When Matt suggested going through 1 Peter for our sermons I thought, ‘Great’. Peter so succinctly captures the awesomeness of what God has done for us, sharing that prophets have been waiting for this moment for centuries and even the Angels are watching on in awe. God has brought us into the fold as his people, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. Peter then shows us how to live as God’s people, free and with significant eternal worth.
I said to Matt, that’s good, as long as I don’t have to teach on the passages about slaves submitting to their masters and wives submitting to their husbands. I find those passages tricky…
Today, we’re talking about slaves and wives…
The reason I find those passages so difficult is that these passages have been used by abusive ‘Christians’ and Christian societies as justification to oppress for 2,000 years. In my teen years, when we used to record movies off TV, I recorded ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ and watched that movie many times. At the peak of the story, a strong, beautiful Godly black man who always did what was right even if it got him in trouble was being whipped by his slave master to the point where soon after the slave dies of his wounds. While violently whipping the slave, the slave owner in a fit of rage quotes the passage we’re about to read. “Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.” (1 Peter 2v18)
It was passages like this that were used to hold up the feudal system in England where a very small minority lived in opulence, while the masses lived in poverty. The King and the Nobles used the passage we will hear today to teach that they were chosen by God to protect and manage the poor and so they needed to retain their power and wealth in order to fulfil that role. There is a stone church in every village in England right beside the manor house where the Church was used to maintain this system.
You’ll have to keep your wits about you today as we go through this passage. Are you ready? Today’s passage speaks into a world shaped by hierarchy, power, and inequality. But Peter is showing us what it looks like to belong to Christ while living as exiles or pilgrims in the world.
Last week Matt said that we need to read 1 Peter 2v11-12 as the core teaching that underpins the next several sections.
“Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” (1 Peter 2:11-12)
Your sinful desires wage war against your soul. Flip it and live such good lives that people will Glorify God.
Last time we thought about how Christians live under authority in society. Now Peter brings that same question into the home. What does it look like to follow Jesus in the ordinary relationships of daily life?
Live free, but as slaves of God.
Peter Writes to Exiles and 1st Gen Christians
Many of Peter’s readers were first-generation Christians. They had not grown up in Christian homes or in a culture shaped by biblical truth. They were learning, often painfully, what it meant to follow Jesus in a world that did not share their convictions.
Peter’s concern isn’t really about social order but about being witnesses for Jesus. In 1 Peter 2:11–12 he urges believers, as exiles in the world, to turn from sinful desires and to live such good lives that others may see their conduct and glorify God. Christians are meant to be recognisably different.
The World Peter Was Writing Into
In the ancient world, household codes were common. Writers like Aristotle and Xenophon laid out how a home should be ordered, and those codes usually centred on the authority of the male head of the household over wives, children, and slaves.
But here is the striking difference in the New Testament compared to other household codes of the time.
- Peter and Paul address women, children and slaves as their audience, present in the room as the letters are being read. Other codes command in their absence.
To dignify their positions, Peter linked the sufferings of slaves to the suffering of Christ and likened the obedience of women to the obedience of Sarah (1 Peter 2:18–25; 3:1–6). Paul encourages slaves and women to submit to the head of the household as “unto the Lord,” reminding both slaves and their masters that they share a heavenly Master who shows no partiality in bestowing eternal inheritance (Ephesians 5:22; 6:5).
For example, Paul said, “In Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female, for all are one in him.” (Gal 3:28) In the passage we will read today Peter says, “For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.” (1 Peter 2:16) Relationships are now transformed.
2. They also state the responsibilities that the masters and husbands have as peer children of God. Speaking to those who hold authority, and call them to honour, gentleness, love, and accountability before God. That was radically different from the culture around them.
In the Greco-Roman world, the head of the household was rarely challenged about how he used power. But Peter and Paul say Christ changes that. Husbands must honour their wives. Masters are accountable to God. The gospel speaks not only about obedience, but about the right use of authority.
Contemporary Grecko/Roman Philosophers
Socrates said, “If you get a good wife, you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.”
Aristotle said, “I’ve been afflicted with three calamities: language, poverty, and my wife.”
Aristotle described women as being “colder” and having less “vital heat” than men, which he believed made them more passive”.
In his biological works like ‘Generation of Animals’, Aristotle described the female as a “deformed” or “maimed” male, arguing that the female is less perfect than the male.
Aristotle said that some people were born to be slaves, while others were born to be slave masters. Slavery, he said, was a good thing for slaves, because without masters, slaves would not know what to do with themselves.
