God’s Word should not in any way be twisted into saying that Christians should hide abuse or oppression. Jesus came to “set at liberty those who are oppressed” and He calls the church as His people to stand with the suffering and the abused.
In recent years, painful examples of abuse have come to light both in our culture at large and in the church in particular. Perhaps just as troubling as the abuse itself has been the way that those in power – including those with ecclesiastical power – have at times responded to that abuse. Sometimes people wonder if the existence of abuse in the church (or the examples of abuse being overlooked by church leaders) means that the Bible itself excuses abuse. In preaching through 1 Peter recently, the question was raised: “Do passages like 1 Peter 2:18-3:6 (which call Christians to endure injustice and oppression) excuse abuse or prohibit Christians from exposing abuse?” This is a difficult and delicate question as addressing it touches on raw experiences of real people. However, it is also a pressing question as studies show that something like 20-25% of women experience abuse (and sadly, our churches are not exempt from these statistics). So how can we speak to those trapped in abuse who may think that passages like 1 Peter 2:18-3:6 prohibit them from speaking out about their suffering?
We must start by setting these texts in their context. The book of 1 Peter is designed to help us understand who we are as God’s people, and specifically what it means to be God’s “elect exiles” in the face of persecution. And because Peter specifically has situations of persecution in view when he addresses our social spheres and relationships (whether that is with civil government in 2:13-17, with masters and servants in 2:18-25, or with husbands and wives in 3:1-7), he’s doing something different than what Paul does with those same spheres and relationships in parallel passages. What is the difference? Well, in Ephesians and Colossians, when Paul gives what we call the “household codes” his goal is to help Christians understand how those spheres and relationships are supposed to function. But when Peter speaks into those same spheres, he is specifically addressing how we should live when those spheres are not working as they should.
And because things are not always working as they should, Peter is often using the “worst case scenario” to show how we can live as elect exiles even when things are not functioning properly. You can picture it like this: Peter is speaking to people like Corrie Ten Boom. You’ll remember that Corrie (and her loving sister Betsy) was rounded up into a horrible concentration camp during WWII. They were experiencing abuse, injustice, and persecution that most of us cannot even imagine. And they had no way of stopping the abuse. There were no authorities they could appeal to or objections they could raise. They were powerless, humanly speaking. But even in that dark place of oppression, Peter shows that the gospel can still be powerfully at work. He shows that even in situations that are so severely broken, people like Corrie Ten Boom could still show the world what Jesus looks like by rejecting personal vengeance, overwhelming rage, or bitter resentment. And God could still be glorified as His beloved daughters began to look more and more like His beloved Son Jesus Christ through the sanctifying sorrows of their sufferings.
In that light, do you see how 1 Peter 2:18-3:6 speaks a powerful word of freedom to the powerless and oppressed? But do you also see what a perversion it would be to make those passages excuse abuse? We must always interpret Scripture with Scripture, and when we do that, we find that God hates abuse and has commanded us to expose it to the proper authorities so that we might promote life. And 1 Peter should be read in light of those commands. So briefly, what does the Bible say about these issues?
