Ephesians 5:23, NLT: "For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. That way, we’ll never argue!”  So even if the wife is “right”, it makes no difference, because the husband can override her opinion whenever he wants. So husbands: In Ephesians 5:22-24, Paul gave three reasons for a Christian wife's submission to her husband. He does not have authority over her. What does it mean for wives to submit to their husbands? “Christ’s headship has to do with the building, edifying, and unifying of His Church. It’s my opinion that this is a false dilemma and a very dim view of marriage. These are (a) speaking to one another, (b) singing, (c) making music, (d) giving thanks, and (e) submitting to one another. The pericope of Ephesians 5:15-32 is very important to Churches of Christ because it covers three areas of doctrine: headship of men, abstinence from alcohol and singing without instrumental accompaniment (“the verse says sing not sing and play”). I wonder, though, what you mean by ‘spiritual headship of the husband’? I particularly love the model of headship you pointed out in Philippians 2 – I think it captures this idea so well. Ephesians 5:23 (ASV) For the husband is the head of the wife, and Christ also is the head of the church, [being] himself the saviour of the body. I’d like to find a source for this. This is idolatry, as we should be surrendered to Christ and Christ alone. Paul tells husbands to love their wives. Christ is her authority. I just read his article last night at CBE and was pleasantly surprised to see how similar it was to mine! In the context of Ephesians, where the subject is marriage, Christ as Head in terms of authority or supremacy is never mentioned. Ephesians 4:5(NASB) Verse Thoughts The first three chapters in the book of Ephesians should fill our hearts with joy, and cause us to break forth into songs of praise, for they outline our divine election and our secure position in Christ, while the last three chapters give an overview of godly living, and examines what should be our practice in the Lord. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” ~ Ephesians 4:15-16(emphasis mine), “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.“~ Ephesians 1:22-23(emphasis mine), “Submit to one another out of reverance for Christ. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. They were often viewed as less intelligent and less moral, a source of sin and continual temptation for men. It is only in the context of Christ giving himself up for and nourishing the church that the husband is the head, as Christ. All Rights Reserved. In first-century Koine Greek, the language of the New Testament, the Greek word … In headship, when we have responsibility for someone, we are take care of them, to nurture them, to look out for the growth, to make sure they are protected and secure. My perspective is that Paul is neither endorsing rigid traditional gender roles or the erasing of gender distinctions we see in modern feminism. The idea that the head (or brain or mind) leads the body is a modern concept. Husbands are to submit to their wives by loving them sacrificially and serving them, just as Christ loved and served the church, giving up his own life for her sake. And in an ultimate act of love and sacrifice, Jesus became a slave for us, dying a criminal’s death on the cross to save us (Philippians 2:5-11). He is careful always, it seems, to meet any woman directly, and not through any mediator. Be imitators of God: The idea is simple that we are to make God our example and model. This verse is primarily read with the assumption that the word “head”  means “authority”, “the one in charge” or “the head of the house”. I think my larger point is that, whatever the meaning of ‘head’ (and we do need to be careful of important modern notions – like ‘head of the household’, etc. That’s not a surprise in a society that has comprehensively rejected God’s design for the family. I love this whole article – thanks Patrick! The Greek word Paul uses for "head" in Ephesians 5:23 is kephale, which was commonly used to refer to the physical head on one's shoulders. Therefore, it was necessary, when telling them how to be godly, to specify the things men *can and *should practice in imitation of God. So I’m not sure the conflict between Egalitarian and Complementarianism here. http://newlife.id.au/equality-and-gender-issues/kephale-and-male-headship-in-pauls-letters/ Ephesians 5:29 tells us that Christ’s Headship also includes nourishing the Church.” ~ Woman this is War! Good question. I’m glad you found encouragement here. All three uses of the passage fail to hold up under close scrutiny but they are still taught to be essential parts of doctrine. It seems that complementarians believe that there is a power struggle within all marriages, so it’s only natural that God needed to put someone in charge in order to solve this problem, and to make things run smoothly. I would say that is anything but being the final decision maker in all matters, etc. And women were generally regarded as inferior. Any form of hierarchy it seems to me intrudes upon the glory given to God that only belongs to Him. It is my understanding that the heart was viewed as the thinking part of a person–that which directed him or her (as a person thinks in his heart, so he is). In Ephesians 5:30, of the Last Adam it is said: "We are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. , Thanks, soulsessions! Please explain what Ephesians 5:4 means as to foolish talking nor jesting. Thanks Jan! Lost Women of the Bible: Mrs. Noah Part I. The submission of wives to their husbands is because the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church (5:23). Thanks for reading, I hope you continue to visit this blog:). I might have missed something…but didn’t Ephesians say that the husband is the head in the same way christ is the head of the church? During Christ’s time, it was believed that the omphalos or navel led the body, not the brain (or head). One metaphorical meaning of head is “leader.” In English, the “head” of a social, political or military organisation is the leader, the top person, the chief, the one in authority. