5. A Pious Woman Demonstrates Submission and Respect
*[Note: This is prose commentary, not poetry]*
In modern society, the act of submission is deeply unpopular, yet we must remember that Jesus Christ Himself submitted to the Father. Submission is simply the acknowledgment of another person's authority in a given matter—it is not self-degradation. A soldier of lower rank in the army is no less valuable as a person than a captain, but he holds a different role and must obey his commanding officer.
This is beautifully conveyed in the Epistle to the Ephesians 5:22–24: "Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything."
Obedience is an immense blessing for a wife. It means:
Similarly, women submit and show respect with full awareness of their worth in Christ. When they do so, they grow closer to the likeness of Jesus. Even if you are unmarried, you have the opportunity to serve those in authority over you in a Christ-like spirit. This is beautifully demonstrated in the Epistle to the Philippians 2:5–8: "In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross."
How can you grow in this area?
The next few traits of a pious woman are drawn from Titus 2:3–5:
"Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God."