Tom

OK, lets look at the flow of the passage:

Ephesians 5: 22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

NOTE THAT SUBMISSION BOTH PRECEDES AND FOLLOWS HEADSHIP IN THIS SCRIPTURE!! How much more plain must God be?

The scripture plainly links submission to headship in this passage.

In another passage dealing with headship, along with the original issue of this post which was “covering”:

NRS 1 Corinthians 11:3 But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the husband is the head of his wife, and God is the head of Christ. 4 Any man who prays or prophesies with something on his head disgraces his head, 5 but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled disgraces her head– it is one and the same thing as having her head shaved. 6 For if a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut off her hair; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or to be shaved, she should wear a veil. 7 For a man ought not to have his head veiled, since he is the image and reflection of God; but woman is the reflection of man. 8 Indeed, man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9 Neither was man created for the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man. 10 For this reason a woman ought to have [a symbol] of authority on her head, because of the angels.

The New Revised Standard does the best job of literally translating the phrases that are commonly all rendered “covering”. Note that at the beginning in verse 3 we have the headship. And at the end the woman is to have–literally–“authority on her head”. Headship and authority are tied together.

God is the head of Christ. What qualified Jesus to be our Savior, the spotless Lamb of God? Complete, perfect OBEDIENCE to the Father. In fact, it is the one thing he learned: “KJV Hebrews 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered”. He said, “I do always those things I see with my Father”, and again, “NIV John 12:49 For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it”, and again, “KJV John 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me”

Christ is the head of the male. And what must we men do? To be led by Him. To be obedient to Him. To no do our will, but His. We are directly answerable to Jesus–especially for the way we treat those women of whom we are the head, as we are commanded in that very passage in Ephesians–“husbands, love your wives”.

However, back to the original subject of the post–the male is NOT the “covering” for the female. And he is NOT the “priest of the home”. He IS the head of the woman, he IS the boss of the home. But he had better use that authority under submission to his head, the Lord Jesus. We males need to consider the qualification for bishops in Titus, “not self willed, not soon angry”. And that’s just for starters. Take a look at the list of requirements for being a male who acts acceptably in the sight of God, in Timothy and Titus. Isn’t it interesting how much longer they are than the “lady lists” in Titus, Ephesians, and elsewhere? In fact its the same in Ephesians–the weight of responsibility for godly living lies heavily upon the one in authority–“to whom much is given, much is required”.

Don’t let the abuse of power define how the Bible is intepreted. In fact, don’t let the abuse of any doctrine lead you away from it. Satan is constantly perverting what is good, and often is successful in giving what is good a bad name. NKJ Romans 2:24 For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” as it is written.