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[0:00] Ephesians chapter 5, where we're going to be tonight, and of course we've been in chapter 5 for a little while.

[0:21] ! We're now ready to kind of start a, well I would say, in one respect, a new section. New emphasis. And yet, as I'll explain here a little bit, really it ties in with the overall theme of the book.

[0:39] And so we're going to go ahead and read, starting with verse 22. And tonight I'd like to read all the way to chapter 6 and verse 9. That's the section or the block of Scripture in this letter that's going to come under a particular heading.

[0:57] All right, so starting with verse 22. Wives? Are there any wives in here? Raise your hand if you're a wife. I know I'm in big trouble tonight.

[1:10] Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church.

[1:21] And he is the Savior of the body. Not the husband, by the way, but Christ is the Savior of the body. We'll get to that. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

[1:37] Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

[1:59] So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife also, excuse me, loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as the Lord does the church.

[2:15] For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

[2:30] This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

[2:43] Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth.

[2:57] And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. Bondservants be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling and sincerity of heart as to Christ.

[3:14] Not with eye service, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. With good will, doing service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.

[3:34] And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening. Threatening. Knowing that your own master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him.

[3:47] Alright, we'll stop right there. And that kind of covers the section that we'll be in for a few weeks. Not sure how long it'll take. We're going to deal with the wives here tonight.

[4:01] So guys, you can be on your best behavior. Not what I was thinking, but that's probably what I should say.

[4:15] It's pretty clear, though, when you kind of read this passage, and I've read it, and you've been listening, and some of you are reading along in your Bibles, and you're very familiar with it, but it's really pretty clear.

[4:28] When you read these verses, what the theme is. The theme is, be right in your relationships, our relationships.

[4:39] That's the theme of this passage. Because a number of relationships are mentioned here. Key relationships, right? I mean, there's the husbands and wives, that relationship.

[4:51] Parents and children. That's a very important relationship in society. Masters and slaves. Now you say, well, you know, that one's not so important in our day.

[5:03] We don't have any slaves in America. And, of course, you know, the standard approach, and we'll get to this when we finally get to that particular portion of the Scripture.

[5:16] But the standard kind of thing is to apply this to bosses and employees. And it's a valid application for our current society. It really is.

[5:26] But I have to say to you, even here on the front end, and again, we'll get to it later, Paul's original intent here is to address the relationship, or the issue of relationship between a master and slave.

[5:40] And then we can make an application, I think, very valid one. So these are relationships. So this is the theme of this block of Scripture that I read just a moment ago.

[5:52] So how to be right in our relationships. Now, having said that, we don't want to forget where we've been in our study of Ephesians.

[6:04] And though you may have forgotten, I mentioned that the overall theme of the letter, the letter to the Ephesians, is the church.

[6:17] The overall theme, which encompasses the entire letter, is the church. This is a church epistle. Or, as some commentators prefer to call it, God's new society of people.

[6:35] This is the church. A new kind of people. And so this letter is written with that as the overall theme. All right, so we might ask then, if that be the case, then what do right relationships in the marriage, in the home, in the workplace, what do those relationships have to do with the church?

[7:00] It doesn't really take a lot of thought to see how those things can be connected. But I'll boil it down to this statement, really two things. Because much of the ineffectiveness, this is what we need to realize and acknowledge, much of the ineffectiveness which exists in the church today is directly related to two things.

[7:25] The disharmony which exists in the Christian home, we could even call it the demise of the home in this culture, this society.

[7:36] And it's happening, it's rampant, it's like a huge disease all around our nation. Really the demise of the family. But the disharmony that exists, and we're not talking about any and all families, we're talking about the Christian home.

[7:54] Because Paul was writing concerning the Christian home. Pagan families cannot do what Paul instructs here in these passages. So he's addressing Christian home.

[8:04] And so ineffectiveness in the church is directly related to the disharmony that exists in many Christian homes between husbands and wives, parents and children, and so forth.

