As free; he prevents an objection; they might pretend they were a free people, as Jews, and therefore were not to obey strangers, Deuteronomy 17:15 1 Thessalonians 8:33; and made free by Christ. He answers: That they were free indeed, but it was from sin, and not from righteousness, not from obedience to God's law, which requires subjection to magistrates, for they were still the servants of God. And not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness; not using your liberty to cover or palliate your wickedness, excusing yourselves from obedience to your superiors by a pretence of Christian liberty, when, though ye be free from sin, yet ye are not from duty. But as the servants of God; and so still bound to obey him, and your rulers in him.
Related Commentaries of 1 Peter 2:16
1 Peter 2:16
16 As free, and not usingd your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.