Submission Is Not A Figure-Four Leg Lock

Submission is one of those words that can instantly put your guard up and for good reason. Our culture often frames it as losing yourself, losing your voice, or giving in to pressure. But when we open 1 Peter 2:11–25, a different picture comes into focus: biblical submission is not a figure-four leg lock. It’s a clear-eyed recognition of God’s authority, rooted in the unchanging truth of Scripture rather than the shifting values of the moment. 

We talk through why this matters in real life, especially when faith feels out of step with the world around us. Peter reminds Christians who we are: God’s beloved children, sojourners and pilgrims with a deeper citizenship, and people engaged in an inner spiritual battle as fleshly desires wage war against the soul. That identity reshapes our choices, because our daily conduct doesn’t just affect us it either strengthens or weakens our credibility as a Christian witness. When unbelievers are watching closely, honorable living and good works can remove easy excuses to dismiss the gospel and, in God’s kindness, become part of the story that leads to their “day of visitation.” 

We also move into the hard but necessary question of authority and government. Scripture calls us to submit to human institutions for the Lord’s sake, because we represent Jesus in public, not just in private. The episode closes by setting up part two, where we’ll look more closely at Jesus as the supreme example of suffering unjustly while entrusting Himself to the One who judges righteously. If you want practical biblical teaching on Christian submission, spiritual warfare of the heart, and living with hope in a hostile world, listen now, then subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Transcript

Culture Vs God’s Unchanging Truth

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The worst definition doesn't always fit comfortably with us. We live in a world that finds effective, celebrates self-determination, and often tells us the highest good. It's simply doing whatever feels right to us. But the Christian life is not built upon the shifting values of the culture. It's built upon the unchanging truth of God's Word. And today on Foundations of Truth, Dr. Timothy Mann continues the series Hope in a Hostile World with part one of a message titled, Submission is Helpful to Christians. Let's join Dr. Timothy Mann

Reading 1 Peter 2:11-25

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now.

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The book of 1 Peter. And so today we are in the second chapter, verse 11. I'm going to go all the way down through verse 25. The Bible says, Beloved, I beg you, as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh, for this is commendable. If because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongly, for what credit is it when you are beaten for your faults and you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you are called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps, who committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Alright, that ends our scripture reading for this morning. That's the word of God.

Wrestling Story Redefines Submission

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Back in the 70s, I grew up watching professional wrestling with my papa, my grandpa, my grandfather, when I would stay with them on the weekends from time to time. Every Saturday at 11 a.m., Mid-Atlantic Wrestling would come on, the NBC channel that we got. And for an hour we would cheer and we would boo. And my papa actually talked to the TV screen like they could hear him, you know, uh somehow. Some of you all might do that still today, I don't know, on the news shows and those kinds of things. And I'll tell you, I liked I liked different wrestlers with their signature moves. You know, there was Wahoo McDaniel with his karate chop. There was uh Dusty Rhodes with his bionic elbow drop. There was Ricky Steamboat with his diving crossbody from the top turnbuckle. And by the way, all of those were finishing moves. All right? Finish them off. But my favorite was the young nature boy, Rick Flair. His signature move was a submission hold on the legs. It's called the figure four leg lock. Anybody remember that? Yeah, some of you guys, yeah, a few of you. It's all fake anyway, but uh it was the original reality TV, right? Exactly. It was a submission hold. Now listen, and the idea was that he would cross his legs through and under an opponent's legs and put so much pressure on their knees that they would have to submit to him and he would win the match. You know, that's slap the mat saying, I've had enough, I'm done. And of course, upon winning, he would give his signature yell, woo! And shake his long blonde hair, right? And when we think of submission, when we think of submission, we usually think of pressure, we think of pain, we think of having to submit even when we struggle all that we can. Biblical submission is nothing like the figure four leg lock. As a matter of fact,

