A Problem with Authority

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.  1 Peter 2:13-14  NASB

Every human institution – Look, Peter is obviously wrong!  If we did what he says, we’d bow down to men like Hitler, Idi Amin Dada, Pol Pot, or Stalin.  We would never protest inhumane treatment.  We’d go along with every pogrom.  We’d march to the drumbeat of terror, brutality, and torture.  And, as a matter of fact, verses like this have been used by governments to squelch a higher order of moral commitment.  How many times have you heard some Christian repeat Paul’s glorious mistake, “Every person is to be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God” (Romans 13:1), as justification for some despicable action?  Enough to make exegetes and theologians squirm!

How can we even imagine that Peter and Paul were correct when we have the following statement from the Master himself?

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me” (Matthew 28:18).

If all authority has been given to the Messiah, what’s left for self-serving kings, dictators, or egomaniacs?

So, what do we do with these insane, unrealistic statements from Peter and Paul?  Just ignore them? Fortunately, Mark Nanos clarifies Paul’s statement.  Paul is not writing about “every human institution.”  He’s writing about the leaders of the synagogue, who are actually there to represent God’s character.  Paul’s audience is Gentiles who have come into the Jewish assembly.  He reminds them that they are now under the authority of the spiritual leaders of that assembly.  That’s difficult enough.  But there is no way Paul is telling his audience to be subject to Nero.  Nanos makes that clear.

Peter, however, is another kettle of fish.  “Every human institution” certainly seems to include Nero, et. al.  Virtually every English translation indicates such with words like “every human institution,” “all human authority,”  “all the ordinances of men.”  Frankly, it’s ridiculous!  No follower of the God of Israel could accept such instruction.  If Peter’s comment is true, then the Exodus would never have happened and there would be no nation of Israel.  Commentators recognize the problem and go to great lengths to find a way around it.  Here are two typical examples:

Ellicott’s Commentary:

Literally, to every human creation, i.e., to every office or authority which men have established. It is not only to ordinances of directly Divine institution that we are to submit. Mind that he does not say we are to submit to every law that men may pass. This passage is most directly modelled on Romans 13:1, et seq., where the reason assigned for submission is the same as that in John 19:11, viz., that ultimately the authority proceeds from God Himself. Here, however, the thought is quite different. They are to submit, but not because of the original source from which the authority flows, but because of the practical consequences of not submitting. . . This difference of treatment, in the midst of so much resemblance, shows that at the date of St. Peter’s letter there was much more immediate cause for laying stress on political subordination. St. Paul, writing to the Roman Church, urges submission to Claudius, because the Roman Jews (among whom the Christians were reckoned) were often in trouble and expelled from the city of Rome (Acts 18:2); St. Peter, writing in all probability from the Roman Church, urges submission to Nero and the provincial governors because “ignorant and foolish men” were beginning to misrepresent the Christian Church as a kind of Internationalist or Socialist conspiracy.[1]

The Pulpit Commentary:

St. Peter bids his readers to submit themselves to the de facto form of government. For the Lord’s sake. Not from human motives, as fear of punishment; but for the Lord’s sake, because “the powers that be are ordained of God,” and in obeying them we obey the ordinance of God. Christians were commonly accused of insubordination, of doing “contrary to the decrees of Caesar” (Acts 17:7); they must show by their conduct that these accusations are false, that the progress of the gospel be not hindered.[2]

You can see the wiggle.  Ellicott is unacquainted with Nanos’ study.  The Pulpit Commentary is a political extension unlike Peter’s Jewish view.  If Peter is thinking like Paul, then his statement is not objectionable because it is not politically focused.  But if he actually means “every human authority,” without qualification, then we would have to ignore the next remark, that is, the purpose of such “human authority” is to punish the wicked and praise the righteous.  Insofar as human authority does not do this, there is no reason to submit to it.  After all, human authority is supposed to model God’s behavior and when it doesn’t, it abdicates authority.

Let’s be clear.  English Bible translations are far too often an extension of the Church’s claim over Man, and the Church was far too often in bed with the government.  Time to reread the text.

Topical Index: authority, human institution, government, Romans 13:1, 1 Peter 2:13-14

[1] https://biblehub.com/1_peter/2-13.htm

[2] Ibid.