1 Peter 3:1-6
"Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord."
(COLOSSIANS 3:18)
In several New Testament passages both Paul and Peter write about wives submitting to their husbands. Even for the first readers of their letters, this was a big issue. Back in Genesis 3 one of the descriptions of the curse or by-product of sin is a woman's desire to dominate.
Much argument has arisen over the idea of a woman's submission to her husband. Some of the greatest opponents of biblical submission forget the last phrase of today's Scripture passage. A wife is to submit to her husband in a way that "is fitting to the Lord." What is the fitting way that we submit to the Lord? We respond to His grace with gratitude, with a desire to please Him, and with joy for His care for us. These are ways that a woman might respond to her husband.
The problems come, of course, when one or both spouses do not treat the other as the Lord treats us. It is hard to see through the bitterness and strife in those times. The only hope for the disintegrating marriage is submitting to Jesus Christ whose grace restores.
INSIGHT
A WIFE'S SUBMISSION TO HER HUSBAND IS A WONDERFUL WAY FOR HER TO SHOW THE WORLD HOW THE CHURCH RESPONDS TO THE WORK OF CHRIST.
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Leviticus 3-4
Psalm 47
Luke 11
Ephesians 5:25-29
New International Version (NIV)
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing[a] her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—
Footnotes:
a. Ephesians 5:26 Or having cleansed
MOVING WITH COMPASSION
with Mary Frances Bowley
What is it about the Cinderella story that moves us? It is the redemptive tale of a girl saved from slavery. In the world of human trafficking, many girls are still waiting for a savior.
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