Question of the Week: Obedience or Submission?

by Anne Lang Bundy

A biblical look at "Submission to Authority" was planned as one post but is being stretched into three:

February 4: Submit to Bad Government?
February 11: Obedience or Submission?
February 18: Balance in Marital Submission?

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"Duty does not have to be dull.
Love can make it beautiful and fill it with life."
~ Thomas Merton

Photo from "The Notebook"
© 2004 New Line Cinema
image source: rottentomatoes.com

The question planned for this week was How is submission in marriage different than submission to government? Before answering that, it might be helpful to correct an oversight in last week's answer, and distinguish subtle differences between obedience and submission.

The dictionary says that to obey is "to carry out or comply with command, authority, or instruction." To submit is "to surrender or yield oneself to the will or authority of another."

Obedience is more about action. Submission is more about attitude. It is possible to obey the letter of the law without submitting to the spirit of the law.

While God's grace is abundant in the Old Testament, emphasis is that obedience results in blessing, while disobedience leads to consequences. The New Testament in Jesus teaches that more important than strict compliance with the letter of God's law is the higher standard of submission to the spirit of His law, which is love.

The key New Testament passage about submission to governing authorities is Romans 13. The spirit of submission is described in the same chapter as follows:

Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
~ Romans 13:7-10 (NIV)

Last week's post made this statement:
There are three areas of authority mentioned in Scripture—government, church, and family. The same principle generally applies to all three—obey authorities unless they command what God forbids or they forbid what God commands.

The principle of love acts not according to mere duty, but according to what is in the best interest of both authority (neighbor) and myself, in light of eternity and God's truth. It is possible to be both disobedient in action and submissive in spirit.

Where marriage is concerned, the Bible teaches that balance comes not only in understanding the distinction between obedience and submission, but in understanding how both husband and wife submit to each other.

More on that next week.

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What questions do you have about Christianity or the Bible? You're invited to leave them in the comments below (anonymous questions welcome), or email buildingHisbody [plus] @ gmail.com.

© 2011 Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.

Question of the Week: Submit to Bad Government?

by Anne Lang Bundy

A biblical look at "Submission to Authority" was planned as one post but is being stretched into three:

February 4: Submit to Bad Government?
February 11: Obedience or Submission?
February 18: Balance in Marital Submission?

: : :

Since the Bible says submit to governing authorities, what do you do when government is bad?
~ M.V.

How much of government is truly good? All authority is comprised of sinful humans who err, and are sometimes downright bad.

There are three areas of authority mentioned in Scripture—government, church, and family. The same principle generally* applies to all three—obey authorities unless they command what God forbids or they forbid what God commands.

That principle harmonizes two contrasting Bible passages:

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God... For he is God's minister to you for good.
~ Romans 13:1,4 (NKJV)

and:

Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men!"
~ Acts 5:29 (NIV)

The three authorities are separate and independent, as long as they don't violate another realm of authority. For example, parents have authority to use corporal punishment on their children. But if they become abusive and violate criminal laws against assault, the government exercises authority over the parents. On the other hand, if one level of government violates parental rights, parents may appeal to a higher level of government.

Likewise, separation of church and state does not mean that religion may not influence government, but that church and government recognize the separate areas of authority that the other holds.

It may be helpful to remember that Paul wrote the above passage to the Romans—Christians living right under the nose of a pagan emperor. Paul well understood that he directed submission to bad government—but only when obedience was not sinful.

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

We hope for morality in the authorities over all three areas, and that they rule rightly because they are good, or at least because they have fear for their accountability to God. When authority asks something of us we don't want to do, we have several options:

– Submit quietly when a matter is not worthy of dissension, for the sake of peace and order. Regular contention over trivial matters reduces our credibility when we must speak up over a more serious matter.

– If a matter is worthy of the effort, wait for the right time, and then respectfully request dialogue and/or make an appeal, being prepared to provide additional information or perspective which gives an authority reason to reconsider.

– If such dialogue is unsuccessful, carefully and prayerfully consider if the matter rises to the level of justifying disobedience, with or without appeal to another authority—including God. Disobedience to authority always risks consequences, and we have no way of knowing how far suffering might ultimately extend.

