Honour the king

Honour all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. - 1 Peter 2v17

I am deeply concerned about a tendency among Christians to feel compelled to be fighters and attackers. I have seen so much dishonouring other people, condemning the brotherhood, and dishonouring of leaders that it now seems to be somewhat commonplace.

I just want to focus on the last point today. When Peter wrote this letter Nero was the Emperor in Rome. Nero is not historically known as a friend of Christians and his policies would rival Hitler for cruelty and barbarity. Nothing about him would have suited believers. Many were killed in his reign. He was not a nice guy, and yet Peter writes, ‘honour the king.’

The word of God makes it clear that there is a general principle of submission to authority. We are called to submit in three basic spheres of human authority; the home, the state, and the church (in order of their establishment). All of these fall under the sphere of God’s authority.

Submission and honouring are two different things. There may come a time when it is impossible for me to submit to and obey human authority. This only happens when their commands come in direct opposition to God’s authority. When that happens I must choose to obey God instead of man.

What should my attitude be when that happens? I think the example of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are wise for us to examine. When commanded to bow down to the image of the king they could not do it. They simply stood. They did not protest, they did not picket, they did not try to shout down the trumpet. When arrested and taken to the authorities they showed total respect. In essence they said to the king, ‘We simply cannot obey this law. God will deliver us, and even if He doesn’t we still cannot serve your gods.’ The showed no disrespect and they did not question the king’s power to punish them. They honoured him and his position.

Why? They honoured him because they knew they could trust God no matter what happened. They knew their fate was not dependent on the king. Their fate was dependent on their Lord.

In a free society we have every right to speak up against unjust policies. We must speak up against clearly ungodly laws. We need not roll over and play dead. We can even work for the political defeat of elected leaders. But we must never find ourselves dishonouring the king.