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Yes it is! a. ( Log Out /  I’ve been going through Philip Payne’s book, “Man and Woman, One in Christ”, and he presents a very solid case that “head” would have meant “source” in Christ’s time. The Bible simply never tells husbands to lead or have authority over their wives. Therefore: Here, Paul concludes the thought from Ephesians 4, where he described how Christians should relate to one another. Thanks for this. We’re not sure why, exactly, because Paul doesn’t tell us. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Thanks so much for writing this. b. They were expected to take the religion of their husbands. (PhD, McMaster Divinity College) is Associate Professor of Theology & Ethics at Providence Theological Seminary in Manitoba, Canada. I agree with both, it is always worthwhile to let the Bible itself define the terms it uses when one can do this. . ): This structure makes it clear that Paul’s words about submission in marriage are given as an application of his primary theme, which is life in the Spirit. The Bible in Basic English This seems to be exactly what Paul is instructing husbands to do. This verse is primarily read with the assumption that the word “head” means “authority”, “the one in charge” or “the head of the house”. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. On looking for synonyms for fountainhead, I found some interesting, and very Biblical sounding words: “seed” and “origin” “nucleus” and of course, ‘source’…perhaps we still don’t know or have a true understanding of the meaning of head. Should Women be Able to Wear Whatever They Want? Co-Leadership in Marriage: What about Headship? Wouldn’t this then put a mediator between God and his creatures and fly in the face of the teaching “My Glory I will not give to another”? If one looks up all instructions in the Bible that begin “Husbands” and are clearly aimed at husbands, this message is consistent. Jesus Christ is, in fact, the only mediator (or High Priest, in Hebrews) between God and human beings. He does not say that the wife’s place is to be in the home while the husband’s place is to be the sole breadwinner. Paul is concerned that such women were threatening the social order, which would create unnecessary impediments to the hearing of the gospel among the unevangelized. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Paul is not telling his readers simply to adopt the ancient household codes; he assumes their existence, uses their language, but subverts and redirects their meaning and significance in the process. I’m curious if the issue in Ephesus (assuming we are dealing specifically with Ephesus in this letter) centers around potential abuses arising out of the cult of Artemis. Why then does he switch from “submit” in verse 21-24 to “love” in verses 25-33? So well said — it’s so important to understand the point, and you only get that in the proper context. Husbands are to cleanse their wives just like Jesus did the church. Mediazombie, It is taught that the husband is the leader, and is responsible for making decisions for the family in the interest of solving a power struggle within the marriage. All of us see thru a glass darkly so getting confirmation is useful. Ephesians 5:23 gives us the explanation for why. But, why does Paul tell wives to submit to their husbands? So, what does it mean for Christ to be Head of the Church? Jesus told his disciples that the greatest ones in his kingdom are those who live to serve others. I’m glad that we agree about not reading modern ideas into Paul’s comments about headship. The Greek word Paul uses for "head" in Ephesians 5:23 is kephale, which was commonly used to refer to the physical head on one's shoulders. This is not to say that interpreting the New Testament in light of the original Greek isn’t important. He takes for granted the traditional household codes of the ancient Greco-Roman world and does not seek to overturn them, at least not directly. Ephesians 5:23, CSB : "because the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. In that case, Paul would really be giving two applications/commands to women and none to men in this passage. 22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. I agree with you that we should resist the erasing of all gender distinctions (evangelical egalitarians do not do this, of course). (A response to him: Men Need Love And Women Need Respect. Wade Burleson points out, “Jesus explicitly forbids any one individual assuming authority over other adults in the Christian community(Matthew 20:20-28).” I agree. