Ephesians 5 21 33

Ephesians 5: 21-33 is considered by some in the modern world to be one of the most controversial passages in the New Testament. It deals with the theme of submission; submission to the Church, submission in terms of marriage, and specifically it calls on wives to submit to the authority of their husbands. While some have pulled certain portions of this passage out of context in order to support individual social and political views, a complete reading of this passage will demonstrate that the idea of submission expressed in this passage is a mutual submission that is built on the foundation of love and respect.

Verse 21 specifically states that married people should submit "yourselves one to another in the fear of God." (Campbell 2010) It is very clear that both the husband and the wife are to submit to each other. Exactly how this submission is to be accomplished is explained in the following verse which states "Wives submit your selves to your husbands. As unto the Lord." (Campbell 2010) Wives have a role in a Christian marriage, it is to be submissive to their husbands; obeying and respecting him. Paul demonstrates this relationship in the example of Christ and the Church. Christ is the head of the Church, like the husband is the head of the family. The subjection of the wife to the husband is an worldly reflection of the spiritual relationship between the Church and Christ. (Peake 2001) Christ's relationship with the Church is a loving and caring relationship, not a controlling and disrespectful one. As the Church must submit to the authority of Christ, so too must a wife submit to the authority of the husband. (Mays 1988)

While it is the wife's duty to submit to her husband, it is also the duty of the husband to submit to his wife. This does not mean that the wife becomes head of the family, instead it means that the husband must act in accordance with the best interests of his wife. "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it." (Campbell 2010) Husbands are instructed that their submission to their wives requires a purity of body and spirit. This passage is often interpreted to mean that husbands should not engage in extramarital sexual relationships, which Paul seems to indicate causes "blemishes." Husbands should present themselves to their wives in a pure state, as Christ presented himself to the Church.

Husbands are also instructed to "love their wives as their own bodies," (Campbell 2010) indicating that a husband should treat his wife with the care and respect that he would reserve for himself. Paul explains that all people have a natural love for one's self, and that people do not purposely harm one's self. As the Church and Christ are one in the same, through the union which is represented by marriage, so to is a husband and wife. The husband and wife are joined into one flesh, and, because no one should want to harm their own flesh, no husband should want to hurt his wife. In treating a wife without respect, a husband harms her and thus harms himself in turn.

This joining together of Christ and the Church, represented through marriage, is what Paul calls the "Great Mystery" (Campbell 2010) While it may be difficult for human beings to fully understand how the Church is subservient to Christ in the heavenly sphere, it is possible to re-enact this relationship on Earth through the sanctity of marriage. That is the final instruction from Paul, "Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband."