Social Relationships

Stephen Terry

 

Commentary for the April 22, 2017 Sabbath School Lesson

 

“Slaves, obey your masters with all the respect you should give them. Obey not only those who are good and kind. Obey also those who are not kind. Suppose a person suffers pain unfairly because he wants to obey God. That is worthy of praise. But suppose you receive a beating for doing wrong, and you put up with it. Will anyone honor you for that? Of course not. But suppose you suffer for doing good, and you put up with it. God will praise you for that. Christ suffered for you. He left you an example. He expects you to follow in his steps. You too were chosen to suffer.” 1 Peter 2:18-21, NIV

The picture to the left is from the 2004 movie “The Passion of the Christ.” The very dramatic illustration is included to make clear what Peter is referring to when he writes of Christ’s suffering being an example for us. How many are prepared to go this far in obedient submission to those in authority? Do Peter’s words represent what God truly wants for each of us? Such questions can make all the difference in the direction our faith takes us. Some might view the picture and turn away with revulsion, vowing that if that is what Christianity requires, they want nothing to do with it. Others, impressed by the level of love that would drive someone to endure so much, will be drawn to ward such a faith. No doubt the soldiers who inflicted such suffering felt that they were on the right path and saw Christ’s suffering as evidence that He was not. They were unable to relate it to their world view. But what about us today?

The United States, where I live and write this commentary, was founded on the principle of resistance to authority. The collection of ne’er-do-wells, opportunists and those fleeing religious persecution arrived in North America and found a greater freedom than could be enjoyed under the European monarchies. After over a century of living with that freedom, they found it hard to return to the old ways when England grew ever more willing to assert royal control over the American colonies. If the counsel of Peter’s epistle were followed literally then the colonists should have acquiesced to the crown and suffered quietly under George III’s rule. However, they did not and with the motto of “Don’t Tread on Me,” they rose in revolt against their British overlords, eventually pushing through to victory at Yorktown and receiving independence from Great Britain. Was this then an un-Christ-like response to those who had the rule over them? This question becomes even more troubling for those who see the lamblike beast of Revelation, chapter thirteen, as being a symbol of the United States and therefore a fulfillment of God’s will according to prophecy. How can that be if we are to be submissive to those that have the rule over us?[i]

Ironically, almost immediately after obtaining such independence from England, some in the colonies could see the hypocrisy of successfully striving for and obtaining freedom while an entire race of human beings was enslaved and working the plantations of the Southern Colonies. A movement for abolition of that slavery was birthed and began to struggle against those in power that would perpetuate such an institution. While a few former slaves like Frederick Douglas were able to actively participate in that struggle, most of his race were shackled, beaten and otherwise cowed into submission and silence. The system gave no more thought to what the rights of these slaves might be than to those of cattle or sheep. In some cases, the livestock may have had the better part of the bargain. In too many cases those having the responsibility for these oppressed souls felt themselves to be good, Bible-believing followers of Jesus Christ, even quoting scripture to support the abuse of their hapless victims. How galling it must have been for slaves to hear their masters quote the very verses Peter wrote above to justify their position of responsibility and ultimately their perverse cruelty.

It is little short of a miracle that so many of those slaves nonetheless found something in the Bible they could cling to and embraced the very faith their masters used to justify their continued enslavement. They found a like experience in the account of Israel’s enslavement in Egypt and looked forward to a day when they, too, would be sent a deliverer to lead them out of slavery and into the Promised Land. The metaphor became so strong a part of the black experience in the United States that it not only found its way into the spirituals sung by the slaves, but also persisted into the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s and found expression in the speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. Perhaps in some ways, he was a modern Moses leading his people out of oppression.

However, in the middle of the 19th century, a great war was fought because two opposing perspectives, both claiming biblical support could not find common ground over the slavery issue. The Civil War laid hundreds of thousands of white Americans in their graves in order to settle the issue. Later in the conflict, freed blacks enlisted in the Union Army and also offered up their lives on behalf of their enslaved brothers and sisters. When the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln in January of 1863 the death knell of slavery was sounded, providing the North could win the war. Anticipating that freedom, the union armies in the field announced to the slaves wherever they went that freedom was now theirs, and many slaves left their plantations, further crippling the economy of the South and their ability to continue resisting. For that generation, Abraham Lincoln was seen as a deliverer, and the name “Abraham” became a very popular name among the former slaves, being taken as a surname or given as a first name.[ii] Unfortunately, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, some Southerners on the losing side of the conflict continue even to this day to deny that the issue that precipitated the war was slavery, but rather states’ rights, an issue that itself has become much politicized over time. But that is not our focus here. Instead we must address whether Peter’s words if followed to their logical conclusion would have left every slave still in his or her shackles because rising up against the constituted authorities was biblically forbidden.

Many liberation movements have arisen throughout history. In fact, we now have even a theology branch focused on the issue called Liberation Theology. Can we decide based on Peter’s epistle that they are either wrong or right carte blanche? Or is it not so simple? Some have questioned whether or not Peter even wrote these words because the epistles are written with the Greek of the Septuagint, not a form typically familiar to the Jews of Palestine but more commonly used by those in the Diaspora. There are also some anachronisms in the epistles that do not quite match with the understood date of Peter’s death in Rome early in the 7th decade. But whether these arguments are valid or not does not need to become an issue for there is plenty about Peter that calls into question applying the words above in a singular manner to every situation involving the oppressed and their oppressors. Peter, when given the opportunity to submit himself to authority, demurred. He proclaimed to the Sanhedrin, “We must obey God rather than human beings!”[iii] Much of the persecution endured by the early church was the result of those early believers choosing not to submit to the authorities. Peter’s words to the Sanhedrin seem to contain a clue as to why this was so. When those in authority are exercising that authority in direct contradiction to the will of God then apparently it is not only permissible to stand in opposition but may even be required of the Christian believer. But that caveat is not included in Peter’s words above or in Paul’s words in Romans, and a biblical literalist may have problems with that idea. However, as the old saw goes, actions speak louder than words and the actions of the early church and Peter in particular seem to indicate that such a caveat does indeed exist.

In summation then, as Christians we appear to have an obligation to respect the constituted authorities and to obey the laws and rules those authorities are responsible for enforcing unless it can be clearly seen that those statutes conflict with the revealed will of God. Such obedience contributes to the proper functioning of a well-ordered society and to the peace and prosperity of all, including Christians. Through the requirement to rise up in opposition when those rules are not in harmony with God’s will, Christians have opportunity to participate in the development of biblically sound regulations that will benefit everyone, whether it is emancipating slaves, women’s suffrage, or ending discrimination that makes victims of any class of people. That is a tremendous responsibility and also a wonderful privilege. Let us use it wisely.



[i] Romans 13:1-5

[ii] "Distinctively Black Names in the American Past,"  Lisa D. Cook, Trevon D. Logan, John M. Parman, National Bureau of Economic Research, February, 2013

[iii] Acts 5:27-29

 

 

 

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