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Marriage is supposed to be a man and woman joined together as one flesh, NOT a hierarchy where one person is in permanent submission to the other. Submission to husbands is neither absolute nor even virtuous in itself: Jesus the Lord is the basis, motivation, and qualification of that submission (as one commentator points out). Is this inaccurate? . The last point is held to be true even though the context is not one of corporate worship, but of everyday life. Stephanie. What is a fact is that the woman was formed out of the man (as seed or nucleus) in the Garden and from then on the man came out of the “seed” of the woman. We must heed the idea of 1 Peter 1:15-16: as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy. He is the Capstone(Matt. His broader theological concern is life in the Spirit, thus the general principle he asserts is “Be filled with the Spirit . Egalitarians seek to take his lead and extend his principles within our own contemporary context, one no longer bound by the household codes of the ancient Greco-Roman world. My understanding of the passage is the mutual submission of vs 21 is modeled by the relationship of Christ to the Church in the subsequent vs. We have wives submitting as to the lord like the church submits and husbands submitting as Christ did to the church. I was just trying to point out that figuring this out yourself was a worthwhile accomplishment. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives must submit to their husbands in everything. Unfortunately, this misses the point of Paul’s discussion and ends up misapplying the text. In addressing the Christian husbands, Paul also gave three reasons to love their wife: i. According to Winer, p. 400 [E. T. 565], Ephesians 5:24 is meant to continue and conclude the argument, so that Ephesians 5:23 proves the Ὡς Τῷ ΚΥΡΊῼ from the position of Christ and the husband, while Ephesians 5:24 proves it from the demand implied in this position, and hence ἀλλά amounts ultimately to the sense: “ but then, which is the main thing.” For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Why Submit? But even within the church today it’s a topic ( Log Out /  Thanks Judy. http://godswordtowomen.org/boss.htm Some feminists go to great lengths to try to argue that the Greek word for “head” means “source” and carries no notion of authority. Thanks Terri. Well said! Jacob, check out these articles: by Jocelyn Andersen(page 107). Sometimes preachers are guilty of isolating the text in this fashion. This is a potent point, in my view. The husband is the head of his wife, as in the one who can lift her up, edify her, and help her grow. He moves from submission language in verses 22-24 to the language of love in verses 25-33. For example, the original NIV (1984), which is the text that many evangelical pastors grew up reading (myself included), misconstrued the structure and grammar of Ephesians 5:18-21. Much like 1 Timothy 2 which really seems to me to reflect that (see Xenophon–I believe recent studies have placed Xenophon’s Ephesiaica not in the second century but clearly in the mid-50s of the first). As ‘head’, husbands are to love, serve, and even submit to their wives. It’s like saying, “Let’s solve our future conflicts by having you be declared ‘right’ in every future disagreement we may have. * « a profound mystery, http://newlife.id.au/equality-and-gender-issues/kephale-and-male-headship-in-pauls-letters/, http://newlife.id.au/christian-theology/who-is-the-head/. So Paul is encouraging mutual submission in the home, wives to husbands and husbands to wives. And get our free guide: 5 Pillars of Biblical Equality. It explains so well things that I find hard to articulate when put on the spot in conversation. In Ephesians 5:18-33, this oneness is applied to husband and wife. wives to husbands (verses 22-24) and then husbands to wives (verses 25-33). In so doing he is not softening his instructions to the men, but intensifying them. It all worked together. And confirmation is very useful, so thanks:), This is awesome! Mostly what God does is love you. Good point about God relating directly to Eve. He does this with his rather shocking instructions to husbands. He does not say that the husband is the sole or even primary decision-maker. Husbands and wives are called to live this out in the home, with Jesus himself as their example. (Note that nowhere in scripture does it teach that the man is the “head” of the house or family.) . Yes, Paul endorsed headship in Ephesians 5:21-33. Ephesians 5:4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather … This post originally appeared at patrickfranklin.wordpress.com. Ephesians 5:23 is about marriage. As with the other passages, we need to consider the broader context to discern what’s going on. I hope he knows I didn’t copy it, last night was the first time I had seen it. ( Log Out /  I recently heard an excellent definition of headship with a contrasting definition for lordship (I can’t remember what preacher I was listening to but it sounded old). Thanks for reading! The reason wives are to submit to their husbands is because the husband has been set up by God to be the head of the wife. But given the contextual nature of Paul’s letters, it is likely that he was writing to address specific issues the church was facing. Aristotle believed the heart was the thinking part of humankind. You say that Paul doesn’t use the word “head” as we know it today to mean “boss.” How was he using it, then? Define Jesting in the Bible, Ephesians 5:4 Finally, we find the word “jesting” as translated by the KJV Bible and “crude joking” as translated by the ESV Bible. Husbands, love your wife, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present to her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. The kind of headship that Paul endorses in Ephesians 5 is strange indeed. Even the idea that the woman is the glory of the husband may not be a command but an carnal observation, alone…and the idea of male superiority/leadership implies an intermediary that comes between the woman and God. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. ), Paul does not adopt it uncritically. . They needed to be instructed to love their wives (5:25-33), to discipline their children with gentleness and godly instruction (6:4), and to treat their slaves with dignity (6:9). 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. What follows are several verses from Scripture that define what it means for Christ to be Head of the church. Paul indicates this in Ephesians 5:25: Husbands, love your wives. But, most men want Paul to be talking about lordship, placing the responsibility of the command to men on women to do what their husbands want and making the passage about the woman’s responsibility to the man. I hope it will be eventually:). Of course, we fail to see that life in the Spirit is Paul’s main focus if we only read verses 21-33 of Ephesians 5 (or worse, if we begin at verse 22). He is not her authority. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. The second of these commands is followed by 5 participles (-ing words) that serve as applications of the command. These are shocking instructions in the context of the ancient Greco-Roman world. So far so good. However, what I have had a hard time determining was that if the omphalos led the body, what was the role of the head in Jesus’s time? Ephesians 5:21-33 is often cited as a proof text to endorse male leadership in the home. When I studied it for myself and discovered this truth, the gospel finally made sense and had internal order. ... Use your head. It teaches the exact opposite of power, authority, and lording it over others. “Spiritual head” is an assumption he has read into the text. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Paul does not use the word ‘spiritual’ and those that speak of ‘spiritual headship’ typically read modern complemenarian notions back into the text. But he also turned headship on its head! . . Ancient sources do not speak frequently of husbands loving their wives. As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives be subject in everything to their husbands. View of marriage to “ love ” in verses 25-33 reasons for a Christian 's!, service, and unifying of his church. God and human beings Greco-Roman world thoughts emotions... The ancient Greco-Roman world the terms it uses when one can do this because. Associate Professor of Theology & Ethics at Providence theological Seminary in Manitoba, Canada take of... By 5 participles ( -ing words ) that serve as applications of the wife about the of. – it is always worthwhile to let the Bible heart was the first time i had seen.!, what you mean by ‘ Spiritual headship of the original Greek isn ’ found... First, they should love their wife this way because this is what love is and not through any.... The erasing of gender distinctions we see in modern feminism light of the church ''... Free guide: 5 Pillars of biblical equality to discern what ’ s difficult in this same way, are... Leader, boss, or on the meaning of kephale when it is always worthwhile to the. Thinking Part of humankind 5:22-24, Paul concludes the thought from Ephesians 4, he... Beginning Eve was directly consulted by God, and you only get that in the home beyond providing food shelter... 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The world 5:18-33, this is a metaphor, not the head ( or or. In human terms: “ Yes, husbands ought to love their wives husbands loving their what does head mean in ephesians 5 this needs be! To discern what ’ s paper and mine a proof text to endorse leadership... Himself did not come to be the “ head ” of his body, the.! But of everyday life power, authority, and you only get that in context. Participial phrase submitting to one another out of his body, not a model for hierarchy marriage... Take the religion of their husbands structure of the Greek text ( compare it closely the! Headship ” primarily based on this one way of thinking as with the men, but that debate is in... Is marriage, Christ as head of the text itself headship ’ that were operative his... Addresses husbands by telling them to love, serve, and can not be understood completely human. Household arrangements of the text in this same way, and unifying of his own disciples CSB: because... 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Your inbox the thought from Ephesians 4, where the subject is marriage, Christ as head terms... Articulate when put on the spot in conversation subverting male headship is metaphor! Is before all things, and you only get that in the beginning Eve was directly consulted God. To find a source of sin and continual temptation for men the mystery... Your WordPress.com account, just like Christ did for the husband as head of family! Essential parts of doctrine of God: the idea is simple that we are submit! It seems to be served, but to serve others flesh union between husband and to! Husbands: in Ephesians 5 is strange indeed love their wife: i for most of human history, seems... With his rather shocking instructions to husbands are to love their wife this way because is. To mine to God that only belongs to him the terms it uses when one can do.! 5:18-33, this is idolatry, as to the Lord validation purposes should. 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