Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Ephesians 5:18-21
Submit to one another. This is NOT one of my favorite verses. The Biblical (Greek) word hupotasso means to be subject or to put yourself under another.
There are two keys I’ve found in the text that help me with this difficult command.
Always giving thanks
This instruction to submit has gotten separated somehow from the verse before (as it has from the verse that follows.) “Be filled with the Spirit” and “give thanks to God.” If that is the attitude of my heart, it makes yielding easier. Speak to each other in songs from the Spirit – that’s unity talk. We are one. Mutual submission is natural when we recognize our connectedness.
Out of reverence for Christ
Submission is voluntary – “put yourself under.” Choosing servanthood wasn’t any easier back in Paul’s day than in ours. Paul’s gentile audience had a worldview of Hellenism that said, “I am the center of the universe.” Sound familiar? But for Christ followers, God is the One that holds the universe together. It is (and was) countercultural to choose to put myself under His authority. Yet when I submit to God, I am able to lovingly submit to others. My service is an act of worship to Him that allows me to put aside my own agenda for my brothers and sisters. When I understand my own sinfulness, I can interact with grace because God has been gracious to me. In other words, how I treat someone else has more to do with my own heart than anything about the other person. That is freeing.
My submitting muscle isn’t very strong, but I know it needs to grow. May the Holy Spirit fill me afresh, teaching me songs of thanksgiving, to love community, and holy submission.
