Archive for July, 2009

There are certainly few topics in modern Christianity that are more controversial than the role of women in family and society. Furthermore, no element of that controversy is more certain to provoke heated debate than Scripture’s call that women be “submissive” to their husbands.

It is the intent in these next couple articles to aid you in understanding God’s viewpoint of the controversy of submission. We will not shrink from a careful study of the truths contained in Ephesians 5. Instead , we will allow Scripture to speak for itself while endeavoring to take into account the “whole counsel of God”  Acts 20:27, to ensure that the conclusions that are drawn are accurate, precise and honoring to God.

Before we define the term, let’s take time to analyze the roots of the debate and how proper understanding of certain principles can aid us in grasping the beauty of submission.

We will look at some of the causes of the controversy:

1. Subjugation and Abuse. Dr. Brian Chappell, the president of covenant Theological Seminary, had just completed a lecture on the roles of husband and wife when he was approached by professional looking women.  Confident and articulate, she addressed the speaker. “Why is it that you cannot see that by telling wives that they must submit their gifts to the support of their husbands, you make women second class?  I don’t care how nicely you state it and how kind you are trying to be. Once you make women subservient to men, you devalue us and perpetuate our oppression. Somebody must tell you that when you give these talks, you rob women for the dignity God gives them.”

Her concern is echoed by countless numbers of women thought the world. For too long, they cry, women have been controlled, abused, manipulated, and ignored. “It is time for us to rise and take our rightful place in the world, they say.  When one makes a fair appraisal of history, it is difficult for the intellectual-honest person not to agree. Based on men’s behavior toward women throughout the centuries, one could rightly conclude, “You men have been asking for it.

Now you are only suffering the consequences of your choices.”  One could speculate that the feminist movement would have been non-existent had men been the sacrificial, loving leaders God had Called them to be.

Pastor Kirt Eure – GODS VIEW POINT OF THE CONTROVERSY OF SUBMISSION

Mutual Submission

The Key to understanding the roles of headship and mutual submission is found in Ephesians 5:21, ” and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.” Most sermons, books, lectures, and Sunday School lessons omit this small but profoundly important verse in their teaching on the roles of husband and wife.

One of the reasons for its omission is that bible publishers tend to put a paragraph heading in between verses 21 and 22 such as “marriage like Christ and the church,” (new American Standard bible.)  The problem with this is that it gives one the impression that verse 21 is not related to the subsequent verses. The result is quite misleading.

What Paul is saying is that everything that follows verse 21 about the relationship between husband and wife is to be understood and lived out in context of mutual submission; the wife is to be submissive to her husband and the husband is to be submissive to the wife.

Paul wants us to understand the distinctiveness of these roles, not in terms of superior to inferior, but rather in terms of servant to servant, submitter to submitter.

The phrase “be subject” is from a Greek word used in a military sense meaning
to arrange or rank under.”   The essence of this concept is the relinquishing of your rights to another person.  In the context of our study, mutual submission means that the husband is to relinquish his rights to his wife.

James asks us, What is the source of conflicts and quarrels among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? (James 4:1). Most of the statistics listed above are due to men who determine to satisfy their own pleasures at the expense of others.

Pastor Kirt Eure – Mutual Submission

The Shift from an emphasis on religious values to an emphasis on secularism. Twenty years ago most people were religious, and virtually everyone had some kind of church background. Today we cannot assume that everyone we meet has a religious background. For instance, seventy-one percent of the people born after 1965 have had no religious training.

Their parents were the “children of the sixties”  where the predominant philosophy of life was “if it feels good, do it.” Many of these adults have no childhood memory of church attendance because their parents never took them.

Many have never heard The Lord’s Prayer because it was taken out of the schools. They don’t own a Bible and wouldn’t know what to do with it if they did. They don’t understand “Christianese”  or any of the terminology used in the church.  This kind of person thinks church is boring and irrelevant and they can’t imagine why anyone would want to waste time by going to church.

By Pastor Kirt Eure – A Shift From Religious Values To Secularism – Part 2

Check Out Other Articles

Paradigm Shifts What Are They? Part 1

A Paradigm Shift From Family To Media – Part 3