~William Paul Young - The Shack~
I recently got into a pretty spirited discussion with a co worker about the passages found in Ephesians 5 suggesting that wives should "Submit" to their husbands. Now, for her part, my co worker is more than aware that I am a christian and is usually open to Christ thoughts I bring up. However, something about that word submit threw her into a frenzy of a feminist rant. Suddenly, all christian men had become overbearing ogers bent on the enslavement of their chosen wives. All of this, of course, was done in the name of God. I quickly reminded her that our Lords definition of submission certainly did not mean submission hold! For some time now, many a christian couple has withered under that one word...submit. From the husbands viewpoint this would seem like a pretty good deal. All the man of the household need do is shuffle off to work each morning leaving his loyal, submissive christian wife to dote on him in everything she did. Of course, if she failed to do so, then his wife was definately NOT following the will of God in submission to her husband as scripture clearly required of her. It's no wonder with teaching such as this that christian marriages suffer the same divorce rate as those of the unchurched. Obviously, other factors play into this as well. I would venture that submission does not in any way mean respect, and that submission in no way leads to love between two people. That is, submission as we know and understand it. The Greek word for submission (Hupotasso) refers "To get under, to lift up or to put in order. How is this important? Because this is the crowd which the apostle Paul was writing to in the book of Ephesians. As so often happens in scripture, our word submit has become lost in translation. For instead of meaning obedience, it asks wives to "Lift up" or to raise her husband to her own level of importance and worthiness. Rather than being subjected, she is equal in importance to her mate.
22Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. 25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27that 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. 28So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.
Ephesians 5: 22 - 29 NKJV
Now, for those Christ fearing husbands out there who still hold fast that their wives submit ot them in every way I have a 3 AM wake up call for you. That is, that you love your wife as you would your own body. "For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it." Do you expect your wife to be at your beck and call each and every day? Then obviously you do not love yourself all that much. Suddenly it is YOU who is going against scripture. One of my favorite quotes from Paul Youngs story The Shack is that relationships are not about authority nor about obedience, but about love and respect. When you require your mate to submit to you in the disguise of christianity, you are neither loving nor respecting that person you have sworn to love and cherish till death do you part. However, when you regard her with the same importance as you would yourself, THEN you have the beginings of a true relationship. A relationship not based on power over another but your own love and respect for each other. Interestingly, when I told my co worker that Gods definition of submission certainly did not mean a relationship submission hold, her tone immediately softened. It was no longer a conversation of submission but one of Christ centered relationships.
~Scott~
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