 When it comes to wives submitting to their husbands, most people have it all wrong. I want to show you something really interesting that we tend to miss and we should not miss this when it comes to this issue of wives submitting to their husbands. Now, are wives supposed to submit to their husbands? Yes, but there's something glaring that we're not describing, that we're not really covering. So let's go to the text and I want to show you something. Obviously, we're talking about Ephesians 5, 22. It says, wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. Now, what I want you to notice is something really, really interesting. Go over to the Greek, to the right side. Here's what you're going to notice. You're going to see in verse 22, you're going to see, aigunakesa, that is to the wives, tois idos, which is to your own andresin, which is to your own husband, as to the Lord. That's what it says. It says, to the women or to the wives, to your own husbands, as to the Lord. Well, what's missing from that passage? The word submit. Well, where do we get that passage? And why does it say in verse 22 in the English, wives submit to your husbands? Well, because, and it is telling women, wives to submit to their own husbands, but it's piggybacking off of a previous set of verses. So let's go see that, because yeah, it should say submit, but in reference to what was already spoken about, submitting. So let's go back to it. And instead of starting in verse 22, let's go to where it starts off. Let's start in verse 18. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit addressing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord your heart. And here it is, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submitting, there it is, submitting, and that's where the word shows up, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. And so we see this word as we are filled with the Spirit. We end up submitting to one another, and we're also going to have to submit to Christ as well, but he says we're submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. In other words, we are to show this sort of love, this respect, and then to submit this deference. And so it's not just only wives submitting to their own husbands before we get to that. We need to see that we also ought to submit to one another. In other words, there might be this ranking, this ordering, this structure that might be in place, or just even if we're on the same level, just out of, you know what, I love you. And so you see something. So I'll submit to your understanding because guess what? I don't know it all. I don't see it all. But out of reverence for Christ, I'm going to show the same amount of love for you that I'll show towards myself. Now keeping that in mind, now let's go to verse 22. And he says, wives submit to your husbands. Again, the word submit is not there, but he's saying in the same way. So hi, Gennache. So wives to your own, to your own, Tois Idiois, Tois Idiois, which is to your own Andresen, Andresen, this husband as Has to Curio, which is as to the Lord. Now look what it says, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body and is himself its savior. Now that's important because husbands should not expect for a woman to submit to him if you're not submitting to Christ. Am I saying that the woman has the right to not submit if she sees her husband not submitting to Christ? No, that's not what I'm saying. But a husband, if we're going to be in order, we all should be in submission to one another and principally to Christ, who is the head of the church. Let's continue. And he says, verse 24, Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit everything in everything to their husband. Again, the word submit is still not there in verse 24 when it comes to so also wives should submit, but it is there in the first part. So let's go ahead and look up this word where we get this term for submit, this word, hypotaso. Let's look and see what it says. Let's click on this. As a matter of fact, let's go ahead and move some of these things out of the way. And I want to go ahead and pull up what it says, the understanding in the B-dag. That's kind of the standard. So let's move this out of the way and let's enlarge this. And let's go to where it even speaks about this specifically in this particular passage. Let's make this a little larger so you all can see this because you have bad eyes like me. And look what he says. He says, to be subjected or subordinate to obey. Now let's read this, of submission involving recognition of an ordered structure of the entity to whom or which appropriate respect is shown toward a husband. And so there's this humility that is given out of respect towards the other. So you can see why this is not just out of for the husband, I mean for the wife or the husband, but guess what? It necessarily means the husband ought to also have that same level of respect to the wife. Now granted, he is the head. And so the wife is going to recognize the ordered structure, the order structure by who? By God. So God places the ranking. And so she submits out of to the, to the understanding and respect out of that order structure to where her husband is now the head. That is indeed if she's married, if she's not married, well she doesn't have to submit to everyone else's husband. She doesn't have to submit to every man, but to her own husband according to the passage. And so out of respect for this ordered structure towards her husband in humility, that's the whole point. And guess what? We should do it towards one another, even towards one man towards another man, one woman towards another woman from one body of believers to another body of believers. We ought to have this level of respect, this level of humility towards others. Now, in when it comes to making decisions and so forth, well, there ought to be some sort of deference when it comes to that as well. So if there's time to make a decision on something, well, sometimes the husband is going to be the one who's going to be held responsible. Remember, in the garden, God did not call Adam and Eve. He didn't say, where are you guys at? He said, Adam, where are you? And he spoke specifically to Adam. Why? Because this headship that God left meant that he is going to be the one that is going to be in charge. He was the one that is charged with sin because he disobeyed. She disobeyed him, but he disobeyed God instead of listening to this woman. Now, does that mean that he should never, ever listen to his wife? No. As a matter of fact, this little concoction that I have back here, my wife gave this to me, horrible taste, but it's supposed to be healthy for me. And so she made this. Now, as you can see, I'm having a bit of a trouble, um, fully submitting to what she said. I'm halfway through. This thing was about to right here. It's not the best tasting thing, but it's supposed to be for my good. Yeah. But I trust that my wife is after my best interest that she's looking out for me. It should be the same thing. She should see that as I'm submitting to the Lord, that I'm giving my time to the Lord, that she also, because I can promise you this, um, men and women, if a woman sees a man who was fully submitted to God, she won't have a problem being fully submitted to him. That works really, really well. And so if she sees me doing what I'm supposed to be doing, she wouldn't have a problem submitting to me and vice versa. And I know that she has my best interest. And so I'm going to drink the rest of this sometime within the next 24 hours because she told me to, uh, and I know, and I trust that she's out for my best interest, even though it tastes like armpit and hair. I don't know what is in this stuff, but it's bad, but it's supposed to be good for me. Amen. Love you, Lord. Love you, wife. Love you, Lord. Forgive me, this wife. So, but in terms of just submission, it's not a one way street. It's never been a one way street. As a matter of fact, there are times in the scriptures where the woman has had to inform her husband, Abraham, and Sarah, Abraham was told by God, listen to that woman when it came to getting rid of that other boy or recall when Moses, God is getting ready to kill Moses. And then his wife's support takes the knife and circumcises the son and throws a force game before to the ground. That saved Moses. So there are times guys where the woman is right also. It's not an issue where you the only one that have some sort of insight. Listen, I understand every woman is not as fortunate as my wife to be married to someone who doesn't make very many mistakes. I'm kidding. And so because we are going to make mistakes, you're going to have to lean on that person who God gave you, who you married. You said, I do too. You're going to have to lean on her from time to time. As a matter of fact, more than from time to time to also help you because you can't see everything. And so she deserves some deference too. Is it okay to submit to her? Sure. In totality, no, you are still the head, but to submit to her understanding her, her belief, the way she sees some things. Amen. Ultimately, though, still though, you're still responsible. So you've got to be wise in that regard. But that's where the prayer comes in. So I want to make this clear. The Bible doesn't say like it reads in the English just out of thin air. Wives, submit to your husband. No, do so just like and then gives the previous verses and the preceding verses or verses that come before and the verses that come after to give an example of submission. But what's the first thing that it says? Says to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And so the guiding of the Holy Spirit can cause us, husband and wives, to submit to one another as we submit to Christ. Amen.