1 Peter 5:5-6 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. 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. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, (NKJV) Those with humility submit. Their dealings with other people are very restrained. It is interesting that Peter says be clothed with humility, which in Greek literally means put on the apron of humility. An apron is a symbol of service. He is likely thinking back to the last Passover with Jesus, where He took a towel and girded Himself. Then what did He do? He served. This leads to what humility produces next: The humble choose to serve. They do not fight—they serve. They do not judge—they serve. The Bible shows quite a number of men who did not look humble on the outside but were in reality—in the eyes of God—humble! Moses and David were both warriors and powerful political figures. In what way were they humble? Regardless of what they were—judge, king, prophet—they submitted to God. Regardless of what it cost them, they submitted to God, and sometimes they had to give orders or do things that we would consider to be quite difficult to do, like going to war or executing transgressors. For a person to be humble in the biblical sense, he must know what is true and right, have a good grasp of reality, and submit to it. Ephesians 5:21 and Philippians 2:3 both show in broad principle what humility tends to do to a person. They are restrained, but at the same time they are constrained to serve and to submit. Conversely, those who destroy unity are those who exalt themselves against God, men, doctrines, and right traditions (II Thessalonians 2:15; 3:6). — John W. Ritenbaugh
Posted on: Wed, 30 Apr 2014 05:17:13 +0000
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