On Family Fridays, I'm reading William Gouge's Building a Godly Home vol 1, A Holy Vision for Family Life.
Chapter 1, part 3: the Fear of God Moving Us to Do Service to Men
Gouge proceeds to show that the fear of God is what moves a good conscience to submit to other men. He uses examples of David, Joseph, and Christ in Scripture submitting to lawful authority out of reverence for the Lord.
If it's not fear of God moving us to submit to authority, then our submission will be forced and selfish or slavish instead of free, willing, and cheerful. This is because the fear of God makes care more for what God wants than for the impulses of our heart.
This means that those in authority have a duty to teach those under them first to fear the Lord, or else their submission will do them ill. And inferiors must pray that their superiors also will fear the Lord.
Chapter 1, part 4: Limiting All Duty to Man, within the compass of the fear of God
It also means that we must only submit to those commands that can be done in fear of the Lord (meaning that we must not submit if commanded to sin).
For superiors, it means that instead of indulging their inferiors' whims, they should give such commands as will lead those beneath them in the fear of the Lord. Both must be seeking to please God rather than men.
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