Yes, Paul Really Taught Mutual Submission

In Ephesians 5:21, Paul instructs Christians to “submit to at least one one other.” These words have traditionally been understood to require mutual submission, even amongst members of the family. The reformer John Calvin, for instance, acknowledged that the notion of a father submitting to his child or a husband submitting to his wife might sound “strange at first glance,” but he never questioned that such submission is indeed what Paul prescribes.

In newer years, nevertheless, this reading of Ephesians 5:21 has been called into query—sarcastically, within the name of theological conservatism. Many evangelical scholars now assert that the submission on this verse will not be mutual submission (everyone submits to everyone) but one-directional submission to those in authority (some undergo others). The most outspoken proponent of this view is Wayne Grudem, a distinguished theologian who helped establish the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.

Grudem, who recently announced his retirement from teaching, has argued for greater than three a long time that Ephesians 5:21 may very well be paraphrased as follows: “Those who’re under authority needs to be subject to others amongst you who’ve authority over them.” On Grudem’s reading, this verse requires a wife to undergo her husband, however it doesn’t in any sense require a husband to undergo his wife.

In defense of this interpretation, Grudem appeals to the meaning of hypotassō, the Greek verb translated “to submit” or “to be subject.” Grudem claims that this verb “at all times means to be subject to another person’s authority, in all Greek literature, Christian and non-Christian.”

“In every example we are able to find,” Grudem contends, “when person A is alleged to ‘be subject to’ person B, person B has a novel authority which person A doesn’t have. In other words, hypotassō at all times implies a one-directional submission to someone in authority.”

The problem with this argument is that the claims about hypotassō are simply not true. Consider the next eight ancient passages containing the verb hypotassō. Each decisively refutes Grudem’s claim that hypotassō “at all times implies one-direction submission to someone in authority.” In several, hypotassō is used to explain submission that’s explicitly mutual, not one-directional. And in all eight passages, hypotassō is used to explain submission to individuals who should not in positions of authority. (All translations are my very own. An prolonged discussion of those and other relevant texts will appear in my forthcoming article within the Lexington Theological Quarterly.)

1. The seventh-century monk Antiochus of Palestine gives the next advice to the one searching for humility: “Let him undergo his neighbor, and let him be a slave to him, remembering the Lord, who didn’t disdain to clean the feet of his disciples” (Pandectes 70.75–77).
2. The fourth-century bishop Gregory of Nyssa explains that each member of a monastic community should consider himself “a slave of Christ who has been purchased for the common need of the brothers” and will thus “undergo all” (De instituto Christiano 8.1:67.13–68.12).
3. In a private letter, the fourth-century bishop Basil of Caesarea speaks of 1 “who in accordance with love submits to his neighbor” (Letters 65.1.10–11).
4. In a treatise regulating life in a monastic community, Basil cites Paul’s exhortation in 1 Corinthians 10:24: “Let nobody seek his own good, but the nice of the opposite.” Basil thus concludes that it’s vital “to submit either to God in accordance with his commandment or to others due to his commandment” (Patrologia Graeca 31:1081.30–38).
5. In a treatise attributed to Basil, the creator describes members of a monastic community as each “slaves of each other” and “masters of each other.” This “slavery to at least one one other” will not be caused by coercion, but is fairly done willingly, with “love submitting the free to at least one one other” (Patrologia Graeca 31:1384.7–14).
6. In a sermon addressing sexual promiscuity, the fourth-century archbishop John Chrysostom states that “the bridegroom and the bride” who haven’t had prior experience with other sexual partners “will submit to at least one one other” in marriage (Patrologia Graeca 62:426.33–35).
7. In an exhortation to mutual submission, Chrysostom considers how one should treat a fellow Christian who has no intention of reciprocating: “But he doesn’t intend to undergo you? Nevertheless, you submit; not merely obey, but submit. Entertain this sense towards all, as if all were your masters” (Patrologia Graeca 62:134.56–59).
8. In a treatise attributed to the fourth-century monk Macarius of Egypt, the creator exhorts members of a monastic community to stay “on this good and edifying slavery” and to render “all submission to every one.” The creator envisions “all of the brothers submitting to at least one one other with all joy,” and exhorts them “as imitators of Christ” to embrace “submission and nice slavery for the refreshment of each other” (Great Letter 257.22–261.1).

