Kristen

I find 1 Peter 5:5 to be compelling. Peter has spent most of his letter telling Christians in a pagan culture how to get along in that culture, including submission to the authorities which are in place in that culture (acknowledging the existence of an authority is not the same thing as setting up an authority or even endorsing the authority as having a God-given right to rule. It is simply acknowledging the existence of an authority.) Peter then goes on to inter-church relations– and just as we see in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (focusing on inter-church relations), we see that “one another” language.
Here’s a link to 1 Peter 5:5 in an online interlinear:
http://scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/NTpdf/1pe5.pdf
The meaning from the interlinear appears to be “All of you, submit to one another in humility like a slave’s apron.”
The use of “all of you” negates the possibility of arguing here that Peter simply meant “some (those under authority) to others (those in authority).” He just finished giving specific instructions to elders (as those in authority), and then to youths (as those under authority)– and then he goes on to say, “all of you, submit to one another in humility.” Meaning both the elders and the youths– in fact, the whole church– is to submit to one another. And what does the submission look like? It looks like “humility like a slave’s apron.”
To address what Mark said in his post #614 in the earlier thread– This does not mean that the elders were supposed to treat the youths as if the youths were in authority over them. Submission is not some sort of blanket application that looks the same in every case. People are individuals, and submission is a heart of service and yielding to the real needs of another.
I work in the nursery at my church, and I can honestly say that a large part of what I do involves this sort of submission to the babies. I don’t force them to do what I want, I look at their needs and what they want to do. If the baby suddenly loses in the book we’re “reading,” I lay the book aside. I let the baby take the lead. If the baby shows interest in a toy, I help the baby reach the toy. Even though I am in authority over the baby, and will exercise that authority when necessary (such as when the baby hits another baby), my submission to the baby is NOT about authority. It’s something else entirely. It has nothing to do with who is in authority. It has to do with the baby having needs for human interaction on its own terms, and my ability to meet it according to those terms, where it is incapable of meeting me.
This is clearly not the same sort of submission that two adults would use towards one another. But it’s submission, nevertheless.
The Bible speaks frequently of submission as submission to authority– but not always. The “one another” verses cannot, by their very nature, imply authority.
This question of what “submission” means is, then, tangential to the question of whether the husband’s authority over the wife as seen in the Bible is just an acknowledged part of the (fallen) culture, or is part of God’s original design and His plan for Kingdom relationships. I have seen no evidence in the Scriptures to the latter.