Redeeming the S Word...

For many, if not most women, submission is a dirty word.  Just mention the word in a room full of women and you're liable to get bristling and glares.  I get that.  I used to be one of those women.  But that's because submission might be one of the most maligned concepts in American culture, even or perhaps, especially in the church.  Mention that "dirty" S word and images of a woman on the floor as a doormat being stepped on by her husband is likely to cross the minds of men and women alike.  In it's dirty context submission steals value from women.  However, a proper understanding of submission doesn't decrease value to anyone but rather elevates value to everyone.

I have been going through a study of 1 Peter with a number of women from my church. We recently came to the middle section of the letter where Peter addresses the elect exiles with this topic of submission.  It is the largest chunk of Scripture that does so.  Frequently what we fail to see is the larger context for this discussion.  

Peter has opened his letter reminding his readers that they have been redeemed, saved from their sin rather than their hardships.  Indeed, in the culture of the time belief in Jesus and His saving power was a risky proposition from a worldly perspective.  In some areas of the world it still is today.  So then, how is a Christ follower to live in the face of such opposition?  Peter's answer is submission.  Seems counter-intuitive doesn't it?  If my neighbor or my employer or the government comes down hard on me because of what I believe, I am to submit as long as what's being asked of me doesn't violate God's law. "What about my rights?  This hardly seems fair," you say.  It's not.  But Jesus is more concerned with what is God honoring than what is fair.  He is our prime example of this behavior.  In 1 Peter 2:21-25 Peter paraphrases Isaiah 53 which has come to be considered a Messianic text showing the Suffering Servant.

           For you were called to this,

because Christ also suffered for you,

leaving you an example,

so that you should follow in His steps.

He did not commit sin,

and no deceit was found in His mouth;

when He was reviled,

He did not revile in return;

when He was suffering,

He did not threaten

but entrusted Himself to the One who judges justly.*

He Himself bore our sins

in His body on the tree,

so that, having died to sins,

we might live for righteousness;

you have been healed by His wounds.

For you were like sheep going astray,

but you have now returned

to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

*emphasis is mine

No one act in all of history has been more unfair. None. Jesus is Lord Sabaoth, the God of angel armies. He could have had legions of angels at His disposal instead of enduring the cross. It was His right as the God of the heavens and the earth. Yet He chose to submit to the Father's will that many might be saved. (Matt. 26:53-54) And so Peter reminds his readers, and yes, us, that we can submit because it's an act of trust that God is about the business of making things right. We can endure unfair treatment for now because our circumstances are in the hands of the God who redeems all things, even the good that we give up for ourselves when we submit to another.

Submission screams the gospel! The writers of the New Testament closely associate submission with the word honor (Romans 12:10, Romans 13:7, 1 Timothy 6:1, 1 Peter 2:17, 1 Peter 3:7). To honor someone is to give them value, to treat them as though they outrank you, and thus the connection to submission which means to willingly arrange oneself under another. Paul addresses this attitude in Philippians 2. He is basically telling his readers to submit to one another even though he never uses the word submit. And, like Peter, Jesus is his example.

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:3-11

We submit to each other, every one of us, men and women alike, because Jesus has shown us the gospel way. His way goes against every natural inclination of our hearts. And it shouts the gospel to those needy for more of Jesus to those around us.