The Manner and Motive of Submission (Eph. 5:22b-23a)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/14/2019 10:46 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus: “The Manner of Submission”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ephesians 5:22b

 

            Message of the verse:  “as to the Lord.”

 

            It is the manner or the attitude of submission is to be “as to the Lord.”  We are to do everything in obedience to the Lord, and this should also be done first of all for to the glory of the Lord in order to please Him.  MacArthur writes “Those to whom we submit, whether in mutual submission or in response to their functional authority, will often not inspire respect.  Sometimes they will be thoughtless, inconsiderate, abusive, and ungrateful.  But the Spirit-filled believer—in this instance, the wife—submits anyway, because that is the Lord’s will and her submission is to Him.  A wife who properly submits to her husband also submits ‘to the Lord’.  And a wife who does not submit to her husband also does not submit to the Lord.”

 

The Motive of Submission:  (Ephesians 5:23a) “For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church.”

 

            In my Scripture reading for today I was reading from the 11^th and 12^th chapter of 1 Corinthians and in the first part of the 11^th chapter Paul writes things about submission:  “3 But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.”  Paul is talking about the order of things, and states that it was woman to first come out of man, and then after that all men came out of women.  I mentioned this in an earlier SD that in the Godhead there is submission as seen in this section. 

 

            John MacArthur writes “The wife’s supreme motive for submitting to her husband is the fact that he is her functional head in the family, just ‘as Christ also is the head of the Church (cf. 1 Cor. 11:3; Col. 1:18; and see Eph. 1:22-23).  The head gives direction and the body responds.  A physical body that does not respond to the direction of the head is crippled, paralyzed, or spastic.  Likewise, a wife who does not properly respond to the direction of her husband manifests a serious spiritual dysfunction.  On the other hand, a wife who willingly and lovingly responds to her husband’s leadership as to the Lord is an honor to her Lord, her husband, her family, her church and herself.  She is also a beautiful testimony to the Lord before in view of the world around her.”

 

            I mentioned that this would be a rather short SD, but it is packed full of very useful things to think about and to do.  Don’t worry wives the next section is for the husband, right after we do one more sub-section for the wives.

 

The Scripture that goes along with the quotation from Abraham Lincoln is from Proverbs 21:1 “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.”

 

8/14/2019 11:05 AM

PT-6 (and last) "The matter of Submission" (Eph. 5:22a)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/13/2019 10:47 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                          Focus:  PT-6 “The Matter of Submission”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ephesians 5:22a

 

            Message of the verse:  “Wives, be subject to your own husbands,”

 

            We want to continue for at least a little while talking more about the older women who would be examples to the younger women of the church to be submissive to their husbands.  Paul writes the following “older women likewise are to be reverent to their behavior, not malicious gossips, not enslaved to much wine teaching what is good, that they may encourage the young women to live their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure workers at home, kind, being subject [hupotasso] to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be dishonored” (Titus 2:3-5).   As we look at our country today we see that one thing that is lacking is that younger wives should be workers in their homes, taking care of their children, not just taking them to some kind of day care place where they could be taught the ways of the world.  It is no wonder the things that are godly have been falling apart for a long time in our country.  It seemed to start after the Second World War when women had to go to work to help build war supplies, and then when it was over women in many cases continued to work outside of the home. 

 

            John MacArthur writes “The term ‘workers at home’ in Titus 2:5 is from the compound Greek word oikourgos, which is derived from oikos [house] and a form of ergon (work).  Ergon, however, does not simply refer to labor in general but often connotes the idea of a particular job or employment.  It is the word Jesus used when He said, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work’ (John 4:34, emphasis added) and, on another occasion, ‘I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou has given Me do do’ (17:4, emphasis added).  It is the word the Holy Spirit used in commanding the church at Antioch to ‘set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them’ (Acts 13:2, emphasis added).  Paul used the word in relation to Epaphroditus, who ‘came close to death for the work of Christ’ (Phil. 2:30, emphasis added) and in relation to the work of faithful Christian leaders in Thessalonica (1 Thess. 5:13).  In other words, it is not that a woman is simply to keep busy in the home but that the home is the basic place of her employment, her divinely assigned job.”  MacArthur later states that “God’s standard is for the wife and mother to work inside, not outside, the home.  For a mother to get a job outside the home in order to send the children to a Christian school is to misunderstand her husband’s role as provider as well as her own duty to the family.  The good training her children receive in the Christian school may be counteracted by her lack of full commitment to the biblical standards for motherhood. 

