Submission Impossible?

I think you will enjoy this section of Dr. Anderson’s latest book, Saving the Saved. This is his exposition of 1 Peter 2:13-17. Enjoy.

INTRODUCTION 

Never before in American history has there been more disrespect for human government. Corruption on the political front seems to be an assumption; sexual immorality of government leaders, an irrelevant issue. Presidents are the brunt of derisive, acerbic jokes on the lighter side and violent protests on the serious side. Washington is so infested by political insects that the skeptical public refers to our democratic system as a swamp.

Even our protectors like the FBI have been used as an excuse to bomb Federal buildings (Oklahoma City following the Waco disaster). Now (2019) with the exposure of James Comey and his sidekicks it looks like even those at the very top of the FBI ladder cannot be trusted.

What should be the response of a believer to a corrupt government, an overbearing or even unscrupulous employer, or a non-Christian husband? Answers to all these questions come in 1 Peter 2:13-3:6.

 

I.  EXHORTATION TO SUBMISSION   – 2:13-14

Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.

 Since “submission” is the primary subject of this section of 1 Peter, it might be a good idea to understand the meaning of the word. I think we all have a pretty good idea: yield. Yes, but I think we can break the word down into its component parts without committing the root fallacy.[1] The word is made of two words: hypo + tassō = under + to place = to place under. There is one more important element to the verb. It is a middle voice, which means the subject of the sentence is acting upon themselves. In other words, “Place yourselves under.” This is important to bring out the voluntary nature of the act or attitude.

Peter tells us to submit to “every” ordinance of man. Notice it does not say every other ordinance; it says every ordinance. We don’t get to pick and choose. That gets difficult because we wonder sometimes if anyone was home when some of these ordinances get established. The word translated “ordinance” (ktisei) usually refers to divine creation; the implication may be that these human institutions have divine backing of some sort. “For the Lord’s sake” suggests that the Lordship of Christ is directly linked in some way to these human institutions of authority.

Of course, when I see a word like “every,” my mind starts looking for exceptions. Are there exceptions? Sure:

1. Life-taking. If the government orders me to kill deformed children or people over ninety, I should refuse. Why? After all, this is an ordinance from God’s ordained authority, the government. God makes this issue clear with the case of the Egyptian mid-wives. The government ordered these mid-wives to kill newborn Jewish babies. They disobeyed the government and saved the lives of the children. We are told God blessed them for saving these lives.
2. Daniel’s three friend, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were supposed to pay homage to the statue of Nebuchadnezzar. To them such homage would be an act of idolatry. They refused to obey the “government,” and God protected them in the fiery furnace.
3. Religious Suppression. In Acts 4 Peter and John were ordered by the Sanhedrin (the government) to stop talking about Jesus. They responded, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”

In a perfect world untainted by sin, principles like obeying the government and saving lives would never conflict. In a fallen world, at times they do.[2] The believer is under no obligation to sin in order to fulfill a governmental ordinance. In fact, the entire subject of submission to authority falls under what I call the “Triangle of Submission.” It looks like this.

What this chart is trying to convey is that the ultimate authority is the Lord Himself. The solid black line means that any directive from a person of authority first goes up to the Lord and then comes down to the one that is to submit. The dotted lines show the person in authority and those over whom they have authority. But the line between the two is dotted to indicate that the directive does not go out immediately or directly to the one that is to submit. It goes to the Lord first. The Lord acts as a filter. If the directive from an authority figure goes contrary to the clearly revealed desire of God (lifesaving, for example), then it is as though that directive never gets to the person who is supposed to obey. The Lord catches it in His filter, and the one under authority is exempt from any sin in the matter. We would say the Egyptian midwives did not sin when they saved the Jewish babies. They picked the highest of three absolutes (saving innocent lives over truth telling and obedience to the government) to obey and were exempt from sin by not telling the truth to the government or obeying the government.

All this comes back to our witness in the world, doesn’t it? Does the world look at us like a bunch of rioting, rabble rousers? Doing good in the community is far more attractive to a skeptical world than some rebel group running around with sawed-off shotguns. Florence Nightingale has probably had a wider and more lasting impact on the world than most of the anarchists. She did it by peacefully going about establishing hospitals to help the physical suffering of men, women, and children across the globe. The text goes even further when it claims these kings and governors (would that point to federal and state law in our democracy?) are “sent by him”? These kings and governors are sent to praise some and punish others, to praise the good and punish the evil.

Just as capital punishment was instituted by God in Genesis 9 to restrain evil on the earth, so it is His primary human tool to restrain evil today, at least in some places. Although scholars argue the case for and against capital punishment as a deterrent for crime, most studies I read find a direct correlation between the use of capital punishment and crime. For example, a 2000 ban on executions that was placed into effect in Illinois is believed to have increased the homicide rates by at least 150 per year.[3] Conversely, the second safest country in the world is Jordan (Greenland is the safest). They use capital punishment there, but they do it swiftly compared to America.

