In several New Testament passages both Paul and Peter write about wives submitting to their husbands. Even for the first readers of their letters, this was a big issue. Back in Genesis 3 one of the descriptions of the curse or by-product of sin is a woman’s desire to dominate.


Much argument has arisen over the idea of a woman’s submission to her husband. Some of the greatest opponents of biblical submission forget the last phrase of today’s Scripture passage. A wife is to submit to her husband in a way that “is fitting to the Lord.” What is the fitting way that we submit to the Lord? We respond to His grace with gratitude, with a desire to please Him, and with joy for His care for us. These are ways that a woman might respond to her husband.


The problems come, of course, when one or both spouses do not treat the other as the Lord treats us. It is hard to see through the bitterness and strife in those times. The only hope for the disintegrating marriage is submitting to Jesus Christ whose grace restores.