Re: Verse reading—Ephesians 5:21-6:9 (day three)
“Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.”
“Household codes” were a common feature of ancient writings on society. Paul simply re-frames the code in a Christian context, grounding it in Christ’s person. So he wasn’t writing provocatively. Any controversy comes from the ink spilled and breath spent attempting to excuse Paul, or to re-interpret him for modern ears, or to save him from himself, or to give up on him altogether. But in our rush to defend our hard-won enlightenment, we fail to do what is necessary: Sit quietly and listen to the word of God as penned by Paul. The harshness of the words as they fall on our ears has more to do with our resistance to the shaping power of the Bible than it does with any sophistication we think we have gained by living in these times.
I grew up thinking Paul was a woman hater because of the tendency of my pastors to fixate on Verses 22-24. In college my degree plan called from me to take a course called “Paul and His Teachings”. I wasn’t thrilled about it because of my feelings about Paul, but I’m am forever grateful. For the first time, the entire chapter of Ephesians 5 was studied in depth. When we read on to complete the chapter and I focused on the instructions to the husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her, I remember thinking, “How awesome is that! If every husband followed this instruction, I don’t knowa woman alive who would have problems with submission.”