BACKGROUND
Submission means the freedom to give way to others. Submission is the opposite of self-indulgence. Paradoxically, though, self-denial has the effect of leading to self-fulfillment. "If any one would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all."
Submission is an ethical imperative for all Christians: men as well as women, fathers as well as children, masters as well as slaves.
The duty of submission, however, has its limits. Sometimes, those limits are clear (such as Peter’s refusal to stop preaching the risen Christ). Usually, the limits are not clear (such as the extent to which one should submit to a corrupt and wicked government).
Submission is in some ways the concurrent motivation for the discipline of service (see Part 6).
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7/12/97