Today’s sermon passage (1 Tim 2) has caused no small amount of debate among modern Christians, due to it’s counter-cultural views on male headship. What is much sadder than such controversies, however, is how this passage has been twisted and misused by perpetrators of Domestic Violence (DV) to justify their abusive behaviour.
DV is all about control, where a spouse (usually the husband) attempts to control many and varied aspects of their partner. This can be things like their clothing, finances, movements, friends, career or their body. Too many a Christian husband has quoted passages such as 1 Tim 2:11-15 at their wives to demand that they submit to their wishes. Such behaviour is a Grose misrepresentation of the intention of such passages, and a serious breach of the Bible’s mandate of servant leadership.
While male headship in the home and the church is a biblical principle, the Bible demands that leaders do not insist on getting their own way. Rather, husbands are to willingly give up their rights for the benefit of their wives. Another passage twisted to control women is Ephesians 5, which also speaks of wives submitting to their husbands (v. 22). Yet just 3 verses later Paul says ‘Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her’.
The extent to which passages such as 1 Tim 2 have been misused by Christians speaks into how the church may not have handled the doctrine of male headship carefully enough. Yet rather than throw the baby out with the bathwater, may we begin by repenting of the abuses wrought by such passages. There is simply no excuse for controlling another person, or demanding submission. Then once we have admitted our lack of care, and repented of it, may we work hard at ensuring such glorious passages are read in their proper context, and followed as the glorious word of God that it is.
