When you read in Scripture that church members must submit to their leaders (e.g., Heb. 13:17), do you cringe, imagining servile compliance to even unbiblical demands? When you hear Luke praising the Bereans for fact-checking Paul’s preaching (Acts 17:11), do you hear an endorsement for church members independently evaluating which parts of pastoral leadership they’ll respect?
Both those responses are wrong.
Yet Scripture does require us to be both submissive and thoughtful. These two principles are hard for us to harmonize; we mustn’t reject proper authority or abdicate our responsibility to be intelligent listeners. There must be another way.
The closing admonitions of the book of Hebrews call church members to submit to their leaders and practice discernment by refusing to be “led away by diverse and strange teachings” (Heb. 13:9). We must submit thoughtfully.
What Is Thoughtful Submission?
Thoughtful submission is the practice of respecting and obeying proper church authority while maintaining a biblically judicious walk with God.
God Requires Believers to Be Submissive
The author of Hebrews says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account” (13:17). We must trust them, listen to them, and heed their biblical instruction. In traditional vows for church membership, members promise to “submit to the government of the church,” and “to its admonition and discipline” in the sad event of personal backsliding.
Church leaders are overseers under Christ (Acts 20:28), tasked by him to use the keys of the kingdom to bind and loose on earth as he does in heaven through the preaching of the Word and the practice of church discipline (Matt. 16:19). This is a challenging command. Our leaders are ordinary and flawed people; they’re peers who wield Christ’s authority. Yet as we love and submit to them, we show our love for and submission to God (see 1 John 4:20).
But submission isn’t servility.
God Requires Believers to Be Discerning
The Reformation rejected the Roman Catholic notion of implicit faith, or an uninformed trust in church teaching. Seventeenth-century Reformed theologian Francis Turretin argued that Roman Catholic leaders sheltered the Bible that they might “the more easily . . . subject the people to them by a blind obedience.” But God calls faithful Christians to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18). This requires more than simply accepting what a church leader says.
Scripture requires us to be both submissive and thoughtful.
The “noble” Bereans exhibit this discernment. “They received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11). By refusing to be ruled by human opinions, they exemplify the calling of all believers to share in Christ’s priestly anointing, striving “with a free conscience against sin and the devil,” as one Reformation catechism puts it. The Bereans had no Bibles; they weren’t independent judges of apostolic preaching. Possessing a Bible, reading it, and deciding for yourself what it means isn’t Berean-like. Instead, we should examine Scripture collectively, as a “church, under the leadership of pastors and elders, in consultation with the Christian community past and present.”
Because of the importance of thoughtful submission, you should join a church that aligns with your biblical convictions. And if you later find that your core beliefs are mismatched with those of the leadership, it may be right to find a new church where you can submit with a clear conscience. God wants believers to graciously submit to their leaders as free people in Christ (1 Pet. 2:16).
How Can I Practice Thoughtful Submission?
Several Christian disciplines can help us as we strive to maintain the tension between submission and thoughtful Christian liberty.
1. Be ‘strengthened by grace’ (Heb. 13:9).
We must all grow in true Christian teaching lest we be “carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14). But we should use Scripture, and especially the preached Word, not as ammunition for disagreement but as a means of grace to strengthen our faith in Christ. Instead of looking for the preacher’s shortcomings (see Luke 11:54), we should listen like prospectors eagerly panning for gold, examining what we hear with Spirit-generated charity.
Growing in grace equips us to “go to [Jesus] outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured,” even in our commitment to submission (Heb. 13:13). We should pray for grace to “[submit] to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph. 5:21) and for leaders to “act honorably in all things” (Heb. 13:18).
2. Distinguish the issues.
Church members will struggle to “amen” the preaching and leadership of their overseers, but in different ways depending on the issue. For example, on some matters, you mustn’t agree to disagree. Paul justly confronted Peter when he denied the gospel (Gal. 2:11–14). As members of the priesthood of all believers, Christians must defend the truth against error.
But often leadership flaws are less critical. Apollos, for example, was a competent but imperfect preacher. So “when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:24–28). Good leaders will welcome such help.
Some of our struggles with leaders are even less substantial. Personality differences can complicate the process of leading and submitting. Let’s refuse to allow nonessential matters to fracture peace and give the Devil a foothold in church life.
3. Ask questions.
Sometimes in their struggle to submit to Jesus’s teachings, the disciples asked helpful questions (see Matt. 19:25). Sincere questions can produce greater clarity, either by sharpening the questioner’s mind or by strengthening the leader’s teaching.
Still, sometimes, even humbly asking thoughtful questions won’t satisfy your conscience. Even then, there ought to be a way to object appropriately. In just leadership structures, there’s a proper appeals process. Church leaders must be willing to either clarify or repent of their teachings—perhaps through the influence of other leaders to whom they’re accountable (see Acts 15:1–35). Asking important questions isn’t defiance; it’s essential for thoughtful submission.
4. Trust ‘the great shepherd of the sheep’ (Heb. 13:20).
God will “equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever” (Heb. 13:21). Do you accept Jesus’s promise that your thoughtful submission will bring “joy” to church leaders and great “advantage” to the flock (v. 17; cf. Phil. 2:29)? Do you believe that a “gentle and quiet,” submissive spirit, worked in you by God’s Spirit, “in God’s sight is very precious” (1 Pet. 3:4)?
Let’s refuse to allow nonessential matters to fracture peace and give the Devil a foothold in church life.
Jesus is leading his church in perfect wisdom according to a flawless plan. That plan includes faithful shepherding and the wise submission of God’s sheep.You must submit to your leaders on matters in which God has given them authority to decide: They can’t prescribe a diet for you (Mark 7:14–21). But they can discipline you for adultery (v. 21). But you shouldn’t submit thoughtlessly. That’s a delicate balance to maintain. But because doing so is God’s will, you can be sure that Jesus will help you and that the act of thoughtful submission will result in a closer walk with him.
The Gospel Coalition