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Man Is The Head Over The Woman In The Home And In The Church

May 13, 2004
The local church is a family
1 Timothy 3:15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house (or family) of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. 
 
Family terms are used in the church
1 Corinthians 4:15 For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers : for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
 
Ephesians 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children
 
1 Corinthians 1:10 “Now I beseech you, brethren…”
 
Romans 16:1 I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea:
 
the man is the head in the family
Ephesians 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
 
The church is ruled as a man rules his family
1 Timothy 3:1-2,4-5 This is a true saying, If a man (male leadership) desire the office of a bishop (overseer in the church), he desireth a good work.  2 A bishop (or overseer) then must be blameless, the husband of one wife (male leadership), vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;  4 One that ruleth well his own house (family), having his children in subjection with all gravity; 5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house (family), how shall he take care of the church of God?)
 
Male headship in the church and family
1 Corinthians 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
 
only a man qualifies for a church leader
Titus 1:5-6 For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:  6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
 
1 Timothy 3:12 Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.
 
When God’s people are ruled by women it is a disgrace
Isaiah 3:12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.  
 
When women take the lead man is dishonered
Judges 4:9 And she (Deborah) said, I will surely go with thee (Barak): notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine (Barak’s, a man) honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.
 
The only example of a woman teaching
doctrine in the NT church
Revelation 2:20 Notwithstanding I (Jesus Christ) have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest (permit or allow) that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
 
Men and women are equal in value
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 
 
the Woman is subject to the man in the home
1 Peter 3:1 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands 
 
1 Peter 3:5 For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:
 
Ephesians 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
 
Colossians 3:18  Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.
 
Titus 2:5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient ( “being subject,” NASB)  to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
 
Jesus subjected himself to the father
Philippians 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God   
 
1 Corinthians 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
 
1 Corinthians 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
 
God placed Man as the head over the woman at creation
 
1. Man was created first in order.
The principal of firsts is an important one. God could have created Man and Woman equally at the same time but rather He chose to create Man first.  The priority of creation is seen not as an accident but as a divine design, intended to typify the leadership and headship role man was created to fulfill.  In other words, God chose to create man first in order to express man’s role, position, or function as the head over the woman that was made after him. Lord asks for the first fruits from His people, thereby characterizing them as of higher honor (Exod. 34:19, 26). God describes Himself as the First in many places in Scripture (Isa. 44:6; 48:12; Rev. 1:17; 22:13).  The first commandment is characterized as the greatest commandment (Matt. 22:38).
 
The fact that Adam was first in the order of creation before Eve may also signifiy that Adam holds the title of “first-born.” The title “first-born” is rich with meaning in the Old Testament and New Testament.  The “first-born” was given the honor and position of rulership in the family with right to a double portion of the Father’s estate.  The headship and authority of Christ is connected to His title as “the first-born.”
 
Colossians 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 
 
Paul used the headship and authority of Christ as the model for the headship role a husband is to exercise for the sake of his wife.
 
Ephesians 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
 
The fact that the woman was created after man meant to Paul that God intends the woman to fulfill a submissive role in relation to man. In light of the Old Testament background, Paul saw the priority of the formation of Adam a type of the headship role God called man to fulfill, and thus, a reason why men, rather than women, should exercise teaching leadership authority in the church.  
 
1 Timothy 2:12-13  And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
 
In the church, the submissive role of woman under the headship of man is violated if a woman teaches in a headship position or exercises authority over a man.
 
