“…to submit to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer.” – 1 Corinthians 16:16

We live in an age where wives, children, citizens and employees hear “submit” as an insult, and the church has caught the habit.

I mean we want to follow a pastor who is ‘perfect’ and who agrees with us, who acknowledges us publicly, and we call our gossip about the one we don’t as ‘discernment’ when it is really pride.

Into that climate Paul speaks one uncomfortable sentence: “that you also submit to such as these, and to everyone who works and labours with us” [in the Gospel].

Who are “such as these”?

In the previous devotional, we saw Paul commending the household of Stephanas, the first converts in Achaia, who had devoted themselves to serving the saints.

They held no office we would recognize.

They had simply given themselves away.

Paul asks an arrogant and self-conceited church fractured by loyalty to Apollos, Cephas, and Paul himself to recognize authority where it is proven by labour and sacrifice, not by charisma or social rank.

Today’s word of focus, ‘submit,’ comes from the Greek root that means to to arrange or appoint oneself under.

It was a military and administrative word, picturing soldiers set in rank beneath a commander.

Ever imagined an army that does not have a chain of command?

It can never conquer any territory.

But listen to the nuance.

In verse 15 Paul uses the same term to say Stephanas’s household “set themselves” to serve.

They voluntarily placed themselves under the needs of the saints, and now Paul asks the church to place itself beneath such people.

Biblical submission, then, is not a coerced surrender of the mind.

Put yourselves under, dear church, because your saviour went lower first, and that is why He is worthy of our praise.

It is the willing taking of your place in a body where God has arranged the members.

And Christ is our pattern.

Though equal with God, He took the form of a servant and became obedient even to death (Philippians 2:6-8).

As a boy, He went down to Nazareth and was “submissive” to Mary and Joseph (Luke 2:51), the same root again.

His submission did not shrink His glory; it displayed it.

So when Paul writes, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21), he is not asking us to honor people for their own sake.

We bow to Christ’s shepherds – weak and imperfect as they are – because we bow to Christ.

Hebrews 13:17 reminds us that they watch over our souls and will give an account, and 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 tells us to hold them in highest regard, in love, because of their work.

And, why does this matter now?

Well, our world prizes the ‘self-made,’ the self-governed, the independent-minded.

We curate our own preferred teachers and unfollow anyone who corrects us or chastises us.

A believer shaped by that culture can profess Christianity in the back pew for years, without ever being known, counseled, or corrected.

But the Gospel saves us into a Body, not into a private spiritual career.

To honor those who labour, in our own congregation and across the wider Church, the missionary, the faithful pastor in the next town, the teacher whose books have fed us, is to confess that we are not the wisest person in the room and that Christ has not left us as orphans.

So, let me be practical. Learn Church leaders’ names and pray for them aloud this week.

Tell one of them exactly how their labour has helped you.

When you disagree with them about anything, go to them privately and humbly, not to the group chat.

Give your time and gifts to the ministry and vision they carry without waiting to be asked.

Invite correction, and receive it with grace and without choosing to look for someone else who simply praises you.

If you are new believer, find someone who has walked with Christ longer and let them walk this journey with you.

Put yourselves under, dear Church, because your Saviour went lower first, and that is why He is worthy of all our praise.