Live as free slaves of God

Read 1 Peter 2:16

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Submission to human authority (2:13-15) sounds like a restriction but it’s an expression of our Christian freedom. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Gal.5:1). In Jesus there is freedom from sin and from its power in our lives – he “loves us and has freed us from our sins” (Rev.1:5b). This means that we are no longer slaves to sin but “have become slaves to righteousness” (Rom.6:6,18; Jn.8:32,36).

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As Christians we are free to do right but not free to do wrong. The freedom we have by God’s grace must never be used to “indulge the sinful nature” (Gal.5:13a; Rom.6:1) i.e. as a “cover-up for evil” (16). Rather, we are to give ourselves to God to do what is right (Rom.6:13) and submission to rulers is part of the good that we do “for the Lord’s sake” (2:13).

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So we do that because we are "servants of God”. Literally, we are God’s slaves. It’s because we submit to God as our Lord that we are free to submit to others out of obedience to God, in “whose service is perfect freedom” (Book of Common Prayer cf. Jas.1:25). His commands are a delight and not a burden (1 Jn.5:3). Our freedom in Christ should always result in service – of God, of society, and of one another (Gal.5:13b).