Being a Gospel Wife: I am his equal…

If we want to have an ideal marriage by God's standard, then we will strive in God's strength to be a gospel wife. As our husband's bride we will be submissive; but no less important, we must also remember that we are our husband's equal. We must not allow godly submission to slide into subservience.

Let's look at Genesis 1:27, reading it carefully: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

What do we learn from this verse? Here we find that both male and female are created in the image of God. In this first chapter of the first book of the Bible, God establishes that man and woman are equal in value and dignity in His sight. A conviction of our equal worth is essential to understanding submission in the context of the marriage relationship.

Scripture makes no allowance for male dominance or male superiority. For this reason, theologian Wayne Grudem appeals, 'To all societies and cultures where these abuses occur, we must proclaim that the very first page of God's Word bears a fundamental and irrefutable witness against the evil of thinking of men as better than women."

Neither is submission a position of inferiority or demeaning in its application. For although God has designed men and women to fulfill differing roles, He unequivocally affirms they are equal in worth and importance. As it says in 1 Peter 3:7, husbands and wives are heirs together in the grace of life.

Our equality before God should underpin our thoughts and actions as a gospel wife. If we don't start here, we'll quickly get off course. What problems can this cause exactly? More on that question when our series continues.

--adapted from Feminine Appeal