 

            I believe that I have said enough about the fact that the Bible does teach that a woman’s work is inside the home, and am thankful that my mother, and then my wife, and then my daughter have all followed these Biblical teachings.

 

            As we look at many cults today we see why younger people are attracted to them is because they seem to show a family-like group in which they feel the acceptance and love they never received at home and this was frequently due to the mother’s absence from the home. 

            Paul talks a great deal about widows in his letter to Timothy, the first letter to Timothy.  The widows are to be taken care of by the church, so that the women who are widows do not have to work outside the home.  Paul even states that if a women who is a young widow has the opportunity to re-marry then she should do this.  I realize that many, many churches in our society today do not follow this practice.  Perhaps it is because of a lack of faith or just not bothering to follow what Paul has written here.

 

            On more quote on mothers working outside the home, even though I said that I was done with it:  “Just as with drinking of alcoholic beverages, the Bible does not specifically forbid a wife to work outside the home.   But the biblical priorities are so clear that they can only be obeyed or rejected openly, and each woman must choose how she will honor those priorities.”

 

            At the beginning of this section some six SD’s ago we stated that there will be time to look at the rest of the verses associated with this section and we will begin, Lord willing to do that in our next SD.  We have three more main sections which are very short to look at and I hope to cover them in two days.  Let me close with a statement that I have on my prayer list that I hope will be effective for the subject we have been looking at today:  “The Lord always has the last word, and it will not be darkness.  We should never about in the darkness what God has taught us in the light.”  This quote comes from Warren Wiersbe, a favorite author of mine.

 

            My Steps of Faith for Today:  My step of faith for today is to trust that the Lord will use these past six SD’s to give encouragement to those who read them along with obedience to the Scriptures that they came from.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust that the Lord will continue to teach me humility as I study His Word each day.

 

Today’s quotation comes from one of my favorite Presidents, Abraham Lincoln who said “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

 

8/13/2019 11:33 AM

PT-5 "The Matter of Submission" (Eph. 5:22a)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/12/2019 8:46 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-5 “The Matter of Submission”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 5:22a

 

            Message of the verses:  “Wives, be subject to your own husbands,”

 

            The following comes from what is called “The Mishmash,” and this is an ancient codification of Jewish law and tradition.  This reflects what was happening during the time when Jesus was on planet earth as John MacArthur writes using the data from “The Mishmash.”  “It describes the wife’s duties as those of grinding flour, baking, cooking, nursing her children, spinning wool, laundering, and other such typical household chores.  The husband’s responsibility was to provide food, clothing, shoes, and such things.  He often gave his wife a certain amount of money each week for her personal expenses.  Many women worked with their husbands in the fields or in a trade—as did Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:2-3).  A wife was allowed to work at crafts or horticulture at home and to sell the fruits of her labor.  Profits were used either to supplement family income or to provide her with her own spending money.  But if she worked apart from her husband in the marketplace or at a trade she was considered a disgrace.  Apart from her household chores and possible work with her husband, a wife was also responsible for getter her sons ready for school (oft en taking them personally to prevent truancy), caring for guests, and doing charitable work.  At all times she was to adorn herself properly, for the sake of modesty as well as nice appearance.  The wife who faithfully carried her responsibilities was held in high regard in her family, in the synagogue, and in the community.”  I have mentioned in an earlier SD that when my mother was offered a job taking care of a neighbor boy so that his mom could work outside the home, my father would not allow it because it was his view that the mother should not work outside the home when she had children.  I think that this was pretty much the normal growing up in the 1950’s in the United States of America.   Things have certainly changed since then and although most families have more funds to spend in this day and age, the spiritual condition of our country has dropped off a great deal.  Take for instance a young college student asking a democratic man running for President and she asked him how many genders we have.  His answer was three, but stated he was not sure, and then told the young woman to get away from him.  It upset her a great deal as she latter said, but to ask how many genders there are just shows how far the spirituality of our country has fallen in close to 70 years.  

