The matter of authority and submission is a great thing, for we should submit to authority, and the only One who can submit is Christ Himself, so we need to let the mind of Christ be in us; Christ learned obedience through suffering and created submission, and this One is in us today! Amen!
Before we can submit to God, we need to see that there’s no submission in us; submission is only in Christ, for He created submission and perfected it through the things He suffered in His daily living.
We need to see and know the Son’s submission. He was God who became man, and as a man, He emptied Himself and humbled Himself to the uttermost.
First, He emptied Himself; He laid aside the outward glory of His divinity, and He lowered Himself to be a man, even to be a lowly slave.
Then, He humbled Himself; in His humanity, He humbled Himself and became obedient to God to the uttermost.
He set His heart to be a slave; He was willing to be restricted in time and space as a man.
If we read the Gospels, we are simply amazed, for the Lord Jesus was God Himself, yet He became a man, He humbled Himself to the uttermost, and He was obedient to God, even unto death.
He was obedient to the Father; this obedience in the Godhead is the most wonderful thing in the universe. His life is now in us. He can be obedient in us. He can obey God and be submissive to God in us. His mind is in us.
If we just turn to Him, if we just turn our heart to Him and exercise our spirit to touch Him and be one with Him, He can live this life in us.
May we learn to turn to the Lord in spirit and take Him as our life and person. May we come to Him in His word and let Him infuse us with Himself so that we may have the mind of Christ today.
May He gain a continuation in us. May we be His reproduction and continuation, those who live the same kind of life today by being in our mingled spirit.
When we live one with the Lord, He in us can submit to our husband or wife in the Lord, for His life is a life of submission.
When we are one spirit with Him in our daily living, we can submit to the elders and the persons in authority in society, for the Lord’s submission becomes our submission.
May we know Christ’s submission as the Son of God and may we let Him live in us today.
The Lord Learned Obedience through Suffering: He Created Submission
Hebrews 5:8 tells us that the Lord’s obedience was learned through suffering; He learned obedience through the things He suffered.
It is true that God doesn’t need to learn anything, for He already knows everything; however, even though Christ was the Son of god, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.
In His deity, He was equal with God and was one with God. But He was not yet made Lord of all; being made Lord of all was something based on what He has done.
The deity of Jesus is something based on what He is; being God was His original position. But His attainment of the position of being the Lord of all was based on what He has done.
He laid aside His divine form to become a man, and He fully maintained the principle of submission.
This portion in Philippians 2:5-11 is a deep one, very difficult to explain, and very controversial. But at the same time it is a most divine passage, for it shows us something concerning the Godhead.
It seems as if there was a conference in the Godhead in the beginning, and a plan was made to create the universe.
In this plan, the divine persons of the Godhead agreed with each other and came to the understanding that the Father would be the representation of authority.
Also, it was agreed for the Son to become a man so that He may create submission, even to represent the principle of submission. This doesn’t mean that the Son is lower than the Father.
Rather, because the Father is the authority, there must be submission. Satan rebelled against God, and many of the angels followed him in his rebellion.
God created two kinds of beings: the angels, which are spirits, and man, who is a soul.
God foreknew that the angels would rebel and man would fail, and He realised that His authority could not be built upon the angels or upon the descendants of Adam.
What a harmonious decision this was in the Godhead, and what a wonderful thing it is to see that it was carried out!
The Son was willing to empty Himself and become a created man, and He was the representation of submission to authority.
Man rebelled and sinned, and there was a need for a genuine man to create submission and be fully submissive to God.
Only through the submission of a man could God’s authority be established.
So the Lord Jesus came on the earth to become a man, even a creature, a slave, to learn obedience by the things He suffered, and He created submission.
He suffered very much. Suffering is part of human existence; we should not be afraid of suffering. Christ went through many sufferings, and He learned obedience and perfected submission by the things He suffered.
Suffering brought obedience to Him. True submission is found when there is still obedience in spite of suffering. We do not have true obedience.
Only the Lord Jesus has and even is true obedience. When He became a man, He took a risk; once He stepped out from the form of God, there was a possibility that He could not return as a man.
He the Lord Jesus had not been submissive, He could have reclaimed the divine form of His deity only in HIs position as the Son of God; however, the principle of submission would have been broken forever.
But the Lord Jesus became a man, emptied Himself and humbled Himself, and perfected submission; He was fully submissive to God and established submission.
Because of this, God could bring Him back up and make Him Lord of all.
Christ humbled Himself to the uttermost to become as a lowly slave, and He was obedient to God to death, even to the death of a cross. He experienced weakness, limitations, and sufferings, but submission was not beyond Him.
He didn’t force His way into glory, thinking that was too hard to be submissive to God; rather, He perfected submission and had true and perfect submission.
In spite of suffering, in spite of the limitations and persecution, in spite of all the misunderstandings, the Lord had true submission.
When He came to the earth, He didn’t bring obedience with Him; rather, He learned it through suffering.
We don’t need to pray for sufferings; sufferings will come, but we need to be an open vessel and allow the Lord to live His life of submission in us and through us.
He is submission, He had true submission, and He perfected submission. Now He lives in us. Praise the Lord!
