Headship, II

1 Corinthians 11:3&9 “But I want you to understand that Christ is the head (authority over) of every man, and man is the head (authority over) of woman, and God is the head of Christ… And man was not made for woman, but woman was made for man.” (AMP & NLT).

We are still on the debate of headship from Genesis 3:16 “Unto the woman he said… in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” (KJV).

 And the debate is that for the man to be the head of the woman in rulership is a product of the curse. We established that the first part of that scripture, “…in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children…” is a curse. The second part “thy desire shall be to thy husband” is a blessing. Therefore, what it appears to be is not what it is. And the third part “…and he shall rule over thee”. If you look at the original, what the Bible is saying here is that the woman under the curse would desire to be in control of her husband. Eve took the forbidden fruit and influenced Adam to take the fruit.

And that gave birth to the curse, and it established the pattern of wives desiring to control their husbands. That is a cursed situation. Your desire shall be to control your husband, but he is graced (anointed) to overpower you to be the master. That is what that scripture really means. If you check other translations, like the New Living Translation for instance it reads, “…you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.” That rulership speaks to tyranny, a product of the woman’s desire to rule her husband. Tyranny is birthed when the woman tries to rule her husband. But both cases are cursed situations. 

The curse involves conflict over the God ordained headship in marriage. However, male headship in a marriage relationship is not part of the curse. That is why in Eden, God went to Adam because he was the leader, the head. And Paul made it pretty clear in 1 Corinthians 11:3&9. If the woman who is made for her husband, is trying to control whom she was made for, she creates a cursed situation. Headship is leadership and service, not rulership and tyranny. Headship is leadership; the man is to lead and serve his family. Rulership, the curse is provoked when the woman desires to control her husband. That is how it works. So, every desire to control him is a result of the curse and it births a cursed situation. 

Sadly, a lot of men have been subdued and emasculated by ‘Jezebel-like’ women who seek to control and succeed in controlling their husbands. But if the man is to be in charge, he will have to rule over her, to be tyrannic in his operations. And he is anointed to do that. When husband and wife understand the dynamic of headship as leadership and service, marriage is beautiful. 

Prayer: Father, we pray that Christian marriages will follow the God ordained pattern of headship as leadership and service, in Jesus Name. Amen!