Are wives supposed to be submissive to husbands?
There are different scriptures that speak about the wives being submissive to husbands. Paul speaks about it his letter to the Corinthians. It comes back up in 1 Peter. But I am reading through Titus today and this verse made me think.
"These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God."
Titus 2:5 (NLT)
As I thought about this verse, these thoughts came to mind.
What if we think of submissiveness as having the desire to please instead of the obligation to obey? This would mean that a wife would want to do what her husband wanted her to do. Would it not be true that a wife should have this for her husband?
What if we assume that this is written to women because of the time period and how women were looked upon? Could it be that God would have us write today the same such command to the husbands? Should a husband not also have a great desire to please a wife in any way possible (with the exception of ways that lead to sin). Would this not be the makeup of a great relationship? Can you imagine how many fewer divorces there would be if both husband and wife took this submissiveness to mean desire to please instead of obligation to obey?
I'm not trying to rewrite scripture and make these passages mean something that they were not meant to. I do take into account that they were written in a time where in many cases women were not seen as important as men. And they may have meant for the women of the day to be obedient so as not to cause disturbances. But I just wonder that in the whole scheme of things, wouldn't it be better if both husbands and wives placed the other party before themselves? If we would place God first and then the wife (or husband) next in the relationship, then I believe we'd be living the way God would have us.
Just my two cents worth. What'cha think?
In the love of Christ,
greg
posted by Greg Hazelrig @ 1:45 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
These verses have always be a problem in the Domestic Violence arena. Abusers are experts at quoting them as justification for their actions.
That would be a true case of using the Bible in the wrong way to make a point. People can make the Bible say most anything they want if they can only sway people to interpret it incorrectly. Abusers that use it to condone their abuse of anyone obviously don't know anything about the Bible or our loving God or Jesus.
You are right Greg, but unfortunately, this is one of the most misunderstand scriptures in the Christian Bible.
The best example of this scripture that I ever heard was by Adrian Rodgers. He said that a QB is the head of the football team offense when they are on the field. That QB may have a Heisman Trophy winner for a running back who is a much better player than the QB, but the QB is still the head of the team. Same with marriages. The wife may be smarter, quicker, whittier, a better leader and a better Christian. However, when a tie comes in the realationship, the husband should make the leadership decision.
Of course, in a Christian manner, he should be smart enough to know that his wife is better at making that decision and yield to her.
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