EPHESIANS OUTLINE # 32 of 35

The Christian Wife (Eph.5:22-33)

I Introduction

A. One of the chief diseases from which ancient civilizations died was a low view of woman.

1. Even the Jews had a low view of women. Their morning prayer had a line that said;

a. I thank God that I am not a Gentile, slave or a woman

b. In Jewish law she had very few legal rights

c. A husband could divorce his wife for nearly any cause but the wife had no right to

initiate a divorce

2. The position of women in the Greek world was even worse

a. A respectable woman led a sheltered life, she never even appeared at meals on social

occasions. She had her own apartments that none but her husband enter

b. A man found his pleasure and fellowship outside his marriage

c. Socrates said; Is there anyone you talk to less than your wife.

d. The Greek husband expected his wife to run his home, bear his children, but he sought his pleasure and companionship elsewhere

e. There was no legal procedure in divorce, the only security the woman had was that her dowry was returned

3. In Rome the matter was still worse.

a. Seneca writes - women are married to be divorced and divorced to be married.

b. Women dated their years by the number of their husbands.

c. Jerome declared that one woman married her 23rd husband and she was his 21st wife.

d. It was against that bleak background that Paul writes these words to the Ephesians.

e. Paul was not restating commonly held views but he was calling for a new relationship

f. You can see that it is a fact of history that no one in the world owes more to Christ than woman.

4. God calls upon the woman to be submissive to her husband.

a. The reason is God's concern for harmony, peace and unity within the family unit

b. The primary thing a woman should be careful for in the family is this attitude of submission

c. The Greek word for "be subject" means to rank under.

d. It is a military term denoting an attitude toward rank. "An illustration may help at this point.

The idea of leadership or headship stumbles certain people, because they seem to think that's of necessity carries the idea of an inherent and essential inferiority. But this is not so.

This whole notion of the headship of the husband, in the married relationship is comparable in many ways to that of troops to the ir leader. An army would be completely chaotic if each one had the right to decide what is going to be done next.

Think of a number of men On a team playing football or basketball. The first thing they have to do is to appoint a captain. They are not all captains; if they were they would never win a game. The first thing they do is appoint one amongst themselves as a captain. Or imagine a committee being appointed to consider a subject. A number of appointed. The first thing they do is to appoint a chairman. Why? Because you must have some authority.

You cannot transact business unless there is a chair to address, and you have to abide by the ruling of the Chairman. Here again the question of inferiority does not come in. It simply means that in order to do this thing efficiently you must have a leader.

But a still greater argument is found in I Corinthians 11:3 Where we are told that the husband, is the head of the wife, that Christ is the head of the man, and that God is the head of Christ. This is an argument that cannot be disputed. In what sense is God the Head of Christ?

The answer is what we sometimes call the Economic Trinity. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are co-equal and co-eternal. How then can the Father (God) be the head of Christ?

For the purpose of salvation the Son has subordinated Himself to the Father, and the Spirit has subordinated Himself to the Son and to the Father. It is a voluntary subordination in order that salvation may be carried out.

It is essential in the carrying out of the work. The Son said,"Here am I, send Me:' He volunteered. He lays aside this aspect of equality, He becomes a servant of His Father, and the Father sends Him - the Head of Christ is God.

f. The basic problem in our world today is the problem of authority.

g. Our chaos is due to the fact that we have lost respect for authority.

5. Men are often the guilty party in this matter by abrogating their position of authority in the home.

a. Husbands are increasingly turning the discipline of the children over unto the wife.

b. He feels he is too tired - keep the miserable little wretches away from me.

6. The feminist movement is aggressively opposed to this whole idea of submission.

a. Listen to what a Christian woman has to say has to say "Be in subjection. Let no Christian wife shrink from this plain statement, nor from its implications. God is speaking and commanding, and this truth should be as readily and gladly received as any other. Let us divest ourselves of all resentment and rebellion as women, and be open-minded and open

hearted to every line of God's holy Word. We shall see shortly that there is nothing to fear from any husband who lives up to his responsibility. God gives both a sufficient incentive and reason for obedience to this command."

C. The incentive for wifely submission

1. Because the Lord says to do it.

a. You don't accept the headship of your husband because he says to.

b. You do it because the Lord in His Word commands it.

2. Scriptural evidence.

a. Col.3:18 - Wives submit yourselves to your husband because it is fitting to do so.

b. Gen.3:16 - Thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee.

c. I Tim.2:12 - I suffer not a woman to teach not to usurp authority over the man

d. I Peter 3:1 - In the same way you wives be submissive to your own husbands.

e. Its not a human command but a divine command

f. I Cor 11:8 - Man did not originate from woman, but woman from man.

3. The natural relationship of man and woman, is to be reflective of the spiritual relationship of Christ and the church (5:24)

What it means is this: The wife should never be guilty of independent action.

The analogy of the body and the head insists upon that. The business of my body is not to act independently of me. It is I who decide to act with my mind and brains and will. My body is the means through which I express it.

If my body begins to act apart from me, I am suffering from some sort of convulsions. This is exactly what convulsions means; that parts of a man's body are moving in an irrational manner. It is not purposive action; he does not want them to act, but he cannot stop them; they are acting independently of his mind and will. That is chaos, that is convulsion.

As a wife, and in this relationship, you do not act independently of your husband. If you do, it is chaos-it is convulsions.

There is no sense of inferiority suggested by this. The wife is not inferior to her husband; she is different. She has her own peculiar position, full of honor and respect.

That is why the man is told to cherish, nourish, love, and honor his wife.

There is no inferiority involved.

What Paul is teaching is that any Christian woman who realizes this will love to please her husband, to be useful to him, to help him, to aid him, to enable him to function.

She will not cavil at saying "obey" in the marriage service. That is not slavery, that is living as the church does with respect to her Lord; that is manifesting the essential spirit of Christianity.

4. Wives submit yourselves to your own husbands as you would to the Lord.