Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Peter 2:17

"Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king." — 1 Peter 2:17 (ASV)

Honor all men. That is, show them the respect that is due to them according to their personal worth and the rank and office they hold. .

Love the brotherhood. The whole fraternity of Christians, regarded as a band of brothers. The word used here occurs only in this place and in 1 Peter 5:9, where it is rendered brethren. The idea expressed here occurs often in the New Testament. .

Fear God—a duty everywhere enjoined in the Bible as one of the first duties of religion. (Leviticus 24:7; Leviticus 25:14; Proverbs 1:7; Proverbs 3:13; Proverbs 9:10; Proverbs 23:17; 2 Corinthians 7:1).

The word fear, when used to express our duty to God, means that we are to reverence and honor him. Religion, in one aspect, is described as the fear of God; in another, as the love of God; in another, as submission to his will, etc. A holy veneration or fear is always an elementary principle of religion. It is the fear not so much of punishment as of his disapproval, not so much the dread of suffering as the dread of doing wrong.

Honor the king. This refers primarily to the Roman sovereign but implies that we are always to respect those who have rule over us. .

The doctrine taught in these verses (1 Peter 2:13–17) is that we are faithfully to perform all the relative duties of life. There are duties we owe to ourselves, which are important in their place and which we are by no means at liberty to neglect. But we also owe duties to our fellow men, to our Christian brethren, and to those who have rule over us. Religion, while it is honored by our faithful performance of our duty to ourselves, is more openly honored by our performance of our duties to those to whom we sustain important relations in life.

Many of the duties we owe to ourselves are, by their very nature, hidden from public observation. All that pertains to the examination of the heart; to our private devotions; to the subjugation of our evil passions; to our individual communion with God, must be concealed from public view.

This is not the case, however, with those duties that pertain to others. In respect to them, we are open to public view. The eye of the world is upon us. The world’s judgment about us is formed from its observation of how we perform them.

If religion fails there, people judge that it fails altogether. However devout we may be in private, if the world does not see that our religion leads to the faithful performance of the duties we owe in the various relations of life, it will be regarded as of little value.