Rediscovering Scripture's Vision for Women by Lucy Peppiatt

Author:Lucy Peppiatt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: women in ministry;headship;submission;gender roles;Christian marriage;Christianity and gender;women in Paul;Paul's view of women;can women preach;women priests;women pastors;biblical gender roles;women in the bible;gender studies;Paul and women;women in leadership;women preach;woman pastor;woman leader;Ephesians;Colossians;1 Peter;1 Timothy;1 Corinthians;complementarian;egalitarian;gender roles in the bible;scripture;biblical studies;equality;women ordained;patriarchy;patriarchal
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2019-05-28T11:59:17+00:00

MASTERS AND HUSBANDS

We have three passages relating to husbands and wives in the New Testament: Ephesians 5:21-33, Colossians 3:18-19, and 1 Peter 3:1-7. In each case, wives are addressed along with husbands. In each case also, wives are called to “submit” to or “respect” their husbands, and it appears that there is some disparity between the role of the wife and the role of the husband, where wives are exhorted to submit to their husbands and husbands to love or respect their wives. Modern readers sometimes make much of the disparity, and hierarchicalists focus almost exclusively on wifely submission and male headship as the mark of Christian marriage. But whereas we might react to the disparity either with disdain or confusion (why does the Bible treat men and women differently) or with happy acceptance (men are in charge), it appears that ancient readers would have heard a different emphasis and experienced the shock of a new order.

For an ancient reader there would have been no surprise in the instruction to a wife to submit to her husband. This would have been a standard pattern. I have heard some people try to explain that the submission in question is not really submission in the sense of placing oneself under another but instead is meant to convey a strong supportive role similar to the meaning of ‘ezer kenegdo (see chap. 3). It is difficult to argue that the Greek word hypotassō in this context is anything other than submission as we would normally understand it. All Christians are called to submit to one another, and this appears to be a yielding, self-effacing stance, where one person places the other before him- or herself. It is the opposite of assertion, self-centeredness, and self-promotion. There would be nothing new for a Christian wife to hear that this was what was expected of her. I imagine, however, that the instruction to the husbands, read out for all to hear, would have caused considerable ripples throughout the household because they and those around them would now know that this behavior is also expected of him, and here is where we find the Christian revolution.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.