in many families there is a temporary reversal of roles due to invol-
untary unemployment or while the husband is getting further edu-
cation for his career, and in those circumstances these are entirely
appropriate arrangements; yet the longer they go on, the more strain
they put on a marriage. I also recognize that permanent disability on
the part of the husband, or the absence of a husband in the home, can
create a necessity for the wife to be the primary provider, but every
family in which that happens will testify to the unusual stress it brings
and the fact that they wish it did not have to be so.) On the other
hand, there is something in a woman that says, “I want my husband
to provide for me, to give me the security of knowing that we will
have enough to buy groceries and pay the bills. It feels right to me to
look to him and depend on him for that responsibility.” Personally, I
have never met a woman who did not want her husband to provide
that sense of security for her.^26
Some Egalitarian Objections to Male Headship in Marriage
Egalitarians raise a number of objections to the idea that men and
women have different roles in marriage as part of the created order,
different roles that should find expression in marriages today as well.
Here are three of the most common objections:
- Galatians 3:28 abolishes role distinctions in marriage.
- “Mutual submission” in Ephesians 5:21 nullifies male author-
ity in marriage. - “The husband is the head of the wife” (Eph. 5:23) does not
indicate authority for the husband because “head” means “source” or
something else, but not “person in authority.”
I will consider these three objections briefly at this point, since
they are treated more extensively elsewhere.^27
Objection 1: Galatians 3:28 abolishes role distinctions in marriage.
In this verse, Paul says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there
is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are
all one in Christ Jesus.” Egalitarians frequently claim that if there is
“neither male nor female” then distinctions in role based on our
gender are abolished because we are now all “one in Christ Jesus.”
The Key Issues in the Manhood-Womanhood Controversy 49