Dear brother and sister,

There is tremendous confusion in the modern body of Christ over the subject of submission. Let us do our part to clear the air and point to the Word of God, Christ’s example, and the good sense God endows us in the Holy Spirit as His beloved.

One of my favorite commentaries, The Complete Biblical Library, rightly puts in this way: 1) submit to God in everything, 2) submit to governing authorities in everything, 3) submit to husbands in everything, 4) submit to one another when it doesn’t interfere with the above.

Personally, I will change the order of importance in that after submission to God, then the wife is to submit to her husband in everything.

Submission is being subject to (i.e. accepting or yielding) a superior force, and/or will and/or authority of another person or thing. In our examples here, it is God, a husband, the government, then other believers. When we see this in action, we are “subjects” to the entity. We are the loyal “subjects’ of God, the government, etc. [Read more…]