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Submission is taught in Ephesians chapter 5. Its also taught in Colossians 3:18, Titus 2:5, and 1 Peter 3:1-6. Its quite clear that submission is a very important issue when thinking about marriage, it is based on headship. The principle of headship has been around even from before sin entered the world – when Adam and Eve were created. Check out Genesis chapter 2:18-20. God has ordained an order for the church and the home in which male and female are to reflect His image (Gen. 1:28). Part of the image of God involves the voluntary submission of the Son to the Father. Though equal in His deity, the Son yields Himself to the Father’s plan. As Jesus explained, “I can do nothing on My own initiative…. I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 5:30). Jesus submitted even to the cross. Thus God’s plan is that in the home (and also in the church), women, who are equal with men before God, are willingly to submit themselves to male leadership for the carrying out of the divine plan. The main reason a wife should submit to her husband’s leadership in the home is to please and obey God. If you challenge or undermine your husband’s leadership, you are resisting the lordship of Christ in your life according to verse 22. The submission of wives to their husbands is because the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. We should submit to our husbands (or future ones) because it is the model of the submission of the Church to Christ.
Christian marriages should be radically different from worldly marriages. In a Christian marriage, rather than competing with the husband or trying to manipulate him to get her way, the wife willingly submits to him, seeking to build him in the Lord and to do all she can to please him. The husband-rather than bullying his wife or, as often happens, passively letting her have her way so that he can buy himself some peace-the Christian husband provides loving leadership, sacrificially giving himself to build and nurture his wife in the Lord.
The characteristics of submission I actually found surprising. I’m not sure about you but when I thought of submission I kinda just paired it with going along with the status quo but its really not like that. When I looked into it, I discovered that submission was actually more about taking on the mindset of a servant and looking out for one another – so in one sense, all us Christians should submit to one another. Submission really does not mean that there is no authority in the church / home and it doesn’t mean that we should be a doormat and compromise on matters of truth or biblical principle. The submission talked about in Ephesians 5 is not a one-sided subjection of a believer to a selfish, domineering person. Biblical submission is designed to be between two Spirit-filled believers who are mutually yielded to each other and to God. Submission is a two-way street. Submission is a position of honor and completeness. When a wife is loved as the church is loved by Christ, submission is not difficult. Ephesians 5:24 says, “Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” This verse is saying that the wife is to submit to her husband in everything that is right and lawful. Therefore, the wife is under no obligation to disobey the law or God in the name of submission. What submission does mean though is adopting a servant life style and attitude, (best example ever for that is John 13, mainly the first bit) being at rest (like trusting God to meet your needs) and growing in godly character qualities – we should be growing in humility, gentleness, patience, forebearance and love.
Matthew Henry wrote: “The woman was made out of Adam’s side. She was not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be loved.”
Remember that everyone is to submit to God. As your husband leads your home, it is God to whom he is ultimately responsible. He will have to give an account some day, just as you will have to account for your submission. It is quite liberating to know that God will hold your husband accountable for his decisions, not you. If you are arguing with him over decisions for your family, your root problem is failure to trust God. I would recommend that you do a study of the power and character of God in order to increase your faith in Him.
Christian marriages should be radically different from worldly marriages. In a Christian marriage, rather than competing with the husband or trying to manipulate him to get her way, the wife willingly submits to him, seeking to build him in the Lord and to do all she can to please him. The husband-rather than bullying his wife or, as often happens, passively letting her have her way so that he can buy himself some peace-the Christian husband provides loving leadership, sacrificially giving himself to build and nurture his wife in the Lord.
The characteristics of submission I actually found surprising. I’m not sure about you but when I thought of submission I kinda just paired it with going along with the status quo but its really not like that. When I looked into it, I discovered that submission was actually more about taking on the mindset of a servant and looking out for one another – so in one sense, all us Christians should submit to one another. Submission really does not mean that there is no authority in the church / home and it doesn’t mean that we should be a doormat and compromise on matters of truth or biblical principle. The submission talked about in Ephesians 5 is not a one-sided subjection of a believer to a selfish, domineering person. Biblical submission is designed to be between two Spirit-filled believers who are mutually yielded to each other and to God. Submission is a two-way street. Submission is a position of honor and completeness. When a wife is loved as the church is loved by Christ, submission is not difficult. Ephesians 5:24 says, “Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” This verse is saying that the wife is to submit to her husband in everything that is right and lawful. Therefore, the wife is under no obligation to disobey the law or God in the name of submission. What submission does mean though is adopting a servant life style and attitude, (best example ever for that is John 13, mainly the first bit) being at rest (like trusting God to meet your needs) and growing in godly character qualities – we should be growing in humility, gentleness, patience, forebearance and love.
Matthew Henry wrote: “The woman was made out of Adam’s side. She was not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be loved.”
Remember that everyone is to submit to God. As your husband leads your home, it is God to whom he is ultimately responsible. He will have to give an account some day, just as you will have to account for your submission. It is quite liberating to know that God will hold your husband accountable for his decisions, not you. If you are arguing with him over decisions for your family, your root problem is failure to trust God. I would recommend that you do a study of the power and character of God in order to increase your faith in Him.