1 Peter 2:13-15 (JDV)

Rev. Jefferson Vann.

1 Peter 2:13-15 (JDV)

Jefferson Vann explains his translation of 1 Peter 2:13-15.

13 Submit to every human creature because of the Lord, whether to the king as the superior 14 or to governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do right. 15 Because it is God's will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good.

I had some problems with how modern translations treat this passage. They tend to label this section something like "Submission to Authorities" as if Peter's goal is to get Christians to fall in line with the pagans and mindlessly submit to every law and decree made by the emperor and his lackies. That did not sound right to me. It didn't seem consistent with the Peter who defied the authorities in Jerusalem when they commanded him not to teach in the name of Jesus. Has Peter changed his mind? Is he now saying that government is our friend, and it is the Christian's obligation to mindlessly obey everyone placed in authority over them?

There are some Christians who think the Bible is about two things. It is about the gospel of God's grace -- the offer of eternal life through trusting in Christ's death on the cross for our forgiveness and eventual resurrection to live eternally. All Christians believe the gospel.

But some insist that the Bible teaches a second message -- a message of governance. They teach that to live biblically we must also submit to the social and political hierarchies set up by men. Nations, churches, and families have hierarchies, and we should submit to them too. Nobody is equal. Everybody has a place on the totem pole.

As I began studying this passage in Greek, I noticed that Peter is not really teaching that message of governance here. He has not changed the subject of his letter. He's teaching his readers how to live the gospel. We see hints to that fact in the phrase "because of the Lord" in verse 13 and the phrase "Because it is God's will" in verse 15. If Peter is addressing the behavior of his readers, it is not so that they can be good Roman citizens. It is for them to effectively witness to the gospel message. They are not just to submit to those in authority, but to submit to everyone because it is God's desire to save everyone.

For that reason, I took another look at that word κτίσις in verse 13. Most modern translations render that word as authority or institution. Those translations fall in line with that message of governance. But when I looked up all the instances of κτίσις in the New Testament, I found that this is the only text where it is translated that way. Usually, κτίσις is translated creation or creature.

Paul, for example, used it to say that idolators worship the creature (κτίσις) rather than the creator (Romans 1:25). He also used it to say that physical circumcision does not matter. What matters is being a new creation (κτίσις) (Galatians 6:15).

The author of Hebrews used it to affirm that there is no creature (κτίσις) hidden from God's sight (Hebrews 4:13).

So, if we translate the word in verse 13 with that gloss, we will render the phrase "Submit to every human creature." This would make the verse consistent with the rest of the passage because verse 17 concludes the idea with "Honor everyone. Love the brothers and sisters. Fear God. Honor the king." The message of this passage is not submission to a select group of civil authorities, church authorities or male heads of households. The message is voluntarily submit to everyone because everyone you meet needs Jesus.

The message of the New Testament is not a new law of governance, it is a new gospel of grace. All Christians are called on to voluntarily submit to every human creature because every human creature needs to hear and respond to that gospel.

{To watch the video of this article, go to https://jeffersonvann.com/2023/08/16/1-peter-213-15-jdv/}