Editing Christian views on marriage (section)

===Family authority and responsibilities===

[[File:Pukirev ner brak.jpg|thumb|Orthodox betrothal depicted by [[Vasily Vladimirovich Pukirev]], 1862.]]

Much of the dispute hinges on how one interprets the [[New Testament household code]] ''(Haustafel)'', a term coined by [[Martin Luther]],  which has as its main focus hierarchical relationships between three pairs of social classes that were controlled by Roman law: husbands/wives, parents/children, and masters/slaves. The apostolic teachings, with variations, that constitute what has been termed the "household code" occurs in four epistles (letters) by the [[Apostle Paul]] and in 1&nbsp; Peter.

In the early [[Roman Republic]], long before the time of Christ, the law of ''[[Manus marriage|manus]]'' along with the concept of ''[[Pater familias|patria potestas]]'' (rule of the fathers), gave the husband nearly absolute autocratic power over his wife, children, and slaves, including the power of life and death. In practice, the extreme form of this right was seldom exercised, and it was eventually limited by law.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Severy |first1=Beth |title=Augustus and the Family at the Birth of the Roman Empire |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-30959-X}}</ref>

[[Frank Stagg (theologian)|Theologian Frank Stagg]]<ref name=Stagg>Stagg, Frank. ''New Testament Theology''. Broadman Press, 1962. {{ISBN|0-8054-1613-7}}</ref>{{rp|pp.187ff}} finds the basic tenets of the code in [[Aristotle]]'s discussion of the household in Book&nbsp;1 of ''[[Politics (Aristotle)|Politics]]'' and in [[Philo]]'s ''Hypothetica 7.14''.<ref>{{cite web|quote=(7.14) Do not these objects appear to you to be of greater importance than any other pursuit can possibly be? Therefore they do not go to interpreters of laws to learn what they ought to do; and even without asking, they are in no ignorance respecting the laws, so as to be likely, through following their own inclinations, to do wrong; but if you violate or alter any one of the laws, or if you ask any one of them about their national laws or customs, they can all tell you at once, without any difficulty; and the husband appears to be a master, endowed with sufficient authority to explain these laws to his wife, a father to teach them to his children...
|author=Philo
|author-link=Philo
|title=Hypothetica/Apology for the Jews
|work=The Works of Philo
|url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/yonge/book37.html}}</ref> Serious study of the [[New Testament Household Code]] ''(Haustafel)'' began with Martin Dilbelius in 1913, with a wide range of studies since then. In a [[Tübingen]] dissertation,<ref>Crouch. James E. ''The Origin and Intention of the Colossian Haustafel.'' Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1972.</ref> by James E. Crouch concludes that the early Christians found in Hellenistic Judaism a code which they adapted and Christianized.

The Staggs believe the several occurrences of the [[New Testament household code]] in the Bible were intended to meet the needs for ''order'' within the churches and in the society of the day. They maintain that the New Testament household code is an attempt by Paul and Peter to Christianize the concept of family relationships for Roman citizens who had become followers of Christ. The Staggs write that there is some suggestion in scripture that because Paul had taught that they had newly found freedom "in Christ", wives, children, and slaves were taking improper advantage of the ''Haustafel'' both in the home and the church. 
"The form of the code stressing reciprocal social duties is traced to Judaism's own Oriental background, with its strong moral/ethical demand but also with a low view of woman.... At bottom is probably to be seen the perennial tension between freedom and order.... What mattered to (Paul) was 'a new creation'<ref>{{Bibleverse|Gal.|6:15}}</ref> and 'in Christ' there is 'not any Jew not Greek, not any slave nor free, not any male and female'.<ref name="Bibleref2|Gal.|3:28"/><ref name=Staggs/>

Two of these Christianized codes are found in Ephesians 5 (which contains the phrases "husband is the head of the wife" and "wives, submit to your husband") and in Colossians 3, which instructs wives to subordinate themselves to their husbands.

The importance of the meaning of "head" as used by the [[Apostle Paul]] is pivotal in the conflict between the Complementarian position and the Egalitarian view. The word Paul used for "head", transliterated from Greek, is ''kephalē''. Today's English word "cephalic" ({{IPAc-en|s|ə|ˈ|f|æ|l|ᵻ|k}} {{Respell|sə|FAL|ik}}) stems from the Greek ''kephalē'' and means "of or relating to the head; or located on, in, or near the head." A thorough concordance search by [[Catherine Kroeger]] shows that the most frequent use of "head" ''(kephalē)'' in the New Testament is to refer to "the anatomical head of a body". She found that its second most frequent use in the New Testament was to convey the metaphorical sense of "source".<ref>Kroeger, Catherine Clark. "Toward an Understanding of Ancient Conceptions of 'Head'". ''Priscilla Papers,'' Volume 20:3, Summer 2006.</ref><ref>Johnson, Alan F. "A Meta-Study of the Debate over the Meaning of 'Head' (Kephale) in Paul's Writings. ''Priscilla Papers, '' Volume 20:4, Autumn 2006</ref> Other Egalitarian authors such as Margaret Howe agree with Kroeger, writing that "The word 'head'<ref>in {{Bibleverse|1cor|11:3||1&nbsp; Corinthians&nbsp;11:3}} and other similar passages</ref> must be understood not as 'ruler' but as 'source{{' "}}.<ref>Margaret Howe, Women and Church Leadership (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982), p. 60.</ref>

Wayne Grudem criticizes commonly rendering ''kephalē'' in those same passages only to mean "source", and argues that it denotes "authoritative head" in such texts as Corinthians 11. They interpret that verse to mean that [[God the Father]] is the authoritative head over the [[God the Son|Son]], and in turn Jesus is the authoritative head over the church, not simply its source. By extension, they then conclude that in marriage and in the church, the man is the authoritative head over the woman.<ref>[http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/tj/kephale_grudem.pdf Wayne Grudem, "Does Kefale ("Head") Mean "Source" Or "Authority Over" in Greek Literature? A Survey of 2,336 Examples"] Trinity Journal ns 6.1 (Spring 1985): 38-59</ref>

Another potential way to define the word "head", and hence the relationship between husband and wife as found in the Bible, is through the example given in the surrounding context in which the word is found.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Eph.|5:20-33}}</ref> In that context the husband and wife are compared to Christ and his church. The context seems to imply an authority structure based on a man sacrificing himself for his wife, as Christ did for the church; a love-based authority structure, where submission is not required but freely given based on the care given to the wife.<ref>Wickstrom, Mark. ''The Gospel of Grace.'' Beaver Pond Press, 2008.{{ISBN|978-1-59298-232-5}}</ref>

Some biblical references on this subject are debated depending on one's school of theology. The [[Historical-grammatical method|historical grammatical method]] is a [[Biblical hermeneutics|hermeneutic]] technique that strives to uncover the meaning of the text by taking into account not just the grammatical words, but also the syntactical aspects, the cultural and historical background, and the literary genre. Thus references to a patriarchal Biblical culture may or may not be relevant to other societies. What is believed to be a timeless truth to one person or denomination may be considered a cultural norm or minor opinion to another.