That evil word submit - part 1

 

Submit. Submission. Oh how the flesh recoils! Here in the West this is a bad word, especially when it is linked to “wives”. A couple of years ago I was in a conversation about Christianity with a man who made it clear that one of the most objectionable aspects of Christianity was any form of “wives submit to your husbands." Earlier this year I came across a community calling themselves “Unfundamentalist Christians”. Their statement of faith includes this:

5. God does not want any woman automatically “submitting” to her husband or to anyone else.

The animosity toward submission is very strong. When I became a Christian it was common for pastors and teachers to teach on the home, including the submission of the wife. Today, while we have almost an overload on relationships, we rarely hear anything about this. This is one of the reasons people reject the faith, “It’s anti-women.” Pastors today either shy away from this or explain it away. Of course, the liberal response is to simply reject this and the rest of biblical teaching on women as antiquated and fully embrace feminism

I thought I would take a broad look at one passage where the dreaded phrase occurs and seek to gain an insight into what the Apostle, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says.

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

The Bible is not a collection of unrelated texts like a phonebook, or a catalogue. Every verse has a context and we gain a better understanding of what is written when we consider the context. Ephesians is an epistle, a letter, written by Paul, and it has a flow of thought. It can be divided into three sections: chapters 1-3, 4:1-6:9, and 6:10-24. The verse before us, 5:22, is found in the second section. The key word in 4:1-6:9 is walk. He uses it five times:

4:1 I...beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
4:17 ...walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us...
5:8 ...walk as children of light:
5:15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise

Our verse occurs under this last walk. Paul sets forth his thought very clearly so we need to follow it. Circumspectly is a fun word, isn’t it? One that we use every day. Ha! Not really! It means correctly, accurately, consistently, in other words, live the Gospel... "As you embrace all its promises, be careful also to embrace all its precepts..."  (Adam Clarke).

You can bet this person is crossing circumspectly!

Here’s how Paul lays out verses 15-18

See that ye walk circumspectly
redeeming the time
understanding what the will of the Lord is
AND
do not be drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit
speaking to yourselves
singing and making melody in your heart
giving thanks to God
submitting to one another

What’s up with some words being set apart by indentation? This shows us the relationship of the phrases to each other. See that ye walk is an imperative, a command, redeeming and understanding are participles. All that means is they tell us how we walk circumspectly, how we are careful to live out the gospel. We do it by redeeming the time and understanding what the will of God is. The AND indicates that there is another imperative, actually two, don’t be drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit. So the fifth walk is walk circumspectly and be filled with the Spirit.

You may be thinking, “C’mon, get to the ‘wives submit’ part.” I’m getting there. It is a part of walking accurately and being filled with the Spirit. He has explained how we walk circumspectly: redeeming the time and understanding God’s will; he now explains what it looks like to be filled with the Spirit:

18  And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
19  Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
20  Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
21  Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

All those –ing words are participles and they explain be filled with the Spirit. This is what the Spirit-filled person and church looks like: speaking, singing, giving thanks, submitting. Have you been filled with the Spirit? Is your church a Spirit-filled church? Here’s a test – are you speaking, singing, giving thanks, and submitting? This is not only the evidence of being full of the Spirit, these are also the conditions for staying full of the Spirit. When you are filled with the Spirit this is what you will do and this is what you do to stay full.

Each one is rich but I am concerned with the last one, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Even though the flesh recoils when confronted with “submitting” this is an important part of the spiritual life. Here we are to submit to each other, and this is what it looks like: If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.  Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Philippians 2:1-4

Amen. This is not scary, it’s peaceful. Rather than a war of “my way vs thy way” or “me vs thee” there is a sweet harmony. There is a beauty in submission. Behind strife is an unbent I, determined to have its way. And when two unbent I meet, there is a clash. This is the root of the problem we have with God. He says, “I say” and we reply, “No, no, no, I say.” The Gospel deals with this unbent I. We must repent and believe in Jesus, and when we are born again he goes to work on other areas of our lives marked by this unbent I: we submit to the Lord, we submit to the government, we submit to the elders, and we submit one to another.

This is the context, the background. My next post will take up the verse.