Obedience and Submission - Dele Matthews, One Jot One Tittle

Dele Matthews • July 18, 2019

Dele Matthews examines obedience and submission as aspects of growth into Christ’s character. He begins with the unequal conditions of human society and asks why New Testament instructions address people within relationships such as marriage, parenthood and service rather than simply removing those structures. His answer centers on the individual believer’s journey toward the fullness of Christ.

Reading from Ephesians 5 and 6, he emphasizes mutual submission, a husband’s love, children’s obedience, parental responsibility and servants’ conduct. The recurring appeal is not to let another person’s failings provoke actions that damage one’s own discipleship. A workplace illustration warns against spiteful retaliation when wages are delayed.

The speaker connects obedience with the expression of God’s glory in a believer’s life and distinguishes entering the kingdom’s maturity from merely expecting heaven after death. He explicitly says obedience does not mean carrying out a criminal instruction, using kidnapping as his example. The segment nevertheless makes broad claims about submission in difficult relationships and social inequality. Those claims should remain clearly attributed to the teaching and should not be edited into advice to tolerate abuse, abandon safety or surrender lawful protections.