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"Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own
husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the
church, and gave Himself for it . . . . .".
Some wives do not like the idea of obeying their husbands, but if the husbands give
themselves as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it, wives may be more
willing to `submit' to their husbands. For who could resist a loving husband who
followed Christ in such devotion and care?
Let us mention very briefly other examples of submission:
(a)
Submission to ministers of the gospel (I Cor. 16: 15, 16).
(b)
Submission to one another (Eph. 5: 21).
(c)
Submission of the younger to the elder (I Pet. 5: 5).
If our Christian attitude is to be in line with the teaching of the Word of God, we need
to be humble in mind, and give every possible consideration to others. We cannot insist
on our "rights" but be willing to give up and submit as we seek to know the mind and
will of God.
As a boy Jesus Christ was subject to His parents (Luke 2: 51) and He was an example
to children.
But surely, the finest example of submission is found as we study the life of Christ.
He came down, not to do His will, but the will of the Father (read John 6: 38-40). Even
Christ pleased not Himself, as we read in Romans:
"We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please
ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. For even
Christ pleased not Himself; but as it is written, `the reproaches of them that reproached
thee fell on Me'." (Rom. 15: 1-3).
Paul wrote to the Corinthians:
"Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:
even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many,
that they may be saved" (I Cor. 10: 32, 33).
There is of course a danger if our desire is only to please men; Paul made it clear that
loyalty to the truth came first and before his desire to please men. We find this corrective
in Gal. 1: 9, 10:
"As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you
than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? or
do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ."
The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the will of God, neither
indeed can be (Rom. 8: 7). But we are not "in the flesh" but in the Spirit if the Spirit of
God dwells in us.