Editing Christian views on marriage (section)

==== Roles and responsibilities ====

Roles and responsibilities of husband and wives now vary considerably on a continuum between the long-held male dominant/female submission view and a shift toward equality (without sameness)<ref>Steil, Janice M. ''Marital Equality: Its Relationship to the Well-Being of Husbands and Wives.'' Sage. 1997. {{ISBN|0-8039-5251-1}}</ref> of the woman and the man.<ref>Throckmorton, Anne. [http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=3654 "The Lives of Wives: Their Changing Roles."] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120805222142/http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=3654 |date=2012-08-05 }} University of Virginia, January 9, 2008. Accessed 11 May 2009</ref> There is considerable debate among many Christians today—not just Protestants—whether equality of husband and wife or male headship is the biblically ordained view, and even if it is biblically permissible. The divergent opinions fall into two main groups: [[Complementarianism|Complementarians]] (who call for husband-headship and wife-submission) and [[Christian Egalitarianism|Christian Egalitarians]] (who believe in full partnership equality in which couples can discover and negotiate roles and responsibilities in marriage).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ctlibrary.com/ct/2004/august/8.55.html |title=Editor's Bookshelf: Creating Husbands and Fathers |access-date=2007-02-11 |last=Neff |first=David |date=2004-08-01 |work=Christianity Today }}</ref>

There is no debate that Ephesians 5 presents a historically benevolent husband-headship/wife-submission model for marriage. The questions are (a)&nbsp;how these [[New Testament household codes]] are to be reconciled with the calls earlier in Chapter 5 (cf. verses 1, 18, 21) for mutual submission among all believers, and (b)&nbsp;the meaning of "head" in v.23. It is important to note that verse 22 contains no verb in the original manuscripts,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wilber|first=David|date=July 4, 2021|title=Understanding Submission in Marriage (Ephesians 5)|url=https://davidwilber.com/articles/understanding-submission-in-marriage-ephesians-5|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210705181523/https://davidwilber.com/articles/understanding-submission-in-marriage-ephesians-5 |archive-date=2021-07-05 }}</ref> which were also not divided into verses:<ref name="Staggs"/>
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Ephesians 5 (NIV)
::<sup>1</sup> Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children <sup>2</sup> and walk in the way of love....
::<sup>18</sup> be filled with the Spirit....
::<sup>21</sup> Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
::<sup>22</sup> Wives, ''[submit yourselves]'' to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. <sup>23</sup> For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. <sup>24</sup> Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
::<sup>25</sup> Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her <sup>26</sup> to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, <sup>27</sup> and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. <sup>28</sup> In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. <sup>29</sup> After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— <sup>30</sup> for we are members of his body. <sup>31</sup> "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." <sup>32</sup> This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. <sup>33</sup> However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.