The Scriptural View of Headship
By Lewis Hrytzak
Headship is so frequently misunderstood, even among Christians. It is often confused with being boss. Therefore, some Christian husbands think that, in practice, it is their prerogative to be the boss of the household, but what do the Scriptures teach? In the first place, there is no similarity whatever between headship and being boss. In fact, one stands out in direct contrast to the other.
If we turn to the very first book of the Bible, it will give us some insight as to what God had in mind regarding headship. After Adam was created and placed in the Garden of Eden, God said: (Genesis 2:18, NWT) “It is not good for the man to continue by himself. I am going to make a helper for him, as a complement of him.” God then had Adam fall into a very deep sleep. (Vs 21) God took a rib from Adam’s side and created a woman and brought her to the man. (Vs 22) “Then the man said: “This is at last bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. This one will be called woman, because from man this one was taken.” (Vs 24) “That is why a man will leave his father and his mother and he must stick to his wife and they must become one flesh.” In the Hebrew language, the word for woman is ‘ish-shah’ meaning “a female man.”
Many translations of the Scriptures render Genesis 2:18 somewhat differently than the NWT, which is quite literal in its renderings. For instance, The New Jerusalem Bible, a Catholic translation that made its appearance in the English language in 1966, states: Yahweh God said: “It is not good that man should be alone, I will make him a helpmate.” The King James Version, conforming to its edition of 1611 renders that verse this way: “And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” And the New American Standard Bible, revised in 1977 reads like this: Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
Interestingly, with the exception of the NWT, all of these translations miss a very valid point that God was making regarding the creation of a helper for Adam. The Schocken Bible, Volume I, a Jewish Translation of 1983 with latest revision in 1995, translates Genesis 2:18 in this way: Now YHWH, God, said, “It is not good for the human to be alone, I will make him a helper corresponding to him.” This translation, like the NWT shows very clearly that God was not providing just any companion or helper for Adam. What God said is that he would provide a helper that corresponds to Adam. It would be a helper that was to be a compliment to Adam. It is most important that we discern this subtle difference in the rendering of this text for it will help us to better understand the relationship that God intended between a man and woman. What God wanted for Adam is more than just a companion, and even more than just a helper. What God had in mind as clearly disclosed in his word, is a helper that would compliment Adam. God wanted a “female man” that would compliment the man, Adam. That, no doubt, is why God took a part of Adam to create such a compliment or counterpart of him. If this were not so, God could easily have created a woman in the same way that he made Adam, that is, from the dust of the ground.
Please note that God did not say Adam was a better person than Eve, nor did God say that Adam was superior to his wife. Rather, God indicated that woman would possess qualities that would compliment those of the man, obviously qualities which were absent in him. Adam needed such a compliment and God not only saw that need but also responded to it.
So then, what would this mean for the first man and woman? Well, a compliment is one of two mutually completing parts. Therefore, women as a group are outstanding in certain qualities and abilities. On the other hand, men are outstanding in other areas. Therefore, when God brought the woman to the man she was to be a compliment of him because she possessed qualities that he did not have. Indeed, since they really complimented each other, they were to become “one flesh” and this is what God had in mind for them.
God intended that Eve be a helper and a compliment to Adam. She was not to be his rival as is often seen among men and women today. As a compliment and helper she would assist her husband in carrying out the will and purpose of God for the earth. Together, they could have children in order to populate the earth, for this is what God told them to do. Moreover, they were to have “in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving upon the earth.” More than that, they were settled into the Garden of Eden and told to take care of it. Really then, they had a model garden which they could extend around the globe for they were also told to “fill the earth and subdue it.” Some of these duties were explained to Adam before Eve was created, but she was to be a helper to her husband in everything. Yes, she truly was to be a compliment to him and a helper for him, just as God had said.
