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1 Peter 2:17
17 Honour [timao] all [pas] men. Love [agapao] the brotherhood [adelphotes]. Fear [phobeo] God [theos]. Honour [timao] the king [basileus]. KJV-Interlinear
17 Honor all men; love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. NASB
We have just finished a study, that in effect says that all people are worthless. Unbelievers are on the bottom of the worth ladder, and mature believers are on the top, given their relationship with God.
However, this is not to go to anyone's head. And so Peter reminds believers, that once a while ago, you, believer, were once in the worthless category, and you, believer, did not obtain value by anything you have done, but by the grace of God alone.
Therefore, disrespect toward anyone is out of line.
There is no one in this world that is better than you, and certainly no one who is less, as far as human relations go.
Therefore, honor men, or show respect toward the unbelieving world. Though they are going to the Lake of Fire, due to their own foolishness, that is no reason to be rude to anyone. After all, you do not know who is a believer and who is not. A person, anywhere on the planet, can believe in Christ through a mere thought, and many folks do believe, at very young ages, perhaps eight, ten, or twelve years of age.
But when they grow up, their life may be influenced by their local culture or religion, family or country, and so forth. They may seem to adopt the popular religion of their family, or they may venture off in search for their guru, or whatever, but in fact they are, or may be, Christians, though not practicing it. God knows their status, you do not.
Love the brotherhood. The brotherhood is a reference to our family in Christ, or fellow Christians.
Though most of us are only related because we are human, when we were saved, we all became members of the family of God, and thus we have a second and more secure relationship through Christ.
Love means doctrine. Review our study of love in 1, 2, and 3rd John. Love is not the emotional feelings or hugging gestures of emotions, but the content of the principles and mandates taught in the scriptures. Therefore, if we are all practicing doctrine as we should, then we are all on the came page, spiritually. And this alone would eliminate all of the many denominations that exist out there in the world.
But then, people do not ‘love’ the brethren, which is to say, that people have many different views of the Bible, and thus we have many denominations, etc. Most of the denominations split off from another one because of differing views, because of social ostracism, because of social power plays, because of politics, and so forth.
Honor the King, is a reference to the divine appointment of whatever government happens to be in power. It is a reference to authority, legitimate authority, of course. From the top of government down the local policeman walking his beat, from the coach to the teacher, from the traffic laws to family relationships, and so forth.
God established authority in many forms in order to provide stability for humanity. Crime, divorce, rebellion, tyranny, in its many forms, from politics and governments, to family difficulties, to social ostracism, all of these and more are reflections for mans failure to obey this command from God.
And when man is disobedient, what follows? Strife, problems, hate, sadness, revenge, and every imaginable problem you can think of, follows any form of disobedience. Authority was established not to embarrass a person, but to provide stability in society, and stability in society promotes an atmosphere for learning doctrine.
We, as believers, are guests in this world. We were not placed here to run it. We were placed here to grow up spiritually, to be obedient to God (to truth), and to otherwise prepare ourselves for the next life.
This life is temporary. The next life is the permanent one. The next life is where we cash in all of our spiritual points, so to speak.
Our spiritual life, fear (respect, awe, confidence, belief, faith) of God, is the single most important thing that will ever occur in our life. It is the driving force that binds together, all legitimately functioning believers (mature believers).
Though we do not know each other, though we have never seen God, nor heard His voice, we are all bound inseparably in doctrine.
