If the world is your home and everything you do is your oyster, beware, for your life is on the wrong foundation. Today, Peter addresses the slaves in bondage, suffering not being free to do what they desire in this world. As with all humans, they will go around only once in this world, but sadly their status in life will be as those who have no possibility of doing their own will, living as they desire in all situations. They will bow down to the wishes and controls of others. Peter asks these enslaved people not only to submit themselves willingly to good and considerate masters, but also to the harsh and cruel masters. Is Peter validating slavery and its tyrannies in this passage? No, Peter is expressing a truth of Christianity. This world and everything in it is not to be your oyster: what you are living for. Whether free or in slavery, we are not to live our lives as our flesh wishes but as God’s servants. Whether we agree or not, we are not independent of all authority. Jesus said there are two authorities in this world; we either have the devil as our father and master or God as our father and master. Jesus also said, No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. (Matthew 6:24) No man can live a double-minded life successfully. Since our nature is Adamic from our birth, we easily fall into the camp of fleshly desires and sinful pursuits, not in the camp of God’s will with the attributes of the Holy Spirit. Peter addresses which camp the slaves should be functioning in by talking about submission to good or bad masters. The good master is easy to serve; the harsh master is hard to serve. But submitting to the latter reveals the nature of God, while submitting to the good master is a matter of course for the flesh. Submitting to a harsh master reveals commitment to the Lord, for He went to the cross for his enemies, those who desired to humiliate, hurt, and kill him. Peter tells the slaves, if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. By suffering though the horrible conditions of a cruel master, the slave radiates light to the world and to his master. Such light might bring his master to God. If the slave strikes back passively or aggressively, his master will assess this action as typical of all humans. No divine light of God will shine in that situation.
In our times, we probably find Peter’s position on slavery rather disconcerting. Instead of telling slaves how to behave, why not come out against slavery? But in Peter’s world, two-thirds of the people in the Roman society were enslaved. Some of the slaves were the result of wars. Ending up on the losing side of a war caused people to become the property of the victors. Other individuals be0came slaves because of economic hardships. To survive, people sometimes sold themselves into slavery. Many were born into slavery, part of their family’s inheritance. Paul expresses this matter-of-fact social and economic reality of his time by saying to the Corinthians: Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them. (1 Corinthians 7:21-24) In this statement, he merely tells them that the reality of bondage is not the most important aspect in their lives. What is really important to the Christian is that he or she is free from the captivity of sin. Don’t let it trouble you if you are a slave. Don’t let your bondage to others be a major concern in your life in comparison to what you have been given IN CHRIST: eternal life. However, if you can gain your freedom, do so. With freedom to do what you desire, your life as a Christian, as a light in the world, may have more impact. You will not be restrained to a household or restricted to a parcel of land—you will express your life as a Christian to other families and other communities. Surely, Paul desired freedom for all people to spread the Good News, to travel freely and share God’s goodness with all people. He told the Corinthians to be content with their lives, not striving to be different, but to express God wherever they were and in whatever physical surroundings they found themselves. He did not want them to be slaves to men’s desires and activities. Even though slaves, they should not be enslaved by sinfulness. He wanted them to remember Christ purchased their freedom from sin at a price. The victorious life IN CHRIST is one of slavery to God. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:19-23) Peter and Paul were not sharing the good news of being delivered from the physical slavery of this world; they were bringing the good news of deliverance from the slavery of sin. They were not overly concerned about the condition or position of people in the world. They were concerned about the condition of the soul because eternal life was at stake. Gaining eternal life was much more important to them than gaining freedom from bondage to men.
By Christ wounds we have been healed from the finality of death. His suffering, his death, brought life to us. He bore our sins, bringing life and righteousness to us through the cross. In today’s focus, Peter tells the slave, who has a difficult master, to emulate Christ, to particulate in Christ’s suffering by enduring the wickedness of a froward master. By going though this difficult life with love and caring for even his master, the slave portrays the work of Christ on the cross. All of us IN CHRIST are slaves; none of us are the master. None of us has the right to live life as we desire. If we try to do that, Christ is not in control at those times. We should not function independent of God’s authority. When we become Christians, we repent of our old lives. We begin our new lives with Christ in the driver’s seat. Consequently, slavery in the flesh was no big thing to Peter and Paul, for they saw their lives as slaves to God. We too who name the name of Christ as our Lord are no longer to live our lives as we desire in the flesh. We live our lives as Christ desires. If we are trying to live a double-minded life; sometimes doing Christ’s will and sometimes doing our own will, we will fail as bright shining lights. No one wants to follow a double-minded person, sometimes earthly minded and other times heavenly minded. When we operate in the flesh, we want the things of this world: power, position, and money. Paul warned Timothy against seeking riches and said, But godliness with contentment is great gain. (Timothy 6:6) We cannot make this world our home, seeking worldly treasure, and remain happy in Jesus. We will not endure hardship with a contented heart if we are caught up with carnal thinking. Jesus said not to save up things on this earth, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:21) If we are earthly minded, we will not have sacrificed our lives, our freedom for others. We will not have displayed the attributes of the Holy Spirit by loving others unconditionally. If we try to have this world and Christ, we will lose everything. There is no other life than to be a slave to the Master. As Peter wrote in today’s verses, Jesus was sinless and without deceit. When He was insulted, He did not answer back. When He was suffering, He did not make threats against others. He trusted himself to his Father who judges fairly, and then He took our sins to the cross. We had all gone astray like wandering sheep, but now we can return to our good shepherd. Have you entrusted yourself to the one who judges justly? This means being content in all situations, for God will have the last word. No one will mistreat you and get away with it! No one will abuse you and escape God’s justice! God is just, God is holy. He will judge all things that were not righteous or good in this world. He will make everything whole. Slaves IN CHRIST, live as He would desire you to live. For once we were sheep with no one to care for us, all of us going our own way, but now we have a Shepherd, the Overseer of our souls, the Master of eternal life. Seek him!
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