[8:19] And then number two, the dishonor which exists among Christians in the workplace. And here I'm making the application of masters and slaves, making that application to employers and employees, or bosses and employees.

[8:35] And there's dishonor among Christians in the workplace. Christians who are not working hard.

[8:46] Christians who are not working in a way that reveals that Christ is the Lord of their life. And so forth. And again, we'll get to that on down the road.

[8:58] All right, so you can see then why or how these relationships in the home, in the workplace, how they are directly related to the church.

[9:10] Now, it's important, I think, to note, and this I didn't put in your notes, this is just kind of fill in here. It's important to note, because it kind of gets back to the issue of, you know, masters and slaves.

[9:23] It's important to note that Paul includes the relationships in the workplace, and that's how we're applying it, with the relationships in the home. It's not two contexts.

[9:34] It's contexts. It's one in Paul's thinking. It all comes within the context of the home. You might remember in chapter 6, verses 5 and 9, Paul's talking about masters and slaves, not bosses and employees, and masters and slaves were part of the household.

[9:56] And so this is all in the context of the home. Now, so we could say then, we put it all together, as the family goes, the home or the household, the family includes this issue of being worthy workers in the workplace and good employers.

[10:19] As goes the family, so goes the church. There's no way to separate that. The demise of the family leads to the demise of effective churches.

[10:32] And we could go a step further, though Paul is not making that application here. So as goes the church, so goes the nation.

[10:43] It's all connected in that way. And that's why all of this is so vitally important, why the family is so important, and why it is so important that our nation, our culture not redefine marriage as we are doing.

[11:01] We're right in the middle of it. I mean, really, we're already past it. Redefining marriage and redefining what a family is. Our definitions for these things should come from the Word of God, because He's correct on that.

[11:18] And so when we have the demise of the family, then that affects the church, and ineffective churches affect a nation. And that's where we are today. All right, so before we see what Paul says about these relationships, we also need to keep something else in mind, and this also connects us with what we've already studied in the book of Ephesians.

[11:43] Ephesians. Verse 18, Be filled with the Spirit. We studied that last week. Yeah, was it last week? Anyway, that passage, that famous passage, verse 18, Be filled with the Spirit, is really the linchpin for everything Paul says in his discourse about relationships.

[12:06] You've got to remember that, and I'll keep reminding you of that as we go throughout these various relationships. It's the linchpin of everything. A linchpin is what keeps the wheel on the axle so the wagon can get on down the road.

[12:21] All right, so what? The Holy Spirit is the linchpin that secures the wheel of Christian living. And, you know, it's the Holy Spirit that keeps your life moving in the right direction.

[12:37] It's the Holy Spirit that is there to enable you to do the things that God has instructed us in His Word. Those things pertaining to the marriage, the home, the workplace, all aspects of life.

[12:52] All right, so it's the Holy Spirit that keeps all that going in the right way. And that is provided you're yielding to His divine control. And that gets back to really the meaning of the command in Ephesians 5.18.

[13:07] All right, so, very logically then, as we continue to kind of connect what came before and what we're looking at now, Paul reveals the importance of the Holy Spirit in the household of God.

[13:20] That's the church. That's the church. But also in your household. Your household. Your home. And remember, Paul speaks of the household of God in verses 19-21, which we studied last week.

[13:35] What were they? They were four of them. Fellowship, worship, gratitude, submission, speaking to one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.

[13:47] That's worship. Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's gratitude. And submitting to one another in the fear of God.

[13:58] That, of course, is submission. Mutual submission between brothers and sisters in the church. All right, all those are related to the church. All right, so God is then telling us how important the Holy Spirit is to the church, the household of God.

[14:18] And now, from that point on, and in the text that we just read, He's going to be showing us how the Holy Spirit is absolutely crucial for your household and mine, the home.

[14:32] What Paul teaches us about right relationships in the home and at workplace we cannot do apart from submission to the Holy Spirit of God.

