Over the years, I have come into contact with many who are part of the Patriarchal Movement. The Patriarchal Movement is a movement meant to restore some level of sanity to the home by means of restoring the authority and leadership of a father to the home. A general summary is found here. The short of it is that the father of a home is the supreme authority over that home in the manner of absolute unquestioned will, unbiblical preferences of behavior and supreme freedom of personal desires. These are the components, in my opinion, that get to the heart of the movement.
However, what has been my experience in this movement is this: the father has the right to abuse and damage his family at his discretion and the family is in rebellion if they retaliate, respond, or otherwise, rebel. From the view of the patriarch, retaliation, response, and rebellion are such because there is little to no submission to him. If a wife disagrees, she is in rebellion. If a son, retaliates, he is in rebellion. If a daughter responds questioning him, she is in rebellion. That is his perspective.
The very sad reality that this creates absolves the father from any culpability for his own sin against the Father God. But he does not see that since, in his own darkened mind, he is obviously on good terms with God because he is the father. This movement sees an unquestionably symbiotic relationship between God as Father and the man as father. By that fact alone, never mind personal sin or transgression that distances a man from God, the man and God are in unbroken fellowship. This is believed to such an extent that the man actually believes that his words are the words of God.
This kind of perspective is nothing short of a Christian cult that seeks to call something made up by selfish, and even demonic, men a true representation of the Bible. It is not.
Allow me to set some guidelines for a father’s proper authority. I will cover these one by one over the next few days in separate posts.
- “But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:3)
- “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (1 Timothy 5:8)
- “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body.” (Ephesians 5:25–30)
- “He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?),” (1 Timothy 3:4–5)
- ““Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:31–33)
Let’s look at the first one: “But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:3)
A man does bear authority. That is unquestionable and clear from passages such as above. If a man does not have authority, then a woman does. And, if that is the case, what makes the woman have authority and the man submit? A Matriarchal rule will not improve upon an improper Patriarchal leadership. The fact remains that a man is the head of a woman and thus he is responsible for her care. How he expresses that authority is one of the most difficult things that a man has to learn to do. Some days, he is an ogre. Somedays he is a docile and amiable. Somedays he would die for his wife. Somedays he will make horrible demands of her. What is being observed by this ambivalence is not a failed leadership structure, but a failing leader.
A man’s authority is natural to his gender:
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.””
Genesis 1:26
The original design of God is that a man would rule over the birds, cattle, the earth and every creeping things on the earth. By virtue of union with the man, the woman would compliment him, but by no means take over his position. The original statement was that God would make “a man” to be the image of God, as Paul also said:
“For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.”
1 Corinthians 11:7
The principle that drove Paul’s leadership concerning the cultural practice of head coverings was that a man is the glory of God and that the woman is the glory of man. That defined creational reality is the basis of the entire complex of relationships between man and woman. It is, however, limited to this creation:
“But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God. “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.”
Matthew 22:29–30
The resurrection condition, which continues into eternity, ends the creational processes. In this life, some pursue marry (the man) and some are given over to marry (the woman). But in the life to come, which has some bearing on the Christian’s life today, marriage and the ordained processes of creation, are ended. The number of the elect is in, the completion of redemption has occurred, the glorification of the saints is activated. Marriage is no longer needed to complete the plan of God.
Until then, however, men are called to rule, and women are called to recognize that authority and submit to it in the proper way. Although that statement sounds chauvinistic, it is supported by the Scripture in every passage that addresses the roles of men and women.
But again, the rulership that is called for is not what we see in the Patriarchal Movement. Having been to Islamic countries, I see no difference in the way men behave in Islam, having domination over wives and children, even to the point of beating them, and the way that I have known men to behave in the Patriarchal Movement. This is not male leadership. This is fleshly indulgence that seeks to destroy and not build up.
Not every expression of leadership is an expression of Patriarchy dominance. In fact, Paul makes is clear that Jesus’ authority is the pattern of the man’s authority. In that passage in 1 Corinthians 11, Jesus is the head of every man. What if a man was treated by Jesus the way that the man treats women and children? Would he like it? Would he wish for more of that kind of treatment? Or, would he fight back and “rebel”? Jesus’ authority is absolute, but it is also perfect. Jesus’ authority is complete (Matthew 28:18-20), but it is also meant for freedom (Galatians 2:4; 5:1).
A good illustration of how a man can express that kind of authority, the kind that Jesus Himself expresses, is found in the section of Scripture wherein Paul is instructing the Corinthians regarding marriage. Listen.
“I think then that this is good in view of the present distress, that it is good for a man to remain as he is.” (1 Corinthians 7:26)
“But if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you.” (1 Corinthians 7:28)
“But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord;” (1 Corinthians 7:32)
Ultimately, he wrote:
“This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint (literally, ‘a noose’) upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 7:35)
And,
“But in my opinion she is happier if she remains as she is; and I think that I also have the Spirit of God.” (1 Corinthians 7:40)
Now that is a proper use of authority! He is not trying to put a “noose” around the necks of the single, or divorced, or widowed, men and women. He even instructs the fathers to permit marriage for their daughters if they would be happy to marry a man (vv.36-38). However, there is a kind of authority that the father has and is recognized by Paul. Paul does not try to discredit the father’s authority, but instruct it and direct it to its appropriate use.
The Patriarchal Movement, although a reaction to Feminism, is even more harmful because the ones who are supposed to be cared for are harmed and the ones who are supposed to sacrifice themselves for the care of women and children are selfish. Unfortunately, this is normal in the world. But, when it is present in the church and is raised to the place of a virtue or a kind of righteousness, that is when we have a major problem.
Sketches of Scripture 