[AI translation] We have already spoken, from the preceding passage, of the great dignity and mission of God's chosen people, the holy lay-people, in this world, that they are a chosen nation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people to be saved, that as such they may proclaim by their very lives the mighty works of Him who called them out of darkness into His marvelous light. Now this task is further elaborated: the apostle turns his attention to the concrete realities of the world around him, and presents the pilgrim life by means of a resolution in various situations.The readers of the letter at the time were undoubtedly in a difficult situation in the society of the time. They lived in a pagan world which was suspicious and hostile towards them. It is clear from the letter itself that their pagan contemporaries 'slandered them as evildoers'. The most absurd rumours were being spread about Christians at the time. For example, that they worshipped donkey heads and drank human blood, were politically unreliable, and were secretly plotting to overthrow the Roman Empire. Every burglary, theft, arson was attributed to them, just to make them impossible to be accepted in society by any means. The result of all these unfounded slanders was, after all, the bloodiest persecution of Christians.
Under these circumstances, it is understandable that the innocent suspected Christians should have been preoccupied with the anxious question of how to relate to this society. How should they behave? How should they react to slander, how should they respond to being called evildoers? Should they defend themselves and resist? Or should they retreat from the world, separate themselves from pagan society altogether, shut themselves away to live out their faith in some quiet, safe corner of it? Or would the right thing to do be to assimilate as far as possible, to adapt to their pagan surroundings, so as not to provoke any clashes or stumbling blocks? Perhaps they should give up their meetings, their communal hearing of the Word, their communion, their church life, all outward manifestation and witness to their faith? What should they do? Surely it could not have been easy to find the right answers to these wavering questions!
And how topical they are! One of the most important questions for every serious Christian today is how to relate to the outside world. Should he confess his beliefs or hide them? Should he take an offensive or defensive stance against the influences, ideas and dogmas of the pagan world? Should he argue or remain silent, bear witness or remain silent? Should he close himself off from his environment or open himself up? Yes, how should we, children of God, followers of Christ, relate to a society that is not built and established on Christian foundations?
The apostle Peter, before giving the Holy Spirit's answer to this question, introduces the teaching here with a very emphatic word. "Beloved!" And this is not only a common or pious address, which might be replaced by another word, but the apostle is very serious here in what he says with this word. The original text does not say "beloved", but simply "beloved". So you are beloved," the apostle writes, "you are people who have been loved. People who know that you are very much loved by Someone! That is the great secret of those Christians in Asia Minor, that they are loved! That their lives are ruled by some great divine love. This love has lifted all the burdens of their dark and heavy past and has set them in a new, God-led present. And the same love is also watching over their future, guiding them towards their goal. The strength of this love surrounds them, carries them, protects them. So they are loved!
This is the deepest secret of the Christian life: to know and to live in and through this great, all-embracing divine love. There is also a visible sign of this love. This sign was once there on Calvary, proclaiming in a visible way that God so loved the world that, behold, He gave His only begotten Son for it. Those Christians in Asia Minor thus encountered the love of God: through the cross of Jesus Christ they received the love that was revealed there. That is why they loved! And that is why they are travellers and strangers. Although they have both feet on the ground of this world, this world is not the ultimate reality for them. Their true home is no longer here. They are not settled people, rooted in the earth, but people on the move, a group of pilgrims passing through. In this world, but not of this world! So this is the situation and the relationship we are in: beloved by God, strangers and sojourners from the world.
But as long as we are in this world, we cannot behave as if we were not, or were not of this world. So we cannot hide, withdraw, withdraw into quiet solitude, or become one with this world. How could it be conceivable that those who have experienced the fullness and richness of God's love could keep that love to themselves? To the heathen - to the modern heathen - whether they slander us or are indifferent to us, we owe a response, and not a verbal response, but a response of action. This is what the apostle is asking his readers to do when he writes: 'Conduct yourselves well among the Gentiles...' - the only Christian response to all the slander and accusations of the Gentile world. The apostle warns the Asia Minor to defend themselves against slander, not with words, explanations or convincing arguments, but by doing what is good! The Christian man must not justify himself against the accusations, nor hide from them in the obscurity of ignorance, nor adapt himself to them with clever tactics, hypocrisy, but must demonstrate his faith to the hostile world around him, and demonstrate it in the only authentic and understandable way: by doing good! "Wearing yourselves well among the heathen, wherein they revile you as evil-doers, of good works, when they see them, glorify God on the day of visitation. Obey therefore all the ordinances of men for the Lord's sake, whether of kings or of governors; whether of governors, as those whom he sends to punish the wicked, and to praise the doers of good. For it is the will of God that you should do good, and put to silence the ignorance of evil-doers" (1Pt 2,12-15).
