Keep it straight

Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Ephesians 5:24 (NKJV)

Before we leave this point of wives submitting to their husbands, there's something else we need to address lest there be any confusion going forward.

We live in a fallen world, a world that doesn't function the way our Father originally intended, a world that is suffering the scourge of sin, a world where the principle of submission has been twisted and pulled in a direction God never intended. This happens when people take this passage and try to apply it to non-marital relationships.

Don't miss what the Word actually says. "So let the wives be [subject] to their own husbands." This poignant picture of our trust in Christ, this precious gift of submission, is to be expressed and exchanged within the context of marriage and not outside of it.

Obviously, there will be situations where it's necessary for a wife to submit to people other than her husband: to an employer (Colossians 3:22), to civil authorities (1 Peter 2:13), and to spiritual leadership (Hebrews 13:17). But these God-ordained relationships aren't going against the principle that Paul puts forth here.

The point here is that a woman isn't called to submit herself to the whims of any man simply because he's a man and she's a woman. That's not true biblical submission. In order for submission to retain it's true power and beauty, in order for it to remain a reflection of our relationship with Jesus, its proper place needs to be kept straight. It needs to be recognized as something specifically and uniquely reserved for those who have entered into the sacred bond of marriage.

Then, and only then, will submission assume its proper place in our minds. And when it possesses its proper place in our minds, it will then occupy its proper place in our marriages.

Think about it…

What does this passage reveal to me about God? 
What does this passage reveal to me about myself? 
Based on this, what changes do I need to make? 
What is my prayer for today?

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