WHY SHOULD WIVES BE SUBMISSIVE TO THEIR HUSBANDS?

What is there about a husband that is superior so that a wife should be submissive to him? Is it because he is smarter, wiser, more talented, more spiritual, or more sensitive? Is it because he has the ability to make more income? In many cases any of those things might be true, but they are not all true in all cases. In fact, in some cases the husband is a better nurturer than his wife! From a secular perspective, there is nothing about a husband that would indicate that a wife should be submissive to him. Even secular structural family systems therapists, however, admit that families work better when dad takes a functional place in the family hierarchy.

From a theological perspective, the reason a wife should be submissive to her husband is simply because God said so. It is a matter of faith. It is a privilege that God has granted men and it is a way of reminding us all of the order of creation, of the fall and the curse (I Timothy 2:11-14). In every case, there is responsibility that goes along with the privilege of being a husband and that is the responsibility to love his wife as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her (Ephesians 5:25). There are husbands who are simply autocrats, expecting the wife and the children to obey his whims. Such is not the Spirit of Christ. His leadership in the home is to be motivated by Christian love and is demonstrated by service and sacrifice. Just as the Lord listens with love, patience and understanding when we pour out our anxieties, requests and sins to Him (Hebrews 2:17,18) so husbands need to listen with the same love, patience and understanding, first to his wife, then to his children, for the wife is an essential partner in the executive hierarchy of the family.

Once in a while a very capable woman will get hooked up with a real loser. Abigail is a woman from the Bible who comes to mind. She was married to a wealthy farmer named Nabal. Nabal hardly seemed to be a loser as he had fields of grain, 3,000 sheep and 3,000 goats. He was a fool when it came to public relations and it nearly cost him his own life and the lives of all the men who worked for him, but his wife, Abigail, baled him out. She acted independently of him, but she did act in his best interest. That's what a wife of faith does. That is submission. You can read the story in 1 Samuel 25.

Final thoughts on submission on Monday.

Grace & Peace;
Tom