Ephesians 5:21
The churches of Christ Greet You (Romans
16:16)
In Ephesians
5:18-21
Paul says, "And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but
be
filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual
songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving
thanks
always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, submitting
to
one another in the fear
of God."
Immediately thereafter he offers instructions concerning the marriage
relationship (vv. 22-33), in which he calls upon wives to submit to
their
husbands (vv. 22, 24) and upon husbands to love their wives (vv. 25,
28, 33).
Mutual
Submission
Paul's words
in verse
21, "submitting to one another in the fear of God," have been
interpreted to mean that every Christian is to submit to every other
Christian.
As the responsibility is reciprocal, "submit" [from hupotasso]
is understood to involve nothing more than being concerned about and
yielding
to the needs of others. It is simply another way of stating the
obligation in
Romans 12:10, "giving preference to one another," and
Philippians 2:3, "let each esteem others better than himself." For
clearly, if each person must submit to all others, "submit" cannot
denote subjection to authority.
Since in the
next verse
Paul says, "Wives, submit to your own husbands," this is not
understood to involve subjection to authority either; rather, the duty
the wife
bears to her husband is no different than the duty all Christians bear
to one
another (v. 21) i.e., "to give priority to the other person." And in
this sense, Paul could have said with equal propriety, "Husbands,
submit
to your own wives." In fact, it is thought by some that this is exactly
what Paul does in verse 25. The command to "love" one's wife is
viewed as simply another way of saying "submit" to her. Such exegesis
attacks the idea that a husband has authority over his wife and that
submission
to him implies obedience.
This
interpretation of
verse 21, however, is not peculiar to feminist exegetes. "Mutual
submission" among Christians is often supposed in verse 21 even by
expositors that recognize that verses 22ff teach that the husband has
authority
over the wife.
The
Meaning of Hupotasso
In either
case, the
problem with finding mutual submission in Ephesians 5:21 is that it
requires a
diluted meaning of hupotasso. In order for the term to apply
reciprocally to all brethren, the word would have to mean merely
yielding to
the needs of another. But in the New Testament, unless this
verse is the
one exception, hupotasso always means yielding to the authority
of another.
Observe how
the word is
used: Jesus was subject to his parents (Luke 2:51; demons were subject
to the
disciples (Luke 10:17); Paul enjoins subjection to the governing
authorities (Rom. 13:1, 5; Tit. 3:1; 1 Pet. 2:13); all things are
subject to
Christ (1 Cor. 15:27; Eph. 1:22); spiritual beings are subject to
Christ (1
Pet. 3:22); Christ is subject to the Father (1 Cor. 15:28); members
must submit
to the elders (1 Pet. 5:5); the Corinthians were to submit to the
direction of
those who were leading in good works (1 Cor. 16:15-16; wives submit to
their
husbands (Eph. 5:22, 24; Col. 3:18; Tit. 2:5; 1 Pet. 3:5); servants
must submit
to their masters (Tit. 2:9; 1 Pet. 2:18); the church is subject to
Christ (Eph.
5:24); Christians are subject to God (Heb. 12:9; Jas. 4:7).
It should be
understood
that in none of these relations is the submission ever reversed. The
Father is
never said to be subject to Christ; the elders are never told to be
subject to
the members; husbands are never commanded to submit to their wives;
masters {employers} are
never required to be subject to their servants {employees}; etc.
Certainly
masters {employers} must be considerate of their servants
{employees} (Col. 4:1; Eph. 6:9) and husbands must regard the
needs of
their wives (Col. 3:19; Eph. 5:25, 28), but these responsibilities are
never
suggested by the word hupotasso; they are couched in different
terms. Hupotasso
is a unilateral term, because it denotes subjection to a leader. The
follower
must hupotasso the leader, but the leader does not hupotasso
the
follower. This is confirmed by Thayer's definitions: "to arrange
under, to subordinate; to subject, put in subjection...; to subject
one's self,
to obey; to submit to one's control; to yield to one's admonition or
advice...."
Therefore,
Ephesians
5:21 cannot teach that all Christians must submit to all other
Christians. Of
course, one's obligation to "esteem others better than himself"
and to "look out for the interests of others" is asserted in
scripture and is reciprocal (Phil. 2:3-4). So we are not calling in
question
the concept that is often extracted from Ephesians 5:21. We are simply
saying
that the word hupotasso does not convey this concept. It
denotes a
unidirectional---not mutual---responsibility. Ephesians 5:21,
therefore, does
not teach "mutual submission."
