No Verses Command Husbands to Submit to Their Wives

No Verses Command Husbands to Submit to Their Wives

Many will argue that husbands are commanded to submit to their wives because of this verse: “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God” (Ephesians 5:21).

The very next verse states this: “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husband, as unto the Lord” (Ephesians 5:22). Why didn’t Paul add: “Husbands, submit yourselves unto your own wives”?

“For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body” (Ephesians 5:23). Why didn’t Paul add: “For the wife is the head of the husband”?

“Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing” (Ephesians 5:24). Why didn’t Paul add: “…so let the husbands be to their own wives in every thing”?

“…and the wife see that she reverence her husband” (Ephesians 5:33). Husbands are never commanded to reverence their wives.

“Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands…” (1 Peter 3:1). Why didn’t Peter write: “Likewise, ye husbands, be in subjection to your own wives…”?

“For after this manner in the old time, the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands” (1 Peter 3:5). Whey didn’t Peter add: “…the holy men also…being in subjection unto their own wives?”

“Even Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are…” (1 Peter 3:6). Why didn’t Peter add: “Even Abraham obeyed Sara…”?

“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord” (Colossians 3:18) Why didn’t Paul add: “Husbands, submit yourselves unto your own wives…”?

The aged women are to teach the younger women to be “obedient to their own husbands” (Titus 2:3-5). Older men aren’t commanded to teach the young men to be obedient to their own wives.

Even from the beginning of time, God created Eve to be Adam’s help meet, not the other way around (Genesis 2:18). Then, after the Fall, God told Eve, “Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee” (Genesis 3:16).

“But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God” (1 Corinthians 11:;3). There’s no place that tells us that the wife is head of the man or that the husband is to submit to the wife.

“For a man…is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man” (1 Corinthians 11:7-9).

There’s no way one can negate all of these verses about the roles of husbands and wives to say that husbands are to submit to their wives. They’re not. It’s not God’s ordained order. There can’t be two leaders. There’s only one leader in the home and that is the man. God created men to lead. It’s His will. If you don’t accept that, you are not accepting God’s will.

Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
Proverbs 31:10-12

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20 thoughts on “No Verses Command Husbands to Submit to Their Wives

  1. Amen the bible is so clear, I blame feminism and how its flooded the churches. Too many people pick and choose what they want to accept in the bible. God’s commands are clear. Men were created to lead since the beginning and women were created to follow. Mutual submission is a lie from the enemy.

  2. I was always given to understand that Ephesians 5:21 referred not to obedience, but to the marriage debt owed by both to the other. In other words, not denying one another.

  3. Amen, Lori. And something (almost) everyone is afraid to mention is that wives lose respect for their husbands when those husbands submit to them. Oftentimes, a wife will, either intentionally or without realizing she is doing it, test her husband. We want to know that our husband is always strong for us, steadfast and not giving in to us. It makes us feel safe and protected. A husband who submits to his wife seems weak and women are wired to neither trust nor respect weak men. These feminists are “tearing down their houses with their own hands” and making it very difficult for men to be who God designed them to be.

  4. If you have no followers, how can a leader lead?

    I’m still in search of a woman that wants to be a follower.

  5. Agreed! My heart has been so sad over how much we women have botched this. The Bible tells us when we disobey (Titus 2), God’s Word is blasphemed…and in 1Timothy it tells us to follow these paths (in the home sphere) so that there is no occasion for the enemy to speak reproachfully!

    If we’re doing things the feministic way and not God’s Way, and therefore our marriages crumble almost as much as the world’s marriages, why would the lost see a need for God? If His followers aren’t any different from the world, if their relationships are no better, surely they think, “Why change my ways and obey a God that His followers don’t even seem to want to obey?”

    Devastating ?. God forgive us!

    Thank you, Lori, for teaching us these necessary and powerful truths of God’s Word for us women. May we humble ourselves and have a teachable spirit, for the glory of our Risen Lord!!

  6. Oh I know that’s where that’s stated, I just always took “Submitting yourselves one to another…” to mean more or less the same thing as 1 Cor.

  7. Kari, I think it’s worse than “Why change my ways and obey a God that His followers don’t even seem to want to obey?” They are thinking “Why change my ways and obey God when it doesn’t work?” Christians turn God and His ways into something unbelievers mock when we blatantly ignor His commands. And that makes me sick and fearful.

  8. My husband told me a story about a woman he knew who got divorced…

    She was at a restaurant with her husband (at the time) and her 14 year old kid (from a different man), and she helped the boy order an alcoholic drink. Her husband protested and said ‘He’s too young, don’t do that.’ She waved him off and gave the boy the drink.

    Needless to say, divorce followed.

    The real question…why would a wife hurt her kid just to give the middle finger to the man she supposedly loves?

    How weird is that? It was definitely a power/control thing over both men…the boy and the soon to be ex-husband.

  9. Thanks be to God for His clear commandments to wives. I think I would buckle beneath the commandments that husbands are given?‍♀️

  10. Frankly there are more than enough marriageable girls around for the small number of men that are able to get them. I’ve set up many guy’s with pretty young Christian virgin girls and there are never enough men to be found for them. So don’t lose hope, just be looking in the right places and possibly be willing to search further than just next door.

  11. Well said Kevin! Mutual submission is such a watered down lie created to falsely interpret God’s word. My husband is the head over me, he leads and I follow, submit to and obey him in everything. He takes care of me completely and makes every decision for our family. I honestly don’t see what’s so hard about that and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

  12. Thank you so much Kevin for the kind words. This is actually the only blog I participate in, I’m not a Facebook or social media girl – my husband’s not a fan of that at all! I only feel comfortable responding to posts that I can really identify with, basically being a good obedient housewife and having babies!

  13. 1 Cor 11:8-9

    “For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.”

    I think that pretty much sums it all up perfectly. Eve was created because Adam was lonely and did not have a mate like the rest of God’s creation did. Adam was the first human created, not Eve, and not Adam and Eve at the same time. It was Adam THEN Eve, and Eve being made from one of Adam’s ribs, showing that she was created of and for him.

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