“Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:22)
Well by now everyone has heard that the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, has amended its statement of faith calling on wives to “submit…graciously to the servant leadership” of their husbands.
The Statement of Faith has only been amended twice, in 1925 to reaffirm belief in creation (rather than evolution), and again in 1963, when the declaration was added that the Bible is without error.
The statement is called the “Baptist Faith and Message,” but it is not a creed. In other words, there is no requirement that it’s almost 16 million members follow it. Instead, it is the official position of the Southern Baptist Convention. Just like the Convention’s position on Disney World, Southern Baptists are being asked to shun modern-day trends that its church leaders believe are destroying families.
Southern Baptists say that a believer cannot ignore the Bible, which offers at least a dozen verses that support the position. That plan, they say, goes back to Genesis, where in the Garden of Eden, Eve is created as Adam’s “helper”. (Genesis 2:16)
Interestingly, Southern Baptists used the same verses from the Bible in 1822 to justify slavery, which begs the question, “Are they right this time?”
I believe the Southern Baptist position lines right up with God’s Word. Obviously, when God instituted the ordinance of marriage, He knew that the roles of the husband and wife would have to be different. Just look at any single-parent family. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to notice that something is missing, something that the remaining parent cannot provide.
It’s important that we understand what the Southern Baptists are saying, rather that what the media tell us they are saying.
Southern Baptists are saying that women should submit to the “servant” leadership of their husbands. That doesn’t mean that women are not equal to men. In fact, the Statement of Faith readily asserts that the wife in all instances is “equal to him”. It also doesn’t mean the wife has to put up with unrighteous behavior.
What the Southern Baptists are saying has more to do with the role of the husband than the role of the wife. The word “servant” has been carefully placed in it’s statement of faith: “A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ.”
The notion of a servant husband means one who seeks to make righteous decisions, a husband who enjoys a close walk with the Lord and seeks His will in all that he does. Christ modeled that role for his own disciples when he washed their feet. He said to them, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” (John 13:14-15)
Husbands, be careful about gloating over the position that the Southern Baptist Convention has taken. You’ll be making a serious mistake. Richard Land, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission for the Southern Baptist Convention said, “A husband who loves his wife will put his wife’s needs before his own. People who think this is a ruling thing don’t understand what this is about.”
The Southern Baptist Convention’s point is that the husband should serve under the Lord’s leadership, a leadership style that showed nothing but humility and love. Jesus spoke about servant leadership in a demonstrative way. Pay close attention to His words: I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” (John 13:16-17).
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