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Relationship Rules
Brian Mashburn
May 8, 2016
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Submission
If there is a list of "dirty words" in our current culture out there somewhere, this one most certainly has made it.
And yet, here we find it, in the writings of Paul, as he describes in epic fashion that those who live a Spirit-filled life will "submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." (Eph 5:21)
You know, written in the Bible or not, I would agree with our culture wholeheartedly - that submission is a bad word - if what it meant was to be a cowering, never-resistant, unassertive, subservient, inappropriately-passive, inferior 2nd class human being with no backbone.
But that is not what it means.
To be submissive to someone is to place extreme value upon them. It is to honor all that they are, faults included, as purposeful and worthy of deep consideration. It is to take a posture of loyalty, a pledge of allegiance, and an inclination to be obliging, willing, supporting, and flexible towards them. It is to trust - if not them, then God - that they are in your life for a reason, and you in theirs, and that by being intentionally harmonious towards them, God is somehow shown.
I'm not saying this is easy, I'm only saying that it is what Spirit-filled people do. Prefer, even.
Paul goes on to outline how this looks between 3 key daily relationships: husband and wife; parent and child; master and servant. These relationships were culturally understood as hierarchical in nature, and many still read them that way today (especially the first one).
On the contrary. Paul was calling the church to embody in these everyday relationships a new way to exist, based on the revelation that "there is no favoritism with God" (Eph 6:9). And there should not be among us, either.