The Role of Submission

This week we are returning to our devotional walk through of 1 Peter that we began at the beginning of this time of social distancing. So far we have seen that Peter wants to remind his readers that when we are dispersed and away from being able to fellowship with other believers, whether that is from persecution or health reasons, or when we face various trials, what we need to be reminding ourselves of is the Gospel. He spends verses 1-11 of chapter one reminding them of the Gospel. Then he turned his attention to what it means to live in light of that Gospel. He spends the rest of chapter 1 walking though living out the Gospel by growing in holiness. After that we saw that he moved to reminding us of our identity in Christ. The first half of chapter 2 covers this. We saw that Christ is a stone and the chief cornerstone of God’s temple. And as a result, we are also being built up into a spiritual house. And then he reminds us that we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. All so that we can proclaim praises of the one who has saved us.

All of this is vital for us to know and remind ourselves of. When we remind ourselves of these truths we quickly see that regardless of what my circumstances are, God has saved me and has called me to respond to that salvation in a certain way, and nothing that I face in this world changes who God is or who I am in Him.

Now this morning we turn to something that tends to get a bad rap today. Peter is now going to show us how we live as temporary residents of this world. Remember it is not our home. We are just passing through. So as we pass through, we are going to face times of trials and times of alienation, and tribulation. Look at what Peter says in vs 11-12

1 Peter 2:11–12 ESV

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Our duty as we sojourn here on earth is to cause others to see Christ in us and cause them to glorify God because of it. Now how we do that is through two things that Peter is going to show us in three different circumstances. Those two things are to submit and to fear God. And the three settings that he gives us for these are our government, our work, and our marriages. Each of these three areas of our lives matter in how we biblically approach them, especially in times of trials.

Now the idea of submitting is one that rubs us the wrong way in our culture here in America. When we hear that we are to submit it feels like petting a cat the wrong way. It seems uncomfortable, dangerous, and unamerican, after all our entire society was built on the concept of civil disobedience and our own individual rights as being elevated to the forefront. But you will notice as you walk through this passage that Peter does not spend any time giving us exceptions for when we should rebel or strut our own rights. In fact, he is primarily looking at this from the side of those who in these situations tend to be mistreated, the citizen, the servant and the wife. He spends very little time on the responsibility of the one who can potentially do the mistreating. The reason is, he wants to show us how we are to be an apologetic even when we are being persecuted or mistreated. That is the gist of vs 2:12, 2:15 and vs.3:1.

A couple of things to make clear here. First off “what is submission?” Adrian Rogers once defined submission as “Submission is one equal voluntarily placing himself under another equal, that God may be glorified—one equal voluntarily placing himself under another equal, that God may be glorified.

Now, a person without a spirit of submissiveness is never more like the devil. You want to be like the devil? Then just have a rebellious spirit. You see, it was rebellion that made the devil the devil, to begin with. He rebelled against the authority of God. And that’s what made him the devil.”[1]

The second thing that I think we need to keep in mind here is that submission, while the main topic of this passage, is not the sum of what it means to be a Christian to a watching world, it is not our foundation. Instead as we have looked at in the previous passages and as parts of this passage makes clear, Peter is actually arguing that submission defines the Christian’s ways because “being like the Savior” describes the Christian’s goal. I believe that these two thoughts will help us not lose focus of what Peter is trying to say.

Now to who are we to submit?

1. Submit to Every Human Authority

1 Peter 2:13–14 ESV

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

It is interesting to look at who the emperors were in Peters day. The First is Claudius, who by any estimation was an idiot and totally dominated by the special interest groups around him; after that came Nero. Nero’s first act was deifying Claudius; then he developed this theory that his mom was trying to assassinate him so he poisoned her. Nero was the Roman ruler who led a great persecution against the Christians in the first century. In fact, historians tell us that it was under Nero that Peter was martyred. Other authorities of this time included governors Pontius Pilate and Felix. Pilate handed Jesus over to death while Peter stood off in the shadows, while the other, Felix, played with his power in the case of Paul. All three of these men lived in the time of Peter’s letter. Each of them was calloused in life and was no friend to those in the Christian faith. These guys were not models of justice, equity and godliness. Yet Peter tells us to submit to such rulers as these. Why?

1 Peter 2:15 ESV

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

It is God’s will. I think that this one is challenging because that means that If we rebel against human authority, we are actually rebelling against the God who appointed them. But not only is it God’s will, but it silences the false accusations. You see obeying the authorities is a way in which we display the kingdom of God. We are a people who have a heavenly King, and so we understand that authority is intrinsically, and can be in practice, a wonderful thing! As we obey the rules of earthly governments, we provide a faithful witness to our King and country in order to “put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.” When we pay our taxes, when we obey the laws of the state, when we honor those in authority, (even when we do not agree politically with them) we silence them of slandering us because while they may attack us for the Gospel, they will not attack us because of our relationship with the authorities or the way we are involved with society.

Finally Peter tells us that we do this out of freedom.

1 Peter 2:16–17 ESV

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

We don’t do this because we are afraid of human authorities, but because we are free in Christ and servants of God. That is our motive. Submitting isn’t giving up freedom, it is recognizing true freedom is found in Christ.

A couple of quick caveats are needed here. 1. Peter does not spend any time discussing when we are not to obey the governing authorities. And the answer is not when we don’t like their policy, it is when we have to very clearly disobey God to obey the authorities. In these instances as Peter and the apostles said in Acts:

Acts 5:29 ESV

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.

2. Now this does not mean that we can’t disagree with a policy or decision. It also does’t mean we are not to speak in to policy and law by voting and campaigning. In America, that is how our government is set up. Part of our submission is being good citizens. And as obedient, law-abiding citizens, we seek the welfare of the cities and state in which we live, doing good and promoting what is good for society

2. Submit to Masters

1 Peter 2:18–19 ESV

Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.

