Touchy Topic

There are things that are known and discussed with the Christian Church that should not be discussed in the same manner with those outside of it.  One of these is with regards to the marriage relationship and the roles that God has set in place within it.

To illustrate, we look at one word:  submit.


In our current culture, the word submit is not a good thing.  It brings to mind images of cruel, self serving domination. The idea of being pushed down and made to not only feel but be lesser. That is basically how the word is understood and what it means in our day in age.  However, that is not what it always meant nor is it what it means to God.

God says that the wife is to submit to her husband just as the Church submits to Christ (Eph.5).

For those outside of the Church, this is insanity. The reason though, is that they have no frame of reference.  They do not know about submitting to Christ because they never have, therefore it is their version of submission which they use to understand the verse.  And we cannot explain it to them in enough accuracy for them to truly understand - after all, it was God who had to explain to us how we are to submit to Christ.

Another problem comes up in the form of whom the Scripture is talking to. The verse is addressed to believers. Not those outside the Church nor people who go to church twice a year or on Sundays or whose parents went to whatever church. No, it is aimed at those who truly follow Christ - people who truly understand submission as a loving thing not a domination thing. It is also aimed at those men who know how to do this - they understand their responsibility as well in this.  Same word, two totally different meanings. 

It is unfortunate that so many do know the verse though, for many who do not follow Him have used that verse as an excuse to dominate another person.  This obviously creates even more problems with making things understood, when their experiences back up the worldly definition as opposed to the Biblical ideals.

Another unfortunate part is that many who use that verse in a way it was not intended, tend to forget how the husband is supposed to treat and react to the wife, or they just never knew about that part of the Scripture.

So you can see fairly easily that there is a massive difference between how those within and those outside of the Church understand the words in Ephesians 5:21 -31, therefore, caution should be taken and approach modified slightly, when discussing matters of this nature outside of the Body.