{"id":2601,"date":"2019-07-31T00:27:54","date_gmt":"2019-07-31T00:27:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/?p=2601"},"modified":"2019-08-24T15:44:43","modified_gmt":"2019-08-24T15:44:43","slug":"the-holy-spirit-in-the-church-today-submission-part-ixc-a-study-in-the-book-of-ephesians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/?p=2601","title":{"rendered":"The Holy Spirit in the Church Today – Submission – Part IXC – A Study in the Book of Ephesians"},"content":{"rendered":"

Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Ephesians 5:21<\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The first three or four characteristics of a Spirit filled believer given in verses 19 & 20 of Ephesians 5 are fairly simple to understand.\u00a0 However, the characteristic of submitting to one another raises a question or two.<\/p>\n

How does a husband, who is designated by God to be the spiritual leader in the home, submit to his wife?\u00a0 How does a father submit to his children?\u00a0 How does a boss submit to his employees?\u00a0 The answers are dealt with in the remainder of chapter five and into chapter six of Ephesians.\u00a0 We will examine these in the order that Scripture presents them.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord<\/em> (vs 22).<\/p>\n

Submit in this context is from the Greek word hupeiko<\/em>.\u00a0 Hupo means under and eiko means to yield.\u00a0<\/em> To subject or the word subjection is from hupotasso, a military term – hupo meaning under and tasso meaning to rank under, to arrange.\u00a0<\/em> The word picture heard most often as an illustration of this is that of a knight kneeling before the king with his weapons arranged before him signifying his allegiance and dedication to the king.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Spirit filled believer listed first in this passage of explanation is the wife.\u00a0 This does not indicate that she is being singled out for ill treatment or that she is inferior to her husband.\u00a0 Submission being one of the characteristics of a Spirit filled believer applies to believers in whatever role they find themselves, whether child, parent, husband, employer, etc.\u00a0 \u00a0Being mentioned first may simply mean that the wife’s submission is the most important.\u00a0 Leadership is meaningless without followers.<\/p>\n

Submitting to another does not mean that the one submitting is inferior to the other.\u00a0 The culture takes offence because that is what the culture thinks it means, but Christians are to think biblically.\u00a0 I Corinthians 11:3 says;\u00a0But I would have you know, that\u00a0the\u00a0head\u00a0of every man is\u00a0Christ; and\u00a0the\u00a0head\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0woman is\u00a0the\u00a0man; and\u00a0the\u00a0head\u00a0of\u00a0Christ\u00a0is\u00a0God.<\/em>\u00a0 The head of Christ is God.\u00a0 Does that mean that Christ is inferior to God?\u00a0 Of course not!\u00a0 Jesus Christ is God.\u00a0 The Son is simply carrying out the will of the Father.\u00a0 That is His role.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What does submission look like in a Spirit filled Christian wife?\u00a0 \u00a0Submit yourselves<\/em>\u00a0in the middle or passive voice means to subject oneself, to obey, to be subject to.\u00a0\u00a0This is a willing submission.\u00a0 It is not forced or demanded by the Spirit filled husband.\u00a0 It is voluntary.<\/p>\n

The culture with its mouth agape will pretend that the wife’s role of submission is shocking.\u00a0 Look around you.\u00a0 Every day you and I are required to submit, to subject ourselves, to obey.\u00a0 If you disagree, try telling your boss what you will do and not do tomorrow.\u00a0 Try driving to work in half the time it normally takes.\u00a0 Try telling the traffic cop that you make your own rules.\u00a0 Without submission, yielding and obedience, our society would be in complete chaos.\u00a0 Where there is no order and\/or respect for roles and authority there is chaos.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit is not the author of confusion.<\/strong><\/p>\n

By the way, this role for wives is the remedy for the conflict resulting from the fall of man (man’s disobedience in the Garden).\u00a0 One of the results of the fall is the struggle for control between the husband and wife.\u00a0 God’s solution, the Spirit filled solution, is for the man to assume the leadership role and\u00a0to take the responsibility that goes with it.\u00a0 The wife should support him in that role.<\/p>\n

Subject yourselves unto your own husbands.\u00a0 <\/em>This submission is limited.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Somewhere, sometime, somehow, either the culture or “Christian” men not walking in the Spirit, fomented the idea that\u00a0 the woman’s role is that of submission to all men because women are inferior.\u00a0 The Bible doesn’t teach that women are inferior.\u00a0 They are different from men, but not inferior.\u00a0 The Bible says specifically in verse 22 that this Spirit filled role of submission is to her own husband.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The attitude of this submission is as unto the Lord.\u00a0 The u<\/em>nbelieving wife is incapable of this type of submission because it is made possible only by the Holy Spirit who indwells believers.\u00a0 A Christian wife should meditate on the characteristics of her submission unto the Lord.\u00a0 Thought should be given on how to make these characteristics true of her relationship with her own husband.<\/p>\n

Definitions are taken from Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Note:\u00a0 In light of this teaching on submission, Christian women who are considering marriage should note the seriousness of marrying according to God’s will.\u00a0 An unbeliever cannot be Spirit filled.\u00a0 This submission is produced by the Holy Spirit who indwells believers only.<\/p>\n

If the husband asks the wife to violate a clear command of Scripture, she should respectfully obey God rather than man.\u00a0 <\/em>If the “Christian” husband breaks the law she should call the police.\u00a0 Covering for him for sake of testimony is simply enabling him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Spirit filled submission does not mean the wife should follow the husband into doctrinal heresy.\u00a0 She should stand firm in a respectful way.<\/p>\n

If the husband is involved in activities that bring reproach upon the cause of Christ, the husband should be dealt with according to Matthew 18.\u00a0 He should be held accountable regardless of what position he may occupy in the church, even if he is the pastor.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I Peter 3:7 KJV instructs the husband to give honour unto\u00a0the\u00a0wife, as unto\u00a0the\u00a0weaker\u00a0vessel.\u00a0 <\/em>The word for weaker <\/em>does not mean inferior.\u00a0 It is used in a comparative sense to the husband who, as a general rule, is\u00a0physically stronger and able to provide the protection and security that she deserves.<\/p>\n

…let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Ephesians 5:21 The first three or four characteristics of a Spirit filled believer given in verses 19 & 20 of Ephesians 5 are fairly simple to understand.\u00a0 However, the characteristic of submitting to one another raises a question or two. How … Continue reading The Holy Spirit in the Church Today – Submission – Part IXC – A Study in the Book of Ephesians<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2601"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2601"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2639,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2601\/revisions\/2639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}