Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.
20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
21 Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.
22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.
4:1 Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.
Colossians3:18-21
We come to one of the dreaded "wives submit" passages today... :-)
Paul's desire is to see these relationships transformed by our relationship with Christ.
Within the culture of the day which was patriarchal and authoritarian, Paul writes to wives before husbands, children before parents, and slaves before masters. He begins with those who are "weaker" in terms of the politics of power of the culture of the day.
In each case, he only asks for submission (as is fitting to the Lord or as pleases the Lord.) He is not asking anyone to be a doormat, but to be willing to submit. His implication is that God is fair and just and that a person would have no problem submitting to Him. Unfortunately it is true that many people don't want to submit at all even to authority that is right and just.
He also addresses husbands, fathers and masters warning them against power abuse and reminds them that they are accountable to God.
It is hard to escape the ethical questions here: Paul seems baised toward preserving patriarchy, authoritarian parenting and slavery. He seems to be urging the "oppressed" to stay "oppressed."
It's easy to dismiss Paul as a product of his culture.
But is he?
Until we get to heaven, unbalanced power relationships are unavoidable. Not all authority is evil.
Our sinful nature makes us rebellious.
We have to be willing to submit, to bend, to be flexible.
We also have to be accountable and fair.
Paul sees it from both sides...
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