 

            Paul writes about the women in Corinth not wearing veils on their heads, which was probably something that happened in Corinth.  Some were not wearing them because of early influential feminists of the city and began going out in public without a veil.  MacArthur writes “The New Testament does not prescribe the wearing of veils for all women.  Though it appears to have been the norm in Corinth (cf. 1 Cor. 11:4-6), there is no reason to assume that Christian women in all the rest of the early churches wore veils.  Apparently in Corinth the only women who traditionally did not wear veils were prostitutes or feminists, both of which groups had no regard for God or for the home.  In that culture veils were a sign of moral propriety and submission, and failure to wear them a sign of immorality and rebelliousness.  In that cultural circumstance Paul advised women to cover their heads ‘while praying or prophesying’ (1 Cor. 11:5), lest they be considered to be rebelling against God’s ordained principle of submissiveness.  Paul did not here establish a permanent or universal mode of dress for Christian women, but reinforced the principle that they should never give to their society even the suggestion of rebelliousness or immorality.”  I am thankful to get a better understanding of what in the past has been a problem in my understanding this section of Scripture.  I thought it was a culture thing, but now am convinced it was.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for better understanding different areas of submission, not just in the case of wives, but also in the case of everyone as Paul talks about in Ephesians.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I am thankful that in the near future that I will have the opportunity of talking with my Pastor about humility, and also the filling of the Holy Spirit as when I began this quest to understand humility I have had some rocky times in my walk with the Lord as I believe that this was all from the Lord to learn more about humility and He is the One who has allowed me to have some tough times in my walk with Him so that I will be better off after learning what it is that He wants me to learn.  For this I am thankful.

 

Today’s verse that goes along with the quote from David Nicholas comes from 2 Corinthians 1:20 “For all the promises of God in Him are yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”

 

8/12/2019 9:19 AM  

PT-4 "The Matter of Submission" (Eph. 5:22a)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/11/2019 5:57 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-4 “The Matter of Submission”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 5:22a

 

            Message of the verse:  “Wives, be subject to your own husbands,”

 

            I first want to mention that Peter taught exactly the same truth as Paul in regard to the relationship of husbands and wives as seen in 1 Peter 3:1 “In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives.”  Peter is talking about believing wives who are married to either a believing husband or a non believing husband, and states that the believing wife willingly functions under the husband’s leadership.  MacArthur adds “Peter also emphasized the mutual possessiveness of husbands and wives, using the same words as Paul—‘your own husbands.’  Wives are to submit even when their husbands ‘are disobedient to the word [that] they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior’ (vv. 1b-2).  Instead of nagging, criticizing, and preaching to her husband, a wife should simply set a good example before him—showing him the power and beauty of the gospel through its effect in her own life.  Humility, love, moral purity, kindness, and respect are the most powerful means a woman has for winning her husband to the Lord.

 

            “When the wife’s primary concern is for those inward virtues, she will not be preoccupied with ‘adornment [that is] merely external—braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses.’  Rather her concentration will be on ‘the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God’ (1 Pet. 3:3-4; cf. 1 Tim. 2:9-10).”

 

            All of these things that Peter writes about are not what modern society desires to have the women of the world do, and this especially can be seen in the advertisements that we are bombarded with on the TV and the internet.

 

            That certainly does not mean that women are to dress in a sloppy mater, and as one looks at Proverbs 31 this comes out how a woman should look and live her life.

 

            John MacArthur again in his commentary talks about the women’s movement and as mentioned in an earlier SD, he talks about how harmful this movement has not only been to our society, but also it has crept into the church making it difficult for women to submit to their husbands in the way that God has designed it.  Again I say that the example of submitting is seen in the trinity as the Son submits to the Father and the Spirit to the Son.

 

            MacArthur writes “Holiness has always been the foremost concern of godly women.  ‘For in this way in former times,’ Peter goes on to explain, ‘the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, Thus Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear’ (1 Pet. 3:5-6).  Just as Abraham was the symbolic father of the faithful (Rom. 4:11, 16), his wife, Sarah, was the symbolic mother of the submissive.  Because Sarah had no fear of obeying God, she had no fear of what her husband, or any other person or circumstance, might do to her.  God will take care of the consequences when His children are obedient to Him.”

 

Today’s quotation comes from David Nicholas who states “God’s promises are like stars; the darker the night the brighter they shine.”

 

8/11/2019 6:23 AM

 

           

PT-3 "The Matter of Submission" (Eph. 5:22a)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/10/2019 4:02 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-3 “The Matter of Submission”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ephesians 5:22a

 

            Message of the verse:  “Wives, be subject to your own husbands.”