Unfortunately, when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God and to do things according to their own will, it brought great challenges to them in their personal lives as man and woman. In passing sentence upon Eve, God said to her: “I shall greatly increase the pain of your pregnancy; in birth pangs you will bring forth children, and your craving will be for your husband, and he will dominate you.” And to Adam God said: “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and took to eating from the tree concerning which I gave you this command, ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground on your account. In pain you will eat its produce all the days of your life. And thorns and thistles it will grow for you, and you must eat the vegetation of the field. In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:17-19)
The sentence which God pronounced upon our very first parents shows quite clearly that from then on, things would not go very smoothly between them. Why is that? It is for the reason they had fallen from perfection into sin. The God-like image in which they were created was now lost. In turn, this would affect, indeed, it would alter their God-given personality and disposition. It is for this very reason that God told Eve, (Genesis 3:16): “Your desire will be for your husband and he will dominate you.” It is not that God desired for the man to dominate the woman as a sort of punishment for her. Not at all! What God was telling her is that because her husband, Adam, was now a sinner, he would not treat her as gently and as lovingly as he would have done had he remained in God’s image and likeness. God foreknew what they would now do, inasmuch as selfishness had become part of human life. A number of Bible accounts tell of very unhappy situations that developed because of such selfish domination by men, but the Scriptures do not say that God approved of such conduct.
Down through the ages, sinful mankind has suffered enormously, and in turn, inflicted even further pain and suffering upon their fellowman. Wise King Solomon wrote about this in Ecclesiastes 8:9 saying: “All this I have seen, and there was an applying of my heart to every work that has been done under the sun, (during) the time that man has dominated man to his injury.” And while mankind, in general has suffered greatly, women, it seems, have been the greatest victims of such suffering. Men have harshly dominated them, just as God foresaw would happen. In some countries of the world, the domination of women by men has been and continues to be, exceedingly harsh and cruel. Often religious beliefs contribute to such harsh treatment meted out to women and there are many examples of this. For instance, the Koran in sura 2:223 has this to say: “Your wives are as a tilth (meaning, the act of tilling land, or land for tilling) unto you so approach your tilth when or how you will.” Now isn’t that just “heart-warming” for a woman? The man can use her like a cultivated field “when and how he will.”…. This requires no further comment.
In the western world, which has always been influenced by Scripture and the Christian ethic to one degree or another, the situation for women has not been quite as austere, but even so, women are, by and large, dominated by men and sometimes very harshly so. Sadly, we see the result of sin and disobedience by our first parents. This is the state of mankind alienated from God. Consequently, man has abused the headship with which he was entrusted.
Because of such alienation from God, Christ surrendered his human life in death and as he said in John 10:10, “…I have come that they might have life and might have it in abundance.” God’s purpose is to restore that which our first parents lost. Therefore, if we respond in faith we will become a “new creation” as it were. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Consequently if anyone is in union with Christ, he is a new creation.” If we find ourselves in such a relationship with God, through Christ, we will begin to appreciate the wisdom of God’s arrangement as regards headship.
Let us turn to 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 for there we have a Scriptural overview of headship. (READ):
As we have seen, the Head of Christ is God. The Head of man is Christ. And the Head of woman is the man. Being under headship is not in itself demeaning, for it contributes to the handling of matters in an orderly arrangement. Although Jesus Christ is under the headship of Jehovah God, he does not object to God being his Head. Rather, he finds great satisfaction in that relationship. In John 5:19,20 Jesus said, “Most truly I say to you, The Son cannot do a single thing of his own initiative, but only what he beholds the Father doing. For whatever things that One does, these things the Son also does in like manner.”
The Scriptures make it very clear that man was assigned a relative headship, particularly in the family and in the Christian congregation. God never gave man absolute authority over the woman; man must answer to his head, Christ Jesus, and to God for the way that he exercises such relative headship.
For this reason, the Scriptures show that husbands are “to be loving their wives as their own bodies” and they are “to assign honor” to their wives.” Let’s read that account, recorded at Ephesians 5:28,29. It states: “In this way husbands ought to be loving their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife, loves himself, for no man ever hated his own flesh; but he feeds and cherishes it, as the Christ also does the congregation, because we are members of his body.” Paul then quotes Genesis 2:24 which reads: (Vs 31) “For this reason a man will leaves his father and his mother and he will stick to his wife and the two will become one flesh.” Why? It is because one is a compliment of the other.
