1 Peter 2:16
Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as an excuse to do evil; live as servants of God.
Text-Critical English NT
In The King James Version
As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
In Context
15For it is God's will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good.
17Give honor to all, love the brotherhood, fear God, and honor the king.
Cross References
John 8:32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Romans 6:18and having been set free from sin, you have become slaves to righteousness.
1 Corinthians 7:22For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is the Lord's freedman. In the same way, he who was called as a free man is Christ's slave.
Galatians 5:13You were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another in love.
Colossians 3:24knowing that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward; for you serve the Lord Christ.
James 1:25But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts. He will be blessed in what he does.
Matthew Henry on 1 Peter 2:14-25
Submission to Magistrates; Various Exhortations; Christ's Example as a Sufferer. ( a. d. 66.) 13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; 14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. 15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the… Read the whole commentary →