Patriarchy is written into the fabric of civilization and has been the predominant mode of operation for human society up until the present era. It is present in all societies, in varying degrees, and those few societies that broke from the mold - such as the matriarchal Iroquois - retained patriarchal undertones (though women served in leadership roles, it remained the case that men and women operated in masculine and feminine spheres). The reason patriarchy is written into the fabric of societies is because it is written into the created order. It is the way God designed the world to work.
Patriarchy comes from the Greek and means "father rule." The word patriarchy, in our day and age, can mean two different things. It can mean the basic creational design that God has built into the world, in which men are generally oriented towards leadership; OR it can mean the man made system of cultural and legal principles or customs that arise from the patriarchal order built into creation. Patriarchy in the first sense is good; patriarchy in the second sense can be good or bad, depending on how faithful it is to the Father who men are supposed to represent. The patriarchy of Pharaoh in Moses’ day was monstrous, inasmuch as it tried to destroy its competition by drowning Hebrew boys. Some “Christian” patriarchy in our day is tyrannical, inasmuch as it twists the Scripture in doctrine and practice, teaching men to oppress women rather than lovingly lead them. Any patriarchy that is a man-made manifestation of God’s design, whether good or bad, can be “smashed.” The patriarchy of Western civilization has been largely destroyed in our day, by our adoption of anti-biblical, anti-creational ideologies. However, we have done this largely to our own hurt: it means we end up living contrary to the way we were designed.
Biblical patriarchy is, in a nutshell, the reality that God has created the universe in such a way that men are designed to lead: they are designed to lead in society, in the church, and in their homes. This isn't to say that women are relegated to "inferior" roles; it's simply the fact that men are designed for THAT rule. In a well-ordered creation that reflects the Trinitarian godhead in which Father, Son, and Spirit are equal but yet exist in a hierarchy, an authoritarian hierarchy is written into the fabric of creation. God could have created a world in which anarchy - the absence of authoritarian order - was normative, but God desires order rather than chaos, so He designed His creation in such a way that order is present. Patriarchy is simply the name we give to the order which is apparent to anyone with eyes to see.
If God had wanted to create an anarchic world, He would have made men and women the same in every way; but because He desired a natural order, He designed men and women differently in order to further His designs. This isn't to say that God made one gender more important or valuable than the other; both are created in God's image, of equal worth and value, but there are distinct design differences between men and women. These design differences reflect the way God designed men and women to operate in His well-ordered creation, fulfilling their roles in society, in the church, and in the home. When these roles are embraced and taken seriously, society, churches, and homes flourish. Thus when we talk about biblical patriarchy, we are talking about two different things:
(1) The basic creational way God designed the world, and(2) The basic creational differences between men and women that exist to operate in the creational, patriarchal way that God designed the world's primary spheres (society, church, and home).
The fact that patriarchy is a reality is seen in a simple telescopic look at the world's societies. Societies tend to be male-dominated, and men and women tend to occupy different roles that, together, make for a well-ordered society. The animal kingdom, too, reflects this patriarchal reality. That these realities exist cannot be denied; opponents even acknowledge them, though they explain them not as creational realities built into the fabric of creation but as evolutionary byproducts of human development. Thus patriarchy is evident in an honest look at the world; but is there any evidence for it in scripture? While scripture doesn't outright say "Patriarchy is in the Created Order," it is evident in several passages and by the way God instructs the church and home to operate. Some will argue that since the Bible doesn't explicitly endorse patriarchy word for word, its foreign to the Bible; against this we argue that (a) we wouldn't expect the Bible to speak of 'patriarchy' since it is a relatively recent word used to address biblical realities (like the term "Trinity", referring to the godhead, which is deduced from scripture but not outright stated), and (b) given that patriarchy was the dominant system of operation, it would be redundant for the biblical writers to explicitly mention it since everyone knew about it and lived within that reality.
