Is it a moral virtue to be submissive? The question is too vague for me to demand a reasoned answer. It would depend on context, on who you are submitting to and what they are asking of you. But play along for a moment and answer from a gut level, do I feel that being submissive is a good thing?

I suspect that most readers of this article will approach this question from a Western worldview, with its values of freedom and individualism, and, if they are truthful, will answer No. Attitudes of submission are complicit with much of the injustice we see in the world. Dictatorial regimes, spousal abuse, and police brutality—all depend to a certain degree on the submissive attitudes of individuals.

And so we cultivate a healthy distrust of authority and set up democracies so that we can limit the exercise thereof. Our culture admires those who stand up for their rights, throw off oppression, and fight for what they believe in. In Western society, the rights of individual freedom are considered sacred and the basis of our collective success.

But what is the effect when this mentality carries over into the life of the church? Again, the answer depends on context. We could point to various positive and negative effects of individualism in church life, but as with all cultural norms and attitudes, we need to test its virtue by the witness of the Bible.

This test implies an attitude of submission to the Bible. If we call ourselves Christian and consider the Scriptures to be, as Jesus said, "these that testify about Me" (John 5:32), then we must acknowledge that Scripture has, to the extent that it reveals Jesus, a claim of authority in our lives. Claiming that "Jesus is Lord" (1 Cor. 12:3) is meaningless if I have no source outside myself to tell me who Jesus is and what it means to live as he would want me to.

Yet submitting to the authority of Jesus through Scripture is not as straightforward as one might think, because then we must answer the question of who decides what the Bible says. If you ask five interpreters to interpret a Bible passage, you may well get five different answers. The Bible gives us the answer to this problem, and the answer is (you guessed it), to submit.

First, we must submit to the Holy Spirit.

For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. (1 Cor. 2:11–14)

In other words, you can know everything there is to know about the Bible, but if you don’t have the Holy Spirit interpreting it for you, you won’t have learned anything about God. Because the Bible is the product of the Spirit’s inspiration (1 Cor. 2:13; 2 Tim. 3:16), if we don’t submit to the authority of the same Spirit, we will receive no spiritual understanding of the Scriptures, or anything else for that matter. Prayer and meditation are as essential to interpreting the Bible as study and exegesis.

Secondly, we need to submit to each other. "But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God" (2 Pet. 1:20, 21). "[B]e subject to one another in the fear of Christ" (Eph. 5:21).

Notice that the reason Peter gives for why we can’t interpret Scripture by ourselves: its source is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works through community (Acts 1:24–27, 2:1–4, 4:31, 13:2; 1 Cor. 12), and in a community of believers where each has equal access to the Spirit we need to submit to each other. Without the voice of the Spirit speaking through this community, we are in danger of mistaking our own voice for his.

I would like to suggest that there should be no room for the ideology of individualism in the life of the Church. Yet throughout the history of our church the voice of the Spirit has been drowned out too often in contentious business meetings, ham-handed administrative measures, proposals to disfellowship those who don’t believe exactly like me and mine, and criticism from pretentious intellectuals. And I must confess I’ve engaged in each of those behaviors. We want to debate and vote or withdraw and split—anything but submit.

But accepting Christ means accepting his body, the Church, and if we don’t realize that, Paul says we are in danger of judgment (1 Cor. 11:29–34). Our "fear of Christ" must translate into respect for the voice of the Holy Spirit in each of his temples if it is to make any difference in our lives. Yes, individuals should stand up for what they believe in, but we must also submit to others when they do the same.

So is it a moral virtue to be submissive? In the context of church life the answer is a definite Yes. Do I feel that being submissive is a good thing? Well, not always, but the Holy Spirit still has a few things to teach me, and the Church is a great classroom.

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