[14:44] That's what it all comes down to. You can't do any of this apart from yielding your life and not just a one-time thing when you were saved, but a continual, daily, moment-by-moment yielding your life, your mind, to the will of God, to the control of the Holy Spirit of God.

[15:08] So, verse 18 really, again, is the linchpin for it all. Really, that really helps us with the entire book of Ephesians, really, with all of Christian living.

[15:24] All right, now we're ready to look at the text. And the first relationship Paul addresses is husbands and wives. Okay? We're not going to get to the husbands tonight.

[15:35] It'll just be the wives. And I thought, I just need to get this out, done with, and then I can pound on the husbands a little bit later.

[15:46] Not that I'm going to pound on the wives here tonight. You know, I have a strong sense of self-preservation. Really big. Although, I'll probably still say some things you might not really like.

[16:01] But just remember, it's not me. It's the Lord. All right, so if you have an issue, you can take it up with him. And, anyway. All right, husbands and wives. All right, so Paul begins with the ladies.

[16:13] So that's why I'm beginning with the ladies. All right, so it's Paul's fault. And so he begins with the wives. Verse 22, Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord.

[16:27] For what? The husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. Literally, he himself is the Savior of the body.

[16:39] Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in what? Everything. I'm sorry, it's just exactly what it says.

[16:53] All right, so let's dig a little bit into this, I guess I could call it a controversial passage. First of all, let's consider the exhortation.

[17:05] The exhortation to submission. That's the first thing, the exhortation. Because that's what this is in verse 22. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord.

[17:16] That's the exhortation. And we can learn a few things about the exhortation. A brief exhortation, a pact full of some very important truths that we need to understand.

[17:32] All of us do. So, there are three things here, actually, in the exhortation. Number one, dependent, it means dependent upon one's abdication to the Spirit.

[17:47] It is dependent, I've already said this when I was talking about the, you know, verse 18. But, that's the first thing that we see in the passage.

[17:59] Dependent upon one's abdication to the Spirit. Now, how do we see this? Well, it's interesting, but in the Greek text, and this initially is going to be good news for the ladies.

[18:12] In the Greek text, there is no verb in the sentence. No verb there. You say, well, there's one right there in my Bible.

[18:23] Well, it's not in the Greek text. No verb there. so I guess we have to say it doesn't make it a sentence. You have to have a verb to have a sentence, doesn't.

[18:34] So, there's no verb. It could literally read, wives, your own husbands as to the Lord. That doesn't make a lot of sense, does it?

[18:45] But that's what it says. And so, obviously, the verb, submit, does not appear in the original text. And the ladies say, hallelujah.

[18:57] Hallelujah. See, I knew all along that, you know, this is something that's been perpetrated by a bunch of men preachers. you know, they've kind of put that in there.

[19:09] And it was all guys who did the translations into the English text. all right, well, hold on. Because the verb for verse 22 is implied.

[19:24] It's implied. And that's perfectly fine. And you'll find it in a lot of places in Scripture. It's borrowed from verse 21. It's borrowed from the verse that comes right before it.

[19:39] It's submitting to one another in the fear of God. I'm so sorry, ladies. It may not be there in print, but it was there, is there, in thought, and in the intent of the Apostle Paul.

[19:55] All right, so this is very important because, you see, by connecting the exhortation to the verse that comes right before it, what does Paul do?

[20:05] He reveals that the role of the Holy Spirit is, in the white submission, is so crucial. The role of the Holy Spirit is involved in this.

[20:15] And it is through her abdication to the control of the Holy Spirit that the wife is then both, has both the desire as well as the power to obey, to submit herself to her own husband.

[20:37] It's only with the Holy Spirit because apart from His control, His, really we could also rename that as the Lordship of Christ in your life.

[20:47] Same idea. Apart from that, not any of us would first have any desire to be submissive. And we wouldn't have the power to do it, the wherewithal to do it.

[21:00] It's the Holy Spirit. And you say, well, you know, I can submit sometimes. Well, sometimes we can, you know, just do it. But that's not the right spirit, is it?

