Reverence....
Ephes. 5:21-33 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
[22] Wives, submit to your husbands as 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 Saviour. [24] Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
[25] Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her [26] to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, [27] and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. [28] In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. [29] After all, no-one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— [30] for we are members of his body. [31] "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." [32] This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. [33] However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Submit to one another. By now you’ve probably realised how hard this can be. I think this is especially so when someone else shows no sign of submitting. It is relatively easy in a community where mutual submission is the accepted norm, when everyone has agreed to work out his value, and in practice it works more or less all the time. It can be much harder when someone else doesn’t practice this. Then you can feel that submission is more likely to become surrender. Nobody likes to surrender. Nobody likes to feel powerless. Nobody wants to be taken advantage of again and again…. Maybe that is why conflict so frequently happens….
But we submit to one another for a reason - reverence for Christ. For the family of believers he is Lord and head of our family. He will guide us and show us the way to act and behave, the things that we must do. And so by submitting to each other, we are in fact submitting to him. We are laying our ambitions, hopes and desires at his feet and asking him to use and guide us, following his path and wisdom.
So the two examples that Paul gives here, of wives and husbands in mutual submission to each other, are not examples of power but of service. Husbands and wives have to submit to each other in love, and the example that we are to follow is that of Jesus himself. Jesus who loved the sick and despised. Jesus who included those who society marginalised. Jesus who performed menial tasks that others were too proud to carry out. Jesus who loved us so much that he bore pain for our us.
When we look at life as a series of encounters that we need to emerge victorious from then submission is hard. But if we look at life as events where the name of Jesus needs to be raised and glorified then submission to each other will become easier.
[22] Wives, submit to your husbands as 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 Saviour. [24] Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
[25] Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her [26] to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, [27] and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. [28] In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. [29] After all, no-one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— [30] for we are members of his body. [31] "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." [32] This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. [33] However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Submit to one another. By now you’ve probably realised how hard this can be. I think this is especially so when someone else shows no sign of submitting. It is relatively easy in a community where mutual submission is the accepted norm, when everyone has agreed to work out his value, and in practice it works more or less all the time. It can be much harder when someone else doesn’t practice this. Then you can feel that submission is more likely to become surrender. Nobody likes to surrender. Nobody likes to feel powerless. Nobody wants to be taken advantage of again and again…. Maybe that is why conflict so frequently happens….
But we submit to one another for a reason - reverence for Christ. For the family of believers he is Lord and head of our family. He will guide us and show us the way to act and behave, the things that we must do. And so by submitting to each other, we are in fact submitting to him. We are laying our ambitions, hopes and desires at his feet and asking him to use and guide us, following his path and wisdom.
So the two examples that Paul gives here, of wives and husbands in mutual submission to each other, are not examples of power but of service. Husbands and wives have to submit to each other in love, and the example that we are to follow is that of Jesus himself. Jesus who loved the sick and despised. Jesus who included those who society marginalised. Jesus who performed menial tasks that others were too proud to carry out. Jesus who loved us so much that he bore pain for our us.
When we look at life as a series of encounters that we need to emerge victorious from then submission is hard. But if we look at life as events where the name of Jesus needs to be raised and glorified then submission to each other will become easier.
posted by Gordon at
8:57 am
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