{Be subject to} (hupotag(8874)e). Second aorist passive
imperative second person plural of hupotass(935c), to subject to, as
in  3:22 . {Every ordinance of man} (pas(8869) anthr(9370)in(8869) ktisei).
Dative case of old and common word ktisis (from ktiz(935c), to
create, to found), act of creation ( Ro 1:20 ), a creature or
creation ( Ro 1:25 ), all creation ( Col 1:15 ), an institution
as here (in Pindar so). For anthr(9370)inos (human) see  Jas 3:7 .
Peter here approves no special kind of government, but he
supports law and order as Paul does ( Ro 13:1-8 ) unless it steps
in between God and man ( Ac 4:20 ). {For the Lord's sake} (dia
ton kurion). For Jesus' sake. That is reason enough for the
Christian not to be an anarchist ( Mt 22:21 ). The heathen were
keen to charge the Christians with any crime after Nero set the
fashion. "It should not be forgotten that, in spite of the fine
language of the philosophers, the really popular religions in
Greece and Rome were forms of devil-worship, intimately blended
with magic in all its grades" (Bigg). {As supreme} (h(9373)
huperechonti). Dative singular of present active participle of
huperech(935c), old verb (intransitive), to stand out above (to have
it over), as in  Ro 13:1 . It is not the divine right of kings,
but the fact of the king as the outstanding ruler.