depends on Him for its continued existence. Everything in creation must refer to the Creator for its life and success. Everything in creation was designed to function by the principle of authority.
A seed must “submit” to being planted in the soil if it is to grow; in this sense, the soil is the authority of the seed. Fish must “submit” to living in water in order to survive, so the fishes’ authority is the water; if they didn’t submit to it, they would die. The planets of our solar system submit to the gravitational pull of the sun as their authority; if they didn’t, the solar system would no longer be intact, and the planets would spiral out of control in space.
Everyone and everything must submit to someone or something in order to function and be successful. It is impossible to outgrow authority. We may transfer our accountability to different kinds of authority, such as when a child grows up and moves out from under his parents’ authority, starts his own family, and interacts with others in the world, but we never grow out of the need for authority itself. This is true for all of creation and in all human experiences.
Anyone who refuses to be governed by genuine authority is illegitimate and malfunctioning in the world. For example, a criminal is one who refuses to submit to society and violates the authority of others’ lives or properties. He crosses others’ boundaries or realms of authority. If he is caught and punished, jail becomes forced authority over him. He is made to submit to society through a severe restriction of his activities. If a child refuses to acknowledge the authority of his parents in teaching him positive and constructive ways to live his life, then he will suffer the consequences of some kind of self-destruction to mind, body, or soul.
You are living with dangerous illegitimacy if you are not submitted to any authority so that other people cannot trust you or safely submit to you when needed. We should submit only to those who are submitted themselves.
The Greatest Example of the Vital Principle of Authority
I believe that the greatest example of someone who understood and lived out the principle, the power, and the purpose of authority is Jesus Christ, and that there is much to gain in one’s understanding of authority from looking at how He lived His life.
The key to the success, effectiveness, efficiency, power, and perfection of His life on earth was His complete understanding of, and adherence to, authority. We see Jesus’ submission to authority throughout His life on earth. Let us look at several key examples.
Jesus Submitted to His Own Established Laws
First, His willingness to come to earth as a man, even though He was God (see John 1:1–4, 14), was an extraordinary act of submission! In theologian Paul of Tarsus’s writings, we read, “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons” (Galatians 4:4–5).
God’s first step in correcting humanity’s problem of authority was His own submission to authority. What did He submit to? The very laws pertaining to the authority He had established for the physical creation and for the spiritual life of His people:
He voluntarily came into this world physically, as a baby, through the womb of a woman, as all other people do.
He was born “under law,” so that, even though He Himself had instituted the law for the Israelites, He was subject to its regulations and requirements. Since God had established all authority, He knew the indispensability of submitting to authority, including the protection it provides for a person’s spirit, soul, and body.
Jesus Submitted to Baptism “to Fulfill All Righteousness”
Second, I want to focus particularly on the accounts of His baptism in relation to His submission to authority because this submission was the inauguration of His ministry. If we desire to be all
A seed must “submit” to being planted in the soil if it is to grow; in this sense, the soil is the authority of the seed. Fish must “submit” to living in water in order to survive, so the fishes’ authority is the water; if they didn’t submit to it, they would die. The planets of our solar system submit to the gravitational pull of the sun as their authority; if they didn’t, the solar system would no longer be intact, and the planets would spiral out of control in space.
Everyone and everything must submit to someone or something in order to function and be successful. It is impossible to outgrow authority. We may transfer our accountability to different kinds of authority, such as when a child grows up and moves out from under his parents’ authority, starts his own family, and interacts with others in the world, but we never grow out of the need for authority itself. This is true for all of creation and in all human experiences.
Anyone who refuses to be governed by genuine authority is illegitimate and malfunctioning in the world. For example, a criminal is one who refuses to submit to society and violates the authority of others’ lives or properties. He crosses others’ boundaries or realms of authority. If he is caught and punished, jail becomes forced authority over him. He is made to submit to society through a severe restriction of his activities. If a child refuses to acknowledge the authority of his parents in teaching him positive and constructive ways to live his life, then he will suffer the consequences of some kind of self-destruction to mind, body, or soul.
You are living with dangerous illegitimacy if you are not submitted to any authority so that other people cannot trust you or safely submit to you when needed. We should submit only to those who are submitted themselves.
The Greatest Example of the Vital Principle of Authority
I believe that the greatest example of someone who understood and lived out the principle, the power, and the purpose of authority is Jesus Christ, and that there is much to gain in one’s understanding of authority from looking at how He lived His life.
The key to the success, effectiveness, efficiency, power, and perfection of His life on earth was His complete understanding of, and adherence to, authority. We see Jesus’ submission to authority throughout His life on earth. Let us look at several key examples.
Jesus Submitted to His Own Established Laws
First, His willingness to come to earth as a man, even though He was God (see John 1:1–4, 14), was an extraordinary act of submission! In theologian Paul of Tarsus’s writings, we read, “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons” (Galatians 4:4–5).
God’s first step in correcting humanity’s problem of authority was His own submission to authority. What did He submit to? The very laws pertaining to the authority He had established for the physical creation and for the spiritual life of His people:
He voluntarily came into this world physically, as a baby, through the womb of a woman, as all other people do.
He was born “under law,” so that, even though He Himself had instituted the law for the Israelites, He was subject to its regulations and requirements. Since God had established all authority, He knew the indispensability of submitting to authority, including the protection it provides for a person’s spirit, soul, and body.
Jesus Submitted to Baptism “to Fulfill All Righteousness”
Second, I want to focus particularly on the accounts of His baptism in relation to His submission to authority because this submission was the inauguration of His ministry. If we desire to be all
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