During my first years of ministry I received a phone call from a married lady of our church asking if I could urgently fetch her at the maternity hospital because her husband who was supposed to do it wasn’t answering his phone. Aware that she had just gone through a C section I immediately agreed to transport the mother and baby.
I drove them home and when we got there we discovered why the husband wasn’t answering the phone. Due to his drunkenness he was sound asleep in the sofa of the living room after having vomited and urinated on himself. I offered to help her to take care of him but she resignedly declined and with heroic effort went to shower her spouse beyond taking care of her new daughter and her other two boys.
It is common to hear at church about the unequal yoke, which is the union between a believer and an unbeliever or vice versa. The unequal yoke however is not only limited to the incompatibility of faith; it includes other inequalities as well. Sadly the situation of the sister who called me happens with believers more frequently than we can imagine and it cannot be naturally accepted.
Unfortunately, the biblical teaching that man is the head of the woman has been understood out of context fuelling the idea of female servanthood to irresponsible men. When in reality, this is only part of a broader and deeper teaching where both must submit themselves to Christ and one to the other in an environment of true love.
Under the lordship of Christ there is no room for superiorities, totalitarianisms or discriminations in whatever context let alone in the marriage relationship. Men and women do have the image and resemblance of God and therefore must learn to share life as equal companions.
- Which are some of the inequalities that culturally exist in marriage?
- How could equalitarian marriages be built?
(Unequal yoke, 2 Corinthians 6:14-15 / Equal yoke, Galatians 3:27-28)
Commissioner Torben Eliason is the Territorial Commander of the Southern Africa Territory