Submission: Fully Human
Scott Lyons
10/10/2009

We have all sorts of baggage connected to the concept of submission. For some it brings to mind the subjugation of women; for others it offends their sense of independence or autonomy. Certainly no one likes to be told to submit. And yet here is the teaching: “Be very careful to obey all the commands and the instructions that Moses gave to you. Love the Lord your God, walk in all his ways, obey his commands, hold firmly to him, and serve him with all your heart and all your soul” (Joshua 22:5, NLT). “And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21, NLT). Let us clear away our misconceptions of submission and build up a better understanding of this discipline.

Submission is not about my being able to lord my authority over anyone else. Submission is not a message for me to give to someone else; it is for me. Submission cannot be forced. It is an offering of oneself that can only be given in freedom, without a hint of coercion. When one is forced to do something, or manipulated into doing something, the resulting behavior is not submission. One must be free in order to practice this discipline. Even God does not force our submission, because he values too highly our freedom. He grants us our dignity and does not, will not, offend it or trespass against it. But given freely, submission is the heart of the matter—the center of what it means to be Christian. It is assent to God; it is our “Yes,” our “Thy will be done,” our “Be it unto me according to thy word.”

Submission is not a wifely duty, but a person’s duty. It is the most human of duties. It is the heart of Christ, who does nothing that he does not see the Father doing (John 5:19). It is becoming small, decreasing that Christ might increase. Submission is a most robust virtue. It is not for wimps or cowards or the insecure. It is for those, and only those, who rest securely in God, who know where they have come from and whose they are. It is only they who can take up the towel and the basin and wash their brother’s feet. It is only they who can lay down their lives for their friends. It is only they who can daily take up their crosses and follow Christ—follow him to Calvary. This is submission, and the ignominy of it is grace; its shamefulness is sweetness.

Furthermore, submission is not passive. The discipline is not an invitation to be a doormat. It is not simply letting others have their way and thinking yourself holy afterward. Submission is active. His will becomes my will. This means that submission shows itself in the participation within mission, displays itself in the activity of single-minded devotion, plays out with intense focus. Submission hears the call and lives it. It abandons its own life in order to share in God’s.

Practically speaking, submission is holiness in all its varied splendor—it is as individual as you and me and our changing circumstances. There are different subjects to whom we subject ourselves, but ultimately the discipline of submission means relinquishing our will to God. For one it may mean disciplining oneself to write each day. For another it may mean sitting in a cubicle at work. It is cooking meals and packing lunches. Submission is as broad as the river of humanity and plays within the mundane more than it acts in the extraordinary. Mary’s yes, her submission, involved the most extraordinary of events, the incarnation of God the Word, as well as fetching water, washing and mending clothes, preparing meals—the most ordinary of daily activities. This is submission. It is doing what one is called to do in the present moment. It is not some heroic deed that will be sung about for ages, but is faithfulness in housework; the faithfulness of spouses, parents, and children; it is respecting your elders. It is taking care of the widow and orphan, feeding the hungry, and visiting the prisoner. Submission is assent, and an assent that moves you. It is not simply paying lip service, but is real service that animates hands and feet. Submission turns away from the original sin of autonomy and seeks everything in God alone. It is in this way that he who submits himself becomes fully human.