Last thoughts on submission to others...when are we not to submit? Anytime? Let's look quickly at the context of the verse to gain insight.
21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church-- 30 for we are members of his body.31 "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."32 This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
The verse we have been studying is Paul's lead-in verse to his discourse on the relationship between husbands and wives. So is our verse limited to this relationship...no, I don't think so. I think Paul has been telling us everything that we have focused in on this week about humility and our lack of concern about our image when we serve others. But he does then move into the specifics of submission between spouses (and it really is mutual submission to each other).
So are there times when we do not submit - but we stand in strong opposition to someone asking us to do things that we, as Christians, oppose? I believe there is Biblical support for this argument. There is Christ's example in cleaning the temple...He did not submit to the societal norm of the time when He saw something diametrically opposed to His Father's will. There is the example of the apostles who continued to preach when the Jewish leaders instructed them to cease and when they came up against Roman rule. Obviously they did not submit, as 11 of the 12 were martyred for their faith. (John was the only one who died a natural death, but that was after years of isolation and imprisonment.)
Our verse's "one another" seems to lend itself to our Christian brothers and sisters. We are never to be prideful in our relationships with those who share our faith and are walking beside us, journeying in lives of trying to please God and share His message with others. We are to be jointly submissive and encouraging, building each other up.
But when we are called to take a stand, then that same encouragement from inside our Christian family should be there to form the bond of unity in opposition to those who would work toward the elimination of our message of Christ's love.
21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church-- 30 for we are members of his body.31 "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."32 This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
The verse we have been studying is Paul's lead-in verse to his discourse on the relationship between husbands and wives. So is our verse limited to this relationship...no, I don't think so. I think Paul has been telling us everything that we have focused in on this week about humility and our lack of concern about our image when we serve others. But he does then move into the specifics of submission between spouses (and it really is mutual submission to each other).
So are there times when we do not submit - but we stand in strong opposition to someone asking us to do things that we, as Christians, oppose? I believe there is Biblical support for this argument. There is Christ's example in cleaning the temple...He did not submit to the societal norm of the time when He saw something diametrically opposed to His Father's will. There is the example of the apostles who continued to preach when the Jewish leaders instructed them to cease and when they came up against Roman rule. Obviously they did not submit, as 11 of the 12 were martyred for their faith. (John was the only one who died a natural death, but that was after years of isolation and imprisonment.)
Our verse's "one another" seems to lend itself to our Christian brothers and sisters. We are never to be prideful in our relationships with those who share our faith and are walking beside us, journeying in lives of trying to please God and share His message with others. We are to be jointly submissive and encouraging, building each other up.
But when we are called to take a stand, then that same encouragement from inside our Christian family should be there to form the bond of unity in opposition to those who would work toward the elimination of our message of Christ's love.
1 comment:
Our submission is love, acceptance and forgiveness of one another. Our submission is a stance of God's guidance. When stand against to those that oppose God's teachings we are submitting to our beliefs and our faith in Christ.
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