1 Pet. 2:16. As free,
The connection of the speech is as follows. Be submissive, as free people, as servants of God. Honor not only rulers, but all people; love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. "As free." John Chrysostom explains these words thus: "Lest they should say: we have been freed from the world, we have become citizens of heaven; why do you again subject us to rulers and bid us obey them? For this reason he says: submit yourselves as free, that is, as those who believe in Him who freed you, and yet who commanded submission. For by this you will show that you do not use the freedom by which you refuse obedience as a cloak for deliberate malice, that is, for insubordination and disobedience." One can also say something about this expression ("as free") in another sense. Free in the Lord is the one who is not subject to anything immoral. To live hypocritically is characteristic not of a free person, but of one who is enslaved to the passions — for example, given over to people-pleasing or some other shameful passion. But the servants of God must be far removed from and alien to the passions. Therefore he now commands that submission to the authorities be rendered good-naturedly and sincerely, without hostility toward them and not under compulsion, not harboring malice in the heart, not pretending to be sincere and simple, rendering obedience not outwardly only, but with heartfelt disposition.
1 Pet. 2:16. not as using freedom for a cloak of evil,
This can be briefly expressed as follows: outwardly appearing simple and sincere, as if under the guise of freedom, but upon examination proving to be terrible and entirely different from what they are in appearance.
1 Pet. 2:16. but as servants of God.
1 Pet. 2:17. Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.
1 Pet. 2:18. Servants, submit yourselves to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh.
1 Pet. 2:19. For this is pleasing to God, if anyone, thinking of God, endures sorrows, suffering unjustly.
1 Pet. 2:20. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you endure it patiently? But if, doing good and suffering, you endure, this is pleasing to God.
1 Pet. 2:21. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.
1 Pet. 2:22. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.
See what precision. To God, he says, render fear, and to the king honor. But if one must have fear before God, who is able to destroy "both soul and body" (Matt. 10:28), then we must not obey kings when they command us to do something immoral. For the fear of God knows how to overcome even reverence for kings, and when they compel one to evil, it even deprives them of honor, according to the words of the saint: "the evildoer is despised before him" (Ps. 15:4). The word "fear" is used in various meanings. Fear is called, first, conscious fear; the apostle now calls it conscience; it is also called reverence. Fear is called, second, passionate fear, experienced in the face of impending punishment; this fear is observed even in animals. Fear, third, is called initial fear, which occurs in those approaching the Lord as a result of the awareness that for their many transgressions they are worthy of punishment; moved by such fear, the harlot mentioned in the Gospel came to the Lord (Luke 7). Fear is also called perfect fear, which is always present in all the saints. For they are afraid lest they be found lacking in anything that ought to be found in those filled with perfect love. The apostle, urging servants to obey their masters "with all fear," does not eliminate the thought that servants should relate to their masters "with fear" in all the aforementioned meanings. For initial and perfect fear, if they possess it, disposes them to good conduct: the first impels them to guard against transgressions so as not to suffer anything unpleasant for them; the other instills in them not even to think of doing anything unpleasant to their masters. So here the apostle speaks of fear according to conscience, that is, according to the awareness of duty. It is brought upon servants by dishonorable masters even when the servants are guilty of nothing. Approving this fear, the apostle commands them to endure everything with patience. Since those who fear suffering for sins actually committed or from the commission of which they have been preserved, if they suffer anything for those sins, reveal themselves to be prudent servants inclined toward correction. But incomparably higher is the wisdom of the one who, being conscious of nothing bad in himself, endures everything with gratitude. This is a great feat, accomplished by few and drawing down the special favor of God, since such a person emulates the sufferings of Christ, since Christ too suffered not for His own sins, for He "committed no sin" (Isa. 53:9), but suffered for us and for our sins. "For the transgressions of My people He endured punishment," says the prophet (Isa. 53:8). This praiseworthy fear is what the apostle sets forth, but he no less desires that servants be guided by the other fears as well. And this is evident from his words: "with all fear." However, above the other fears he placed the fear of conscience, and in the clearest manner expressed that only this fear is worthy of praise; since the other fears have a cause for the masters' anger against the servants, but this one does not.
1 Pet. 2:23. Being reviled, He did not revile in return; suffering, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to the Righteous Judge.
1 Pet. 2:24. He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having been delivered from sins, might live for righteousness:
Perhaps someone will say: "How does the apostle Peter say here that the Lord, when He was reviled, did not revile in return, and when He suffered, did not threaten, when we see that He calls the Jews dogs, deaf, the Pharisees blind (Matt. 15:14), says to Judas, 'it would have been better for that man not to have been born' (Matt. 26:24), and on another occasion: 'it shall be more tolerable for Sodom than for that city' (Matt. 10:15)?" We answer: the apostle does not say that the Lord never rebuked or threatened, but that when He was reviled, He did not revile in return, and when He suffered, He did not threaten. For if He sometimes rebuked, it was not in retaliation against those who reviled Him, but He reproached and rebuked those obstinate in unbelief. Those who reviled Him said: "You have a demon" (Jn. 7:20); "He casts out demons by the prince of demons" (Matt. 12:24); and "Behold, a man who loves to eat and drink wine" (Matt. 11:19) — when He heard these things, did He revile in return? Not at all. But to some He said: "If I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?" (Matt. 12:27). And those who called Him a lover of eating and drinking wine, He likened to "children" playing in the marketplace and saying to their companions: "We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang dirges, and you did not weep" (Matt. 11:16–17). And when He hung on the cross and suffered, He not only did not threaten, but even prayed for the evildoers: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). He threatened Judas in order to turn him away from his betrayal. Likewise, to those who would not receive His disciples, He declared that it would be worse for them than for the Sodomites, in order to incline His hearers at least through fear toward hospitality and toward what is salvific for them. Therefore the word of the apostle Peter, urging gentleness by the example of the Lord, is entirely true. "He committed all to the Righteous Judge" (1 Pet. 2:23); that is, to God, who at the future judgment will render to each one "according to his deeds," without any "respect of persons," in pure justice (1 Pet. 1:17).
1 Pet. 2:24. By His wounds you were healed.
1 Pet. 2:25. For you were as sheep going astray (not having a shepherd), but have now returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
When, by Pilate's order, He was scourged, He endured on His body the wounds from the blows as well.