Extracts from the book, ‘Being Gods Woman’ by Audrey Bowie
So says Audrey Bowie: "If someone asked me if I was submitted, I would have answered: ‘Yes, but with everything standing up inside’"
Many women submit, but stew in furry inside and blurt out their resentful feelings in some other way. Before you protest, refresh your mind with principles from the Scripture.
Plain and simple, the Bible teaches that to be Gods woman requires us to accept our role of submission.
A good team must always have a leader. God in his wisdom has designed the husband wife team, with the husband as the leader. Be assured that God never intended for men to take advantage over women, and when they do, they sin against our Heavenly Father.
When we accept our place in obedience to Gods Word, to do what pleases Him, we relinquish authority and by choice place ourselves under someone else’s rulership. Since this occurs by choice, it requires the strength of our wills, it is not demeaning.
For centuries, women know that this one word, ‘submission’ has been misused, misinterpreted and misrepresented for mans convenience: the wife must be subservient, cowed down with no say of her own.
The meaning of the word submission is:
- Yielding to the control or authority of another
- Referring to the consideration or judgement of another
- Compliance, Surrender
- To submit is to be obedient
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William Barclay, commenting on Peter’s letter says: ‘Peter does not tell the wife to preach or to argue. He does not tell her to insist that there is no difference between slave and fee man, Gentile and Jew, male and female, and that they are the same in the presence of Christ, whom she has come to know. Instead, he tells her something very simple – nothing else than to be a good wife, by the silent preaching of the loveliness of her life. She must be submissive. It is not a spineless submission that is meant, but as someone has finely put it, voluntary selflessness. It is the submission which is based on the death of pride and the desire to serve. It is the submission not out of fear but of perfect love.
Peter uses the words, ‘In the same way’, referring to the example of Jesus Christ. Submission is not because of inferiority or superiority, but rather a relationship, recognising the equality but knowing fully well that the differences in role must be understood and respected.
Submission is not something weak. It is something only the strong can do. The submission of Jesus Christ was a submission of love for the Father.
Some men relinquish their role as the leader in the home. Why some men fail to shoulder the responsibility of headship may be due to a bossy or indulgent mother, the bad role model of a passive father or a domineering wife.
Husbands have to exercise the God given responsibility – not just authority – as Gods leader in the home. They are answerable to God.
The wife must encourage her husband in his role of headship, his inheritance in the Lord.
God, the Holy Spirit, will do his perfecting work in our husbands, if we honour Gods Word concerning our roles as wives. He will honour by answering our prayers. Showing dependence on our husbands brings out their God-given protective instinct. An aggressive wife brittles the relationship.
