What Colossians Says About the Family: Part 1

"Wives, be submissive to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and don't be bitter towards them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so they become discouraged." Colossians 3:18-21

Today we'll begin looking at what Colossians teaches us about the sacred institute we call the family. Paul has divided it up into four neat little sections, so let's take a look at each one of these. We'll start, as Paul does, with wives.

"Wives ..."

Out of all the things Paul could say about wives, a single sentence sums up what he wants the Colossian wives to know: submit to your husbands. And it wasn't as if that was the only thing Paul could come up with! Throughout other letters, he mentions wives and their roles nearly ten times (1 Corinthians 7:29; Ephesians 5:22; Ephesians 5:24; Ephesians 5:25; Ephesians 5:28; Colossians 3:18; Colossians 3:19; 1 Timothy 3:11). But submission of wives is a major theme Paul touches on in many of his letters. In Ephesians, he goes so far as to tell wives to submit to their husbands twice - and only two verses apart! And why? Because submission of wives is a major role they have, one that goes back as far as the Garden. It was one of the first roles God gave woman after the Fall. "To the woman he said, ... "Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”" (Genesis 3:16 - emphasis mine) Now, this isn't a dictatorship type of ruling, but simply a different role. Man's role is to rule, or "be the head over" (Ephesians 5:23) his wife. Just like Christ is the head over the Church, husbands are the head over their wives.

Now, this does not mean that every woman must submit to every man. The Bible is clear that a woman is to submit to her husband. That is what the Lord commanded. It also does not mean that women are inferior to men in any way. As people before God, they are entirely equal. God does not love men more than woman, or favour them more. He just purposely gave them different roles.

Now, what about if you aren't a wife? Well, if you're a young woman like me, who, if the Lord wills, hopes to get married someday, then this is applicable in that we can study qualities of a godly wife and prepare to be one one day. But if you're an older single woman not planning on getting married or anyone else who is not a wife, by studying the role of a godly wife, you can encourage Christian wives you know. Just like Paul set out to encourage the Colossian wives in their role of submission to their husbands, 21st century Christians can encourage younger wives in their church to submit to their husbands, "as is fitting in the Lord," just as the Lord would have it.

We'll take a look at the next three familial roles, husbands, children, and fathers in the next posts.