Teaching Younger Women to be
Obedient to Their Own Husbands

“The aged women likewise…
“That they may teach the young women
to be sober, to love their husbands,
to love their children, To be discreet, chaste,
keepers at home, good,
obedient to their own husbands,”
Titus 2:3a-5a

A call to obedience and teaching obedience can be hard pills to swallow. If we tend to be rebellious types, we like giving others equal freedom. However, doing our own thing and following our own rules, isn’t God’s way. He created leadership to bring order (which could explain why our lives are in such a mess). As we see in the Titus 2 passage, God has a specific plan for husbands and wives. Not only are we to be obedient to God, women are to go further and be in obedience to their own husbands, and teach younger women to do the same. This may sound archaic and socially unacceptable. It may even rub our independent egos the wrong way. Regardless, let’s put aside our societal presuppositions for a minute and see what Godly obedience actually means.

For Christian women, God’s standards override our social and cultural preferences. His Word defines obedience to our own husbands this way:

Obedient Greek #5293
hupotassō
From G5259 and G5021; to subordinate; reflexively to obey: –

This means married women are to take the subordinate role to their husbands and submit to his leadership.

In Genesis 2:18, we find that the woman was created as a companion and help for man. This wasn’t intended as a demeaning role or curse to women. Our lives were meant to complement one another, not compete against each other. We aren’t supposed to chase, contradict, control, or command him. This Biblical instruction may go over like a lead balloon for a number of reasons:

1. We don’t like being told what to do
2. We believe following man’s leadership is beneath us.
3. We struggle to accept what Godly obedience means
4. We’re not committed to following God’s Will

God’s plan is for women and men to work in harmony, with women taking the “subordinate” role as men lead under the authority of Christ. Yet, we often choose to:

• Ignore it
• Distort it
• Challenge it
• Override it

Going our own way doesn’t negate our responsibilities. Sadly, we usually don’t give the consequences much thought unto we’re succumbing to our choices and our marriages become wrecked.

It’s true, women were created with leadership capabilities too and not all men live up to their God-given abilities and responsibilities. This can make submitting to and supporting a husband’s decisions difficult or cause us to seek guidance from someone else’s husband. But, as hard as it is, following God and our husband’s leadership is our role in marriage.

Man was cursed with the leadership role in the Garden of Eden, when Eve led Adam into sin. When we take over and force our agendas, we prevent our husbands from fulfilling their God-given duties. Maybe it’s time to step back, pray, and trust God to guide our husbands to be the leaders He wants.

Everyone can’t be the leader. The world becomes chaotic without God’s system of order and chains of command. I hope I can avoid the chaos and pitfalls of disobedience and help prevent the next generation of ladies from having to learn obedience the hard way.

Bring It Home

Did older women teach you to obey your husband?

Praying for you as we grow together,
Smiles, BRC