“And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but His mother kept all these sayings in her heart” (Luke 2:51).

It is noteworthy how frequently Christians are exhorted to submit themselves to others. Wives, for example, are told, “submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord” (Ephesians 5:22). Similarly, Paul told Titus to urge Christian slaves “to be obedient [same Greek word] unto their own masters” (Titus 2:9).

Christians in a local church are told to “obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account” (Hebrews 13:17). Peter says: “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder” (I Peter 5:5).

That is not all, for we are also commanded to be in submission to government officials whether they are Christian or not. “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake” (I Peter 2:13), says the Apostle Peter. Similarly Paul said: “Let every soul be subject [same Greek word again] unto the higher powers” (Romans 13:1).

Our willingness to yield our own ways to others must go even further than this. “Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility” (I Peter 5:5), “submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God” (Ephesians 5:21).

Now if all this goes against the grain, so to speak, perhaps it will make it easier if we know that this word was first used in the New Testament in the words of our text in connection with the subjection of Jesus Christ—the very Creator of the universe—to His own human parents!

Finally, we need to remember that “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God” (James 4:6,7). HMM