While I am still unable to say that I have any comprehension of the larger questions involved here, five hours of study on Saturday afternoon yielded the observation that, at least within the book of 1 Peter, the same word in Greek is used to describe:
- Our behavior toward the ordinances of man
1Pe 2:13 Submit yourselves 5293 to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake : whether it be to the king , as supreme;
- The behavior of servants to masters
1Pe 2:18 Servants, [be] subject 5293 to [your] masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle , but also to the froward.
- The behavior of wives to husbands
1Pe 3:1 Likewise, ye wives, [be] in subjection 5293 to your own husbands ; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;
- Again with wives and husbands
1Pe 3:5 For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection 5293 unto their own husbands:
- The behavior of angels, authorities and powers to Christ
1Pe 3:22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject 5293 unto him.
- The behavior of younger ones to elder ones, and
- The behavior of believers to other believers
1Pe 5:5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves 5293 unto the elder. Yea, all [of you] be subject 5293 one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
I'm not sure if this is perhaps why Peter became the first pope but I must at least state clearly, adjusting my previous speculation, according to the Bible's revelation of Peter's concept, all of these things were basically the same thing. And at least preliminarily, Paul's concept does not appear to be neatly divided into two or three categories that I had recently proposed.