June 13-14 - Ephesians 5:22a

submit yourselves

Ephesians 5:22

^NIV

 

Do you know what one of the worst words in the world is? Submission.

 

The first dictionary definition that I read of submission calls it a “yielding to a superior force.” ^{Oxford Dictionaries}

 

Downtrodden armies surrender in this way to forceful and superior foes. They have no choice but to yield.

 

Slaves are also imprisoned by forceful and superior foes. They have no choice but to yield.

 

Powerless victims are abused by dark forces too. Yielding often seems a sad and violent inevitability.

 

In a sinful world, that’s what “submission” means, right? Submission is being defeated by a violent and angry foe.

 

Is that how you view submission?

 

Is your impression of yielding seen through the eyes of sin?

 

In our sin-saturated world, it’s hard to view anything except through the cloudy and crimson lenses of sin. Therefore, we must look at the Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – to see a glimpse of true and eternal relationships before sin could cloud our human vision.

 

Therefore, we look to Jesus to see how he defined his relationship with God in Heaven. What was Jesus’ role on earth? He said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me.” In other words, Jesus is submissive to the will of God in Heaven.

 

Indeed, it is Jesus himself who intentionally adopts the titles of “Father” and “Son” to describe his relationship with the first person of the Trinity. It’s an intentionally submitted and obedient term that Jesus chooses.

 

This is why I prefer the second definition I found of “submission.” From Miriam-Webster we learn that “submission” is “the state of being obedient.” It is “the act of accepting the authority … of someone else.”

 

If “submission” stems from manipulation, control, belittling, and force, then some of the Bible is offensive and oppressive. (That’s what I was taught when I was young. It was said that the Apostle Paul, who wrote today’s verse, “hated women.” The mantra was, “How dare he say that women ought to submit?”)

 

Let me ask you a question: Do you think that the Apostle Paul is advocating a sinful definition to create a more sinful future? Or do you think he’s pointing to God-the-Father and Jesus-the-Son as a model for a more life-giving future? Do you think, indeed, that we are pointed to the only relationship that is eternally “love without end, Amen”?

 

Let’s look at that!

 

Our Scripture for today is barely a fragment of a longer paragraph and deeper thought.  It’s out-of-context, therefore.

 

The full verse says, “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.” But even that is out of context.

 

Our goal for the next few days is to put this passage back into context … to help us understand God’s plan for men and women in marriage … and to allow us to discover the kind of love that is less tainted by sin, division, abuse, power, and pain.

 

Question: How do you really define “submission”?

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who needs

to submit continually more

to God-the-Father