5. A husband and father is the head of his household, a family leader, provider, and protector, with the authority and mandate to direct his household in paths of obedience to God. (Gen. 18:19; Eph. 6:4)
Gen 18:19 – For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.”
This speaks of God knowing Abraham, the father of all believers. It does not teach anything about what a Christian father is.
Eph. 6:4 – And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
Yes. Interestingly enough, the same word that is translated fathers here, is translated as parents in Heb. 11:23
a) A husband and father is head of the household
If bringing someone up in the training and admonition of the Lord is headship, then the father (and mother?) is one of the heads of his children.
And Christian children are Christians, so the congregation's members with a teaching gift also have the authority to teach them, as they may teach believers. That would, by this definition, make them heads of the children too. He is in some way the head (Does this mean source/ origin? Or authority figure? Greek scholars disagree) of his wife. The head of his household? It depends on how head should be understood, and what is included as "household".
And Christian children are Christians, so the congregation's members with a teaching gift also have the authority to teach them, as they may teach believers. That would, by this definition, make them heads of the children too. He is in some way the head (Does this mean source/ origin? Or authority figure? Greek scholars disagree) of his wife. The head of his household? It depends on how head should be understood, and what is included as "household".
b) a family leader,
He should be one of the people leading his children, but what text say he should lead his wife, widowed father, or sisters or brothers or aunts or nephews or anyone else in the family?
c) provider,
This is not in the text. Making provision only a male gender role is contrary to 1 Tim 5:16. Technically it is true that husbands/ fathers should provide, but the point of including this in TBP is to claim it as a gender role. And that turns a technical truth into a lie.
d) and protector,
This is not in the text.
e) with the authority and mandate to direct his household in paths of obedience to God.
He has the mandate to direct his children in the ways of God by Eph. 6:4. If the translation as “parents” of that same word is correct in Hebrews, his wife does too. His children are not synonymous with his household. His wife is part of his household, and nothing said up to now show he can direct her in paths of obedience to God. (I think that both husbands and wives can potentially lead each other closer to God, but it is up to TBP to prove their point if they can.)
Does every father –Christian or not, knowledgeable or not - have the authority to lead his household in paths of obedience to God? Eph. 6:4 does not state it.
TBP say a father (without even specifying the father’s religious view) have the authority to lead his household in paths of obedience to God. But the Bible verse itself speaks to believing fathers (parents?) and their children, and don’t mention authority. The verse could even imply that a father needs to get the knowledge, wisdom, authority or whatever is needed, to do so. It does not tell he already has it.
TBP say a father (without even specifying the father’s religious view) have the authority to lead his household in paths of obedience to God. But the Bible verse itself speaks to believing fathers (parents?) and their children, and don’t mention authority. The verse could even imply that a father needs to get the knowledge, wisdom, authority or whatever is needed, to do so. It does not tell he already has it.
Other ways Christians understand this:
(No extra notes here)
Summing it up
How reliable is this tenet? I will use a color code:
The color code:
This is defended biblically, but another view could also be defended biblically
5. A husband and father is the head of his household, a family leader, provider, and protector, with the authority and mandate to direct his household in paths of obedience to God.
(If the word “household” was replaced with “children”, and mothers were included as possible leaders of their children, this tenet would have fared better.)
No comments:
Post a Comment