Week 47 Ephesians
I usually figure I need to pay attention while I’m reading the bible but in Ephesians I find something I can legitimately disregard. Paul says something directly to – something exclusively for – married women. So I’m exempted. Still…even though it’s not for me I read it: you wives will submit to your husbands as you do to the Lord.
The verse isn’t my worry personally but I recognize it’s a rule that’d be a bit tricky for a wife to manage. We’re here in 21st century Alberta and it’s a cultural law that no woman would ever submit to her husband. I have a hypothetical appreciation of a wife deciding what-do-I-do-with-that?
What’s not so hypothetical for me is when I read a bit farther and Paul follows-up with something for men: you husbands must love your wives with the same love Christ showed the church.
Q: How difficult would it be for a wife to submit to her husband?
A: I’m not sure exactly but I’m guessing its roughly as difficult as it would be for a husband to love his wife the way Christ loved the church.
In the modern world I guess a wife who believes in the Lord would have to decide whether or not to pay any attention to Paul’s submit-to-your-husband idea. And across the gender-divide I figure a guy would be trying to figure if Paul’s love-your-wife-like-Christ-loves-the-church rule is disregardable.
Note: quotes from Ephesians 5:22, 25 (NLT)