Does God Call Us to Submit to Everyone?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | We close the week with a rather technical question
00:00:07.500 | this Friday, bear with us.
00:00:08.760 | It's also an important question,
00:00:10.360 | an important question from a sharp listener
00:00:12.640 | to the podcast named Brent.
00:00:14.640 | Pastor John, hello, can you tell me
00:00:16.680 | why modern English translations translate cathesis
00:00:20.440 | in 1 Peter 2.13 as institution or authority or ordinance?
00:00:25.440 | Every other occurrence is typically translated
00:00:29.120 | as in the ESV as creation 16 times
00:00:33.400 | or creature two other times.
00:00:36.060 | To me, based on the context,
00:00:37.360 | it seems as though we as believers
00:00:39.160 | are to submit ourselves to or to be subject
00:00:42.400 | for the Lord's sake to every human creature.
00:00:47.400 | For such a thing, we have been freed
00:00:49.100 | by the finished work of Christ to do good, verse 15,
00:00:52.820 | and to serve them as servants of God, verse 16,
00:00:55.400 | as we honor everyone, verse 17.
00:00:58.460 | Even Paul's text on submitting to authority
00:01:01.120 | in Romans 13, verses one to seven,
00:01:03.880 | broadens quickly to a discussion
00:01:05.360 | of how we relate to all people in verse eight.
00:01:08.720 | So is Peter's cathesis mistranslated
00:01:11.640 | or am I missing a nuance here?
00:01:14.960 | I think Brent is basically right here
00:01:17.720 | in drawing our attention to the way Peter unfolds
00:01:21.880 | the act of subjection in 1 Peter 2.13,
00:01:25.000 | in the acts of doing good in verse 15,
00:01:29.020 | the act of serving in verse 16,
00:01:31.420 | the act of honoring in verse 17.
00:01:33.900 | I think that's a really sharp contextual observation
00:01:38.640 | to draw those four things together,
00:01:41.400 | subjection, doing good, serving, honoring.
00:01:44.300 | So let me step back and see whether there are
00:01:47.420 | other considerations that might affect
00:01:50.380 | how we understand, how we translate the word
00:01:54.520 | cathesis or creation or institution,
00:01:58.040 | as it's translated in so many modern versions.
00:02:00.880 | The ESV, like most English versions,
00:02:04.520 | translates 1 Peter 2.13,
00:02:06.680 | be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution,
00:02:11.240 | whether it be to the emperor as supreme
00:02:15.320 | or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil
00:02:19.920 | and praise those who do good.
00:02:21.980 | Now that term human institution,
00:02:24.780 | Brent is saying, is literally human creation.
00:02:28.200 | And that's right, it is.
00:02:30.580 | And that's the most literal translation of it.
00:02:33.140 | So the translation would then be,
00:02:34.380 | be subject for the Lord's sake to every human creation.
00:02:37.760 | Now, before we can even ponder whether that's right or not,
00:02:42.760 | we have to ask what it means,
00:02:44.820 | 'cause it's an ambiguous phrase, isn't it?
00:02:46.700 | It might mean things created by humans.
00:02:51.160 | So a human creation might be a government
00:02:55.800 | or laws that humans have created.
00:03:00.240 | Or the phrase human creation
00:03:03.400 | might mean humans created by God.
00:03:07.000 | So human beings are God's human creation.
00:03:12.000 | So 1 Peter 2.13 might mean,
00:03:14.400 | be subject to whatever man creates
00:03:16.660 | or be subject to the persons that God creates.
00:03:21.980 | Which is it?
00:03:22.940 | And I think the answer,
00:03:25.260 | if you just take those two questions,
00:03:27.980 | would be pretty clear from the use
00:03:31.340 | of the word create and creation,
00:03:33.620 | the verb and the noun throughout the New Testament.
00:03:36.820 | 39 times, I looked them all up,
00:03:39.500 | 39 times the New Testament uses this word create
00:03:44.340 | or creation and without exception, no exceptions,
00:03:48.580 | they refer to God's act.
00:03:51.140 | Never in the New Testament does creation or create
00:03:54.500 | refer to something man has made or man does.
