Here is my commentary on Ephesians 5:24. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 5:24

“Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.”

The church is the Body of Christ, the holy temple, the household of God. By its very nature the church is subject to Christ.

There are times when the church as an institution has been corrupted by politics and an exaggerated power over the state. This was particularly true in the Middle Ages in Europe. It is also true that parts of the church have departed from sound doctrine and biblical standards of behaviour.

But the true church is not necessarily the same as the ecclesiastical structure. The church is the total of the individuals who are truly born again and submitted to Christ.

The submission of the church to Christ is a living, dynamic process. The born again people who comprise the church have the indwelling Holy Spirit directing and leading them. This is not about following a set of rules carved in stone and handed down from on high. When Christian submit themselves to Christ, they do so in the context of relationship. We submit ourselves to Christ out of love and because we have the Holy Spirit in us.

Wives submitting themselves to their husbands, then, do so out of love for Christ and in submission to Him They submit to their husbands in the context of a loving relationship involving husband, wife, and Christ.

Those who are of the world fail to look at this context. They see the word “submit” and assume it means “obey” and, in particular, to obey without thinking. This interpretation overlooks the key aspect that both parties are subject to Christ.

The phrase “in everything” seems to say that unconditional obedience is required. But again context is important. Wives are not required to do anything illegal, ungodly, degrading, or against their conscience. A husband who demands that his wife engage in life threatening behaviour is not acting in love, and the wife should not submit to this.

We could produce a great list of things that are wife must not, or may not, submit to. The point is that submission “in everything” does not mean slavish obedience.

Where a husband engages in violent, abusive, or coercive behaviour, it is not against God’s intent for a woman to leave the relationship, seek outside help, or go to the police. Marriage is a covenant of love, and when one partner breaks that covenant, the other partner is no longer bound.

All of this is straightforward where both husband and wife are followers of Jesus. In many marriages, the christian wife is married to an unbelieving husband. How should wifely submission happen in these cases?

It has been stated previously that wives are to be subject to their husbands out of reference (or fear) for Christ (vs. 21-22). Where both husband and wife are christians there is a mutuality of submission included within the concept of headship.

Peter gives wise advice for all wives: “Wives in the same way, accept the authority of your husbands, so that even if some of them do not obey the word, they may be won over without a word by their wives conduct, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.” (1 Peter 3:1-2)

Regardless of whether their husbands are believers, christian women should seek to submit themselves as an expression of love for their husband and for Christ. This can be a very powerful witness over many years in a marriage.

Key points in this verse:

• The church submits to Christ joyfully .
• Wives should submit to their husbands in the same way.
• Christian marriage involves mutual submission
• While Paul says wives must submit in everything, this is not absolute blind obedience.
• When a husband is an unbeliever, his wife’s loving submission can be a witness to him.

Here is my commentary on Ephesians 5:23. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 5:23

“For the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Saviour.”

This verse raises many questions which need to be carefully thought through:

• What does it mean for the husband to be the head of the wife?
• In what ways is the headship of a husband like the headship of Christ over the church?
• How do we interpret this verse in the current culture in which women generally are more educated and more independent than in previous generations?

In Greek, the word kephale means “head”, and has a similar range of meaning to the English word. It can relate to the physical part of the body, the main part of something, a ruler, or principal officer.

To say that the husband is the head of a wife, then, is to suggest that he has authority over her. This is not an authority that is seized, demanded, or extracted by intimidation.

Godly leadership or headship is a form of service in which a person gives direction in order to promote the person being led. Jesus said that the one who leads must be the servant of all (Luke 22:25-26).

Husbands exercise their authority by serving their wives. This is not pandering to every whim, but recognising what they need in order to grow in Christ and to grow as people, and then to provide what is needed.

Christian headship is not demanding or self-focused, but other- focused and giving.

Some people prescribe what this should look like. The husband exercises headship, they say, by managing the money, driving the car, earning the income etc. Couples should work out their own strengths, and if the wife has a better grasp of finances, she should be the one who keeps track of the money.

Headship and submission are about attitudes of relating in love, not about external factors.

If we think about the authority of Christ over the church, we can apply this to the authority of husbands over their wives, since Paul makes this comparison.

Christians are under the headship of Christ. To die to ourselves is the definition of discipleship. Yet, in submitting ourselves to Christ, Christians retain a high degree of autonomy and individuality. We have different ways of serving the Lord, different ways of worship, different approaches to prayer and ministry. Yet Christ is the head of all.

Furthermore, Christ is not harsh in his headship. When we rebel and go our own way, He does not punish us or remove us from the Body. He waits patiently, wooing us back to him.

The leadership of Christ over the church is gentle, often descriptive rather than prescriptive. He leads us by means of suggestions and encouragement rather than by laws and regulations.

So when Paul says that the husband is the head over the wife, he is not advocating a form of domestic tyranny. Rather it is a form of service and leadership that recognises that both partners are subject to Christ, both are children of God, and both are flawed human beings.

The concept of headship in marriage, that men should take any form of leadership in the relationship, will be scorned bye our society. Individualism without any restraint is the ideology of this age. People who mock marital submission see marriage as an opt in and opt out arrangement, with no expectation of long-term commitment.

Until people are prepared to submit to Christ they will not want to submit to another.

While previous generations had more rigid roles for partners in marriage, they also tended to be more committed to the permanence of the relationship. Our present age tends to see relationships as sources of personal fulfilment and hence feel no compunction in leaving when the “chemistry” is no longer there. Christian marriage emphasises the covenantal nature of the relationship, so that the head cannot function without the body, and vice versa.

Key points in this verse:

• The husband is head of the wife in the same way that Christ is head of the church
• Headship is outward-directed and aims to serve the wife
• Headship is not about tyranny, but involves gentle persuasive leadership
• Society scorns the concept of leadership in marriage, but it remains essential