A Response To Costi Hinn | Teaching On Ephesians 5 & Submissive Wives

No, Wives Don’t “Submit” Like That: A Response to Costi Hinn’s Teaching on Ephesians 5

In a recent episode of the For the Gospel podcast, Costi Hinn addressed “submissive wives” with an impassioned and seemingly scripture-driven message. For many Christian listeners, especially women, his delivery may feel clear, confident, and convincing. But confidence doesn’t make a teaching biblically faithful.

As a Christian woman committed to the authority of Scripture, I believe it’s essential we hold up popular teachings – especially those widely shared on social media – against the full witness of the Bible, not just isolated proof texts. Costi’s interpretation of Ephesians 5:22–24 falls short. It misrepresents Paul’s intent, distorts the relationship between men and women in Christ, and perpetuates a framework that has done real harm to the body of Christ.

Let’s take a closer look.

1. Ephesians 5 Does Not Begin at Verse 22

One of the most glaring issues in Costi’s interpretation is where he begins.

His entire case hinges on the words, “Wives, submit to your own husbands…” (Ephesians 5:22). What he fails to acknowledge is that in the Greek, this verse does not even contain a verb. The command “submit” is borrowed from the previous verse, Ephesians 5:21:

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

This is not a minor detail. Paul’s overarching command to the whole church – husbands and wives included – is mutual submission. Verse 22 simply illustrates what that submission looks like in the marital relationship.

This matters. Because if you lift verse 22 from the flow of Paul’s argument, you make it sound like women are uniquely burdened with submission. But Paul is saying something far more radical: that all Christians are called to a life of self-giving, humility, and love – including husbands.

2. Headship in Ephesians Doesn’t Mean Hierarchy

Costi repeatedly uses the language of “headship,” claiming that husbands are “the head” of their wives in the same way Christ is the head of the church (verse 23). What he misses is how Christ defines his own headship.

Jesus never dominates, coerces, or controls. He washes feet. He lays down his life. He never demands submission – he wins it through sacrificial love.

Egalitarian scholars like Dr. Cynthia Long Westfall and Gordon Fee have shown that the Greek word kephalē (translated “head”) in Paul’s time most often meant “source,” not authority figure. That means Paul may well be drawing on the image of man as the “source” of woman in the creation narrative (Genesis 2), not asserting a chain of command.

If Christ’s headship is not authoritarian, a husband’s shouldn’t be either. Headship is not hierarchy. It’s humility.

3. Submission Is Never About Control

Costi makes much of the Greek word hupotassō, insisting that it implies a voluntary, beautiful act of submission by a godly wife. But let’s be honest – when “submission” is taught with only one gender in view, it stops being voluntary and starts sounding like duty.

And despite his claims to the contrary, Costi’s entire message reinforces a one-sided power dynamic. Men are “leaders”, women are “followers.” Husbands are “coverings”, wives are “under”.

The biblical vision for marriage is far richer.

Paul goes on in Ephesians 5 to call husbands to love their wives “just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (verse 25). This isn’t about one party leading and the other following. It’s about mutual self-giving love – love that mirrors the gospel.

Paul doesn’t tell husbands to rule, lead, or manage their wives. He tells them to die for them.

4. Cultural Background Cuts Both Ways

Costi briefly acknowledges that Paul was writing in a Greco-Roman world – but then uses that fact to prop up his own argument. He claims Paul is affirming traditional gender roles in a pagan culture.

This ignores how radically countercultural Paul actually was.

In the ancient world, women were often property. Men could divorce at will. Wives had no legal or economic independence. But Paul doesn’t reinforce those injustices – he disrupts them.

When Paul tells husbands to love sacrificially, and wives to submit as the church does to Christ, he reimagines marriage as a mutual, gospel-shaped relationship rooted in love, not law. And in Galatians 3:28, he makes it even clearer:

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

That’s not hierarchy. That’s liberation.

5. This Teaching Has Consequences

Costi warns against women “dominating” their husbands. He references Genesis 3:16 and the so-called “curse” as if women’s resistance to submission is sinful rebellion, while men’s rulership is divinely endorsed.

But this too is a theological misstep.

Genesis 3:16 is a description of the consequences of sin, not a prescription for marriage roles. Jesus came to redeem us from the curse, not reinforce it. Using Genesis 3 to justify male authority and female subjugation is not just bad theology – it’s spiritual malpractice.

Too many women have endured controlling, coercive, even abusive marriages under the banner of “biblical headship.” Too many churches have ignored injustice in the home because they were told “submission” was godly.

We must do better.

In Conclusion

Costi Hinn is right about one thing: Christian marriages should be a picture of Christ and the church. But that picture is not a hierarchy – it’s the cross.

It’s not about one spouse ruling while the other yields. It’s about both laying down their lives. It’s about mutual love, mutual respect, and mutual submission – out of reverence for Christ.

Ephesians 5 is not a blueprint for male dominance. It’s a call to live in the radical, upside-down Kingdom of Jesus.

And that is very good news.

(I’ve written more extensively on this subject, particularly Ephesians 5, which you can read here).

Further reading and resources:

• Cynthia Long Westfall, Paul and Gender

• Marg Mowczko, “Head” in Paul’s Letters

• Scot McKnight, The Blue Parakeet

• N.T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters