Feminism’s 4-Letter Word

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Actually this is a subject that no one likes: submission. It is thought of to mean subservience, subjugation, inferiority, inequality; things that most of us bristle at. Yet, if you’ve read through many of my word study posts on Titus 2, you should see a pattern: that our modern concepts of many words used in the Bible, are a far cry from their original, biblical meaning.

To understand what the Bible is really saying, we need to give it a fair hearing. We need to lay down our prejudices and preconceived ideas, and give it a chance to speak for itself. Anyone who has ever been misunderstood wishes for this very thing. Indeed, this is what a court of law is supposed to do before pronouncing a verdict. This is what we need to do in order to understand what God is trying to tell us through His Word.

Consider this next phrase in Titus 2:5:

To be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, subject to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be dishonored. Titus 2:5 (NASB)

There are three Greek words to research here: subject, their own, and husbands. This post will start to look at the first one.

Subject – Strong’s 5293 – ‘υποτασω – hupotasso = [from 5259 – ‘υπο – hupo = under, and 5021 – τασω – tasso = to place, set, appoint, arrange, order]. “To place under in an orderly fashion”¹ Used 40 times in the New Testament.

In the ancient world, hupotasso was used in two contexts. Firstly, as a military term. It referred to the ordering of troops under the command of a military leader. This is an important point in understanding submission, because anyone who has ever been in the military knows that just because someone is an officer, doesn’t mean they are smarter, braver, better, or in any way superior as human beings. The position serves as a strictly structural function to keep order. Without order, nothing could be accomplished and the group would deteriorate in chaos.

Hupotasso also had a non-military use in Koine Greek, referring to a voluntary acceptance of a subordinate position. It implied cooperation, assumption of responsibility, and the carrying a of a burden.

Applying this to our verse in Titus 2, we see then that submission has absolutely nothing to do with status, but everything to do with function. It’s meaning implies cooperation, and cooperation implies common goals. Two important goals of a Christian marriage should be to honor and serve the Lord as a couple, and to raise children to know and serve the Lord. If husband and wife are working independently toward different goals, then friction and struggle result.

If we lived in a perfect world, submission wouldn’t be an issue, because we would all operate according to God’s perfect plan for humanity. Indeed, submission was not given to wives until after the Fall (Gen. 3:16).

However we live in a sinful world, where everyone wants their own way. It is our fallen nature to think we’re usually right. That’s why no one likes the idea of submission. Achieving order (in any venue: military, athletic, classroom, family, etc.) requires enough self discipline to set aside personal desires and opinions for the sake of something greater. However, if either party’s focus is only on serving Self and meeting Self’s needs, then conflict occurs.

Something else we need to understand, is that the husband is not free to try and rule his wife in any way he wishes. His position is not given to him to lord it over his wife, nor to feel superior, nor to use her to try to achieve his own personal ambitions. Submission also applies to him. How? We’ll look at that next time.

Next ….. Submission For Husbands? You’ve Got to be Kidding

¹Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (AMG Publishers, Chattanooga, 1992), p. 1427