Day 576: Honouring God - Ephesians 5 vs 21 - 24

21-22 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23-24 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Saviour. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Ephesians 5:22-24 (English Standard Version)

Paul was writing to encourage those in Ephesus who had become Christians to live their lives in accordance with God's will. And he said that part of God's will was that they should be willing to “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” This attitude was to be true of all believers. In another letter he wrote he said: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. But, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” (Philippians 2:3-4) So when Paul tells wives to 'submit to husbands' he isn't signalling them out, or implying that they are inferior. He was talking about God's will, the pattern God gave to mankind from the beginning. So what does he say such submission to a husband actually reflects? (vs 21-22)

It shows their reverence for Christ! Submitting to the headship of the husband in the home shows their willingness to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in their life. They want to walk in God's will, not the world’s ways. I suspect this has become an even bigger issue in our generation than in Paul’s days. Feminism and the 'emancipation of women' are big issues. As a male I can understand that, because I know women have had to endure much ever since Eve was deceived. But the harshness and cruelty many have suffered was because of sin, not because of the pattern God originally gave. What does Paul give as a motive for wives in this matter? (vs 23-24)

He says that the relationship in the home can reflect the relationship between Christ Jesus and the church. By 'church', Paul was referring to the body of people who Christ saved. That may sound odd because the husband doesn't 'save' the wife. But in the next section when Paul speaks to husbands, he urges them to love their wives in a way that includes a deep desire for their spiritual well being. The same sort of desire Christ shows for the well being of His bride, the Church.

Some thoughts to keep in mind about this instruction. He was writing to Christian women. They are called to be different to the world. Secondly, his focus here is more on women with Christian husbands. But the apostle Peter also urged Christian women who were married to unbelieving husbands to show the same sort of submission in the home. He wrote: “Wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some don't obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your  respectful and pure conduct.” (1 Peter 3:1-2.)

Thirdly, when Paul says 'in everything' does it mean in every thing without exception? I suggest he is using the word in it's obvious general sense. A Christian woman would have to choose between obeying God and obeying man if her husband wanted her to do something wrong in God's sight. We read in the New Testament how “a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet.” (Acts 5:1-2) Both Ananias and his wife perished because they lied to the Holy Spirit. Perhaps that was an instance where the wife ought to have pointed out to her husband that what he wanted her to do was wrong.

Are wives given a difficult task here? Undoubtedly! Will some men misuse their headship? Sadly, yes. Does it mean we should disregard this part of the Bible and write Paul off as someone who looked down on women? Definitely not. Paul was simply teaching the pattern God gave in the Scriptures. And when wives choose to follow that pattern it's not because they are weak or foolish, it's because of their love and reverence for the Lord Jesus Christ. And God has promised that He will honour those who honour Him. (1 Samuel 2:30)