new concept in the Bible.
In Acts chapter 5 Peter and the apostles were arrested for preaching the gospel in the temple courts and healing people in the name of Jesus.
During the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out telling them to stand in the temple courts and tell the people the whole message of this life.
The next morning, they went right back to the temple and started teaching and preaching, just like the angel told them to do.
In the morning the high priest and all the other religious big shots sent for the apostles, probably to try them on some bogus charges and get them to be quiet. When they arrived at the jail, they were gone and they found them in the temple preaching the gospel.
They brought the apostles before the high priest and the Jewish council, and they told them they had given them orders not to teach in Jesus’ name anymore and they were breaking the rules by teaching.
Acts 5:29 is their response, “Peter and the other apostles replied: ‘We must obey God rather than men.’” (NIV)
If you have to chose to obey God or the government you go with the higher authority, which is God. The primary submission of the Christian is to the Lord.
There’s a secondary submission!
The secondary submission is to all the created authorities God created, like the federal, state and local governments. Those God-created authorities are supposed to punish those who do wrong and commend those who do right.
One observation I would make from my own life is when you sell out to the Lord, you’re much more likely to submit to those authorities in government and other places that are created by God.
Before I was sold out to the Lord, I would not always go by the laws of the land! For instance, the day I turned 16 I had a car and the keys to the car but didn’t have a driver’s license.
I turned 16 on Sunday January 3, 1965. The first day I could take the test for my license was Monday January 4, 1965. My parents both worked, and I took the keys, ditched school and drove my car out to take my driver’s test.
I got out to the Motor Vehicle Division office in town and went in to take the written test and aced it! Then I had to take the drivers test in my car.
The man administering the test went out to my car with me, got in on the passenger side while I slid behind the wheel. The guy looked a little funny, then he asked how I got the car out to the office to take the test.
I thought to myself, “self, it is time to just tell this dude the truth and cast yourself on his mercy.” So, I told him my parents were working, and I needed to get my license so I could go to work that night. Which was true!
I told him I knew it wasn’t legal, but I drove out by myself. He explained he could give me a ticket and not let me take the test. I said, “I know that.”
Then he said, “I am going to let you take the test because you didn’t lie to me and told me the truth.” I took and passed the driving test, even parallel parked with no problems, and that in 2 ½ feet of snow.
Today, as one submitted to the Lord, I would never do something illegal like that stunt I pulled on January 4, 1965.
Today, my choice is to live in such a way that I live out God’s will and silence the foolish talk of ignorant and foolish men. Today, the call is to live as a free man, but never use our freedom as a cover for evil. We want to live so as to demonstrate we’re servants of God!
When you get the primary submission in place, the secondary submission kicks in and you want to show respect for all men, love the brotherhood of fellow believers, fear God and honor the king, meaning the government.
I beat the military draft in 1968 by enlisting in the United States Army. Then In January of 1972 I enlisted in Jesus’ all volunteer force by surrendering to Him as Lord.
I came under submission to Jesus as my primary submission, then the other submissions to His created authorities started to get put into place.
Get submission to God as your primary submission in place, and He will help with all the secondary submissions!