Lessons for Women from God’s Word
A Wise Woman Lesson #10 Submission (Part A)
It is our goal, through these studies, to become women who are godly, wise, and virtuous. We have learned that God gave the woman the role of being a helper for her husband. That is why He created her. He knew that man needed a helper. This God-given role is not a demeaning role, but a grand, dignified, and noble role, a role that only the woman can fulfill. A woman who fulfills this role willingly and joyfully not only is a crown to her husband but also brings great joy and glory to the God who created her. She was also created to be her husband’s completer–they were to become one flesh. And she is to be his companion, walking beside him, enjoying fellowship with him, knowing the security of being under his protection and care. Only a woman who loves the Lord with all her heart and soul and strength and mind, giving Him first place in her life, can successfully fulfill the purpose for which God designed her.
Secondly, we learned that a woman is to love her husband. She is to choose to love him, to show him affection in obedience to God. As she makes that choice, her feelings of affection for him will grow and bring forth fruit in the marriage relationship. Making the choice to love him and promote his happiness will result in acts of kindness as well as an attitude of benevolence. The characteristics of charity, as seen in I Corinthians chapter 13, will be manifest in the life of the godly woman.
Another very important characteristic of a godly woman, which we will begin to study in this lesson, is submission, accepting God’s design for order in the marriage relationship.
Submission–the Biblical Command
“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.” (Ephesians 5:22-24)
“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.” (Colossians 3:18)
I Peter 3:1 says, “Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives.”
It is the husband’s God-given role to rule over the wife. (Genesis 3:16) We saw in Ephesians 5:23 that God ordained the husband to be the head of the wife. However, it is the wife’s responsibility to submit herself unto her husband. See again the verses above.
In I Timothy 2:11-14, we are told “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” In creation, Adam was the one first formed by God. In transgression (the fall), Eve was the one deceived by Satan. Therefore God made man the head of the home with authority over the woman.
Nowhere does God command the man to make the wife submit. He is not told to beat her into subjection. He is not told to control her by fear. He is never told anywhere in God’s Word to force his wife submit to him. He is told to love her and to rule over her. The key word in the above verses is “yourself.” The woman is told to submit herself. And there are no conditions. She is not told to submit herself if…. Whether her husband is saved or unsaved, she is to submit. Whether he is gentle and kind or harsh and abusive, she is to submit. And it is to be done as unto the Lord. It is to be done because it is fit in the Lord. (Colossians 3:18) According to Webster’s Dictionary, fit means “conformed to a standard of duty, propriety, or taste; convenient; meet, becoming, proper.” It is proper for you and me as women to submit to our husbands. This also is a choice that we must make.
Submission–the Definition
If submission is so important, then we need to determine, first of all, just what submission means. According to Webster’s Dictionary, submission is “the act of yielding to power or authority; surrender of the person and power to the control or government of another; obedience; compliance; acknowledgement of inferiority or dependence; humble or suppliant behavior; meekness; resignation.” The idea of humbleness and meekness accompanying true submission is brought out in James 4:6,7, which says, “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
And similarly in I Peter 5:5, we read, “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”
A similar word, used in the verses we read, is “subjection.” In Ephesians 5:24, we are told to be subject to our husbands just as the church is subject to Christ. This is the same Greek word as “submit” in verse 22. To be subject unto means “to be subordinate, to be under obedience, to submit oneself to.” Subjection is “the state of being subject, or under the power, control, and government of another; a state of obedience or submissiveness.” Subjection is a Greek military term meaning “to arrange [troop divisions] in a military fashion under the command of a leader.” In non-military use it was “a voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming responsibility, and carrying a burden.”* Ladies, this should be our attitude in our relationship with our husbands–we should put ourselves in subjection under them, submit ourselves to their control, yield ourselves to their admonition or advice, and obey them. Applying the lesson: With God’s help, make that choice to submit to those who are in authority over you. Let your attitude of submission manifest meekness and humility and be done as unto the Lord, with the knowledge that it is becoming to a godly woman, and that you are bringing glory to God in so doing. In the next lesson, we will talk about the “out-working” of this characteristic in our lives and in our relationship with our husbands.
Memorize Ephesians 5:22-24
*from Strong’s Concordance, The Bible Collection Suite
(All Scripture verses quoted from KJV)
written by Mrs. Y submitted by Sue C. by permission from Mrs. Y
