I wanted some clarification on what Peter says in I Peter 2:16.\u00a0What does Peter mean when he says “Live as people who are free”? The context throws me off a bit because he’s talking about being submissive to authority.<\/p>\n\t
“Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority,\u00a0\u00a0 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.\u00a0 For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.\u00a0 Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God.\u00a0 Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king<\/em>” (I Peter 2:13-17).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Peter is telling Christians that they must submit to governments because God commanded it. True, as Christians we are serving God first, but we still must give honor to those God has placed in authority. Some think their freedom from sin means they can rebel against the government, but that is merely an excuse to sin since God said we are to submit to governing authorities.<\/p>\n
Paul takes the same idea further when he said not to use our liberty in Christ as an excuse to serve worldly desires (Galatians 5:13). The reality is that when we serve sin, we are no longer free (II Peter 2:18-19).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I wanted some clarification on what Peter says in I Peter 2:16.\u00a0What does Peter mean when he says “Live as people who are free”? The context throws me off a bit because he’s talking about being submissive to authority. Answer: “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[790,310,944,416],"class_list":["post-50978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-freedom","tag-government","tag-i-peter","tag-submission"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16491,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/submission\/","url_meta":{"origin":50978,"position":0},"title":"Submission","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How you perceive something often depends on your approach. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Let me illustrate: A business man was interviewing applicants for the position of divisional manager. He asked each applicant the simple question, \u201cWhat is two and two?\u201d The first interviewee was a journalist. His answer was \u201ctwenty-two.\u201d\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17449,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-a-husbands-faith-grow-if-his-wife-does-not-submit-to-his-authority\/","url_meta":{"origin":50978,"position":1},"title":"How can a husband’s faith grow if his wife does not submit to his authority?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I want to express my appreciation for those behind this website. You are doing great work for the Lord. Now my questions: The problem of submissiveness: How can the husband grow in faith when his wife does not submit to his authority? Divorce: Does forgiveness means that we must\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1903,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-women-use-head-coverings-when-praying\/","url_meta":{"origin":50978,"position":2},"title":"Should women use head coverings when praying?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 4, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Should women use head coverings when praying? Answer: Consider also this similar question: Is it proper for a man to pray while his head is covered? The overall point in\u00a0I Corinthians 11:1-16\u00a0is a discussion concerning authority, leadership, and submission. Paul states, \"I want you to know that the head\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24756,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-women-less-than-men\/","url_meta":{"origin":50978,"position":3},"title":"Are women less than men?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Are women less than men? Because the Bible says it's disgraceful for a woman to talk in the church. Seems like she's something dirty. Answer: I wonder about the question because I don't believe you think your mother or any other woman is inferior. It leaves me with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1613,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-a-veil-required\/","url_meta":{"origin":50978,"position":4},"title":"Is a veil required?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 29, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When you say that long hair is the acceptable covering, is that what the Bible means or does it require a veil? Answer: I looked through my past writings and I cannot find the article to which you are alluding, but I assume you are referring to the pages\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41851,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/truth-about-submission\/","url_meta":{"origin":50978,"position":5},"title":"Truth about Submission","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 12, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Submission has taken a bad rap in today's world. It is seen as terrible and abusive, and, sadly, that portrayal has often been justified by how people treat one another. The lack of kindness in today's world is disturbing. People have misused submission through selfish applications that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50978\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}