Love and Submission (3) Active not Passive

Submission in the New Testament is active, not passive. The Greek word “upotasso” means to place yourself under another. The person submitting actively places themselves under the person that they have chosen to submit to. This is a free action. This gives the person that they submit to authority in their life. It also means that they can remove the authority if they decide not to submit.

Christians often present submission as passive. They assume that a person with authority can demand that others submit to them, but this is a distortion of true authority. Submission is a choice.

If a person has to submit, then they do not have a choice, and they have lost the freedom that God created in them. Demanded submission is domination.

True biblical submission is voluntary. If the person with authority is unreasonable, immoral, or unlawful, the people who have submitted to them are free to withdraw their submission.

Submission has to be earned with love and service. If they person with authority stops loving and serving, they will lose their authority, because people will stop submitting to them.

A person who submits creates the authority of another person. This gives them the power to destroy the authority too, if it goes wrong. Allowing people with authority to demand submission, eliminates this protection, and encourages domination and control. This is wrong. Authority must be controlled by the people submitting. This is the best protection against tyranny.