None could argue with the importance of the wife and mom in the family dynamic. It is this role that embodies so much of the heart and soul of what it means to be family. “He who finds a wife finds a good thing” (Prov. 18:22). “An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels” (Prov. 31:10).
When we look to the Bible to define the role of the wife, we see that she is to subject to the husband (Eph. 5:22). As we studied before, this is not a demotion or a position of lesser estate. It does not mean that there should be a rivalry between the sexes or that either sex intends to walk on the rights of the other. We understand that nothing can have two heads and succeed. Someone must take the lead, and someone must follow. The wife’s role is a partnership. She is to be a supporter, a helper, a confidante. If these roles are switched it doesn’t work. If the man is not taking the lead, the woman takes up the reigns and it doesn’t work. We were programmed for these roles.
God has specified several other responsibilities of the wife not necessarily connected to the role of submission. Wives should love their husbands and children. “[Older women] that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children” (Tit. 2:4). I would propose to you that this is not emotional love but how to agape love in the family setting. That is a learned love.
Wives should be one with their husbands. It is a defining aspect of the marriage relationship (Gen. 2:24). It is also something that both are responsible for in the relationship (1 Cor. 7:3-5). Neither is to deny it of the other.
Wives should also respect their husbands. I understand that guys don’t always make this easy, but there should be a mutual respect. “Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband” (Eph. 5:33; 1 Pet. 3:4-5).
Wives should be virtuous. Older women are to teach the younger “to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored” (Tit. 2:5). The “proverbial woman” also portrays these virtues in the example we are given in Proverbs 31:10-31.
It is easy to see the importance that the role of the wife and/or mother plays in the family. It is important for the emotional health of everyone in the family. It is for this reason that the Proverbs speak so highly of an excellent wife. When God made woman, it could be said that He crowned His creation with that which is most precious.