Ephesians 5:21-33 ESV
“..submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
“In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”
“Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.” Colossians 3:18-19 ESV
“Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.” 1 Peter 3:7 ESV
So, I looked up this word “submit” in the Greek interlinear, and it says, “properly under God’s arrangement, i.e. submitting to the Lord (His plan)”. So, first and foremost, all submission must be to our Lord and to his plan and purposes for our lives, in agreement with the teachings of the Scriptures for all of us who make Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. So, all submission is conditional on it agreeing with God’s will and purpose for our lives, and so there will be biblical exceptions to all submission. For we are not to submit to what goes against our Lord’s design and purpose for our lives.
[Examples: Jesus, the apostles, the prophets, Daniel, and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, did not submit to any authority commanding them to go against God’s will and purpose for their lives.]
In other words, we are not to submit to sinning against our Lord just because someone in a position of authority commands that we do.
My Understanding
Now this is my understanding of how this should work, according to all the teachings in the Scriptures, in particularly these teachings on the husband and wife, for we really have to look at the overall picture and not just at one or two specific things here. And so I am going to go back to creation, for that is referenced for us here in Ephesians 5, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” And this is in the context of “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
And I am going to add one more thing here before I delve into this passage, as a whole, and that has to do with biblical instructions to biblical elders who were in positions of authority over the people of God: “Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:2-3). Amen! This is how a husband is to lead his wife spiritually, too, as her shepherd, which is in agreement with Ephesians 5:25-33.
So, none of this gives any man the right to bully his wife or to treat her hatefully or despitefully or to take advantage of her in any unlawful way or to try to force her into compliance with what is ungodly and unholy and with what is against the Scriptures and what they teach on how husbands are to treat their wives. For they are not to be harsh and unloving with their lives, or overly demanding, but they are to give honor to their wives and to love them as Jesus Christ loves his church and gave himself up for her.
And no wife has to submit to abuse or misuse of authority or to doing what is sinful. Yet, no wife has the right to treat her husband shamefully and disrespectfully. Nor should she disregard him as the authority over her head, provided that he is providing the right kind of godly authority and that he is not requiring of her that she do what is sinful. And here I want to take a look at that word “respect.”
So, for example, if a woman’s husband is being abusive, and if he is regularly sinning against her, and yet he professes faith in Jesus Christ all the while he continues to mistreat her, how can she show him respect? How can she hold him in high esteem, as some definitions define “respect”? She can’t.
So, is there another way in which she can show him respect? Yes! For the word also means “an act of giving particular attention and consideration and regard (concern, interest, connection with). She can forgive him, show interest in him, treat him kindly, do good to him, and not do evil. And she can speak the truth in love to him, for he claims to be a Christian.
Now, this is how a Christian husband is to treat his wife. He is to love his wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, for her spiritual walk of faith and encouragement and spiritual growth in the Lord Jesus. And this kind of love prefers what God prefers, and it submits to his will and purposes. And what God prefers is what is holy, righteous, godly, morally pure, honest, and faithful, etc. So husbands are to be morally pure and honest and faithful with their wives. So no looking at inappropriate and sexually charged anything. And keep your mind on her and on God.
And wives are also to be morally pure and honest and faithful.
Husbands are to give themselves up for their wives, so they are not to be selfish and macho and act like, “I’m the man so I can do whatever I want.” And they are not to be cracking jokes with other men which are demeaning to women. And they shouldn’t treat their wives disrespectfully, but they are to honor them and treat them lovingly and kindly. And they should not disregard their wives input and expressions of concern. And they shouldn’t treat other men respectfully while they show disrespect and dishonor to their wives.
And again, it goes both ways. So, you can flip-flop this in some ways.
And lastly, a marriage should be a partnership, and there should be give and take on both sides. But where it comes down to someone having to make the final decision, that should be the man, and the wife should yield to his decision unless it is something immoral, sinful, dangerous, crooked, or illegal in any way. And men are to treat their wives as they want to be treated by others, and vice versa the wives should treat their husbands. And they should join hands and hearts and work together to serve God with their lives. But this takes both working together. One cannot do it alone.
For Our Nation
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
https://vimeo.com/379406352
No comments:
Post a Comment