Lesson Five-

"But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ." 1 Corinthians 11:3

"Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the body of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. " Ephesians 5:22-23

"For in Him (Jesus) all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete; and He is the head over all rule and authority..." Colossians 2:9

"...We ought to obey God rather than men." Acts 5:29

If you will take time to carefully read the verses above you will notice something very interesting. The first two verses tell us that the husband is the head of the wife. Because of that fact a wife is to be in subjection to (obey) her husband.

I would like to take this opportunity to address a widely asked question. Ladies ask, "But my husband is not saved. Does that mean I am still to be obedient to him?" The answer is, "abosolutely." Then they usually ask, "But what if he asks (or even demands) that I do something that is sinful. Then the answer changes to, "no." First of all let me say that it is very rare to see a woman who is walking in sincere obedience to God and living a holy life before her husband to be asked to do ungodly things. However, if this ever does become the case a Christian woman can take a moment out in prayer with God and then lovingly and gently explain to her husband that she cannot do what he has asked because it would be sin for her to do so. It is all in the attitude with which it is approached. But I must warn you, having an unsaved husband does not remove his authority over you. As long as you are his wife you and your home are under his rule. It is only when he insists that you do something that is in strict violation to God's word that you are not to obey.

Notice the verse in Colossians. It says that "Jesus" is the head and rule over all authority. This means that Jesus (through God's word and the coviction of the Holy Spirit) is our final or absolute authority. The authority that our husband has over us is a limited authority. I choose to look at it this way. Authority is for one purpose-protection. It is like an umbrella whose design is to keep us out of the rain. When it is raining I have to choose whether or not I want to stand under the umbrella, don't I? If I get wet, it is my own fault. It is just the same with authority. God set my husband to be over me and there is not one single thing that I can do to change God's word. But, I can choose whether or not I will stand under my husband's authority. Sometimes this is hard, especially if the husband is not saved because we tend to question or even doubt his judgement. But you see, that is not our place to decided. We are to simply be obedient to what God calls US to do and leave the rest to God. If this thought frightens you, please be patient. We will cover several provisions that God makes to protect you later in the book.

Mrs. Peace says, on page 15, "Even though God's authority is protective, this does not guarantee that your husband will always do the wisest or most godly thing. It does mean, however, that regardless of what he does, God is working in your life to "conform (you) to the image of His Son." (Romans 8:29) and God can be glorified. God does not look at life the way we do. His perspective is eternal and perfect. Unfortunately, ours is temporal and marred by sin. That's why God has given us clear guidelines to protect us."