Corinthians to be “subject to” the household of Stephanas, he is telling them
to be subject to those who were elders in Corinth.
- Some people have sent me e-mails saying that the example I am asking for is
found in Ephesians 5:21, where hypotassø“obviously” means mutual submis-
sion and therefore it can’t mean to be subject to an authority. Their claim sim-
ply shows that they have not understood the question. We are not free, in
interpreting the Bible, to give a word any meaning we might think “fits.” Words
have established ranges of meanings that were familiar to native speakers of
Greek in the ancient world and that allowed them to understand one another
(that is how all language functions—speakers and hearers have in their minds
“shared meanings” of thousands of words). Those established meanings are
listed in dictionaries (or “lexicons”) of ancient Greek. I am simply asking for
some evidence showing that “be considerate of” with no idea of submission to
an authority was an established, shared meaning of hypotassøin the ancient
world. No one has produced any such evidence.
To claim (as these e-mail writers have claimed to me) that hypotassømeans
something in Ephesians 5:21 that it nowhere meant at any other time or place
in history would require (1) that Paul used a word with a new, secret meaning
that Greek-speaking people had never known before, and (2) that Paul
expected that all the Christians in all the churches to which the letter to the
Ephesians went would know this new, secret meaning and understand what
he meant, and (3) that they would know that he did not mean by hypotassøwhat
all Greek speakers everywhere had previously meant when they used it in con-
versation, and even what Paul himself meant by it in all his other writings, and
(4) that all subsequent writers in over 1,900 years of church history have failed
to discern this non-authoritative meaning for hypotassø,and (5) that the mean-
ing is now suddenly so “obvious” from the context that everyone should see it.
People may believe such a position if they wish, but it will be for reasons
other than evidence or facts.
- It is interesting that the King James Version showed an understanding of the sense
of all∑lousin this passage. It translated the verse, “submitting yourselves one to
anotherin the fear of God.” In fact, when all∑loustakes the sense “some to others,”
the King James Version often signaled that by phrases such as “one to another.”
- I realize that a few egalitarians claim that Paul’s teaching only applied to his
time in history and is not applicable to us today. This particular position is not
affected by disputes over the meaning of the word “head” but it is very diffi-
cult to sustain in light of the parallel with Christ and the church, and in light
of Paul’s tying it to the statements about marriage before there was sin in the
world (Eph. 5:31-32, quoting Gen. 2:24).
- For details, see Wayne Grudem, “Does Kephal∑(‘Head’) Mean ‘Source’ or
‘Authority Over’ in Greek Literature? A Survey of 2,336 Examples,” Trinity
Journal6 NS (Spring 1985), 38-59. I published two further studies on kephal∑
in 1990 and 2001, which are cited in footnote 27 above.
- In the 1950s, Bedale still argued for authority attaching to the meaning of the
word, though he was the first to propose the sense “source” for this passage.
The Key Issues in the Manhood-Womanhood Controversy 85