[21:13] Because I really, the spirit of the command is that wives would submit willingly and joyfully to their husbands. They say, well, that adds a whole new dynamic that I hadn't thought about.

[21:27] You know, I can do the other, maybe, sometimes, on a good day, but to do it gladly, that's just asking too much. Well, it is, if you're going to try to do it by yourself, on your own, in your own strength.

[21:41] It takes God in your life to do that. Alright, so, and this is also key, the verb form that is borrowed from verse 21, we're talking about this word submitting, and that is applied by Paul in this exhortation, verse 22, is in the middle voice.

[22:01] We talked about voice last week, and I want to kind of reiterate that again because I want you to understand how crucial it is to our understanding exactly what Paul is saying here.

[22:13] And to a large extent, this will be, I think, be good. for our ladies here, but, so what does it mean to be middle voice?

[22:28] Well, I mentioned last week that Greek verbs can either be active voice, did I put this in your notes? Alright.

[22:39] That's so you can look back and say, what was it he said about, well, anyway, active voice. And if it was active voice, by the way, it's how the word is spelled in the Greek text that tells you whether it's a certain kind of voice verb.

[22:56] Active voice, if we were to translate it as an active voice, it would say, wives, submit your own husbands to the Lord. That says something totally different, doesn't it? Well, sorry, ladies, it's not active voice.

[23:08] Active voice where the subject does the acting against the object of the verb, alright? It's not active voice. Passive voice, it could be translated, wives, be made submissive to your own husbands.

[23:21] And ladies, you ought to be glad it's not passive voice. Some have interpreted it this way. Wives, be subjected to your husbands as if some outside force, namely your husband, is going to do that.

[23:35] Going to make you subject. That's not the idea at all. So be glad it's not passive voice. But it's middle voice. Middle voice is translated just like it is in our text because this is the way Paul wrote it.

[23:50] Wives, submit yourselves. Though the most English versions don't put the reflexive in there, the yourselves. Really, they ought to because that's how it means.

[24:04] Submit yourselves. So you see, with the middle voice, the subject does the action to. To himself or herself. And that's what really this is all about.

[24:19] Wives, submit yourselves to your own husband. That's the middle voice. So the idea is any initiative for submission comes from within.

[24:32] Not from without. Now, it doesn't mean, I'm not meaning that this is a work of the flesh that you can just, you know, just determine to do something and do it in your own strength.

[24:45] It comes from within where the Holy Spirit dwells. And where you have submitted to His control in your life. So it comes from within. Not any outside person or force.

[24:59] It's not your husband that says, you be submissive to me. Now, He may say that to you. I don't know. I hope not. We'll get to the husbands next time.

[25:13] And by the way, Paul's instructions in Ephesians 5, instructions to husbands, much, much, much harder than what He says to the women.

[25:24] But anyway, it's not outside, it's inside. It's within. And so since the verb is borrowed from verse 22, the middle voice is just as significant there, by the way.

[25:37] And I didn't really talk much about this when we were looking at verse 21. But in verse 21, of course, this idea of being submissive or submitting is applied to wives and husbands, men and women, all believers, submitting to one another.

[25:57] And so the idea is within every spirit-filled, spirit-controlled believer, there is this element of self-denial. And it's a desire that comes from within to deny self and self-interest and to humble oneself and be submissive to others.

[26:24] And it's a tremendous principle that's taught in Scripture in a number of places. Excuse me. And by the way, this is completely consistent with the definition of the word submitting.

[26:39] submitting. And we haven't talked about the definition yet and decided to hold that for after we look at all this other because the definition also supports the idea that it's something that we choose to do, something that we do ourselves, this submitting.

[27:02] the Greek word translates submitting in verse 21 as hupotasso. And it's a very important word and its basic meaning is to arrange under or to line up under.

[27:18] And it's interesting that it's a military term actually, used most often rather in that context. and, you know, the sense of soldiers kind of lining up at attention.

