Caesar And God
CAESAR AND GOD
1 PETER 2:11-17
We are ultimately responsible only to God, but we are also to respect the earthly authorities.
Once again the subject changes. Peter urges his readers to behave as “foreigners and sojourners” are to; see also Philippians 3:17-21. As foreigners in this world there is no compulsion for them to live as worldly people. The world will malign them (2:12)—foreigners are often suspect—but on the day of judgment (“visitation”) it will acknowledge the truth before God; in Joshua 7:19 the phrase is used in the sense of “tell the truth.”
For 2:13-14, see Romans 13:1-7. As Christians we are free (2:16), citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20), and yet we are to accept the world order around us. That is because it is based on law, and the apostles knew that bad law is better than lawlessness and chaos. They would not have regarded the totalitarian tendency to “legalize” the wrongs it has committed as the rule of law. The difference is that under law one knows what is prohibited, under chaos one is at the mercy of those in power at the moment. The quiet bearing of injustice under the guise of law is always harder than plotting the overthrow of the unjust, but it is also always more effective in the long run.
Later parts of the letter make it clear that Peter knew that his readers might and would suffer for their loyalty to God, eg 3:13-17; 4:1,12-16, but that did not alter the principle. If Christ suffered unjustly, so can we. When Jesus said, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17), we often overlook that what is Caesar’s has been given him by God. To most believers comes the moment when they have to say to those in authority in the home, the church, the state, “Here I take my stand; I can do nothing else, so help me God.” When this happens, there is suffering and blessing. Unfortunately most of us take our stand on ground of our choosing, not Christ’s; then there is strife and division, not blessing. So often difficulties arise because we do not honor everyone (2:17); we regard them as potential salvation fodder, but no more.