What to do when our authorities are wrong in what they command?
In 1 Peter 2.18 we find that archaic word in the King James Version, “froward.” The verse calls servants to submit to their masters, even “the froward.”
KJV 1Pe 2:18 ¶ Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.
The verse is the only New Testament occurrence of the term, though it shows up 20 times in 19 verses of the KJV Old Testament. The dictionary gives this meaning:
“habitually disposed to disobedience and opposition” ((Frederick C. Mish, ed., Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed. (Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003).))
Other translations give these renderings: “unreasonable” (NASB); “unjust” (ESV); “perverse” (NET); “cross” (YLT). In the context, the word refers to a master who is not congenial, a difficult boss, rude, arrogant, mercurial, and likely tyrannical.
What do froward masters have to do with our discussion of submission to government during the Covid pandemic? In our last chapter, I closed with this:
“However, what if the government is wrong in its approach to a public health emergency? What if their orders make no sense, and they require something of us that will not address the emergency they declared? We’ll take that topic up next.”
I don’t know of any passages directly referencing submission to government when it is wrong. However, the third (and weakest) line of argument the Covid rebels use is the argument to the effect that government overstated the risks of Covid and added to our misery by proposing ineffective measures to combat a negligible effect. I summarized that argument in chapter 1, “The Covid Rebels and Their Rationale.” In its public statement, this is one of the primary arguments of James Coates and the GraceLife Church near Edmonton, Alberta. (( See the statement of GraceLife Church posted here.))
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