Authority, Freedom, And God’s Institutions

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it does not have to be about pressure, it does not have to be about pain, it doesn't have to be about resistance. This central section of Peter's letter emphasizes submission in the life of a believer. Now, this is not certainly not a popular topic in this day, but it is an important one. It's a very important topic. Peter applied the theme of submission to the life of a believer as a citizen, as a worker, as a marriage partner, and as a member of a Christian assembly, such as this one. Now, submission does not mean slavery, it does not mean subjugation, but simply this submission means the recognition of God's authority in our lives. That's what submission means. God has established three institutions in this world the home, human government, and the church. And because he is the one who established those things, the home, human government, and the church, he has the right to tell us how those institutions should be run. He's the creator, he's the sovereign God. He has the right to tell us that. And here's the thing God wants each one of us to exercise authority. But before we can exercise authority, we must be under authority. Satan's offer to our first parents was freedom without authority. That's what he gave them. That's what he offered them. Freedom without authority to Adam and Eve. But they ended up losing both freedom and authority. They lost both. The prodigal son, in the parable of in the Gospel of Luke, he found his freedom only when he yielded to his father's will. Only when he yielded to his father's authority. And so, what happens here in this passage, in this central portion of this book, the Apostle Peter, through the Holy Spirit, shares with his readers and with us today three very excellent motives for submitting to authority and thus living Christian lives. That's really what we're talking about this morning. We're talking about why submission is important in the life of a believer. It's not a very popular topic. We don't hear much teaching on it today, but there are some specific reasons, there's motives that we see here from the Word of God that we ought to yield. We ought to submit to the authority of God in our lives and

Motive One: For Unbelievers’ Sake

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the authority that He delegates and places over us. Why? Why should we? Well, first of all, in verses 11 through 2 in this passage this morning, the very first thing that rises to the surface is the first motive that we ought to have for submitting to authority and living our Christian life as such is for the sake of unbelievers. For the sake of unbelievers. There's a space on the back of the bulletin if you'd like to take some notes. Now, as Christians, we must constantly remind ourselves who we are. That's key, really, in living a Christian life. We have to constantly remind ourselves who we are. And we don't determine who we are as a Christian. The Word of God sets that agenda for us. The Word of God informs us of who we are as believers, how God sees us as believers. Peter does this in 1 Peter 2, verse 11, as he opens up this portion of his letter. And to begin with, he tells us and he reminds us that we are God's dearly loved children. Beloved. Did you see that? Beloved. God's dearly beloved children. And eight times in two letters, 1 Peter and 2 Peter, the apostle reminds his readers of God's love for them. Now, in ourselves, in and of our natural state, when we were unbelievers, when we were rebels against God, when we were enemies of God, when we had no interest in the things of God, in our lost, unregenerate state, there is nothing in us that God can love. But He loves us because of Jesus Christ.

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You're listening to Foundations of Truth, the biblical teaching ministry of Dr. Timothy Mann. Our purpose is simple: to faithfully proclaim the truth of God's word so that believers can grow in wisdom, stand firm in faith, and live with hope, even in a hostile world. This ministry has encouraged you. Would you consider helping us continue to share this biblical teaching with others? Your financial support helps make these broadcasts possible and extends the reach of God's word to listeners who need the hope of truth found only in Jesus Christ. If you'd like to give a gift securely, visit us online at foundationsoftruth.net. That's foundationsofttruth.net. And thank you for standing with us as we build our lives together upon the unchanging foundation of God's truth. Now more of today's message. Here's Dr. Timothy

Beloved Children: Devotion Over Duty

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Mann.

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In the inauguration of Jesus' ministry after he was baptized, the voice came from heaven from God the Father when he said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased. And it's interesting, we see in the book of Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 6, that the Bible tells us because of our faith in Jesus Christ and his grace toward us, we are now accepted in the beloved. Who is Jesus? Accepted in the beloved, and that makes us beloved. So we're God's beloved children. And our love relationship to Jesus Christ ought to be motivation enough for us to live lives that follows Jesus in this world. Our love relationship. He said, if you love me, keep my commandments. See, there is something deeper than obedience because of duty. Now I think we ought to keep our duty, our obligation. First and foremost, we have a duty. We have an obligation to the Lord to obey him because he has authority over us. He has the right to give us directions and commands. And, you know, the idea that simply because we've done our duty, he would pat us on the back. That's not really something that you find in Scripture. There's something much deeper than obedience because of duty. And that is obedience because of devotion. Obedience because of devotion. The Lord Himself said, if a man love me, he'll keep my words. And so we're God's beloved children. But not only are we God's beloved children,

