Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.”
NL Daily Devotion for Monday, August 2, 2021
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
I don’t care how loving a husband may be of his wife; he is NOT her master or superior the way Christ is to the church. Paul was a product of his culture in which women and children had no rights, slavery was the norm, and men called all the shots. Maybe he was trying to push back against this, demanding that men be more Christ-like in their dealings. But he’s also clear in Ephesians that wives should be subject to their husbands. So many Christians have tried to re-work and finagle Paul’s model of a Christian household. Popular Bible studies/couples workshops have focused on how husbands should love their wives and wives should respect their husbands and somehow that fits into our modern paradigm. I don’t buy it. There is simply no way that this model of marriage isn’t oppressive and damaging to women.
In a marriage, both parties ought to be committed to the mutual flourishing of the other. That means full equality, participation, and responsibility. If God created male and female in God’s image, and no part of God is greater than any other part of God, then male and female are equal. God is certainly sovereign over humanity, but no one in humanity ought to be raised above anyone else. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
What do I see as the function and structure of a good Christian marriage?
![1 Kings 17:1-16 [17-24], God’s Care for the Widow](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56b39b61ab48de92d991a40a/bf37035e-33d5-439f-a0d6-a68b02d0f1bc/24-11-03.jpg)
