I don’t often like being “right”. Most of the time I find that I am “right” about the evils in the world, the consequences of sinful behavior, and where the bad stuff is happening before it happens. I don’t like it when the World proves my discernment correct, which has made me unhappy about being “right” at all.
HOWEVER
I have recently had a wonderful experience of being “right” in a positive thing, and though it touches on themes that cause us to bristle, I simply have to share. It has been floating around in suspension in my head and has finally crystalized. I’ve spent decades thinking “This can’t be right…it has to be this way…but I don’t have evidence and many in the Christian Community can quote me chapter and verse on how I am wrong. So…I’m going to live my life according to this principle and wait…even though it might be ‘unbiblical’ but I doubt it…”
As I’ve mentioned, I have been in a class on biblical leadership with using the book “They Smell Like Sheep” as a guide for what it means to be a leader in the church. The entire premise of the book is that we have a warped understanding of what it means to be a “pastor, bishop, elder,” in the church. We have treated it like an “office” and have allowed the World’s definitions to influence us. We treat this like it means being the CEO, or “The Board” of a church because we are steeped in Capitalism and it’s what we know “works”. However, if we adopt the World’s system then we will inevitably reap the World’s results…not God’s…and if the World is the Enemy of God and we use Enemy tactics…how is that EVER going to lead to the Shalom of God?
Instead we are to adopt God’s system which is shepherds who meet the needs of the Sheep, who help them out of the brambles, who carry them when they are weak, who are there at birth, death, and everywhere in between, caring for them individually and as a group knowing this one lags behind and has to be encouraged, another goes too far ahead and likely needs to be headed off before it gets too far and lost, and this one has to be encouraged to eat because it’s a little untrusting since it mistook thorns for food, etc. It is a deeply personal and inter-relational thing. This is not ranching where every cow has a price on its head for meat to market, where the thing in your charge is a product. Shepherding is where the shepherd lives with the sheep and cares for them their entire life cycle. They know his voice because it was one of the first things they heard at birth. They trust his call because he has routinely lead them to green pastures and still waters. It’s a relationship on a deep level rather than a Boss and Employee Relationship.
Ok…so…I get to the final chapter titled “The Biblical Language of ‘Authority'” and this is where I LOST it…in the best way possible. I had to call my wife as soon as I finished the chapter shouting “I was right! I was right!” over and over in her ear.
I’m not going to go into detail on the linguistics from the ancient Greek unless you REALLY want me too. But the upshot is this…
The Anglican’s screwed us on this one. The KJV is the problem when it comes to our view of “authority”.
Strange to say…but apparently in the 1600s when they translated the Bible into English at the behest of King James they used specific words that COULD be in a sense what the word meant. It didn’t break the meaning entirely…but it confirmed their biases that they should be in charge in a special way. They emphasized that “pastor, bishop, elder, deacon, teacher” was a POSITION…as opposed to a TASK, or a function which is what the original language actually indicates.
It isn’t meant to be a “title”…it’s meant to be a specific way of taking care of the church and those within the church. It is a “servant” or “steward” role. The “authority” is to act as caretakers of the Church in the SAME WAY that the Good Samaritan cared for the robbed and beaten and left for dead Jew. It’s the same word. It cost the Samaritan. And he looked for nothing in return. He tended to the man’s needs. He “took care of” him because it was the right thing to do and that created “Shalom” for him even if he never met the man again. It was born out of a deep compassion. “Authority” in the scriptures means “to take care of” not to “rule over”.
SO…when we talk about “Authority” (whether in the Church or in the home) what is the Bible really talking about? We are talking about leaders who serve those around them. As Jesus talks about…the greatest in the Kingdom is the servant of all. He commands us not to “Lord it over them like the Gentiles do”. Modern translation…”I don’t want you leading like the Pagans do. It’s not who you are or how I want you to do things.” We are not to be removed, we are to be involved, we are to be serving and encouraging and developing peoples gifts and talents and helping inch them closer to Jesus. We are not in “Authority” over anyone as a pagan king would (And remember…God’s desire was Israel should NOT have a king…it’s not God’s system) but in “Responsibility” toward them.
