"Submissive Wives.....Really?" Part Two (Colossians 3:18)

Our passage says, "Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord" (Colossians 3:18). In our last teaching, we mentioned that a submissive wife doesn't imply passivity! In other words, a wife who is submissive is not a person who merely goes along with whatever happens while keeping her thoughts and feelings to herself. This affects closeness and intimacy between the husband and wife. Withholding her viewpoint or feelings, particularly under the guise or appearance of being submissive creates distance and not intimacy in the marriage. Genuine submission is communicated both by attitudes and behavior. What I mean is, a wife can be strong and even outspoken and yet be submissive if she respects her husband and supports his headship even when she disagrees with him! Or she can choose to be outwardly submissive but inwardly defiant in trying to get her own way. We must understand that God does not want grudging compliance! The submission that God promotes means that after an open sharing of thoughts and feelings, along with the wisdom of God and prayer, if any disagreement persists, the wife will yield to her husband's headship and seek to help him in his responsibility to lead under the watchful eyes of God. Is the submission of wives valid in our time? We live in a culture that despises submission, but God has called the Christ follower to a different mind and heart on this matter! Let me say that submission is valid for all times and all cultures because of what Paul said. He said that submission is valid because it "is fitting in the Lord." In God's original creation, the husband and wife together were to reflect the image of God. I believe that wives can benefit greatly from the relationships and roles of the Triune God (the image of God) in understanding and embracing that the submission required of them as wives is itself reflective of the same submission eternally given by the Son to His Father, as well as that of the Holy Spirit to the Father and the Son! How amazing is that? How awesome is that? Seeing the nature of submission as reflective of that which resides within the Godhead is truly exciting and encouraging! In God's plan, the Christian marriage is a picture of Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:25-32)! The submission of the wife to her husband is a special calling and privilege. It is a reflection of the Triune relations within the Godhead! It doesn't get any better than this! Christian marriage, as the unit of the church, is to reflect God's image through the sacrificial love of the husband for his wife and the voluntary submission of the wife to her husband in a context of equality! Your move. Be encouraged!