Submit Not One to Another

There is no doubt that the Bible is full of commands to submit. Children are to submit to parents, slaves to masters, wives to husbands, and all of us to civil authorities. That's a start. The sense of a list like this is that Christians are to be, well, submissive. I'd like to suggest that this is a serious oversimplification. And this mindset (which tends to rule whether or not we recognize it) causes all sorts of problems.

There are categories of authority. Various authorities have various functions. We'll calm them "realms". Starting at the top, God, of course, is the ultimate authority. His is overall. That's why He is called "the King of Kings" and "Sovereign". As such, everyone falls under His authority and everyone is supposed to submit to Him. And that, dear readers, is the end of it. Under God, there are a variety of authorities. There is the civil government that has the authority to command our civil lives (Rom 13:1-5). There is the church leadership which has the authority to command our spiritual lives (Heb 13:17). In either case, however, they are under the authority of God and do not have the authority to countermand His authority. Thus, a civil government that commands contrary to God's commands is not to be obeyed. A church leadership that commands contrary to God's instructions is not to be heeded. And so it goes. There are a host of authority structures including parents, husbands, teachers, bosses, and so on. Each has their "realm". Each is under that higher authority of God. Each has their limited domain. None are allowed to counter God's commands.

Now, part of our problem these days is that we fail to recognize authority, its rightful role, and its right to command. We've been taught "Question authority" which only works if the questions are based around "Does it agree with God's commands?" rather than "Am I willing to obey those who are in rightful authority?" Part of our problem is that we often don't recognize rightful authority. Wives are not required to submit to their husbands despite the specific command otherwise. Most church members no longer vest any authority in their church leadership despite God's specific command otherwise. And, of course, in terms of civil authority the thinking is often, "If I don't get caught, it's not illegal." Submitting to authority is a problem.

On the other hand, submitting to authority is a problem. "Um ... Stan ... you just said that." I know, but we seem to have the reverse problem as well. We seem to willingly submit ourselves to authority that is not rightful. Young girls, in their search for affection, will submit to the authority of the boy who has their attention. No such authority exists. We will often dress to meet the approval of coworkers or friends even though coworkers and friends do not possess the authority to require it of us. (My mother has taught me, "You wouldn't be so concerned about what others think of you if you knew how rarely they did.") Some in the church have suggested that women should submit to men. Perhaps it's an easy mistake. Church leadership is male (1 Tim 2:12-13; 3:2; Titus 1:6) and husbands are male, so women should submit to men, right? That's a submission to authority that doesn't have the role. Wives are to submit to husbands, not all men. Men typically submit to the tyranny of macho, feeling a need to do what other males without genuine authority apparently demand from them. Many men, confused by egalitarian voices and expecting to get what they think they want, submit to their wives. Husbands are supposed to submit to their wives ... by loving them as Christ loved the Church, not by surrendering to them. How many of us have submitted to Hollywood as the shaper of common morality and culture, to Wall Street as that which defines our view of success, or to the advertising agencies which tell us what we need and how we should think? How many men have surrendered to the authority of pornography that has misshaped their view of intimacy? And, of course, we all have a real tendency to submit to Satan whenever we are tempted.

A failure to submit to the authority God has placed in the ways that God has prescribed is a serious problem in our world. An equally serious problem is our submission to authorities that have no right of rulership in ways that we were never called to submit. A failure to submit has left children without guidance and love, wives without direction, and families without proper leadership. A compulsion to submit when we shouldn't has led us into worldliness and confusion. We are commanded to submit one to another (Eph 5:24). Let's not misunderstand. That doesn't mean "submit to everyone" or "submit in the same way in all cases". It certainly doesn't mean "submit to those to whom God has not given authority" or even "submit to those in authority even if they contradict God's commands." We are to submit, but in the right way. We are not, then, always to submit one to another. We might want to reexamine to whom and to what we are submitting, because it looks like we have a real tendency to submit to the wrong ones and fail to submit to the right ones.