Sojourners And Pilgrims In The World

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look what he says. He says we're also sojourners and pilgrims. He reminds us of that again. What does that say? That says we are resident aliens here. We have our citizenship in another country. And like the patriarchs of old, we are temporary in this life. We're traveling toward that heavenly city. I'll tell you, if you've lived any time at all, whether it's a short period of time or a long period of time in a foreign land, you know that the citizens there are prone to watch you and are prone to find things to criticize. They're looking, you know. And in all fairness, I think we must confess that sometimes we do the same. When there's foreigners among us, we do the same. But we are sojourners. We're pilgrims. Just here temporarily. But not

The Inner War Against Fleshly Desires

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only that, it's interesting. He uses a number of ideas here in this very first verse in verse 11, beloved sojourners and pilgrims. But then he lets us know, as we sang about this morning, in these songs that we sang to the Lord, and we're kind of testimony songs and reminding ourselves, we're also soldiers involved in a spiritual battle. He said, Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against your soul. There are desires that war against us and want to defeat us both inwardly and outwardly. Those desires are very real. And our real battle, and although I think we get confused about this, I do. Maybe you have a little bit more spiritual discernment than I do sometimes. But I get confused about this occasionally. See, our real battle is not with people around us, but passions and appetites within us, and fleshly tendencies within us, and the fleshly tendencies in other people. And ultimately our battle is with the enemy as well, Satan himself.

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D.

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L. Moody once said, I have more trouble with D.L. Moody than any other man I know. That's true. I have more trouble with Tim Mann than any other man I know. Why is that? Well, it's if we yield to these desires or these appetites, then we'll start living like unbelievers around us. And we'll become ineffective for Christ. We'll become ineffective witnesses. We'll become ineffective Christians. Doesn't mean we're not saved by God's grace, but we'll be very ineffective. See, the the I the word here that's translated war, that carries the idea of a military campaign. You need to understand, just because you win one battle, that doesn't mean the war is over. One battle does not equal victory. You're in this campaign, you're in this war all the way to the end. All the way until there is a memorial day for you. It's constant warfare. And we have to be on guard. He said, Abstain, stand against these things. But most of all, in this passage, verse 12, he really focuses in on this.

Honorable Conduct As A Gospel Witness

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Not only are we beloved, not only are we sojourners and pilgrims, not only are we warriors in a spiritual battle, we are witnesses to unbelievers around us. That's what he says in verse 12. Now, I want you to notice this, verse 12, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles. The word Gentiles here has nothing to do with race. It's not as opposed to the Jews. It has to do specifically with unbelievers. Pagans. That would be another good word to use. Unbelievers. Because he says this. They're watching. They're watching so as hopefully to find something to speak against you as evildoers. What does that mean? That means they're looking for excuses to reject the gospel. Not just reject you, not reject church, but to reject the gospel of Jesus Christ. They're looking for excuses. And you know the sad fact is we give them far too many excuses sometimes. We give them way too much ammunition. And if we're going to witness to unbelievers around us and the culture around us, then we have to live admirable lives. It says honorable, having your conduct honorable. That that carries with it, I think the old King James says honest. It has more to do with just telling the truth and doing what is right. It carries with it the idea of beauty or comeliness, admiration, honorable. We don't only witness with our lips, we we have to back up our talk with our walk. And there really should be nothing in our conduct that gives unbelievers ammunition to attack Christ and the gospel. Our good works must back up our good words. That's what he said. Did you see that? That when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Jesus said something very clearly about this in Matthew 5.16 as well. He said, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and what? Glorify your Father who is in heaven. And the entire Bible echoes this truth. And the Apostle Peter here encourages his readers and us to bear witness to unbelievers, to those who are lost, by word and deed, so that one day God may visit them and save them. The day of visitation, some Bible students think the day of visitation could mean that the day when Christ returns and every tongue will confess him as Lord. That's a good thought, but I don't agree with it. I'll tell you what I think this is. I think the visitation here that Peter mentions is the time when God visits lost sinners and saves them by his grace. And it's amazing that he's saying that your good works, that your witness, your conduct, and your good works, is a means by which God uses to bring them to salvation in the day of visitation. The words used in this sense in Luke 19, verse 44. And when these people that are visited by God, by the Holy Spirit, and by His grace, when these people do trust Christ, they glorify God and they give thanks because we specifically, you, were faithful to witness to them even when, even when they spoke of you as an evildoer. Even when they made life difficult for you. I don't know about you, but I don't really want to witness to people who makes life difficult for me. I don't want to necessarily witness to people who speak of me as an evildoer, but it has nothing to do with what I want. It's for the their sake. Submitting to God's authority for the sake of unbelievers.

