The God-assigned role of husbands and wives

"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord ... Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it...." Ephesians 5:22,25 Read Ephesians 5:22-33

Why would a Christian pastor preach on a text which tells wives to submit to their husbands in this day when the world around us -- at least in the West -- views men and women as equals and condemns any view which says a women should be submissive? My answer is quite simple: Because God, the Creator of man and woman, says so in His Word, the Bible; and I am called to preach His Word!

God, who knows far better than we His design for creation and what is good and right, says (in Eph. 5:22-24): "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing."

This, of course, means what it says: wives are called upon by God, their Maker and Redeemer, to be submissive to their husbands -- as the church submits to Christ -- in every thing! It means wives sin when they are not submissive, in the same way that "churches" sin when they do not submit to Christ and His Word -- and there are a lot of "churches" in that category today.

Why? We can look at God's order of creation in Genesis 2 where the woman was made as a "help meet" for the man, and we see it in God's Word following the fall into sin in Gen. 3:16: "thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." We can look at God's Word regarding women's role in the church in 1 Tim. 2:11ff. and 1 Cor. 14:34ff., where God gives the why: "For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression"; and, "Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law." Cf. 1 Cor. 11:3ff.

Does this mean women are inferior to men? Is Jesus inferior to the Father? Read 1 Cor. 11:3 and 1 Cor. 15:28. Jesus, God the Son, submits to the will of the Father. He is not inferior but He submits.

And husbands, you are to love your wives as Christ loved the Church and give Himself for her. The Bible says in Eph. 5:25-31: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh."

Men, this means that we are guilty of sin when we don't love our wives with that same selfless love that Christ Jesus had for the Church when He gave Himself for us that He might wash away our sins in Baptism and make us holy and righteous before God through faith in His name. This doesn't just mean being willing to die for our brides, but giving up ourselves and our own selfish goals and ambitions in life for the present and eternal good of our brides! After all, when we were joined to our wives in marriage, we became one flesh and one body.

Men, we have a great responsibility toward God our Creator to use the authority He has given us for the good of our wives and families. For, as the Scriptures say, our wives are "heirs together of the grace of life" (1 Pet. 3:7; Read v.1-7). Wives are commanded to submit to us, their husbands; and we are commanded to love them and use our authority for their good and their blessing.

And the apostle Paul also tells us a mystery: He is speaking of Christ and the church. Since Christ gave Himself for us -- living for us and dying on the cross in our stead -- we are called upon as His Church to submit to Him in all things. And we know that His will and His Word is for our good, and we submit to His holy Word in all that it says, as His bride!

Christ died for our sins and rose again that through Baptism we might be joined to Him as His holy bride, with all our sins and uncleanness washed away. As believers, we need to leave our earthly ties and be joined to Christ, submitting to His perfect will, revealed to us in His Word, for He leads us to life everlasting as His eternal bride!

Dearest Lord Jesus, we thank You for so loving us that You died for our sins and rose again that we might be washed and cleansed in the waters of Baptism and made Your holy bride. Grant that we submit to Your will and that wives submit to their husbands and that husbands truly love their wives. Amen.

[Devotion by Randy Moll. Scripture from the King James Version of the Bible.]

Editorial on 08/10/2016