Your Family: Lesson Three
INTRODUCTION.
A. Marriage is likely to be one of the greatest decisions you will ever make in your life. Depending upon your age, the person whom you marry, could be your partner for the next 60 or more years.
B. To help prepare you for a future family, and to help improve the lives of the married, we are engaged in a study of the family and the various responsibilities of the members of the family.
C. In lesson two of our study, we showed the responsibilities of the father to be:
1. Rule well his own house.
2. Not to provoke his children to wrath.
3. Teach his children the way of the Lord.
4. Discipline his children.
5. Provide for his family.
D. In this lesson, we will examine the responsibilities of the wife.
I. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE WIFE.
A. Submit to her husband.
1. Submit (hupotasso) means “1) to arrange under, to subordinate 2) to subject, put in subjection 3) to subject one’s self, obey 4) to submit to one’s control 5) to yield to one’s admonition or advice 6) to obey, be subject” (Strong, J. The exhaustive concordance of the Bible)
a. The wife is to submit to her husband as the church is subject ot Christ. (Ephesians 5:22-24)
(1) “submit yourselves” (vs 22)
(2) “church is subject to Christ” (vs 24)
b. The wife is to be submissive to her own husband. (1 Peter 3:1)
c. The wife is to be obedient to her own husband. (Titus 2:5)
2. The wife is to respect (reverence) her husband. (Ephesians 5:33)
a. Reverence (phobeo) means , “‘to fear,’ is used in the passive voice in the NT; in Eph. 5:33 of reverential fear on the part of a wife for a husband, kjv, ‘reverence’” (Vine's complete expository dictionary of Old and New Testament words (electronic ed.))
b. The wife must make the personal decision to reverence or respect her husband. If a wife does not respect or reverence her husband, then they will face marriage difficulties.
B. Love her husband. (Titus 2:4)
1. “that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, . . .” (Titus 2:4-5)
2. Internal love - from the heart flows the issues of life. (Proverbs 4:23)
3. External love - affectionate to husbands
a. Love ( philandros) means, “primarily, ‘loving man,’ signifies ‘loving a husband,’ Titus 2:4, in instruction to young wives to love their husbands, lit., ‘(to be) lovers of their husbands.’” (Vine's complete expository dictionary of Old and New Testament words (electronic ed.))
b. The external love would, in part, include the “affection due him” as seen in 1 Corinthians 7:1-5. Let your outward actions show your love to your husband.
C. Be discreet. (Titus 2:4-5)
1. “that they admonish the young women . . to be discreet, . . .”
2. Discreet (sophron) means to be of a sound mind, then curb one’s desires and impulses.
D. Be pure or chaste. (Titus 2:4-5)
1. “that they admonish the young women . . to be . . . chaste, . . .”
2. Chaste (hagnos) means “exciting reverence” then pure.
E. Be good. (Titus 2:4-5)
1. “that they admonish the young women . . to be . . . good, . . .”
2. Good (agathos) means “1) of good constitution or nature 2) useful, salutary 3) good, pleasant, agreeable, joyful, happy 4) excellent, distinguished 5) upright, honourable” (Strong, J. The exhaustive concordance of the Bible)
F. Concentrate on her inner person.
1. “Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.” (1 Peter 3:3-4)
a. Hidden person
b. Incorruptible beauty
c. Gentle and quiet spirit
2. Much of our society focuses upon outward beauty of appearance. A godly wife must first beautify her inward person.
G. Do not deprive her husband of his needs. (1 Corinthians 7:1-5)
1. “. . . and likewise also the wife (render) to her husband (the affection due him).” (vs 3)
2. “The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does . . .” (vs 4)
3. “Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, . . . and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you . . .” (vs 5)
CONCLUSION.
A. Every young lady should consider what type of wife she will be. Will you grow up to marry, have children, and uphold your God given responsibilities?
B. For the married wives, how are you doing in your role as a wife? If you find yourself falling short of God’s standards, then make the necessary changes today.
C. If you are a married man, then do what you can to help your wife to be the best father he can possibly be.
D. In the next lesson, we will consider the responsibilities of the mother.
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Your Family: Lesson Three -- February 20, 2005 -- File # 2584 - Home
by John M. Duvall – Lawton, OK