21: Yielding to [being
supportive of] one another in the fear of God 22: Wives yield to [be supportive
of] your own husbands[1] as
unto the Lord 23: For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ
is the head of the Church[2]
and He [Christ] is the Savior of the Body [of Christ] 24: Therefore as
the Church yields to Christ so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything
25: Husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and
gave Himself for it 26: That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the
washing of water by the word 27: That He might present it to Himself Godhead
a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should
be holy and without blemish [3] 28: So ought men to love their wives as
their own bodies They who love their wives love themselves 29: For no one
ever yet hated their own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it [their own flesh]
just as also the Lord the church 30: For we are members of His body of
His flesh and of His bones 31: For this cause shall a man leave father
[and] mother and follow hard [after][4] his
wife and they two shall be one flesh[5] 32:
This is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the Church[6]
[1] Dr. Sue
Hyatt writes that the word “submit” should have been translated as “support,” “In
the context of biblical relationships between men and women, the best meaning
of hypotasso is “to identify with or support” It has nothing to do with being
subordinate to, secondary to, or subject to.” (http://godswordtowomen.org/submit.htm) V. 22, The phrase, “yourselves unto your
own,” is translated from only one word, idios,
Strong’s G 2398. The word pertains to one’s own self, or that which belongs to
one’s own self (used 114 times: ex.: Luke 10:34, John. 10:3, 12, 19:27, Acts
1:7, 2:6). The translator supplement, “yourselves” adds an emphatic,
hierarchal, flavor, to the command. It is an incorrect translation and the word
should be eliminated. In verse twenty-one, there is also no corresponding Greek
to justify the translator supplement of the emphatic “yourselves.” “Yielding
one to another (being supportive one of the other) in the fear of God” is
sufficient for understanding. The word, hypotasso,
means the same for both husbands and wives. Hypotasso
is used in 2 Peter 5:5 (Received Text), where all believers are commanded to yield to one another. Given that all
believers are commanded to prefer others before themselves, the Greek word, hypotasso, when applied to non-military
relationships (marriage is certainly not a military relationship), should not
be translated using hierarchal terms such as “submit” or “be subject to.”
[2] Verses 28-29 explain
what Paul meant when he wrote this. 1 Corinthians 11:3 and Ephesians 4:15-16
show that Christ “as head” loves and nourishes the Church, which is his Bride.
Paul may even have been addressing the issue of domestic violence and abuse,
which was prevalent among the Jews and certainly would have carried over into
the early Church as well. The Headship of Christ as Chief Cornerstone (Head of
the Corner) is a direct reference to his function as The Capstone of the Church
(only one capstone per
building).
Jesus’
function as the head is described in Ephesians 4:15-16, which describes a human
body using a building metaphor. In this passage the head is portrayed as
building, edifying, and unifying the body.
There
is no mention in this passage of ruling:
“But speaking the truth in love may grow up
into him in all things which is the head even Christ from whom the whole body fitly joined together (“Fitly joined
together” is a building metaphor) and compacted by that which every joint
supplies according to the effectual working in the measure of every part making
increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”
This
passage of scripture bears witness to the fact that Christ’s Headship has to do with the building,
edifying, and unifying of His Church.
Ephesians 5:29 tells us that Christ’s Headship also includes the nourishment of the Church.
Christ
as the kephale of the corner is the only connection between the rest
of the building/Bride/Church and the Godhead. And although there are many
angles (corner stones) within the Body of Christ, there is only one Head of the Corner (capstone). That is
why Jesus said, “I am the
[only] way the truth and the [only] life no
one comes to the Father but by me.”
[3] This verse cannot be used as a basis
for trinity marriage teaching, or as a command for complementarian husbands and
wives to engage in a cosmic role-play portraying god husband and church wife.
The Church is sanctified by Christ and His
redeeming work on the cross—His
death, His burial, and His resurrection, His triumph over death. Wives
cannot be sanctified by husbands who cannot redeem. Husbands will not present their wives to God at
the judgment. The “He” in verses 26 and 27 refers to Jesus, not to husbands.
The “Himself” referenced in verse 26, is a reference to the eternal Godhead,
because Jesus is God. Jesus is the God of the Burning Bush: Beloved Son Eternal
Father. 1 Corinthians 7:4,14 refutes the redeemer husband fallacy by saying
that the unbelieving husband is sanctified by
the wife (else their children would be unclean, and that the wife has equal
authority over the husband’s body. In
Christ, according to Galatians 3:29, there is functional equality between all
races and both sexes.
[4] Translating the Hebrew word, dabaq, used in Genesis 2:24 (H1692), as “follow
hard [after],” would naturally be unacceptable to traditional male leadership
where men are taught they must always lead and women must always follow. But
even the old English word, “cleave,” suggests equality [requiring moving in
sync together], which would naturally lead to obedience of the biblical commands
of fidelity and monogamy, neither of which was obeyed up to New Testament times,
where polygamous men were disqualified from Christian leadership.
[5] In his foreknowledge and providence,
our Creator commanded all new husbands to separate themselves from their
nuclear families [after they married] and attach themselves to their wives. If
they chose to live within a parental home, after their marriage, it was not to be with the husband’s family. But
history records that from the Fall onward, men have generally disregarded this
command, which would have served as a natural safe-guard for women against
marital abuse and violence. As a side note: Obedience to leaving the husband's
parents and adhering to the wife, would have also protected
against the practice of polygamy, which is against God's command for one
husband to have only one wife. Some have defended the practice of polygamy,
claiming it is a benefit to women, and cite disparity in numbers of male to
female populations. For the most part, historically, smaller male populations
could be attributed to war, and to testosterone driven violence and adventure
(much early violence had to do with the stealing of women from enemy tribes).
If, in the beginning, audawm had not fallen through sin, these things
would not have served to reduce the male population. There would likely have
been much greater balance female to male ratios.
[6] As the apostle stated, the relationship
between Christ and His Church is a great mystery. It is
something the finite mind cannot begin to fathom. Since all our righteousness
[the very best we can do] is as
menstruous rags to an infinitely Holy God, complementarian efforts at cosmic
role play, between god husband and church wife, is nothing less than insulting
to a loving Creator. It is a useless, misguided, attempt to “flesh out”
something humans are not capable understanding, much less of doing.
The commentary
above is an excerpt from the Hungry Hearts Online Bible Commentary
HHBC
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