Lord Jesus, thank You for being willing to empty Yourself and humble Yourself to the uttermost. Thank You for becoming like us, putting on the flesh, and lowering Yourself to the uttermost to be a slave. Amen, Lord, how we appreciate You as the One who had true submission! Even though You didn’t bring obedience with You, You learned it through suffering. Oh Lord, You had perfect obedience to the Father, and You created submission. We come to You as open vessels. Live in us today. Express Yourself through us. We want to live one spirit with You in all things. We can’t submit in ourselves and by ourselves, but we have You as our life of submission. Praise the Lord, He lives in us to live a life of submission today! Amen, Lord, as we live our daily life in the church life and the family life, wherever we are, we just want to live You out so that You may be expressed through us!
Take the Way of the Lord to Live and Serve in the Principle of Submission
The matter of authority is a great matter; we should submit to authority.
God is the ultimate authority, and Christ is the One who created submission; because Christ as submission is in us, we can submit to God, that is, we can submit to authority.
For this to happen, we need to have the mind in us which was in Christ Jesus (Phil. 2:5). We all need to take the way of our Lord, taking His principle of submission as our principle of submission.
He created submission. He learned obedience by the things He has suffered, and He had true submission. Now we need to be one with Him and let Him live in us.
This means that it needs to be settled in us that God is the authority and all we have is just submission.
We do not compare our situation with others’ situation, nor do we desire others’ circumstances; we only desire to be one with the Lord and live one spirit with Him, having Christ as our submission.
We all need to take the way of the Lord to live and serve in the principle of submission today.
Whoever knows this principle will realise that no sin is uglier than rebellion and that nothing is more important than submission (Jude 11; Rom. 1:5; 16:26).
It is only when we see the principle of submission that we can truly serve God (Matt. 4:10; 20:28; Acts 6:2; Rom. 1:9; 16:18; Heb. 12:28; Rev. 22:3).
The Lord Jesus could serve God because He submitted fully to God; we can serve God only when we see the principle of submission and apply this principle in our daily life and in the living of the church life.
Just as the Lord Jesus learned obedience by the things He suffered, so we go through many sufferings, trials, mistakes, and failures so that we may learn submission.
On the one hand, we need to learn to turn to our spirit and contact the Lord in all things so that He may live in us a life of submission.
On the other hand, we are all learning to serve according to the principle of submission by the things we suffer. We serve God in our spirit in the gospel of His Son, and we serve in the principle of submission.
As we serve the Lord, we do not seek to be someone or gain glory, nor do we grasp authority as something to be treasured; rather, we learn to submit ourselves to God and to one another.
God’s principle of submission can be maintained only by submitting in the way that the Lord submitted. In ourselves we do not submit and we can’t submit; by nature, we are rebellious.
Even in the church life, even as children of God, there’s no submission in us unless we let the Lord live in us His life of submission.
God is authority, and we are those who take the lead to submit to God in our service to Him.
We don’t initiate the service, we don’t serve in and by ourselves, and we don’t carry out our service by our own energy or according to our ideas.
And if we do, if we serve in our natural man or by our effort, the Lord is faithful to expose this in the Body, and we return to the principle of submission.
Thank the Lord for His mercy on us today. Thank the Lord that He is shining on us and exposing us in this matter.
May we all take the way of our Lord, taking His principle of submission as our principle of submission. May we realise that only when we see the principle of submission that can we serve the Lord.
Lord Jesus, we want to let Your mind be in us today. May we have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus. May we all take the way of our Lord, taking His principle of submission as our principle of submission. Amen, Lord, even as You lived and served God by obeying God and being submissive to God. We give ourselves to You today to serve God in the gospel of His Son. We want to serve You in our spirit. We take Your principle of submission, Lord, as our principle of submission in our service to God. May we realise that only when we see and keep the principle of submission can we serve God. Save us, Lord, from trying to serve You in ourselves or by our natural zeal. May we keep God’s principle today by submitting in the way that the Lord submitted. Oh Lord, we take You as our submission today. We want to live one spirit with You and live a life of submission, even serve in the principle of submission.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brother Ron Kangas in this conference, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 47, “Authority and Submission,” ch. 5, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (part 3 – 2025 Summer Training), week 26, Knowing and Taking Christ as Our Pattern – day 5.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– The way the Lord came out of His divine form and the way He returned, a portion from, Authority and Submission, Chapter 5, by Watchman Nee.
– Practical Points on Prayer, via, Living to Him.
– Submitting to the authority in the Body of Christ, a portion from, Messages Given During the Resumption of Watchman Nee’s Ministry (2 volume set), Chapter 31, by Watchman Nee/Witness Lee.
– How Can Christ’s Crucified Life Become Our Pattern? More via, Holding to Truth in Love.
– The Crucial Role of the Sisters in the Church Life, via, Shepherding Words.
– Ephesians (Program #47) – Living in the Relationship Between Wife and Husband, via, Bible study radio.
– The Practical Coordination of the Members of the Body in the Local Churches, via, The Local Churches are the Practicality of the Universal Church.
– God’s Mercy Saved us to Glorify Him, via, New Jerusalem blog.
– Capturing the thoughts unto the obedience of Christ, a portion from, Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit, An, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee. - Hymns on this topic:
– “Consider Him”; so shalt thou, day by day, / Seek out the lowliest place, and therein stay, / Content to pass away, a thing of nought, / That glory to the Father’s name be brought. (Hymns #656 stanza 2)
– Today we must learn to submit to His throne, / How to have a strict life and His government own; / His authority then we’ll be able to share, / O’er the nations to rule with God’s Son as the heir. (Hymns #547 stanza 3)
– Perfect submission, all is at rest, / I in my Savior am happy and blest; / Watching and waiting, looking above, / Filled with His goodness, lost in His love. (Hymns #308 stanza 3)