Now, where this REALLY hits home for me is in the thing that triggers many of us…the “Headship” and “Authority” of the Husband in the family.
We all know the well abused passage that “The man is the head of the wife as Jesus is the head of the church”. I have ALWAYS maintained that this CANNOT mean that she just blindly obeys and endures abuse etc. in an idiotic form of submission. “The man is the head of the wife” is not a title that demands respect at all times regardless of situation… The scripture isn’t directed to the submission or subjugation of the woman…it IS directed toward the man and his role…in that his “authority” is “responsibility”. HE is the head in the same manner/way that Jesus is the head…and that is not a Title, that’s a TASK. It is a function.
When the scripture says that all “authority” was given to Jesus it is instead that He was given the responsibility for tending to the needs and bringing about the Shalom of all those in Heaven and Earth. In His “Glorification” He became, quite literally, the servant of ALL. (Who will be the greatest in God’s kingdom? What was that again?).
So when we see that the Man is the Head of Wife as (meaning literally: in the same way) Jesus is the head of the Church…Headship is service…Headship is related to where and how we put our energies. We pour out wherever we are needed to bring goodness and Shalom to the people given into our care.
So then…why does Paul mention that wives should be submissive to their husbands? It’s then the same reason that Paul says that those in “authority” deserve double honor. Because they are working and giving of themselves in a way beyond what the rest of the congregation is called to. If they are shepherding they are staying up nights worrying about the flock, figuring out ways to meet their needs, doing what is best for each one even if its costs them and they never get a return…even if it costs them their life.
THIS is biblical “authority”, biblical “headship”. Jesus is is responsible for working toward the loving flourishing of the church with steadfast (loyal/faithful) love. I am to emulate that in my relationship with my wife (interestingly it occurs to me that I am responsible for focusing on my wife specifically…Paul doesn’t say that this is how I am supposed to focus this way on my children…I wonder why…) Working for HER peace, HER flourishing, HER relationship with Jesus…even to the point of death…to give myself for HER.
So then the call to submission to the husband and the “double honor” of pastors and elders is because…there were people In those congregations and marriages who were NOT honoring them. There were those who ignored the pastors, treated loving husbands like dirt, took advantage, domineered, disrespected those who served, treated them as something to be used for what they could get and then discarded or disregarded. If a man today had a stay-at-home wife who tended to his every need and he cheats on her, treats her roughly, verbally abuses her in public or in private we would think he was a terrible man. She serves him and he treats her like dirt compared to everyone else? NOPE. He’s a jerk. And that’s the gender-swapped issue at play here in what Paul is addressing.
Every command of Paul’s is because the negative behavior he is addressing was happening in concerning numbers as a matter of course in the church He was writing to.
Now, the difficulty comes in a way I find typical of the LORD and His scripture…does this all mean that a wife should not be submitted to her husband until he fulfills his God demanded role? I give that the same answer as its opposite. Should a husband only be expected to fulfill his role when his wife is submitted to him?
In my observation there is a push and pull effect that happens in marriages. When I take on more of the role Jesus has commanded of me, when I am serving as He did and leading gently and lovingly as He does, then my wife finds it safer to “submit”, to entrust herself into my leading and care.. However…as a man I feel more capable of leading and serving when my wife “submits”.
How am I ever going to take on leadership if I’m not ever trusted with a bit of it? But how is she going to trust me without being able to observe my record as a good man? It’s the conundrum most teenagers have. “I can’t get a job without experience. I can’t get an experience without getting a job.”
When I look back over my married life I can see this ebb and flow perpetually. At some point one of us, I can’t tell who did it first, took the cautious step toward what God says we are to be as husband and wife. And then the other felt safe enough to take their cautious first step…and the next and the next. It’s really a dance that leads to glorious fulfilling outcomes for each. We have leaned into each others strengths, we draw on each other for comfort and energy, and we dance in the same direction as ONE which was always the ultimate goal from God’s perspective. Not one lording it over the other, but in compliment moving in the same direction together.
So…Biblical authority is not a crown. It’s a broom, a dust pan, and a mop. And its companion is someone who notices, and appreciates, and eventually comes alongside to share the load in their unique way..
Finding Narnia 
Leave a comment