kim
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2 weeks ago
in What are the biblical roles of husbands and wives? on Dale Fincher
Dale, One could do a whole dissertation on this subject. Far from being "clear," even Paul acknowledges that "This mystery is great..." in Eph 5:32.
I see the submission and leadership as predicate. In other words, good submission will follow good leadership and bad leadership will get bad submission.
As with many issues in Scripture, we tend to make the interpretation mechanical, rather than spiritual. So, when Mr. Um talks about leadership he goes to the "tie-breaker" idea. What I see in that verse is a spiritual leadership, one modelled by Christ, of self-sacrifice, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
The sad thing is that if you ask most children (including adult children) who the spiritual leader of their family is they will say "it's mom." The other sad thing is that we've connected femininity to the spiritual fruit. So, when a man exhibits these character qualities he is perceived as feminine.
Enough for now. Maybe more later...
I see the submission and leadership as predicate. In other words, good submission will follow good leadership and bad leadership will get bad submission.
As with many issues in Scripture, we tend to make the interpretation mechanical, rather than spiritual. So, when Mr. Um talks about leadership he goes to the "tie-breaker" idea. What I see in that verse is a spiritual leadership, one modelled by Christ, of self-sacrifice, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
The sad thing is that if you ask most children (including adult children) who the spiritual leader of their family is they will say "it's mom." The other sad thing is that we've connected femininity to the spiritual fruit. So, when a man exhibits these character qualities he is perceived as feminine.
Enough for now. Maybe more later...
1 reply
I do think bad leadership receives bad submission. However, I don't see 'leadership' for husbands in this passage, neither spiritual nor practical. I see love. And a meta-study on 'head' has revealed that it doesn't mean 'leadership' in most Greek instances. Rather it means something like 'honor' (we see it more definitively used this way in 1 Cor 11). To assume 'head' means leadership and 'submission' always means to be under someone else in the authoritative sense is, to me, reading more into the passage than is there. In the August archives, you can read more of my view of this in the 'mystery of submission' posts.
I am in complete agreement with you that the fruit of the Spirit is perceived as "feminine" in our time. We do group surveys on this and almost every audience, men or women, in different parts of the country, perceive the fruit of the spirit as largely feminine. It is sadly unfortunate. And unfortunate that the 'new masculinity' in the church often perpetuates this misconception...
~dale