Sermon from May 19, 2002
I want to read to you some of the most inflammatory words in the New Testament. They come from Ephesians 5:22-24 and read this way: Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Submit is the dirty word. And the moment someone demands submission from another, it gets dirtier. And the moment the demand claims religious sanction, it gets dirtiest of all. as a matter of prudence, I will set aside the offensive passage in Ephesians for the time being. At the risk of life and limb, I would like to talk about the forbidden topic of yielding to the will of another. That is what it means to submit to another person.

I might be helpful to ask why submission is so offensive to our sensibilities. It might be helpful to ask if we should try to rehabilitate the word and encourage the practice of submission within marriage. It might be wise to go about this ginger task by first doing something routine, even boring. That way, with our nerves calmer and our minds better instructed, we will be able to consider more volatile issues.

The routine I have in mind takes us on a page-turning expedition through the Bible. We will stay with mostly familiar books, but we will be all over th e place and back and forth between the Old and New Testatments. We begin with Genesis 49:15.

This chapter records the Patriarch Jacob's deathbed blessings on his twelve sons. Verse 15 refers to one of his lesser-known sons, Issachar. When he sees how good is his resting place and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labor.

I thought it would be good to begin with submission to forced labor, inasmuch as that is what comes to mind when people talk about submission within marriage in particular and between the sexes in general. Now, certainly, submitting to forced labor is one way in which a person may yield to the will of another person, and a most unpleasant way it is. One value of this little Bible study is to see that submission need not always be so bleak an experience.

Having said that, I will now proceed to an experience, which, if anything, is more bleak than forced labor. In 1 Peter 2:18 the Apostle Peter writes to Christian slaves. Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. No doubt, you think we are off to a most inauspicious beginning in this Bible study. Please be patient. I just want you to see the full range of human experiences covered by the word submit in the Bible.

It gets better in 1 Peter 5:5. Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. This may get mixed reviews, but after slaves and forced labor that is an improvement. Some of the young men may object, but the older men, especially if they are their fathers, will think it is good advice. Most mothers will feel the same, and even ardent feminists may rejoice to see  young bucks made to toe the line. Most people have found it fitting that young men should yield to the wills of their fathers and mothers and to other older men as a matter of deference and provided they are not being asked to do evil by the older person. Submission can at times be a good thing.

Romans 13:5 introduces us to the subtleties of submission. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This calls for personal submission to a fairly impersonal and sometimes facelss reality, namely, the government. We do this quite regularly in actions ranging from renewing a driver's license to the occasional arcane requirements of the IRS. But in this country at least we are not only required to submit to the authorities, we are given leave to complain about what we have to submit to. Our political experience of submitting is a marvelous mix of enforceable demands and protected liberties.

Hebrews 13:17 will read like a misprint to our Protestant souls, but here it is in all its glory. Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. The verse is talking about church leaders. Roman Catholics read it and agree or else lie low for a while. Protestants read it and check every translation to be sure it is accurate; it can't be accurate. Misunderstanding of the Greek text or a perverse translator or a power hungry preacher ot that in when no one was looking.

I exaggerate. The reality, even in most Protestant congregations, is that people usually give their pastors and other spiritual leaders the benefit of a doubt in decision-making. But it is a most delicate dance and may serve as a fascinating, working model of what biblical submission is like at its best in this fallen world.

Psalm 81:11 takes the notion of submitting into the inner sanctum. But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. These are words from the mouth of God. Submitting to god would seem to be the most proper human act and the one most likely for God to enforce.  It turns out to be more complicated than that. Rebellion, as much as submission, seems to characterize humanity's relationship to God, as Psalm 81 illustrates; and God, far from pulling rank, proposes submission to His will as the only path to human blessedness but refuses to compel it.

The most sacred submission is that of Jesus Christ to His Father in heaven, when He prayed, "Yet not what I will, but what you will." The book of Hebrews 5:7 interprets this act in the following way. During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

We wouls not say that was easy. On the other hand, we owe Him our eternal life for doing that. And if we look to Him as the model for our livees, it is hard to dismiss submission as optional. He rehabilitates the word and the act behind the word. Perhaps now, at the end of this short Bible study, we can return to the offending passage in Ephesians 5, but we must begin at verse 21.

Submi to one another out of reverence for Christ. This verse functions like a paragraph heading. It governs the rest of chapter five and the first nine verses of chapter six. The apostle is saying that submission should characterize all the human relationships that follow in these chapters. And wouldn't you know it? Look at the motive for doing it: out of reverence for Christ.

I have already read verses 22-24 about women submitting to their husbands, and since there may still be a spirit of bristling abroad, I will proceed at once to verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. From here through verse 33 the apostle in talking to men never uses the word submit, a fact that no doubt rankles some women. However, would you kindly not the word he does use. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. We know what giving himself up meant for christ. The crucifixion is fresh in our minds. That, says the apostle, is how husbands are to love their wives.

He does not use the word submit for men. the words he does use, however, sound like an act of submission and behave like an act of submission. And I say, if it sounds like submission and it looks like submission, it is submission. But the beauty of verse 25 goes farther.

