Several
weeks ago I photographed this soon-to-be-married couple. Some of you will
recognize them! :-) Just before we met that evening they had been in
pre-marital counseling with our pastor. While we drove to the park where
we took some of the photos, I shared with them some of my memories of B.J.'s
and my pre-marital counseling sessions with Rev. Smit. I also confided in them
that, reflecting on B.J.'s and my marriage, when there has been friction between us, the trouble often stems from the difficulty that I have submitting to
B.J.'s authority. To following his lead. To giving him the honor
that is his due.
It is one of the founding principles of our
nation, that all men are created equal.
So basic is this assumption to our society, it is declared to be a
“truth” that is “self-evident.” We’ve
taken this “truth” to heart: children defy their parents, wives resist the
authority of their husbands, employees strike against their employers, and very
few anymore render to government leaders the honor that is due them (Romans
13:7).
Let us not be mistaken: democracy promotes
equality; Christianity does not.
Certainly, “all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). And God
calls His people from both genders and from all races and classes. He is our Father; we are sisters and
brothers, heirs together of the grace of life (1 Peter 3:7). And yet, though He views each of us in Christ
as a beloved child, He calls us to occupy different places here on earth. Some of His people are masters, or employers
(see Col. 4). Some are servants, or
employees (see Col. 3:22ff). Some are
office bearers in the church (see 1 Tim. 5:17).
Some are husbands (see 1Tim 3:12).
Some are wives (see Eph. 5:22-24).
Some are children (see Col. 3:20).
Those
whom God places in the lesser (lesser with regard to position, not importance) roles
He calls to submit to those whom He has placed in authority over them.
But God also puts into authority those who are not His children. “By me kings reign,” he declares in Proverbs
8:15. Our calling to submit to those in
authority does not change if those who rule are unbelievers. Paul writes the following to the saints who
lived under the anti-Christian government of Rome: “Let every soul be subject unto
the higher powers. For there is no power
but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power,
resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to
themselves damnation” (Romans 13:1-2). And
Peter instructs wives who are married to unbelieving husbands this way: “Likewise, ye wives, be
in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also
may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives” (1 Peter 3:1).
The honor that
we owe to those in authority is “due.”
It is fitting to that individual’s God-given place, and it is our duty
to give.[i] “Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. Servants, be subject to your
masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the forward”
(1 Pet. 2:17-18).
To hold a
place of authority is serious thing. “My brethren,”
James cautions in James 3:1, “be not many masters, knowing that we shall
receive the greater condemnation.” So Paul call us to make “supplications,
prayers, intercessions, and
giving of thanks” for all men, “for kings, and for all that are in authority” (1Tim. 2:1-2).
Why is it so
difficult for us to submit to those in authority over us? Our rebellion at root is defiance against
God. It is self-centered pride. We would like to be in the place of God, able
to dictate the circumstances and place of our life. “Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the
potter's clay: for shall the work say of Him that made it, He made me not? or
shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?”
(Is. 29:16). “Give God His due, and you will escape the
torment of self-centeredness.”[ii]
“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But we have this
treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and
not to us” (2 Cor. 4:7).
“For I say,
through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought
to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the
measure of faith. For
as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
So we, being many, are one body
in Christ, and every one members one of another” (Rom. 12:3).
