From Dream to Deliverance
Monday, September 13, 2004
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, Today, I pray for husbands and wives everywhere, particularly for those who are followers of Your Son, Jesus. Marriage as an institution is under attack here in America. The “traditional” family is in danger of becoming extinct. I pray that You will fill every husband and every wife anew with Your Holy Spirit right now, that each one will put You first, and then will live in mutual love and submission. I pray for husbands and wives to understand the passage of Scripture we are studying this week and to realize that our first and primary submission is to You! I pray that we will put aside our rights, and understand that when we come under Your authority everything else will fall in its proper place. I pray that You will pour out Your blessing on husbands and wives, and particularly in marriages that are struggling breathe the fresh breath of Your Spirit that You may be glorified, and that the family may flourish. This I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
God's Word For Me Today
Ephesians 5:21-28a; 6:1-4
21And further, you will submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22You wives will submit to your husbands as you do to the Lord. 23For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of his body, the church; he gave his life to be her Savior. 24As the church submits to Christ, so you wives must submit to your husbands in everything.
25And you husbands must love your wives with the same love Christ showed the church. He gave up his life for her 26to make her holy and clean, washed by baptism and God’s word. 27He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. 28In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies.
1Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. 2“Honor your father and mother.” This is the first of the Ten Commandments that ends with a promise. 3And this is the promise: If you honor your father and mother, “you will live a long life, full of blessing.”
4And now a word to you fathers. Don’t make your children angry by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction approved by the Lord.
Reflecting on God’s Word
What do you think of what you hear the word “submit” or “submission”?
A Deeper Exploration of God’s Word
What commands does the Apostle Paul give wives in this passage of Scripture? (5:21-24)
What commands does he give husbands? (5:21-24)
Understanding God’s Word
What do we find out about authority in the family from reading today’s Scripture?
Why do you suppose that Paul chose to address the matter of family authority and structure?
Applying God’s Word to Our Lives
What will you do differently as a result of reading today’s Scripture?
Thoughts...Wives, Submit to Your Husbands...
Perhaps one of the most misunderstood verses of Scripture in the New Testament is Ephesians 5:22. Pastors and husbands have used it down through the centuries to keep their wives in their “proper place,” a place of subservience. But that is not at all what the passage says. It tells wives that they are, indeed, to submit to their husbands—just as if their husbands were the Lord Jesus, Himself! That does seem to indicate that they are in a subservient position. The problem with that understanding though is at least two-fold: first, in Ephesians 5:21, Paul tells us to “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Some have said that Paul is referring not specifically to husbands and wives, but to ALL Christians. Either way it calls for a MUTUAL submission on the part of husbands and wives. The second problem is that to read 5:22 as putting women in a subservient position is to leave out 5:25-28a, which we will emphasize tomorrow. There husbands are commanded to love their wives as Jesus loved the church. In other words, husbands are to serve their wives to the point of death, if necessary. Yes, wives ARE to submit to their husbands in a relationship where the husband is serving the wife with love and sacrifice just like Jesus! Who wouldn’t submit to the leadership of a servant-leader? More to come tomorrow!