Submission to Authority

This is attached to some old thoughts ...follow the title link.

Why should we submit?

The first, and simplest, answer is obedience to the command of scripture:

Colossians 3:22-23 gives us a practical example of the difference between obedience and submission; the difference between obeying when the master is watching, and obeying with sincerity of heart.

Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.

Ephesians 5:22-6:9 expands upon, and gives practical examples for, the simple statement of Ephesians 5:21, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Romans 13:1-7 also discusses submission and, in addition to simply commanding us to submit, teaches us that all authority is instituted by God, hence rebellion against authority is sin. This passage also links freedom causally to submission; we ought to submit for our own good! In our sinful, self-focused mindset we have been trained to believe that by submitting to others we are somehow robbed of our ‘Creator-endowed, inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ Nothing could be further from the truth!

Why should we submit?

The second answer is …for our own benefit!

The Message paraphrases a famous passage in Galatians 5 that ties in to this causal link between submission and freedom. Self-focused grasping for our desires never produces good fruit. If we puff out our chests, put up our dukes, and fight for our rights, we lose out on the abundance of life in Christ. If instead we submit ourselves to the will of God for our lives we gain freedom; freedom from ego, freedom from fear, freedom from the ever-vigilant paranoia of self-protection. …and even more we gain Christ, His peace of mind, His effortless joy, His fathomless hope, and His otherworldly love.

Richard Foster, in Celebration of Discipline, makes the point that freedom is the result of discipline. Each spiritual discipline has a corresponding freedom; just as the discipline of practicing scales on a musical instrument directly correlates to the freedom to spontaneous musical talent, so the discipline of submission leads to freedom from self-focus and self-gratification. We submit, not for the sake of the one we submit to, but rather for our own sake.

In the beginning our parents were given one simple rule, had they but trusted God enough to submit to His desires, we would still be living in the effortless “cool of the garden;” enjoying God’s unbroken fellowship. God knew that mankind could not have the experiential knowledge of evil, and remain in fellowship with Him; He knew that it would bring us shame, and that it would cause us to hide from Him; submission was for our own good, not God’s.