The Blessed Effects of God’s Saving Grace (4:1–6:20)
Holiness is to show itself in assuming responsibilities
Paul has at some length described the life and conduct that our Savior-God rightly expects of people who appreciate what his grace has done for them. Theirs will be a life of holiness that in ever greater degree conforms with God’s holy, unchangeable will.
So far, Paul has pointed to two general areas of sanctification in the Christian life: preserving the unity that exists among believers, since all are members of the same body, and living a morally pure life.
Paul now advances to a third area: living a life that accepts the responsibilities God has placed on us in our particular stations of life. In the next 22 verses (5:21–6:9), the apostle will be dealing with three pairs of relationships: husbands and wives, parents and children, employers and employees. As a broad, overarching directive for this area he says,
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Recall that Paul encouraged the Ephesians to “be filled with the Spirit . . . speak to one another with psalms . . . sing and make music in your heart . . . giving thanks to God.” The series now continues, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
What is being asked in this table of duties, as it is often called, is something that only the Christian, moved by the Holy Spirit, can do. Only the Christian knows the proper thing to do, and only the Christian is truly motivated to do it. “Submit,” Paul says, “out of reverence for Christ.” In all six of the following categories of responsibility, reverence for Christ must be our motivating force. Otherwise we will find the responsibilities irksome and restrictive.
Wives
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 Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
To understand these two verses, one needs to arrive at answers to two questions: What does it mean to “submit,” and why should a wife submit to her husband?
In English it is hard to reflect the more neutral tone of the Greek verb we translate as “submit.” All our English verbs tend to convey some negative connotations. The root meaning of the Greek verb means simply “to rank people or things in order under some specific pattern.” It does not imply inferiority or lesser value, as our English verbs too easily suggest. To “be subordinate” might come closest to reflecting the Greek.
All comparisons limp, but a situation from the sports world can perhaps bring us a step closer to grasping the meaning of “submit.” Take the case of a pitcher and catcher on a baseball team. Both are on the same side and have the same objective; both want to make their contribution to winning the game. But the things they do are quite different!
Usually it’s the catcher who decides what pitch should be thrown. The pitcher submits to that decision. That doesn’t mean he can’t ever shake off a pitch or that there might not be an occasional conference at the mound, but in general, the catcher calls the pitches.
Does that mean the catcher is better than the pitcher? Is the pitcher inferior because he submits to the catcher’s selection of pitches? Not at all! That’s simply the way things work best. They both recognize that each can’t be doing his own thing if they want to win the ball game. Somebody has to decide whether a fastball or a change-up is more likely to strike Casey out. It’s a matter of assigned roles, a designated order of things. That’s the essence of team play.
Marriage is certainly a team project. The God of order who instituted it has designated the manner in which it will be most harmonious and function with the greatest blessing. In his wisdom he has delegated headship, or the leadership role, to the husband. Submission on the wife’s part is simply acknowledging that God-given role relationship.
“But why should a wife submit to her husband?” some grumble. By nature all of us are inclined to inject our notions of equality and our ideas of “fairness” and conclude God is imposing an unfair arrangement on women. But Paul is not talking to natural man or unregenerate people here. He is confident that his readers are filled with the Spirit and are people who understand when he urges them to submit “out of reverence for Christ.” He is confident the feeling of unfairness will flee when he brings Christ into the picture.
Christ is the head of the church, and as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands. In the next section addressed to husbands, Paul will say much more about Christ’s gentle and loving treatment of the church. For the moment it’s sufficient for him to draw the parallel and assume that everyone will reach the proper conclusion: The church’s submitting to Christ is not a demeaning thing but something that brings great blessing. Such is the case also in a marriage where the wife accepts the headship of her husband.
Unfortunately, even at their best, husbands can’t begin to hold a candle to Christ’s love for the church. But the pattern, the model of what a Christian husband should be, is clearly indicated. Paul now proceeds to enlarge on what Christ has done for the church and urge it as a pattern and guide for husbands to follow.