1In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.
3God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness. 5God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.
6God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 7God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. 8God called the expanse “sky”. There was evening and there was morning, a second day.
9God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear;” and it was so. 10God called the dry land “earth”, and the gathering together of the waters he called “seas”. God saw that it was good. 11God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the earth;” and it was so. 12The earth yielded grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with their seeds in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. 13There was evening and there was morning, a third day.
14God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs to mark seasons, days, and years; 15and let them be for lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth;” and it was so. 16God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars. 17God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light to the earth, 18and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. 19There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
20God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.” 21God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good. 22God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
24God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind;” and it was so. 25God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.
26God said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them. 28God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food. 30To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;” and it was so.
31God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.
In Ephesians 5, the apostle Paul sets forth the need of Christians to reflect God in their lives. It is not unexpected that unbelievers, who follow the ways of a wicked world naturally, would not reflect the holiness and purity of God. For believers, who retain the heart of sin due to their relationship with the fall of Adam, they may follow these old passions and acts of the world, but God desires better for His beloved children (Eph 5:1). Rather than following selfish desires, Christians are called to act differently, so that we might have an inheritance from God (Eph 5:5). Following worldly attitudes and actions brings results that damage our testimony of Christ and harm to ourselves.
After the apostle sets forth a variety of attitudes and actions that disavow our new relationship with God (Eph 5:3-6; 18), he sets forth a general admonition to walk in light, to be wise, to give thanks and become subject to others in the fear of Christ (Eph 5:15-20).
At this point of his presentation, Paul turns to the relationship of a husband and wife in order to illustrate the manner of relationship the church is to have to Christ. The majority of the remainder of the chapter, he discusses how husbands are to love their wives (Eph 5:25-32), but before he does this he set forth the duty of the wife to be submissive to her husband, a view that is largely rejected in the current age. Nonetheless, we need to understand what God, through the apostle, considers to be the proper way that husbands and wives fulfill their obligations according to the creation of God.
The teaching of the apostle in this chapter, and elsewhere (1 Cor 11:2-10; 14:34, 35; Gal 3:28; Col 3:18, 19; 1 Tim 2:12-15),1 finds its basis in the creation account of Genesis 1-3. One finds in Genesis 1:26-28 the creation of male and female in the image of God, with the mandate of fulfilling God's purpose for their creation. The initial text discussed here is a preview of what is laid out in more detail in the second chapter of Genesis, as the focus moves from creation in general to humanity in specific.
One finds in Genesis 1:26-28 three important matters relating to the creation of humans. First is that they are created by God. Second, that humanity is created in God's image. Last of all, the text emphasizes that humanity created by God is male and female. According to Genesis 2 the woman is taken out of the male Adam as a helper, and through one, also, the world might be propagated. In this ordering of creation, Eve was to work along with her husband to fulfill the plan of God to fill and rule the world.
Paul's words to the wife are that she is to be under submission to her own husband as she is submissive to the Lord. As a helper she is to follow him, and not as someone under his feet, but alongside him. She is to submit to him as she submits to the Lord because he is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church. This is hard, and often rejected, teaching to those who are not submissive to Christ, but an example to the Christian of not following the manner of the world. The creation of Adam first, and woman's creation out of Adam, serves as a model for the human race and in the church in specific, that guides Paul's teaching on the home and the church (Col 3:18-19; 1 Tim 2:12-15; 1 Cor 11:2-10; 1 Cor 14:34, 35), some by marriage (Col 3:18, 19), or family relationship (Col 3:20, 21), and others by society (Col 3:22-25). All of this is to be done in the name of Christ (Col 3:17).
H. Wayne House, The Role of Women in Ministry Today: Affirming the Biblical Position of Women in the Church. ↩︎