Today’s Epistle
text is something of a mixed blessing for a preacher. On the one hand, this text is loaded with things to preach on. It’s a text despite how it might at first
look has something to say to everyone, regardless of their current situation in
life when it comes to marriage. And when
you consider the current public discourse about marriage, and the way marriage
is so often described and portrayed, it might be one of the most relevant
passages of Scripture. Because arguably
more than any other passage, Ephesians 5 shows us what God created and defined
marriage to be. Lots of good stuff here.
But this is also a
text that isn’t all that popular in the current social discourse. And I bet you can guess why. It’s because so often people can’t get past
those first two words. Wives,
submit. Boom, right there, two words in
and roughly half the population gets upset.
I can understand
why. For one thing, the word “submit”
has pretty negative connotations these days.
It tends to carry an implication of inferiority. Submission tends to become entwined with the
idea of subjugation. And in general the
idea of submitting just doesn’t fit in with the prevailing cultural idea of
being in control of your own life.
This verse also
isn’t overly popular these days because it has
so often been grossly misapplied and misused.
So let’s go ahead and address first what this passage is not saying to wives, or would-be
wives. “Wives, submit to your husbands,”
does not mean that you’re supposed to
be a doormat. It does not mean that you are expected to be
your husband’s sandwich wench, there to serve his every beck and call. It does not
mean that wives are expected to be the silent partner, meek wallflowers
standing behind their husbands and speaking only when spoken to. And it absolutely
does not mean that wives are in any way the lesser or inferior partner.
“Wives, submit to
your husbands,” should never be
understood as “Wives, you are lesser than your husbands.” If the husband is the head, consider the wife
the heart. Think 1 Cor. 12, when in
describing the church Paul writes, “But in fact God has placed
the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the
body be? As it
is, there are many parts, but one body.”
Different organs, different roles, but neither rightly can exist or
function without the other. Are you all
with me so far?