We said last time that the church of Christ can live in any social system, because if the church loves and serves, it never collapses, but only grows. The church and the Christian man, even if he lives in a pagan environment like those churches in Asia Minor, is never a Christian in spite of the world around him, but for the good of the world around him. I never believe in Jesus and follow him in spite of my unchristian worldly environment - perhaps with a certain "just because" spirit - but I am always Christ's for the good, the beauty and the betterment of the world around me!
So, once again: not in spite of the world in which I live as a pilgrim, I still believe in God, but for the benefit of the world in which I am a pilgrim - I believe! And if my faith in Christ is not for the benefit of my worldly surroundings, then I am not believing in the real Christ, but in some Christ I imagine. Look, it is very clear and plain speaking: "Wearing yourselves well among the Gentiles, wherein ye are reproached as workers of iniquity, of good works, when they see them, glorify God in the day of visitation. Obey therefore all the ordinances of men for the Lord's sake, whether of kings or of governors; whether of governors, as those whom he sends to punish the wicked, and to praise the doers of good. For so it is the will of God, that ye should do good, and put to silence the ignorance of wicked men."
"Bearing ourselves" has unheard of persuasive power. Not far from here, in a street, in an apartment, a brother is now dying. In terrible agony, smiling and serene, he awaits certain death. Even on his tormented face the projected light of eternal happiness shines back, his whole being speaks without a sound that he who believes in Christ will never die! Here I saw with a shocking force that what this man could never have said in words with such credibility, with such lasting effect, to his environment about the forgiving and eternal life-saving power of Christ, is now said by his smile, his calm look, the whole demeanour of a man who has already conquered death by faith. Not only the death of a believer can be such a testimony to the power of Christ, silencing all opposition, suspicion and slander, but so can his life, and this is precisely what the apostle urges on newcomers scattered among the Gentiles: 'For it is God's will that you should do good, and put to silence the ignorance of foolish men' (1Pt 2,15).
It is striking that the apostle speaks first of the secular authorities, that is, of the Christian man's attitude to the authority of the state at the time, in relation to right conduct among the Gentiles. This was certainly the delicate point at which the churches came under most attack. It was easy to assume that Christians were secretly or openly resisting a state order that had passed the death sentence on Jesus. But how false was this prejudice of the secular authorities against the Christians of the time is shown by the very exhortation of the apostle Peter: "Obey therefore every ordinance of men for the Lord's sake, whether of kings or of governors; whether of governors or of those whom he sends to punish the wicked, and to praise the righteous" (1 Peter 2:13-14).
Behold, so positive is the apostle's and the whole New Testament's attitude, its attitude even towards pagan authority! Let us not forget here that the state of the apostles Peter was the state which, a few years after the writing of this letter, threatened the whole Christian church with extermination! It was the state of the most cruel pagan ruler, Nero. And yet, God's command is unmistakably this: "Obey therefore all the ordinances of men" (1 Peter 2:13), and that "You shall honour the king" (1 Peter 2:17b).
God's Word sees the state order as an external framework within which it is possible for people to live together. The state, with its lawful order, whatever it may be, is, if not the most powerful and ultimate, a powerful bulwark against the outpouring of the power of evil. The basic idea of the whole New Testament is that the supreme power, the state, is ordained by God 'to punish the wicked and to praise the good'. The state is therefore a divine order and must be respected. A bad king is God's punishment and must be accepted, a good king is God's gift and must be rejoiced in. The Christian man therefore has only one duty to the authorities: total obedience! And this obedience is "for the Lord", that is, for the Lord's sake, because He desires it.
Above the obedience to human orders, the Christian man always sees this word, which increases and empowers responsibility: 'For the Lord! He who obeys the measures of the secular authorities for the Lord's sake always obeys voluntarily and not under compulsion. "As free, and not as those in whom freedom is a cloak of evil, but as servants of God." (1Pt 2,16) A man who lives for the Lord is a liberated man. His freedom is precisely that he is free to serve, free to love, free to lay down his life. He has an inner freedom that is independent of the constraints of the external world. The result of this conduct will be that, in doing good - that is, in serving the whole human community honestly - the ignorance of the foolish will be silenced, misunderstanding will cease, and those who have been prejudiced against the followers of Christ will realize that they have been wrong.
Many a time, seeing the conduct of God's pilgrim people in the world, the heathen have said in disappointment, "Is this what Christ-followers are like? What if once the Gentiles should say with pleasant disappointment: Such are the believers in Christ! It would be as the apostle expresses it, "by good works, if they see them, they shall glorify God in the day of visitation."
Amen
Date: 3 October 1954.
Lesson
Róm 13,1-8