 

            When we go back and look at how Eve was created we see that God actually put Adam to sleep in order to operate on him as He took a rib out of Adam to form Eve from.  Adam then testified that Eve was “Bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” as seen In Genesis 22:222-23.  When man sinned and God cursed man it did not change basic plan for mutuality in the marriage relationship or not even for the functional authority of the husband over the wife.  We know that man was created first and he was created generally to be physically, constitutionally, and emotionally stronger than the woman whom Peter describes as the weaker vessel in 1 Peter 3:7.  Makes now different for before and after the Fall and the consequent curse, man was called to be the provider, protector, guide and the shepherd of the family, and the woman was called to be supportive and submissive.  I realize that in our culture today that this goes against the grain because of the sinful conditions that humans live in, but if this were followed like God developed before the fall then the family would run more smoothly, and that would make the nation and government run more smoothly.

 

            MacArthur adds “Any society that has taken either the obvious nature of women or the Word of God into consideration has fashioned its best laws in line with His.  Laws against murder find their source in the Ten Commandments—just as do laws against stealing, adultery, perjury, and so on.  The wife’s submission to her husband is a divine principle that has reflected to some degree in the legal codes of most societies. 

 

            “For the past several hundred years’ western society has been bombarded with the humanistic, egalitarian, sexless, classless philosophy that was the dominant forde behind the French Revolution.  The blurring and even total removal of human distinctions continues to be masterminded by Satan so as to undermine legitimate, God-ordained authority in every realm of human activity—in government, the family, the school, and even in the church.  We find ourselves victimized by the godless, atheistic concepts of man’s supreme independence from every external law and authority.  The philosophy is self-destructive, because no group of people can live in orderliness and productivity if each person is bent on doing his own will.”

 

            As MacArthur mentions the sad truth is that the church has fallen prey to this humanistic philosophy and is even now willing to recognize the ordination of homosexuals, women, and others whose God Word specifically disqualifies from the leadership of the church.  God hates all sin, however he has destroyed societies because of homosexual sins.  The letters to the church leaders that are in the New Testament show that the Pastors, Elders or Deacons are to be the husband of one wife and this rules out having a woman who is in the role of one of these offices.

 

The verses that go along with John Harvard’s quotation from yesterday are from Proverbs 2:1, 5-6 “If you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you…Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.  For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.”

 

8/10/2019 4:52 PM

PT-2 "The Matter of Submission" (Eph. 5:22a)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/9/2019 9:03 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-2 “The Matter of Submission”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 5:22a

 

            Message of the verses:  “Wives, be subject to your own husbands.”

 

            I want to begin by looking at what John MacArthur writes about “Your own Husband.”  This “suggests the intimacy and mutuality of the wife’s submission.  She willingly makes herself ‘subject’ to the one she possesses as her ‘own husband’ (cf. 1 Cor. 7:3-4).”  (“3 The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.”) “Husbands and wives are to have a mutual possessiveness as well as a mutual submissiveness.  They belong to each other in an absolute equality.  The husband no more possesses his wife than she possesses him.  He has no superiority and she no inferiority, any more than one who has the gift of teaching is superior to one with the gift of helps.  A careful reading of 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 will show that God has designed every person for a unique role in the Body of Christ, and the pervasive attitude governing all those roles and blending them together is ‘the more excellent way’ of love (ch. 13).”

 

            I mentioned in our last SD that there would be a lot of quotes from MacArthur’s commentary because it is difficult for me to condense things from his commentary, and the fact that what he writes needs to be read that is why I have chosen to do this in this way.  I want to say that all of what we are reading about here has the key of being filled with the Holy Spirit as I have mentioned in earlier SD’s.  Being filled with the Holy Spirit is probably the most important thing that a believer can do, and as we look at the roles of the husband and wife, and as we conclude that both are believers, then if both are filled with the Holy Spirit then their roles will be worked out just as God as planned them to be worked out.

