1 Peter 5:5 (NIV)
“In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another…”

Isn’t it interesting that we can all demonstrate humility toward one another? We believe that this is good news! The fact that we all have opportunities to practice humility means that we all have opportunities to grow in God’s grace, which we can only receive through humility. Because we have different types of relationships in our lives, however, God indicates that there are different ways to demonstrate humility toward one another. The way a truly greater person demonstrates humility toward a truly lesser person is different from the way a truly lesser person is expected to demonstrate humility toward a truly greater person. Also, the way peers demonstrate humility toward each other is completely different than how they should related with the truly greater. In this article, we will review how a truly lesser person is expected to demonstrate humility toward a truly greater person.

The above passage of scripture indicates that a truly lesser person is expected to demonstrate humility toward the truly greater through submission. Although the elder is assumed to be the truly greater person, we must remember that true greatness is the result of long time exercise of obedience to God’s Word. And, because the elder is older, he or she is expected to have had more time to practice obedience to the Word of God than the younger. If this is not the case, however, God will elevate a younger person above the elder and give the younger an office which should be deferred to. God did this several times in the Bible with cases such as Abel, Moses and David in preference to their older siblings.

Promotion from God is not necessarily a function of physical age. Rather, it is a function of obedience to the Word of God. To further buttress this point, Paul encourages the elders to be sound in faith and be worthy of respect in Titus 2:2. Therefore, we have coined the terms “Truly Greater” and “Truly Lesser” to reflect this point.

Assuming we have identified a truly greater person than us, God expects us to demonstrate humility toward this person through submission. Please feel free to review the previous article concerning Acknowledging the Truly Greater to detect who the truly greater is. So, what is submission? Submission to the truly greater is simply an act of deferring to the judgment of the truly greater in thought, word and deed. God anointed the truly greater for our benefit, and it pays for us to humble ourselves and defer to their judgments and learn from their ways so that we can become partakers of their anointings. It is interesting to note that the truly greater obtained this anointing as a reward of the crown of life, (James 1:12) after a long time practice of obedience in a certain area of God’s Word.

If we want to obtain that anointing by ourselves without deferring to the judgment of the truly greater, we would need an equivalent amount of time under the same set of circumstances to practice obedience and inherit this crown of life. But, since God knows that this would be inefficient, He created a system of submission through which we can become partakers of the same anointing on the truly greater, without going through their rigors. We need to be humble enough to take advantage of this divine system.

Also, we need to realize that God designed a system of submission to increase our access to the grace of God and to restrict the devil’s access to His grace and Life. This will ultimately protect creation’s allegiance to the cause of the Creator for all eternity. Submission is not a curse. Deference toward the truly greater is a blessing! We need to humble ourselves to embrace this concept. Identify the truly greater, defer to their judgment in thought, word and deed and learn from their ways.

So what does God promise me if I exercise myself in deference and submission toward the truly greater? To review God’s promises for submission, we invite you to read the next article: The Blessing of Deference.