As I went speeding over the flyovers to reach Sarjapura Worship Centre, I kept mulling over the message I had planned to deliver there and chuckling to myself about the controversial nature of the subject and wondering how I am going to handle it. Well, I laid it out like this.
Man and woman were created equally in the image of God, so states the Bible. Of course I do understand that in the West, Bible quoting is no longer considered fashionable as Bible itself has gone out of fashion! In countries like India we still values Bible as the Word of God and revere it. So lets get along with it.
Genesis 1:27 (chapter 1 and verse/sentence 27) says, "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." So in creation there was no difference, for both man and woman were created in the image of God, reflecting His attributes. Verse 28 says "God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish...birds...over every living creature..." So when God handed over the authority to rule the earth and all the other creatures on earth to mankind, He gave the responsibility equally to both of them, and not to Adam alone. This point is worth noting.
So what went wrong? We move over to Gen.3:4, where Satan in the form of serpent, brings in the temptation to the human pair. He first approaches Eve, God knows why, but he tells the woman that the forbidden fruit of the tree will not lead to death as told by God, but will open their eyes and they would be like God, knowing good and evil. It is not the simple eating of the fruit that consisted the disobedience to God's commands but the motive behind the disobedience, that is, 'to be like God.' Now, Eve reasons out before eating the fruit. She has three reasons to eat the fruit, as given in verse 6. "the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." So Eve analysed the situation, and then took a decision for herself and her husband and broke the rule. Adam was with her all the while, and agreeing with her, he also ate the fruit. He did not object or give counter reasons why they should not disobey God. He simple ate it along with her, going by her logic, may be being convinced by her reasoning.
Well, we know what happened after that. It was a pretty bad decision. It changed their lives and the whole world turned topsy-turvy. Let's see how God handled the situation. In verses 14-15, God cursed the serpent, but punished both Eve and Adam. God did not curse the man or the woman, the crown of His creation. For Eve, in verse 16, God multiplied her pain in child birth and most importantly says, "Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." Period. Full stop. I think there ended Eve's independence and her decision-making authority!
Turn now to the instruction of Paul, written in his Epistle (letter) to Ephesians Eph.5:22, that "Wives, submit to your own husbands as you do to the Lord." Still this doesn't explain everything. One could take it that after all only Paul wrote it and not Jesus Christ, and that he was a man living in 1st century AD, when women were not highly educated or exposed to work in secular occupations as it is today. So, may be it does not apply to us women in 21st century, separated by 20 centuries! Well, you have great hopes, for we cannot cherry-pick in Bible and take only what we want! You may argue, that because of this clause, man has subjugated woman through centuries, abusing her physically and torturing her within the family. So what does Paul say about that?
After saying what he says to women, Paul tells two things to the men. One, Eph.5:25-28, "husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her..." and two, "husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies." Second thing first. Creation account of woman in the Bible says that woman was created from the rib of man (Gen.2:21-24). Adam, when he saw her first said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;" So woman is the extension of man and created from him, so a husband ought to consider his wife as his own body, a part of his body and look after her! Now the first thing, the husband has to love the wife to such an extent that he is able to lay his life for her welfare, just as Christ did for his church. When a man does these two, I am sure even the 21st century woman will have no problem submitting to her husband!
One last point. When God made man the leader within the family, He made him responsible too. Through out the New Testament, whenever the Fall is referred to or the disobedience to God by the first human pair is referred to, it is always "Adam sinned,' and never once it is referred as Eve sinned, though it was she who committed the first offence. Man was made responsible. He is like a covering to his wife, taking responsibility to the repercussions and consequences of any decision taken in the family. It is like Jesus Christ taking the sin of human beings on himself and shielding the human beings, who believe in him, from God's wrath. That is the role and status of man within the family. Wow, that is hard!
That said, it would be always better, if the leader consults the wife and grown up children in the family before taking major decisions, just like there is relationship and consultation with in the Trinity.
But what happens when a man turns out to be a tyrant and abuses the wife? Does she have any recourse? Or should she put up with the ill-treatment? Definitely not. She must bring it to the church Pastor or elders, who must counsel the man and bring him to his senses. Most of the time, the shame of others coming to know of his conduct itself will cure him. Intervention by the church and the elders sure will bring the matter to a reasonable end.
Well, this is also a long blog, but hope it has been of some help to you.
Bye, and God bless you.
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