Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honour everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the emperor.1 peter 2:13-17

Apostle Paul has written about respecting and being subjective to the authority in Romans 13:1- 7. Paul says Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honour to whom honour is owed.”

This is the same line of thought peter also wanted to communicate to the believers of his day. It is important that we respect the office even though we cannot respect that person the man or women in the office. As much as possible we should seek to cooperate with government and obey the law.

For example, when Daniel and his three friends refused to obey the king’s dietary regulations, they disobeyed the law, but the way that they did it proved that they honoured the king and respected the authorities. They were not rebelling; they were careful not to embarrass the officials in charge and yet stood on their ground.

When peter and apostles were called by Jewish council to command them to stop preaching in the name of Jesus, they refused to obey. They didn’t cause a rebellion or in anyway question or deny the authority of the council. They submitted to the institution, but they refused to stop preaching.

We are expected to do good which includes working for public benefaction and use the resources for the betterment of the society. If we look at our own country, we Christians are known for contributions we made towards education and healthcare. God spoke through Jeremiah to the Jews in exile to “Seek the welfare of the city where God have sent them into exile, and pray to the LORD on their behalf; for in its welfare Israelites will have welfare” (Jer. 29:7 NASB).

At last we are called to honour everyone, love your brotherhood. fear God and respect our authorities. When we are faithfully subject ourselves to the authority in the fear of the Lord, our Lord can turn the hearts of the authorities for our good as he did for Nehemiah, Daniel and friends, ester.