Warrior Wives: How the Church Paints Submission

 I believe that all those passages about submission were God-breathed and God-inspired.  I believe that they were intended to be applicable to modern day marriages and modern day women.  I have a hard time weaseling my way out of them with intricate discussions of cultural and historical contexts.  But I also believe that believers and churches have not always done a great job teaching these passages and presenting them as sacred and as beautiful as they really are.  I think that we sinners have twisted the passages in ways that devalue marriage, men and women.  

In many churches, we ruin God's picture of marriage by doing one of the following:  

1) The wife's submission is elevated to primary importance in the marriage relationship.  The husband's role is mentioned in passing...maybe.  It is viewed as if a wife is not allowed to voice her opinion, to express preferences, to have charge of responsibilities or to do anything besides smile, nod and conform to her husband's every wish and whim.  When submission is elevated this high, a woman's value is diminished.  She is viewed as not just a weaker partner (1 Peter 3:7) but as a weak partner.  

2) Submission is dismissed as an outdated culturally-biased and sexist command.  Strangely, although the wife's command is ignored, the husband's command still applies today.  When submission is dismissed, a man's value and authority are diminished.  
Submission is viewed as a woman's weak subservience to an oppressive man.  It is viewed as an insult to our intelligence and an affront to our rights.  When this happens, we destroy the image that God has asked us to model to the world.  

Both of those presentations and views of submission are wrong because they are unbalanced and completely inaccurate.  

Here's the thing.  Both men and women have equal value before God.  Furthermore, we have an equal measure of sin and an equal need for salvation. 

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

Warrior Wives: How the Church Paints Submission