Husbands are called to be domineering: The Wilson Saga P/1

 

In this post I will begin to focus on Doug Wilson, pastor at Christ Church, Moscow, Idaho.

He has made the following statements:

D.W.: Patriarchy simply means "father rule" and so it follows that every Biblical Christian holds to patriarchy.

D.W.: Patriarchy is inescapable and our only choice is between men being faithful for blessings and men failing for humiliation and chastisement.

My Comment:
Patriarchy is described in the Bible but it is not prescribed. Servanthood is prescribed in the Bible by Jesus in Matthew 20:25-28
Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave - just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many."

D.W.:God has created us as male and female in such a way to ensure that men will always be dominant in marriage. If the husband is godly, the dominance will not be harsh.... Nevertheless, the dominance of the husband is a fact; the only choice we have in this regard concerns whether that dominance will be a loving and constructive dominance or a hateful and destructive tyranny.

D.W.:Wives need to be led with a firm hand. A wife will often test her husband in some area and be deeply disappointed (frustrated) if she wins. It is crucial that a husband gives to his wife what the Bible says she needs, rather than what she says she needs. So a godly, husband is a godly "lord." A woman who understands this biblical truth and calls a certain man her husband is also calling him her "lord." 

My Comment:
 We read the following in Genesis 1:26-28
Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness and let THEM rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. God blessed THEM and said to THEM, Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. RULE (have dominion) over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. 

Both the man and the woman were given dominion over creation, specifically over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground. However the man was not given dominion over the woman!!
But at the time of the Fall things changed for at that time God forewarned the woman that the man, because of his now sinful nature,  would begin to have dominion over her as we know from Genesis 3:16d
..... And he will rule over you.
However, in Christ, no husband is to live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:5-17).
This is confirmed by Paul in Ephesians 5:25 when he writes:
Husbands love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her.
Paul makes it very clear here that husbands are not to rule over (dominate) their wives but to love their wives and to love them sacrificially as Christ loved His Church sacrificially by dying on the Cross for her. Sadly Pastor Doug Wilson does not seem to have any understanding of this passage. Perhaps he has never given this passage any attention. That may well be because it obviously does not fit in with his patriarchal theology.

D.W.: Testosterone is a good thing and can be used by God as part of His gifting men for leadership.

My Comment:
We read of the following requirements for male leaders in I Timothy 3:2
Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.
It seems Paul does not not agree with Pastor Doug Wilson because he does not mention Testosterone as part of God's gifting men for leadership.

D.W.:What is the most important word in the marriage vows?
In our time, because of the peculiar form our disobedience has taken, the most important word is obey. And it is the most important word whether or not it is included in the vows...

My Comment:

It seems Paul does not agree with Pastor Doug Wilson that the most important word in the marriage vows is the word "obey" for Paul speaks of the most important word in I Corinthians 13:1-3 as follows:
 And now I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in tongues of men and of angels, but have not LOVE, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not LOVE, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not LOVE, I gain nothing.
It is clear from the above passage that, according to Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament as inspired by the Holy Spirit, the word LOVE is the most important word rather than the word "obey."

P.S. I will continue to focus on Pastor Doug Wilson in the next few posts. 

 

Read Part Two HERE