I’m very serious when I say this: out of all the teaching series we’ve presented on this page so far, this one—“Marriage is Spiritual”—has been blessing my soul and spirit since day one. I hope and pray it has been the same for you too.

With that said, let’s continue from where we left off last time. If you remember, we were unpacking the message of Ephesians 5:22:

“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.”

At the end of the last post, we posed a question:

“Now, what about ‘as to the Lord’? Does this mean that a wife submits to her husband in the same way she submits to God?”

That’s a good question—and the answer is an emphatic “No!”

Our Lord Jesus Christ is our God. How can anyone submit to Him in the same way they submit to a mere man?

The phrase “as to the Lord” points to who the wife is ultimately submitting to. God is the Author of marriage—the union of one man and one woman. He established the order within marriage and how each spouse should relate to Him through that union.

As 1 Corinthians 11:3 says:

“But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.”

This verse is not suggesting that Christ is inferior to God, nor is it saying that a wife is inferior to her husband. Rather, it reflects a structure—much like the one found in a well-organized military unit—designed for harmony and effectiveness.

So, “as to the Lord” also means that a wife’s submission to her husband is an extension of her submission to the Lord. No wife can submit to her husband in the way God calls her to—unless she first submits to the Lord.

Submitting to the Lord means denying herself, forsaking her own way, and embracing God’s way as revealed in His Word. In other words, the Word of God must take central place in her heart. Her submission to the Lord is what shapes and defines her submission to her husband—and also sets its boundaries.

A wife’s submission to the Lord is assumed to be absolute, even though, like all believers, she may not live it out perfectly in this side of heaven. However, her submission to her husband is expected “in everything”—as long as it does not require her to disobey or deny her Lord.

For example, if her husband tries to bring pornographic or sexually explicit materials into the bedroom to “jazz up” their intimacy, a spiritual wife—whose primary submission is to the Lord—must say “No.” She refuses to sin against God by yielding to such lustful and sinful requests. . . . cont’d ///