Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the
Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Submitting yourselves one to
another in the fear of God: Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as
unto the Lord. For the husband is the
head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and He is the
Saviour of the Body. Therefore as the
church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in
everything. Husbands, love your wives,
even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it: That He might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word. That He might present it to Himself a
glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it
should be Holy and without blemish. So
ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but
nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members
of His Body, of His Flesh, and of His Bones.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be
joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak
concerning Christ and the church.
Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as
himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. Ephesians, Chapter 5, verses 20-33.
Ease up, now!
I realize that this appears to be a passage that sets the Women’s
Movement back 100 years, but it’s not!
This passage isn't about women having the right to vote. It’s not about women having equal pay for
equal jobs. This passage is about a
husband and wife being respectful of each other’s needs and treating each other
with the same courtesy and respect that they want. God put man and woman together to support
each other as a UNIT. The marriage wasn't meant for two totally separate entities to be fighting to maintain their
ability to be in control of the other.
When God says that the man is the head of the
household doesn’t mean that the man is supposed to arbitrarily make all the
decisions regardless of his wife’s opinions, or vice versa. If the husband and the wife are to be a UNIT,
it should involve discussions on decisions, being respectful of each person’s
opinion.
If the man is to treat the woman as he would treat
his own body and the woman is to do the same, then that means they should be
respectful of each other in all matters.
A husband or a wife wouldn’t beat up their own body, so they should not
beat up their spouse. A husband or a
wife wouldn’t be calling themselves names or saying put-downs about themselves,
so they shouldn’t do it to their spouse-even if it’s funny. It undermines the marriage.
A husband or a wife wouldn’t be yelling at
themselves, so they shouldn’t do it to their spouse. A husband or a wife wouldn’t deprive
themselves of their basic needs, so they shouldn’t do it to their spouse. A husband or a wife wouldn’t want their
spouse to be unfaithful to them, so they shouldn’t do it to their spouse. A husband or a wife wouldn’t be hateful and
unforgiving to themselves and their own faults, so they shouldn’t do it to
their spouse. This passage has nothing
to do with the Women’s Movement. It has
only to do with the husband and the wife treating each other with the same
respect and support that they would want to get within the marriage.
Here is a related passage:
*And He
answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that He which made them at the
beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave
father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one
flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain,
but one flesh. What therefore God hath
joined together, let not man put asunder.
Matthew, Chapter 19, verses 4-6.
Because this is an example of how I've applied this Bible passage to my life, it doesn't necessarily reflect the whole meaning of the passage.