Well, if we have the Exhortation to Submission in vv. 13-14, then Peter gives us a brief Explanation of Submission in v. 15.

II.        EXPLANATION OF SUBMISSION     –   2:15

 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men . . .

One of the accusations against this relatively new religion was that their followers were revolutionaries that wanted to overthrow the government. They did not want to call Nero “Lord.” So, Peter tells them to disarm their attackers by doing the opposite of a takeover. Instead of trying to overthrow the government, Christians should set an example of model citizenship. That should look for opportunities to do good in their communities.

I admire one of the primary supporters of Grace School of Theology for his involvement in his community. He gives a lot of money to his alma mater, to his church, to our school, to other charities, but also to the local hospital and other community endeavors. He told me once that he thought Christians that have been blessed in a community should give back to that community. As such, he has a stellar reputation throughout the community. They can see he’s not living a self-centered life, but an other-centered life.

When we “do good” in this way we “put to silence” the ignorance of foolish men. “Put to silence” is from phimoun, which means “to muzzle.” When a cowboy muzzles his horse, he is putting something over its mouth to keep it from eating or causing a big fuss. Doing good shuts the mouths of critics. It can even be disarming. I remember as a boy I wanted to drive from Nashville where we lived up to Cincinnati to visit my grandmother. I left at about 11 that night, thinking the roads would be pretty empty and it would be a good time to drive. This is 1961 before they had freeways going through Kentucky from Nashville to Cincinnati. So there was a series of small towns as I drove through the night in Kentucky. Small towns in the south all look pretty much the same. They all have a town square with the courthouse in the center. Around the perimeter of the town square are small shops. Sometimes the traffic around the square is in one direction.

Well, I came to one of these small towns at about three in the morning. I thought I was awake, but apparently, I wasn’t. When I got to the town square, I turned the wrong direction. A policeman quickly stopped me. Being as it was three in the morning and I was just sixteen years old, he was pretty curious about what I was up to. I tried to explain that I was driving from Nashville to Cincinnati to see my grandmother. What’s wrong with that? Well, he was still skeptical, but after verifying my license and that I wasn’t driving a stolen car, he said, “OK, son, I want you to run around the town square going this direction (and he motioned with hand signals the preferred direction) and go out the other side.” Showing the utmost respect and not wanting to spend the night in jail, I took off. I ran just as fast as I could around the town square. I don’t know if I set a new state record for running around a town square in Kentucky or not, but this policeman was duly impressed. He was leaning on the hood of his cruiser laughing as hard as he could. I thought I had done pretty well, so I didn’t have a clue as to what he was laughing about. He said, “Son, I meant for you to drive your car around the town square and go out the other side on your way to Cincinnati, not run around the town square on foot.” Wow. And here I thought he was letting me off easy by having me take a little run instead of giving me a ticket. I bet he is still telling his grandchildren about that one. All I know is that my respectful behavior turned him from a hostile skeptic to a compassionate constable.

The Exhortation; the Explanation; what about the Execution?

III.  EXECUTION OF SUBMISSION   –  2:16-17

 . . . as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

We can always tell when the message of grace is being properly taught. How? Because there will be accusations of license. The obvious question is, “Are we are free in Christ to behave as we wish?” Why not go wild (Romans 5:21-6:1)? Paul wrote Romans 6 to answer this very question. Here Peter urges us to use our freedom as an opportunity to be douloi, slaves or servants of God. Again, Paul makes a similar argument in Galatians 5:13—don’t use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but to serve one another in love. In other words, with privilege goes responsibility.

Of course, here we have the key to all submission. We are not directly obeying the human institutions. No, we are directly obeying God, who in turn tells us to obey human institutions (see chart above). But submission involves more than just the right actions; it also involves the right attitudes. Notice how the submission of 2:18 and 3:1-2 both involve the right conduct with the right attitude (phobō—reverential respect).

The word “honor” is timē. The verb form of this noun is used here, the same word we had in 2:4-10 when it kept telling us that those stones that get near the Cornerstone become valuable and precious just like Him. Timaō, the verb, means “to honor, to esteem highly, to cherish.” In our American culture that would mean to honor and esteem highly our President. I was born about the time Truman took over and didn’t pay much attention to Presidents until John F. Kennedy. I suppose there were jokes about the President in those days because there is always political satire by TV comedians, but I really don’t remember a lot of jokes about the Presidents from Kennedy through George Herbert Bush. But from Bill Clinton on, it seems our national respect for the Presidents has gotten lower and lower. Now with Trump in office it is downright hostile, and the press seems to treat everything he does as a joke or a serious threat to our national security. I wonder what Peter would say to America if he were given a TV slot. There is no question that the Roman emperors during his life were on average much more flawed and immoral than our leaders today. Yet, Peter tells these Christians to honor the king. Do you think he would say less to us about our elected leaders? This is a bipartisan comment. I’ve heard about as much disrespect for Clinton and Obama as I have heard for Bush and Trump. How do you interpret this directive: honor the king?

