EPHESIANS: This is the Way
EPHESIANS Number 65
Ephesians 5:33 (KJV 1900)
33Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
Now our passage brings our focus back to the way this all plays out in our walk, our manner of living. It simply directs husbands to love their wives and wives to respect their husbands.
Many have pointed out the difference in the directive to husbands (to Love) and the directive to wives (to respect) saying that women respond to, or need, Love and men respond to, or need, respect. I can sure affirm that respect is a primary way in which I perceive Love.
I think perhaps there is something more to be gained from a word study here. The word used for Love throughout this passage is (agape’). As we have established, this word refers to the kind of self-giving, sacrificial Love that is found in God. He is the source of (agape’) Love, and indeed he IS (agape’) Love.
The King James uses the word “reverence” in the directive to wives. This is very interesting. Translations that reflect more contemporary language usage read “respect” here. That makes the meaning more plain to us today.
The Greek however is φοβέω (phobeo). The first listed usage of this word is “to be in an apprehensive state, be afraid.” The context of this passage us submission. Submission of wives to husbands, and submission of husbands to wives in the form of self-giving, sacrificial Love.
The second usage for this word (see BDAG ppg.1061-1062) is “to have a profound measure of respect for, with special reference to fear of offending.” This is the usage attributed to this verse. Indeed, this is the word we encounter in Ephesians 5:21 “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear (phobeo) of God. (KJV 1900)” We may think of this as “reverent fear” and we would not be incorrect to do so.
Once again, this meaning, this usage, particularly with reference to fear of offending, would seem inconsistent with the message Holy Spirit is communicating through the Apostle in this letter.
BDAG * helps us here by showing that there is a distinction between the use of this word in reference to God and in reference to people. In this usage, the idea of fear of offending is not present. The word simply means deep or profound respect.
Like (agape’), (phobeo) is a form of submission to another. Love and respect go hand-in-hand. You know; just like husband and wife.
Can you imagine a world in which each of us submits to the other in these ways? Only the Dynamo living in us can energize this, of course, but to steal a phrase from a popular secular song, “what a wonderful world that would be.”
* William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature, 2000, 1061.
