Biblical Marriage

It has recently come to my attention that many people in society find the Biblical standard for marriage to be weird. They find it ‘off-putting’ and ‘oppressive’, and I would like to talk about it. As a woman, feminism is a great thing. It gave us the right to vote, the right to have our voices heard as equal members of society, and most importantly, the right to choose what kind of woman we want to be. Without the waves of feminism and the work of women's activism taking place long ago, who knows if I’d even be able to write this for you today? I have seen many issues and immorality that come with recent hyperfeminism these days. It’s as if we took it a step further and instead of wanting equal rights, we want men to suffer. We no longer look for good husbands; we do not desire to make warm homes or strong families anymore. We chase money, access, careers, and the eternally invaluable worldly possessions. 

So, what does the Bible say about marriage? Ephesians 5:22-23 says, “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, and is himself its Savior.” Wives are called to be led by their husbands. Wives are called to be in submission to their husbands just as we are in submission to the Lord. This is why it’s important to find a husband who bows to God and only God. This is also why it’s important to find love as it’s described in the Bible. “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” – 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

If you don’t look for a man of God and if your relationship is impatient, unkind, jealous, rude, resentful, and leads you down wrong paths, you might be in submission to your husband, which is good, but he isn’t doing his part for you both. “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word” – Ephesians 5:25-26. Now THAT is a man we can submit to. Someone who loves us like Jesus loves us. Someone who would lay down his life for us, who desires to sanctify and cleanse us.

The devil tries his best to destroy marriage because of its blatant display of the covenant Jesus has with His church. With a husband like Christ and a wife like the church, God is at the center, and that marriage will seldom fail. That marriage will produce fruit, spread light, and plant seeds in every facet it reaches. What we are doing wrong these days is not realizing that if we aren’t in submission to Jesus or to a husband who leads us to Jesus, we are in submission to something else. If the thing that’s ‘weird’ about Biblical marriage is submission, let's look and see what we could be in submission to otherwise:

• Money

• Career

• Substances

• Political party

• Social Media

• Social Norms

The point is, thinking submission is weird or misogynistic does not mean you are not currently in submission to something. Let’s make sure we are in submission to the things that actually matter in this life. There is nothing under the sun that is more important than Christ and our relationship with Him. The entire book of Ecclesiastes verifies this to be true. I pray for each woman reading this who is operating under the guise of ‘woman empowerment’ as I once was. There is nothing better that you could do for yourself than to fully commit and fully submit to the One who loves you more than anything you could fathom or experience elsewhere. The world hates you, but Jesus, JESUS loves you.