Ephesians 5:21-24 Christians Submitting “as Christ!”

The New Verb in verse 22. The action and the people involved in the incomplete sentence of verse 22 – “wives … to your husbands” must be filled in with the paired actions of the Spirit-filled believers in Ephesians 5:19a and 21. Thus Paul’s meaning in verse 22 is 

Wives and husbands be submitting to the teaching and correction you are receiving from one another in Christ

-ing verbs can be read as having an exclamation point after each of them so I can read verse 22 this way too: “Wives and husbands submit to the teaching and correction you are giving to one another in Christ.”

Verses 22 to 24 are formed by Paul not in a 1, 2, 3 linear pattern of ideas but as a mirror parallel or chiastic pattern. It follows an A B B' A' pattern. That means that the two parts in the middle in verse 23 are linked together, and that verses 22 and 24 are linked and mirror one another. Since verse 24 is a mirror of verse 22 we can look at it to find out about the last couple of words in verse 22. “to the Lord.” Why does Paul add these words?

In verse 24 Paul writes in Greek “as the church submits to Christ even so wives to their husbands in everything.” Because we know what it means for Christians to submit to Christ in everything we know the limits and the extent of what it means for Christian wives to be mutually submitting themselves to their husbands as they and their husbands are teaching and correcting one another in their Christian walk. 

These verses are not about how a household is to be organized, hierarchically or not. This is how two believers who are joined together in marriage are the ultimate example of how Christians can be mutually building up one another in their Christian walk. 

So verse 22 means: Christian couples be submitting yourselves to the speaking, the teaching and correction, you are getting from one another as to your life in Christ.

GO DEEPER!

The Tru316 Foundation (www.Tru316.com) is the home of The Eden Podcast with Bruce C. E. Fleming where we “true” the verse of Genesis 3:16. The Tru316 Message is that “God didn’t curse Eve (or Adam) or limit woman in any way.” Once Genesis 3:16 is made clear the other passages on women and men become clear too. You are encouraged to access the episodes of Seasons 1-11 of The Eden Podcast for teaching on the seven key passages on women and men. Are you a reader? We invite you to get from Amazon the four books by Bruce C. E. Fleming in The Eden Book Series (Tru316.com/trubooks). Would you like to support the work of the Tru316 Foundation? You can become a Tru Partner here: www.Tru316.com/partner