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Ephesians
5 Teaches Mutual Submission
Ephesians
5 has been used often as a club, almost a choke-hold, to force
sincere Christian women into submission. Ironically, the passage
does not even teach what hierarchialists (also called complementarians)
claim it does. We have been guilty of letting long-standing tradition
and culture tell us what the Bible supposedly says, instead of
allowing Scripture to speak for itself. Like
all the Bible, beginning in Gen. 1:26-28 and running right on
through 1 Cor. 7:3-4; 11:11; and Gal. 3:28, Ephesians 5 teaches
equality of male and female and mutual submission. We usually
base our interpretation on the English translation, not on the
Bible--which here means the original Greek. Yes, the English translations
do seem to teach submission by wives, but the original Greek text
is much more balanced. No
verb appears in Eph. 5:22. Italics mean that in the King James
Version and New American Standard Bible. The verb has to be picked
up from the previous verse. This means that Eph. 5:21 MUST be
considered because it is essential to the context of the passage.
The passage has to begin with 5:21. We should not even take it
as a separate paragraph, as the New Revised Standard Version does.
The New International Version is worse. Submission
is Mutual What
does 5:21 say? Believers in Christ should be subject to one another.
Based on the next verses, this obviously includes wives and husbands.
Yes, the wife is to be submissive to her husband (5:22) WHO IS
IN TURN ALSO SUBMISSIVE TO HER (5:21)! Another
important passage, Eph. 5:23, says, "The husband is the head
of the wife" (New Revised Standard Version). At this time
in America, this wording implies superiority. However, the question
is not what does this terminology mean in modern-day America.
What counts is, what was the meaning of the phrase in the original
language? The
Greek word kephale can mean what tradition says that it means,
but "head" also can be used in the sense of "source"
or "origin." Even today we speak of the "head"
or "source" of a river. In the metaphor system of the
New Testament, the controlling organ of the body is the heart,
not the head. The heart, kardia, is the seat of the will, of action,
of authority. The head serves the body by giving it life, nurture,
and growth. Various references in Paul's letters seem conclusive
at this point, for example Eph. 1:22-23. In that significant passage,
"feet" is used to show authority, while "head"
shows nurture. Christ is the head of us as his body, and he "fills
all in all" (Eph. 1:23, NRSV; see also 4:15-16; Col. 2:19).
Headship in Ephesians 5 is self-sacrificing love, not rule or
authority. To be "head" means to be a servant. Head
of the Home is Christ Yes,
the relationship of husband and wife is used as a picture of the
relationship of Christ and the church in this passage. However,
the Christ church picture is not a perfect analogy of the husband-wife
relationship. For example, Christ is sinless. He is not tainted
by original sin. His judgment is always pure and his decisions'
unselfish. No husband can make such a claim. Like every analogy,
this one is partial: at points it corresponds and at points it
breaks down. Whatever
Ephesians 5 does say, there is no question that it says it in
the mutual submission context of 5:21. We Baptists have claimed
always to believe that we should interpret the Bible in context. The
Christian home has a head, of course, but that head is neither
the husband nor the wife. It is the Lord, Jesus Christ. Frankly,
the issue of women's place is not nearly so clear in the Bible
as any of us would like for it to be. More than enough problem
passages are there to trouble a biblical egalitarian like me. Frankly,
there are also more than enough problem passages (see the first
paragraph above) to trouble those who teach the inequality of
male and female. Both groups ignore passages that trouble them.
For example, Gen. 1:26-28 and Eph. 5:21 are both listed at the
end of the 1998 SBC "family" statement, although they
ignore the egalitarian teaching of the passages in the text of
the statement. Whether
or not one believes the Bible is not the issue: we do that, but
more importantly, what does the Bible teach? December 1999 |
