"Her Children Call Her Blessed"

Being close to Mother's Day, it was kind of fitting for our Bible study group to go off topic, which we are all women and talking is suppose to be our specialty.  For some reason, the discussion moved to why are the men the head of the household and the whole "Wives, submit to your own husbands..." verse which usually gets cut off there.  I know it's something that we all have and continue to struggle with.  I tried to explain as best I could, but it didn't hit me, and I do mean a literal mental slap, until today what the answer was.

First, here is that verse from the Holman Christian Standard Version and a few verses after:

Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is head of the wife as also Christ is head of the church.  He is the Savior of the body.  Now as the church submits to Christ, so wives should [submit] to their husbands in everything.  Ephesians 5:22-24

I would ask you to continue reading until the end of Chapter 5, because these verses only confirmed my mental slap further.

For the husband is head of the wife as also Christ is head of the church.  History has shown that a man's value is above that of a woman's.  But why is that so?  Back in Genesis, we are told that God created man first and then the woman.

Then the Lord God said, It is not good for the man to alone.  I will make a helper who is like him....So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept.  God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place.  Then the Lord God made the rib He had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man.  (HCSB version Genesis 2:18, 21-22)

God had chosen this model from the beginning.  The man is the provider and the woman is the helper. The relationship between Christ and the church in Ephesians, just further gives an example of how we are to treat our spouses.  Genesis is the basic idea of the husband and wife hierarchy, while Ephesians digs deeper into the model and takes it to a deeper, emotional/moral level.

Okay, so what does this all really mean?  It means that God had chosen the man to be the spiritual head of his household from the very beginning when He created Adam.  It also means that God knew that once sin was introduced into the picture, that not only would we need a Way (John 14:6) to Him, in other words salvation and redemption, but that we also would need an uncorrupt model for every aspect of our lives.  Jesus Christ is our Way to salvation and to God.  He is also our model for righteous, moral behaviour.  Jesus Christ is the spiritual head of the church, so to that the man would be for his own family.  Furthermore, as stated in Genesis, as women we are the helpers of our husbands and as such we are to treat him with respect and submit as the church submits to Jesus Christ.

Yes, I used that dreadful word again.  Submit.  I agree that I don't really like the definitions that I found, however, there was one synonym that I could agree with.  To submit, can also mean to agree.  Often we find that when working with other people, we often agree to disagree.  This is how I see the word submit play out in our marriages.

According to Genesis, the woman is man's helper.  Being man's helper means that we, as wives, do play a role in helping our husbands make decisions.  However, it is our husbands that make the final decision.  This doesn't mean that we don't talk about things as husbands and wives.  No, we should discuss, so that our husbands can hear our worries and our fears as well as our praises and joys.  In the end, we are to submit, or agree to disagree, with the final decision.  Also, remember that the man, or our husbands, are held accountable for these decisions. 

Last but not least, I would like to end with this, please read Proverbs 31:10-31.  If  you ever doubt your role or your worth as a wife, these verses will show you that "Her sons rise up and call her blessed.  Her husband also praises her..."  Husbands, honour your wives this Mother's Day by calling her blessed.