Lord of the Rings>Submit or Sub-me?

Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. (Ephesians 5:22-23)

Submit comes from a Greek word that means "to yield to authority."

The reason so many people have such a problem with submission in marriage is that they have a misconception of the concept. The common view of submission is that of the husband spread out in a recliner while his wife serves as a submissive slave, doing all the work.

Nothing could be further from biblical truth. Look at the preceding verse. All believers are to be "submitting to one another." We are to willingly give up our rights, our possessions, our time, our energy to help, love, and encourage each other. In that sense, husbands also submit to wives.

Here's what biblical submission does mean: It means God has an order in the family. In the military, there are people with different ranks, but they are all equally valuable. Still, some has to make the decisions. There has to be some element of authority, or there will be complete chaos.

And here's what biblical submission does not mean: It doesn’t mean that women are inferior to men. Note that she is to submit to her own husband. God didn’t say that every woman should submit to every man. Women are not inferior to men.

Submission does not devalue a woman. Women are special to God. That’s why Jesus did so much to raise the worth of a woman in the eyes of society.

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