In today’s
culture introduction of the word “submission” into
a conversation may bring a very mixed response. We seem to be
a very “rights oriented” people and suggesting that
someone is to “submit” conjures up thoughts of diminished
rights, possible discrimination, dehumanization, or perhaps
even abuse of power. Discussion in a Christian context may not
be much different. Some may cast a more positive connotation
by its use in established God-given relationships while others
may view it as a “club” used by those in authority
to force compliance to their wishes.
For our societal use Webster defines submission as “the
act of lowering”, from either the Fr. mittere, “to
send under,” or from the Latin submitter, “to lower”:
(1) “the condition of being submissive, humble, compliant”
(2) “the act of submitting to authority or control of
another” (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, Ninth
Edition). German translations of the word indicate “to
place oneself at the disposition of”.
Of more importance to us in this study of the Biblical concept
of submission are the Greek words and their meanings, especially
in the context of the New Testament passages where they are
used. The use of the term as a verb hypotasso is variously translated
as “submit”, “be subject”, or “be
submissive”; and as the noun hypotage, translated as “submission,”
“submissive,” “submit,” or “yield”.
It was used as a military term meaning “to fall in”.
In non-military use, hypotage also referred to a “voluntary
attitude of giving in, cooperation, assuming responsibility,
and carrying a burden”.
There are two senses in which the New Testament speaks of submission.
First is the submission of one person to another person in an
authoritative position (either placed there by God or by society)
such as Christians to governing authorities (Romans
13:1, 5;
1
Pet. 2:13; Titus
3:1), slaves to their masters (1
Pet. 2:18; Titus
2:9), younger men to older men (1
Pet. 5:5), Christians to their leaders (Heb.
13:17), wives to their husbands (Eph.
5:22-24; Titus
2:5; 1
Pet. 3:1, 5), and believers to their teachers (I Cor. 16:16).
Secondly, the New Testament speaks of those living in a Spirit
filled life submitting to one another (Eph.
5:21).
20 Minutes - DIG
Christian
Submission
Whether we are dealing
with submission to authority or loving submission to another
it might serve us well to point out a few things which do and
do not constitute true submission. We’ll deal with the
negative first, then the positive.
What Submission
Is Not:
(1) Submission does not imply inferiority. Jesus came to earth,
suffered, and died for all; thus as a person one has neither
more nor less value than another.
(2) Submission is not blind obedience. Jesus commands us to
submit to civil authorities but does not expect submission if
by doing so we’re violating another of God’s commands.
The apostles could not submit to civil authorities if it meant
the proclamation of the Word would be stopped (Acts
4:18-20). This principle would apply in the family or in
the Church as well as in the civil setting.
(3) Submission is not external compliance while exhibiting internal
rebellion. True submission is a willing act in which we have
trained our hearts to want to do what God has told us to do
with regard to those over us or beside us.
(4) Submission is not “avoiding rocking the boat”
or avoiding actions that may draw a negative judgment from others.
Christ himself showed no hesitance to “rock the boat”
among the religious leaders of his time. He often deliberately
took actions he knew were right, even when they would invite
negative judgment, such as dining with sinners, eating with
unwashed hands, or healing on the Sabbath. Paul refused to submit,
and confronted Peter to his face when Peter refused to eat with
Gentile brethren out of fear of judgment of Jewish Christians
(Galatians
2: 11-18).
At times we take the position that if I believe an action or
religious practice is right, while a brother believes it to
be wrong, then I should submit to his conscience. However, if
we took this position to the extreme, all of our religious practice
would be controlled by the judgement of the most legalistic
of our brothers who may believe that everything is wrong. Thus
there is a balance of submission for the spiritual welfare of
our brother, while at other times, we may not submit if we are
only doing so because we fear the judgment of others.
What Submission Is:
(1) Submission is an obligation. Though we have the free will
to choose to either submit or not it is a command of God to
submit whether we are in a role that by nature is to be in submission
(i.e. “to authority”) or we are submitting to one
another in the Spirit filled life.
(2) Submission in authority-subject relationships is yielding
to and, yes, even obeying another and the recognition that authority
has the right to be in that position. Authority is embedded
in the very nature of the definition. Our societal use of the
term even follows to some extent the use of the term in scriptures.
Authority is having the right to lead and make decisions with
the expectation of submission by those being led. Thus, submission
to authority implies hierarchy (Heb.
13:17).
3) Submission in non-authoritative relationships has a primarily
spiritual function.
While we have freedom in Christ, we must in love put others
before ourselves and consider their needs first. In our own
human nature, we often expect the weak to submit to the strong.
However in the role reversal of the gospel, we are commanded
to do the opposite, to let the strong submit to the weak so
we may not be a stumbling block to their tender faith and maturity.
