Mutual submission in the early church.

Gregorikos said:

I don't know what you mean by "reinterpretation", but if you mean Paul didn't write them, I'm more conservative than that. I believe he wrote both Ephesians and 1st Timothy, but I disagree with these commentators you cite.

Ephesians 5:21-6:9 isn't about teaching either equality or hierarchy. There was already a hierarchy in that society. Ephesians 5 no more endorses hierarchy in marriage than chapter 6 endorses human slavery. Those features were firmly embedded in the culture of that time, and Paul was making reference to the common "household codes" of Aristotle, which addressed 3 sets of relationships in the Greco-Roman family- husband and wife, parents and children, and masters and slaves, as Paul does here and in Colossians 3. Any Bible commentator who doesn't know that, or doesn't teach them in that light is missing the obvious cultural context behind the passage and isn't likely to give a valid interpretation.

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Expecting Christ to return at any moment, it was not Paul's mission to fix Roman society, but to prepare the Body of Christ for Christ's return.

A critical difference between Ephesians and 1 Peter is that in Ephesians, Paul is talking about Christians relating pesonally to Christians, while Peter is talking about Christians relating personally to pagans.

Ephesians 6 changes everything for Christians who were in the master-slave relationship: It turns slaves from being the property of earthly masters to their responsibility as Christ's stewards. It changes all Christian-to-Christian relationships in the same way. If it means a wife is totally submissive to her husband, it also means Christ will hold the husband totally accountable for the physical and spiritual welfare of the wife.

This is a particularly relevant quote from St John Chrysostom (a saint early in the Church). The article references a bit of this, but it is worth reading a larger portion of the writing.

St John Chrysostom said:

From the beginning, God in His providence planned this union of man and woman. God has put into a man’s heart the capacity to love his wife and into a woman’s heart the capacity to love her husband. There is no relationship between human beings as close as that of husband and wife – if they are united as they ought to be.

God’s purpose in ordering marriage is peace.

If a man and a woman marry to satisfy their sexual appetites, or to further the material aims of themselves or their families, then the union is unlikely to bring blessings. But if a man and a woman marry in order to be companions on the journey from earth to heaven, then their union will bring great joy to themselves and to others.

When we speak of the wife obeying the husband, we normally think of obedience in military or political terms: the husband giving orders to the wife and the wife obeying them. But while this type of obedience may be appropriate in the army, it is ridiculous in the intimate relationship of marriage. Obedience should not be confined to the wife; the husband should be obedient in the same way. St. Paul writes: “Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:22). Thus a good marriage is not a matter of one partner obeying the other but of both spouses obeying each other.

When the Apostle Paul says: “Husbands, love your wives,” he does not stop at this, but gives us a measure for true love by adding, “as Christ loved the Church” (Ephesians 5:25). And how did Christ love the Church? “He gave Himself up for her,” the Apostle says. So even if you must die for your wife, do not refuse.

Love is most powerfully present in a marriage when accompanied by respect. A good marriage is like a castle. When husband and wife truly love and respect each other, no one can overcome them.

In the providence of God, when a husband is spiritually weak, his wife is spiritually strong; and when a wife is weak, her husband is strong.

Nothing can destroy love that is rooted and founded in Christ.

The love of husband and wife is the force that welds society together.

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I've been watching the SW Florida eagle camera lately because it is at this time of year when this long-time mated pair of eagles produces eggs, and so the camera gets turned on so everyone can see this whole process.

However, in watching this pair of eagles, Harriet and M15, I keep thinking to myself over and over that what they continue to demonstrate is what a blessed marriage is like. They both go out to provide, taking turns guarding the nest and knowing the other is near to come help in the case of danger and they will call to each other, the both spend a lot of time building up the nest for that year's births, and it's hilarious to watch them both working together and/or bickering together over the placement of sticks and fluff.

(I especially enjoyed one video where M15 had placed a large pine stick and then went off to do something else, and Harriet went over and spent time yanking it out and had walked over the other side of the nest to place it when M15 came back and saw it happening. He pecked at her a couple of times until she dropped it, and then he picked it up and took it all the way back across the nest to where it was before and put it right back where it was! I was betting that Harriet would move it again once he was gone! )

Then when the eggs are in the nest, they take turns incubating the eggs, and have their own signs and signals to each other when one or the other of them wants to take a turn or wants the other to take a turn, from laying grasses on the other's back or even stepping on the other's head (lol). They are both so invested in the eggs and in the whole process. These two eagles would do anything for each other, and I'm convinced that if M15 were able to help Harriet (or even take on the task himself) to the physical act of laying the eggs, he would do it!

When they hunt, they'll eat some and bring the rest back for the other, making sure the other gets their favorite parts of the fish or whatever it is they bring back. They know they can depend on the other no matter what.

Watching animals such as these can teach us so much if we care to listen and understand.

Mutual submission is really where it's at!