In today’s culture, the idea that a woman should submit to or obey her husband is viewed as archaic and sexist. Society has moved far away from the Bible’s admonition that the man is the head of the woman (1 Cor. 11:3). At the same time, the institution of marriage has never been worse, with many, if not most, ending in divorce. Our families are broken. In the US approximately 40% of all children are born to unwed mothers; among Blacks it’s as high as 70%! So it seems that the change in thought about the relationship between men and women in marriage has not yielded positive results.
How did we get here? Some might insist that feminism or the women’s rights movement is to blame. I disagree. I believe the fault resides with men. I think the failure of men to treat women in a godly manner has contributed greatly to women’s rebellion. It seems to me that men love to quote the Bible when it entitles them to get something, but not when it obligates them to give something. Two verses in particular come to mind:
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,” (Ephesians 5:25)
“It (love) does not insist on its own way…” (1 Corinthians 13:5)
Men have failed to put these two verses into practice. Men should be willing to die in order to care for their wives. I’m not talking about the “jump in front of a bullet” machismo from the movies. I mean the everyday, lifelong commitment to her wellbeing through self-sacrifice.
Additionally, the truth is that equality sounds good in theory, but it is not possible in practice. No matter how hard a couple tries, there will always be a time when compromise is not possible and one person won’t get their way. Unfortunately, for too long, men have abused their role and expect women to be happy about it. True love means balance and fairness in making decisions.
The bottom line is that if you want a woman to submit to you, you have to first show her that you are man who is worthy to lead in a Biblical way.