CONCLUSION

Since I have usually been the head of whatever organization I am working for (church or seminary), there haven’t been a lot of opportunities to demonstrate submission to an authority figure (an individual as distinguished from a board; I have always had boards to submit to). So, one way my wife and I do this is in our relationship with policemen. We live in a time when they appear to be under siege and suffer a lot of disrespect. Sometimes when we see them at our local cafeteria, my wife will go up to them and thank them for their service to or community. And I have found that when I show them respect, they reciprocate.

How can I ever forget one Saturday morning when I was up at my office and a new disciple called to see if I could meet with him to answer a few questions. He was at work about fifteen miles away. I agreed to meet him them in an hour. Since I was the only one at the office, I had worn gym shorts and was riding my motorcycle. I didn’t have any pockets in these shorts, so when it came time to leave, I just stuck my study Bible down the front of my shorts, got on my motorcycle and took off.

About halfway along the route a policeman stopped me. “You’re going 45 in a 35 zone.” Actually, he was wrong. I was in a 35 zone that had changed to 45, but this wasn’t the time to point out his error. “Can I see your driver’s license and proof of insurance.” I couldn’t provide them since I had left my wallet in my car back home. “It looks like the registration on your license plate has expired along with your inspection sticker.” Guilty. “Do you have any way to prove who you are?” I said I was a local pastor and tried to prove it by pulling out my Bible with my name on it. That wasn’t satisfactory. So, I said, “If you’ll let me use your phone, I call my wife.”

So, I called Betty. I said, “Could you please go out to the car and get my license and insurance info from my wallet.” Why? “It doesn’t matter. Please just get them.” Why? “OK, this nice policeman has stopped my for speeding and needs this info.” Oh, OK. So, she got the info. I said, “Officer, I want to thank you for stopping me. I haven’t had a ticket in years, and this will be a good reminder.” He looked up my info and said, “You really haven’ had a ticket in years, have you?” “No, sir, but I want to thank you for doing your job. This will be a great reminder.”

All this time the policeman had his head down as he was writing. “So, you think this will be a good reminder?” Oh, yes, sir. “Well,” he said, “Here are five good reminders for you: speeding, no license, no proof of insurance, expired license plate, and expired inspection sticker.” I gulped, but he said, “The reminders are all warnings; no tickets.” “Wow,” I said, “what an example of grace. I am going to include this in my sermon tomorrow morning as a great example of God’s grace, an undeserved favor. I deserve five tickets, but you gave me five warnings.” He said, “Are you really a pastor?” I told him it was true  and invited him to church the next day to hear how I was going to use this gracious event in my life to illustrate God and his grace toward men.

I thanked him again and went to my motorcycle. Unfortunately, I had left the key on, and the engine wouldn’t turn over for lack of juice. So, I went back to him, told him the problem, and asked where he was going. I wanted to hitch a ride to my appointment. He said, “I can’t let you ride in here. Have you ever push-started that bike?” No. “Well, let’s try.” Now this guy was a well-built black man who looked like he was a running back in the NFL. He actually pulled his patrol car across a busy street, got behind my bike with me on it, and began pushing with all he had. When he let go, the engine just sputtered. I looked down and saw that after turning the key off, now I had forgotten to turn it on as he was pushing. I looked at him huffing and puffing and said, “Almost.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him I had forgotten to turn the key on. He looked at me and said, “OK, one more time, but that’s it.” This time the engine kicked off, I waved my thanks and went down the road.

What a guy. But I am convinced if I had argued with him about the speed zone and even proved I was right, he would have just said I could protest in court, but here are five tickets. Though this may be a rather bizarre example, I really believe the Lord blesses us when we show respect to those in authority over us and rewards us according, if not in this life then in the next.

[1] The root fallacy assumes that the root of a word, which might be five hundred years old, has the same meaning as the root originally did at the time of its use in whatever body of literature you might be studying. In other words, the meaning of words often change over time. See D. A. Carson, Exegetical Fallacies (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996), 28-33. However, often breaking a compound word into its component parts helps us understand the word better without committing the root fallacy. I think that is the case with the word “submit.”

[2] See Norman Geisler, Christian Ethics (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic 1989), 113.

[3] https://brandongaille.com/17-notable-capital-punishment-deterrence-statistics, accessed July 16, 2019.

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Serving Him with you until He comes for us,
Fred Chay, PhD
Managing Editor, Grace Theology Press