Wives should not be shoved: Wife Spanking P/3

                                                      Read Part One Here

In this post I continue to share from Larry Solomon's article taken from his website "Does the Bible allow a husband to spank his wife?" This article can be found on his website Biblical Gender Roles.

 Larry Solomon: "What does the Bible say about Wife Spanking?" 

Larry Solomon:"The Bible does not specifically speak to the situation of wife spanking and some believe because this is the case then wife spanking is forbidden. But we must be careful when we come to the Bible and it does not address a specific case of behaviour with either a positive example or command. In these cases where we do not have a situation specifically addressed we must be careful of two extremes. One is the extreme that we can do anything we want if it is not specifically addressed and the other is if it is not specifically addressed that we cannot do it. Both extremes are wrong."

Larry Solomon: "Instead, we must look for general principles the Bible does teach that we can then apply to specific situations the Bible may not speak to."

Larry Solomon: "The Bible does not specifically speak to physical abuse in the family. We don't see the Bible specifically condemning men punching their wives or children in the face but we have this condemnation of masters toward their male and female slaves:

"And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye's sale. And if he smite out his manservant's tooth, or his maidservant's tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake." Exodus 21:26-27 (KJV).

Larry Solomon: "How would a person get their tooth knocked out of their eye permanently damaged? In most cases it would be their master either punching them in the face or shoving them to the ground where they knocked their head on something causing the injury. This tells us God does not approve of punching and shoving as act of discipline..."

Larry Solomon: "So while this passage in Exodus 21:26-27 does not specifically speak to marriage we can apply this as a general truth to marriage and the family. If God condemns masters doing these things to their slaves then he certainly condemns husbands and fathers doing these things to their wives and children who have more rights under God's law than slaves."

Larry Solomon: "Now we need to apply this same method of searching the Scriptures to this area of wife spanking."

 My Comment

It is amazing to me that Larry Solomon believes he has to search the Scriptures to find an answer to the area of wife spanking since it ought to be clear from the start that the Scriptures would never under any circumstance allow for wife spanking to take place. 

Read Part Four HERE