Bible Strands
1 Peter 2:17
Treat everyone with high regard: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Peter addresses a Christian audience navigating social obligations, issuing four commands immediately after instructing believers to live as God’s servants and before directing household servants to submit to masters.
The words — The imperative τιμᾶτε (timēsate) commands active honor toward all people, while ἀδελφότητα (adelphotēta) specifies the particular brotherhood of believers to be loved.
The thread — This pairing of divine reverence and civil respect mirrors Proverbs 24:21, while the call to brotherly love and mutual honor runs parallel to Romans 12:10 and the principle of rendering due respect in Romans 13:7.
Why it lands — The text demands that readers simultaneously maintain reverence for God, practice deliberate love within the Christian community, and show public respect to civil leadership without using their freedom as a cover for evil.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 24:21 My son, fear the LORD and the king, and do not associate with the rebellious.
- Romans 12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honoring one another.
- Romans 13:7 Pay everyone what you owe him: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
- Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves.
- 1 Peter 5:5 Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Hebrews 13:1 Continue in brotherly love.
- Exodus 20:12 Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
- 1 Timothy 6:1 All who are under the yoke of slavery should regard their masters as fully worthy of honor, so that God’s name and our teaching will not be discredited.
- 1 Peter 1:22 Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart.
- Leviticus 19:32 You are to rise in the presence of the elderly, honor the aged, and fear your God. I am the LORD.