Submission To The Lord

Submission To The Lord

SUBMISSION

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. Ephesians 5:22

The idea of submission, in any form or under any circumstances, has become repulsive to our Western, self-centered society. Employees no longer consider it their duty to cheerfully submit to their employers, employers no longer respect the government as they ought, and children are no longer taught to submit to their parents.

However, no where is submission so despised as in the bonds of matrimony. The Christian foundational principle that all are created in the image of God and are equal—has been misinterpreted, consciously or unconsciously, to imply that no one should have to submit to another. Yet—just as in every other area of biblical submission—opposition to God’s way for wives stems from a misunderstanding (or lack of faith) in God’s supreme plan.

Jesus, being equal with God, still submitted to His Heavenly Father. Great men like the apostle Paul submitted to wicked and undeserving rulers like Nero (and commands us to do the same). In fact, a civilized (and certainly a Christian) society can only really exist if submission to appropriate offices is recognized and maintained.

God, being the designer and author of marriage, tells us that it only works if the distinctive (not essentially unequal) roles of the husband and wife are maintained. Any other model for the home will fail; it is like ignoring the owner’s manual to marriage.

Wives, have you been joyfully and willingly submitting to your husband’s God-given authority in your home? Obedience to God is the only way to glorify God. Husbands, wives, children, citizens, employees, employers, rulers — all are to submit to the perfect wisdom and good purposes of our great God.

Prayer: Lord, give me a humble heart to submit to You first, then to others.

Scriptural Reading:

Ephesians 5:22-33

22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.

24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,

26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,

27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.

29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.

30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.

31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

33 …

Submission To The Lord