Mutual Submission

Is there a secret to resolving conflicts? Could that secret be in two words? Mutual Submission. Is mutual submission powerful instead of weak? Does it advance healthy self-interests instead of suppressing them? Could it be the key to finding win-win solutions? Too often, we hear "mutual submission" as a call to compromise and sacrifice our needs. We fear manipulation and control from our spouse. But in this Collection page, I share the truth: mutual submission unlocks win-win solutions, fosters teamwork and friendship, and pleases God. Let's rewrite the narrative based on Ephesians 5:21, "Submit to one another" (NIV) and discover the power of mutual submission.

Articles

Must a Respectful Wife Submit to Anything Her Husband Wants?

The concept of unconditional respect has always been the unique feature of the Love and Respect message, based on Ephesians 5:33. It’s also always been the so-called controversial half. Alternatively, there’s nothing controversial about unconditional love. The world agrees, and countless books have stressed, that husbands must love their wives unconditionally. No one is getting canceled on social media for preaching that message.

Must a Respectful Wife Submit to Anything Her Husband Wants?

Marriage

min read

Is Your Wife Disagreeing with You Because She Rejects Your Spiritual Leadership?

Most wives I have met actually do long for their husbands to be the spiritual leader of their family. They are not resisting his leadership; they truly do believe it's biblical. However, they fear that he will not take their opinions into consideration.

Is Your Wife Disagreeing with You Because She Rejects Your Spiritual Leadership?

Marriage

min read

God’s Favor Toward His and Her Submission, Part 2: God’s Favor to Husbands

In part 1, we explained how the Bible’s command for a wife to submit to her husband actually means that she is to submit to his need for respect. We then shared one woman’s story about how when she began doing this, she found out what 1 Peter 3 means about “finding favor” with God. What about husbands who submit to God’s plan to love their wives? Do they also find God’s favor?

God’s Favor Toward His and Her Submission, Part 2: God’s Favor to Husbands

Marriage

min read

God’s Favor Toward His and Her Submission, Part 1: God’s Favor to Wives

Let’s address this controversial topic of submission in marriage. In Ephesians 5:21 we read of mutual submission: "be subject to one another." Paul then goes on to instruct wives to submit to their husbands and husbands to love their wives. He then summarizes the passage on marriage in 5:33 with the command for husbands to love their wives and wives to respect their husbands.

God’s Favor Toward His and Her Submission, Part 1: God’s Favor to Wives

Marriage

min read

Do You Maintain a Submissive Spirit When Feeling Threatened by Authority?

John Gottman, the foremost quantitative researcher on marriage, wrote, "In the research literature on marital interaction that has used observational methods, women's marital interaction . . . has been consistently described as more confronting, demanding, coercive, and highly emotional . . . than the interaction of their husbands." Why is this? Why does she resort to this covert form of power?

Do You Maintain a Submissive Spirit When Feeling Threatened by Authority?

Christian Life

min read

Should A Husband Submit To His Wife?

We don’t hear too much about submission anymore. And if we do, it’s usually a command to the wife, to submit to her husband. Still, this is considered a bit archaic in today’s modern culture.Submit to one another.But what does the Bible say? Before the section on marriage in Ephesians 5, we read in verse 21, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”So should a husband submit to his wife? Yes. He submits to his wife’s need to feel loved. I take this position by combining God’s command in Ephesians 5:21 to mutually submit, with God’s command in Ephesians 5:25-31 to a husband to love his wife.

Should A Husband Submit To His Wife?

Marriage

min read

Who Makes the Final Decision When You Are Stalemated? Part 2

In Part 1 I introduced a topic that many within the Christian community have discussed and debated about for centuries. Who makes the final call in a marriage where both spouses are caught in a stalemate over a non-moral issue? At the end of Part 1 I encouraged you to read and meditate on Ephesians 5:23 and 1 Timothy 3:4,5,12. Did you catch what the apostle Paul was--and was not--saying there?

Who Makes the Final Decision When You Are Stalemated? Part 2

Marriage

min read

Who Makes the Final Decision When You Are Stalemated? Part 1

When a husband and wife need to make a decision, should they wait for God to change the other person on the matter? What if they must make a decision by a certain time and cannot wait any longer? While there are many times when lesser decisions can be put on hold until one or both change their opinion, what about those moments when waiting is not feasible, like public versus private schooling for the kids in the fall? A decision must be made, but how?

Who Makes the Final Decision When You Are Stalemated? Part 1

Marriage

min read