Huckabee on Wifely Submission

In last night's South Carolina Republican debate, Mike Huckabee was asked about a 1998 ad that he signed. The ad appeared in the New York Times, and it affirmed a Southern Baptist Convention declaration that stated, "A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband."

After joking that all the religious questions seem to go to him, Huckabee responded that his wife Janet is far from being a doormat. He also stated that Ephesians 6 teaches mutual submission in marriage, not superiority of the husband over the wife. According to Huckabee, marriage is not a 50/50 deal but requires 100 per cent commitment by both parties. Huckabee also stressed that Ephesians 6 was spoken only to Christian believers, so he will not try to impose it on society if he becomes President.

Here are some points:

1. In his response, Huckabee acts as if his faith is solely a private matter, not something he will try to impose on society. But didn't he say on prior occasions that a person's faith should guide everything he does, including governance? And Huckabee's faith indeed played a role in his policies as Governor of Arkansas. He signed a law that required couples to receive counseling before getting a divorce. His Christianity inspired his spending programs for health care and education, along with his compassion for children of illegal immigrants. After all, he noted, Jesus was an advocate for the "least of these." Huckabee is not entirely consistent on using the state to enforce Christian principles, however, for he supported the Supreme Court decision that struck down anti-sodomy laws. There, the personal choice of homosexuals trumped Christian values.

Biblically speaking, to what extent should Christianity influence public policy? I'm not sure if there's an easy answer to that. The Bible certainly discusses politics, since it contains laws and criticizes rulers who fail to uphold righteousness and maintain justice for the poor. At the same time, Joseph as ruler of Egypt didn't try to force his religion down the Egyptians' throats (maybe because he couldn't, since the Pharaoh was still above him). Daniel, however, lived under Gentile kings who prohibited blasphemy against the God of Israel. So this is a hard issue. I'm not sure if I'd want to divorce religion completely from politics, since Christianity emphasizes certain principles (e.g., compassion, family, etc.) that can benefit society. On the other hand, imposing Christianity on non-believers may be a futile and counterproductive exercise. God wants people to follow him freely, not under coercion, and yet the state shouldn't always allow citizens to do what they want.

2. Does Ephesians 6 apply only to believers? The male's authority in the home seems to apply to all people, since God told Eve that her husband would rule over her (Genesis 3:16). Someone needs to have the final say in the family, otherwise there will be chaos. At the same time, there is a sense in which regeneration is the only way that male authority can work. When we are carnal human beings, we are selfish. Men and women need to be born again in order to submit to one another in love and self-surrender (or so the theory goes).

I know that passages like Genesis 3:16, Ephesians 6, and Colossians 3:18 have been abused to support male authoritarianism, even spousal abuse. But God's standard is love, and that excludes rigidity, callous unconcern, and abuse.

And there is the issue of practicality. A lot of women are not going to be doormats, including evangelical Christians such as Janet Huckabee. A husband can't impose his will on his wife. He needs to earn her respect and trust. That's the way it is in a lot of interpersonal relationships.

But Huckabee is right. Marriage requires 100 per cent commitment from both parties, or so I've heard. I can't picture myself compromising to that extent, which is probably why God hasn't blessed me with a wife yet. And sex is supposed to be something that further binds the husband and the wife together in a relationship of unconditional love and commitment. The Christian approach to sexuality differs from that of the world, which mostly focuses on the pleasure aspect of it.

Anyway, I'll stop my ramblings. It's been a long day, so my thoughts are not as organized or as systematic as they usually are. But this is still a good post.