Kevin Wilson 360

Our Scripture meditation is based on Ephesians 5:22–25a, a section of next week’s Epistle lesson. 

[22] Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. [23] For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. [24] Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. [25] Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her… 

Scripture such as Ephesians chapter five gives the appearance that biblical Christianity has become counter cultural. However, as the old saying goes, appearances can be deceiving. Personally, I no longer call Christianity counter cultural.

That said, I understand why this chapter comes across as counter cultural. In American society the individual reigns supreme. The individual need not submit to anything or anyone. That’s why that start of this passage, “Wives, submit to your own husbands,” would be so jarring or offensive or infuriating to many in America. 

If verses Ephesians 5:24-25a were clearly understood by the citizens of this country, this passage would also cause an outcry. Wives are told to submit; husbands are told to sacrifice their lives to the point of death for their wives. How many husbands in America are willing to make this kind of sacrifice for their wives?

Christians could also see the faith as counter cultural later in this epistle. Ephesians 5:31–32 states, 

[31] “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” [32] This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

Specifying that marriage is exclusively between a man and a woman runs against the grain among the influencers in society. 

Given all this evidence, surely the church is now counter cultural in America. Personally, I don’t think this is true. It depends on who is responsible for establishing the culture. Cultures are formed by the combined beliefs, values, and behaviors of those in the culture. Who is responsible for establishing beliefs? God is. Who is responsible for dictating behaviors? God is. 

The bottom line is that God forms and shapes the culture by expressing his will through Scripture. Due to sinfulness and ignorance of God’s will, society is rebelling against God. That means our society is counter cultural. By God’s grace, we can see in the Church the culture that God would have all people experience.