Submission in a New Light

Submitting may be the hardest thing to do. But it may be the most holy thing to do. The theme of 1 Peter is be ye holy, for I am holy (1:16). Peter weaves holy how-tos throughout the book, and he gets to submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake in 2:13.

Remember, so far in 1 Peter, Jesus was holy, so we are to be holy. Jesus was a rock, we are little rocks. Jesus was a priest, we are priests. Jesus was light, we walk in his light (and elsewhere we are told that we are lights).

Now, we are to submit ourselves, and the rest of the chapter tells us how and why. I’ll cut to the chase. Jesus submitted himself, so we are to submit ourselves. It was a holy thing Jesus did. It’s a holy thing we are to do.

Submitting is not natural. Pride and standing up for ourselves is natural. Did Jesus behave in pride, standing up for himself? If you read the rest of 1 Peter 2, you see definitely not. He is presented as the model submissive one. Just looking through the rest of chapter 2, here are some points about submission:

• You submit to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake. (2:13) In other words, if the law says to do something, it’s the same as Jesus saying to do it, so do it for Him because He’s asking you to through that law (or that boss, or that husband).
• You put others to silence when you submit. (2:15) If you’re not acting against them, you are acting with them. They have nothing to say.
• Use your liberty in Christ to submit. (2:16)
• Submit not only when the person is easy to submit to, but when the person is wicked and unfair. (2:18) WHAT? This is where the instruction veers from “that makes perfect sense” to “that makes absolutely no sense” and thus where holiness factors in. The rest of these points take us into the ethereal, so I will number them.

1. We demonstrate graciousness when we submit to grief and wrong-doing. (2:19)
2. We are acceptable to God when we patiently submit to ill treatment. (2:20)
3. Christ submitted to wrong-doing, so we are to submit to wrong-doing. (2:21, and doesn’t that sound like further explanation of the theme of 1 Peter, be ye holy, for I am holy?)
4. Instead of threatening the ones killing him, Jesus submitted and committed himself to him who judges righteously (God 2:22), and that’s our example. That’s how you submit. You commit.
5. Jesus humbled himself and submitted to a bloody painful death (Phil 2:8) so we can live to righteousness. (2:24) Now there’s a purpose-driven life.

If there’s a purpose-driven life to be had, the purpose is to be holy like Jesus was holy. And now we know a little more of what that entails. It leaves us with a lot to think about.

I actually first studied this 30 years ago, the day a boss asked me at the end of the work day to come in the next day prepared to write down on a piece of paper what I was doing every half hour because he didn’t think I was really working. I stormed home, threw myself across my bed and cried. To pull myself together, I opened my Bible and came across these verses. It would be pleasing to God if I would submit to this unjust boss and do what he asked. And it was as if God was asking me, through my boss, to write down what I was doing every half hour. I said, “Yes Lord. For you, I would write down what I’m doing every 15 minutes!”

I couldn’t wait to go to work the next day and write down what I was going for Jesus. Remember the verse that says For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men? (2:15) My boss saw me happily writing down what I was doing and got sick of it and told me to stop. I didn’t want to stop. I was doing this for Jesus. But I obeyed. Lesson learned, and I’ve never forgotten.