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NORTH PINE BAPTIST CHURCH
Sunday 3rd August 2025
1 Peter 2:18-25
“Right Conduct: Employment”
Today we are going to focus on a section of Peter that deals with slaves and slavery.
I’ll read the section in a moment.
Before I do we need to separate our modern concepts of slavery from slavery as it occurred in the first century when Peter wrote this latter.
When we say “slavery” some of us might think of the slavery in America which continued until the 18th December 1865 when the U.S. Constitution outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude. It was a slavery where the African-American community were treated as non-citizens or even as non-humans. And, it could be argued, that the echoes of this slavery still impact American society.
Perhaps when you hear “slavery” your mind goes to many young girls in Thailand who, because of the perversion of men, are slaves in a trade that makes them nothing more than an object. The slavery which, even today, organisation like Destiny Rescue and A21 are actively working to end.
Slavery.
There are a whole range of modern scenarios where people have been deprived of their freedom, or deemed to be second class because of their race, or forced to work for little or no income, or treated as nothing more than a piece of property.
If we have that understanding of slavery in our mind as we read our text, we are going to find what Peter says very confronting, and even unpalatable. Let’s read 1 Peter 2:18-25
18 Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19 For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. 20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps.
22 “He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in His mouth.”
23 When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. 24 “He Himself bore our sins” in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by His wounds you have been healed.” 25 For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
If we hold in our mind a modern expression of slavery these words can be quite challenging. For it appears that Scripture condones slavery.
“Slaves submit to your masters even the inconsiderate ones, this is your calling”.
That is quite jarring isn’t it..
… is Peter saying that making people second class citizens is ok?
… is he saying that the brutalising of young girls is ok?
… is Peter saying that racism is ok?
No he isn’t.
The reason he isn’t is because slavery in the Roman world was a very different to all the examples of slavery I have mentioned so far.
Slavery was never based on race or racism.
There was never a specific group of people, or even a specific nation, that were the source of slaves. When the Romans conquered they set up a system of slavery everywhere they went – it was just what they did.
But not everyone from the conquered nation was made into a slave.
In fact, there were Roman citizens who chose to become slaves rather than live the life of trying to find seasonal work which was often inconsistent. In many ways slavery was a mechanism that people could use to better themselves and to get educated so that they eventually could become self-sufficient and manage their own business.
Slavery was never a permanent condition.
Slavery always had a pathway to freedom. Many non-Roman citizens would become slaves but, at some point, they would be granted freedom from their slavery.
The technical name for this is manumission.
Manumission resulted when they had lived a life of good behaviour and great service, or because they had raised enough savings to buy their freedom and become Roman citizens.
Slavery did not always mean having a terrible life.
It usually cost a year of wages to buy a slave. In many ways, slaves were a valuable investment. If a slave was sick a doctor would always be called – which was not always the case for a freeman. Slaves often had the chance to become educated—some were doctors, lawyers and accountants. In some cases the master could be illiterate, but the slave could read, and so the slave was highly regarded and there was a high level of trust.
Being a slave did not automatically mean being disrespected or treated as a second class.
There are many stories from the Roman world of the great friendship and respect that built up between a master and his slaves.
Stories where, as the master of the household prospered, that prosperity was passed on to the slaves. Which in turn resulted in quicker freedom.
Stories where slaves married the children of their master – again because of trust.
Slaves could be given sections of their master’s land and they were even able to build a home and have a family.
Slaves have been known to save the life of their master against conspiracy and murder.
In the first century Roman world slavery was very different to modern day slavery.
I’m not saying that it is right.
Nor am I saying that slaves were always treated well.
Slaves did not have the same rights as free citizens. And there were places where they were legally considered to be second class. But that is how slavery worked at the time.
And that is also how the economy worked – estimates are that up to one third of the population of the Roman Empire were slaves.
This is the social situation which Peter has in mind.
At the same time Peter also has in mind the principal which he spoke in 1 Peter 2:12
12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.
What Peter is doing in 1 Peter 2:18-25 is equipping God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia
… a third of whom statistically would have been slaves.
… some of whom owned slaves.
Peter is equipping the slaves on how they can live such good lives among the pagan slave owners that, though the society at the time accuse the Christians of doing wrong, they may see the good deeds of the slave and glorify God on the day He visits us.
How was a slave to “live good”?
By submitting to their masters in reverent fear of God
To submit means to put oneself willingly into subjection of another.
To willingly recognise that there are relationships, or social situations, where there is a calling to accept the authority of one who God has given the right to have authority.
Submitting because of reverential fear.
… not on the basis of how the one who is in authority behaves.
… not on the basis of what I think is and is not acceptable behaviour.
… but because of my reverence of God.
That is the calling and equipping God is placing upon the Christians who are slaves.
This call for submission has already occurred in 1 Peter.
Just a little way back in 1 Peter 2:13-17 we read
13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by Him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. 17 Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honour the emperor.
In the original preaching plan we were going to cover these verses last week along with 1 Peter 2:11-12.
In the end the sermon last week focussed much more on verse 11-12.
But we have only fairly recently
… in the Keep In Context Series.
… we have fairly recently talked about a biblical response to authorities. It was when we looked at Romans 13:1
1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
Be subject is the “submission” word.
Both in Peter and in Romans we see that the authority God gives to governing authorities is not established only when those authorities rule using God’s law
… or when the authorities are nice.
… or when we feel they are being fair.
The authority which governing authorities have is established merely by the fact that God has established it. That authority exists irrespective of how the governing authority behaves.
In a slave/master relationship the governing authority is … the master.
That is how God has established the situation for that moment.
And in that moment
… for the Lord’s sake.
… because God has established the authority.
… out of reverent fear.
slaves submit.