The apostle Peter, a married man, wrote under inspiration: (1 Peter 3:7) “You husbands, continue dwelling in like manner with them according to knowledge, assigning them honor as to a weaker vessel, the feminine one, since you are also heirs with them of the undeserved favor of life, in order for your prayers not to be hindered.” Husbands must bear in mind what the apostle Peter admonishes, namely, that the wife is (physically) the weaker vessel or as he puts it, “the feminine one.” A loving husband will not demand that his wife do physical work that might harm her. He must remember that God made each of them differently, one from the other.
Furthermore, the apostle Paul shows at 1 Corinthians 7:3-5, that the sexual needs of a husband are not to be put above those of his wife. The husband must bear in mind God’s arrangement for married couples. The wife is not his tilth (or field for ploughing) as the Koran states. Paul says: “Let the husband render to his wife her due; but let the wife also do likewise to her husband. The wife does not exercise authority over her own body, but her husband does, likewise also, the husband does not exercise authority over his own body but his wife does. Do not be depriving each other (of it) except by mutual consent for an appointed time, that you may devote time to prayer and may come together again, that Satan may not keep tempting you for your lack of self-regulation.”
Not only is headship conditional or relative, but in discussing the matter of headship in Ephesians 5:21-33 Paul has this to say: “Be in subjection to one another in fear of Christ.” Now that hardly sounds like the Scriptures have a “boss position” in mind for the Christian husband. Let us read that whole account. (READ - Eph 5:21-33)
Perhaps some may think that verses 21 and 22 actually contradict one another because verse 21 admonishes: “Be in subjection to one another in fear of Christ” while verse 22 states: “Let wives be in subjection to their husbands in everything as to the Lord.” However, there is no contradiction, whatever. While verse 22 admonishes wives to submit to their husbands, (i.e., recognizing God’s divine arrangement of headship), the preceding verse is about mind-set or mental attitude. All Christians, male and female, must have an attitude of humility.
It is critically important that both husbands and wives discern what is being said in each of those verses and appreciate the subtle difference. I say subtle, because the point being made is often missed or overlooked by Christians. And yet, this is so very important, for if a husband has a proper mental attitude, he will exercise headship with love and humility. Surely, headship exercised in such a humble way will be easier for a Christian wife to accept. Of course, to accept headship that is offered even in a humble way, it is important that a Christian wife, herself, also show a humble attitude.
In order to better understand what is being said, it would be well for us to reflect on the element of language, for the English language uses only two voices, the active (where the subject does the action, eg. “I testify”) and the passive (where the subject is acted upon, eg. “it is testified”). On the other hand, the Greek language uses three voices, the active, the passive and the middle voice. To illustrate, (using the middle voice) one might say, “I am attesting.” Nevertheless, such English equivalents are very rare.
The Concordant Literal translates Ephesians 5:21 in this way: “…being subject to one another in fear of Christ.”
The NIV Parallel New Testament of Greek and English states: “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
The NWT Interlinear, based on the Westcott & Hort text reads: “subjecting yourselves to one another in fear of Christ.”
Interestingly, (in the Greek) it is the middle voice that is used by Paul when he speaks of subjection and, no doubt, this is done to indicate a continuative condition. Moreover, as already stated, in order to harmonize verses 21 and 22 it would seem reasonable to conclude that Paul is first speaking of mental attitude, and then he admonishes Christian wives to submit to the divine arrangement of Christian headship. To help us see that this is so, let us refer to a parallel statement made by the apostle Paul, found at Philippians 2:1-3. The apostle has this to say: “If, then, there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any sharing of spirit, if any tender affections and compassions, make my joy full in that you are of the same mind and have the same love, being joined together in soul, holding the one thought in mind, doing nothing out of contentiousness or out of egotism, but with lowliness of mind, CONSIDERING THAT OTHERS ARE SUPERIOR TO YOU.”
When Paul wrote those words, they were addressed to both men and women in the congregation. The same is true of Ephesians where Paul states: “Be in subjection to one another.” If we were to take such admonition at face value, it would, indeed appear contradictory. However, if we have the proper perspective of what is being said, not only is the apostle’s advise reasonable, but it is also critical if headship is to be lovingly administered by husbands and respectfully accepted by wives. Among any body of people, ego gets in the way of cooperation quite frequently. This can, and often does happen among Christians as well. Therefore, Paul is cautioning believers not to behave egotistically but to display “lowliness of mind.” And just to make sure they get the point, he adds: “Considering that others are superior to you.”
