Two Sides of the Same Coin

My friend Chad wrote a post the other day called Gender & Equality In Jesus.  I love what he said about wives and their command to submit to their husbands.  He said to forget about the command for husbands to love them as Christ loved the Church.  He advised them to focus on the command given to them and not the one for their husbands.  He also said that we husbands should focus on our command to love our wives as Christ loved the Church and forget out the submission thing.  I agree.  Let’s focus on what we’ve been told to do, not someone else.  We really can’t demand those things out of someone else.

Here is the thing, though, that I thought about and has been sitting back there in the back of my mind for a while now.

Are They The Same Thing?

Normally when we think of submission and love, we don’t think of them being the same thing.  I think this is because we think of submission as a bad word.  In this context it can’t be, though, because it’s in the Bible and we are all told to submit to each other just before wives are told to.  So, what are we talking about anyway?

Christ Gave The Example Of Submission

Christ gave us the example of how we should submit in His life.  He submitted to the Father.  He put aside His own interests for the sake of ours.  He looked out for our best interest because the Father wanted Him to , it would glorify the Father and it would be to our benefit.  That, I think, is what submission is.  Laying aside our wants and desires for someone else.  We are all told to do this with each other and wives, in particular, are told to do this for their husbands.

Christ Gave The Example Of Love

In turn, Christ gave us  me the example of how we should love.  We are to love our wives as Christ loved the Church.  This, it seems to me, is to lay aside our own interests for the betterment of our wives.  Christ did this to the point of death.  We husbands should do this up to the point of death for our wives.

Two Sides Of The Same Coin

It seems to me, the more I look at this example that Christ gave us, that they are really the same thing.  Wives and husbands should be looking out for the betterment of each other.  We should set aside our own interests for the betterment for each other.  If this was taking place in our lives, there would be no controversy over the meaning of these verses.  All of us should submit to one another and follow the example of our Lord.  Our lives and the lives of our churches and the Church would be revolutionized.

How about you?  Are you willing to biblically submit?  Are you willing to biblically love?