When Christ gave Himself up for us, He did not yield to our will, as if He had no will in the matter. Verses 26-27 make it clear the Christ submitted Himself to whatever it took to turn the Church into the beautiful thing God means for her to be. Submission in its mature Christian form is an act of personal sacrifice done for the sake of Christ in the interest of elevating the other person toward a God-given destiny. It is not beneath a woman's dignity to do that for her husband. It is not beneath a man's dignity to do that for his wife.

With the fruit of our little study in hand it is now worthwhile to examine some of the issues that make submit a dirty word. Let's first take a closer look at what makes the word so offensive. First, it implies arbitrary control of men over women. Do some Christians teach that? They do. In the light of Ephesians five, as we have read it today, does it sound like a command to woman to give away control of their lives to men or for men to demand such a thing? I don't think so. It is a summons for a husband and a wife to offer themselves sacrificially to each other out of reverence for Christ so that both achieve their divine destiny.

Second, we have found (before today) submission to be offensive, because arbitrary control of men over women has often been given religious sanction. Preachers have waxed eloquent on Ephesians five's demands on women and fallen silent about its demands on men. Can we ever do that again?

Third, we have found submission to be offensive, because it implies that a person might have to relinquish some personal freedoms. That is a bit more complicated. Biblical submission has within it an inescapable component of personal sacrifice, and personal sacrifice by definition entails the postponement or the loss of some personal freedoms. But it is mutual, not one-sided. If anything, men should take the initiative.

Here is another issue. Why should we even try to rehabilitate this word? It has, after all, fallen into such disrepute that people can't bear to hear it without sniggers and disgust. I know that, but I think we should restore the word to our vocabulary. In the light of our Bible study today let me give you five reasons why I think we should restore the word. First, submission is a biblical concept. It has therefore a proper claim on our lives. If the word has taken on a negative meaning, we cannot ignore that, but let us restore its positive, biblical meaning, especially by the way we live.

Second, Christian faith must define its own proper nature. We must not allow the world to define it for us. That means we take seriously the problems that people have with wives' submitting to their husbands, but we take even more seriously the task of understanding more deeply what the Holy Spirit is trying to teach the Church to do in the act of mutual submission.

Third, we must not let the world bully the church. You know, the apostles worked with the conviction that they had the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:15). They were confident that the Spirit of God could convey to the mind of the listening Church the thoughts of God on any matter of truth. If the world finds submission a bad idea, I for one want to understand what is so bad about it, but then, I want to say to the world, "You are missing something important, and I can tell you what you are missing."

Fourth, it is always in the interest of truth to call a thing by its right name, and the fact is that people practice submission, while calling it by another name. Just for a minute, think of something you have done to make your spouse (or friend) happy. Left to yourself, you would not have done it, but for the sake of the person you love, you did it. The name of that act is submission. Is it such a terrible thing? It is demeaning, only when demanded, but when it is freely given out of reverence for Christ, it is good.

Fifth, the edge which the word submit has may make it useful in evangelism. Sometime, among your peers, casually let it be know that you are a sbumissive wife or that you have a submissive wife. If your ego can withstand the reaction, you are then in a position to say, "I know it sounds awful, but you should also know that I am a submissive husband, and together we have discovered a way to do that that is mutally satisfying and intensely fulfilling, and we learned it from our Christian faith. We learned it from Jesus Christ." It might lead to an interesting conversation. We can only do this, if we live it.

All of which leads to another obstacle. Why should we encourage the practice of biblical submission? This is the age of the liberation ow women. Are you trying to turn back the clock; are you asking women to give up their hard-won gains of the past forty years? I am not asking women to give up anything that I would not ask men to give up. I believe God is calling Christian men and women to restore the practice of biblical submission as I have described it today for two reasons.

First, it lies at the heart of our faith, as Eph. 5 makes clear. Verse 24 says that the submission of women serves a purpose higher even than the blessedness of their husbands. As the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. The relationship of the Church to her Lord finds a reflection in a woman's submission to her husband.

Verse 25 says that the submission of men serves a purpose higher even than the blessedness of their wives. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. The relationship of the Lord to His Church finds a reflection in a man's submission to his wife.

Husband and wife constitute a sacramental representation of Jesus Christ and the Church. In other words they embody in flesh and blood something of the convenant relationship between the unseen God and His chosen people. We are called to do this. It is at the heart of our faith. So let's restore the practice of mutual submission.

Second, I am asking that we restore the practice of biblical submission as I have described it today because it makes for good marriages. It offers a godly alternative to the competition and posturing between men and women, and it fosters the affection, comfort and mutual help that make marriage a powerful human good.

What voice does Christ have in your marriage? Apostolic Christianity, which has come down to us in the Bible, gave His voice the place of authority in Christian marriages. His sacrifical love gave men a model of how to love their wives. The sacrificial love He evoked in the Church gave women a model of how to love their husbands. Every generation of Christians decides anew whether to admit or to deny admission to this breath-taking, Christian vision of marriage. The idea that marriage is finished as an institution is dishonest. In this dishonest age the Church once again has the chance to shine. Mutual submission is not peripheral but central to the light we give off.