Hierarchy Among Friends

By Rev. David Petersen

If you ask Americans to give an example of a hierarchical relationship, most of them will say either master and slave or boss and employee. If you ask them if hierarchy is good and leads to intimacy and trust, most of them will say no. They will say that it is built upon power and is always subject to abuse. But if you ask Japanese the same questions, the answers are different. Most Japanese will give mother and child as the ready example of hierarchy. If you ask them to name a cool and distant relationship, or relationships that are most prone to abuse, they will say friends.

The typical American view is that intimacy can only come between equals when neither partner has power or owes the other anything. But the typical Japanese view is that if you are equal, then you do not know your place or duties and are competitors with one another. They see hierarchy as giving structure and security that creates an environment of trust and love. The Japanese view is not far from the Kingdom of God.

Consider the idea of mother and child as hierarchy. Hardly any relationship could have more unbalanced power. The child has no power, no say in decisions or plans. He is told when to go to bed, when to get up, what to eat, what to wear, and so forth. The mother addresses the child by his given name or even nicknames, but the child always uses a title for his mother. Her word is law. Yet the mother and child are completely intimate. They know what to expect from each other, what their roles are. Unless we are talking about very sick individuals, the child is not oppressed by the hierarchy. Instead, he is comforted by it.

The Scriptures clearly establish a hierarchy in creation. The Lord is the Ruler of the universe, and His Word is Law. Adam and Eve and their descendants were given dominion over the earth. Adam was placed over Eve. Eve was placed over her children. Yet this is not meant by God for oppression or power but for order. So also there is a kind of hierarchy even in the Godhead. For the three Persons of the Holy Trinity are not interchangeable, but are revealed to us as relating to one another. God the Father is not begotten or proceeding. God the Son is begotten of the Father from eternity but does not proceed. God the Spirit is not begotten but proceeds from the Father and the Son. Yet these three persons are equal in that they are all three divine, eternal, and omniscient. “In this Trinity none is before or after another; none is greater or less than another” (Athanasian Creed 24). Hierarchy in the Trinity does not mean subordination but reciprocity. There is but one God, not three gods in competition with one another. There is but one God yet He is three Persons who stand in relation to one another. Human relationships are designed by God to be reciprocal as well. Mothers and children are human, equal in dignity and rights. Mothers do not rule their children for the sake of power but in service and love, and mothers find their identity and purpose in that service. Children are not less than their mothers but they live and serve in a different role.

The hierarchical order of creation was not undone by the fall, but it was twisted and infected. Nor was it undone by the resurrection of Jesus Christ; it was restored. When St. Paul writes that there is neither male nor female in Christ, He does not mean that in heaven we will be sexless beings apart from the original order. He simply means that Christ is no respecter of persons, and there is no benefit or hindrance, no advantage or disadvantage in God’s eyes to being male or female, Jew or Gentile. (There is an advantage to being a Jew among men. What is it? Chiefly this: God gave His Word first to the Jews. See Romans 3.) The Holy Spirit glorifies the Son by giving away His Kingdom. He gives it to those who believe in Him, no matter how long or hard they have worked, whether they are good or bad. He gives away all that was and is His and all that for free. But that does not make us gods. He is still the Lord. We are still His subjects. The order of creation between God and humanity, between husbands and wives, between mothers and children still stands.

Lord Acton was correct when he spoke of power among fallen men: power tends to corrupt, and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely. But we can learn something from the Japanese and do well to consider the benefits of hierarchy. Even the most egalitarian of Americans would not call his mother by her first name. Most of us find that idea creepy. Yet we find no oppression in referring to our mothers exclusively by some version of Mother.

That being said, the Japanese don’t have a corner on intimacy. Radical egalitarianism—a long word meaning the idea that true intimacy can only exist between perfect equals—is an unhelpful extreme. But at the same time, it is possible for friends and peers to enjoy great intimacy and joy without competition or using one another. The typical American response given above isn’t all wrong; it just isn’t all the answer. All human relationships are subject to abuse. In any case, our Lord also embraces and sanctifies the typical American ideal when He says to the disciples: “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15 NKJ).

Thus with the Lord Jesus it is both: He is our Lord and Master, but He is also our Friend. In Him we really do have the best of both worlds.

Rev. David Petersen is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and is also on the Higher Things editorial board. His e-mail address is David.H.Petersen@att.net.

The Small Catechism deals with the order of creation in three places explicitly:

The Fourth Commandment

Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother.

What does this mean? We should fear and love God that we may not despise nor anger our parents and masters, but give them honor, serve, obey, and hold them in love and esteem.

The First Article

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

What does this mean? I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my limbs, my reason, and all my senses, and still preserves them; in addition thereto, clothing and shoes, meat and drink, house and homestead, wife and children, fields, cattle, and all my goods; that He provides me richly and daily with all that I need to support this body and life, protects me from all danger, and guards me and preserves me from all evil; and all this out of pure, fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me; for all which I owe it to Him to thank, praise, serve, and obey Him. This is most certainly true.

The Fourth Petition

Give us this day our daily bread.

What does this mean? God gives daily bread, even without our prayer, to all wicked men; but we pray in this petition that He would lead us to know it, and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.

What is meant by daily bread? Everything that belongs to the support and wants of the body, such as meat, drink, clothing, shoes, house, homestead, field, cattle, money, goods, a pious spouce, pious children, pious servants, pious and faithful magistrates, good government, good weather, peace, health, discipline, honor, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.