Wives are to be slaves of their husbands: Grooming Your Bride P/9

                                                      Read Part One HERE

In this post I continue to share from the article "7 Steps To Groom Your Young Bride" written by Larry Solomon. This article can be found on his website Biblical Gender Roles.

"Husbands love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that is should be holy and without blemish." Ephesians 5: 25-27

Larry Solomon: "Christ did not give up His life for His wife's happiness. He gave up His life to purchase His wife so that He could groom her into the wife He wanted her to be......"

Larry Solomon: "What this means practically speaking is that you need to begin to mold your wife to your preferences for her behaviour. You should never feel guilty in desiring your wife's submission and service to you, but rather you should enjoy this as God enjoys your submission and service to Him."

Larry Solomon: "So what are some practical ways that you can groom your wife into the glorious wife you want her to be?"

Larry Solomon: "You can make her modify her clothing style to the styles you prefer. You can make her learn to cook the foods you enjoy. You can make her watch the TV shows you like to watch."

Larry Solomon: "A Christian's wife grooming, her God-ordained subjection to her husband, is never complete until she has been groomed to be loving, pleasant and completely satisfying to her husband in every respect." 

My Comment 

It seems to me that Larry Solomon's description of a perfect wife fits more in with a slave or a robot since she is only allowed to wear the clothes he has selected for her, cook only the food he wants her to prepare, watch only the TV programs he enjoys.    

However, in Genesis 1:26-28 we read of God's creation of the man and the woman as follows                                                                                                                                                     Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image and 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 on 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 over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

It is very clear from the above words that God never intended for any husband to groom his wife until she has been groomed to be loving, pleasant and completely satisfying to him in every respect but that they were called to work together as a team on an equal basis. 

However, we know that in Genesis 3:16d God forewarned the woman that the man wanted to begin to rule over her. That did indeed happen and is still happening today as we can see from Larry Solomon's words that God has ordained a wife to be in subjection to her husband. However, Christ has come to bring change into that situation by dying on the Cross for us (Galatians 3:13). Consequently, in Christ, male and female believers follow His example by loving and serving each other (Galatians 5:13) since we are called to mutually submit to each other (Ephesians 5:21-22). It seems to me that Larry Solomon does not have any understanding of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ who did not groom His followers to wash His feet. Instead He washed their feet. (John 13:1-17).

Read Part Ten HERE