Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
The foolish is the one who does not understand the command to submit to one another. There was no exception provided. The specific statements made were not stated as reasons that it does not also go the other way.
Besides, it is only the fool who thinks that an environment in which all are commanded to submit to all that there is any one of them who is not required to submit to every one of the others in some aspects. And the way in which we submit to each other is not precisely the same or it would be like the two people standing on opposite sides of a doorway insisting that the other go through first with neither yielding to the other's request, but instead insisting upon being second.
Outside of the extreme situation of servitude and of our submission to God, we all do (or should) submit to the others around us in some things, and find that they submit to us in others. There is no place in which anyone has absolute position above any other in all things.
And that is exactly what you are suggesting (even insisting) when you say that it is foolish for a man to submit to a woman, and especially not his wife. You make it a statement of absolutes and therefore allow for nothing in which the husband should be in submission to his wife.
Now, "lemon" passages notwithstanding, it may be that the Bible actually provides certain ways in which a woman should always be in submission to a man, and more specifically to her husband. But it is not in all ways and in all times. And you will find that you cannot demand submission while simultaneously claiming to love and cherish. To give yourself for her is to submit your life to her. I suspect that those who fight the good fight of "never ever submit to a woman in anything" will not be found stepping in front of the bullet aimed at his wife's heart. That might seem extreme since few of us would quickly make that sacrifice for anyone without a moment of consideration. Or maybe the real evidence is what we do before we think.
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Would you care to
submit to what the experts say?
.
Daniel B. Wallace (professor of New Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary) says this in Greek Grammar: Beyond the Basics, page 659:
"...v 21 is a programmatic statement ("being submissive to one another in the fear of Christ"), applicable to all in the church in a general sense. Only by exegetical gymnastics can it be made directly applicable to both halves of the three groups in 5:22-6:9 (should parents be submissive to children?).... If Jew and Gentile are on equal footing in the body of Christ, does this mean that all social hierarchies are abolished? The answer seems to be a resounding 'No.'"
As Wallace says, your view is one of "exegetical gymnastics". If the command to submit applies to both groups, then it also means that parents submit to children, and masters should submit to slaves, which is just silly.
In regards to whether the husband sometimes submits to the wife, consider carefully what versus 24 says (emphasis mine):
Ephesians 5:24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands
in everything.
It does not say "submit to their husbands in most things, some things, or sometimes". If the wife is in submission to the husband in
everything, then logically there is never an occasion where the wife is not in submission to her husband, nor a time when the man is in submission to his wife.
Your interpretation of submission being a two-way street is untenable when considering all of the evidence. Your view has no divine order, and the divine order is clear for New Testament experts such as D. Wallace.
As D. Wallace writes
"there is a divinely ordained order to things that, if disturbed, could bring ruin."
https://bible.org/question/light-1-t...-over-men-do-y
The divine order is God>man>woman>Satan. This was inverted in the fall to Satan>woman>man>God. Your view is God > (man or woman) > (man or woman) > Satan. Whenever a man submits to the woman he could be unconsciously submitting to the serpent that whispered in her ear. So I fear that an order relation of God>woman>man>Satan is in reality Satan>woman>man>God.
Your view is not one of order but of disorder because you do not specify an order between the man and the woman. When Paul says "submit to your husbands in everything", he is specifying the order of God>man>woman that is supposed to apply 24/7.
There just simply isn't any specific instruction in the bible for the man to submit to the woman.
Consider, that only women were asked to wear head coverings (a symbol of submission), never the man. In other words, the bible specifies a symbol of submission for the woman, but never one for the man.
A very good analysis of head coverings is given here:
https://bible.org/article/what-head-...apply-us-today
This is a good article (written by a woman) about the importance of submission to husbands:
http://equippinggodlywomen.com/marri...ant-heres-why/
The Bible tells us in Ephesians 5:22 to “Submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord.”
It then says again in Colossians 3:18, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fitting in the Lord.”
So, I ask you now, if we can’t submit to our husbands how can we submit to God?