TLDR: We as Christians are called to a deep commitment with God.

In my sermon a couple of weeks ago, I noted that there are a variety of views within Christianity. This is prevalent as we look at different denominations and age groups. One of the wonderings that I have is why so many groups are leaving mainline denominations. I wonder why several baby boomers are not coming back after childhoods on Sunday School. At the same time, I wonder why the GenZ and millennials are being unchurched or seeking more Evangelical traditions. I recently read an article about Christian women, particularly the GenZ and millennials, who respond to a submissive women movement. I read the article with an open mind, because I have a deeper understanding of the word submissive than secular culture.

The subject of the article, Sadie Robertson Huff, encouraged women to be submissive to the will of God both in their personal and professional.^[1] She talked about some of the ways in which giving control to God helps her relationships with her family and the culture. Meanwhile, the author of the article, was an atheist and took a view that the submissive view was ignoring problems.

Part of the difficulty is wording: submission and obedience have negative connotations in our culture. For example, in Ephesians, Paul encourages wives to be subject to their husbands as the Church is subject to Christ. Likewise, husbands are to love their wives as Christ loves the church.^[2] Instead of thinking of being submissive to God (and spouse), another way to think of the relationship is deeply committed. If we could understand the word submission without the baggage that comes with it, this would be a good place to use the word. It is a better translation. However, “submission” is a topic word that can be used incorrectly to justify abusive relationships.

When someone is committed to their spouse, they listen to, learn from, and are guided by their decisions. When Paul was writing this passage in Ephesians, he wanted to emphasize the importance of The Trinity as our authoritative force. For Paul, this means emphasizing the way of God rather than the way of the culture.^[3] Now, on this point, Huff and I agree.

Directly before the passage in Ephesians, Paul wrote about Christian Conduct. This is because at the time many Christians, including new converts were developing loose moral traditions, when wives and husbands are encouraged to deeper commitment, this is a bridge to begin talking about family life in general. The early church saw the family as central to the early church movement.

What follows this passage is a discussion of slavery. There is no question that slavery is evil. I wish Paul had been an abolitionist, however, since that was not within his scope, we will leave it for another Blog Post.

There are other places where Paul discusses subjection, such as 1 Corinthians 14:32-34, where Paul speaks of the order of prophets followed by other prophets. The entire context of the passage, through verse 36, emphasizes right behavior in worship. Of course, the church had female leaders such as Lydia, Dorcas, and Phoebe. I would imagine those leaders of the church held great influence and great commitment to the church. For me, I see this in the way I interact with Fr. Roman; when I have an issue I seek his guidance, and often I follow his advice. However, there are times when I offer other ideas and Fr. Roman sees my point. This is not at all disrespectful, rather, it is a sign that both of us are committed to the workings of the church.

As I read the article in Cosmopolitan that I obtained from the library (the clickbait worked), I thought that Huff is making a valuable impact on women’s faith, particularly women in the GenZ and Millennial group. It made me wonder why the GenZ author, a self-professed agnostic, was struggling with the ideas movement and seemed to be pushed further toward apathy. Thomas Aquinas noted that the faith we hold is driven by a God who knows us intimately.^[4]  Yes, I disagree with some of Huff’s interpretations, however, overall, the more Jesus someone has in their life the better. I wonder if as a Christian Movement we are not able to bridge the language gap with the secular culture. My prayer and hope is that together, we can find ways to help people grow closer to Christ and be more committed to following Jesus’ ways. 

For His Sake,
Mtr. Beth Anne +

^[1] Theresa, A. (2022). “She’s Preaching, Preaching Submissive Womanhood. Should you listen?” Cosmopolitan. Issue 7 2022.  

^[2] Ephesians 5:21

^[3] Martin, R.P. (1991). Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.

^[4] Aquinas, T. Faith Reason and Theology, questions 1-IV of the Commentary on the De Trinitate of Boethius, “ 2.2., trans Armand Maurer. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies. p.42