2. The Women was derived out of Man.
Genesis 2 suggests the principle of headship and submission not only by the order of creation of Adam and Eve, but also by the manner of their creation. God created man first and then made woman out of his rib (Gen 2:21-22). He did not make Adam and Eve both from the ground.  Why? Most likely because that would have obscured the distinction between the male-headship and the female-submission roles that God wanted to make clear. Her creation from his rib suggests that she was not to control him as the head, nor to be trampled under his feet as an inferior, but to stand by his side as an equal, to be loved and protected by him.  In 1 Corinthians 11:8 Paul defends his call for women to respect the headship of man by appealing to the manner of the woman’s creation:
 
1 Corinthians 11:3,8 “But I would have you know… the head of the woman is the man…
8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
 
For Paul the order and manner of the creation of Adam and Eve are the theological foundation of the headship-submission principle. In biblical thought origin and authority are interrelated.  A child must respect the authority of his parents because he derives from them. In Adam’s historical situation Eve derived from him in the sense that God formed her from his body. Thus, Adam was her "source" to whom she owed due respect.  the different ways God created man and woman are closely related to the different tasks they are called to fulfill. This point is well expressed by Werner Neuer: "The man is formed from the soil, whose cultivation is entrusted to him by God (Gen 2:15; 3:17), while the woman is created quite differently, out of man’s rib, to be his helper. This is her God-given task in life (Gen 2:18). The appointed tasks of the sexes are as basically different as the ways in which they were created by God.
 
3.  Woman was created for man.
 
Genesis 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 
 
The women was created for man not the other way around.  If woman was created for man’s sake, that is, to help him in the tasks God gave him, then it follows that her helping role is a submissive one.  The Apostle Paul refers to Genesis 2:18 in 1st Corinthians 11.
 
1 Corinthians 11:9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
 
Paul makes this statement in the context of his admonition that women should respect male headship in the church by covering their heads according to the custom of the time.
  
 
4.  Man named the woman.
The privilege of naming someone or something always belongs to the person in authority. Genesis 2 indicates the principle of headship and submission by the fact that God entrusted man with naming not only the animals (Gen 2:19-20), but also the woman herself, both before and after the Fall (Gen 2:23; 3:20). In the Bible, name-giving often indicates authority. God exercises this prerogative by naming things He created and by later giving new names to such people as Abraham and Jacob (Gen 17:5; 35:10). 
 
Adam’s naming of the woman is in keeping with the headship responsibility God entrusted to him. Adam’s sovereign act [of naming the woman] not only arose out of his own sense of headship, it also made his headship clear to Eve. She found her own identity in relation to the man as his equal and helper by the man’s definition.
 
Both Adam and Eve understood the paradox of their relationship [equal and yet different] from the start." Adam is involved in naming Eve before and after the Fall, simply because this is part of his God-assigned headship role.
 
 
4.  The Man is held responsible for the first sin.
If Adam and Eve were equal before the fall without any headship/submission relationship as some Bible teachers hold then why didn’t God summon Adam and Eve to account together for their transgression? After all, Eve had played the leading role. Why did God call out only to Adam, "Where are you" (Gen 3:9)? Why does Genesis 3:7 say that it was only after Adam ate of the forbidden fruit that the eyes of both were opened? Why does Paul hold Adam responsible for the entrance of sin into this world when he writes, "Sin came into the world through one man" (Rom 5:12)? Why didn’t he say "sin came into the world through one woman" or "through the first couple"? Why is Christ portrayed as the second Adam and not the second Eve? The answer to these questions is simple: God had appointed Adam to serve in a headship role. He bore primary responsibility for failing to exercise his spiritual leadership at the time of the temptation.
 
The first reason God gave for inflicting the punishment on Adam was not "Because you have eaten of the tree which I commanded you," but "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you" (Gen 3:17). The point here is obvious. Adam sinned first of all because he listened to the voice of his wife rather than to the command of God. By so doing, he relinquished his headship which he was given by God prior to the fall. God did not place the blame on both Adam and Eve as if both shared equal responsibility. Adam was the head and thus ultimately responsible for the disobedience of both. God says to Adam only: "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife . . . cursed is the ground because of you" (Gen 3:17). The "you" refers exclusively to Adam, because he had been entrusted with the responsibility to serve as the spiritual and moral leader.   
 
Keep in mind also that God told only Adam that he would die: "till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return" (Gen 3:19). Eve died too, of course, but God pronounced the death sentence on Adam alone, because he was the head, and the death sentence upon him included Eve and all members of the human family that he represented.