John Zens, author of a recent book on Paul and women, in the weekly newletter of CBE, posts this:
"Who's in charge?" is a source of friction in many marriages. Latching on to the traditional concept of "male headship," a number of Christian husbands use this mantra to abuse or marginalize their wives. I would like to suggest that there is a healing paradigm that would liberate couples and vastly improve marital relationships—seek the mind of the Lord together. This paradigm is unfolded in 1 Corinthians 7:1-5.
1 Corinthians 7:1-5 is the only place in the New Testament where the word "authority" (Greek, exousia) is used with reference to marriage. Yet it is not the authority of the husband over the wife, or vice versa, that is in view, but rather a mutual authority over each other's body. 1 Corinthians 7:4 states that the wife has authority over her husband’s body. One would think that this would be a hard pill to swallow for those who see "authority" as resting only in the husband's headship.
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