Wives-Submit to your Husbands

I. Intro

If the president of the United States were to walk into a room, everyone would stand up, even the ones who didn’t vote for him. Everyone would stand, even the ones who don’t agree with his policies. Why? Because he is the president by position, regardless of his vote. In other words, enough people in this country voted for him to override your feelings and opinions about him and he is still to be respected because of his position. Now, you can feel any type of way you want to feel, but you must still honor his position, even if you didn’t vote for the person. Ladies, God has already voted for your husband and His vote is the only vote that counts. He has elevated your husband to the position of leader in the home. You must respect that position.

We use the word “submit” so loosely these days, but what does it actually mean?

The Greek word (hypotasso) is a verb that means to to the control of another.

If an 18 wheeler is merging onto the interstate, and there is a Prius in the oncoming lane, even though the 18 wheeler is bigger than the Prius, it still has to yield to the Prius. Ladies, you might be smarter than your husbands, you may be a better speaker or have more education than your husbands, or you may have more common sense than your husbands. But God has already ordained your husband as the head of the household. But before this can happen, look at what Paul says in the previous verse.

Ephesians 5:21 “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” By we want to promote ourselves, but the enables us to submit ourselves.

II. What this passage DOES NOT mean

Wives are slaves or property.

Slavery was abolished in January 1865.

13th Amendment- “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

Wives are inferior to their husbands.

Christ is equal in status to the Father but submits Himself to the Father’s will.

1 Corinthians 15:28 “And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.”

John 5:18 “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.”

John 14:28 “Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.”

In the same way, women are equal in and to men since both are created in God’s image.

All women are subject to all men in all situations.

“idios” refers to addressing and not in general.

Paul says a wife is to submit to her husband, but nowhere does he say husbands should submission, because they should not need to.

When a woman voluntarily submits to her husband, she is simultaneously submitting to the Lord.

Submission can be done outside the Holy Spirit.

A wife is responsible first to .

III. What this passage DOES mean.

Submission has nothing to do with the order of authority, but rather governs the operation of authority, how it is given and how it is received.

The relationship isn’t of master and servant, but and .

When the Christian wife submits to Christ and lets Him be the Lord of her life, she will have no problem submitting to her husband.

When you love God with all your heart, the Holy Spirit will work through you for submission.

The husband is also to submit to Christ for this to work in perfect harmony.

It is a team effort, equal effort.

Headship is not dictatorship.

Just because you are the head over someone, doesn’t give you the right to dictate them.

Unless the couple prays together and sincerely seeks God’s will in His Word, their marriage begins on a weak foundation.

The couple that together together.

This is the only way for both husband and wife to remain in the Holy Spirit, while both submitting to the Lord.

IV. Conclusion

All this begins with both husband and wife submitting to the Lord individually. Submitting to each other will make all this work in harmony. When Jesus washed the disciples feet, it was a picture of the greatest using His authority to build people up , and not like the Pharisees , who built their authority up to make them important. I want to leave you with one verse to memorize this week. Next Sunday, recite the verse to me. Matthew 23:11 “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.”