By Ezekiel Kimosop
What does the Bible teach on the authority and structure under Christian marriage relationships?
Ephesians 5:22-33 teaches that Christian wives should submit to the leadership of their husbands.
This passage does not suggests or imply or promote a complementarian relationship in which both husband and wife share authority as co-equals.
So who's in charge here?
Some liberal teachers are now promoting a set of heresy that attempts to misinterpret the passage to agree with modern cultural dynamics that are popular in the West.
What they are attempting to teach goes by one word: Christian heresy.
This is the act of deliberately misrepresentating the express teaching of Scripture to mean what was never intended by the author in the text.
Their attempt at introducing a set of biblical exegesis in support of their arguments is inconsistent with the passage context.
One "liberal" American feminist scholar attempted to revise this passage to teach that the man is the source rather than the head over the wife!
Unfortunately, there is nothing in the Greek text that permits the kind of discretion that the author sought to impose on the passage. Her arguments do not find the support of Scripture.
The above text clearly identifies the Christian husband as head over his wife IN THE SAME MANNER that Christ is Head over His Church. This divine formula is settled in Scripture and clearly reveals the mind of God.
The text holds divine implications for the leadership of Christian households.
I recommend that one carefully studies the passages of 1 Timothy 2:8-15; 3:1-7; Titus and 1:6-7. These passages authoritatively speak into the constitution of church offices and the exercise of spiritual authority in the church.
Now back to our discussion on the Christian marriage relationship...
While it is biblically true that the woman came from or was created from or sourced from the man in the context of the creation account in Genesis 2:18-25, the passage of Ephesians 5:22-24 nowhere speaks of the husband as the "source" of the wife!
That analogy by the feminist or "liberal" theologians is definitely not contemplated in the above text.
Does Ephesians 5:21 relate to the above passage?
Ephesians 5:21 concludes Paul's general exhortations to the Ephesian Christian community under the passage of Ephesians 5:15-21.
The exhortation that believers should submit one to another relates to Christian relationships in general
It is the foundation for effective Christian fellowship.
Even within the congregation, God has ordained leadership structures under which mature married male believers are to exercise spiritual authority as elders and overseers. This is God's order not ours. Any attempt to dispute this divine order is, in my view, heretical.
The Christian marriage divinely mirrors the relationship between Christ and His Church.
The passage of Ephesians 5:22-33 specifically addresses the Christian marriage. Paul used this passage to draw some important divine parallels between the two sets of relationships above. These are inalienable truths that are not subject to Christian revision or discretion. They bear the seal of the Holy Spirit who inspired the holy Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16-17.
My view is that those who dispute the headship of the husband in a Christian marriage relationship simply seek to circumvent biblical truth in order to agree with modern cultural dynamics that have radically affected Western Christian households. This approach is decidedly unbiblical.
Bible is the exclusive source of instruction for every Christian community. It should inform our faith and practices whether in the church or within the context of the family setting.
The Christian husband is therefore head over his wife.
Ezekiel Kimosop 2019
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