18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. 19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
We come now to one of the harder to embrace passages not only in 1 Peter, but in all of Scripture. This section is particularly difficult for American Christians to accept and obey.
Peter tells servants to be subject to their masters with all respect, whether the master is just or unjust. The closest parallel in contemporary society is the employer/employee relationship. Christian employees are to submit themselves to the authority of their bosses, whether the boss treats them justly or unjustly. Employees have the option of changing jobs where servants and slaves in Peter’s day did not, but as long as a Christian is employed, he or she is to give his or her best to the employer regardless of how the employer treats the employee.
If we do suffer, it needs to be for doing what is right, not because we have sinned. If we are stealing from our boss and suffer because of that, there is no reward. But if we suffer for doing what is right, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.
Jesus gave the example of suffering without responding sinfully. We are to strive to follow his example. He suffered injustice sinlessly, entrusting himself to the one who judges justly. Through this, our redemption was purchased. We have been returned to the shepherd and overseer of our souls, so we too can now entrust ourselves to God and do what is right, trusting God with the outcome.
Here are your questions for the day.
Why does Peter instruct servants/employees to submit to their masters/bosses with all respect, even when the master/boss is unjust?
In what ways might a Christian suffer at work for doing what is right?
How does Christ’s example encourage us? Is his example alone enough, or do we need something more in order to live as he lived?
What does it mean to die to sin and live to righteousness?
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