Submission By Arlo Moehlenpah

First read the following article on submission and the endnotes. After that you should take the quiz. I you wish to print this article with better formatting of the endnotes click the pdf version.

Contrary to the ways of the world the Christian walk is one of submission. When Mary submitted and said, “be it unto me according to thy word 1 our Savior was conceived. Jesus said, “not my will but thine be done,” 2 and went to Calvary for us. James gave the prescription for an overcoming life when he said, “Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.” 3 Peter in his first epistles gives five exhortations regarding submission.

5. All of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble." 8

God was able to make a huge transformation in the life of Saul of Tarsus because Saul recognized that Jesus was Lord and quickly submitted, “Lord what would you want me to do?” 9 A difficulty in many marriages arises when neither the husband nor the wife have learned to wholeheartedly submit. However, if God could change Paul he can change us, if we make an immediate turn around and submit first to Him and then the authorities that God has placed over us.

The Christ-church relationship should be a model for the husband-wife relationship. Christ should be a model to husbands, for as Christ loved the church, husbands should love their wives. 10 The church should be a model to wives for like the church submits to Christ, wives should submit to their husbands. 11 Is your life of submission a good role model for your wife to follow? Is your submission to God, government, your boss, and your pastor teaching your wife to submit?

1 Corinthians Chapter 11 deals primarily with obedience, headship and authority. Hair is a token of submission. Uncut hair on a woman is a token of her submission to her head which is the man. Cut hair on a man is a token of a man’s submission to the headship of Christ. You need to be the example. For the sake of your soul and your marriage I beseech you to submit quickly to God then you can say to your wife as Paul said, “Be a follower of me as I also am a follower of Christ.” 12 Jesus said to seek first the kingdom of God and all other things will follow. 13

Voluntary submission is a beautiful thing. Involuntary submission is not. The Lord woos but does not force. He says “come” but it is up to us to follow. We are no longer our own, we have been bought with a price. His ways are higher than our ways. His ways are better. We should submit even our plans to the Lord. 14

1 Luke 1:38 Then Mary said, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word." NKJV

2 Luke 22:42 "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done." NKJV

3 James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. NKJV

4 1 Peter 2:13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, NKJV

5 1 Peter 2:18 Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. NKJV

6 1 Peter 3:1 Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, NKJV

7 1 Peter 5:5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. NKJV

8 1 Peter 5:5 Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." NKJV

9 Acts 9:6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" NKJV

10 Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, NKJV

11 Ephesians 5:22-24 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. NKJV

12 1 Corinthians 11:1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. KJV

13 Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. NKJV

14 James 4:13-15 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." NKJV

Quiz on Submission