00:03:58.500 | So I think it would be highly unlikely
00:04:03.420 | that the term human creation in 1 Peter 2.13
00:04:07.600 | would refer to something that humans create.
00:04:11.620 | Rather, the term very likely means human creation
00:04:16.620 | in the sense of humans that God creates.
00:04:22.700 | Human beings are God's human creation.
00:04:27.760 | Now that in fact is the way Brent
00:04:30.180 | in his question is understanding it.
00:04:32.840 | And he's wondering, well, why shouldn't it be translated,
00:04:37.740 | be subject for the Lord's sake to every human creation
00:04:41.520 | or more clearly creature, every human creature
00:04:44.820 | that is person created by God.
00:04:47.020 | Why isn't verse 13 to be understood
00:04:49.180 | as calling for a kind of submission
00:04:51.740 | to all people, all human beings?
00:04:55.780 | Now, whether we're going to be sympathetic
00:04:59.420 | to that possible translation,
00:05:01.540 | namely be subject for the Lord's sake
00:05:03.900 | to every human creature is going to depend on two things.
00:05:07.620 | First, do we believe that the word be subject,
00:05:12.540 | you put target day in Greek,
00:05:14.720 | be subject can mean anything less than obey,
00:05:19.500 | maybe more, but not less than obey.
00:05:22.280 | If we think that this word be subject
00:05:24.800 | always involves the idea of obedience,
00:05:28.020 | then we won't be able to say with Peter's intention
00:05:33.020 | that we should be subject to every human person
00:05:38.020 | because many humans would instruct us to do sinful things
00:05:42.800 | that we certainly should not obey.
00:05:45.780 | And I think it's fair to say
00:05:47.080 | that's the judgment of most biblical scholars,
00:05:49.600 | namely that being subject does involve
00:05:52.240 | the idea of obedience.
00:05:54.440 | That's the first thing that will affect
00:05:56.720 | how we translate this.
00:05:59.040 | The second factor that leads people away
00:06:02.200 | from translating verse 13 as be subject
00:06:05.200 | to every human creature is that the immediate application
00:06:09.560 | and perhaps limitation that Peter puts on it is this.
00:06:14.560 | He continues, "Whether it be to the emperor as supreme
00:06:19.960 | or to governors as sent by him."
00:06:22.660 | So the argument is that since Peter
00:06:25.720 | is applying subjection to governors and emperors,
00:06:31.840 | he doesn't mean it to apply to all human creatures,
00:06:35.880 | but only to those whom God has created
00:06:38.680 | to have his appointed authority,
00:06:41.200 | as for example is more clear in Romans 13, one to four.
00:06:46.200 | Now, those two arguments are strong enough
00:06:50.740 | to incline me and most others not to take issue
00:06:55.740 | with the common translation,
00:06:59.720 | be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution.
00:07:04.720 | But like I said at the beginning,
00:07:08.760 | Brit is onto something that we really should take seriously
00:07:12.920 | because even if it might not be
00:07:15.560 | Peter's primary intention here,
00:07:18.560 | it seems to be his and Paul's understanding
00:07:22.940 | of the Christian life to say that there is a sense
00:07:26.720 | in which we are to be subject to all people,
00:07:31.380 | not in the sense of obeying, but in the sense of serving.
00:07:35.700 | That is be subject in the sense of humbling yourself
00:07:40.700 | and going down low, subject, sub,
00:07:45.240 | and getting under another person
00:07:47.240 | and doing all you can to lift them up
00:07:50.120 | into truth and righteousness and everlasting joy.
00:07:55.340 | Now, Peter seems to go in this direction in verse 15,
00:08:00.340 | when he grounds the submission to every human creature
00:08:07.260 | or institution by saying,
00:08:10.640 | because this is the will of God,
00:08:14.220 | that by doing good, you put to silence
00:08:17.620 | the ignorance of foolish people.
00:08:19.100 | And this idea of doing good turns up again and again
00:08:23.100 | and again in 1 Peter.
00:08:24.900 | It's one of his most common and distinctive phrases.
00:08:27.860 | It turns up over and over as a general way
00:08:31.100 | of relating to all people, not just to those in authority.
