LEARNING DAILY

 

Ephesians 5:18-21, And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.

 

Mutual submission is a spiritual principle that has gotten twisted to mean that one is inferior to another in the eyes of God. That is not at all true. This principle is first applied to the Christian family. “Submission, humility, gentleness, patience, and respect must be characteristic of each member in the family” (LSSB). “This structure is seen in the relationship between God the Father and Jesus the Son. Jesus is in every way equal to the Father; He just has a different role within the familial relationship and voluntarily submits to the Father to help fulfill the objectives of their life together” (DJSB).

 

In marriage, God has assigned order which has been taken out of context and lost biblical meaning because of misunderstanding and false teaching in our culture today. The wife is to submit (yield in love) to the husband’s responsibility for leadership in the family. The husband must submit to the needs of the wife in an attitude of love and self-giving. In God’s plan, every family must have a leader; He has assigned that role to the husband. His leadership role includes providing for the family’s spiritual and domestic needs, the love, protection, and welfare of his wife and children in the same way that Christ loves the church.

 

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:3, “But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of every woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.” Paul was concerned that the proper relationship between man and woman, in marriage, was understood as ordained by God. “He maintains that in Christ a perfect spiritual equality exists among men and women as heirs of God’s grace, yet it is an equality involving order and submission with respect to authority” (LSSB).  Submission is not demeaning to anyone for it does not imply conquest or domination of the wife by the husband. Emphasis is placed on the husband recognizing the value God places upon the wife and his responsibility involves protection and leading her in a way that fulfills the will of God for her in the home and in the church.

 

If we put all the Scripture together on this topic, we can see that Jesus Christ is not inferior because the Father is His head and the wife is not inferior to the husband because he is her head. Nowhere in God’s Word does leadership imply being “greater”. God always places importance and significance on serving and being obedient.

 

I have several weddings in the future to look forward to and I have been thinking about the marriage contract and ceremony. It is not only important teaching for those entering into their marriage but also a great reminder for those of us who have been married for a short time and those who have been married “forever”.  A godly marriage needs to be centered around Him and His Word; there must not be any misunderstanding about His desire for the relationship between husband and wife. A great study on this topic would be Ephesians 5:22-6:9.

 

From now on DJSB will be used to note information or quotes from the David Jeremiah Study Bible and LSSB will refer to information and quotes from the Life in the Spirit Study Bible.