Compiled by: Herman Abrahams (Pastor), Cornerstone Faith Ministries, P.O. Box 740, Westridge 7802, Rep. of South Africa.
E-Mail: Mentorship2003@yahoo.co.uk
Note to the reader:
If you have been blessed with this sermon compilation, I would be honoured to receive an e-mail from you merely telling me where in the world you are based- I do not need any other information. This is merely so that I can have the pleasure, and give thanks to Almighty God, that all over the globe the ministry which he has entrusted to me, is blessing the body of Christ and helping to extend the Kingdom of God.
Thank you. Herman Abrahams, Cape Town, South Africa.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DOES SUBMISSION IMPLY INFERIORITY?
“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 Saviour. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything”. (Eph 5: 22-24)
DIFFERENT and EQUAL
Two Quotations:
1. “If woman must of necessity be SUBORDINATE, she must of necessity be inferior”. (Virginia B. Mollenkott).*
2. “The headship of the man is not a question of value, dignity or honour, but of ORDER”. (Karl Barth)**
* and ** (As quoted by Larry & Nordis Christenson in “The Christian Couple”)
Which one is right?
a) Does headship by its very nature imply SUPERIORITY, and submission INFERIORITY?
b) Or is headship and submission simply a distinction of functions, two DIFFERENT KINDS OF RESPONSIBILITIES which God has ordered for men and women?
The way we answer this question will shape our understanding and experience of the husband -wife relationship. (The very thought of being “ submissive to” or “being subject to” one’s husband will stir up negative feelings within many capable and intelligent women who think of it in terms of being an ACTIVE, INSIGNIFICANT DOORMAT).
There is lots of misunderstanding regarding this issue because society sees headship in a fundamentally different way than the Bible does. The distinctiveness of the biblical concept of headship can be seen most clearly in the way it handles TWO SPECIFIC ISSUES:
1. The STATUS of the wife i.e. how is a wife regarded who is “subject to her husband?
2. The CONDUCT of the husband - how does a husband who is head of the home “exercise that headship?”
1. The Status of the Wife
“St. Paul, you say that a wife should be subject to her husband. Doesn’t that mean that she is Inferior to him? Some people draw that conclusion from the Apostle’s words, for they are convinced that no other conclusion is possible. “Subordination by its very nature implies inferiority” - DOES THE BIBLE TEACH THIS?
A) A Relationship Parallel
1) God the Son (Jesus) is subject to the Father.
“...the Son can do nothing of his own accord but only what he sees the Father doing.” (Jn 5:19) This subjection was not limited to his days on earth. It is part of the eternal relationship between the father and Son.
a) Active headship of the Father both before and after the incarnation is evident in the opening verses of Hebrews: “In the last days God has spoken to us by His Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe” (Heb 1:2).
b) 1 Cor 15:28 looks forward to the new age in which all things, including the Son shall be subject to God the Father: 28 When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
c) Speaking of the present relationship between the Father and Son, the Apostle Paul says, “The head of Christ is God” (1 Cor 11.3).
FROM ETERNITY TO ETERNITY THE SON IS NECESSARILY SUBJECT TO THE FATHER.
2) Yet the Son is not inferior to the Father.
Jesus said, ‘I and the Father are one” (Jn 10:30) and “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9) Jesus was in the very nature God (Phil 2:6) The teaching of the church through the centuries has been that the Son is equal to the Father GOD OF GOD, LIGHT OF LIGHT, VERY GOD OF VERY GOD. SUBJECT TO GOD...EQUAL TO GOD.... That is Christ’s’ relationship to the Father. THE SUBORDINATION CARRIES WITH IT NO HINT OF INFERIORITY.
B) It is possible for Subordination Among Equals to exist
1) Christ is equal to God yet subject to God.
2) Believers who are equal to one another, “fellow citizens with the saints” are admonished to be “subject to one another” (Eph 2:19, 5:21).
3) Believers who are all brothers (Matt: 23:8) are called to “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority” (Heb 13:7)
4) “...in humility consider others better than yourselves.” (Phil 2:3) Not that everyone else is superior or more talented, but that Christian love sees others as worthy of preferential treatment.
C) The Bible makes no distinction between men and women as to Status
1) “In Christ there is no male or female (Gal 3:28)
2) They are “joint - heirs of the grace of life” (1Peter 3:7) Women receive the saving grace of God on equal terms with men - THEY PARTICIPATE IN THE SAME BAPTISM
D) The Relationship of Husband and Wife is Analogous to that of THE FATHER AND THE SON
( in regard to the Question of STATUS AND SUBORDI -NATION)
The Apostle Paul draws this parallel in 1 Cor 11:3”... the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.”
A wife has the same kind of relationship with her husband that Christ has with God: SHE IS EQUAL TO HER HUSBAND; SHE IS SUBJECT TO HER HUSBAND.
E) The Headship of the Husband and the Submission of the Wife is Assumed throughout Scripture as the Normal and Proper order of things.
1) Gen. 1.27 describes the creation of man as “male and female” bestowing equal dignity on man and woman (BOTH ARE CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD).
2) Gen 2 going into greater detail, shows God creating woman to be “a helper suitable for him” (Gen 2:18). She is brought to the man AND HE NAMES HER, an act of expressive headship. THERE IS NO HINT that the man, in assuming headship, looks on the woman as INFERIOR. On the contrary, HE IS DELIGHTED WITH THE SENSE OF UNITY AND EQUALITY which he has with her. “This is at last bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (Gen 2:23),
3) In Gen 3 we see “the Fall”, where the man and woman disobey God and begin to reap the consequences of their sin. In speaking to the woman, God says, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. (Gen. 3:16)”
F). Marriage is Created and Structure by God
4) Marriage is divinely instituted. It is CREATED and STRUCTURED by God. The relationship of Husband and wife is modelled upon the relationship of Christ and the church.
Nothing could make the case for headship more clear: “Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything” (Eph 5:24). AS LITTLE AS THE CHURCH CAN SET ASIDE THE HEADSHIP OF CHRIST, CAN WE SET ASIDE THE HEADSHIP OF THE HUSBAND. It is not a mere cultural phenomenon. It has its model and source in an eternal reality- the love of Christ for his bride, the Church. Far from being degrading, the rule of Christ over the Church is the Church’s glory. God did not give this law of wives being submissive to their husbands because he had a grudge against women: on the contrary, he established this order for the protection of women and the harmony of the home. SUBMISSION MEANS to yield HUMBLE and INTELLIGENT OBEDIENCE to an ordained power of authority.
2. The Conduct of the Husband
Jesus said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10 42-44)
Headship is a means of serving others. That is the essential function. One who exercises headship must understand it first of all as a position from which to serve.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN that one in headship is under the authority of those he serves and takes orders from them. On the contrary, the particular kind of service he gives them is the SERVICE OF LEADERSHIP.
As head pf the home, a husband serves his family by giving them INTELLIGENT, SENSITIVE AND GODLY LEADERSHIP. His leadership is not meant for DOMINEERING AND STIFLING HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN, BUT FOR LEADING, PROTECTING, PROVIDING AND CARING FOR THEM. ***
Bibliography: The Christian Couple by Larry & Nordis Christenson
