Introduction
The topic of “Authority and Submission” draws strong emotional responses since it goes to the heart of relationships in a fallen world. It is unavoidable and crosses all major relationships: with God, husbands and wives, parents and children, government and governed, employers and employees, church leaders and congregations etc. In some way or other the exercise of and response to authority in relationships holds the moral fabric of humanity together or pulls it apart.
A distinctive Christian understanding of how authority and submission relate to the topic of “Men and Women” must be grounded in the revelation of God in Christ. Only if our framework for life and understanding is Jesus will we be able to avoid all the responses and attitudes that distort the expression of true relational authority, especially in marriage.
Authority and Submission in the Godhead
1. The Nature of Authority and Submission
There is an order of authority within God that is constant (1 Cor 8:6). It is always the Father who sends the Son (John 5:10, 36, 43; 20:21) and the Son who submits to the Father (John 5:19; 14:31; Phil 2:8) in love (John 14:31).
The key to understanding the nature of the obedience of the Son is the communion within God. The authority of the Father is never external or “alien” to Jesus because he and the Father have a oneness (John 10:30; 17:22) of being “in” each other (John 10:38; 14:10; 15:10; 17:23). The authority of the Father is completely internalised in Jesus so that as the embodiment of the authority of God he speaks the words of God (Mark 13:31; John 3:34; 6:63; 14:10, 24; 17:8) and does the works of God (Mark 2:10; John 3:2; 14:11; 20:30 – 31). He is filled with God’s Spirit to do this (Matt 12:28; John 3:34).
The Father never simply tells Jesus what to do, as if he were a slave, but “shows him all that he is doing” (John 5:20; 15:15). The authority of the Father is therefore experienced by Jesus as an expression of his heart.
2. The Climax of Authority and Submission
The climax of Jesus’ obedience is the crisis of the cross (Phil 2:8). It goes to the centre of the relationship between the Father and Son. “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.” (John 10:17). What Jesus is explaining is that only through obedience may the love of the Father penetrate the object of his love. Disobedience is resistance, and where resistance exists (stubbornness, hardness) the authority of God must remain external or alien. Under such conditions the supreme command of God to obey can only be experienced as absolute authoritarianism. This is the experience that Jesus must undergo on the cross.
In being immersed into the condition of sinners (2 Cor 5:21), Jesus must go to that place where God’s character is unknown but his power as wrath is felt as irresistible. Since in this situation Jesus is not permitted to see what the Father is doing he must experience him as the God who appears to forsake (Mark 15:34). The dereliction of the cross is the worst possible combination of complete submission and utter alienation. It is this cost that Jesus is willing to endure to remove the externalisation of the authority of God in human experience.
3. The Glory of Submission
If the cost of rebellion against the Lord is revealed at the cross, then the true purpose of God’s authority is made clear in the resurrection. In the resurrection and ascension the Father shares all that he has with the Son, without limit, this includes authority. “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me…” (Matt 28:18; compare Matt 11:27; John 5:19 – 29). The impartation of the fullness of the Father’s love, power, compassion, mercy, praise and so on is the glory of God (Phil 2:10 -11). Through the exaltation of the humanity of Jesus to the right hand of God it becomes clear that the purpose of the exercise of divine authority was that we might share his glory (Rev 21:3, 23). This is the ultimate purpose of Fatherhood and the plan of God for all things (Eph 1:4-7; 3:14; Rev 7:9f.).
Authority and Submission in Humanity
1. God’s order of Authority
The flow of the order of authority and submission in creation is revealed by the order of communication in Genesis chapter two. This is God >Adam >Eve >animals. Adam is expressly said (later) to be “the son of God” (Luke 3:38). This means that the flow of authority begins with Fatherhood (compare Eph 3:14).
The creation order is a matter of freedom within limitation. There is no hint as to what might transpire in the future if Adam and Eve remain faithful to God. From the New Testament however we see that the eternal plan and purpose of God was that all humanity share in the divine rule forever (Rom 5:17; 1 Cor 6:2; Rev 5:10; 20:6).
Additionally, the relationship between the first couple is between husband and wife (Gen 2:25; 3:6, 8, 16, 17, 20). The order of authority and submission is then one for marriage, not men and women in general.
2. Sin and the Loss of Authority
The Fall is the reversal of true authority. An animal (Satan) communicates with Eve, who passes on the fruit to Adam with God being excluded altogether. (Presumably he would have to submit to human will?) So we have animals (Satan) > Eve > Adam> God. Humanity is now in bondage (not true submission) to the Satanic hierarchy (John 8:44; Col 1:13).
It is of course impossible that the true order of authority and submission be reversed. This could only happen if the Creator relinquished his rightful authority. God therefore institutes a series of judgements that restore the original order but with attendant pain and suffering (Gen 3:14- 24). This is a sovereign exercise of divine authority for the good of humanity and all creation.
The dominance of the husband in Genesis 3:16, “he will rule over you”, represents an outworking of the wrath of God within an order that is established by God. It cannot be taken as normative for husband – wife or male – female relationships. This can only be revealed in Christ.
The essential problem in all relationships to do with the exercise and submission of authority is accepting that the origin and ordering of all true authority begins with God (1 Cor 11:3). The consequence of attempting to step out of the divine order is judgement; this judgement is registered through guilt and shame (Gen 3:7, 10). Guilt and shame communicate the spiritual and moral truth that men and women lack authority with God. They have rejected the divine Fatherhood and no longer live as God’s children with the free access of sons to his love. Constrained by the fear of punishment (1 John 4:18) humanity in guilt and rebellion resorts to authoritarianism, rebellion and subservience because it has lost the peace of connection with the Godhead.
3. Authority and Submission Renewed
The true exercise of authority and submission can only come through Jesus who internalises the final authority for human conduct. Through the forgiveness of sins offered in the gospel God now lives in the human heart by faith (Rom 10:9; Eph 3:17; Col 1:27). By communion with the indwelling Christ we are able to draw on the life of the one in whom both authority and submission are complete. Our vision of being like Jesus inspires us to exercise authority in a godly manner and to submit as he did (1 Pet 2: 13 -25). Our faith and hope are grounded in sharing the eternal destiny of Jesus, not in anticipating justice upon earth.
Without blame or dread there is no motivation for seeking to realise personal selfish ends through bullying, manipulation, dominance, subservience and so on. Jesus is “our peace” (Eph 2:14; Col 1:20). The true authority of the husband is modelled on that of Jesus’ love – relationship with the church (Eph 5:25 -29). This will involve sacrificial service: hearing, helping, bearing in grace (Mark 10:43).
The goal of husbandly authority will be to mirror the purposes of God’s own exercise of authority, to bring the universe of moral beings to maturity so they may eternally reign with him. Men are seeking to perfect their wives through grace and discipline in the way Jesus works to complete his Bride. This will be by the gentle but penetrating speech of the Word of God, not by external power (Eph 5:26). It is hoped that this process is mutual (Eph 5:21), so that as a marriage grows the family as a whole advances to maturity and the vision of the release of the authority of sharing in the glory of God.