Church of the Vine Articles

Submit To One Another

  • 05/27/09
  • Written by Brad Willson

Submit To One Another

 

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (NIV)

 

 The New Testament concept of ‘submission’ has been argued, abused, and occasionally understood over the centuries.  The term submit in Ephesians 5:21 is the present participle of a lovely compound word:

 

Hypo-tasso means to arrange or array or order oneself (tasso), under (hypo) another.  As the word is used in context, believers are taught here to reciprocally, or mutually, arrange themselves under each other.  It is something we are all to do. 

 

The first New Testament use of the word is in Luke 21:51:  Then he (Jesus) went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. (NIV)

 

The word obedient is an unfortunate translation of hypotasso.  Jesus was more than obedient (in the sense of just doing what he was told).  Jesus arrayed himself, indeed appointed himself under His parents.  This means many things.  He obviously listened to them.  He discerned what it was that was important to them.  He honored His parents, and He arrayed Himself within the arena of that honor. 

 

This verse alone reveals one of the most important aspects of submission.  Jesus submitted Himself.  His submission was not forced upon Him, but rather, as the Son of God, He chose to be subject to His parents.  Submission is always the choice of the one doing the submitting.  We are not to try to force anyone to submit to us.  Rather, submission is a middle-voice act; an act that one does to him or herself on behalf of another.  It is not our role to get others to submit to us.  It is always our choice to submit ourselves. 

 

Think of submission as an act of arranging oneself around the needs, the strengths, and the weaknesses of another.  I can choose to do this because I want to show love and respect to that person.  It does not mean that the other person becomes my boss.  It means that I want to love that person by shaping my choices around him or her.  In an earlier study we saw that ‘honor’ has to do with ‘price’, or ‘value’.  Submitting to one another is a furthering of that value.  Because I recognize your value to Jesus Christ, I may choose to arrange my choices around that value. And of course, the end of Ephesians 5:21 confirms this value, as we are told that our submission to one another is to be based on our reverence for Christ.

 

So, it goes something like this:

 

  • Submission is to order oneself or ones choices around another.
  • Submission is the free choice of the one doing the submitting.
  • Submission is a way to love and honor a brother or sister, and at the same time show reverence for Jesus who paid such a great price. 
  • Submission does not make anyone one’s boss. 
  • Submission is a ‘one another’ activity; it is not just women to men or wives to husbands
  • No one can demand submission of another, and certainly no one is required to submit themselves to what is sinful, harmful, or inappropriate.
  • The final motive of submitting oneself is reverence for Jesus Christ.

 

Now let’s think a little more:

 

  • Why might I choose to submit to another?
  • What are specific ways that I might submit myself to a brother or sister?
  • What are examples where I might choose to submit myself in one area, but not another?
  • Think of all the ways Jesus submitted Himself while on earth.  What does that teach us about submission?

 

May the grace of the Lord Jesus be upon us.