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If you have examined the contexts of these passages, you will have noticed that, in most (not all) instances, when both the one who is to lead and the one who is to submit/obey are addressed, it is the one who must submit who is addressed first. Some of the reasons for this may include:
1) The larger group is being addressed first. There seems to be a greater tendency for those in submission to be saved, more often than those in leadership positions. This may be partly due to the fact that there are more "servants" in the world, than leaders. But it is also true that God normally (not always) chooses the "weak" (in the world's perspective) to display his strength (1 Corinthians 1:18-31).
2) Those under submission have a strong tendency to use the leader's injustices and sins as an excuse for their own sins. Yet they need to obey God whether or not those over them ever do.
3) The change that occurs in the "servant's" life (when he begins to obey God) is one of the ways God uses him to change his "master's" life. Changes don't always happen, but when God does use a "servant" in this way, it will normally be his actions, rather than his words, that are the greatest influencing factor. (This is also mentioned in 1 Peter 3:1-6, in which a wife is told how to respond to an unsaved husband.)
Dennis Hinks © 1990, 1999
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