Wives Who Are Like the Church - Week 12

“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the Church, his body.” This study is directed at both girls and guys. We want them both to see what a godly wife should look like so that the girl can strive to be one and the guy can know what to look for in a wife.

A wife is like the church in three ways:

She is an HONOROR (through loving submission). – Ephesians 5:24,33, Titus 2:5.

What submission is NOT – It is NOT putting the husband in the place of Christ. The husband is not to be worshipped. (Col. 1:18) Submission is NOT the same thing as giving up independent thought and becoming intellectually frozen. Submission is NOT giving up all efforts to influence her husband. (1 Pet. 3:1-2 The wife is to influence her husband through prayer, putting on the armor of God, having Godly friends, living in quietness, purity, fear of God, overcome evil with good, answer softly, speak truth in love, reprove her husband, be patient, live under God’s authority, respectful forms of communication.) Submission is NOT giving in to every demand of the husband. (Acts 4:18-19, Ex 1:17, A wife should refuse to submit to her husband when he forbids her going to church, Heb 10:25, forbids teaching children about Jesus, asks her to sin or violate her conscience.) Submission is NOT the same as being fearful or timid. Submission is NOT letter her gifts go unused. Submission is NOT believing her husband is infallible. Submission is NOT based on a wife’s inferiority to her husband (Gal 3:28).

Submission IS – “Submission IS a divine calling of the wife to honor, affirm, and nurture her husband’s leadership and to help carry it through according to her gifts.” Submission IS God’s way of attaining and maintaining function and order in the home. Submission is a way of life for all believers in some sense (Eph 6:1, 1 Pet. 5:5-6, Eph 6, Rom. 13, James 4:7, Heb. 13:17, Eph 5:22, 5:21. Submission IS reverence and dedication toward her husband that is based not on the husbands worthiness as a leader but because both have God-given roles and desire to be obedient to God.

She is a HELPER (through faithful companionship) – Genesis 2:18, Prov. 31:10-31. The wife finds fulfillment in using her gifts and abilities to help her husband. She finds fulfillment in helping her husband in his service for God (1 Cor. 11:7-9). She enjoys showing confidence in his decisions, shows thankfulness for his leadership, maintains a good spiritual life, and offers suggestions, advice, and corrections when needed in a loving way.

She is DEVOTED to care of the home – Titus 2:4-5, Prov. 1:8, Eph 6:1. The home is the sphere in which she fulfills her God-given responsibilities. Proverbs 31 Model says that a godly wife:
1. Makes the home a safe place – 10-31
2. She is trustworthy and dependable – 11-12
3. She is organized and productive – 13-14
4. She is enterprising – 16-19
5. She is a generous neighbor – 20
6. She is a teacher – 25-26
7. She is blessed as a mother – 27-31

Response
1. How is the wife like the Church?
2. What is your view on submission? What is the biblical view of submission?
3. What are some characteristics of a godly wife?