ACC ~ 1 Peter 2 v16a

DO NOT RETURN TO SLAVERY. BEDE: We are truly free if we have been cleansed of our sins through baptism and if we have been redeemed from slavery to the devil, because we have been made children of God. If we have really received so great a gift, we must not fall back into sin, because if we do so, we are falling right back into the old slavery again. ON 1 PETER.

CITIZENS OF HEAVEN FREELY OBEY EARTHLY RULERS. OECUMENIUS: We have been set free from the world. We have become citizens of heaven. This verse does not imply, according to John Chrysostom, that the apostle now wants us to be subject once again to earthly powers and to obey them. No, we are to obey them as free people, honoring the one who has delivered us and who has told us to do this for his sake. Similarly you must not have any kind of evil in your mind, like disobedience or hardness of heart. You must not use your freedom as a pretext for refusing to obey. We might add that someone who is free according to the Lord would never do anything absurd or foolish. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.

1 Pet