Dejuann Hayes
Essay Blog 4
There
is quite a contrast seen in regards to authority in the passages read this week
from those read last week. In last week’s readings, Paul notes that women had
authority as heads of their community, apostles, and leaders. These women were,
in a sense, equal to men and placed alongside them instead of beneath them. The
tone in Ephesians 5:21-6:9 is distinctly different because here we see that
women are instructed to be submissive and have no authority roles. The societal
hierarchy is completely different, but similar to that of 1 Corinthians 11.
Women, wives, are told in Ephesians to be submissive and
subject to their husbands as they do unto the Lord because the husband is the
head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church (Eph. 5:22-23). It further
says that women are to submit unto their husbands in everything (Eph. 5:24). In
this passage, the way women conduct themselves is to be in a subordinate manner
to men. They are placed in a secondary role in everything, which includes the
church and their homes. This is different from some of our earlier readings
where women were portrayed as being the head of their households. In Ephesians
5:33, it says that the wife must respect her husband.
Another thing that I took notice of while reading
Ephesians 6, is that there is no mention of the mother taking a disciplinary
role for the children. It says “Fathers bring them up with discipline and
instruction that comes from the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). But children are to honor
both their father and mother.
I completely agree that the Post-Pauline writings established and argued that men were the head of the household and that women were to be under men. In Paul's letters, there is such a contrast with no statements that women even had to obey men (MacDonald, 237). Within Ephesians, women are being called to respect their husband rather than lead as Paul previously encouraged the women to do (Ephesians 5:33). With this change in rules and guidance, this must have been written as the author was seeing women in power and leading, as Dejuann stated. I wonder if the church felt that women were false teachers? Or whether women were leading in an inappropriate manner?
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