[27:33] You've got a picture maybe soldiers who have lined up for inspection and the commanding officer is coming by, you know, and looking at the barrel or the rifle or whatever he's doing.

[27:44] But the idea is lining up under, subordinating yourself under your commanding officer. And that's the name, or that's the meaning of the word.

[27:57] And so it's something that they choose to do. Now in the military, the only exception in the military, if you don't do it, then you're in big trouble. You know, probably get shot at the firing squad or something.

[28:08] I don't think any husband's going to shoot his wife at, well, hope not, at the firing squad if she doesn't submit to him. But that's the meaning of the word. Alright, so, let's go on.

[28:19] We're talking about what Paul reveals in his exhortation to wives. Number one, it is dependent upon one's application to the Spirit. Number two, it is delimited by one's possession within society.

[28:38] One's possession. And the idea is God has fixed or marked a boundary that limits this exhortation to a wife's own husband.

[28:52] that's the important thing. Every word is so important in this relatively short exhortation, but it's just packed full of important truth.

[29:06] Own husband. Now, Paul could have, by the way, you know, with the Greek language, he could have conveyed this same idea with just putting the word the in front of husband.

[29:18] You know, wives submit to the husband. I mean, that's the way they would do things like that in the Greek language, and it emphasizes that it's not just any and all husbands, it's one particular one.

[29:30] The husband. That is, your husband. And Paul could have conveyed the idea in that way, but he chose to insert a word that would really emphasize the importance of this.

[29:42] It's the word idios. Idios. And it means own. By the way, the word is idios, not idiot. I've got to think about that.

[29:54] That's really close to idiot. And so maybe some wives are thinking, you know, submit to your idiot husband. That's not the idea. Okay.

[30:05] I didn't make any points with the guys on that one. This position aspect of the exhortation is especially emphasized by Paul in 1 Corinthians 7, 2, really 2 through 6, regarding the physical relationship or the act of marriage.

[30:26] And, you know, he says in that passage, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife. It's a concept of possession, personal possession.

[30:39] Not like you would possess a bass boat, guys, or, you know, the latest, biggest riding lawnmower or something like that. Own wife in a personal prized possession.

[30:53] And let each woman have her own husband. He's talking about the act of marriage, the physical relationship between husband and wife.

[31:06] Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her. And likewise, also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body in this respect, but the husband does.

[31:23] And likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another. So that's in the context of the physical relationship, but it emphasizes also what Paul is saying here in Ephesians, and that is that the husband, wives, your husband is your unique and wonderful possession.

[31:48] And though Paul is not addressing the husbands yet, the same is true for the husbands in regard to their wives. Alright.

[32:01] So, Paul does not then, this is the idea, the important truth to realize, Paul does not exhort wives to submit themselves to all men.

[32:15] Isn't that good news? Just to their own husbands. Okay. Now, admittedly, there are other men to whom wives must submit.

[32:31] If they are working out in the workplace, then they are obligated to submit to the authority over there. And we also are obligated, not just wives, but all of us are obligated to submit to our government authority, authorities, and so forth.

[32:48] And so, there are other authorities in our life that may be held by men, but this command here is not just carte blanche, you wives are to be submissive.

[33:01] All men, what they tell you to do, do it. Alright. Of course, you already know that, don't you? Alright. Then, number three, it's defined by one's submission to the Savior.

[33:16] The exhortation is defined by one's submission to the Savior. The phrase, as to the Lord, has been interpreted in a number of ways. Number one, it's been interpreted, submit as if your husband were a Lord over you.

[33:33] Now, what do you think about that one, ladies? You think that's what Paul's getting at here? Well, no. To submit in like manner as to the Lord.

[33:46] Now, we're thinking, well, that might be it. And the meaning being submission is not to husbands per se, but to who they represent. That is, that husband in your house represents the Lord.

[34:00] Lord. And you're to submit to Him because He's the Lord's representative in your home. Now, that's getting close, but that's still not it. Still not it. I mean, the husband, I mean, what about a husband who's a pagan?

