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Submit Yourselves To Each Other - Ephesians 5
Submit Yourselves To Each Other - Ephesians 5
Ephesians 5:18-21 (18) And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, (19) speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; (20) always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; (21) and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
THEN, Paul gives instructions on conducting oneself in the various relationships that he may have in life. Some are wives, some are husbands, some are children, some are fathers, some are slaves, and yet others are masters.
Some would apply verse 21 in such a way that there is NO hierarchal aspect of any of these relationships! Then it goes beyond these to other relationships that involve submission! Congregation to elders? Individuals to governing authorities? Or even Jesus as the son of God and God the Father.
There is of course the concept that Paul instructed about in Philippians 2: “ (1) Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, (2) make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. (3) Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;” (Philippians 2:1-3)
Take for example the father’s relationship with his children. He is to ‘rule his house well’ (see this concept in the qualification of becoming an elder – 1 Tim. 3:4). Yet he must do so with the goal to be what is best for the welfare of his children. Just how do you understand him being submissive unto his children and yet exercise his responsibility as a father?
Or take the relationship of an elder to the local congregation. He is to shepherd the flock among him. He is to ‘take the lead’. He will have to make decisions that others are to submit unto. What if THEY REJECT such leadership? What if they DEMAND a different course of action and conduct? Does he then submit unto them?
While both the father and the elder must take into account the well-being of those they are charged to care for, they yet lead and make decisions that others are to submit to.
My point, such submissiveness of Eph. 5:21 does NOT erase the responsibilities of various roles in life! In all relationships that require submissiveness, I must be submissive. In those roles where I have the responsibilities of leading, I must lead with the people’s best interest at the heart of my thinking. As Paul warned the masters in a master/slave relationship to remember that they themselves have a master – “And masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.” (Ephesians 6:9)
Hugh DeLong
