Words to Live By

A Reader's Guide to Key Bible Terms

Nancy Ferguson, Ann Doyle

• Verlag: Leafwood Publishers
• Jahr: 2017
• ISBN:
  9780891124665
• Thema: Theologie & Religion
• Thema: Christliche Erziehung

The words we use and live by have a life of their own. They come, they go, they change. Learn what certain words mean in Scripture, and learn to live by the Word of God.Words, both written and spoken, allow us to communicate, but we do not always read or hear them in the same way. Meanings change over time, and some words really do lose something in translation. What does Abba, Father mean? What is edification? Knowing what words like fellowship, hope, and redeem mean will give you a better understanding of biblical teaching on salvation and Christian living.

SUBMIT

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Ephesians 5:21 (NIV)

Growing up in the church, I heard a lot about submission—and not as a dirty word either. Ours was a Bible-reading, Bible-believing, Bible-obeying church, so we all knew submission was a virtue. But it is doubtful that anyone quite knew what submission is. We heard that a wife should submit to her husband, but were not really clear on what that meant. Most of the other passages on submission were overlooked, so we did not have a very complete picture. The Greek word for “submit” or “submission” occurs thirty-eight times in the New Testament. Only seven times does it refer specifically to women. Clearly “submission” needs further study. not understand what it means to submit (or what the Bible teaches about marriage!). If a husband subjugates his wife, she may be in a state of subjugation (which is sometimes called submission), but by taking away her choice in the matter he has made it impossible for her to submit as the Bible teaches. One can only submit if it is an action freely chosen by the one submitting.

The New American Heritage Dictionary defines “submit” as “to yield to the opinion or authority of another.” This is something everyone does every day, although we do not necessarily think that we are submitting when we do it. At work, we do things “the company way” even when we are pretty sure there is a better way. We comply with government rules when filing taxes or renewing a driver’s license. We conform to safety regulations. Sometimes we submit a proposal or other document that we developed, but are now making available for another’s approval and use. In each of these cases, we set aside our own preferences and desires to do what someone else wants us to, and we do it more for our own benefit than for anyone else’s. That is what it means to submit.

There are many passages in the Bible where someone is in submission to someone else. Here are a few:

Jesus to Mary and Joseph	Luke 2:51
Christ to God	1 Corinthians 15:28
Everyone to God	Hebrews 12:9; James 4:7
Christians to political authorities	Titus 3:1; 1 Peter 2:13
Church to Christ	Ephesians 5:24
Christians to leaders	1 Corinthians 16:15–16
Younger to older	1 Peter 5:5
Servants to masters	Titus 2:9; 1 Peter 2:18
Spirit of prophets to prophets	1 Corinthians 14:32
Demons to Jesus’s disciples	Luke 10:17, 20

Notice that these passages always speak of submitting to others, never of keeping someone in submission. You cannot make me submit—if I do not chose to submit, you may be able to subjugate me, but I will not have submitted. In spite of this, you have probably heard it said that a Christian man should “keep his wife in submission.” Anyone who says this clearly does

This may be clearer if we look at the Greek word that can be translated either “subjugate” or “submit” depending on the form of the word used. The word hupotasso means “to subjugate,” “to conquer,” or “to make (someone) subject to (someone else).” It is used this way in Philippians 3:21, “the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself ” (RSV—italics added), or “the power that enables him to bring everything under his control” (NIV—italics added). This is what we call the active voice of the verb, where someone does something to someone else. In this verse, it is Christ who has the power to bring everything under his control.

There is also a passive voice of the verb, where something is done to someone. The passive form of hupotasso means “to be (made) subject to” or “to be (or have been) subjugated.” This usage is in 1 Peter 3:22, “angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him” (KJV—italics added). The New International Version translates this verse as “with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.” In this case, Christ is not actively subjugating anything, but things are already in a state of having been made subject to him; the “powers” did not do anything—it was done to them. Sometimes this passive use of hupotasso is switched to the active “submit” in English: “heavenly messengers and authorities and powers submit to His supremacy” (VOICE), but the emphasis is still on the state of being, rather than on action being taken.

Both passive and active forms of hupotasso are seen in Romans 8:20: “for creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope” (RSV—italics added). Creation had no choice in the matter—God took action that affected creation.

