Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.
One of the most tragic things happening in America is the rapid decline of the family. There are some signs that the decline might be slowing, a Pew Research article from 2013 says:
Americans believe that love is the main foundation of marriage. Most who never have been married say they would like to be at some point in their lives. However, statistics show Americans aren’t rushing to the altar, and the U.S. marriage rate is at an all-time low—only 51% of adults were married in 2011, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics.
At roughly the same time, childstats.gov reported:
— Sixty-four percent of children ages 0–17 lived with two married parents in 2012, down from 77 percent in 1980.
— In 2012, 24 percent of children lived with only their mothers, 4 percent lived with only their fathers, and 4 percent lived with neither of their parents.
It is impossible for me not to link this trend to the fact that over many years governments and the Supreme Court, cheered on by the media and liberal commentators, have undermined the legal and moral foundations of the family. Of course this is in direct contradiction to what the Bible says.
There’s an interesting difference between the Old and New Testament perspectives on the family though. While the Old Testament honors a good wife (as in Proverbs 31, or the verse I quote above), it still presents an essentially patriarchal view. The husband/father is very definitely the unquestioned “lord” of the family. In its way, Old Testament Israel was a very typical society of its time, with a very clear position on male superiority.
The New Testament shows a shift in relationships. True, the husband/father is still very definitely the head of the family — but now the obligations are reciprocal, no longer in one direction only. As well as wives respecting their husbands, husbands are to love their wives (Ephesians 5:28-9). As well as children obeying their parents, fathers are instructed not to aggravate their children. (Ephesians 6:4, Colossians 3:21).
Looking from the perspective of a “liberated” twenty-first century it is hard to see how radical the first century Christian perspective on the family was. A brief study of Jewish, Greek and Roman families makes it clear that, in its way, this was yet another earth-shattering aspect of this strange new religion.
I, for one, am grateful for the Christian family. I have a wonderful wife — and without the Bible I don’t think I’d have any idea how to look after her. With God’s grace I think we’re working out how to work together. The Bible is the best marriage manual there could be