dogmadekate

Thank you for posting this. It was very informative. I’ve been struggling with the concept of biblical submission myself and trying to determine what it all means lately. Most blogs I’ve come across have been ones claiming that Paul was telling women to submit to their husbands as a sort of eternal God given mandate placing men in authority over their wives “to keep order”. In other words a “you’re equal but your not” contradiction. When I read the passages in Ephesians it seemed to me as though Paul was telling husbands and wives to submit to each other (v.21) and then going on to correct specific considerations for the culture. He seemed to be telling women to submit to their husbands in a different way than how they were already doing. In other words women were already expected to submit to their husbands and that wasn’t going to change anytime soon. But women were frequently submitting to their husbands because of cultural obligation, Paul was telling them to submit to their husbands out of love giving the Church and it’s relationship to Christ as an example for how they should approach their marriage. Paul then went on to tell husbands to love their wives and elevate them beyond just sexual property. He wanted men to love their wives the way that Christ loved the Church. At the time men typically married for financial or social gain and love was rarely a consideration. So when I read it it seems like Paul’s main message has very little to do with trying to keep “order” in society by keeping women in their place for eternity but instead his concern was trying to put love as a priority in relationships, including marriages.
Perhaps I’m wrong but I was just really glad to see that there are other, well thought out, well researched opinions out there besides just the “submit graciously to your husbands authority” position.