Chip Ingram, the senior pastor of Venture Christian Church in Los Gatos, California, says the Bible has given some guidelines as to what it means to be a man and woman in the household, which Christians can use as a template.
"The Bible shows us that God has made men and women equal in design but different in order to complement one another," he writes in an article for The Christian Post.
Both husbands and wives have to submit to Christ first before mutually submitting to one another. "Submitting or being 'subject' to one another means that we desire to get less than what we deserve. It's about putting the other person's needs above our own," he explains.
The problem, however, is that sometimes people get so fixated with their roles in marriage that they miss the main point—which is that couples should function within the context of mutual submission.
"This requires that both husbands and wives come to the marriage asking each other: 'How can I love you more? How can I help make you become more successful? How can I serve you?'" he says, adding that it is within this context that the role of the wife is defined even further.
For the husband, it is his duty to love his wife by nourishing and cherishing her. He should be devoted to his wife and help her become the person God has intended for her to become.
"As husbands, we're responsible for loving our wives the way Christ loves the Church. And, guys! Let me assure you that this is an impossible job! That's why we can't do it alone. We need to be dependent on the Word of God, and on the Spirit of God to change us so that we can love our wives the way He wants us to love them," says Ingram.
