The outward effect of Christian Submission: 1 Peter 2:13-15

In 1 Peter 2, Peter calls on Christians to submit. We are to ‘be subject to every human institution.’ In past studies we looked at our tendency to resist that command, sometimes directly by refusing it entirely and other times only obeying outwardly only; seeking to see how close we can get to the line without sinning. But Peter takes the call to submit to the extreme, calling us to submit with Christ as our example, who submitted though it was unfair and unsatisfying, in an unselfish and ultimate way.

Sometimes we reject submission or find it difficult because we feel like it only serves to hurt us or because we simply don’t see its’ fruit. Submission (especially Christ-like submission) does not often look like it is accomplishing anything. But, like Christ, our submission is never empty and is even promised to serve a purpose. Peter tells us that our submission is working toward two things: producing an outward effect (vss. 13-15) and causing an inward reality (vss. 16-20). First, let’s focus on the outward effect that is produced in our submission. Peter gives us two in these verses.

Submission is a worship of the Lord

Peter begins by telling us that submission is more than the sum total of its’ parts. While it is certainly true that our submission to human institutions allows those institutions to function as they are intended, there is more going on than just that. Peter tells us in verse 13 that our submission is doing something deeper, that it is, ‘for the Lord's sake.’ Our submission, though it is outwardly done for and to those human institutions (such as the emperor, governors, etc.), is not merely for and to them. Our submission to those human institutions is actually an act of worshipping the Lord.

One reason is because God is the one who put those rulers in authority over us. Peter writes that these human authorities are ‘sent by him’ or put in place by the Lord (vs 14). We may or may not have voted for them, but it is God who has installed them. Paul writes similarly, ‘Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.’ (Rom 13:1) Since this is the case, resisting them is a resistance of the God who installed them. Conversely, our submission to them honors the one who sovereignly rules over all things. To submit to them is to submit to the Lord who instituted them.

But wait there’s more. Perhaps Peter is even implying that there is something larger at play in our submission—something that separates us from the rest of creation. Humanity has a role that is unique to being human. After all, God did not give animals the mandate to subdue the earth and have dominion over it. That is a human institution; something that is exclusive to humanity and instituted by God from creation past. And within that dominion comes a need to establish governance with leadership that we submit to. To buck that system is to pursue anarchy through a rejection of God’s created system. That, in some sense, to reject the essence of humanity itself that is peculiar to us as human beings, and given to us by God himself.

In resisting submission, we propel ourselves into the disorder that comes with being a beast of the field. John Calvin writes, ‘God the maker of the world has not left the human race in a state of confusion, that they might live after the manner of beasts, but as it were in a building regularly formed, and divided into several compartments.’ Calvin is saying that we are given human institutions by God as a means of having order, as an extension of God’s divine mandate to exercise dominion and that this is one of the things that make us human. Submission to human institutions, then, is peculiarly human, as given by God himself.

The gospel and our place in it, then, does not undo God’s creation mandate set on humanity. Rather, the gospel should actually enhance our devotion and ability to conform to God’s creation mandate, which includes the necessity to submit to human institutions. In either case, whether we understand Peter’s words as a call to submit to leaders God has put in place or submitting because of God’s cosmic order that he gave us in creation (or both), Peter tells us we are commanded to submit to every human institution as an act of submission to the Lord himself.

That reality puts a particular weight on our submission. If our submission is for the Lord, then that outward submission becomes an act of worship. This is certainly not worship of those human entities we are submitting to outwardly, but a worship of the Lord who has initiated human institutions.  This is true to such a degree that our submission to those human institutions over us becomes a kind of litmus test to the way we are following the Lord. Our submission to the Lord is routed through these human institutions and will be a sign of our progress in trusting the Lord. They reveal our spiritual health, showing if our hope truly lies in the Lord. The bottom line is, if we struggle to submit to human institutions, then we reveal a heart that cannot submit to the Lord either and we fail to worship God as sovereign.

Submission is a testimony to the world

If submission to human institutions has a demonstrable product in worship, then it follows that the appearance of our submission will not just be something we can see, but a testimony to the world as well. Peter continues in verse 15, ‘by doing good (that is submitting to these human institutions) you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.’ The product of our submission is worship, but it is also silencing the ignorance of foolish people. These foolish people are those who do not trust in the Lord. Our submission silences their ignorance.

But what are they saying that needs to be silenced? Well, perhaps, at their core, they are saying what David suggests in Psalm 14:1, ‘The fool says in his heart there is no God.’ This is the nature of a fool; to be a doubter of the very existence of God. The fool is under the impression that God is nothing and so following him should have the net effect of gaining nothing for those who do. After all, nothing plus nothing is still nothing. But our life in Christ does reflect something. Our inward change, brought about by God’s miracle of regeneration in the gospel produces an outward change that, among other things, causes an outward submission to human institutions. And so, by living in that submission, as Christ followers, we reveal to those people that there is a God. We silence the fool in his own heart. We stop him from declaring that there is no God through a clear testimony that God is real and at work in our life.

But why does that work? Well maybe it’s because the fool spends his life grinding out a meaningful existence in the world, doing as much as he can to gain what he can in this life. He strains to take what he can get and get as far as he can go. And so, submission is unnatural for the fool who only lives to serve that chief end of getting what he can for himself.

But the Christian is not striving in the same way. We know that what matters most is already given in the gospel. The Christian is convinced that what Peter says in 1 Peter 1:3-5 is true; that God ‘has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.’ And believing that has the effect of satisfying the lusts of this temporary life. As a result, when the fool, working to engorge himself on what he can get in this life, suddenly looks up from the feeding trough of this world and sees that the person next to him is not stuffing his face with the same passions for gain in the here and now. But rather, can truly submit at great worldly peril to himself, the Christian stands apart to those trapped in the world’s scheme. Such action cannot help but be a testimony to the truthfulness of God for a dying world.

The fact is, our submission is not without effect. God’s word is clear; through our submission, even to human institutions, our lives serve to worship God and exist as a testimony to the world around us.

Questions for Personal Reflection and Application

1.     How would you define worship? Many of us find it easy to understand worship as an act of singing praise to the Lord. Does this study help you to expand your view of worship? How does viewing submission to ‘every human institution’ as an act of worship of the Lord change your approach to it?

2.     How does viewing submission as a testimony to the world change your approach to it? In what ways have you seen your submission to human institutions act as a testimony to the world in the past?

3.     Is there a place of resistance to submission in your life that is not honoring the Lord or displaying your hope in the gospel that you need to repent of? How can you ask other Christians around you to help you to submit like Christ in this area? As a parent and grandparent, how can we encourage this in our young children?