Romans
14: 9 – 15:13
I
Corinthians 8:9-13
I
Corinthians 10:23-32
Questions:
1. Do we expect the
strong to submit to the weak in our church, or do we often expect
the younger and newer members to submit to the older and more
grounded Christians?
2. How would it be
different in our churches if we submitted to the weak?
3. Should we submit
only to make others more comfortable or to preserve the status
quo?
4. What is the difference
between submitting to others and submitting to God?
Submission As A Discipline
On every hand the teachings of Christ and the apostles turned
the world’s way of thinking upside down - - “this
perishable body is sown in weakness but raised in power”
(I
Cor. 15:43); “the least will be the greatest”
(Luke
9:48), “we are to love others as ourselves”
(Mt.
19:19); in fact, Paul said “to consider others ahead
of yourself” (Phil.
2:3); and finally it was Jesus who said, “greatness
is found in being a servant” (Mt.
20:26). The bedrock of our spiritual understanding of submission
should be Jesus’ statement in Mark
8:34-35 “If anyone would come after me, he must deny
himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants
to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for
me and for the Gospel will save it”.
In Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster speaks
of submission as being one of the four “outward disciplines”,
the others being simplicity, solitude, and service. He says
that for every discipline there is a corresponding freedom and
that the corresponding freedom of biblical submission is the
ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to
get your own way. In fact he calls the obsession to “have
our way” as being one of the greatest bondages in human
society today. For the person who has no experience in submitting,
everything tends to become a major issue. He will spend countless
amounts of time fussing and fuming as if his very life hangs
on every issue. The fact is that most things in life are not
nearly as important as we think they are.
Foster states “If you will watch these things, you will
see, for example, that almost all church fights and splits occur
because people do not have the freedom to give in to each other.
We insist that a critical issue is at stake; we are fighting
for a sacred principle. Perhaps this is the case. Usually it
is not. Often we cannot stand to give in simply because it means
that we will not get our own way. Only in submission are we
enabled to bring this spirit to a place where it no longer controls
us. Only submission can free us sufficiently to enable us to
distinguish between genuine issues and stubborn self-will.”
20 Minutes - REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Submission
In The Context Of Unity
Where the “rubber meets the road” with any of the
spiritual disciplines, commands, or examples of Christ is how
they are actually played out in our everyday lives. Jesus clearly
teaches that true spirituality is a matter of the heart, that
it is more than externalities. For example, the depth of our
Christianity is determined more by how a husband treats his
wife and children during the week than how he comes across teaching
a Bible class on Sunday morning. How a businessman is viewed
by his customers and competitors is a more valid barometer of
his Christianity than the beauty of the prayer he led at the
evening worship hour. We are putting our souls in jeopardy and
harming the cause of Christianity if we live lives of duplicity.
Pleasant Valley is blessed to be composed of a very large number
of Christians as well as “seekers” who come from
all kinds of religious as well as secular backgrounds. Many
of us “grew up in the Church”, probably in smaller
rural churches where “everyone knew your name” and
many were even related to each other physically. Here we are
faced with being in an environment of knowing very few of those
around us other than perhaps in our Bible class or Life Group.
Some of us were taught that every teaching or example (regardless
of clarity) found in the Scripture carries the same impact and
has the same weight as every other teaching; thus we may have
tended to create a “checklist of righteousness”
in which everything matters. Others of us were taught that Christianity
is truly a matter of the heart and that if the heart is not
right nothing else matters. More so than at any point in our
history we also have around us those who have had little or
no prior experience with this thing we call “religion”.
However, can we be any more diverse than that first century
Church? That Church consisted of previously devout Jews (Paul
having even persecuted Christians and consented to the death
of Stephen), pagan Gentiles, and some were even previously idol
worshippers, prostitutes, homosexuals, thieves, drunkards, swindlers,
having been consumed by greed and their own evil desires (I
Cor. 6:8-11). Wow, we think we’re diverse?
Again, Richard Foster provides us with seven acts of submission,
three of which I’ll mention here because of my belief
that they have a direct connection to the subject of how we
can be united even with diversity among us. They are:
(1) Submission to God—every day should begin and end with
us “yielded and still” before the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit as we surrender our body, mind, and spirit into
His hands to serve His will (James
4:7-8; Hebrews
10:7).
(2) Submission to the Scriptures—we look to the Spirit
to help us in interpreting and applying them to our condition
(here particularly with regards to unity among us) (1
Cor. 4:6; Col.
3:15-17).
(3) Submission to others—“Each of you should look
not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of
others” (Phil.
2:4). Others may include our families, our neighbors, the
helpless, as well as those in our church family.
