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Scripture Readings : Ephesians 5:21; 1 Peter 5:5

Submitting to one another in the fear of God . . . Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.

Submission to others is contrary to the nature of man. Very early in life children manifest a desire to do their own will. Yet a great part of Christian life is submission to authority. First of all we have submission to Christ. Every Christian, yea the whole church, should be in complete subjection to Him (Eph. 5:24). Like the apostle Paul at his conversion, we should always ask "Lord, what do You want me to do?" (Acts 9:6). Ephesians 5:22-24 teaches that wives should be in subjection to their husbands. In these days of women's rights many rebel against this Scripture. It should not be hard to do if husbands love their wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for it (see Eph. 5:25, 28). In Ephesians 6:1-3, children are taught subjection to parents, and in verses 5-8, servants to masters. We read also in Romans 13:1-7 that Christians are to be in subjection to the government.

Work for the younger men

In 1 Peter 5:5, younger men are told to submit to the elder. Among any group of Christians there usually are some young men who desire to be used in the Lord's service. There is always plenty of work that a young man can do. He can teach, do personal work, visit the sick, clean the building, assist in serving the Lord's Supper, lead singing, lead prayer, etc. Maybe he can preach the Gospel when the saints meet, if he has that talent and desire. Older Christians are not always wise, and do not always know; but most of the time their judgment is better than that of a young, newborn bade in Christ. It is usually wise for the younger to submit to the older in Christ, even when the younger may feel that the older ones are wrong. Later years may prove them right after all.

Submissive to one another

Both Ephesians 5:21 and 1 Peter 5:5 tell us that Christians should be submissive to one another. How wonderful it would be if this was always done, and there would be little trouble among Christians. We should at least respect one another's judgment and seek to follow it, if possible. If a number of the Lord's people pass judgment on a certain matter of opinion, unless we can prove them to be positively unscriptural, we would be wise to submit. Sometimes one man can obstruct progress in a work for the Lord.

An objector

The story is told of an elder, i.e., pastor or shepherd, who raised objection to something that all the others in the congregation thought would be helpful and not contrary to the Scriptures. When they decided to go ahead in spite of his objections he said, "I do not believe in majority rule, it is not of the Lord." Another elder replied, "There is one thing worse than majority rule, and that is minority rule. We intend to go ahead in spite of your objections." How much better it would have been for the objector to have said, "Well, brethren, I cannot see your point, but most of you seem to think it is the right thing to do, so I will not stand in the way."

Clothed with humility

The latter part of 1 Peter 5:5 tells us that rather than insist on our own way, we should manifest a true humility, and submit. In previous lessons, we have touched on humility, but still a thought about the expression "clothed with humility" seems appropriate. ”Clothed” is a long and out-of-the-ordinary word in the Greek. It is literally "engirdle yourself." This engirdling speaks of the slave wrapping himself with his slave girdle or apron. So the sense would be to girdle ourselves with humility in view of serving one another as slaves would their masters.

Christ girded Himself

Perhaps Peter¹ was thinking of the time when the Lord Jesus girded Himself with a towel, and as a slave, washed His disciples' feet. He may have remembered what the Lord Jesus Christ said, "For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you" (John 13:15). As the Lord that day took His place as a slave to His disciples, so He would have us be lowly enough to do a slave's work for the people of God. It is possible to make a big thing over feet washing (as some do) and yet miss the spiritual lesson this incident is meant to teach.

In the fear of God

Ephesians 5:21 says, "Submitting to one another in the fear of God." In the Scriptures, the word "fear" often speaks of reverence, as here, and not of slavish fear. Most translators have "fear of Christ" rather than "fear of God" in this verse. So it could read, "Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ." When we submit to one another we bring honor to His name. If, however, because of pride we insist on our own way and quarrel rather than submit, we bring dishonor to Him.

Footnote:

¹ For more on Peter, see Simon Peter – Life and Lessons in Additional Resources section of StudyJesus.com.