Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

Ephesians 5:21 – 22 and 25

Paul now gets down to putting the love of God into practice.  He calls it “submission.”  Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.  This covers all relationships. The Spirit of God is never haughty or demanding, but elevating and freeing.  As new-born sons and daughters, we learn, not from culture but from Christ himself.

Paul touches on one of our most intimate relationships, husband/wives.  As both are saved by Christ Jesus, they are enabled to put pride aside and submit no one another “as you do to the Lord.” 

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.  We have been saved and our thinking transformed so we can receive a new message from the Lord, “Submit to one another!”

I find this one of the most demanding life-changing aspects of living in Christ as new creatures in the body of Christ. Two words stand out, “love,” and “submit.”  The opposite marks the old life – selfishness and self-protection.  Two persons who love Jesus will love and submit, without being instructed.  They do so because Jesus has changed them.

I am now 89 years old, still learning how to love and submit to Anna Ruth, my dear wife since 1949!  I am still at it!  I find that my submission to her is a beautiful reflection of Jesus’ love for the church.