1 Peter 2:17
17 Honour [timao] all [pas] men. Love [agapao] the
brotherhood [adelphotes]. Fear [phobeo] God [theos]. Honour [timao] the king [basileus]. KJV-Interlinear
17 Honor all men; love the
brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. NASB
We have just finished a
study, that in effect says that all people are worthless. Unbelievers are on the bottom of the worth
ladder, and mature believers are on the top, given their relationship with God.
However, this is not to
go to anyone's head.And so Peter
reminds believers, that once a while ago, you, believer, were once in the
worthless category, and you, believer, did not obtain value by anything you
have done, but by the grace of God alone.
Therefore, disrespect
toward anyone is out of line.
There is no one in this
world that is better than you, and certainly no one who is less, as far as
human relations go.
Therefore, honor men,
or show respect toward the unbelieving world.
Though they are going to the Lake of Fire, due to their own foolishness,
that is no reason to be rude to anyone.
After all, you do not know who is a believer and who is not. A person, anywhere on the planet, can believe
in Christ through a mere thought, and many folks do believe, at very young
ages, perhaps eight, ten, or twelve years of age.
But when they grow up,
their life may be influenced by their local culture or religion, family or
country, and so forth.They may seem to
adopt the popular religion of their family, or they may venture off in search
for their guru, or whatever, but in fact they are, or may be, Christians,
though not practicing it.God knows
their status, you do not.
Love the
brotherhood.The brotherhood is a
reference to our family in Christ, or fellow Christians.
Though most of us are
only related because we are human, when we were saved, we all became members of
the family of God, and thus we have a second and more secure relationship
through Christ.
Love means doctrine.
Review our study of love in 1, 2, and 3rd John. Love is not the emotional feelings or hugging
gestures of emotions, but the content of the principles and mandates taught in
the scriptures.Therefore, if we are all
practicing doctrine as we should, then we are all on the came page,
spiritually.And this alone would
eliminate all of the many denominations that exist out there in the world.
But then, people do not
love the brethren, which is to say, that people have many different views of
the Bible, and thus we have many denominations, etc. Most of the denominations split off from
another one because of differing views, because of social ostracism, because of
social power plays, because of politics, and so forth.
Honor the King, is a
reference to the divine appointment of whatever government happens to be in
power.It is a reference to authority,
legitimate authority, of course.From
the top of government down the local policeman walking his beat, from the coach
to the teacher, from the traffic laws to family relationships, and so forth.
God established
authority in many forms in order to provide stability for humanity. Crime, divorce, rebellion, tyranny, in its
many forms, from politics and governments, to family difficulties, to social ostracism,
all of these and more are reflections for mans failure to obey this command from
God.
And when man is
disobedient, what follows?Strife,
problems, hate, sadness, revenge, and every imaginable problem you can think
of, follows any form of disobedience.
Authority was established not to embarrass a person, but to provide
stability in society, and stability in society promotes an atmosphere for
learning doctrine.
We, as believers, are
guests in this world.We were not placed
here to run it.We were placed here to
grow up spiritually, to be obedient to God (to truth), and to otherwise prepare
ourselves for the next life.
This life is
temporary.The next life is the
permanent one.The next life is where we
cash in all of our spiritual points, so to speak.
Our spiritual life,
fear (respect, awe, confidence, belief, faith) of God, is the single most
important thing that will ever occur in our life. It is the driving force that binds together,
all legitimately functioning believers (mature believers).
Though we do not know
each other, though we have never seen God, nor heard His voice, we are all
bound inseparably in doctrine.
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