Spirit-Filled Wives Series

Scripture

Today we continue our sermon series in Ephesians 5:21-6:9 that I am calling, “Focus on the Family.”

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians explains what God has done in Christ—and continues to do today through the Holy Spirit—in building a new society (of Christians) in the midst of the old society (of non-Christians). Paul describes our union with Christ, and the resulting unity of all Christians, regardless of ethnicity, gender, age, background, or status.

The section of Paul’s letter we are studying in this sermon series is Ephesians 5:21-6:9. The governing command is really back in Ephesians 5:18, where Paul instructed Christians to “be filled with the Spirit.” Then Paul said being filled with the Spirit would have four consequences, or evidences (that correspond to the four participles in verses 19-21): fellowship (5:19a), worship (5:19b), gratitude (5:20), and submission (5:21).

This final consequence, or evidence, of submission (in Ephesians 5:21) then became for Paul the command for all that follows. Paul’s command of mutual submission is in fact the necessary foundation for the three sets of relationships (of wives and husbands, children and parents, and bondservants and masters) in Ephesians 5:22-6:9.

In the next few weeks we will examine these three sets of relationships. Today, however, we begin by examining Paul’s direction to Spirit-filled wives.

Let’s read about Spirit-filled wives in Ephesians 5:22-24, although for the sake of context, I shall also read verses 18b and 21:

18 …be filled with the Spirit,…21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. (Ephesians 5:22-24)

Introduction

In his commentary on Ephesians, Bryan Chapell tells the story about when Sarah Ferguson (Fergie) married Britain’s Prince Andrew. The world marveled at the days of pageantry surrounding the wedding. But what more remember is the moment when their vows were taken. Fergie was supposed to say to her groom, “I promise to love, honor, and obey….” She did say the phrase, but not without a sideways grin at the prince that said much more. Her look could hardly have articulated more clearly the new duchess’s thought: “You’ve got to be kidding. Nobody really believes those anachronisms about wifely submission anymore, and you had better not!”

Fergie said her vows, but her entire demeanor communicated that she did not mean what she said. Sadly, her attitude is common today of many, if not most, in our western culture.

Martin Luther called Ephesians 5:21-6:9 Paul’s Ephesian Haustafeln (which literally means “house table”). It indicates the household table of duties for three sets of relationships: wives and husbands (5:22-33), children and parents (6:1-4), and bondservants and masters (6:5-9). Today, I want to examine the household table of duties for wives (5:22-24).

Lesson

The submission of wives in Ephesians 5:22-24 shows us Spirit-filled wives.

Let’s use the following outline:?

1. The Duty of Submission (5:22a)

2. The Motive for Submission (5:22b)

3. The Rationale for Submission (5:23)

4. The Model of Submission (5:24)

I. The Duty of Submission (5:22a)

First, let’s look at the duty of submission.

Paul said in verse 22a, “Wives, submit to your own husbands.” The word “submit” is not actually in the text of verse 22a. The Greek text literally reads, “Wives, to your own husbands.” The verb, “submit,” is supplied from verse 21, where Paul said, “…submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” So, in God’s new society, the duty of Christian wives, who are filled with the Spirit, is as Paul said, “Wives, submit to your own husbands.”

Now, I would like to note several points.

First, Paul’s instruction is given to Christians living in God’s new society. Non-Christians do not obey what God has commanded Christians to do. The first thing a non-Christian must do is repent of his or her sin and trust in Jesus. In other words, God’s primary command to non-Christians is to become Christians. Only then will they begin to obey God’s commands. So, Paul’s household table of duties is intended to guide Christians in what God expects of them in God’s new society.

Second, Paul’s instruction to wives has been perverted and abused by sinful men. In fact, I would say that the traditional statement of the vow by the wife to “promise to love, honor, and obey” is in fact incorrect. Paul does not tell wives to obey their husbands. In his household table of duties, children and bondservants are commanded to obey their parents and masters (6:1; 6:5). However, wives are not commanded to obey, but rather to submit to their own husbands. Sadly, far too many sinful husbands have abused this text. They order and boss their wives around as if they are children or, worse, bondservants, to do their every bidding. And that is a wicked perversion of this glorious text. As Kent Hughes says, “God’s holy Word in the hands of a religious fool can do immense harm.”