However, egalitarians mean something so different by this phrase, and
they have used this phrase so often to nullify male authority within
marriage, that I think the expression “mutual submission” only leads
to confusion.^31
In previous generations some people did speak about “mutual
submission,” but never in the sense in which egalitarians today
understand it. In his study of the history of the interpretation of
Ephesians 5:21, Daniel Doriani has demonstrated that a number of
earlier writers thought that there was a kind of “mutual submission”
taught in the verse, but that such “submission” took very different
forms for those in authorityand for those under authority.They took it
to mean that those in authority should govern wisely and with sacri-
ficial concern for those under their authority. But Doriani found no
author in the history of the church prior to the advent of feminism
in the last half of the twentieth century who thought that “be subject
to one another” in Ephesians 5:21 nullified the authority of the hus-
band within marriage.^32
What is wrong with understanding Ephesians 5:21 to teach
“mutual submission”? There are at least four reasons why I think this
understanding is incorrect.
(1) The context of this verse specifies the kind of submission Paul
has in mind. Paul explains that wives are to be subject to their hus-
bands (Eph. 5:22-23), children are to be subject to their parents (Eph.
6:1-3), and slaves (or bondservants) are to be subject to their masters
(Eph. 6:5-8). These relationships are never reversed. He does not tell
husbands to be subject to wives, or parents to be subject to their chil-
dren (thus nullifying all parental authority!), or masters to be subject
to their servants. In fact, Paul does not tell husbands and wives gen-
erally to be subject to each other, nor does he tell wives to be subject
to other people’s husbands! He says, “Wives, be subject to your own
husbands, as to the Lord” (Eph. 5:22, NASB).^33
(2) The meaning of “be subject to” (hypotassø). When we look at
the word that Paul used when he said, “Be subject to one another”
(Eph. 5:21), we find that this word (Greek hypotassø) in the New
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