Unity In The Body Of Christ
Devotion 19 – Unity in the Body of Christ
Eph.5:18-21 – “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is
dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking
to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and
making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all
things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another
in the fear of God.”
This scripture deals with the basic remedy for
disunity in all human relationship. A lack of the fear of God is the root of
many conflicts and disunity as we relate to one another in the body of Christ. Often,
we insist on our rights without being sensitive
to the needs of others and thus, hurt and become obstacles to each other. Christians must never forget that in every
relationship of life, another person is present – God our Father. When we mistreat others, we are mistreating God’s children,
our brothers and sister in Christ.
However, because of this, some
commentators have understood verse 21 as a call for “mutual submission,” such
that both husbands and wives place themselves under one another’s authority. We
believe
that Ephesians 5:21 actually calls for believers to recognize and
respectfully follow God-ordained authorities because of their fear of the Lord.
For without exception, the Greek word
for “submission,” hupotassõ, always
signals obedience to God-given authority. Therefore “Submitting to one another in the fear of God” could be paraphrased “those ‘who are under authority’
should be subject to others among you who have authority over them in the fear
of God”. It makes sense of the passage
that follows:
Eph.5:22 – “Wives submit to your own
husbands as to the Lord”
Eph.6:1 – “Children, obey your parents in
the Lord, for this is right”
Eph.6:5 – “Bondservants, be
obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear
and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ…”
A basic
principle of submission on every level is not asking whether we can trust the
one we are submitting to, but whether we can trust God to work through the one
we are called to submit to.
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