Dear friend, welcome back to the course. In this lesson, we want to see the incredible intimacy Christ desires to have with us His bride (the Church) and how this intimacy with Christ reflects our relationship as husband and wife.
“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.”
Ephesians 5:21-24 NIV
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives are to submit to their husbands as the church submits to Christ.
Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25).
Isn’t this wonderful? For those who believe the gospel, there is only one way to properly interpret this passage above. And that is, how Christ cares for His own body, the church. As Sylvia shares her heart below you will see clearly how the world's view of this passage has skewed believers thinking of the marital union between husband and wife which has perverted the proper view of the gospel and intimacy between Christ and the church.
Sylvia wrote; "There are so many women who do not like that ‘submit’ word. I, myself, never liked that word. My husband was my mate, not my Lord nor my master and I sure wasn't going to submit to my husband much less honor submission. The world always viewed that word as harsh, lower than I, dishonoring, the bottom of the totem pole, and a less than position or wifely duty. I always thought that if I submit to my husband, he will turn into a control freak or a higher than I attitude or start treating me less than himself. I now realize that this was an incorrect view of submission in my marriage, why? because I wasn’t viewing it through the lens of the gospel. I was viewing it through the eyes of man and his faults and the world's view, rather than looking to the cross and seeing the love Jesus has for the church through submission. As we take a closer look at the One who created marriage and emulated love all through submitting to His Father, the gospel of Jesus Christ enlightened my heart that submitting to my husband became clearer to me as I was submitting to Christ. I realized that it was not out of fear, or frustration, or a less than position, or anger but out of love that all started at the cross of Christ."
Let us use an illustration that might help us understand the gospel more clearly. What woman could resist the love of a “Knight in shining armor?” To have her Knight in shining armor rescue her from danger while risking his own life for her? I mean, this is what we see in movies and what we read in romance novels, right? The man comes in at just the right time to save, love, and carry her off into the sunset? What women would say no to that? What woman would say that she would in no way submit to that kind of love and care? Probably not many. Friends, this is the meaning of the passage, “husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25). Do you see it? Jesus is our Knight in shining armor! The man who came to save, love, and one day carry his bride, not off into the sunset, but into his eternal presence with him as our groom, our Knight in shining Savior. This is what Jesus has accomplished on the cross through His shed blood as He laid down his life to rescue His bride. This is how husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
Question 1. Can you relate to Sylvia’s testimony above and do you see the freedom we have in submission, rather than the prior frustration of a fearful view? Please share.
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Anytime we see the word ‘submit’, ‘submissive’, or ‘submission’ as believers, it should be viewed in light of the gospel. In other words, if we think that these words show weakness, fear, or dominance then our view and understanding of these words are not in harmony with the gospel. The verses above give us the example and therefore make clear the wonder and beauty of the marital union. How it reflects the relationship between Christ and the church or the Groom and His bride. We see just how much the bride of Christ (the church) puts her hope and trust in Jesus as she sees clearly the blood He shed and the price He paid on the cross to purchase her. The church as the bride of Christ does not live in fear of Him but lives in the forgiveness and freedom He purchased for her while on the cross. So to view the work Jesus accomplished on the cross as unloving or something to be fearful of, or domineering, would in fact be a perverted view of the love God has for us in Christ Jesus.