Toward
a More
Satisfactory Interpretation
Verse 18
calls on the
readers to "be filled with the Spirit." The five participles in
verses 19-21 describe various activities of Spirit-filled people:
speaking to
one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing, making
melody in
your heart, giving thanks always, and submitting to one another. Verse
21 is
therefore grouped grammatically with verses 18-20, which is
signified in
several translations by making it the last verse in the paragraph
(which begins
with verse 15).
However,
verse 22
contains no verb. "It presumes the verb expressed in the participle of
verse 21 ('submitting')." So verse 21 is connected grammatically to
what
precedes and to what follows. It should be viewed as a
transitional
verse. It is both "the culmination of verses 18-20" and "the
starting-point for 5:22-6:9." Certainly verse 21 would be a fitting
introduction to the subsequent instructions requiring submission of (1)
wives
to husbands, (2) children to parents, and (3) slaves
{employees} to masters
{employers}.
What we are
suggesting
is this: Ephesians 5:22-6:9 explains verse 21, which introduces the
section.
The instructions in 5:22-6:9 are the particulars elucidating the
general
requirement in verse 21. Verse 21 affirms that there are cases in which
some
Christians must subject themselves to the authority of others. What are
some of
those cases? Wives must submit to husbands, children must submit to
parents,
slaves {employees} must submit to masters {employers}.
In response
to the
feminist interpretation of 3:21-33, it should be noticed that wives are
called
upon to be subject to their husbands as the church is subject to Christ
(v.
24). This establishes that obedience to authority is in view. Verse 23
further
confirms this fact: "For the husband is head of the wife, as also
Christ
is head of the church...." Certainly the Christ/church relationship,
which
parallels that of husband/wife, is not reciprocal. Christ is head of
the
church, but the church is not the head of Christ. The church is to be
subject
to Christ, but Christ must not be subject to the church. To insist on
mutual
submission between husbands and wives, one would have to make havoc of
the
relationship between Christ and His church. Paul is depicting, to both
connections, a leader/follower relation.
In response
to those who
concede the authority/submission contrast in 5:22-6:9 and yet see
mutual
submission in 5:21, it should be noted that such an interpretation
requires
Paul to use the word hupotasso in one sense in verse 21 ("be
considerate"), and in a completely different sense in the following
discussion ("be subject to authority"). Yet, as we have shown, verse
21 is grammatically connected to 5:22-6:9, apparently serving as the
introduction to this section. One would think that the key term in the
introduction would be commensurate with that same term as it recurs in
the
discussion.
One scholar
points out,
"The reason the mutual submission interpretation is so common is that
interpreters assume that the Greek pronoun allelous ('one
another') must
be completely reciprocal (that it must mean 'everyone to everyone').
There are,
however, several passages in which it means "some to others." For
instance, when Paul says, "Bear one another's burdens" (Gal. 6:2)),
he probably doesn't mean, "Let each member bear the burdens of every
other
member," but rather, "Let the strong bear the burdens of the
weak." (cf. Rom. 15:1).
When Paul
says,
"Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one
another" (1 Corinthians 11:33), he means "Let those who are ready
early wait for those who are late." And, perhaps most conclusively,
notice
Revelation 6:4---"it was granted...that people should kill one
another." Clearly John is not suggesting that every person is mutually
killing, and being killed by, every other person." That would truly be
a
spectacular slaughter. The obvious meaning is that some individuals are
killing
other individuals.
We have,
therefore,
biblical precedent for understanding allelous to mean "some to
others." Granted, unless compelling reasons forbid it, "one
another" should generally be viewed as reciprocal. But the above
passages
show that allelous can signify "some to other," and in
Ephesians 5:21 we have a compelling reason to adopt this meaning
because submission
(in the sense of hupotasso) cannot be reciprocal.
Conclusion
Ephesians
5:21 does not
teach mutual submission among Christians. It introduces 5:22--6:9,
which gives
the particulars of the general requirement in verse 21. "Submitting to
one
another" means, therefore, that certain individuals must submit to
certain
other individuals. In his elaboration, Paul specifies the respective
individuals: wives submit to husbands, children submit to
parents, and
slaves {employees} submit to masters {employers}.