In a class discussion on this passage, my theology teacher (a male) made sure to emphasize that a husband has to love his wife as Christ loved the Church. And how did Christ love the Church? He suffered and died for Her. Then he pointed to the Crucifix and said “If a husband doesn’t look like that, he’s not doing his job right.”
You are correct. But marriages fail at least 50% of the time in modern western society. Maybe there is something to be said for following the ideal set forth in scripture. It is not a one sided directive. It most definitely goes both ways. But I have never heard anyone that has thought the husband’s role needs revision, people only focus on the wife’s role. As a whole, western society has a very screwed up sense of the importance of bowing to authority, obeying anyone, bending your will to anything you don’t think of yourself, and sacrificing for the greater good. Marriages are suffering due to these larger problems, and just as we need this instruction the most, it is rejected outright, deemed anti woman, while only one line says anything to women at all. The majority is telling the husband his job
Yeah, I feel like that is the key here. As a woman I get off much easier than my husband. I feel like the very least I can do is be like Simon the Cyrene and help him out.In a class discussion on this passage, my theology teacher (a male) made sure to emphasize that a husband has to love his wife as Christ loved the Church. And how did Christ love the Church? He suffered and died for Her. Then he pointed to the Crucifix and said “If a husband doesn’t look like that, he’s not doing his job right.”
No pressure for us guys.
You only get that idea if you restrict yourself to the passages about women being submissive to their husbands and read nothing else–like, if you skip the part in John about the washing of the feet at the Last Supper or the stories about when the Apostles showed concern about which of them was the most important. The sporting analogy is a very weak shadow of how mutually sacrificial we Christians ought to be for one another. Nowhere does the New Testament imply that a man who marries ought to go from being concerned about everyone but himself into being a monarch in his own home.
There are many reasons for the failure of marriages. Going back to the past when women were subordinate to men will not truly change things.
A most apt comparison for marriage where the man leads is ballroom dancing. In both endeavors, ideally the man leads but the woman is neither passive nor weak. She does her part. As they say, it takes two to tango.
Not a perfect analogy, but it is very much like that: that is, they are doing something according to their common understanding and according to a structure that is not imposed by either of them. If there are misunderstandings, they refer back both to what each intends and to the nature of the dance itself, which is not arbitrarily made up by the man. The wife follows, but she does so having agreed to what they are doing. His position is not one of domination, but just keeps them from getting tangled up in what they are doing as one. It does not feel at all as if he is “running things” or only looking out for himself. That wouldn’t work!A most apt comparison for marriage where the man leads is ballroom dancing. In both endeavors, ideally the man leads but the woman is neither passive nor weak. She does her part. As they say, it takes two to tango.
The man’s responsibility is to love his wife and the woman’s responsibility is to submit to her husband. Both are called to humility.
Hence the need for humility rightly ordered towards God. Authority and submission should be defined within the context of Christian humility.
It’s an interesting comparison because there are certain situations where a husband is just not as good at leading as the wife.A most apt comparison for marriage where the man leads is ballroom dancing. In both endeavors, ideally the man leads but the woman is neither passive nor weak. She does her part. As they say, it takes two to tango.
The man’s responsibility is to love his wife and the woman’s responsibility is to submit to her husband. Both are called to humility.
No kidding. What Eph 5 tells wives to do is not my concern in the least. I will never be a wife.
I have seen more posts, not only in this forum, but in other Christian forums , on wifely submission. It seems that there are men who think that the command in Ephesians is:
I like this. An interesting way of looking at things.
It seems as if there are few people here who believes people think what is claimed they think in the way its claimed they think those things. If someone comes here looking for a modern concept of women’s empowerment, they may have come to the wrong place. Splitting hairs does no good.
You seem to apply a different meaning to the word subordinate than is actually attributed to the word.
People will twist the Holy Scriptures to justify just about anything. Sadly, this is one of those things some (I repeat some) people do this. Also, what people seem to forget is if the husband or wife is not fulfilling their roles as they should, but the other is, the first is to blame for their actions while the other is not. In other words, a bad husband or wife does not justify the other being bad in return. My godmother was a perfect and beautiful example of this. Her husband was not a good man for many years, but as a direct result of her being the wife she was called to be, he did become a good man and Christian. Had she not been the wife she was called to be, he would never have become a better person.
I think it’s important to at least have the conversation with a spouse when you are sensing this particular disparity in marriage though. When a husband feels that he meets his duties by providing an income and even doing a fair share of work in the home… it is still a slow poison for a woman, not to be cherished and appreciated for the women she is, beyond the services she performs. And a man who can’t complain about the practical good works of his wife… but just doesn’t feel respected for the man he is, will die a slow death as a man inside marriage.
…which directly precedes the verses that others are focusing on here.