gengwall

Holly – “I’m sorry if my questions seem obvious and repetitive but I just have to ask until I can get my head around some of the answers. 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?”

Keep in mind that wives are also never instructed in scripture to agape their husbands, yet we know they should and do. In Eph 5, as Cheryl points out, Paul is addressing each gender with the parts of Christian conduct that are most difficult for that gender within the relationship of marriage. Just because Paul doesn’t tell husbands to submit to their wives doesn’t exempt husbands from submission. It simply means that the mutual submission Paul describes in Eph 5:21 will be particularly hard to live out when it involves wives submitting to their husbands just as the mutual agape all Christians are repeatedly commanded to have for one another will be particularly hard to live out when it involves husbands selflessly loving their wives.