The Scriptures tell us that God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34-35). However, it’s good to remember, especially for Americans, that out of that teaching we can infer He’s also no respecter of nations or cultures. No nation has an inside track with God.

I was reminded of this as we continued our Ephesians study this week in Connections. In Ephesians 5:22 – 6:9 Paul admonishes his hearers to recognize and live under God-ordained authority in all spheres of life.

When we look at these passages as 21^st Century Americans, what immediately jumps off the page and sticks in our craw is the idea of submission.

The fact that not only are there God-ordained lines of authority to which I’m accountable, but that I might even be in a situation where I’m unhappy yet still be called to submit, goes against everything our individualistic culture teaches us. Got an unreasonable boss? Then treat him the way he treats you, looking for every opportunity to undermine him but most of all looking out for number one! It’s difficult to justify such an attitude when Paul has told even slaves to obey their masters, serve joyfully and work as unto the Lord. It’s that kind of thing that makes this passage so counter-cultural for us.

What about those in Paul’s day? Submission to authority was not such a foreign concept to people then. They lived in a society with distinct lines where everyone knew their place and those on the top of the heap had, in many cases, the power of life and death over those beneath them. Yet these verses were still counter-cultural.  In Paul’s day they were counter-cultural because they elevated women, children and slaves to an unheard of level. Paul is saying to the husbands, fathers and slave owners of the day “You don’t have the rights you think you have or that the culture tells you you have. Those over whom you have authority should be treated as Christian brothers and sisters. Not only that, but you are accountable before God for how you treat them.”

Two different societies yet in both, Christians are called to swim against the tide of culture. One by acknowledging God-ordained authority the other by exercising authority within God-ordained limits.

No matter what era or what location we live in, following Christ is counter-cultural. The minute we begin to think it’s not, we should rethink either the way we’re evaluating culture or the way we’re evaluating scripture, or both.

(For further reading on the counter-cultural nature of the gospel, regardless of where we live, see Kevin DeYoung’s article Blame It On Babylon ).