[34:16] Does a pagan husband represent the Lord? Well, no. Not in any shape or form. So, it doesn't mean that. A wife, you know, and it's good that it doesn't mean that because a wife could, a Christian wife, for example, could rationalize, kind of rationalize this whole exhortation to submit because her husband's a non-Christian.

[34:38] And so, therefore, couldn't be a representative of Christ. I mean, how could he be? He's a pagan. Look at the things he does. You know, some of the things that, decisions that we make in our household and things he wants me to be a part of, they're not even Christian.

[34:56] Now, let me put a little caveat in here. It doesn't mean that a Christian wife must obey a pagan husband in those things that are absolutely contradictions to the Word of God.

[35:11] But, nevertheless, getting to the meaning of this, it's not to submit in like manner as to the Lord, that is, as the husband is representing the Lord. The third is submit as being rendered to the Lord who commands such submission.

[35:29] Now, that's something a little different. It means that submission to the husband is to be considered as submission rendered to Christ, directly to Christ.

[35:40] So, it's not that Christ somehow then becomes your husband and you submit to your husband because he is the figurehead of Christ in your house. It is that you obey your husband because you are rendering your submission to the Lord.

[35:57] And that's true whether it's the best of circumstances or the worst of circumstances. In fact, that trumps every possibility. You're submitting to Christ because he's the one that's commanded you to submit to your husband.

[36:11] And so, here's the idea. Obedience to Christ. It's obedience to Christ, not rationalism as you're not kind of thinking about this rationalistic.

[36:21] It's not emotions. It's obedience to Christ that trumps in a wife's submission to her own husband. So, sometimes, what? A wife will choose submission to her husband out of love and respect and trust for him.

[36:37] And that's good, isn't it? A wife can submit to her husband because she genuinely trusts him and loves him and respects him and so forth. And that's wonderful.

[36:50] Sometimes, that's the case. Hopefully, it's more than just sometimes in a Christian home. But it's not always that way. Always, though, always a wife must choose submission to her husband out of love, respect, and trust for Christ.

[37:06] You see, if we'll get that down, then we won't have any trouble because that covers it all. It covers it all. That the wife is submitting to Christ.

[37:19] Christ, when she submits to her husband. Alright, so, wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. That's the exhortation to submission. Quickly. Second, the motivation for submission.

[37:35] Verse 23 and 24, for the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

[37:53] Now, I say clearly, I wouldn't say clearly, but maybe it's not so clear, but the motivation for submission is Christ himself.

[38:05] It's Christ himself. That's the motivation for submission. If it is anything else but Christ, or anything else plus Christ, then there will be many times when the motivation won't be there.

[38:23] But if you keep the motivation on Christ, that he's my motivation, then no matter what happens, you'll be in right relationship.

[38:37] Paul gives wives a three-fold motivation. Submit because of who is sovereign over the body, or sovereign over your body.

[38:49] For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church. Now, in this verse, sovereignty is put in terms of headship.

[39:04] The word sovereignty doesn't appear in the passage, but it is there. It's put in terms of headship. But, headship of the husband is not the same as Christ's headship.

[39:18] So, the two words, the word head appears in the passage. Those two times are not equal.

[39:29] They're not synonymous. The headship of the husband, the headship of Christ. The headship of Christ is the priority here.

[39:41] The headship of the husband over the wife is defined by Christ's headship of the church and not the other way around.

[39:54] So, you've got to emphasize and focus the headship of Christ. Paul's using an analogy, but the point of the analogy is not the headship of the husband, it's the headship of Christ.

[40:06] So, the husband's headship over his wife is functional. It's a functional headship. Not dictatorial.

[40:16] Can I get an amen? At least from the wives here. All right. See, the thing is, yeah, thank you, thank you, Sharon.

[40:29] We'll have to ask Jim about that. The thing is, I think, you know, all the families in here, all the husband-wife relationship, you all have, everything's just great.

[40:40] I mean, it's perfect. So, you know, when I mentioned this, you know, they say, well, that's just totally foreign to me. I don't understand how that could ever be.