Grudem’s interpretation of Ephesians 5:21 is thus founded upon a misunderstanding of the Greek verb hypotassō. As illustrated by the passages cited above, this verb will not be only used to explain submission to people in positions of authority; it is usually used to explain submission to neighbors, to brothers, and to wives.

Moreover, using Thesaurus Linguae Graecae—an enormous digital library containing essentially all the extant Greek literature from the traditional world—I actually have examined every citation and allusion to Ephesians 5:21 prior to A.D. 500. I find no evidence that the Greek-speaking church was even aware of the some-to-others interpretation defended by Grudem. Paul’s words in Ephesians 5:21 are uniformly understood by the traditional Christians to require submission to everyone locally, no matter rank, and are thus routinely related to passages reminiscent of Mark 10:44 (“be a slave of all”) and Galatians 5:13 (“be slaves to at least one one other”).

For example, immediately after quoting Ephesiasn 5:21, Chrysostom gives the next exhortation to mutual submission: “Let there be an interchange of slavery and submission. For thus there will probably be no slavery. Let not one sit down within the rank of free, and the opposite within the rank of slave; fairly it is healthier that each masters and slaves be slaves to at least one one other” (Patrologia Graeca 62:134.28–32).

Notice that in expounding Ephesians 5:21, Chrysostom uses the language of Galatians 5:13: “be slaves to at least one one other.” While these two verses are routinely associated within the Greek patristic literature, Paul’s English readers often miss the connection. English Bibles typically render Galatians 5:13 as “serve each other,” but Paul’s language is stronger than this translation suggests. The Greek noun for “slave” is doulos, and the verb utilized in Galatians 5:13 is the cognate douleuō, which implies “to be a slave.”

The verbs douleuō and hypotassō are thus quite similar and are sometimes used together as near synonyms. Consider the next 4 passages during which the verb hypotassō is paired with the verb douleuō.

1. The second-century Roman creator Plutarch cites Plato’s advice not “to submit and be a slave” to passion (Moralia 1002E).
2. The Roman philosopher Epictetus, a younger contemporary of Paul, excoriates the one who fails to realize the Stoic ideal: “You are a slave, you might be a subject” (Discourses4.4.33).
3. The Shepherd of Hermas, a second-century Christian text, describes what is going to occur “if you happen to are a slave to the nice desire and undergo it” (45.5).
4. In the primary of the eight passages cited above, Antiochus writes, “Let him undergo his neighbor, and let him be a slave to him.”

In his arguments against mutual submission, Grudem has ignored the similarity between these two verbs. He appropriately observes that hypotassō implies a hierarchy during which one person is ordered below one other person. Since two people cannot concurrently be beneath one another, Grudem and other critics of mutual submission dismiss the concept as self-contradictory.

However, these scholars fail to look at that the verb douleuō in Galatians 5:13 also implies a hierarchy during which one person is ordered below one other person. Nevertheless, as all commentators acknowledge, Paul is clearly using the verb douleuō in Galatians 5:13 to explain motion that’s mutual, not one-directional. Thus, while Paul’s language of mutual submission in Ephesians 5:21 is indeed (deliberately) self-contradictory, it isn’t any more self-contradictory than his language of mutual slavery in Galatians 5:13.

The ancient church uniformly understood Ephesians 5:21 to require mutual submission, and the fashionable rejection of this interpretation amongst some evangelicals is rooted in spurious claims concerning the Greek verb hypotassō. Jesus took “the shape of a slave” (Phil. 2:7), and all who follow him, each female and male, are called to embrace submission too.

Murray Vasser is assistant professor of New Testament at Wesley Biblical Seminary. This article summarizes academic research that was presented on the 2023 meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature and is forthcoming in Lexington Theological Quarterly.