We should not miss the import of what Paul is saying. When he wrote: “Be in subjection to one another,” surely he did not mean that headship was no longer an issue and for that reason, men and women could also be in subjection to each another. That would be absurd!
It should be patently obvious that in one instance (i.e, “Be in subjection to one another”) he speaks of a mental attitude that brothers and sisters should both have. However, when he says, “Let wives be in subjection to their husbands,” headship is very clearly implied. The point Paul is making is that headship must be exercised with lowliness of mind, and that it should be accepted with lowliness of mind. In other words, without humility (on both sides) the result can be that such headship might be administered without love, perhaps even harshly and this would quite likely result in the other party chafing against it.
In Philippians 2:5 Paul continues to illustrate the very point he made in verse 3 of that chapter, when he spoke of “lowliness of mind”, “not doing anything out of egotism” and “considering that the others are superior to you.” Paul says: “Keep this mental attitude in you that was also in Christ Jesus” and he explains how very humble Jesus was despite the fact that he “was existing in God’s form.” Well, that is the way we must be, humble like he was. In that way, whether we have been given relative headship or are in subjection to it, we will “follow Jesus’ steps closely.”
The arrangement of headship which the Scriptures teach does not, in any way, belittle the dignity of women. Indeed, the dignified position of women is clearly shown in God’s word. For instance, the fact that Jehovah referred to Israel as his wife, and the Christian congregation is referred to as the bride of Christ indicates the high status of women in the eyes of God. What is more, in Galatians chapter three Paul points out that there is no difference, whatever, between men and women who have been invited into the kingdom of God. Women play a very important role in the Christian congregation, and the apostle Peter quoted Joel 2:28,29, to show how this is so. That prophecy states: “In the last days, I shall pour out some of my spirit upon every sort of flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy and your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams; and even upon my men slaves and upon my women slaves I will pour out some of my spirit in those days, and they will prophesy,” (Acts 2:17,18).
Even in the Psalms (68:11) we read: “Jehovah himself gives the saying: The women telling the good news are a large army.”
It is also noteworthy that when Jesus was on earth, he showed special compassion and recognition to women. This may have been to compensate for the general attitude that the Jews had toward women at that time. Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, are a good example of being the object of Jesus’ affection. Another instance: After Jesus’ resurrection, the two angels who had come to the memorial tomb, did not reveal themselves to Peter and John, nor did Jesus reveal himself to them. It was after the disciples left the scene that the two angels revealed themselves to Mary Magdelene who had remained at the entrance of the tomb. She was very distressed and was crying because she felt that someone had removed the body of Jesus’ from the memorial tomb since it was empty. When Jesus saw her crying, he then revealed himself to her. At first, she thought him to be the gardener who had removed the body. When Jesus asked her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for? She, imagining him to be the gardener said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him off, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her: “Mary!” Upon turning around, she said to him, in Hebrew, “Rabboni” (which means teacher!). Jesus said to her: “Stop clinging to me. For I have not yet ascended to the Father. But be on your way to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God.”
The above notwithstanding, God did arrange a certain order of things that entails headship. Moreover, within that arrangement, those charged with oversight of a congregation are described in the Scriptures as being males. The 12 apostles of Jesus Christ were all males, and those later appointed to be overseers and ministerial servants in the Christian congregations were males also. (Please read Matthew 10:1-4; 1 Timothy 3:2,12). It is for this reason that headship is very clearly delineated for us in 1 Corinthians chapter eleven.
While man was entrusted with relative headship, that is a responsibility that he must carry out faithfully, even as the Scriptures direct. As Jesus said, (Luke 12:48) “Indeed, everyone to whom much was given, much will be demanded of him; (then Jesus adds what most people already know), and says: “…and the one whom people put in charge of much, they will demand more than the usual of him.”
In conclusion, let’s bear in mind that if a Christian husband exercises the relative authority God gave him as directed by the Scriptures, his wife will find it quite easy to be in subjection, and if she does, it will make her feel secure, contented and happy. What is more, this is what God intended.