Ephesians

Second Day: Read Ephesians 5:22—6:9, concentrating on 5:22-24.

1. a. Ephesians 5:18 exhorts us to be filled and empowered by God’s Spirit. That is followed by a series of commands that we are enabled to do by the power of the Holy Spirit: speak, sing, make music, submit.¹⁰ Paul now helps us understand the various ways in which we submit to each other according to the position we hold in a particular relationship. In Ephesians 5:22-33 Paul addresses the marriage relationship. He speaks first to wives. What is the wife to do and in what manner, according to Ephesians 5:22,24?

b. Challenge: Read Genesis 2:18,22-24. What do you learn about man and woman and their relationship?

2. a. Remember, submission is mutual (see Ephesians 5:21). However, because the roles of husband and wife are different, there are different ways they submit to each other within a marriage. Submission doesn’t have anything to do with inferiority and superiority, but rather has to do with headship, which is authority and leadership. What do you learn about this within the marriage relationship from Ephesians 5:23?

b. What is the order of headship, as explained in 1 Corinthians 11:3?

3. a. As we search the Scriptures that describe the Lord Jesus in relationship to His Father, we will discover the elements that make up the headship of the Father, which will help us understand the headship of a husband. The first element deals with identity. What does John 10:30 say about Jesus Christ and the Father?

b. How does this compare to the husband and wife relationship from Matthew 19:4-6?

4. The next element deals with mutual cooperation. What do you learn about this from the relationship of Jesus to His Father in John 5:17 and 19, and how can you apply these principles to the marriage relationship?

5. The third element is shared honor. What does Jesus say in John 8:49 and 54 regarding His relationship with the Father? How might this apply in a marriage relationship?

6. In words full of mystery, Jesus suggests that even though He and the Father are identified with each other, cooperate with each other and honor each other, there is a difference of authority, the final element of the Father’s headship. What do John 8:29 and 14:28 say about this?

7. Personal: The wife’s primary duty is to Christ, even before her husband, although submitting to Christ includes submission to her husband. She is to submit to Christ first, and if submission to her husband ever comes in conflict with submission to Christ, then obedience to Christ takes precedence. Barring such extreme situations, the wife is to allow the husband to make final decisions, and she is to respect those decisions. Have today’s Scriptures changed your view on this matter, or helped you understand the wife’s position? If so, how?