RSU 027: Husbands/Wives Biblical Roles Pt. 2

In this episode of The Relationship Success U Podcast we continue to discuss Husbands/Wives biblical roles and responsibilities from the inventor of marriage himself! We talk about the roles ‘head’ and ‘submissive’, which society has deemed as negative connotation.

The Greek word (this is important because this passage was written in Greek and later translated to English) for submission is “hupotasso”, which means “to place or arrange under”. Submission is not blind obedience, neither is it silent suffering. Instead the word defines a voluntary subordination to a recognized authority, in this case the divinely appointed authority of the husband.

Although the wife is responsible for her submission, it is the husband’s responsibility to lead in such a way that makes it reasonable and enjoyable for her to follow.

The Creator of Marriage has a clear order of your relationship:

God is a God of order and has said that man is the head of the house, the woman is to submit to the man, as the man submits to Christ.

Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

William Hendriksen points out that God "... placed ultimate responsibility with respect to the household on the shoulders of the husband . . . The Lord has assigned the wife the duty of obeying her husband yet . . . this obedience must be a voluntary submission on her part, and that only to her own husband, not to every man."

Ephesians 5: 22-33

²² Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing^[b] her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸ In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰ for we are members of his body. ³¹ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”^{[c] 32} This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³ However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Tony Evans defined submitting as “ducking, so God can hit your husband”.

Read Genesis 2: 18-20

¹⁸ The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

¹⁹ Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam^[f] no suitable helper was found.

Your wife is to be your completer, not your competitor!

Matthew 26:39- ³⁹ Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

A great example of Jesus Christ submitting to the will of the Father (placing himself under the authority of) is in this verse. The human side of Christ (remember when Jesus Christ came to earth he took on the form of a man) would have preferred not go through the ordeal of being nailed to and hung on a cross until he died (crucifixion), but even with the horrendous death facing Him, Jesus recognized the position of God the Father and subjected himself to God the Father’s will.

So when it comes to equality, value, and self-worth being at odds with headship and submission, case closed.