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1 Peter 2:14 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
¹⁴or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do good.

Or to governors. Subordinate officers, appointed by the chief magistrate, over provinces. Perhaps Roman proconsuls are here particularly intended.

As sent by him. By the king or the Roman emperor. They represent the supreme power.

To punish those who do wrong. One of the leading ends of government. ‘The Roman governors had the power of life and death in such conquered provinces as those mentioned in chap. 1:1.’—Doddridge. Ulpian, the celebrated Roman lawyer, who flourished two hundred years after Christ, thus describes the power of the governors of the Roman provinces: ‘A good and vigilant president must see to it that his province be peaceable and quiet. And that he ought to diligently search after sacrilegious persons, robbers, kidnappers, rapists, drug dealers, and thieves, and to punish everyone according to their guilt.’ Again, ‘They who govern whole provinces have the power of sending to the mines.’ And again, ‘The presidents of provinces have the highest authority, next to the emperor.’ Peter has described the office of the Roman governors in language that the Roman jurist Ulpian would use that was similar over 100 years later. Ulpian (c. 170 – 223 or228 A.D.) was a Roman jurist born in Tyre. He was considered one of the great legal authorities of his time.

And to praise those who do good. Praise is the opposite of punishment and means commendation, applause, and reward. That is, it is a part of their business to reward in a suitable manner those who are upright and virtuous as citizens. This would be by protecting their persons and property, by defending their rights, and, perhaps, by admitting those to share the honors and emoluments of office who showed that they were worthy of being trusted. It is as important a part of the functions of magistracy to protect the innocent as it is to punish the wicked.

By Albert Barnes and Edward D. Andrews