The Command to Love:
The Lord commands husbands to love the wives and the wives to
reverence and submit to their husbands, "Husbands,
LOVE YOUR WIVES, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so LOVE HIS WIFE EVEN AS
HIMSELF; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. Wives, submit
yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, LOVE
YOUR WIVES, and be not bitter against them" (Eph 5:25,33; Col
3:18-19). The command given to husbands is that they should love their wives.
This is easy when the lady looks like Miss. Universe in the prime of her youth.
The Bible also talks about the flower of a woman's youth when she is at her
very best in physical appearance, "if
she pass the FLOWER OF HER AGE, and need so require, let him do what he will,
he sinneth not: let them marry" (1Co 7:36b). Notice the phrase, "flower of her age", other
versions use “bloom of her youth”. However as time progresses the flower begins
to wilt and the true test of marriage comes. When wrinkles and grey hair start
to inevitably appear, you will know whether your husband really loves you.
Proverbs tells us that beauty is passing, "Charm
can mislead and BEAUTY SOON FADES. The woman to be admired and praised is the
woman who lives in the Fear-of-GOD" (Pro 31:30). This is the reason
why the Bible compares a beautiful woman without discretion to a gold ring in a
pig's nose. I believe that is why men divorce even women who were once
astonishingly beautiful, they divorce them because when the beauty is gone
nothing but a shell remains. However when a man marries a woman who fears the
Lord, her inner beauty increases with time and he will grow to love her more.
Who is the Head of the
Home? The Command to Submit:
With the rise of the
feminist movement came also their devilish brainchild of the wife being the
head of the home. God's order was turned around to make the woman head of the
husband. From the very beginning God considered man as the head of the family
since it is not when Eve ate the fruit that the human race fell but when Adam
ate it. "For as IN ADAM all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (1Co 15:22), it is not
through Eve that all died but through Adam since God considered him the head.
When Eve and Adam ate the fruit, we see whom God spoke to first, "And the LORD God called unto ADAM,
and said unto him, Where art thou?" (Gen 3:9). The Lord called out or
spoke to Adam first since the care of the family was in his hands. Again
Apostle Paul speaks to the Corinthians in one of the controversial scriptures
which has led some to believe that men are superior to women. "But I would have you know, that the
head of every man (aner) is Christ;
and the head of the woman (gune) is the man; and the head of Christ is
God" (1Co 11:3), when we look at the Greek rendition of the words
translated woman and man we discover something contrary to what many think. The
word aner is alternately translated
as man and husband in the English versions and the word gune is alternately translated woman and wife. The context is what
determines which it is fit to be translated as in a specific scripture. In this
scripture it is clearly referring o the husband being the head of the wife and
not every man being the head of every woman. Otherwise it would contradict the
scripture that, "There is neither
Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is NEITHER MALE NOR
FEMALE: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3:28). Let's take a
look at various translations of 1 Corinthians 11:3, "But I want you to understand that Christ is supreme over every
man, the HUSBAND IS SUPREME OVER HIS WIFE, and God is supreme over Christ"
(1Co 11:3 Good News Bible), "In a
marriage relationship, there is authority from Christ to husband, and from
HUSBAND TO WIFE. The authority of Christ is the authority of God" (1Co
11:3 The Message), "But I want you
to know that Christ is the
[spiritual] head [i.e.,
authority] over every man; and the man is the [spiritual]
head over the woman [Note:
The Greek words for “woman” and “wife” are the same. “Wife” is obviously meant by the context];
and God is the head over Christ" (1Co 11:3 An Understandable Version
1994). Without any shadow of doubt this establishes the fact that the every
husband is the head of every wife but every man is not the head of every woman.
The Lord expects
the wife to be submissive to her husband’s authority as if it were to Jesus
Himself, "Wives, in a similar way,
place yourselves UNDER YOUR HUSBANDS' AUTHORITY. Some husbands may not obey
God's word. Their wives could win these men for Christ by the way they live
without saying anything. Their husbands would see how pure and reverent their
lives are... After all, this is how holy women who had confidence in God
expressed their beauty in the past. They placed themselves UNDER THEIR
HUSBANDS' AUTHORITY as Sarah did. Sarah obeyed Abraham and spoke to him
respectfully. You became Sarah's daughters by not letting anything make you
afraid to do good" (1Pe 3:1-2, 5-6 GW). The KJV even states that, "Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him
LORD", or kurios which is a
title given to Jesus throughout the New Testament.
The command to
submit to the husband is echoed throughout the scriptures so that no one may
doubt God's opinion in that matter. "Wives,
SUBMIT YOURSELVES UNTO YOUR OWN HUSBANDS, as unto the Lord. For the husband is
the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the
savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, SO LET THE
WIVES BE TO THEIR OWN HUSBANDS IN EVERY THING. Nevertheless let every one of
you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she
REVERENCE HER HUSBAND. Wives, SUBMIT YOURSELVES UNTO YOUR OWN HUSBANDS, as it
is fit in the Lord" (Eph 5:22-24, 33; Col 3:18). The scriptures are
self explanatory and need no further comment. The devil deceived Eve and one of
the curses placed on her was that she would be ruled over by the husband, "Unto the woman he said, I will
greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring
forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and HE SHALL RULE OVER
THEE" (Gen 3:16), or as the Message superbly translates it, "He told the Woman: "I'll
multiply your pains in childbirth; you'll give birth to your babies in pain.
You'll want to please your husband, but HE'LL LORD IT OVER YOU" (Gen
3:16 MSG).
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