1 Peter 2:17

When God created the world, he made people to be like him (Genesis 1:26). In John 3:16 Jesus says that God loves everyone in the world. This is why Christians must respect all people. The emperor Nero wanted all people to *worship him. Many people were afraid of him. Peter told his readers to respect rulers, but not to *worship them like God. *Worship is for God alone.

Servants and masters

v18 Servants, you must obey your masters and respect them. You must do this whether your master is good and kind or bad and unkind. v19 A person might have to suffer when it is not fair. Keep loyal to God. This pleases him. v20 If you do wrong things, you deserve punishment. There is no reason to *praise you, if you suffer the pain of this punishment. But if you suffer when you do good things, you should keep quiet. Then God will bless you.

v21 This is how you ought to behave because Christ suffered for you. He is a model for you to copy. v22 ‘He (*Messiah) did not *sin. He did not say anything wrong’ (Isaiah 53:9).
v23 When people insulted Christ he did not insult them back. When he suffered, he did not say bad things to them. Christ trusted God to judge what was right. v24 Christ carried our *sins in his body when he died on the cross. He did this, so that we can be dead to *sin. Now we can live a *righteous life. He accepted our punishment and he has healed us.

v25 You were like sheep that had lost their way. Now you have come back to the *Shepherd and he takes care of you.