1 Peter 2:18

18 Domestic slaves, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to those [who are] good and gentle, but also to those [who are] unjust.

1 Peter 2:18 Meaning and Commentary

1 Peter 2:18

Servants, be subject to your masters
This was another notion of the Jews, that because they were the seed of Abraham, they ought not to be the servants of any; and particularly such as were believers in Christ thought they ought not to serve unbelieving masters, nor indeed believing ones, because they were equally brethren in Christ with them; hence the Apostle Peter, here, as the Apostle Paul frequently elsewhere, inculcates this duty of servants to their masters; see ( 1 Corinthians 7:20 1 Corinthians 7:21 ) ( Ephesians 6:5 ) ( Colossians 3:22 ) ( 1 Timothy 6:1 ) ( 2 Timothy 2:9 ) the manner in which they are to be subject to them is,

with all fear;
with reverence to their persons, strict regard to their commands, faithfulness in any trust reposed in them, diligence in the discharge of their duty, and carefulness of offending them: and all this,

not only to the good and gentle;
those that are good natured, kind, beneficent, and merciful; that do not use them with rigour and severity; are moderate in their demands of service; require no more to be done than what is reasonable; allow them sufficient diet, give them good wages, and pay them duly:

but also to the froward;
the ill natured, morose, and rigorous; who exact more labour than is requisite; give hard words, and harder blows; withhold sufficiency of food from them, and keep back the hire of their labours.

1 Peter 2:18 In-Context

16 [Live] as free [persons], and not using your freedom as a covering for evil, but as slaves of God.

17 Honor all [people], love the community of believers, fear God, honor the king.

18 Domestic slaves, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to those [who are] good and gentle, but also to those [who are] unjust.

19 For this [finds] favor, if because of consciousness of God someone endures sorrows [while] suffering unjustly.

20 For what credit [is it] if, [when you] sin and are beaten [for it], you endure? But if you endure [when you] do good and suffer [for it], this [finds] favor with God.

Footnotes

• [a] *Literally "the"; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun