Paul continues to paint a picture of what life looks like between believers. We need to remember that none of this is possible without Jesus. We can only be “imitators of God” because of who He is and what He’s done (Eph 5:1). He’s the only One who makes it possible to “walk in love” just as He did (Eph 5:2). He’s the only One who makes it possible to “walk as children of light” (Eph 5:8). It’s only through the ongoing power of His gracious Gospel that we can know and experience relationships as they are truly meant to be.
We find ourselves in middle of Paul’s commands to Christ following wives. Married women are to willingly obey their husbands as act of worship to Jesus (Eph 5:22). That’s because her husband is ultimately accountable and responsible for the care and protection of his bride just as Christ is to His bride, the church. The apostle once again compares the husband and wife with Jesus and His church. “Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands” (v24). Uh oh. There’s that “S” word again. Submit. Here’s the literal translation of the verse: “But as the church submits to Christ, in the same way also the wife to the husband in all things.” But is this submission possible? Before everybody starts foaming at the mouth over Paul’s first century male chauvinism, let’s take a closer look at what’s going on here. Take a deep breath. Are we OK? All right. Stay with me.
Before we look at God’s command to married women, let’s drill down on the first half of this verse. “Now as the church submits to Christ” (v24). The word “church” is the Greek term ekkelsia. Before the followers of Jesus adopted this word as their own, it described an assembly, a meeting or any gathering of people called out from their homes. The noun literally means the “called out ones.” That being the case, it’s VERY easy to see how this came to mean a congregation of Jesus’ followers. We’re to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Eph 4:1). God has called us out.
As the “called out ones,” we’re to voluntarily cooperate with our Savior. This willing obedience to Jesus is seen in the verb hupotasso. It means to put under, arrange under, subordinate, be subject to the control of another, voluntarily giving in and cooperating or obey. This is actually a military term that describes the lining up of troops into formation under their commanding officer. The term literally means “to place” (-tasso) “under” (hupo-). It’s voluntarily giving up your will or rights in your relationships with others. Paul’s command to married women to submit must be seen through the lens of his earlier order to all believers: “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph 5:21). Before we get bent out of shape over a wife submitting to her husband, let’s remember that every last one of Jesus’ followers are to cooperate with one another. That includes husbands with their wives.
And we need to understand that the “S” word does NOT carry any sense of inferiority. The husband is not better than his wife. The wife is not some second class citizen in the marriage. Remember, Jesus willingly submits to His Dad even though He is just as much God as the other two members of the Trinity. If you have any doubts about Jesus and His mind blowing “Godness,” flip over to Col 1:15-22. Yeah, He’s God all right. More God than I can wrap my brain around. Yet Christ submitted Himself to the Father to personally go on the rescue mission that resulted in a bloody cross and an empty tomb. He willingly submitted Himself to live the perfect life that I completely failed to live. He willingly submitted Himself to die the brutal death for my sin that I should have died. He willingly rose to a spectacular new life that I absolutely do not deserve. So what do you think, does Jesus’ mission of submission make Him inferior? Naw. I didn’t think so either.
At this point, Paul inserts a hinge in the middle of the verse. “So also” (Gr. houtos). This little word means likewise, in the same way, in a similar way or in this manner. It’s used to compare one thing with another. It refers to whatever is before it and introduces whatever follows. The apostle wants us to see the relationship between how the church relates to Jesus and how the wife relates to her husband. Once again, God uses the model of Jesus and His bride the church as our example for human marriage. Not the other way around. Here Paul mentions the church and her willing submission to the Lord as an act of love and worship. Can we be honest? Is your church submitting to Christ? In everything? I didn’t think so. Before we move on to God’s command to the wife, let’s take a long hard look at each of our church’s obedience to her Husband. This is His church, not ours (Eph 1:22; 4:15; 5:23). He’s the true Senior Pastor and Chief Shepherd of our each of our congregations (1Pet 5:4). Whatever He tells us to do is for our good and His glory. The problem is that too often our human agendas take precedence over what Christ commands. Are we staying true to what Jesus tells His body to do? Are we making disciples (Mt 28:18-20)? Are we loving one another with sacrificial, “me third” love (Jn 13:34-35)? Are regularly celebrating the Lord’s Supper and remembering His work on the cross for our sin (1Cor 11:23-26)? Are we outposts of His kingdom? Are we waterfalls of His grace? Let’s make sure that our local churches are obeying Jesus. It is His church after all.
With that as our model for marriage, Paul writes, “So also wives should submit in everything to their husbands” (v24). It’s not an “if-the-husband-does-this-the-wife-does-that” command. The wife’s willing cooperation is not based on anything the husband does (or doesn’t do!). That’s because marriage is a covenant not a contract. It’s a no matter what pledge between a husband and wife. The apostle makes a nearly identical order in his letter to the Colossians. “Wives, submit (Gr. hupotasso) to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord” (Col 3:18). OK, maybe this is just the opinion of some unmarried missionary who really doesn’t understand how marriage really works. Let’s see what the Apostle Peter has to say about submission and cooperation in marriage. Pete’s a married man (Mt 8:14). Surely he knows better than the bachelor from Tarsus. Check out what he had to say in his first epistle. “Wives, be subject (Gr. hupotasso) to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the Word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct...For this is how the holy women who hoped in God adorn themselves, by submitting (Gr. hupotasso) to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord” (1Pet 3:1-2, 5-6). Oh well. God’s command is consistent throughout His Word on His view of marriage.
Married women are to lovingly submit themselves in obedience to their husbands. Why is this so stinkin’ hard to do? Well, it all goes back to the fall. I don’t mean last October. We’re talking THE Fall. I mean the greatest and most horrific disaster the world has ever known. That tragic day in Eden when the satanic snake duped Eve into disobeying God (Gen 3:1-7). Not only did she eat of the forbidden fruit but she gave it to her do-nothing husband who was standing right there. As a result, God told our first mom that her relationship with Adam would be corrupted forever. “You desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” (Gen 3:16). The best understanding of this verse is that Eve would now possess an innate desire to dominate and rule her hubby because of her sin. What God created as a relationship that moved in perfect rhythm with His shalom was forever warped and polluted. From that day forward, married women everywhere have the drive and desire to dominate their husbands.
As part of Christ’s restoration of His creation, He’s setting things straight in our marriages. Here in Ephesians 5:22-33, God tells married couples that Jesus changes everything in their relationship. He turns it upside down. He commands both the wife and hubby to do exactly the opposite of what their sinful natures want to do. The wife wants to dominate her man. The husband wants to use her wife as a means to get sex. God’s economy turns everything on its head. Actually, God’s economy restores everything back to the way it was in the beginning. Wives, submit and willingly obey your husbands in the same way that Jesus submitted Himself to His Father. Husbands, love your wives with that same sacrificial “me third” love that Jesus modeled when He gave His life for His bride. In other words, God calls both the wife and the husband to model Christ. The wife models our Lord’s submission to His Father. The husband models our Lord’s sacrificial love for His church.
But how is this possible? If sin has corrupted our very DNA, how can a Christ following wife humbly submit to her husband? Back up just a few verses in Paul’s letter. “Be filled with the Spirit” (Eph 5:18). Only when we are empowered by the Spirit of God are we able to obey. God will “grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being” (Eph 3:16). The same explosive power of the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is available to believers (Eph 1:19-20). Apart from God, we can’t do anything of lasting value (Jn 15:5). In His strength, we can do His will and obey His commands (Phil 4:13).
Submission possible.
So what do you think? Surely I must've ticked SOMEBODY off. Agree? Disagree? Drop a comment below.
No comments:
Post a Comment