The Role Of The Wife

THE ROLE OF THE WIFE

PURPOSE

In this study, we will discuss the biblical role for wives.

OPENER

Husbands, in what way is your wife like your earthly mother?

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LESSON

1. WIVES ARE TO WATCH OVER THE AFFAIRS OF THE HOUSEHOLD.

What does it mean “to watch over the affairs of the household” (Proverbs 31:27) (See also Titus 2:5)?

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A wife is alert to the needs of her family. She makes her family a priority.

What are some specific things that wives do to keep the family affairs in order?

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2. WIVES ARE TO LOVE THEIR HUSBANDS.

The apostle Paul wrote that older women should “encourage the younger women to love their husbands…” (Titus 2:4). Explain what this means.

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Women are to love their husbands…with a selfless and unselfish love…with a giving and sacrificial love…with a quiet and peacable love…with a love of the will as well as of the heart…with a love of commitment as well as of affection.

The word used here for love (phileo) actually stresses affection, care, tenderness, warmth, and feelings. The wife is to have affection for her husband.

How does God describe love in (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)?

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Patient, kind, not jealous, not bragging, not arrogant, not selfish, ect.

Which of the preceding descriptions of love does your husband need most? How can you demonstrate that love to him?

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What three things communicate love to your husband? (Not what you think communicates love, but what he thinks.)

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3. WIVES ARE TO SUBMIT TO THEIR HUSBANDS.

According to Ephesians 5:22, wives are to submit to their husbands. Why are wives to submit to their husbands?

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The wife is to walk in a spirit of submission. There are two reasons why the wife is to be submissive to her husband.

1. To submit is God’s will. It is a commandment of God.

God is God, and as God, He has the right to demand anything of us. But note the words “as to the Lord.” When we do anything, we are to do it as to the Lord. Why? Because we love Him. The Lord has loved and given Himself for us, given Himself that He might save us. He loved us; therefore, we love Him. This is always the first reason we obey Him. We love Him; therefore, when He says to do something, we do it as to Him—to please Him. A wife submits to her husband because she loves the Lord and wants to please Him and her husband.

2. To submit is God’s order for the family (Eph. 5:22).

There is to be a partnership and order within the family. This is basic for the family and society to exist. In fact, no organization, no matter what it is, can survive and exist without a spirit of partnership and order.

The great pattern for the wife to follow is Christ and the church. Christ is the head of the church. This simply means that Christ has authority over the church. So long as the church lives by this rule, the church experiences love and joy and peace—orderliness—and it is able to carry out its function and mission on earth to the fullest. So it is with the husband; he is the head of the family, the ultimate authority in the family. The wife is to be submissive to that authority just as the church is to be submissive to Christ. So long as she and the rest of the family live by this rule, the family experiences love, joy, and peace—orderliness—and it fulfills its function and purpose on earth. This, of course, assumes that the husband is fulfilling his part in the family. As in any organization, each member must do his part for the organization to be orderly and accomplish its purpose.

In summary, the submission that wives are to show to their husbands is an example of the submission that all believers are to show to one another (Eph. 5:21). It does not mean that women are inferior to men. It simply means that there is to be an arrangement, an order in the household. Every body must have such order, and every body must have a head. Two heads in any body or organization would be a monstrosity and make for disorder. Therefore, in God’s order of things for the family, the husband is the head over the family. He arranges things in a spirit of tenderness and love and the wife is to submit herself in a sweet spirit of understanding and reasonableness (Proverbs 31:10-31).

Why is submission seen as a threat to some wives?

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The very word, “submission” causes a negative reaction in many women today. It conjures up images of a husband ordering his wife around and forcing her to do his will, and the wife meekly responding to his every wish.

In what areas do you struggle with submission?

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CONCLUSION:

1. In the Bible, God has provided many roles for wives.

a. Wives are to watch over the affairs of the household.

b. Wives are to love their husbands.

c. Wives are to submit to their husbands.

2. This morning, we have examined only a few of the biblical roles of wives. May the Lord bless you wives for you are so important in God’s kingdom and in the family.