(Part 1 of 5)
⚓ Floatie: Scriptural Design and Mutual Honor
Genesis 1:26–27 (26)Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (27)So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.(ESV)
Authority and submission are not about control. Before Scripture ever speaks about authority or submission, it establishes something more foundational: image.
Men and women are created equal in value, equal in dignity, and equal in bearing God’s image. Any teaching that begins with hierarchy before image has already departed from biblical design.
Genesis 2:18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”(ESV)
Authority in Scripture is not introduced as dominance. Submission is not introduced as diminishment.
What is introduced early is order—not to elevate one, but to assign responsibility. The fall does not create authority. It corrupts it. It does not introduce submission. It distorts it.
Genesis 3:16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”(ESV)
From the beginning, Scripture distinguishes between design and dysfunction. This series exists to help you tell the difference.
✒️ Forge: Authority and Submission as Posture, Not Role
Mark 10:42–45 (42)And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. (43)But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, (44)and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. (45)For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”(ESV)
Most confusion around gender and authority comes from treating authority and submission as positions instead of postures.
Biblically speaking:
- Authority is responsibility carried under God.
- Submission is alignment chosen before God.
Neither is defined by power. Neither is validated by control. Neither exists for self-protection.
Authority always answers upward. Submission always acts voluntarily.
Ephesians 5:21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.(ESV)
This is why Scripture consistently measures both by cost, not outcome. When authority seeks advantage, it has already failed. When submission erases the self, it has already been corrupted.
This is also why authority and submission apply everywhere:
- single life
- marriage
- church
- work
- friendship
- leadership with or without title
They are not situational tools. They are expressions of the inner life. Scripture doesn’t leave this posture as theoretical.
Philippians 2:5–8 (5)Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, (6)who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, (7)but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (8)And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.(ESV)
⚒️ Anvil: The Mirror Rule
Matthew 7:3–5 (3)Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? (4)Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? (5)You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.(ESV)
This series will only work if it becomes a mirror.
If, as you read, your first instinct is to identify:
- a spouse
- a parent
- a leader
- a pastor
- a friend
- an ex
…you are using insight as insulation.
That instinct is common. It is also a delay tactic.
Every section that follows is written for self-examination, not diagnosis. If you leave this series with greater clarity about others and less clarity about yourself, you will gain information without transformation.
Pause here before continuing. This is not a series about what is wrong with them. It is about what is being formed in you.
1 Corinthians 11:28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.(ESV)
Philippians 2:12-13 (12)Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, (13)for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.(ESV)
🔥 Ember: Where Posture Is Formed and Where It Is Revealed
Luke 16:10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.(ESV)
Authority and submission are not learned under pressure first. They are learned under freedom.
This is why singleness matters—not as a lesser stage, but as a formative one. In seasons with fewer constraints and fewer witnesses, posture takes shape quietly.
Marriage does not invent authority or submission. It reveals them.
Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.(ESV)
What feels optional in singleness becomes unavoidable in covenant. This is also why these patterns are genderless. Scripture does not assign distortion to masculinity or femininity. It exposes untrained posture wherever it exists.
Two people do not enter marriage with complementary strengths. They enter with practiced habits.
If those habits are counterfeit, collision is inevitable.
Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.(ESV)
🌿 Covenant Triumph: Mutual Honor Restores Design
Romans 12:10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.(ESV)
Authority and submission only function as designed when they are fueled by honor.
1 Peter 5:5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”(ESV)
Honor prevents authority from becoming domination.
Honor prevents submission from becoming erasure.
Honor does not remove distinction.
It redeems it.
The goal of biblical authority is not control, but care. The goal of biblical submission is not silence, but unity.
This series won’t ask you to fix anyone else’s posture. It will call you to examine your own.
Because Scripture does not transform relationships by assigning blame. It transforms them by reshaping hearts.
Colossians 3:12–15 (12)Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, (13)bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. (14)And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. (15)And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.(ESV)
Looking Ahead
The next messages will begin identifying healthy and unhealthy authority and submission on sight—not so you can label others, but so you can recognize what you are practicing when no one is forcing you to choose differently.
If this message unsettled you, that is not a problem. It is an invitation.
[⚓ Floatie] [✒️ Forge] [⚒️ Anvil] [🔥 Ember] [🌿 Covenant Triumph]
This post follows the Forge Baseline Rule—layered truth for the discerning remnant.
Walking With Christ 
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