Red Jacket’s Challenge To Christian Integrity

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In the summer of 1805, a number of Indian chiefs and warriors met in council at Buffalo Creek, New York, to hear a presentation of the Christian message by a fellow by the name of Mr. Cram from the Boston Missionary Society. And after the sermon, the historical records record that a response was given by Red Jacket. He was one of the leading chiefs. And among other things, the chief said this quote, Brother, you say that there is but one way to worship and serve the great spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all agree as you all read the same book? Brother, we are told that you have been preaching to the white people in this place. These people are our neighbors. We are acquainted with them. We will wait a little while and see what effect your preaching has upon them. If we find it does them good, makes them honest, and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will then consider again what you have said. We submit to God's authority for the sake of unbelievers, for the sake of the Gentiles, for the sake of pagans who need Christ. So that in the day of his visitation to them they may be saved. But not only that, we we we move on to verse 13.

Motive Two: For The Lord’s Sake

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This is where it gets tricky. Really tricky. Because he tells us we have to submit to his authority, to authority, for the Lord's sake. Not only for the sake of unbelievers, but for the Lord's sake. Verses 13 through 17 speaks about the ordinance of man, institutions. The king. Government. Governor. And of course, everything we do should be for the glory of the Lord and for his kingdom. But it's interesting here how the Holy Spirit is careful through the Apostle Peter, how the Holy Spirit is careful to point out that Christians in society, in our culture, are representatives of Jesus Christ. And it's our responsibility, according to what he says in verse 9, up in chapter 2 already, that we're actually to proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into marvelous light. We said last week that we're to advertise, right? We're to be a walking billboard for God. We're to be uh showing forth his praises, what he's done in our lives. And it's interesting now as he comes to this place in chapter two. This is especially true when it comes to our relationship to government and to people in authority. Now, as Christian citizens, based on the word of God, not on

Government, Institutions, And Hard Obedience

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my opinion or what makes you happy, or what you'll agree with or be glad about. Based on the word of God, as Christian citizens, we submit to the authority vested in human government. Now, the word translated here, ordinance, simply means institution. It does not refer to an individual law, but to the institutions that make and enforce the laws. Now, here's what I want to share with you this morning as it relates to this, and I believe this is clear from the whole of the Word of God, from the Old Testament all the way through the New Testament. It is absolutely possible to submit to the institutions and still disobey the laws.

Part Two Tease And Listener Invitations

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Thank you for joining us today for Foundations of Truth, the biblical teaching ministry of Dr. Timothy Mann. Be sure to join us Monday for part two of Submission is helpful to Christians as we continue through 1 Peter chapter 2 and look to the supreme example of Jesus Christ, who suffered unjustly yet entrusted himself completely to the one who judges righteously. If you'd like to hear today's message and of course get more biblical resources, you can also find that info at foundationsoftruth.net. Until Monday, may God's word remain the firm foundation beneath your feet, your source of wisdom in a confused world, and your hope in every circumstance.

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Foundations of Truth with Dr. Timothy Mann is supported in part by Cat Care Clinic, located in Ormond Beach, and serving families with thoughtful and compassionate veterinary care for cats. We're grateful for their partnership in helping carry biblical truth farther.