Mutual Submission

Colossians 3:18–4:18

¹⁸ Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. ¹⁹ Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. ²⁰ Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. ²¹ Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. ²² Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. ²³ Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, ²⁴ knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. ²⁵ For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality. ^4:1 Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven. ² Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. ³ At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— ⁴ that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. ⁵ Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. ⁶ Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. ⁷ Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. ⁸ I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, ⁹ and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here. ¹⁰ Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions—if he comes to you, welcome him), ¹¹ and Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. ¹² Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. ¹³ For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. ¹⁴ Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas. ¹⁵ Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. ¹⁶ And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. ¹⁷ And say to Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.” ¹⁸ I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.

Almost every time I read Colossians 3:18-21 I think, “Wow, wouldn’t that be nice. A world where we all recognize one another as creations of the Most High God and treat each other as such.” But instead we live in a broken world and we tend to think first of ourselves and then of others. Sin is a terrible master.

Paul encourages the discipline of submission in several of his letters. And it is a discipline because submission is a choice. We can choose to be stiff-necked and proud, demanding that our own desires be met or we can see others as vitally important and seek to uplift them instead of ourselves. That choice may have to happen on a moment by moment basis and I say that out of personal experience. While it may be far easier to be served than to serve that is not the calling placed on our lives as Christians. This means that quite often we have to really focus on submission and for me, that’s a tough place to live. As I look around, I don’t think I’m alone.

Paul skillfully shows us both sides of several relationship coins with his examples. Wives, submit to your husbands. That’s not always easy – trust me. But to the husbands, he says love (agape) your wives – a far more difficult task for that word agape means to love someone with the same kind of love that God employs. This is the highest and purest form of love. I have to submit, Cliff has to agape. For a second example, Paul says that children are to obey their parents in all things. But on the opposite side of that coin is the direction to not provoke your children lest they become discouraged. I see parents demanding their children obey them (which is appropriate) all the time but it seems to be a rare parent who intentionally tries not to provoke their children. You see – mutual submission. It’s not easy, but the rewards are enormous and in doing so, we live inside of God’s Kingdom right here and right now.