Me? Submit to Him? Submission in the New Testament

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In response to questions I received concerning the biblical model of submission, I recently read again what the Bible teaches on this important principle. One of my favorite books on Christian manhood also has some succinct and well thought out answers as well. It is titled Point Man by Steve Farrar. He found out from scholars what the term submission means from a biblical viewpoint. This model is found in Ephesians 5:22, Colossians 3:18, 1 Peter 3:1, and 1 Timothy 2:11. Feel free to look these verses up and give your input.

Some folks who reject the idea that God has assigned men and women differing roles – that is, those in the "egalitarian" camp – have attempted to show that the Greek word translated "head" should be translated "source." If this is the case, then the husband is not primarily responsible to God for family decisions.

Dr. Wayne House points out The textual difficulty for such a view: "some feminists go to great links to argue that to be one's "head" means to be one' s"source." Based on this, the text supposedly teaches that Christ is the source of the man, the man is a source of the woman, and God is the source of Christ

The inescapable problem with this view however is that the meaning for head is questionable. There is no clear example of the Greek word for head meaning source during the times the writing in the New Testament, nor any example of the new testament reasonably translated this way. It is a forced, artificial definition of a New Testament word, adopted to support a predetermined interpretation."

 (Point Man, Steve Farrar; 1990, Multnomah Press, pp. 261-64)

Whatever you think about submission when it comes to women to their husbands, be aware that whatever you think will impact not only your relationship your husband, but also to your Lord, and your children. We must be careful to listen and respond to the wisdom and knowledge of God, remembering what He created marriage for: to remind us of the Son's relationship to His Father, and the church's relationship to their Lord, Jesus Christ.

Respectfully submitted,

Trey Rhodes