1 Peter 2:17 KJV
[17] “Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.”
Peter gives us four basic instructions to live by as believers. The first is to honor all men. How can we honor all men when some men live such dishonorable lives? We honor all men by being respectable and treating all men equally. We are to love all sinners as our Savior loves all sinners. We must care about their soul and respect their positions in this world. Honoring all men doesn’t have as much to do with where we are as it does with who we are. How we treat men reveals our true character and level of Christianity.
Then, we are to love our brothers in Christ. To the world, it seems strange that believers would have such a strong bond. They do not understand the family of God because they are not a part of it. Think about how difficult it would be to serve God without the brethren. Though none of us is perfect, we need each other. In Peter’s day, as the church was going through persecution, the fellowship of the brethren was refreshing. Looking back through my life, I remember how much God’s people meant to me.
A third instruction is to fear God. That does not mean to live in fear of Him, but it means having a reverential fear. It has the same idea of how we feared our fathers in the flesh growing up. There was never a doubt that we loved them, but at the same time, we feared them. We were not afraid of our earthly fathers, but we respected them. We serve our Lord out of great respect. We love Him and fear Him because He is our Creator. He saved us from Hell and gave us eternal life. We honor God by walking in His ways and knowing that our lives are in His hands.
Finally, we are to honor the king. Honoring the king is not always easy today, but think about the day Peter gave these instructions. Nero was a wicked and vile king. Daniel honored the ungodly kings of his day while living in Babylon. The Lord will give us grace to do right even when others are doing wrong. He will allow us to shine for Him in a dark hour. When the wicked rule and the world seems to be at its worst, we must remember these basic instructions. Remember, it is never right to do wrong, but it is always right to do the right thing. We will all give an account of how we treat others one day at the judgment seat.