‘Marriage is not about a hierarchy or a chain of command’

Veronica Zundel responds in her usual direct manner to the statement: “Women should submit to their husbands”

Well yes, I think we should submit. But before those who know me fear that I have lost my previously feminist mind, I believe that men should submit to their wives too. Let me explain. That notorious passage in Ephesians starts with the statement: “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (5:21). Unfortunately, many translations put a subheading right after this verse, separating it from the verses that follow. This means that when the passage is read, we often begin with: “Wives, submit to your husbands” and totally lose the context of all Christians submitting to one another. I’m no Greek scholar, but in a modern context I would prefer the verb ‘defer’ to ‘submit’. Deferring to one another essentially means the same thing: putting the other person’s needs, calling and vision ahead of your own – and we are all meant to do that to one another.