 

            “As with spiritual gifts, the distinctions of headship and submission are entirely functional and were ordained by God.  As a consequence of Eve’s disobedience of God’s command and her failure to consult with Adam about the serpent’s temptation, God told her, ‘Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you’ (Gen. 3:16).  The desire spoken of here is not sexual or psychological, both of which Eve had for Adam before the Fall as his specially created helper.  It is the same desire spoken of in the next chapter, where the identical Hebrew word (t’shuqa) is used.  The term comes from an Arabic root that means to compel, impel, urge, or seek control over.  The Lord warned Cain, ‘Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you [that is, control you’, but you must master it’ (4:7, NIV; emphasis added).  Sin wanted to master Cain, but God commanded Cain to master sin.  In light of this close context meaning of t’shuqa, therefore, the curse on Eve was that woman’s desire would henceforth be to usurp the place of man’s headship and that he would resist that desire and would rule over her.  The Hebrew word here for ‘rule’ is not the same as that used in 1:28.  Rather it represented a new, despotic kind of authoritarianism that was not in God’s original plan for man’s headship.

            “With the Fall and its curse came distortion of woman’s proper submissiveness and of man’s proper authority.  That is where the battle of the sexes began, where women’s liberation and male chauvinism came into existence.  Women have a sinful inclination to usurp man’s authority and men have a sinful inclination to put women under their feet.  The divine decree that man would rule over women in this way was part of God’s curse on humanity, and it takes a manifestation of grace in Christ by the filling of the Holy Spirit to restore the created order and harmony of proper submission in a relationship that has become corrupted and disordered by sin.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  In order for me to be the husband, father, and grandfather that God wants me to be I must continually be filled with the Holy Spirit.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to study the meaning of being filled with the Spirit and thus be humble.

 

Today’s quotation comes from John Harvard of Harvard University who states “Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well.  The main ends of his life and studies; to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom as the only foundation of all knowledge and learning and see that the Lord only giveth wisdom.”

 

8/9/2019 10:14 AM

PT1 (of many) "The Matter of Submission) (Eph. 5:22a)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/8/2019 11:21 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-1 “The Matter of Submission”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                             Reference:  Ephesians 5:22a

 

            Message of the verse:  “Wives, be subject to your own husband.”

 

            When we look at the word “wives” it is not qualified and so it means all Christian wives, not just those who have a higher social standing, higher education, higher intelligence, spiritual maturity or giftedness, age, experience, or any other consideration.  It is not qualified by the intelligence of her husband, or his character, attitude, spiritual condition, or any other consideration.  Paul is saying categorically to all believing wives:  “be subject to you own husband.”

 

            John MacArthur writes “As indicated by italics in most translations, ‘be subject’ is not in the orginal text, but the meaning is carried over from verse 21.  The idea is:  ‘Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ [and, as first example,] ‘wives,…to you own husbands.’  As explained in the previous chapter [of his commentary] hupotasso means to relinquish one’s rights, and the Greek middle voice 9used in v. 21 and carried over by implication into v. 22)emphasizes the willing submitting of oneself.  God’s command is to those who are to submit.  That is, the submission is to be voluntary response to God’s will in giving up one’s independent rights to other believers in general and to ordained authority in particular—in this case the wife’s own ‘husband.’”

 

            There is a difference between the wife and the children as the children are to obey their parents and slaves their masters as seen in 6:1, and 5.  The difference is that the wife is not commanded to obey (hupakouo).  I suppose that we will get into this latter, but I have learned that marriage is a picture of the Godhead.  God the Father chose a bride for His Son in eternity past as seen in the second Psalm, and then the Son submitted to the Fathers will by coming to earth to purchase His bride by dying on the cross to pay for “her” sins.  The Holy Spirit is also in submission to the Son and to the Father.  This is the picture of marriage.  Now a husband is not to treat his wife as a servant or even as a child, but as an equal for whom God has given him care and responsibility for provision and protection, to be exercised in love.  I think from that last statement that you can see a picture of the Godhead.  MacArthur adds “As Paul proceeds to explain in considerable detail (vv. 25-33), the husband’s primary responsibility as head of the household is to love, provide, protect and serve his wife and family—not to lord it over them according to his personal whims and desires.”

 

            I have to say that this subject we are looking at now is going to take a fairly long time to go over, and I certainly am not the best at helping others understand what wives or husbands are to do as seen in the passages we will be looking at, and so you will probably continue to see a number of quotes from MacArthur to help all of us understand this very important subject.

 

The verse that goes along with the quotation from Billy Graham comes from James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to Him.”

 

8/8/2019 11:43 AM