Speaking to Slaves

Slaves are those who had very few options about how to respond to authority. They had no luxury of refusal or availability of legal redress. Because they were not free agents but belonged to those who bought them, the submission of slaves was not a matter of choice but of mandate. Peter does not debate the wrongs of slavery but addresses the practical situation slaves are in, including how to submit to harsh slave owners. His advice can be read as trying to make sure Christian slaves did not bring worse problems on themselves. Yet it is more principled than simply pragmatic. He insists that part of Christian discipleship is to respect authority and acknowledge the responsibilities it brings.

The advice to accept unjust suffering with endurance seems strange to twenty-first-century ears. For us, a more appropriate Christian response would be to address the injustice and urge punishment for those who make vulnerable people suffer. However, Peter is here talking neither to the law-makers nor to the slave-owners: he is speaking to those without power–slaves–and helps them to cope with the hardships they might be enduring. Seeing an unjust beating as suffering “for doing good” (20) is on a par with Christ’s command to turn the other cheek. The injustice is wrong, but non-retaliation is a powerful victim response.

Since this is how Jesus responded, it brings empowerment for struggling Christians. Jesus lived as he taught, refusing to retaliate, even to the point of death. Christians who suffer unfairly and long for justice can still find strength for endurance from him. Yet Jesus’ suffering has one great difference: only he could die for our sins and restore us to a forgiven relationship with God. In relation to sin, we are all slaves and need to be released.

Think of authority figures you have had to deal with. How have you handled the difficult ones? What helpful lessons on the subject are in this passage?