Tuesday; April 6

One of the challenging aspects of Christianity in the modern world is the idea of “submission”. In our freedom-focused nation we don’t like to be told that we should subject ourselves to anything or anyone. We aren’t particularly inclined to want to be subject to government, nor are we too crazy about the idea of being in subjection to our leaders. With this in mind, we can imagine the idea of wives being subject to their husbands is tough to sell, yet, that is a biblical principle found in both the writings of Peter and Paul. It is awful convenient to chalk this up to 1st Century culture, but is it that easy to dismiss?

The other day I was looking at Paul’s writings on family dynamics in Ephesians 5:22-32 and I found something interesting just outside that section. Prior to telling wives to be subject to their husbands and husbands to love their wives, the apostle wrote, “…and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:21). In other words, family relationships aren’t built on perpetuating a misogynistic culture, they are based on having an appropriate relationship with Jesus. When we get this aligned, all of our other relationships will be in order.

Let’s continue to have discussions about husband and wife relationships, but as we do, let’s not forget to be subject to each other out of a respect for our connection to Jesus.

Think About It!

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