Please show me where male headship is biblical.
Thank You
Michelle
Hello Michelle,
Thank you for your question.
In Creation, (Gen. 2) God creates Adam and Adam is given the responsibility to name all the animals thus communicating his authority over the animals. In his naming exercise, Adam was fulfilling the dominion mandate that God had given to Adam. In the Scripture ancient world to name is to have authority over. If you read the text you’ll see the whole animal naming process was also seemingly part of a search for Adam to find a creature that was comparable to him (Gen. 2:18-23) and having found none God does something marvelous.
8 For the man is not of the woman: but the woman of the man 9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
When we consider Genesis again we see that the first thing that Adam does upon meeting she whom God hath created is that he names his wife “woman” who he holds to be precious and valued above all things. Just as Adam had named the animals showing his authority, so Adam names his helpmate “woman,” thus also communicating his authority. In the naming of her as “woman” and then the later individualizing of her name “Eve” after the Fall what is communicated is that Man has authority over women (remember to name in Scripture is to have authority over) and is to have leadership over women.
Male headship and female submission are present at creation. Male headship is a creation ordinance and it was the overturning of that Creation Ordinance that explains the fall. Adam failed in his headship by not guarding the garden and Eve failed in submitting to Adam’s headship by not consulting Adam when visited by the serpent.
That Creation Ordinance is then re-established in God’s judgment upon Eve.
Genesis 3:16 “Your desire will be for your husband [for his position] but He will rule over you.”
Scholars have offered various interpretations of this subtle Hebrew phrasing. Most scholars interpret this to mean that the woman would desire to be in control of her husband, but he would be the master.
So we see that not only in the Creation ordinance but also in God’s judgment after the fall that male headship and so patriarchy is the norm of not only marriages but also social orders.
But if want to continue to augment this argument for Male headship we would turn to passages like Isaiah 3:12. In the book of Isaiah God is lamenting the condition of His people and says,
Clearly, the inspired Apostle did not see that the role of women would be to rule over men. When we begin to look at this in total we begin to understand why I could never vote for a woman (even a God-fearing Biblical woman) as a political candidate. Such a position is not normative for women and is counter-intuitive to the purposes God has made women. To place a woman in a political office or as a Corporate President is like using rose petals as kindling wood to make a fire. I mean you can do it, but who would ever think that such a thing was not very odd?
Yes, I do understand that there are exceptions (Huldah, Deborah) but we must realize that with each of these exceptions Israel was at a low point in obedience to God. We should not be surprised to find these exceptions during low points in Israel’s history. Such low points also gave Israel Jezebel and Athaliah.
In closing, there are many implications to this conviction. For example, I do not think it wise, on the whole, for women to be in the workforce. A woman keeping hearth and home (Titus) has more than enough to keep her busy. Plus, why would any husband want to see his wife under a different male covenant head during the work hours while she is away from the home? Now, in our culture, I understand that there are all kinds of exceptions but it should be our goal to allow our womenfolk the joy of being wives and mothers keeping hearth and home.
Thank you for your question Michelle.
Why did you not list 1 Corinthians 11: 3 .
I wasn’t doing an exhaustive paper which would require a great deal more. Though I Cor. 11:3 certainly fits.
Thank you, so greatly needed. I have been married nigh 57 yrs.; 2 children, 7 grandchildren, 6 great grandchildren.
“Men can be great when great occasions call: In little duties women find their spheres;
The narrow cares that cluster round the hearth.” R. H. Stoddard
Mrs. Ruth Ann Holley