What is Biblical Submission? What is biblical submission? It is a little bit of a trick question because our English bibles don’t reveal that there are a couple of different concepts relating to submission and obedience in scripture. The word submit in English is used a few different ways as well. I can submit a proposal for consideration. I can submit to you the reader that something is untrue. I can submit my car keys to the new owners after I sold the car. Finally I can submit to the control of an authority. The following English dictionaries define one aspect of submission this way. Collins English dictionary: "unwillingly allow something to be done to you." Dictionary: "to give over or yield to the power or authority of another." Webster : "yield to the control of another." There are 6 greek words used in the New Testament to convey something like our modern concept of submission: hupotasso, hupakouo, hupeiko, peitho, peitharcheo and dogmatizo. Keep in mind that many greek words have different meanings based on their context. It is no different in English. I may submit a proposal or submit to a search before boarding a plane. Words take on different meanings based on how they are used. The word most commonly translated submit or subjection is hupotasso. Hupotasso is a military term used to signify a surrender on a battle field. It’s non military usage is different. It can mean any of the following depending on context: Arrange under Yield to admonition or advice Obey Hupotasso is not used to convey a sense of involuntary obedience to human command or authority in the New Testament. The New Testament words that best represent that are hupakouo and peitharcheo. Neither of these words are used in reference to church leadership. The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament states the following: For a material understanding of the verb in the NT its considerable range of meaning should be noted, especially in the middle. Originally it is a hierarchical term which stresses the relation to superiors. But one should note that the subordination expressed may be either compulsory or voluntary. In the former case the main idea may be that of either power or conquest on the one side or lack of freedom on the other. In the NT the verb does not immediately carry with it the thought of obedience, ? I, 223, 31 ff.; VI, 9, 24 ff. ? 40, 29 ff. (Kittel). Hupotasso, as it relates to members of the church interacting with each other is "a voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming responsibility, and carrying a burden." When Paul instructs the Ephesians to "submit to one another out of reverence for Christ" it is clear that he is speaking the sense of "arranging under" or "yield to admonition or advice" He isn’t telling people to obey each other. In 1Cor 16:16 when Paul calls on the Corinthians to submit to "everyone who cooperates in the work" it is clear there is no sense of hierarchy.
Posted on: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 00:58:18 +0000