The word for servant here is the word for a household servant, similar to our employee/employer relationship. Here Peter says even if your boss is crooked, serve them and do them good. However, be mindful of God’s will, this means don’t join them in crooked practices, but still seek them good. Joseph in the Bible is a good example of this. He served Potiphar well, and didn’t cheat him or take his wife when she made advances towards him but was mindful of God’s will. And we see that because of it, God was with Joseph. Even when Joseph went unjustly to jail, and endured suffering, God carried him through that.

Look at vs 19-20

1 Peter 2:19–20 ESV

For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

Notice that it says it is a gracious thing when we do this. It actually says it twice, once in each verse. When we endure unjust hardship, we are doing a gracious thing. How? By our goodness we are displaying true graciousness to the world. We are showing a watching world God’s grace. We do this because we are imitating Christ.

1 Peter 2:21–25 ESV

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Christ is our example! And we were called to follow his example. Once again this is taking us right back to the Gospel. Right back to who He is and what He has done, and to our response to that truth, and our identity in Him. Really this whole section that we are looking at takes us right back to practically living out everything that Pater has written up to this point!

3. Submit To Husbands.

1 Peter 3:1–4 ESV

Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.

A quick note here. Peter is not speaking of an abusive spouse here. If you are married to someone who is abusive, get help immediately. Go to the proper authorities. If you look at the book of Deuteronomy, many of the laws that are listed in relation to marriage and divorce are specifically there to protect the one who is being abused.

So what is Peter speaking about? God in his wisdom has chosen to have men be the head of the family and the wife comes alongside as an helpmate, who is equal to the husband, but has a different role in the family.

The specific context of the wife’s submission is “your own husbands.” Peter does not call all women to submit to all men. He calls all women to submit to their own husbands. Submission is not rooted in who your husband is or how responsible he is. It is not rooted in whether or not your husband is a believer. Submission is rooted in God’s good and wise authority.

Once again, God has a purpose in the wife submitting even if the husband is not leading as he should. That reason is to once again display God to the husband who not obeying God’s Word in his leadership or to display God to the husband who is unbelieving. Through her example of biblical submission, he might be won over to Christ.

Conclusion.

Two observations that I have here. The first is, Our conduct towards authorities is important for the watching world. It is important because it is our greatest apologetic that we can give to the way that the Gospel changes us. And second, our submission even when it is difficult, glorifies God.

So how do we apply this in the here and now? There are many ways that this can be applied but I want to think specifically while we are faced with not being able to gather as a church. It is interesting to me that all three of these areas are potentially a challenge right now as we are under restrictions due to Covid 19.

1. Governing authorities are making a lot of decisions that we may or may not agree with when it comes to shutting down the economy and restricting our activities. How we respond is important. Are we honoring those in authority, or are we tempted towards rebelling that authority? If we are tempted to rebel, is it for truly biblical reasons of obeying God rather than men, or is it because of personal rights, political views, or whatever other reason that we might come up with?

What ever you chose to do, whatever your attitude, make sure that your intentions are glorifying God to a watching and hostile world. Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, Fear God and honor the emperor (the governing authority)

2. Employers are making a lot of decisions right now as well that can affect you. There are layoffs, hour cuts, or new safety measures and policies that may make your job hard. Your boss may even do things that seem a little crooked. Live like Joseph and submit to your bosses, seek their good and obey God’s will, do not fall into sin yourself.

3. The third category is marriage. Wives, right now family dynamics may have changed for you because of financial burdens, or work schedule changes. With the stress of financial decisions and stay home orders, and essential employees having work become crazy right now, it is possible that your husband is responding by not leading in a biblical manner. Make sure that you submit biblically so that he may be brought back to leading biblically. Or perhaps your husband is not a believer to begin with. Then allow your biblical submission to shine during this time that perhaps he might come to salvation.

Prayer

Father God,

Thank you for Christ. Thank you that he is not only our salvation, but he is also our example in how to live in that salvation. Father I pray that you would check our hearts when it comes to submitting to authority. Father help us to obey and glorify you. Father I pray that as we seek to live as you have called us to live, that the world would see you in us. Father help us to be faithful witness in this world. Father help us to proclaim and represent your kingdom while we are in exile here.

Father, I pray for our government leaders. Give them wisdom to lead well. Father thank you for them. We know that you have set them up for our good.

Father I pray for our bosses, that you would give them wisdom in this time of economic shutdown. Father I pray for each one at Shiloh that you would provide for them in this tough time financially. Give us wisdom.

Father, I pray for the husbands of each family that attends Shiloh. I pray that they would lead their families well. I pray that they would seek to lead biblically, that they would seek to lead in obedience of you. And I pray for the wives as well. Father I pray that they would also be able to fulfill their role as help mate through submitting to the leadership of their husbands, I pray that through that obedience it would keep the husbands with an eye to biblical leadership. I also pray that you would allow their obedience to you to lead unbelieving husbands to Christ.

Father I pray that we would be able to gather again soon. Keep that longing in all of our hearts. Don’t let us become satisfied with any form of artificial church, or to become complacent about gathering again. But as we wait, I pray that you would use this time to sanctify us, I pray that you would use this time so that we might be able to share in new ways the gospel to friends and family members. I pray that you would be glorified in this, even when we don’t see the good right now.

I pray this in Jesus name,

Amen

[1] Adrian Rogers, “Godless Government, Bad Bosses, and Mean Mates,” in Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive (Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust, 2017), 1 Pe 2:11–3:2.