I was reading through a Bible study guide that couple put together for a night program Bible study program that has a huge number of participants in this area. I was looking at the marriage section. It got to the topic of wives submitting to husbands. This isn't a quote, but this was more or less the gist
Yes, wives are supposed to submit to their husbands. This verse has been used to club women over the head with for a long time. But what a man has to do is a lot greater than that. He has to love his wife like Christ loves the church...
What bothered me about this is that it glossed over the whole issue of women submitting to their husbands, downplaying its importance. I didn't see any teaching on how to carry this out.
I grew up in church, and whenever this topic comes up in the various churches throughout the US I've been in, it seems like the preacher almost always says something along the lines of this verse being used to club women with, and how men have to love their wives. It seems like no one takes the verse as important and teaches on how to apply it. They just gloss over it and de-emphasize it. I don't recall any teaching on what it looks like to have wives submitting to husbands in marriage. Since such a concept is somewhat alien to us, I believe Christians need instruction on it.
Submission is an unpopular word. I admit it isn't my favorite word or concept. I did some cross cultural research. One of the big values surveys shows that 'submission' is an important cultural value in some cultures, but not in others. In the western world, the US at least, it is not highly valued. Submission to governors, etc. is not considered important. We have a problem with it.
I believe this is something we need teaching on. We need our church leaders to teach on it. Older women need to teach younger women. How many put submitting to their husbands into practice? We all know that men not loving their wives properly and not leading is a problem in our society.
Here is a verse to consider:
Ephesians 5
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
(NIV)
Here are my questions:
Wives, how do you submit yourselves to your husbands? Specifically, how does this submission manifest itself? What specifically do you do or not do? What advice would you give to other women
Husbands, how do your wives submit to you?
What about people whose mothers submitted to their husbands? Can you share testimonies about that?
How can churches teach on this topic to help women, and men, appreciate and obey this instruction, so that they can obey it to please the Lord and have healthier marriages and a more fulfilling Christian walk?
What is a husband's role in helping his wife fulfill this command? What should his vision be for his marriage in this regard and how can he lovingly help his wife grow and/or maintain her walk in this area?
Yes, wives are supposed to submit to their husbands. This verse has been used to club women over the head with for a long time. But what a man has to do is a lot greater than that. He has to love his wife like Christ loves the church...
What bothered me about this is that it glossed over the whole issue of women submitting to their husbands, downplaying its importance. I didn't see any teaching on how to carry this out.
I grew up in church, and whenever this topic comes up in the various churches throughout the US I've been in, it seems like the preacher almost always says something along the lines of this verse being used to club women with, and how men have to love their wives. It seems like no one takes the verse as important and teaches on how to apply it. They just gloss over it and de-emphasize it. I don't recall any teaching on what it looks like to have wives submitting to husbands in marriage. Since such a concept is somewhat alien to us, I believe Christians need instruction on it.
Submission is an unpopular word. I admit it isn't my favorite word or concept. I did some cross cultural research. One of the big values surveys shows that 'submission' is an important cultural value in some cultures, but not in others. In the western world, the US at least, it is not highly valued. Submission to governors, etc. is not considered important. We have a problem with it.
I believe this is something we need teaching on. We need our church leaders to teach on it. Older women need to teach younger women. How many put submitting to their husbands into practice? We all know that men not loving their wives properly and not leading is a problem in our society.
Here is a verse to consider:
Ephesians 5
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
(NIV)
Here are my questions:
Wives, how do you submit yourselves to your husbands? Specifically, how does this submission manifest itself? What specifically do you do or not do? What advice would you give to other women
Husbands, how do your wives submit to you?
What about people whose mothers submitted to their husbands? Can you share testimonies about that?
How can churches teach on this topic to help women, and men, appreciate and obey this instruction, so that they can obey it to please the Lord and have healthier marriages and a more fulfilling Christian walk?
What is a husband's role in helping his wife fulfill this command? What should his vision be for his marriage in this regard and how can he lovingly help his wife grow and/or maintain her walk in this area?