2315.—The Head of the Family.
By Editor
Please explain Gen. 3:16, the last part, "He shall rule over thee." Also 1 Tim. 2:11, 12, and such expressions as "The husband is the head of the wife." Do such commands as these apply to a husband who is out of Christ? Do they apply only to the family relation? D. The expression in Gen. 3:16 is a prediction, not a command. In the very nature of the case, man has become the stronger and woman the weaker vessel. From the physical standpoint, man is expected to be the protector and to a large extent the provider, the shielder, of the household. So far as the commands in the New Testament are concerned, those relating to the wife are not designed to be used by the husband; those relating to the husband are not designed to be used by the wife. When the Lord tells the husband to love his wife, even as Christ loved the church, that is a duty that rests upon him. It is not one that his wife has the right to arbitrarily demand, nor could she possibly secure it by arbitrarily demanding it. On the other hand, "Wives, be subject to your own husbands in the Lord," does not mean that the husband has the right to demand that of the wife, and it would be the poorest way in the world for him even to endeavor to secure it by demanding it. If the husband is anxious to do his part, to love his wife and care for her, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it, there will be little trouble in the wife's looking to her husband for the help and counsel which she needs; and on the other hand, a good, faithful, devoted wife may win her husband to the Lord by showing that meekness and sweetness of disposition and love which the Lord wants her to have toward her husband. Yet there are circumstances where husbands or wives are not professed Christians, nor do they feel bound by the word of God. In such cases as that it is impossible to give any kind of advice or counsel to the one who does believe in Christ, save this, to live a Christian life and exemplify the Master in all things. The apostle declares that God has called us to peace. If we can live peacefully without compromising with sin, do so; if we can not do it, separate. In some cases husbands have been inhuman and brutal toward their wives simply because their wives were Christians. The wives have borne it patiently for years and sometimes have won their husbands. Sometimes their lives have been cut short by the cruel brutality of their husbands, but they have borne it even to the end. Not all the martyrs or witnesses for Christ died at the stake by any means; there are many of them who are living with Christless husbands, who are doing everything in their power to exemplify Christ and win their husbands to Him, but who seemingly meet with no response, but rather with brutal abuse, sometimes in its most refined form, not in blows or physical roughness, but by words that sting harder than blows. To all such wives we would say, hope on, pray on, and live on, for Christ. Sometimes, tho rarely, husbands find themselves in some such circumstances. We appeal to them also to exemplify Christ. Learn by seeking God and studying His word just what your duty is and do it at all costs.