00:08:35.500 | And then even more amazing, Peter says in verse 17,
00:08:40.500 | honor everyone.
00:08:43.340 | And in a sense, it's just as radical to say,
00:08:47.660 | honor every human creature as it is to say,
00:08:51.100 | be subject to every human creature,
00:08:53.140 | because certainly there are dishonorable humans,
00:08:58.140 | just as there are humans we should not obey.
00:09:01.580 | So if there is a way to honor dishonorable humans,
00:09:06.580 | then there may be a way to be subject
00:09:11.040 | to humans that should not be obeyed.
00:09:13.460 | Then in the next paragraph, verse 18,
00:09:18.600 | Peter tells slaves to be subject to their masters.
00:09:22.540 | And then in the next paragraph, chapter three, verse one,
00:09:25.260 | he tells wives, likewise, be subject to your husbands.
00:09:29.260 | And then to our surprise, my surprise anyway,
00:09:33.540 | he says in the next paragraph, chapter three, verse seven,
00:09:37.340 | likewise, that's the surprising word, husbands.
00:09:41.680 | And then instead of saying, be subject to your wives,
00:09:47.540 | which he doesn't say, he says,
00:09:50.060 | husbands honor the woman as the weaker vessel
00:09:54.780 | and a fellow heir of the grace of life.
00:09:57.700 | So he's not going to say that the role of the wife
00:10:01.460 | and the husband are interchangeable
00:10:02.900 | in terms of authority and submission,
00:10:04.660 | but he is going to say, just like he did back in 217,
00:10:09.660 | where it says honor all people,
00:10:11.980 | that husbands are to honor their wives, all wives.
00:10:17.420 | And he introduces this command with likewise,
00:10:21.540 | as if it is a kind of repetition
00:10:25.940 | of the commands for submission
00:10:28.300 | that he's been giving to us in our relation to government,
00:10:32.980 | relation to masters, relation to husbands.
00:10:36.980 | And then add to this that Paul says,
00:10:40.420 | we are to do good to all people, Galatians 6:10,
00:10:44.900 | and that we are to be subject to each other, Ephesians 5:21,
00:10:49.740 | and that we should count others more significant
00:10:53.820 | than ourselves in the sense of becoming their servants,
00:10:57.500 | Philippians 2, 3.
00:10:59.100 | In all those pointers, I think, in 1 Peter and Paul,
00:11:04.100 | I would say that Brent is onto something
00:11:08.140 | when he draws our attention to the fact
00:11:11.540 | that there is a sense in which Christians,
00:11:15.440 | following the example of the humble, sacrificial,
00:11:18.420 | suffering Christ, should be subject for the Lord's sake
00:11:23.420 | to all people, in the sense, not of obeying,
00:11:28.000 | but in the sense of desiring earnestly to go low
00:11:33.000 | and to do what we can to lift them up into the truth
00:11:38.560 | and into faith and into righteousness
00:11:41.500 | and into everlasting joy.
00:11:43.720 | So I think we should give Brent the benefit of the doubt here
00:11:47.540 | and say, that's pretty sharp,
00:11:49.120 | and we ought to really consider that possibility.
00:11:52.320 | - Yeah, that's a sharp question and suggestion.
00:11:54.480 | Thank you, Brent, and thank you, Pastor John.
00:11:56.240 | And thank you all for joining us today.
00:11:57.760 | You can ask a question of your own,
00:11:59.160 | search our growing archive, or subscribe to the podcast,
00:12:01.280 | all at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.
00:12:05.520 | Well, how much jewelry is too much jewelry?
00:12:08.880 | It's a question we get from you all a lot,
00:12:11.060 | and it's worthy of addressing on this podcast
00:12:13.160 | because, well, because it's a topic in the Bible.
00:12:16.020 | And speaking of 1 Peter,
00:12:17.040 | we will turn our attention to 1 Peter 3:3
00:12:19.480 | next up on the docket on Monday.
00:12:21.680 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:12:22.600 | Have a great weekend, and we will see you then.
00:12:25.960 | (upbeat music)
00:12:28.540 | (upbeat music)
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