We continue today with Pastor Bruce Roeder’s excellent exposition on the topic of submission with respect to MEN. I believe that before us as women can truly understand this critical area of marriage and the importance God places on it, we need a full orbed view of it. Pastor Bruce presented this to our training class at RGCM.
A Husband cannot demand respect. This is a big problem in marriage with some men. They want respect; they want submission from their wives. They want it so bad they are willing to sin to get it and thus have made an idol…of respect.
Our pastor said this at the men’s retreat in 2006: “Husbands are no where directed in Scripture to force or manipulate their wives (or any one else for that matter) to be in submission to them through intimidation, threats and harsh treatment.” – Pastor Ted Groves
Pastor Doug Wilson in his excellent work “Reforming Marriage” is even blunter than Pastor Groves in commenting on Eph. 5:25 where husbands are to love their wives as themselves: “A man who does not take particular and tender care of his wife, and who then expects her to be fruitful and lovely, is not being a true husband at all; he is a dolt-the Greek word for this is probably meathead. A man must love his wife sacrificially and he must not expect anything but weeds unless he tends the garden with extraordinary care.” Pastor Doug Wilson, Reforming Marriage
Let me suggest to all you men, not just the married ones that this is a key leadership principle that has a life application that goes beyond the context of the immediate family.
If we want to lay the axe to the root of pride then this is the path, outdo each other in giving honor to the other-Ro. 12:10. For it is true humility and it’s a strength, never a weakness.
Labels: Marriage, Submission