Which is a huge calling, isn’t it.
How difficult it must have been for the Christians in the first century to follow this calling.
We even have a letter – the letter of Philemon.
A letter where Paul finds himself between
… Philemon – a Christian who is a slave-owner.
… and Onesimus – a Christian slave owned by Philemon who has run away.
Submitting to masters in reverent fear of God is a huge calling.
It is messy.
It raises all sorts of questions.
Yet that is the calling when masters are good and considerate, but also when they are harsh.
When we read through these verses we need to understand that Peter isn’t giving a theological justification for or against slavery. All Peter is doing is recognising that this is the current social environment the Christians need to live in. And, in that environment, “good living” will take the form of slaves living in submission to all masters – irrespective of treatment.
Not over-throwing the system.
Not becoming revolutionaries.
Not constantly complaining.
Not focussing on the injustice.
But submission to the masters. That is the calling Peter casts for how slaves should live out their Christian lives within the constraints of this prevailing social system.
Now perhaps you are sitting there thinking, “That is all very interesting but, in case you haven’t noticed, Allan I am not a slave.”
Are you sure?
Remember we can’t have in mind our modern understanding of slavery.
We need to keep in mind the social systems in the first century.
Where the system applied to all people irrespective of race, background, or any other reasons that get used to justify racism.
Where the system was focussed on people bettering themselves and contributing to the community.
A system that gave financial support to raise families, and build homes.
Where there are many examples of respect being shown to the slaves and where masters and slaves did work together and there could be bonds of trust.
Where this was the case for a third of the people who lived at that time.
No, we are not slaves.
But we can see that the social situation Peter is addressing in the first century is very similar to the social system we have in the 21st century,
We don’t call it slavery
We call employment.
Which, admittedly, can have moments when it feels like slavery.
Employment.
This is where these verses apply for us.
Being employees who living “good lives” in fear and reverence to God.
Doing this when our employers are good and considerate, but also when our employers are harsh.
Doing this because God Himself has placed us in an authority structure.
So, what could that look like to put these biblical principles in place for the many of us who are employees.
A good place to start would be doing what we are told.
Avoiding attitudes of entitlement, or laziness.
Not acting in a way that makes it apparent that you think a task is beneath you, or that you are being undervalued.
Completing tasks, whether we are being supervised or not.
Not just aiming for the bare minimum, but being able to always say this is my all.
Doing this even when there is no recognition, or praise, or thanks.
Because we are not doing it for the employers, but out of reverence for God.
We don’t have to be the most skilled, the most trained, the most educated. There may be others whose education and skills exceed ours – but no one should work harder and more faithfully than Christians – because of our relationship with Jesus.
The principles in these verses also mean we will give respect even when it isn’t earned.
It’s easy to submit to the authority of a employers who are good planners, and considerate, and who never make mistakes, or are poorly motivated. If our employer never got angry, or never had a bad day, and treated everyone with equity and was generous.
It would be real easy to submit to such a employer.
But employers are human. So we have to learn to submit to the ‘master-like’ authority of someone who may be a poor planner, or thoughtless and rude, or mistake prone. Sometimes, we have to work for someone who is very much our inferior in terms of competency or character. But we aren’t submitting to them because they are worthy of our submission. Rather, we submit to them because God—in His providence—has placed us, for a time, under their authority; and we ‘fear’ Him.
When we apply these principles we also recognise there may come a point where our fear and reverence of God overrules our fear of our employer.
Submission does not mean we have to do all we are told even if it is ungodly.
There will be harsh masters … and we will submit.
There will also be masters who are putting pressure on us to act immorally, or illegally, or in a way that is totally ungodly.
In such cases our fear of God overrules.
If we are in that situation we can’t let our desire to stay comfortable and not rock the boat.
Or we can’t let our fear of losing a job or losing friendships.
We can’t let the “what if” and the “why me” and the “oh no”.
We can’t let these things stop us from doing what is right according to our conscious before God. And it may mean suffering, and difficulty and ridicule and punishment. But God’s righteousness always comes first. And we have to trust that God will hold onto us and sort it out.
One more application.
We can’t let our work become our identity.
Yes we will be good employees and we will work hard.
And, when we do that, often the result is financial advancement.
The harder we work the more we get – and the temptation to become a workaholic becomes very real.
Where work becomes our identity and our god.
And our identity is not so much in God.
And where being a God follower becomes a task, and just hard work.
This is not fearing God.
Neither will it be a life which falls into the “good living among pagans” category – because living for work is a world view that many in our world have perfected.
Submission to masters – even those who are harsh.
That isn’t an easy calling.
Peter fully admits that reality.
19 For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God.
1 Peter 2:19
Putting these words into practise is not going to be easy
… there will be pain and unjust suffering.
But that is the command … and that is the call.
And it is a call that equips us and gives us a clear purpose.
So often I have people come to me and say, “how can I be a witness at work”? “My work can be 40-50 hours of my life. It isn’t appropriate for me to talk directly about Jesus. So how do I live for Him?”
The equipping to “live good” that Peter is giving here, is answering that question.
When we live good, as an employee, for no other reason than “I have a reverent fear of God above all else.
When we do that, we will be fulfilling the call to be the witness that our unbelieving work colleagues so desperately need.
Doing good know that
… yes it would be nice to work in a nice place, with a nice employer, among nice people.
… that would be nice.
But that isn’t the call. The call is to “do good” so that people who don’t currently know Jesus – will become those who praise Jesus on the day He visits us.
Even being willing to suffer – because the eternal salvation of our work colleagues is of greater importance than us being employees where everything is “nice”.
What a great purpose that is as we go about spending all those hours with our employer, and our fellow employees.
The purpose which Jesus gave us that, in our daily going, we make disciples.
Prayer
