1 Peter 2:13

Submit yourselves to every ordinance, &c.— See Romans 13:1; Romans 13:14. This epistle, we may recollect, is directed to the strangers scattered throughout divers countries; for in the ninth year of the emperor Claudius, the Jews (under which name the Christians were comprehended, as isplain from Acts 18.) were banished (from) Rome for tumults and seditions occasioned by their disputes. This banishment is mentioned by Suetonius, and the inspired writer of the Acts. St. Peter, therefore, in this epistle, was necessarily to mention and press obedience, the want of which in the Jews had occasioned the present distress of so many Christians. Thus, then, he exhorts his scattered flock, 1 Peter 2:11. Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; having your conversation honest among the Gentiles; that whereas they speak against you as evil doers; that is, particularly as disobedient subjects; they may, by your good works which they behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Then follows the general precept: Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake; whether it be to the king, or to governors, &c. How St. Peter's original words came to be rendered every ordinance of man, is not easy to be understood. The word Κτισις, rendered ordinance, signifies sometimes a creature, and the adjective αιθρωπινη joined with it, signifies human, which we have rendered of man: accordingly St. Peter's doctrine is plain; "Submit yourselves to every human creature; or to every man, for the Lord's sake." And that this is St. Peter's true meaning, will appear from the whole tenor of his discourse. It is usual with the best writers to set down the doctrine in general words, and then to reduce particulars: this is St. Peter's method in the place before us: "Submit, says he, yourselves to every human creature." This is the general point. He immediately descends to particulars: he begins with the king, as supreme; goes from him to governors appointed by him: 1 Peter 2:18 he comes to servants; when he has done with them, he goes to wives. All these particulars are included in the general rule. The expression of doing well is appropriated both by St. Paul and St. Peter, to denote the good of obedience, in opposition to the evil spirit which sets all government at nought. The promise made to obedience is in these words, Thou shalt have praise of the same. What is meant by praise, may be understood by considering, that as it is opposed to punishment, it must denote protection and encouragement, which are the only proper rewards that good subjects in general can expect from their governors; and so it signifies in the place before us. The Roman governors had the power of life and death in such provinces as those mentioned, ch. 1 Peter 1:1 and therefore there is the exactest propriety in the stile. If we further compare St. Peter and St. Paul together, and consider the subject they were upon, we shall find it necessary to take the expression of doing well in the restrained sense above mentioned: for what other good could they mean, consistently with their argument and subject? For the evil thing which they had then to contend with, was an opposition to all government in general; the good, therefore, theywould recommend, was necessarily submission in general. In the same restrained sense St. Peter uses these expressions, 1 Peter 2:12; 1 Peter 2:15; 1 Peter 2:20. We meet with the same word again, ch. 1 Peter 3:15 where St. Peter having mentioned the duty of submission which Sarah paid to Abraham, exhorts wives to follow her example, whose daughters they were; which he explains, by being in subjection to their own husbands: so that there can be no doubt of the use of the word in this place.