22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church.
More than a century ago Charles Hodge wrote some commentary on this Ephesians 5 text.
“She is to be subject in everything. That is the subjection is not limited to any one sphere or department of the social life, but extends to all. The wife is not subject as to some things and independent as to others but she is subject as to all. This of course does not mean that the authority of the husband is unlimited. It teaches its extent, not its degree. It extends over all departments but is limited in all; first by the nature of the relation, and secondly by the higher authority of God. No superior whether master, parent, husband, or magistrate can make it obligatory on us either to do what God forbids or not to do what God commands. So long as our allegiance to God is preserved an obedience to man is made a part of our obedience to Him, we retain our liberty and our integrity.”
In other words as Hodge said, all authority under God is conditional, and no authority can long exist apart from Him. It is conditional because in order for the authority to be authoritative that authority cannot contravene or contradict God’s authority. The wife is to be subject to the husband in all things in which the husband is subject to God and His revelation. The same is true in all jurisdictional realms. The lay member is to be subject to the Elders in all things in which the Elders are subject to God and His revelation. The employee is to be subject to the employer in all things in which the Employer is in subjection to God. The children are to be subject to the parents in all things in which the parent is in subjection to God. The citizen or subject is to be subject to the Monarch in all things in which the monarch is in subjection to God. The Magistrate is to be subject to the citizen in all things in which the citizens are in subjection to God. Nobody has the authority to instruct others to disregard God’s higher authority. This is why it is errant exegesis to make Romans 13 or I Peter 2 teach that it is unbiblical to ever disobey Magistrates. When a Magistrate is reaching for a degree of authority that trumps God’s authority than obedience and duty requires us to disobey the disobedient authority. The same is true in the Church. The same is true in Marriage. The same is true in employment. The same is true in the Military. The same is true in the parent-child relationship.
