Wives submit to husbands, as all Christians submit to Christ.
Ephesians 5:21-27 (NIV)
21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
Listen to passage & devotional:
Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 31: The Officers of the Church
We believe that
ministers of the Word of God, elders, and deacons
ought to be chosen to their offices
by a legitimate election of the church,
with prayer in the name of the Lord,
and in good order,
as the Word of God teaches.
So everyone must be careful
not to push one’s self forward improperly,
but all must wait until called by God,
so that they may be assured of their calling
and be certain and sure that it is
from the Lord.
As for the ministers of the Word,
they all have the same power and authority,
no matter where they may be,
since they are all servants of Jesus Christ,
the only universal bishop,
and the only head of the church.
Moreover,
to keep God’s holy order
from being violated or despised,
we say that everyone ought,
as much as possible,
to hold the ministers of the Word and elders of the church
in special esteem,
because of the work they do,
and be at peace with them,
without grumbling, quarreling, or fighting
Summary
Today's passage isn't popular in many corners of society today. The idea of women being subjugated to men seems cruel, old fashioned, and even barbaric to many. In their minds, the sort of submission Paul commands wives to give their husbands is the gateway for men to abuse women and be Biblically justified for doing so.
But of course that's not at all what Paul - nor the Holy Spirit who speaks through Paul - intends. One of the things we teach young couples in pre-marriage counseling is that God didn't create the institution of marriage just in order to provide the companionship that men & women were created for, but also to give us a picture of how Christ loves us (the Church is often referred to as the bride of Christ) and how we must submit to Him.
So wives are commanded to submit themselves to their own husbands not because they husbands are men, but because in doing so they are actually submitting themselves to the Lord. This means that wives are under no compulsion to submit themselves to anything that is sinful or ungodly, since one cannot submit to sin and the Lord simultaneously.
The tougher command in this passage is given to men, to love their wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her... How could any man ever hope to match such self-sacrificial love? In giving Himself up for His bride, Christ has presented us to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
Dig Deeper
Maybe you're wondering why it is we're focusing on God's design for how husbands and wives relate to one another in the midst of our broader discussion of church polity (governance) these past couple of weeks.
First of all, today's passage reminds us that polity isn't the dull, boring and sometimes seemingly irrelevant topic that so many Christians often think of it as. If the Church is the bride of Christ, then the process of governing the Church ought to reflect the same level of excitement, love and genuine care that one would expect to see in the most passionate of romances. If you're a minister, elder or deacon and you're not experiencing this as you oversee your little corner of the Church, make it a priority to figure out what's wrong and fix it!
Secondly, we're all called to submit ourselves to properly ordained leadership in the same way wives are commanded to submit themselves to godly husbands. As our Confession reminds us, hold the ministers of the Word and elders of the church in special esteem, because of the work they do, and be at peace with them, without grumbling, quarreling, or fighting.
As we've seen often these last couple of weeks, you are never commanded to blind obedience in any sphere of life - either in marriage or the Church. You must continually hold your spouse and church leaders accountable to scripture, and stand against anything unbiblical using the prescribed means. But also recognize, that even like the always imperfect love of the godliest husband, your imperfect church leaders strive to love you in the way that Christ loves us and to build you up in Him.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who dearly loves the bride of His perfect Son;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that the polity in your church will reflect the self sacrificial love and passion of our Savior;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: John 4
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