Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: geoff@pmafire.UUCP (Geoff Allen) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Husband as leader in marriage Message-ID: Date: 26 Aug 89 23:04:25 GMT Organization: WINCO, INEL, Idaho Lines: 33 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article iba@ics.uci.edu (Wayne Iba) writes: > >Many people get bent out of shape about this submission thing in marraiges. ... >I would like to point out that while the wife's >lot seems tough, the responsibility on the husband is even greater. Paul >says "husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and >gave himself up for her .... In this same way, husbands ought to love >their wives as their own bodies" (Eph 5:25-28). When my wife and I got married, we included a rather lenghty explanation of the passage in Ephesians 5. Since most of our relatives are non-Christians, we knew that there would be a tendency for people to hear it as, "Wives, become doormats." Our explanation streesed that the responsibility in the marriage falls upon the husband. To love as Christ loved the Church is not an easy thing to do. I think Paul's summary in Eph. 5:32 helps to put it into perspective: "However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." (NIV) The husband is the leader, but he should always have his wife's best interests in mind. And the wife should have respect for her husband's leadership. We recieved no negative comments on the issue of submission. I think this is a testimony to the balanced perspective given in the scriptures. -- Geoff Allen - {uunet, bigtex, ucdavis!egg-id}!pamfire!geoff "May the God of Peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." -- Hebrews 13:20,21 (NIV)