Ephesians 5:21-25

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”

An interesting phenomenon happens on the rough mountain trails of the Middle East that points out the character difference between sheep and goats (see Matthew 25:31-46 for an even deeper analogy). When goats come together on a rock ledge trail just wide enough for one goat, they will fight to the death on that trail and only one goat will pass on. But if two sheep are coming from opposite directions on the same trail that is only one sheep wide, one sheep will kneel down, lay flat, let the other sheep step on and over itself, and then both will pass on their way. It is amazing that the character difference between two similar animals can produce such different outcomes. 

Why does Paul say in Ephesians 5:21 that we are to “submit” to one another?

How should this attitude permeate our families?

How is it possible for a husband to “submit” to his wife and the wife to submit to her husband?

Do you see anything “scary” about these verses?

Can you think of exceptions in the local church to these verses?