Paul Parallels Marriage with Christ and His Church:
Part 1 Exhortation to the Wives
Ephesians
5:22-24 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For
the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church:
and He is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the Church is subject unto
Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
KJVThroughout history and up to this present time this section of the Holy Scripture has caused many a Christian woman to draw back and it has fueled the animosity and ill will of unbelievers toward Christians and especially Christian men for centuries. Dare I say that these things taught by the Apostle here even was one of the sparks that birthed the women’s liberation movement, but ignorance of God’s meaning here does not make the ignorant correct morally, politically, or spiritually. Our Lord Jesus Christ came into a world as a Jew that demeaned, degraded, and despised women on many levels and brought women liberation in Him long before the modern women’s liberation movement in this country ever was even thought of. The animus and anxiety has been over these words spoken by the Apostle Paul of exhorting or even commanding women by saying, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:22). First, let us recall what Paul has just said in the previous verse of every person/Christian male and female submitting themselves to “one another” in the fear of God. As we declared in the last study, when Christian men and women have a proper reverential awe and fear of God the Father, then it will happen naturally from this attitude and inner disposition that each person will seek the good of their fellow brothers and sisters “in Christ” and not cause them harm or injury physically, morally, or spiritually. This is a natural out cropping of an inner desire to please God by pleasing those whom He loves.
Therefore, with this backdrop in our minds, let us examine what the Apostle means to convey to women here with his words in verse 22. First, the English phrase “submit yourselves” Paul uses here is translated by one Greek word hupotasso meaning to subordinate; reflexively to obey: - be under obedience (obedient), put under, subdue unto, (be, make) subject (to, unto), be (put) in subjection (to, under), submit self unto. In other words, it is the idea conveyed here of putting or arranging things in an orderly manner being disposed or assigned to a certain position not of inferiority but just as our Lord Jesus Himself did when He willingly submitted Himself to God the Father although He was and is equal to Him, but in order that the work of the redemption of man would be successful our Lord Jesus humbled Himself as Paul declared to the Philippian believers in Philippians 2:5-11. We all have seen horror movies with the two-headed monsters and this is the idea Paul is trying to relay here to Christian wives and that is that they are to not desire equality in headship (which will render the Christian home monstrous), but instead just as our Lord, Master, and Savior (being equal with God the Father), yet made Himself of no reputation and humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death on the Cross for His Church, likewise wives you should follow Christ example (being equal to your husbands before God the Father (Galatians 3:28)) and put yourselves under your husbands in rank, rule, and reign within your homes all in the Lord Jesus Christ as Paul declares to the Colossian believers this way, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.” (Colossians 3:18).
Paul is not asking any wife to submit to an ungodly husband that makes demands upon his wife outside of the Will of God found in the Word of God. The husband is not to be a dictator or tyrant ruling over his wife with fear and control, but as we will see in the next study to lead her with love for this is the Will of God. The Christian wives submission to their husbands is as they submit to our Lord Jesus Christ and His Word to be looking at their husbands as if they were looking at the visible manifestation of Christ Himself (not that the husband is Christ by no means), but the husband is to represent Christ to his wife just as our Lord Jesus represents Himself to His Bride (the Church) and this is exactly what Paul means when he says, “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church:” (Ephesians 5:23). It is the Will of God that the husband guide, guard, and govern his Christian wife according to the Word of God just as our Lord Jesus does with and for His Bride the Church. We see the written examples of Him doing just that with the letters written to the seven (7) Churches in Revelation Chapters 2 and 3.
The Christian husband is only placed in this position because it is the Order of God as the Apostle Paul declared with these words written to the believers in Corinth, “But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.” (1 Corinthians 11:3). Just as Christ puts Himself willingly under the Father’s Authority, so is the husband to willingly put himself under the authority of Christ and His Holy Word, when this is the reality, then the woman can lovingly submit to his headship in the home because he will render to her the desires coming directly from the Heart of Christ Jesus our Lord, which things will only and always be for her benefit and good physically, morally, and spiritually. Note: Old Francis Quarles, in his homely rhymes, alluding to the superstitious notion, that the crowing of a hen bodes ill luck to the family, has said: - “Ill thrives the hapless family that shows, A cock that’s silent, and a hen that crows: I know not which live most unnatural lives, Obeying husbands or commanding wives.” The order that God has arranged is the order that brings about the blessing from His Hand into the Christian home. The Church in Revelation Chapter’s 2 and 3 that did not submit to the Authority of Christ and His Word this is what He said to them, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place --- unless you repent.” (Revelation 2:5). Likewise, every Christian home that is operating with two heads has become a monstrosity and has voided the blessing of God the Father upon it and upon the children of that home.
My own Personal Note: “Just as Christ is the guide for His Bride (the Church) and He protects her with all of His Inherent Power and Might, so must every Christian husband be the spiritual, moral, and physical guide and protector of his wife from all intruders foreign and domestic, that is, from the threats and attacks from the devil and his demons, as well as, the threats and attacks from fellow Christians within the Church who desire to lead the husbands wife off on some tangent away from the Authority of Christ and His Word.”
“Such subordination implies no inferiority, rather the opposite. A free and sympathetic obedience -which is the true submission-can only subsist between equals. The Apostle writes: ‘Children, obey; Servants, obey’; (Ephesians 6:1, Ephesians 6:5) but ‘Wives submit yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord.’ The same word denotes submission within the Church, and within the house. It is here that Christianity, in contrast with Paganism, and notably with Mohammedanism, raises the weaker sex to honor. In soul and destiny, it declares the woman to be man, endowed with all rights and powers inherent in humanity. ‘In Christ Jesus there is no male and female,’ any more than there is "Jew and Greek’ or ‘bond and free.’ The same sentence which broke down the barriers of Jewish caste, and in course of time abolished slavery, condemned the odious assumptions of masculine pride. It is one of the glories of our faith that it has enfranchised our sisters, and raises them in spiritual calling to the full level of their brothers and husbands. Both sexes are children of God by the same birthright; both receive the same Holy Spirit, according to the prediction quoted by St. Peter on the day of Pentecost: ‘Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy Yea, on my servants and on my handmaidens in those days will I pour out my Spirit, saith the Lord’. (Acts 2:17-18) This one point of headship, of public authority and guidance, is reserved. It is the point on which Christ forbids emulation amongst His people.” Expositor’s Bible Commentary
If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...
Sincerely in Christ,
Clifford D. Tate, Sr.
Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…
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