Harink makes a vital point about the call to subordination in 1 Peter. The call to subordination does not, in any sense, describe God’s design for a normative social order. Rather it describes the mode of action that the messianic revolution inaugurated by Jesus ought to take in the midst of an unjust society. The unjust society itself is not endorsed in any way. Rather the act of loving “subordination” — self-giving love, service, grace — is the very act of revolution. Only this way is true transformation possible.
If there is a social order that 1 Peter does view is God’s normative desire, it is one of utter and complete mutuality, a distinctly reciprocal “subordination” in which all put the other before themselves.
Comments are closed.