Who's In Charge Here? A Series on Authority
Sunday, January 25, 2004
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My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, Thank You for establishing the relationship of marriage, for the health and welfare of humanity! I praise You that in the design of creation, You established human beings as the “crown” of Your creation, and that men and women would unite as one in marriage. I pray that You will bless the institution of marriage as You have ordained it. I pray also that for those who bear the name of Christian at New Life, and in churches throughout this community, nation and world, that You will undergird marriages with Your blessing and guidance, and those who remain unmarried with faithfulness to You alone. Fill every married person with an extra measure of Your Holy Spirit that they may fulfill their vows, and live in harmony with You and their spouse. All this I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Bible Verses
Ephesians 5:21-33
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. For a man is actually loving himself when he loves his wife. 29No one hates his own body but lovingly cares for it, just as Christ cares for his body, which is the church. 30And we are his body.
31As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” 32This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. 33So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Reflecting on God's Word
What is the first thing you think of when you read the statement “you will submit to one another out of reverence for Christ?”
A Deeper Exploration of God's Word
According to today’s reading what is the relationship of the wife to the husband in marriage? (5:21-24)
What is the relationship of the husband to the wife? (5:25-30)
To what does Paul compare the husband and the wife in marriage? (5:31-33)
Understanding God's Purpose for Us
What role does authority play in marriage according to today’s Scripture?
What would a marriage look like if a couple took the teaching in Ephesians 5:21-33 to heart?
Applying God's Word to Our Purpose
What is the most important single action for you to carry out as a result of reading today’s Scripture?
Thoughts: Submit to One Another...
Look again at Ephesians 5:21, “And further, you will submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Some Bible scholars believe that this statement is the conclusion of Paul’s teaching on being filled with the Holy Spirit, which starts in 5:18. Others believe that it is the beginning of his teaching on marriage in 5:21-33. I believe that it is BOTH. After all, all Christians are to submit to one another out of reverence for Jesus Christ—if we are being filled and led by the Holy Spirit. AND all Christians who are married are to submit to their spouses out of reverence for Christ as well. Submission is not a popular word in our day—nor has it been in ANY day! To submit is to voluntarily (or involuntarily in some cases) put oneself under the authority or power of another. As husbands and wives who have Jesus as Savior and Lord, we are called to submit to Jesus first, and then to one another. In this way the world will see that we are people UNDER Jesus’ authority, and therefore, live lives radically different than those of folks in the world. Submission, as it is used in today’s Scripture is a positive response to a righteous and loving authority!