Sub-mission

Eph 5:22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

One of the most unpopular passages in the entire Bible according to modern American society is found right here in Ephesians 5 as Paul turns his attention to marriage. “Wives, submit to your husbands, as to the Lord.”

Note that I did not define his discussion as “Christian” marriage, because when it comes to marriage there is ONLY one kind, and it is designed by God. The only true “marriage” IS Christian marriage – and so it is redundant and unnecessary to refer to “marriage” as “Christian marriage,” because truly there is no other kind.

The world calls what they enter into “marriage,” but it really isn’t. What the world enters into is a legally-binding relationship founded on the bargain taking place in ‘romantic’ love. This can be a wonderful blast for the emotional life of a man or woman, but it cannot last. ‘Romantic’ love is unrealistic because it only sees the best in the other person in the relationship, and that fades as soon as the worst becomes more visible. The next phase breaks down into the bargain of, “I will love you IF you will love me.” Soon after follows discontent – and – in about 50% of the cases, divorce.

It is the inevitable result for those who know nothing of the unconditional love of Jesus Christ. It is the main reason worldly marriage is failing so miserably. It’s that bargain. Worldly ‘married’ life is a 50-50 bargain, and when one side becomes less than 50, the other side feels slighted and hurt, and the whole “relationship” breaks down and possibly apart.

Marriage is designed by God to be a place of and for submission. Since we are only IN submission when we disagree, you can easily see this relationship is designed to remove the fleshly ingredients of selfishness and pride, and, as Paul writes, to bring us into a supernatural image of Christ’s sacrificial relationship to His Church, where His love is offered 100%, and unconditionally.

-  Pastor Bill