Photo by Cesar Carlevarino Aragon on Unsplash
The moment the world hears these words...
"Wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife..." (Ephesians 5:22-23a)
...or these words:
"I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man...for Adam was formed first, then Eve...." (1 Timothy 2:12)
...it reads hierarchy. The world thinks, "since the man is the head of the wife, he must be superior and since a woman cannot teach a man, she must be inferior to man."
The world reads these verses as implying a hierarchy in both marriage and in the church between men and women.
And of course in a world hyper-sensitive to isms of every shade and colour, it thinks the worst and cries foul.
The tyranny of Hierarchy
But this is a profound misunderstanding. Between human beings God recognises no hierarchies. All humans are made in the image of God equally, whatever their age, race, religion or wretchedness. The Queen of England, noble regent for 70 years, is not one whit "above" or more valuable than the worst inmate of Wakefield prison.
Hierarchy, the idea that one person is above another, is a human invention that originated with Satan himself. One day Lucifer a created angel, decided to rise above his fellow angelic creatures, "I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." (Isaiah 14:14) and in that instant the idea of sinful hierarchy was invented. Hierarchy is the notion that there are two tiers where God has ordained one. Satan thought that he would rise above his ordinary fellow-creatured angelic beings and become some kind of super-angel (one even as high as God himself!).
Hierarchy is one of pride's many children.
In the history of the world, hierarchy always leads to tyranny. If one believes there is a race, for example the Aryan race, that is somehow above or greater than all the other races of the world, Hitler's Third tyrannical Reich is the natural outcome. If one believes white skin is better than black skin, slavery or tyrannical Apartheid is the natural outcome.
All notions of hierarchy naturally lead, if left unchecked, to tyranny. Why? Because no human being can be entrusted with the power which puts one person above another. No-one at all.
In the church there should be no hierarchy at all, but there have been many examples of it in history, perhaps the most notable being episcopy (from the Greek word for bishop episkopos). Episcopy teaches that bishops are above normal pastors. This error arose with remarkable rapidity in the early church and taught that in every city, there was one church and one pastor, the bishop, who was above all the others. Either by virtue of the size of his congregation or the quality of his education, he and his congregation were above all the others.
The rapid rise of episcopy is a salient reminder how easily the church adopts the thinking of the world and how engrained is the notion of hierarchy.
And, as in every other form of hierarchy, episcopy resulted in oppression and abuse; and one false hierarchy led to another until we ended up with the ludicrous scenario of a top bishop, namely the pope.
I wish I could say there were no hierarchal structures in the evangelical church, but tragically we are also beset with notions of hierarchy. We establish big-shots in the evangelical church whose words and books are regarded as the truth on a pedestal. We find hierarchal structures in organisations which guard insiders and preclude outsiders above the rest (often resulting in a catastrophic fall).
Any hint that one true Christian is any way above another true believer, any hint that one true church is above another is worldy thinking.
God is a God of Order
Over and against the tyranny of hierarchy is the beauty of order. Order arises in the Godhead where Three Divine Persons, equal in glory and divinity live harmoniously without a hint of hierarchy but instead dwell in order.
The Father plans salvation and sends the Son. The Son accomplishes salvation and the Holy Spirit applies salvation.
The Father is the first Person, but the Son and the Holy Spirit never complain. The Son is the Second Person, but the Father never lords it over him, and the Spirit never grumbles about it. The Holy Spirit is happy to be the third Person but the Father and Son never rule over him.
Within the ordered Godhead there is loving submission. The Son obeyed the Father's will, and the Holy Spirit obeyed the sending of the Father and Son. So there can be willing and loving submission within ordered, completetly non-hierarchical relationships!
The beauty of Order
Everywhere in God's created material universe we observe order. One example will have to suffice. Plants provide the basis for animal and human life, for example. Plants are not "above" animals, but they do serve animals. The Laws of nature function at three different scales, as another example. At the very small, forces, such as the strong force and the electro-weak force dominate. At the super large gravity dominates. We are fortunate to live in middle earth at dimensions where the quantum effects of the tiny world and the gravitational effects of the big world don't dominate.
In the world of human relationships, God has created order, not hierarchy. Citizens are called to obey their rulers - no hierarchy but there is order. Children are to obey their parents - no hierarchy but there is order. Church members are called to follow their leaders - no hierarchy but there is order.
In the church there is order. Men are to lead the flock and preach to the flock - no hierarchy just order. God created men first and women next. Order, not hierarchy. And women are to submit to their husbands in marriage because God has appointed men to be the head- no hierarchy but order.
The beautiful word "submission"
Submission in Christian thinking is a two step process. First I must recognise the place where God has put me. Am I a husband or a wife? An elder or a member? A man or a woman? A king or a citizen? A parent or a child? Then I must respond and order myself in that relationship accordingly. I must line my behaviour up with God's appointed design.
So a godly wife will recognise that God has given her husband the role of headship, and she will work out what that means - what it is to submit to him. A Christian citizen will recognise that God has placed the authorities in their place and will seek to pay their taxes and follow the laws of the land.
(Of course in all of this, God's commands always trump illegitimate human demands: a king who asks his citizens not to preach the Gospel can be disobeyed, a husband who expects his wife to engage in immorality can refuse, and so on).
And we must remember that to those who are given leadership and headship, God expects an equal understanding of their role to love and protect those who are called to submit to them.
And layered on top of all ordered submission in the church is the command of Paul for every believer to be submissive to every other believer (Ephesians 5:21), a direct fruit of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
The example of Submission
In one relationship or another, every single Christian is called to be submissive. And no greater example is laid before us than that of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus recognised the social order God had ordained fro him. At the age of twelve he submitted to his parents. In his ministry he submitted to the religious authorities and paid the temple taxes. He submitted to his disciples washing their feet. He recognised the order of state and citizen and submitted to Rome's soldiers when they arrested him. And above all he submitted himself to the Father's will and through his death brought life to all who will believe.
Is "submission" a weak thing? Not at all! It is a powerful strong thing which produces peace and shalom in marriages, homes, churches and nations.
And it arises out of both an understanding of God's ordered world of social relationships and an obedience to them.
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