From the sermon preached on May 10, 2026
Humility and Biblical submission are among the most misunderstood ideas in Christian life, but they are not about losing yourself. They are about finding the right posture before God and the people you love. Submission, when rightly understood, is a posture of trust: trusting that God’s authority over your life is not control but care. This post unpacks the three-part framework that Pastors Rich and Tina Romero brought to Generation Church on Mother’s Day weekend: submit to God first, submit to your spouse, and submit to parents and spiritual authority.
What Does Submitting to One Another Begin With?
Every conversation about submitting to one another eventually runs into a wall, and that wall is pride. Before any horizontal relationship can function in Biblical submission, something has to happen vertically first. Submitting to one another in Scripture always starts with surrendering to God, and that order is not negotiable.
1 Peter 5:5-7 lays the foundation plainly: “Clothe yourselves with humility towards one another because God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” Peter’s imagery is striking: humility is not a feeling; it is something you put on daily, like clothing. You choose it. You wear it.
Pastor Rich Romero noted that submitting to one another and to God is not a one-time prayer. New problems arrive constantly, and with each one comes the same choice: stay in control, or yield. James 4:7 connects this directly: “Submit yourselves then to God… resist the devil and he will flee from you.” The sequence matters. You cannot resist the enemy while resisting God. If submission hasn’t happened at the throne level, it cannot hold at the relational level.
One honest action step: Before you try to fix or control a situation this week, write down the thing you are holding tightest and set it down in prayer. Surrendering to God begins with one released grip.
Is a Christ-Centered Marriage About Control or Sacrifice?
The word submission has been weaponized in enough households that many people flinch when they hear it. Pastors Rich and Tina Romero named that directly. A Christ-centered marriage is not one where one voice disappears; it is one where both spouses are kneeling before the same Lord.
Ephesians 5:21-25 is the text at the center of this conversation: “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ… Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Paul does not give husbands a crown; he gives them a cross. The calling is not to rule like a dictator but to die like Jesus. In a Christ-centered marriage, the husband’s authority is not asserted; it is sacrificed. He goes first into the hard place so his family can cross over.
Pastor Rich described mutual submission using the language of “Team Romero”: two spouses processing, praying, and moving forward in unity even when they don’t feel the same enthusiasm about a direction. He and Pastor Tina shared a real-life example from their own family. When facing a difficult decision about one of their children, they fasted together for three days, wrote down their individual desires, laid both before God, and prayed for softened hearts. God’s plan turned out to be better than either of theirs. That is what submitting to one another in a Christ-centered marriage looks like in practice: not dominance, but dominion; not silence, but shared surrender.
The goal of marriage, Pastor Rich said, is not happiness. It is Christ-likeness. When both spouses pursue Christ, joy and peace follow as fruit.
One honest action step: If you and your spouse are facing tension right now, try writing down what each of you wants and then praying together: “Lord, we want what you want.”
Why Is Surrendering to God the Key to Every Relationship?
The thread that runs through every form of submission in Scripture (toward God, toward a spouse, toward parents, toward spiritual authority) is the same: surrendering to God is what makes all the others possible. You cannot clothe yourself in humility toward people if you have not first knelt before the Lord.
Surrendering to God is not the same as serving God. Pastor Tina Romero drew out this distinction carefully: serving is giving and doing; surrendering is yielding. It is the difference between staying busy for God and actually letting God lead. Jezebel in Scripture is the cautionary picture. She appeared to be serving her husband, King Ahab, stepping in when he wouldn’t act. But her heart was unsubmitted to God, and her servanthood became the mechanism of an entire kingdom’s downfall.
Surrendering to God means obeying even when it is inconvenient, trusting when you do not understand, letting God correct you, and releasing the pride that says “I can figure this out on my own.” William Booth, one of history’s great revivalists, put it simply: “The greatness of a man’s power is in the measure of his surrender.” That is the Biblical logic of humility. Surrendering to God does not diminish you; it places you under the hand that lifts.
This same posture applies to honoring parents and spiritual authority. Pastor Rich named it directly: a rebellious spirit struggles to receive direction from anyone, including God. Humility before human authority is training ground for surrendering to God completely.
One honest action step: Identify one area of your life where you have been serving but not truly surrendering. Name it, and bring it to God in honest prayer this week.
What Does 1 Peter 5 Teach About Humility and Submission?
The full Bible verse 1 Peter 5:5-7 does not make submission sound optional. It frames it as the posture that unlocks God’s favor, his lifting hand, and even the release of anxiety. The table below captures what biblical submission is and what it is not.
World’s Picture of Submission | God’s Picture (1 Peter 5) |
Silence and loss of voice | Clothed in humility, valued by God |
Control and domination | Mutual honor and shared surrender |
Weakness and inferiority | Power through yielding to God’s hand |
One person diminished | Two people kneeling before the same Lord |
Faith That Takes Root in Coral Gables and All of Miami
Generation Church is a community rooted in Coral Gables and reaching across Miami-Dade County, serving families from South Kendall to Brickell and beyond. The message of humility and Biblical submission is not abstract theology here; it lands in real households, real marriages, and real family decisions across this multicultural city. Whether you grew up in Little Havana or found faith for the first time in Coconut Grove, the invitation is the same: come as you are and learn what it means to yield to the God who cares for you. Generation Church holds Sunday services at 9:30 AM and 11:15 AM at 5801 Augusto Street in Coral Gables, and streams on-demand every Monday at 7 AM at mygenerationcc.online.church for families across Greater Miami.
Submission Is Not the End of Yourself
Humility and Biblical submission are not the erasure of who you are; they are the reordering of who is in charge. Every relationship in your life (from your marriage to your household to your walk with God) becomes more whole when you stop being the king and start serving the King.
Pastor Rich said it plainly: “Biblical submission is not someone standing over you. It’s two people kneeling before God together.” That picture is worth holding onto. Submission does not diminish you; it positions you under the hand that lifts.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean to submit to one another?
Submitting to one another, as described in Ephesians 5:21 and 1 Peter 5:5, means approaching every relationship with a posture of humility rooted in reverence for Christ. It is not about one person losing their voice while another gains power. It is a mutual orientation where both people yield their pride and seek God’s will together.
What is mutual submission in Christian marriage?
Mutual submission in Christian marriage means that both husband and wife orient their hearts toward God first, and from that posture, serve and honor one another. In Ephesians 5, Paul calls husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church — sacrificially — and wives to respond with trust and honor. It is two people moving as one team, neither dragging the other, both submitted to the same Lord.
What does Biblical submission mean in marriage?
Biblical submission in marriage is not silence, domination, or loss of identity. According to Ephesians 5 and 1 Peter 5, it is a Spirit-produced posture of mutual humility and honor. The husband exercises dominion (stewardship and sacrificial love), not domination (control and coercion). The wife responds with trust, and both are submitted to Christ as the true head of the home.
Does submitting to God mean I have no say in my own life?
Surrendering to God is not the same as becoming passive. Pastor Tina Romero described the difference between serving and surrendering: serving is giving and doing, while surrendering is yielding and allowing God to lead. You still bring your desires, your wisdom, and your voice, but you hold them open-handed before God, trusting that His plan is better than yours.
How do I start practicing humility in my daily relationships?
Start by identifying one relationship where pride is creating friction and choose one concrete act of honor this week. Pastor Tina Romero recommended reading one Proverb daily (there are 31, one for each day of the month) as a simple practice that builds teachability over time. Humility is not a feeling you wait for; it is a posture you choose to wear, just as 1 Peter 5:5 says: “Clothe yourselves with humility.”
