1 Peter 2:16
Be free men, and yet do not make your freedom an excuse for base conduct, but be God's bondservants.
Weymouth NT (1912)
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
17Honour every one. Love the brotherhood, fear God, honour the Emperor.
Cross References
John 8:32and you shall know the Truth, and the Truth will make you free."
Romans 6:18You were set free from the tyranny of Sin, and became the bondservants of Righteousness--
1 Corinthians 7:22For a Christian, if he was a slave when called, is the Lord's freed man, and in the same way a free man, if called, becomes the slave of Christ.
Galatians 5:13You however, brethren, were called to freedom. Only do not turn your freedom into an excuse for giving way to your lower natures; but become bondservants to one another in a spirit of love.
Colossians 3:24For you know that it is from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. Christ is the Master whose bondservants you are.
James 1:25But he who looks closely into the perfect Law--the Law of freedom--and continues looking, he, being not a hearer who forgets, but an obedient doer, will as the result of his obedience be blessed.
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 →