Ephesians 5-6

In today's devotional, we see the apostle Paul's recommendation for a successful marriage; submission. Submission first to Christ the head of the home, and then submission to one another. The husband is to submit to his wife, and the wife to the husband. [21] And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭5:21‬ ‭NLT‬‬. Take note that, the true head of the home is not the man, it is Christ. When a man obeys God's world and submit to his wife, he is not just submitting to her but to Christ. Exactly the same applies to the wife, when a wife refuses to submit to her husband, the person she is really rejecting and rebelling against is not him but Christ. I understand that this truth can be somewhat confusing to most people because of what we have been taught, but listen; submission in marriage is in reverence to Christ. The question then is, what is submission because it obviously means different things to the husband and wife? To the wives, Paul says; [22] For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. [23] For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. [24] As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything. Ephesians‬ ‭5:22‭-‬24‬ ‭NLT‬‬. To the wife, in light of verse 21, submission means to respect, to defer to your husband. To not contend with him as he fulfils his role as the physical head of the home. To the husband, Paul says; [25] For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her [26] to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. [27] He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. Ephesians‬ ‭5:25‭-‬27‬ ‭NLT‬‬. To the husband, submission to your wife means to love her inspite of her shortcomings just as Christ loved the Church and died for her despite her shortcomings. To submit to your wife means to be willing to sacrifice your very life for her. I tell you the truth, if we would just apply this simple formula to our marriages, there was a sharp decline in marital instability and divorces. Paul concludes; [33] So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. Ephesians‬ ‭5:33‬ ‭NLT‬‬. Submission to a husband means to respect him. While submission to your means to love her.