Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
We live in a topsy turvy world, and but one example of this is it is misogynistic one moment, feminist the next. The former treat women with disdain, the latter hail the glory of women at times to the derision of men. Both situations are overreactions, and I see them weekly if not daily.
Being prone to being more feminist
than misogynist, I favour the closing of the gap in inequality between women
and men, but not to the extent that men are significantly disadvantaged in the
process — that itself is the inequality borne of overreaction.
Let’s extend the discussion and
focus on marriage. Here is what I think is theologically true:
Christ died
so that we may live,
Without burdens put on us
He’d never give,
We bear our cross
But let’s be aware,
Of the devil’s
plan
Because
perfection’s his snare.
The apostle Paul instructed
husbands to love their wives just as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25).
Remember though who Christ is — perfect and sinless in every way. Husbands are
exhorted to strive for the standard, daily, but not to be beholden to it. It is
too much for anyone to attain perfection. But certainly this is what repentance
is for; when we fail to live up to biblical standards.
I know I have made the error in the past of suggesting that
husbands in weak marriages do what is impossible even for husbands in strong
marriages. No husband can attain to perfection, nor can any wife, so why would
we hold either partner accountable for failing to reach an impossible standard.
No, it is for husbands to strive for the standard and simply
repent when they inevitably fall short. That, there, is the glory of the
relational gospel — that a husband might confess his wrong to his wife, so he
may be forgiven, and that reconciliation might take place.
There is nothing of the gospel in a wife saying to her husband,
‘Hey, listen buddy, you are not exactly loving me as you should, as Christ
loves His church.’ The husband would be well within his rights to say back to
his wife, ‘So if I could love you as Christ loves His church, then Christ died
for nothing.’
The way the gospel peace works is through individual revelation
of sin, confession, and repentance. It is getting the log out of our own eye.
The gospel of peace has nothing to do with pointing out others’ faults, but
dealing with our own, in faith that the other person will do the same, but for
which we really don’t have a say or a responsibility.
So, husbands and wives relax. Expect no level of perfection from
one another. Expect to mutually submit in the ways of confession and
repentance, that’s all, in holding only yourself to account. Then your partner
is free to love you without fear of your judgment.
Christ died
so that we may live,
Without burdens put on us
He’d never give,
We bear our cross
But let’s be
aware,
Of the devil’s
plan
Because
perfection’s his snare.
Christ’s call for both men and women in marriage is to bear
their respective cross. It would only help marriage if we threw out all the
complicated theologies about gender roles that only add the pressure of
expectation. We only sustain these precious methodologies because human beings
like designing systems. Don’t forget God has made it possible that we can
achieve the same result in different ways.
Let’s not be held to a teaching that seems particularly
difficult to achieve when mutual submission meets the gospel aim.
I think marriages are best blessed when husbands arrive at the
balance between striving for and aspiring to love their wives as Christ loved
the church. They strive for that standard, realising it is aspirational,
knowing it is unattainable, accepting they are fallen, yet they are always
trying, and always committed to reconciling their relational realities.
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