1 Peter 2:16

1 Peter 2:16 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
• New International Version (NIV)Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.
• New King James Version (NKJV)as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.

Context of 1 Peter 2:16

14or to governors as those he commissions to punish wrongdoers and praise those who do good. 15For God wants you to silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good. Live as free people, not using your freedom as a pretext for evil, but as God’s slaves. 17Honor all people, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the king. 18Slaves, be subject to your masters with all reverence, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are perverse.

1 Peter 2:16 word by word

ὡς ἐλεύθεροι καὶ μὴ ὡς ἐπικάλυμμα ἔχοντες τῆς κακίας τὴν ἐλευθερίαν, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς θεοῦ δοῦλοι.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Asὡςhōs · as/whenG5613
• freeἐλεύθεροςeleutheros · free/freedomG1658
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• notμήmē · notG3361
• usingἔχωechō · to have/beG2192
• libertyὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• libertyἐλευθερίαeleutheria · freedomG1657
• a clokeἐπικάλυμμαepikaluma · coveringG1942
• of maliciousnessκακίαkakia · evilG2549
• butἀλλάalla · butG235
• the servantsδοῦλοςdoulos · slaveG1401
• of Godθεόςtheos · GodG2316

Cross-references for 1 Peter 2:16

• John 8:32and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
• Romans 6:18and having been freed from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.
• 1 Corinthians 7:22For the one who was called in the Lord as a slave is the Lord’s freedman. In the same way, the one who was called as a free person is Christ’s slave.
• Galatians 5:1For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery.
• James 1:25But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out – he will be blessed in what he does.
• James 2:12Speak and act as those who will be judged by a law that gives freedom.
• 2 Peter 2:19Although these false teachers promise such people freedom, they themselves are enslaved to immorality. For whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved.
• Jude 1:4For certain men have secretly slipped in among you – men who long ago were marked out for the condemnation I am about to describe – ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil and who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
• John 15:22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. But they no longer have any excuse for their sin.
• 1 Thessalonians 2:5For we never appeared with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed – God is our witness –
• Ephesians 6:6not like those who do their work only when someone is watching – as people-pleasers – but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart.
• Colossians 3:24because you know that you will receive your inheritance from the Lord as the reward. Serve the Lord Christ.

Commentaries on 1 Peter 2:16

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 16As free - The Jews pretended that they were a free people, and owed allegiance to God alone; hence they were continually rebelling against the Roman government, to which God had subjected them because of their rebellion against him: thus they used their liberty for a cloak of maliciousness - for a pretext of rebellion, and by it endeavored to vindicate their seditious and rebellious conduct. But as the servants of God - These were free from sin and Satan…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 16As free - That is, they were to consider themselves as freemen, as having a right to liberty. The Jews boasted much of their freedom, and regarded it as a birthright privilege that they were free, John 8:33. They never willingly acknowledged their subjection to any other power, but claimed it as an elementary idea of their civil constitution that God only was their Sovereign. They were indeed conquered by the Romans, and paid tribute, but they did it…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 13-17Verses 13-17 A Christian conversation must be honest; which it cannot be, if there is not a just and careful discharge of all relative duties: the apostle here treats of these distinctly. Regard to those duties is the will of God, consequently, the Christian's duty, and the way to silence the base slanders of ignorant and foolish men. Christians must endeavour, in all relations, to behave aright, that they do not make their liberty a cloak or covering for…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 13-25This section focuses on the key instruction to submit to all human authority. Peter applies this instruction to several relationships: Christians should accept the authority of those in government (2:13–17). Christian slaves should accept the authority of their masters (2:18–25). Christian wives should accept the authority of their husbands (3:1–6). Peter appears to follow an early Christian use of the traditional household code. This code gave a series…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1616. As free--as "the Lord's freemen," connected with 1Pe 2:15, doing well as being free. "Well-doing" (1Pe 2:15) is the natural fruit of being freemen of Christ, made free by "the truth" from the bondage of sin. Duty is enforced on us to guard against licentiousness, but the way in which it is to be fulfilled, is by love and the holy instincts of Christian liberty. We are given principles, not details. not using--Greek, "not as having your liberty for a…Read the comment

Topics related to 1 Peter 2:16

• Citizens
• Cloak
• Commandments
• Example
• Government
• Hypocrisy
• Self-Denial
• Servant

In the dictionaries

• God
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Bishop
• Chosen
• Cloke
• Disallow
• Fleshly
• Offer
• Sincere
• Spiritual

Commentaries on 1 Peter 2

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings