Font Size
Peter next addresses household servants who likewise must maintain good conduct even in their difficult situations. The general rule for servants is this: “Submit yourselves to your masters with all respect” (2:18). “Fear,” KJV, is not fear of the masters, but reverence of God, a fear basic to Christian life (1:17).
Peter’s particular interest is the difficult situation of servants whose masters are harsh or “cruel.” Christian servants must submit even to the harsh master. Of course, Peter assumes that the masters in question are simply mean men who ill-treat others without provocation. Thus he observes that when a servant provokes his master by disobedience or misconduct and receives a beating, that servant has not acted in a Christian way. But, when a servant, mindful of God, bears unjust treatment without retaliating, he demonstrates God’s grace at work (2:19-20). More importantly, to bear unjust suffering in this way is to fulfill the Christian servant’s calling (2:21-23). In beautiful and poetic words Peter lifts up Christ as the exemplar in whose footsteps these servants are called to walk. When Christ suffered he refrained from sin, deceit, retaliation, and threatening, and he committed himself to God who judges justly (2:22-23). Christian servants must do the same when they suffer.
On what basis can servants follow the example of Christ? They can because Christ’s sufferings are redemptive as well as exemplary. In his suffering, Christ “bore our sins in his body on the tree” (2:24). Christ provided a full remedy for the problem of human sin, which otherwise would preclude the possibility of following his example in suffering. Through Christ’s suffering we may be through with sins and live for righteousness (2:24). Moreover, in the wounds of Christ there is healing for these servants who sustain wounds from unjust suffering (2:24). Finally, by appropriating Christ’s work for them, they have come under the protective care of Christ who acts as the Shepherd and Overseer of their souls (2:25).
Peter urges Christian servants who suffer unjustly to meet suffering as Christ did. Yet he is not raising before them an impossible ideal. What these servants are urged to do, they are enabled to do as they appropriate the benefits of Christ’s suffering.