God approves of husbands spanking their wives: Wife spanking P/5

                                                       Read Part One HERE

In this post I continue to share from Larry Solomon's article "Does the Bible Allow A Husband To Spank His Wife"  as found on his website Biblical Gender Roles.

 Two Biblical Principles that Allow For Wife Spanking

Principle #2 - God Allows Physical Punshment As A Form Of Discipline

Larry Solomon: The Bible tells us that God approves physical punishment as a form of discipline in the following passages:

Withold not correction from the child: if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from hell." Proverbs 23:13-14 (KJV)

"If there be a controversy between men, and they come into judgement, that the judges may judge them; then they sall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beated before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number. Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee." Deuteronomy 25:1-3 (KJV)

Judgements are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools." Proverbs 19:29 (KJV)

"A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back." Provers 26:3 (KJV)

Larry Solomon: "As we can see from these passages of Scripture - not only is physical discipline approved by God for children but it is also approved by God for adults."

Larry Solomon: "When we take these two Biblical principles together we see that God has given men both the right and responsibility to discipline their wives and God approves of physical discipline for adults. Therefore, we can rightly conclude from these two Biblical truths that God allows men to spank their wives."

Larry Solomon: "The primary objection to wife spanking is that such an action infantilizes women, or in other words treat them as children. However, spanking does not infantilize a woman since adults can and do discipline other adults all the time. The reason for this kind of answer is because in our modern culture we look on any type of physical punishment with disdain. We think of physical punishment toward adults as "uncivilized."But such thinking is at odds with the Bible."

Larry Solomon: "Another problem we have is that we think wives are immune from discipline in the home because our culture teaches the false ideology of partnership marriage. Discipline in the home we are told is stricly reserved for children. So it is easy to understand with the false beliefs about physical punishment and discipline how many people might think wife spanking infantilizes women."

Larry Solomon: "However, the Bible makes it clear in passages like Ephesians 5:22-33 and 1 Peter 3:1-7 that marriage is not a "partnership" but rather a patriarchy. It does not get any clearer than "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the Church." Ephesians 5:23

Larry Solomon: "The fact that "both are adults; none is a lesser being" or in other words that both husbands and wives are fully mature human beings is irrelevant."

Larry Solomon: "Does it matter that at my job my boss is an adult and I am an adult? The fact is that the owner of my company who is an adult has put my boss who is an adult in charge of me as an adult. It does not mean that I am less of a human being than my boss rather it means I have a lesser position than my boss."

Larry Solomon: "And the fact is that the Bible is clear that as Christ is the Head of the Church so too God the owner of humanity has put male human beings in charge of female human beings in marriage. It really is that simple."

My Comment

As for God having given men both the right and responsibility to discipline their wives, including spanking, Larry Solomon twists Scripture in order to come up with that conclusion.

 That is not surprising since he seems to believe that the Bible teaches the model of patriarchy for marriages based on his understanding of Ephesians 5:22-33 and 1 Peter 3:1-7, in particular focusing on the words "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the Church." 

Sadly, Larry Solomon does not understand that the term "head" does not mean "authority." Neither does he mention that Christ's function as Head of the Church is associated with His function as Saviour of the Church, which is a sacrificial function. The husband's function as head of his wife is, therefore, a sacrificial function. 

Moreover, we know from Ephesians 5:21 that we are to submit to one another so husband and wife mutually submit to each  other, which is in line with God's Design in Genesis 1:26-28 where we read that God made the male and the female to rule over creation together as a team on a equal basis. This is confirmed in Genesis 2:18 where we learn that the woman was formed as the man's equal partner. 

This wonderful design was lost at the time of the Fall when the man began to rule over the woman but it was restored in Christ when He died on the Cross and became a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). 

Therefore, his comparison of his boss being in charge over him with the marriage relationship of the husband being in charge of the wife as ordained by God is incorrect as you will understand from the above.

I will continue to share on Principle #2 - God Allows Physical Punishment As A Form Of Discipline in my next post.

Read Part Six HERE