Therefore subject yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether to the king, as supreme;
To every ordinance of man ...  Macknight translated this "to every human creation of magistrates,"[38] making it clear that Peter rejected the sophistry of the zealots who maintained that obedience was due only to those magistrates appointed by God. Yes, it is human governments which Peter here commanded Christians to obey.  This command is not absolute, as the next phrase indicates.