A Christian counselor is standing up against the world’s redefining the word submission and says a wife submitting to her husband as commanded by Scripture can be a beautiful thing.

Christina Fox says that submission is not about forced control, as the world wants to define the word.  Fox says that the world tries to equate submission with negative words or phrases like “door mat”, “inferior” or “controlled.”  Fox says that when you follow the Scriptures, the exact opposite is actually seen.

“When a man leads his wife, he is leading her to depend on Christ, not on himself,” says Fox, who has been married for 17 years. “The kind of leadership a husband provides his wife is to encourage her growth in grace and prepare her to be a co-heir in the coming kingdom.  Scripture teaches that we are to ‘encourage one another and build each other up’ (1 Thessalonians 5:11).”

Fox says that in today’s world, the only way for a couple to truly have Biblical submission play out properly in their lives is to stick closely to the Word of God.

“It is only through the power of Jesus and his gospel at work in our lives that the beauty of submission can blossom in our marriages,” Fox says.

Fox adds that a woman following her husband in Biblical submission is a reflection of Christ’s people following their Savior with a heart of faith.