[40:51] You know, this idea of dictatorial kind of headship. To put it another way, the husband is the servant leader of the wife. Not the sovereign lord of the wife.

[41:04] Christ holds that position in him alone. And therefore, he, that's how he's the motivation for the wife's submission to the husband. So, who is sovereign over the body?

[41:17] Christ is sovereign over the body. Now, in the context, it's the wife's body, but in the larger picture, it's not only the wife's body, but the husband's as well.

[41:30] And not just the husband and wife, but he's head over the entire church. That's the point. He's the head. And so you can't have two heads. So it's not Christ and your husband, ladies.

[41:43] Christ. It's Christ. And your husband is head under him. And you are under your husband. And that's the way God has designed it. And as long as we keep it in that line, then everything will work.

[41:58] Everything will work. So what is the motivation? The motivation in terms of headship, well, we see it in the analogy of the headship. a physical body that does not respond to the direction of the head will not function properly.

[42:14] Will it? I mean, it can't. You take the head away, you have nothing. The body can't do a thing. Well, likewise, and this is the analogy, likewise, a wife who does not properly respond to the direction of her own husband will manifest serious spiritual dysfunction.

[42:35] Not only in her life, but also in the life of the family, the health of the family. Now, you know, some woman might say, well, you don't know my husband. You know, I mean, who made that two-legged rascal my head?

[42:50] Well, God did. God did. And he knows what he's doing. Does that mean that the head always makes the right decisions?

[43:01] No. Now, in the perfect situation, in the desire, in the design and desire of God, in his word, the head of the household would be in right relationship with his head.

[43:15] And when he's in right relationship with his head, then the wife is in right relationship with her head, then that's a wonderful, wonderful, healthy home, a home that God desires, and a home that can be achieved.

[43:32] How? By learning all these principles and disciplining them into your life? No. I mean, that's part of it, but first and foremost, by submitting to the control of the Holy Spirit in your life personally.

[43:45] And then all this other will work. Motivation for submission. Sovereign over the body. And then next, submit because of who is the Savior of the body. And he himself is the Savior of the body.

[44:00] He, of course, is Christ. So this is where the analogy ends. We've got husband and husband head, Christ head. That's an analogy, but we don't have any analogy at this point.

[44:10] It ends because the husband may be like Christ as to headship. Maybe a similarity there in function. But Christ is what the husband could never be.

[44:23] Savior of the wife. Husband could never be Savior of the wife. We're talking about Savior in the spiritual sense. This is the supreme motivation for submission.

[44:35] In fact, there could be no greater motivation for a wife to submit to her own husband. No greater. The model of submission is Christ himself. Because he performed the supreme act of submission by sacrificing his own perfect, sinless life to save the sinful world.

[44:54] And that includes sinning wives. Got any in here? Boy, real quiet. Includes sinning husbands.

[45:05] Got any of those? Okay, well, the guys are a little bit more obvious. Alright, one more. Submit because of subjection of the body, that is the church.

[45:16] church. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. And, you know, I don't need to say any more.

[45:29] I gave you a quote there and I want to read it to you, even though you've got it in front of you. It's a quote from Marcus Barth. By the way, some of you may know this name, Carl Barth, father of neo-orthodoxy.

[45:47] And, you know, not a good guy, but his son was a little different. Marcus Barth, a little different than his father. And this is what he said.

[45:58] The submission to and respect for the husband to which the wife is specifically admonished is by no means the submissiveness of a pussycat or a crouching dog.

[46:09] Those are his words, you know. Paul is thinking of a voluntary, free, joyful, and thankful partnership as the analogy of the relationship of the church to Christ clearly shows.

[46:25] clearly shows. I mean, the church submits to Christ joyfully, freely, voluntarily, or it should.

[46:37] Thankful. It's a thankful kind of relationship we have. And that's the analogy applied to the church. So this is the motivation, wives, the analogy of the church, the subjection of the church.

[46:55] Thank you.