This section of Peter’s letter emphasizes submission in the life of the believer. This is especially true when it comes to our relationship to government and people in authority.

of course, everything we do should be for the glory of the Lord and the good of His kingdom! But Peter was careful to point out that Christians in society are representatives of Jesus Christ.

to understand the real meaning of what Peter is saying we must understand something of the nature of slavery in the time of the early church.

In the Roman Empire there were as many as 60,000,000 slaves. Slavery began with Roman conquests, slaves being originally mainly prisoners taken in war.

It was not only menial tasks which were performed by slaves. Doctors, teachers, musicians, actors, secretaries, stewards were slaves.

In fact, all the work done in Rome was done by slaves.

Roman attitude was that there was no point in being master of the world and doing one’s own work.

Let the slaves do that and let the citizens live in pampered idleness.

It would be wrong to think that the lot of slaves was always wretched and unhappy, and that they were always treated with cruelty.

Many slaves were loved and trusted members of the family; but one great inescapable fact dominated the whole situation.

In Roman law a slave was not a person but a thing; and he had absolutely no legal rights whatsoever.