Surrender vs. Submit

Hello friends. It’s been far too long since I’ve written. Life has been a little fuller than usual and I greatly appreciate your patience.

The hubby and I were talking one morning and he brilliantly brought up two words I would have typically used interchangeably: surrender and submit. However, instead of pointing out how similar they are, he did exactly the opposite. I love it when he provokes all kinds of wheel-turning in my head.

The more he shared and the more I thought on it and later studied it for myself, the more convinced I was, and am, that surrender and submit are indeed quite different. And the implications are pretty significant.

The word, surrender, in the Bible, is most often in the Old Testament in reference to wars or battles. In fact, it’s much like we would use the word today.

When one side has overpowered the other side, they have no choice but to surrender. When a criminal is caught by the authorities, he is left with no other option than to surrender. However, in both cases, should the people who surrendered see an opportunity to escape, they would take it in a heart beat.

Why? Because they were under duress. There was no willingness on their part. They didn’t surrender because they had choice, but because there was no other choice.

Let’s step out of the throes of battles and the lives of criminals for a moment and instead imagine ourselves in a place of worship. Think of songs you might sing like, “I Surrender All,” and other more modern songs that have phrases such as, “…to you my soul surrendered.”

While my intention here is not to degrade these beautiful songs, it is to challenge their theology, if at least a little.

Does the Bible tell us that God wants to have a relationship with us, such that we are surrendered to Him? And by “surrendered,” I mean the kind in battles, where there is no other choice?

What if, instead, God has in mind for our relationship to be one of submission to Him?

I know some of you may cringe at the word, “submission,” because of how it has been misinterpreted, misunderstood, incorrectly taught or incorrectly applied. Though it can be a touchy subject, I would encourage to you to keep an open mind as you continue reading.

Let’s look at an example in the life of Jesus as it pertains to submission and how that might impact our relationship with God.

Matthew 8:5-10

^“5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ⁶ “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

⁷ Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

⁸ The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.'”

The Centurion understood the power and authority of Jesus, partially because he, himself, was a man under authority. He *willfully* submitted to authority, while also having others willfully submit to him.

Willful submission might first happen as the result of a position your find yourself in, for example your role at work, but ideally, it also happens because you trust the person to whom you submit.

In Ephesians 5, we often focus on the “wives submit to your husbands,” portion of the passage, and neglect what it says just prior to that. “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Here we see the direct connection to submitting to God and how that connects to resisting the devil.

Surrender keeps us in a place of defeat, submission keeps us in a place of  victory.

When we are submitted to God, He empowers us to do His will.

We see example after example in Scripture of the relational concept of submission. In contrast to the notion of surrender, to submit, is to willfully put yourself under someone’s authority. We don’t do it because we have no other choice. We choose to do it because we respect and trust that person’s authority.

When you interview for a job, that position will likely require you to have a supervisor. If you accept the job, you choose to put yourself under that person’s authority.

So as we think about our relationship with God, does it make more sense to say, “God I willfully submit to You, because You are the Creator of the heavens and the earth, because you sent your Son to die for me, because you are worthy of my trust,” or does it make more sense to say, “God, I surrender to you because I am defeated and have no other choice.”?

I believe God has called us to a place of trust and submission, as opposed to a place of defeat and surrender, in our relationship with Him. Distinguishing between these two concepts challenges me to ask myself where I’m not fully submitted to God’s will for my life and in which areas I can trust Him more.

For further study, do a search in the Bible on “surrender” and “submit.” Look at the life of Abraham and how he submitted to God’s will (this might show up in a future post too).

I would love to hear your thoughts about surrender vs. submit. Please leave a comment.

In the meantime, let us go be radiant this week.