Review

• Walking worthy of the calling (4:1)

• Walking no longer as Gentiles (4:17)

• Walking in love (5:1)

• Walking in the Light (5:8)

• Walking in wisdom (5:15)

Walking in Wisdom

• Not being foolish, but understanding the will of the Lord (5:17)

• Not getting drunk with wine, but being filled with the Spirit (5:18)

Spirit Filled

• Speaking to each other in Psalms… (19)

• Singing and making melody to the Lord…(19)

• Giving thanks to God the Father always and for all things (20)

• Being subject to one another in the fear of Christ (21)

The Flow of Thought• Walk Worthy (4:1)

– Walk in Wisdom (5:15)

• understanding the will of the Lord (5:17)

• being filled with the Spirit (5:18)

–Subjecting to one another in the fear of Christ (5:21)

»Examples of subjecting to one another (3 relationships)

Three Subjecting Relationships

• Wives and Husbands (5:22-33)

• Children and Parents (6:1-4)

• Slaves and Masters (6:5-9)

The Role of the Wives

Three Aspects of a Wife’s Role

• The Command (22)

• The Cause (23)

• The Illustration (24)

Command (22)

Literal Reading

“The wives to the own husbands, as to the Lord”

• The verb “be subject” is borrowed from verse 21

• “subjecting” is the verb that controls the following instructions – as part of being filled and doing the Lord’s will

• ivdi,oij = own

Subjection

The three examples in the text are primarily addressing the subjection of wives, children, and slaves, to those whom God has placed in authority over them, this explains why the ones who are to be subject are mentioned first in each of the examples

Subjection: What it is not

• Not mutual subjection or reciprocal (everyone to everyone)

• Not female subjection to all men (to her own husband [not to her father])

• The verb employed for a wife’s subjection to her own husband is different than that of children and slaves subjecting to parents and masters

– u`pota,ssw (hupotassō) vs. u`pakou,w (hupakouō)• Hupotassō = willing subordination to those placed in authority – the

wife is to willingly subject herself or be subject to her own husband’s leadership because his authority is established by God

• Hupakouō = hearing w/obedience – slaves and children are supposed to obey their parents and master’s respectively (Deut 6:1-9)

Insight“The wife is not commanded to obey (hupakouō) her husband, as children are to obey their parents and slaves their masters (6:1, 5). A husband is not to treat his wife as a servant or as a child, but as an equal for whom God has given him care and responsibility for provision and protection, to be exercised in love. She is not his to order about, responding to his every wish and command. As Paul proceeds to explain in considerable detail (vv. 25-33), the husband’s primary responsibility as head of the household is to love, provide, protect, and serve his wife and family – not to lord it over them according to his personal whims and desires.” – John MacArthur

Subjection: What it is

• Part of the eschatological subjecting of all things under one head, Christ (1:22)

• Respect for the role of the husband as leader, provider, and protector– As opposed to the wife’s father

• The wife is equal to the husband (Gal. 3:28), yet the husband has a leadership role

“As to the Lord”

Three views1. Causal force “because you fear Christ” (Col. 3:18)

2. Comparative force “submit to the same degree that you do to the Lord” (cf. 5:24)

3. Combination “as the wife submits to her husband she is submitting to the Lord” (Matt. 25:40)

1. Eliminates the exclusive problems of the other views and creates balance

2. Entails both motivation of the fear of Christ and comparison of submission to Christ

Insight

• One author used the analogy of a “set”

• Her relationship to the Lord is a set– The subset: her relationship to her husband

“In her one act of subordination to her husband she acts as one who is subordinate to the Lord and therefore is related to the Lord in a manner correlative to her married status. Only when the injunction is viewed from the larger set can definition and perspective be given to it in the subset”

A Picture

• The constraint is for the wife to willingly subject herself to her husbands leadership, love, and protection. The command is not for the husband to make her subject, but for her to willingly submit herself – Example - pastors and congregants

The Perfect Picture of Subjection

• The “emptying” of Christ: The subjection of the Son to the Father’s will

• Christ was equal with God in being and power, yet humbled Himself and assumed a role of subjection (Phil. 2:6-7)

Cause (23)

Headship

“For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church”

Literally: “For a husband is head of the wife”

• How is the husband the head of the wife? Comparatively speaking AS Christ is head of the church (Eph. 1:22)

How is Christ the Head?

• “Head” in context– Two possibilities

• Source (cf. 4:15) – “the head…even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies…causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love”

• Ruler (cf. 1:22) – the One to whom all things are made subject – fits the context better

Imperative vs. Indicative

The husband is the head of the wife, the wife does not make him head (v. 23) she merely subjects herself to his headship– Indicative = Statement of fact– Imperative = Command

• The command for the wife to be subject is not dependant upon the leadership style or abilities of the husband, or whether or not he is even a believer (1 Pet. 3:1-6)

Implications

• Inescapable leadership– Poor leadership extremes

• Abdication

• Domination

• “A husband can never stop talking about Christ and Church. If he is obedient to God, he is preaching the truth; if he does not love his wife, he is speaking apostasy and lies – but he is always talking” Doug Wilson

The Manner

“Himself [being] the Savior of the body”

The Husband is head in the sense of being a servant leader – One who is willing to give his life (and live his life) for the benefit of the other

Illustration (24)

Picture of Subjection

But as the church submits to Christ so also the wives to the husbands, in everything

• Strong contrast – “But” or “nevertheless” – The husband is not the savior of the wife, But…the wife is to subject herself to him as the church does to Christ

• Christ’s leadership over the church is not diminished by his service to the church, it is actually strengthened

• In God’s economy the way up is down

• “In everything” = The wife should subject herself “in every area of life” not to every demand or whim

As … so also

• How is the church subject to Christ? The middle voice of the verb (be subject) stresses the voluntary nature of the wife’s subjection

• The wife’s subordination to her own husband is underscored by the church’s voluntary subordination to Christ

“in everything”

• Col. 3:20, 22; cf. Titus 3:9• As the church benefits from submission to Christ,

so also the wives benefit from submission to their husbands.

• No part of her life should be outside of her relationship to her husband and outside subordination to him.

• Two as one, under one head – greater effectiveness in working together as one.

• Not in areas of sin

Insight

“‘In everything’ does not reverse instructions and exhortations to all believers in Chapters 4-6 in the interests of serving the husband’s authority”

“There is no suggestion that this exhortation to be submissive is intended to stifle the wife’s thinking or acting. She should not act unilaterally, but rather submit willingly to her husbands leadership.”

In What Way?• The Christ/church relationship provides

– Direction (“to the Lord”)– Perception (husband as “head” as Christ is

“head”)– Example (church as paradigm) for the wife’s

act of subordination.

• Later, “One flesh” means that they should function together as one, under one Head, Christ (v. 34)

Discussion

• Are there limitations to a wife’s subjection to her own husband?

• How is a wife’s input and opinion to be factored into decision making?

• If a wife and a husband hold differing opinions how do they resolve a situation or conflict?

• In what ways does the husband’s leadership influence the wife’s subjection?