Cheryl Schatz

Holly,
You said:

I realise that in Eph 5 all Christians are taught to be in submission to one another which would include a husband and wife relationship, but I still wonder how come it is that there are at least two places where a wife is directly told to be in submission, or obedience, to her husband, while there is never the same clear-cut directive for a husband to be in submission to, or obedient to, his wife?

I believe that Christianity freed these women from the cultural mandate to obey their husbands with their husbands as masters. However in Christianity our character is to be modeled after Christ so submission with a willing spirit in love is the Christ-like way. This is unlike the cultural obedience that was more slave-like than anything. But to women who are freed from the oppression of male-dominated mastery, they may not feel like they want to act in submission to their husbands.

I believe that the Bible stresses submission to women in marriage since it would be easy for women to think that they are to submit to the body but don’t have to submit to their husbands since they are now free. Free women need to be reminded that they are slaves to Christ and the highest form of acting out that position is through submission in love even to their former husband-masters. Think about one of these women who has received freedom in Christ. She knows that her husband is not to be her boss or her master as she has one Master – the Lord Jesus. With that new found freedom, how easy is it to accept submission to her husband as a Christian? If the Bible didn’t stress her submission, I think these women would believe that there was no need for submission in marriage. And because many women were abused with the absolute domination of their husbands, submission would be an area of weakness for them after experiencing freedom in Christ. Because of this, submission for wives would be a concept to remind women of their obligation in Christ.

Also the Bible shows the area of weakness for husbands. Giving up their selfish lifestyles by putting their wive’s needs and her well-being first would not be natural for a husband in that culture. Husbands reminded to act our their Christianity in a way that they were not naturally inclined before coming to Christ. That culture raised naturally selfish males and the Bible deals with this by telling husbands to act like Christ in giving up of themselves fully for their wives. This is not a weak area for a woman since as a mother she is used to giving up of her own needs for her family. But it is a weak area for a man that makes the instruction of sacrifice especially needed for him.