Most of us have, on occasion, found ourselves caught up in those
“church business” matters which seemed so important
at the time but after lengthy reflection and the passage of
time seem so irrelevant to what Christians should really be
about. Or perhaps we’ve even received a “wake up
call” from our spouse or a child or a friend as to just
what is really important in the whole scheme of things. And,
we find that whenever we’re involved in serving others
we have very little time for disputing over matters which could
divide us.
How did the Christian paradigm of equality differ from the social
paradigm of their time?
To whom are we to submit in our church family?
What personal characteristics are incumbent in Christian submission?
What do you believe the Spirit does for us in such matters?
Do you believe the statement “true unity is not manmade
and cannot be forced”?
What responsibilities exist on the part of the person submitting
as well as the person to whom submission is made?
What are some examples in which Paul submitted to the practice
of others and others in which he refused to submit? (Acts
21: 20-26; I
Cor. 9:19-23; Gal.
2:11-18)
Barry Newton in The Unity Principle-Lessons from Philippians
(www.sjchurchofchrist.org)
says “one apostolic way to describe the recipe for Christian
unity is to pour the mind of Christ over the goal of working
together for the maintenance and furtherance of the faith of
the Gospel. This is Christian living!” What are your thoughts?
Are there ways in which I have contributed to a spirit of disharmony
among brothers and sisters in Christ?
Whether I’ve ever been a participant in such acts or not,
what can I now do to be more proactive in promoting unity?
What is the most important purpose of unity among us? (Roman
15:5-6; Jn.
17:23)
A Benign Example-(with all due apologies to
Steven Hovater who used to be seen worshipping barefoot).
The following paraphrased ‘case study’ I owe to
Steve Leston of Kishwaukee Bible Church (www.kishwaukeebiblechurch.org)
whose study on Romans
14 has been particularly helpful.
Let’s say that someone walks into church and says “Hey,
I was reading in the book of Exodus that Moses took his sandals
off before the burning bush; therefore, the only worship that
God accepts is barefoot worship and all these people in this
room are sinning because they have their shoes on and God hates
your worship to such a degree that if you keep going I’m
even going to question whether or not you’re going to
go to heaven” and he’s going up and down the aisles
pulling your shoes off. How do we handle that? What do we do
in that situation?
I want to deal with that brother in such a manner as to not
violate his conscience while I’m bringing scriptural truth
to him. So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m
going to go to that brother and say “first of all, stop
judging” because that’s what Romans tells me to
tell him. “Don’t judge these people, you don’t
speak for God; God has no spokesmen when it comes to knowing
someone’s soul. Only God knows the condition of someone’s
heart, you don’t. Don’t start telling these people
they’re going to hell. God didn’t appoint you the
gatekeeper standing there saying ‘heaven, hell, heaven,
hell’ you’re not that one, so don’t judge”.
That would be my first message to him “stop judging”.
My second message would be “You are welcome to worship
here barefoot . . . take your shoes, take your socks off . .
. you’re welcome to do that, to worship barefoot.”
The third thing I’d like to do is say “Would you
like to study worship in the Bible with me? If he says ‘yes’,
when I go to his house we will study the scriptures and worship
barefoot. I would honor his conscience and I would trust that
God is at work in his life to teach and instruct him. But, let’s
say he doesn’t want to study with me. Then I’d say
“you are welcome to worship here barefoot” and I
would again trust that God is at work in his life to such an
extent that if he shows up at church and the Word is at work
in him that God will change him. What I would watch out for
is just to make sure that he doesn’t judge other people
but all the while honor his conscience while trying to do everything
I could to bring the Word around. I don’t want to start
him down a road that pushes him to a hardened conscience because
I would hate for him at two o’clock in the morning to
go on the internet and do something he shouldn’t do because
his conscience was hard. I’d hate for him to get caught
up in greed and lust and money and pride because he’s
got a hard conscience. I would do everything I could to keep
that conscience soft, pliable. I’d make sure that I’m
scripturally informing his conscience and making sure he stays
open.
Paul wants us to think motherly, to come around people lovingly,
honoring them, treating them with respect and dignity. Why?
So that we can show to this world the very grace we’ve
been given by God and that we get to bring glory to God as we
do. And there’s no greater privilege than to be able to
bring someone who hated God to the point of glorifying him forever.
While this example may have dealt with someone either previously
not a Christian or who may be a fairly new babe in Christ in
what way are there similarities or differences in the way we
should treat a seasoned brother in Christ who held similar beliefs?
5 Minutes
- CLOSING PRAYER
Heavenly Father,
You built a bridge over the canyon of our sins by sending your
only son to live on the earth, exemplify your nature, and sacrifice
himself for our sins. You desired a relationship with us that
much. Help us to have that same desire for reconciliation with
members of your body, so we can live out the identity you planned
for us, and glorify your name.