The word submission has been given quite a negative taste to it. This is probably due to the fact that many misinterpret the man-made submission and God-intended submission. God does not want women to be servants in our own home. Yet this is what many women think of when they hear the word “submission”. This is not true! What is true, is that there is a hierarchy in the Kingdom of God, which is: Christ – Husband – Wife.
Submission is Referential Fear and Honour
The Bible speaks about this in Ephesians 5:22 – 24 (KJV): ‘’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 savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything’’. Note that it says your own husband, because let’s be honest, we are living in a generation where wives are being submissive to someone else’s husband. But that is a matter for another time. The submission that the Bible is talking about is in regard to referential fear and honour towards the head of the family.
When God created Eve, it was for the purpose of being a helpmate. Eve was supposed to help Adam and follow his lead, because he is the head. We, as (young) women, need to start opening our eyes and understand how God sees a particular hierarchy in the family. If not, we will lack a critical understanding that is needed for a prosperous marriage. Two captains on one ship will not work. One must come under the other, that is the way God ordered it to be.
Submitting to the Right Vision
Being submissive to your husband does not mean that you have to follow him when he goes against the things of God. Let’s get in to this by addressing the story of Sapphira and Ananias (Acts 5:1-11), which teaches us a lot about submission to the right man. Both Sapphira and Ananias connived to deceive the apostles, and eventually they both got killed. My greatest lesson was that the vision of Ananias, as the head, was not a vision that Sapphira should have run with. She did not realize that in time, which led to her demise. Therefore pray that God gives you a man with a God-fearing vision. Because where there is no vision, people die.
If your husband is a God-fearing man, it means that he knows and loves God. With the love of Christ in him, your submission to him will come easy. When we, as women, understand the love of Christ and what God wants of us when we enter into marriage, favour and blessing will follow us.
Let’s help, nourish, uplift and become an intercessor in our own household. We are special in the eyes of God, so let us therefore honour God also in the marriage by honouring our husband.
God bless,
Claudia Baah
Guest Writer
The Purpose Wife 