The same holds good of animals in relation to men; tame animals have a better nature than wild, and all tame animals are better off when they are ruled by man; for then they are preserved. Again, the male is by nature superior, and the female inferior; and the one rules, and the other is ruled; this principle, of necessity, extends to all mankind.
Aristotle described slaves as “animate tools”—pieces of property to be used, with no rights other than those granted by their masters.
Plato states that slaves are a body that belongs to another. Human-footed stock. A creature like a beast of burden.
About wives Aristotle said, let it be her aim to obey her husband; giving no heed to public affairs, nor having any part in arranging the marriages of her children. Let her hearken to her husband in all respects. It is fitting that a woman of a well-ordered life should consider that her husband’s wishes are as laws appointed for her by divine will.
Let her refrain from all complaint, nor charge him with wrong, but rather attribute everything of this kind to sickness or ignorance or accidental errors. Therefore, she will serve him more assiduously than if she had been a slave bought and taken home. For he has indeed bought her with a great price.
Jesus Redefines Greatness
That’s enough of the Grecko/Roman culture for now. If we want to understand Peter’s household instructions rightly, we have to read them through the life and teaching of Jesus. Jesus did not reinforce worldly ideas of power. He turned them upside down.
When the disciples argued about who was greatest, Jesus said the one who wants to be first must become the servant of all. In his kingdom, greatness is not about status. It is about self-giving service.
In speaking to them about authority Jesus said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25–28).
Whenever we talk about submission and authority, we must keep our eyes on the cross.
This aspect of Jesus’ legacy profoundly affected relationships in the early church, to whom Paul wrote: “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:5–8).
One reason Peter’s words sound strange to us is that in the ancient world, slavery and male dominance were treated as normal, desirable and the bedrock of society. Slaves were seen as property, and women were commonly viewed as inferior. That was simply the air people breathed in the first century.
Submission Is Part of Christian Witness
Peter moves through several parts of life: society, work, and marriage. In each case, his point is not that all authority is good or that all suffering should be accepted without question. His point is that believers belong to Christ, and so they are to live with such holiness, restraint, and courage that their lives bear witness to him.
Slaves, in reverent fear of God, submit yourself to your masters. If you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. Jesus is our example. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. He entrusted himself to him who judges justly. By Jesus wounds we have been healed. Jesus entrusted himself to God.
In the same way, wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands that they may be won over without words. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewellery or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
Sarah is the example given here. Even though her husband made some really dodgy choices and put her in extremely dangerous situations, Sarah submitted to him. Sarah did what was right. Peter says, ‘Do what is right and do not give way to fear. Sarah entrusted herself to God.’
Peter then talks to the husbands. ‘Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.’
Peter is realistic about this. It will often be hard. At the end of Chapters 2, 3 and 4 Peter talks about suffering. He is not promising that it is going to be easy – in fact, it’s most likely that it is going to be super tough. But Jesus is our example. He entrusted himself to the Father, endured unjust treatment, and walked the path of faithful obedience. So Christian submission is never passive. It is discipleship shaped by the suffering Christ. It is using your freedom as a servant of God’s.
This becomes even more striking when we remember that Peter wrote under rulers like Nero. Stood before the Sanhedrin stating that he couldn’t remain silent about Jesus. Christians are called to honour authorities, masters and husbands not because rulers are good, but because believers are free people who belong to God. They are not slaves of Caesar. They are servants of the Lord.
Christians are expected to be good citizens even in extreme situations.
What This Means for Us
We should not read this passage as permission for cruelty, domination, or the misuse of power. He is calling us to follow Jesus in the middle of a broken world. That includes using whatever authority we have with honour, humility, sacrifice, and love.
For some of us, the challenge is submission: to trust God and keep doing good even when it is costly. For others, the challenge is authority: to turn from self-interest and to lead, serve, and speak in ways that reflect Christ.
Peter’s vision is not just of well-ordered homes. It is of a church whose life together makes Jesus visible. As exiles in the world, we bear witness not only by what we say, but by how we live: with holiness, humility, courage, and cross-shaped love.
Often we wake up tired, distracted and plod through our day. Imagine if we could instead wake up and say, “Lord, thank you for another day to live for you.”
Questions:
- When you hear phrases like “submission” and “authority,” what reactions or feelings come up?
- What do you think it looks like to live as foreigners and exiles in everyday life—in our homes, workplaces, friendships, and church?
- How does Jesus’ example of suffering, service, and humility change the way we think about power and leadership?
What do you find most challenging about this? - Who are those that you are in authority over? In what ways can you follow Jesus’ example with the authority you have?
- What ordinary relationships in your life most need to be reshaped by the gospel right now?
What would it look like to live there with holiness, humility, courage, and cross-shaped love?