... But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.
~ 1 Peter 2:20-21 (NKJV; full context: 1 Peter 2:13-21)

: : :

What questions do you have about Christianity or the Bible? You're invited to leave them in the comments below (anonymous questions welcome), or email buildingHisbody [plus] @ gmail.com.

© 2011 Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Image source: gospelmet.wordpress.com

Obedience Revisited

If you do not love your enemies then you do not know God. - St. Silouan

As Christians, how do we understand obedience in the context of forgiveness? Our world can be a cruel place.

If we are honest, we know we have all been victims and perpetrators of self-interest. People have wounded us, but we have also been the authors of hurt.

The line from one Smashing Pumpkins’ song says it well, “The world is a vampire sent to drain.” But humans, that is to say you and I, are the world.

If Solzhenitsyn is correct, if the line that divides good and evil cuts through the heart of every man, what is the solution? Better asked, who is the solution?

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. – John 3:16-17

But what about our enemies, what about forgiveness?

Jesus teaches us to not only forgive our enemies but to pray for them, too. Do we? Has your Church ever prayed for our enemies?

You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. - Matthew 5:43-44

Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. - Luke 6:37

One day I was sitting in a local coffee shop, The Daily Grind, the smell of coffee lifting up to my nose, and I had a thought. – What if the body of Christ, the Church, made 9/11 a national day of prayer? A day we gather to pray for the well being and to bless those who make us their enemies? Would that be obedient to our Lord’s command?

Forgiveness is an act of the will, it is also an act of obedience. It unchains us from past wounds, but it costs us something.

However, it does not cost us as much as our forgiveness cost our Father in heaven.

That act of forgiveness cost Him, His son.

Doggy School Dropout

Check out Peter's Blog Carnival on Obedience.

- Rediscovering The Church -

Families have secrets. Transactions and embarrassments they only whisper to each other, humiliations they shutter at the thought of telling non-family members.

My family definitely has secrets.

If we can believe scripture, and I do, all our secrets, events hidden from peers, will be brought out into the light one day.

Why wait.

Brothers and sisters, today I am shining a light on one of my family’s humiliations. Please do not judge us too harshly.

Our dogs, Max and Nina, the dogs we love and call family, flunked obedience training. They are to our shame. . . doggy school dropouts.

There I said it… The tension is leaving my body as I confess… I feel soooo much better already…

Max and Nina wanted to be obedient, they tried, but the pleasures of the world proved too tempting.


DOS PERROS

In the cool of a subtropical Saturday morning, a salty breeze coming off the ocean, Max Sits. He stays in the ready position for nearly three minutes. “Look at me master!” his eyes say, seeking approval.

Max is the first to see a family riding down the beach on their bicycles. He strains at the temptation, body tense, eyes watering like an addict needing a drink.

“Stay Max, stay boy. You can do it.” But the sirens’ call is too strong. Max springs down the coastline chasing the bicycles, barking, tail waging, tongue hanging out of his mouth like a pork-chop. “Come back Max! Come BACK!” too late…

Nina’s habits are more . . . invasive.

A neighbor walks to the mailbox, or the FedEx driver asks us to sign for a package, perhaps a man bends over in his driveway to pick up his newspaper. – And our sweet Nina, with no malicious intent, trots over to say hello and sniffs aggressively parts of his or her anatomy we normally do not discuss in polite company. The shame.

She knows she is doing wrong, she wants to be obedient. But, she cannot stop herself.

We still love both dogs, despite their disobedience.


MORE SECRETS

I am a doggy school dropout, too.

How many times have I wanted to do the right thing, wanted to be obedient to my Master but failed. …Daily?

With our Father’s guidance, I have improved over the years, but I am a work in progress. Like Max and Nina, I want to obey, but I simply cannot, not to His standards anyway.

And despite my shortcomings, and despite my lack of ability, and despite my open rebellion when I take off running down the beach, chasing empty promises like Max . . . He still loves me dearly. My God still loves me.

Here is another family secret for those who do not already know. – All I can offer God, all He requires, is Faith, faith in His son Jesus Christ. In return He gives me everything.

I am not His pet, I am His child.