Patriarchy in the created order is often referred to as headship: Adam, as the head of his wife, was held responsible for her actions in Genesis 3. This is because he is in authority over her; in the same way that a boss is responsible to his boss for his employees' successes and failures, so Adam was held responsible for Eve's failure. The opening chapters of Genesis narrate God’s creation first of Adam, then of Eve from and for Adam as his “suitable helper". The notion of Adam’s “headship,” that is, his position of ultimate responsibility and authority for his marriage and family, is supported by a series of factors: Adam’s creation prior to the woman; Adam’s naming of the animals prior to the creation of Eve; Adam’s naming of Eve subsequent to God’s creation of her; God’s holding Adam—not Eve—responsible for his and Eve’s sin even though Eve had sinned first; and the woman’s designation as the man’s “suitable helper”
In the New Testament, Paul speaks of Adam’s representative actions on behalf of all of humanity (what theologians have called his “federal headship”) and of Christ’s serving as the head of a new humanity (Rom. 5:12–21). Paul also repeatedly affirms God’s creation first of Adam and then of Eve and on this basis makes pronouncements with regard to the man’s headship (1 Cor. 11:8–9; 1 Tim. 2:13). Thus in 1 Cor. 11:3–5, reference is made to Christ’s headship over the man; the husband’s headship over his wife; and God’s headship over Christ, conveying the notion of authority (cf. 1 Cor. 11:10). In Ephesians, Paul speaks of Christ’s headship over all things in the church, again conveying the notion of authority (Eph. 1:21–22; cf. 4:15; Col. 1:18; 2:10, 19). In Eph. 5:23, Paul writes that the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. This connotes both loving provision (Eph. 5:25–29) and authority (Eph. 5:22). Though there is no "proof-text" of patriarchy in the Bible, it is evident and implied throughout.
Much of our culture's rejection of patriarchy is fueled by an appropriate rejection of wicked practice based upon patriarchy. Men beating wives and failing to provide for them; men failing to discipline and raise their children; men being treated as inherently better or more valuable than women: all these are distortions of patriarchy and must be rejected. But rather than reject the abuses of patriarchy, our culture seeks to eradicate patriarchy altogether. This effort began with the feminist movement and has even been taken up by the western church as it has sought to continue being relevant and relatable to our changing culture.
Opponents to patriarchy will claim that patriarchy is nothing more than a societal tradition that began in the Stone Age and has been retained by men wishing to cling to power. Patriarchy, rather than being built into the fabric of the created order, is seen an evolutionary byproduct; as humans have become enlightened, we've caught on to this, and we've seen how oppressive patriarchy can be to women. Sure, patriarchy is obviously woven into the fabric of the animal kingdom, but it's an evolutionary rather than moral imperative. Those who wish to retain patriarchy are those who enjoy the power it bestows (in other words, men), and their attempts to cling to it are nothing more than attempts to keep women under their boot. Society - and especially women - would be better off if patriarchy were dismantled.
The dismantling of patriarchy has been going on for a long time, and what are its fruits for society? We are seeing that fruit now: fatherless boys turned into toxic men, career women who are more depressed and miserable than ever before, a rejection of what it means to be a man or a woman (and the idea you can be whatever gender you want to be), a rootless and drifting society in which riots and wickedness are paramount. In every society that has rejected patriarchy, there has been a period of excess, a period of decline into chaos, and then utter chaos followed by a rebuilding along traditional patriarchal lines. It's almost as if people, when finally enjoying the fruits of their rebellion against the created order, yearn for that created order again because - gasp! - it's actually good for society.
The rejection of patriarchy has gone hand in hand with a rejection of gender roles, or differences in purpose and function (but not equality or worth) between men and women. The thing about gender roles that unbalances people in a world obsessed with leveling men and women into a single identity is how roles result in a concentration of authority in the head of the house. Modern people resist this idea in a household, though they accept it with perfect ease when we speak of the workplace. Of course there must be hierarchy at work, for that is where we get important things accomplished. The fact that people expect perfect equality in the home is evidence that they really don’t think anything productive happens there. It used to be that a man worked to provide for a functioning and productive home; nowadays people view the home as a place to "take a break" from the productive workplace. The home has gone from being the center of a person's life to a rest stop.
We must extinguish, once and for all, the false idea that gender roles translate into differences in value. A difference in roles does not mean a difference in worth. Men are not naturally superior to women; women are not naturally inferior to men. People can be equal in one way and not in another. This makes no sense to some people; either people are equal or they are not. They think this way because they believe hierarchies must reflect real worth to be justified. If someone is higher up the ladder, he must in some sense really be a better person. If the Trinity is our model, however, it is not only possible but also necessary to say that everyone in a hierarchy has equal worth. In the Trinity, each of the persons is equally God, yet each has a function within an ordered hierarchy. The Son obeys the Father, but the Father does not take orders from the Son. The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, but the Father and the Son do not proceed from the Spirit. By using the Trinity as a model for understanding human hierarchies, people are free to honor those above them without degrading themselves. And those in authority can honor those beneath them without any loss of authority.
The created order reflects the hierarchies of the Trinity. Patriarchy is the hierarchy God has built into His creation: when it is embraced, creation flourishes, but when it is rejected, creation is subjected to chaos. Over the next few weeks we will look at what God expects of men and women, especially as it relates to the household. Gender roles will be discussed, and they are to be celebrated and not condemned as just more Stone Age "old hat."
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