By being filled in our spirit by the Spirit and letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly, we are also subject to one another in the fear of Christ to live a proper human life. Ephesians 5:21 says, “Being subject to one another in the fear of Christ.” Being subject to one another is an overflow of being filled in spirit. Our subjection should be to one another, not only the younger to the older but also the older to the younger (1 Pet. 5:5).
We should be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. According to the context of the following verses in Ephesians 5, being in the fear of Christ is to fear offending Christ as the Head. This is related to His headship (v. 23) and involves being subject to one another. Christ is the Head of the Body. If we mistreat any member of the Body, we offend the Head of the Body. We need to keep the relationship with the members of the Body in the fear of the Head.
A life of subjection is a life of being filled in spirit and of speaking, singing, psalming, and giving thanks. When we speak, sing, praise, and give thanks in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are willing to submit ourselves to one another. We will submit to Christ as the Head and also to the Body. But this submitting comes from speaking, singing, psalming, and giving of thanks, which in turn come from infilling. When we are filled in our spirit, we sing, psalm, speak, and give thanks; we also submit spontaneously. If we are not filled, there will be no speaking, singing, psalming, or thanking of God; consequently, there will be no submission. Proper members are submissive by speaking, singing, psalming, and giving thanks to God from their inner being, living in the way of being filled in spirit with all the riches of Christ unto the fullness of God.
We are subject to one another in the fear of Christ to live a proper human life. God desires that Christ be expressed through our human life. This is seen in Colossians 3:18—4:1, a sister passage to Ephesians 5:22—6:9, regarding the believers’ life in ethical relationships. Ephesians emphasizes the need of spirit-filled ethical relationships for the expression of the Body in the normal church life. Colossians emphasizes that we should hold Christ as our Head and take Him as our life by having His rich word dwelling in us so that the highest ethical relationships, issuing not from our natural life but from Christ as our life, may be realized for His expression.
If we live in union with Christ by letting His word saturate us, Christ will be expressed through our humanity. Hence, our living as believers in union with Christ should result in the expression of Christ in our human life. If we realize this, we will praise the Lord for our human living. In relationships between wife and husband, between children and parents, and between slave and master, we need to express Christ by being filled in spirit by the Spirit and letting the word of Christ saturate us.
The relationship between wives and husbands is connected to the matter of being filled in spirit and letting the word of Christ saturate us. It is an aspect of the daily living of those who are filled in spirit unto all the fullness of God. Therefore, when we speak about the relationship between wives and husbands, we should not neglect the infilling. We can have a proper married life only by being filled in our spirit.
In Ephesians 5:22 Paul says, “Wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord.” Concerning this matter, Colossians 3:18 says, “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.” Wives need to be subject to their own husbands, no matter what kind of husbands they are. Furthermore, wives should be subject to their own husbands “as to the Lord.” Wives need to realize that in the eyes of the Lord the husband represents the Lord. A wife must submit to her own husband because in the married life he is as the Lord. Since Christ is the Head of the church and the Savior of the Body, the wife should be subject to her husband as to the Lord.
Wives must also take their husbands as the head. Ephesians 5:23 says, “A husband is head of the wife as also Christ is Head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the Body.” The husband as the head of the wife signifies Christ as the Head of the church. Christ’s being the Head is a matter of authority, whereas His being the Savior is a matter of love. We must be subject to Him as our Head, and we must love Him as our Savior. It should be the same in the relationship between wives and husbands.
In verse 24 Paul says, “As the church is subject to Christ, so also let the wives be subject to their husbands in everything.” The thought here is that even though husbands are not the savior of their wives in the way that Christ is the Savior of the church, wives still need to be subject to their husbands as the church is to Christ. Wives being subject to the husband is the result of being filled in spirit by the Spirit and saturated by the word of Christ.