Wives Are to Be Subject to Their Husbands

“Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands.” Verses 22-24.

When we consider how Christ deals with the church, we understand that the husband has much to learn regarding his relationship to his wife. Christ does not force the church; He allows it, by gentle prompting and encouragement, to develop according to the laws of liberty. He does not pick at us about trivial matters, but when He sees falseness and guile in our spirit, He is very strict. He has the larger goal in view; and provided things are headed in the right direction, spiritually speaking, He covers with His love a multitude of things that come forth from our body of sin. “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” Psalm 32:2.

The relationship between a husband and wife ought to be as that between Christ and the church. Christ loved the church, and He gave Himself for it. The church submits to Christ as Head. Just as it is no use for the church to resist Christ, it is no use for the wife to resist her husband. It never has a good effect when she does that. But just as the church goes to Christ in prayer with its difficulties and situations, the wife should likewise go to her husband with her difficulties. The final decision in every matter, however, rests with the husband. For a God-fearing couple these things will work out quite naturally by themselves.

“Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are now her children if you do right and let nothing terrify you. Likewise you husbands, live considerately with your wives, bestowing honor on the woman as the weaker sex, since you are joint heirs of the grace of life, in order that your prayers may not be hindered.” 1 Peter 3:6-7.

The husband will have the same beneficial effect on his wife as Christ does on the church if he gives himself for his wife, as Christ offered Himself up for the church. If the husband is more perfect than the wife, as Christ is more perfect than the church, his strength as the stronger vessel will have an influence on the weaker vessel in their married life, like Christ Himself, who presents the church for Himself in glory, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but as holy and irreproachable. Likewise, in married life with a God-fearing husband, the wife will gradually become a woman who is both holy and blameless, without spot or wrinkle in her husband’s eyes. This formative work takes place through the husband’s will. Therefore, the wife must submit to her husband in all things.