The Husband’s Headship: An Original Model?

By Fred Zaspel–

Is the husband’s headship in the home merely a post-fall development, reflective of sin? Or was Eve originally created in a submissive role to Adam?

 Scripture indicates in several ways that Eve was indeed originally created in a submissive role to Adam. First, in Moses writes in Genesis that Eve was created as Adam’s “helper” (Gen. 2:18). She was created to assist him. She was to be his companion, yes, but she was also to be his helper.  Further, Adam named Eve (Gen.3:20). Giving a name is always a symbol and function of authority.

 Next, the apostle Paul tells that it was no accident that Adam was created first — it was reflective of God’s intention that man was to be the leader (1 Tim. 2:12-14).  Moreover, the fact that Eve came from Adam, and not Adam from Eve, also reflects God’s original purpose for man to lead (1 Cor. 11:7-8).

 We might conclude all this also from the fact that the marriage relationship is designed to picture the relationship of Christ to the church and in which the church is subject to Christ (Eph. 5:22ff).

 In any case, both Moses and Paul state plainly that this relationship is one of creation and not of the fall only. To be sure, the woman’s submission to her husband now involves the struggle and labor and competition of the curse (Gen. 3:16b), but it was God’s original intent for marriage nonetheless.

I recognize how politically incorrect all this is. But it should not surprise us to learn that God has instituted order in the home, just as he has in society and in the church. Further, Scripture does not teach the inferiority of woman and the superiority of man. It teaches merely the authority and leadership of man in the ordering and arranging of home and society. Nor does it allow that the husband may run rough-shod over his wife. It requires merely that man should be the leader — loving, caring, considerate, and sacrificial leader, yes, but leader nonetheless. This is the order which God has ordained in creation. As we pursue this home-ideal faithfully, we will doubtless do so not only for the glory of God but for our own happiness also.

Fred Zaspel holds a Ph.D. in historical theology from the Free University of Amsterdam. He is currently a pastor at the Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia, PA. He is also Professor of Systematic Theology at Calvary Baptist Seminary in Lansdale, PA. He is the author of The Theology of B.B. Warfield: A Systematic Summary (Crossway, 2010) and Warfield on the Christian Life: Living in Light of the Gospel (Crossway, 2012).