the form of man, even the lowest status of a slave.
More than that, He obeyed the Father’s will to the
point of death on the cross, the most excruciating
method of execution known to the 1st Century
Greco-Roman world. Jesus did all of this not for His
own glory (which He in fact deserved), but so that
our sinful and broken relationship with God may be
made right. In response, God exalted Jesus, bestowing on Him praise, honor, and glory from every
being in creation. To put it plainly, God sees submission as something to be praised. In case one reads
this as only being applicable to Jesus, verse 5 refutes
that as Paul exhorts the Philippians to do so. In fact,
this is not limited to a particular gender, race, or
socioeconomic status.
All Christians are called to submit to one another,
in the way that Jesus did for the church, in a bid for
unity. This is why submission is a necessary cost of
bringing about unity in various domains.
The Bible portrays submission as praiseworthy,
glorious, beautiful, and not beneath the Son. Why
then do we recoil at the mention of this concept? I
posit that there are two main reasons. Firstly, we, in
our sinful hearts, crave power and authority, and are
not willing to give it up. Just as Adam and Eve were
enticed by the prospect of being “like God” and
bought into the serpent’s questioning of God’s au\PWZQ\aW^MZ\PMU/MV" _M[MTÅ[PTaaMIZVNWZ
power. On the other hand, perhaps on a more real
and personal level, we see the abuse of authority
and fear it being placed over us. If just one authori\aÅO]ZMW^MZ][MOXIZMV\[\MIKPMZ[JW[[M[XWTQ\Qcians, law enforcers etc.) abuses the power they have
over us, we are scarred. Putting oneself under someone else’s authority is then unfathomable. However,
the Bible calls us to recognize those as instances of
sin, and not diminish the value of submissive love
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