“Be Subject to One Another!”

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.…” (Ephesians 6:1-2 ESV)

Paul provides us with directions for the Christian household, using a verse that has been misinterpreted by some in the Church for thousands of years. Verse 22 states, “Wives be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” Remember the process we need to go through to understand what the author is telling us.

First, we need to translate from the original language into our own language. Second, we need to interpret what the translated individual words mean as they form sentences and paragraphs. Thirdly, we need to apply what we have interpreted the author’s intent was for his audience, and see how that Biblical principle affects us today in the 21st century, in our culture. We must do this so that we don’t misapply God’s word in our modern-day society.

So first we need to examine the word we translated as “subject” and see what it means. The Greek word is “hupotasso’ (Strong's 5293) and is commonly translated as subject or submit.

Now in step 1. Translation: a literal translation of this verse from the Greek is “the wives, to their own husbands, as to the Lord.” The Greek word “hupotasso’ (Strong's 5293), which we translate “be subject to or submit to,” doesn’t appear in this verse. But verse 22 is really a continuation of verse 21, and the verse division is just the traditional separation, not the end of the sentence or idea expressed by the author.

Remember, God does not inspire our chapter-and-verse divisions. Many of us see verse 22 and think it’s the beginning of a new sentence (as most Bible translations have it), and therefore, it must be a new idea. But verse 22 is NOT a new sentence in the original Greek; it is a continuation of verse 21, and I think that makes a big difference in the next step in understanding the author’s intent, which is interpretation.

Now, to interpret what we have translated, we need to consider the grammatical context of what we are studying. Remember, we must read the verses surrounding the verse we are trying to understand. If we go back to verse 18, we see that Paul is telling his readers how to be “filled with the Holy Spirit”, he says in v22 “and be subject (hupotasso) to one another in the fear of Christ.”. Same word with the same meaning. So, what does “be subject to” literally mean? The Greek word “hupotasso” has a wealthy meaning; it means more than “sit down and shut up,” which, sadly, many have tried to make it mean when using God-given authority to “rule over” their wives.

Literally, it means to “under arrange”, or to be aligned with, to support, to help. It really doesn’t have anything to do with being lesser than someone else, but has to do with the role that God has designed from the very beginning of creation. Paul is just saying that God created women to be helpers to men. To give advice, to help accomplish what God has for them to do. The wife is to be a helper, not someone who is to cower in the corner while “the man” makes his edicts from on high. Just like in verse 21, we are to be “helpers” to one another.

Paul says the same thing in Philippians 2:3, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves;”. We are to be helpers of one another, and one example that Paul gives to explain verse 21 is verse 22. The wife is to be a helper (not a hindrance) to her own husband. God created Eve to complete Adam. Remember,  God said, “It is not good for man to be alone; I will make a helper suitable for him.” And God made Eve, and Adam was complete.

Now the third step of understanding God’s word is to apply the Biblical principles to our lives. If we continue reading Ephesians chapter 5, we will see Paul explains how a husband should treat his wife, not lording his physical strength, or his position in God’s family order over his wife but in verse 33 he states “Nerveless let each individual among you also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see to it that she respect her husband."

It was never God’s plan for the family to be made up of one person who dictates what the family will do and to rule with an iron fist. No, God’s plan has always been that the family should function just as the church does with Jesus. With love, honor, and respect. With the wife supporting her husband and serving as an advisor and helper to him as he carries out his God-given role in the family unit, the husband is to respect and honor his wife and to seek her help and counsel.

I think the church needs more of v21 today, “and be subject (in alignment with, supporting, helping) one another in the fear of Christ.” And husbands and wives need to be supporters and helpers, aligned with one another.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"