Lydia

“It is something God requires of her not me.”

Again, you assume Eph 5:21 does not apply to you as a believer with your wife who is a believer.

Concerning Authority in the Body…

Hebrews 13:17 is badly translated. Mostly by those labouring under the state church structure. If we are to obey leaders as our authorities then I assume, it would be a sin for me to question or dissent from my pastor or elders even if they turn out to be Ted Haggards, Jimmy Swaggerts, Spong or some other like types. Right? If not, why? After all, they would be the authority.

The authority in the Body is Jesus Christ. Elders are SERVANTS as overseers. Who wants to be the greatest in the Kingdom? Jesus answered that…be an authority? No. The first will be last, etc., etc. You guys spend a lot of time on authority when you should be thinking: Lowly Servant.

Authority-Servant. Snap, we tried that with the oxymoron, Servant Leader. A kinder gentler “authority”?

And with all this “authority” in the Body around us that we should obey, why the need for the Holy Spirit? The Counselor. Seems we would never need Him. Just the human authority.

And one question I have for the authority lovers is why aren’t all the letters to the churches written to the authorities in those churches to carry out? Why are they written to the whole church? Who was the “authority” in the church in Corinth? Philippi? Seems if the authority figure were so important, they would be mentioned in each letter.