The Gospel Challenge of Submission

Throughout Ephesians, Paul has emphasized the significance of headship over all in both the old and the new creations. As head of the church, Jesus embodies and empowers a new community of love: the church, his own body. Here Paul applies Christ's headship to marriage. Christ reverses the enmity that often arises between spouses as a result of the fall (Genesis 3:16), restoring the original creative order in which husbands and wives complement each other.