A Lifestyle of Submission to One Another...

This week, we are looking at the next section of this letter in our Bibles where a man named Paul is revealing another timeless practice that followers of Jesus should put into practice in their lives in that Followers of Jesus practice a lifestyle of submission. When Paul uses the word submission, this word, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to willingly place ourselves under others by placing others first.

Yesterday we saw that as followers of Jesus, we are to practice a lifestyle of submission to our government. In Romans 13:1-7, we discovered that we are to willingly place ourselves under the authority of our government by fulfilling our responsibilities, both financially and when it comes to our attitude towards government. Paul then continues by revealing for us a second area where followers of Jesus are to practice a lifestyle of submission that willingly places ourselves under others by placing others first in Romans 13:8:

Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, "YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET," and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

In these verses, we see a second area where followers of Jesus are to practice a lifestyle of submission. And that second area is that followers of Jesus are to practice a lifestyle of submission to one another. As followers of Jesus, we are to willingly place ourselves under others by placing others first as a community of believers. In verse 8, Paul provides the motivation that should drive our willingness to submit to one another, which is a selfless and other-centered love for one another. The only obligation that should be the driving and motivating factor in our lives is love. As followers of Jesus, our relationships should not be driven and motivated by slavery to financial or emotional obligations. Paul’s point here is that the only debt or obligation that should weigh on our lives and drive the motivation of our lives is the obligation to love one another.

Paul then explains that when love is the driving and motivating force behind a life that willing places ourselves under others by placing others first, we fulfill the law. When Paul refers to the Law, he is referring to the first five books in our Bibles, which the Jewish people referred to as the Law or Torah. The word fulfilled means to bring something to a designated end. Paul’s point is that the person who practices a lifestyle of submission will live a life that is in line with God’s commandments.

And to reinforce his point, Paul points the members of the church at Rome, and us here this morning, to the seventh, sixth, eighth, and tenth of the Ten Commandments that God gave Moses for the Jewish people. In addition, Paul reminds the readers of this letter of God’s command to the Jewish people that is recorded for us in a letter of our Bibles, called the Book of Leviticus.

To understand what Paul is communicating here, let me ask you this question: If you loved your neighbor as yourself, would you ever sleep with their spouse? Kill them? Steal from them? Desire what they had? Wish that they did not have what they had? Would we ever sin against one another if we lovingly placed ourselves under them by placing them first? No we would not. And that is Paul’s point here. When followers of Jesus willingly place ourselves under others by placing others first, we do no wrong to our neighbor and we fulfill God’s requirements of how we are to relate to one another.

So here is a question for us to consider: How consistently do we practice a lifestyle of submission to one another? How consistently do we willingly place ourselves under others by placing others first? Because when we practice a lifestyle of submission to one another, we reveal and reflect Christ as we live in genuine and authentic community with one another.

Tomorrow, we will see Paul conclude this section of his letter with a third area where followers of Jesus are to practice a lifestyle of submission that willingly places ourselves under others by placing others first.