Passages that use the active or passive voice only account for about a third of the times hupotasso is used in the New Testament. Twenty-six times it is used in what is called the middle voice. English does not have the middle voice; it only has the active and passive voices. But just as there is a great difference between conquering and being conquered, so is the meaning of the middle voice different than the active or the passive voice. The middle voice is used when someone does something that has an effect on the one taking action. It can emphasize the subject’s participation in both what is done and the outcome. It involves actively doing something, but what is done is done to or for oneself.

The same word in Greek sometimes has a different meaning in the active and the middle voices. For example, the word for “make peace” means stop fighting and agree to be peaceful if it is in the middle voice, but in the active voice it means to act as a mediator to bring about peace between others. The mediator is acting for others, not himself, so the active voice is used; those making peace are taking action and enjoying the results of their own actions, so the middle voice is used. The word for “to clothe” is used in the active voice in Luke 15:22: “Bring the best robe and put it on him” (NIV) and in the middle voice in Luke 12:22: “Do not worry about . . . what you will wear” (NIV). The active voice is used when someone does something to another; the middle voice is used when someone is participating in the results of his own actions. Because English does not have a middle voice, it is sometimes difficult to know how to translate it.

The middle voice is used in Romans 13:1, 5: “Let every person submit to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God. . . . Therefore, one must submit, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience” (translation mine). Here, “to submit” is clearly a choice people must make for themselves, an act of will—not something forced on one by another. It is the middle voice of hupotasso that is used when the meaning is “submit,” as in the passages listed at the beginning of this discussion. In Greek, sometimes the passive (“be subjugated”) and middle (“submit oneself ”) of hupotasso look similar, but the meaning is very different. A careful look at the context makes it clear whether the meaning is passive or middle voice. If it is passive voice, something has been done to someone (one person is subjugated by another). When it is the middle voice, someone is actively involved in what is done or its outcome (one chooses to submit).

The Greek lexicon by Arndt and Gingrich defines this use of hupotasso in the middle voice as “voluntary yielding in love.”² Every time it is specified that women are to submit to someone, it is wives submitting to their own husbands (never to any other men). And every time wives are told to submit to their own husbands it is in the middle voice (Eph. 5:21–22, 24; Col. 3:18; Titus 2:5; 1 Pet. 3:1, 5). These passages encourage wives to lovingly yield to their husbands. Wives choose to take action, and they participate in the results of their actions. These same passages also give other instructions to husbands (“love . . . as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,” Eph. 5:25; “do not be harsh,” Col. 3:19; “live considerately with your wives,” 1 Pet. 3:7 RSV), which men sometimes find equally difficult to follow. Yet following God’s way always brings blessings.

Many people in the world today, and even in the church, think submission is out of date and out of place in the modern world. If their idea of a wife submitting to her husband is the same as a husband “lording it over” his wife (and making her life miserable), then that is certainly out of place in the church, too. However, when both husband and wife understand and practice what God means by submission it leads to a beautiful relationship. Ephesians 5:18–21 portrays submitting to one another as characteristic of those filled with the Holy Spirit.

Those who think submission is only about how men treat their wives are mistaken on two counts. Submission is about order and peaceful relationships in the world and the church, not just in marriage. Additionally, submission is, by definition, something one freely chooses to do, not something someone can demand of another. Some misunderstandings of biblical teaching on submission come from the difficulty of interpreting and practicing these Scriptures, and some come from the misuse of Scripture. Wrong teaching on submission has led to much frustration and discord. However, if one learns what “submitting” means in the Bible, then it can contribute to very good situations.

God who made us, knows us, and loves us tells us to submit. Lovingly yield (submit) to God; submit to those who are older; submit to Christian leaders; submit to political authorities; and submit to one another. When we actively choose to submit to God’s way, we participate in the outcome of peace in our world, goodwill, and calm.

Questions and Reflection

What do you see as the difference between “obey” and “submit”? How might it be possible to do one but not the other?

How does submission take different forms according to the one to whom one submits?

What might be different about submission to civil authorities in a democracy or in a dictatorship?

What about submitting to different employers with different ideas about how to do business?

Are you more comfortable describing a go...