1 Peter 2:18-21.
“Salvation, Submission, Suffering.” A Study Through the First Epistle of Peter.
In the ancient world, slavery was an unfortunate and bitter reality of life. In fact, was a major part of the economy in the Roman empire. It is estimated that one-third of the population of Rome were slaves as well as one-sixth of the empire as a whole. For a westerner thinking of this kind of slavery, it is easy to immediately rush to the racial slavery that existed in early America. But that was not the case for the ancient world. Whatever the reason, however, the act of buying, selling, and treating human beings as property is wrong.
Peter writes to his readers who understood this reality as a part of life. But his perspective is, perhaps, quite unexpected. Similarly to the submission to civil authority, Peter says that slaves should willingly submit to their masters, even to those masters who are unjust – with the greater principal in mind that Christians are blessed by God when persecuted for doing right. When Christians show grace, God looks on us graciously. And of course, the greatest example of a blessed righteous sufferer is that of the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.
Pastor Matt Thornton, Speaker.
Archive Date: 10/25/20
