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Jesus' Subservience

As a person's body should be obedient and submissive to the person's inner man so is Jesus submissive to the Father's will and yet also equally a member of the Godhead. Unfortunately due to the rebellious attitude of many modern American Christians the concept of submission has been treated as a negative connotation being neither practiced in the Godhead nor in the Christian life. Just as many reject Jesus as Lord in practice so also they reject Jesus as living in submission to his Father's will. Evangelical feminism brings this into play by rejecting the submissive role the wife is to have towards her husband as also children rebel against their parents. Isaiah writes of such a corrupt society saying, "Their children are rebellious and women rule over them." Is 3:12 But the Bible says, "Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God."1Cor 11:3 Let us therefore view submission as a virtue rather than a vice. It is both practiced within the Godhead and should be practiced in the Christian life.

Jesus is the Son of God the Father. Inherent in the idea of submission is the concept of authority. The Bible, not to mention nature itself, teaches that fathers have authority over their sons. So also the Father has authority over His Son, and not the other way around. Thus within the Godhead equality does not mean equality of authority. A person's physical body may be considered one aspect of a person just as a person's soul and spirit are other aspects, and yet the body should be submissive to the soul and not act independently. For "trinity" is not "tri-theism".

"I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does." John 5:19

The Father is greater in authority than Jesus

"the Father is greater than I." John 14:28

But has delegated authority to His Son.

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Mt 28:18
"God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything." Eph 1:22
"I have received authority from my Father" Rev 2:27
"Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father." John 5:22,23

So also believers have been delegated authority to make disciples of all nations as Christ's ambassadors. But even so in making judgements, Jesus still relies upon the Father.

"By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me." John 5:30

So also when we make disciples, the message we preach and the manner in which we go about it should be in submission to the forms we find in the Bible.

Jesus being an independent person within the Godhead had his own will. But he submitted his will to that of his Father's.

"For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me." John 6:38
"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." Luke 22:42

So also we should not presume that whatever we feel like doing must be God's will for us. Rather we should question whether our will is God's will and submit ourselves in subservience to God.

Verses quoted from the NIV version

The Berean Christian Bible Study Resources Jan 29,2022