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 Anglican Ministers stand by Biblical teaching on marriage roles
LifeSiteNews.com reports that two ministers in the Church of England are refusing to backpedal from their reiteration of the biblical teaching that wives should “submit” to their husbands. The Rev. Angus MacLeay, and his assistant, Mark Oden, have come under fire in the media after they recently issued a pamphlet and sermon, that quoted Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (5:22-33) and said that old fashioned values would save marriage.
The quote from Ephesians states: “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 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. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.”
However, the verse is followed by an equally strong admonishment for husbands to “love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church … In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.”
During his sermon at St. Nicholas Church in Sevenoaks, Kent on Sunday, Rev. Oden reportedly told the congregation, “We know marriage is not working. We only need to look at figures - one in four children have divorced parents.” He reportedly blamed the high divorce rate at least in part on modern woman’s lack of obedience in marriage.
He said that the solution was a return to the traditional Christian principle of husbands as the head of a marriage: “Wives, submit to your own husbands.”
Rev. Oden, who is married with three children, has since defended his sermon, saying, “I am passionate about helping people to have healthy marriages. I did not set out to unnecessarily offend people, but I stand by what God has said in his word the Bible.”
Rev. Angus MacLeay, the vicar, or pastor, of St. Nicholas, said that the pamphlet issued by the parish is meant to be a “challenge” to modern society. Titled, “The role of women in the local church,” the pamphlet points out that “Jesus’ attitude to women was revolutionary for His day and clearly upheld the equality of men and women. He spoke to women in public; He valued their companionship and their service.”
However, it goes on to point out that there is a difference between “equality of status” and “equality of function,” demonstrated by the fact that Jesus did not reserve the same roles in the early Church for men and women.
It also goes on to quote the Bible, telling women that “wives are to submit to their husbands in everything in recognition of the fact that husbands are head of the family as Christ is head of the church.”
“This is the way God has ordered their relationships with each other and Christian marriage cannot function well without it.”
Rev. MacLeay told the Daily Mail, “There are times when the Bible challenges modern society. It recognises that women are fully equal to men, but it also recognises that in certain areas of life they may have different roles.
“Of course, in marriage, our main concern, it is the responsibility of husbands to show consideration and love for their wives.’
On its website, St. Nicholas Church describes itself as one in which “we believe that the Bible is the supreme and final authority in all matters of faith.”
Click here for article
(Sources: Virtueonline, LifeSiteNews.com, 15/02/10)
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