Ephesians 5:21-24

submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives and Husbands
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.


There was a time in my life when I wouldn’t have touched this passage with a ten foot pole, preferring to focus on the fact that all Christians are called in v. 21 to submit to one another and glossing over the fact that wives are called to submit to their husbands. It is a beautiful idea for all believers to submit to one another and seek the welfare of other brethren above our own. But submission to a husband called up the idea of subservience and being of lower value. It was a much better idea to always have the upper hand in a relationship of any kind, making sure that you most often got your own way. I would have rather dismissed these other verses as more of a cultural phenomenon not transferrable to society today.

But a wife is called to submit to her own husband (not every man that comes across her path by the way mind you, just her husband). She is called to follow his leadership inasmuch as it is patterned after a Christian life. This doesn’t mean wives give up our opinions or voices. In love he should value your thoughts, and there is a mutual dependence on one another. And honestly, doesn’t giving up some of the control take some of the weight off our shoulders? Feminists have fought for our right to work and have equal rights, but it seems we have ended up only with our share of the work outside the home as well as more than our share at home. I know few who keep up well with the demands of both spheres; usually one suffers for the sake of the other.

Yesterday my husband and I went on a date to the US Whitewater Center in Charlotte. It was a dream come true for him to be able to go, and a nightmare for me when he bought me a ticket. The afternoon started out rainy and chilly. Thoughts of how freezing I would be when I inevitably ended up in the water were only barley edged out by my determination to fulfill my husband’s dream day and repeating 1 Corinthians 13 in my head. But oddly enough I was great in the kayak, didn’t hit the water, and actually enjoyed the trip down the river - even beating Jamie's speed much of the time!

I was NOT as calm as this lady!

The day warmed up, but I had to face my petrifying fear of heights as we conquered several zip lines and ropes courses. I didn’t fully trust the ropes or the workers, but I trusted my husband. There were several times that I was fairly certain I was going to plunge to my death, and only a look in his eyes and the sound of his encouragement could force me to take a leap of faith onto a swinging log two stories above the ground. That trust was an image of my trust in God. Where I am weak, He is strong. Jamie would give his life to protect me, God sent His son to redeem me eternally. No one loves me like my God and my husband; they have my best interests at heart. When I follow their leadership it shows my trust and reliance on them to a watching world.

To be right inside, to be right with God, and to be right with everybody else is the way to live. And when I am right with me I sing. And when I am right with God I pour out thanks. And I am right with you, I submit. – John MacArthur on Ephesians 5:19-21