Male headship was established at creation. Read or listen to this chapter from Your Marriage God’s Way to learn what it means that "the husband is head of the wife" (Ephesians 5:23 and 1 Corinthians 11:3).



Table of ContentsMale Headship Began at CreationGod's First Command Helped Establish Male HeadshipAdam Names the Animals and Eve Demonstrating Male HeadshipHistory's First SurgeryEgalitarianism Versus ComplementarianismEgalitarianism Is UnbiblicalComplementarianism Is BiblicalHusbands and Wives Are Better Together





Soon after I became a Christian in my early twenties, a pastor’s daughter told me what she wanted in a husband: a man who would be a spiritual leader and the head of their home. I hardly knew anything about the Bible at this point, so everything she said sounded odd to me. I didn’t object until she started talking about wives submitting to their husbands. That’s when I thought she had gone too far. Sadly, I vividly remember saying, “That is ridiculous! Men and women are equal. How could a husband have authority over his wife?”



I was in for a shock as I started reading the Bible and learning what it says about husbands and wives. Verses kept jumping out at me that supported what the pastor’s daughter said. If you’re unfamiliar with the Bible’s teaching on marriage, or you believe like I did that husbands and wives have identical roles and responsibilities, you might be in for a shock too.



God has a master design for marriage relationships that has very definite purposes and benefits. We live in a culture that is far removed from the beauty and brilliance of God’s plan. While we as fallen people might initially chaff at the ideas of male headship and submission (as I did), and believe it means men and women aren’t equal (as I did), because we live in a society that insists everyone should be viewed identically, it’s important to recognize that in God’s eyes and according to His design, yes, husbands and wives have equal value (more on this later in the chapter), but they have different roles and responsibilities.



Let’s ease into the delicate subjects of headship and submission by considering that twice in the New Testament the apostle Paul stated the headship of a husband:




“I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God” (1 Corinthians 11:3).



“The husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body” (Ephesians 5:23).




Male Headship Began at Creation



While these verses are found in the New Testament, that doesn’t mean a husband’s headship had its beginning under the new covenant. Neither did his male headship have its beginning in the Old Testament under the old covenant. Nor did it begin at the fall.



The husband’s headship has its beginning at creation itself. This is important for us to know, because if we think headship began after the fall, then this leadership becomes part of sin’s curse. But if we understand that the husband’s headship began at creation, we will see it as part of God’s natural, healthy, divine plan for husbands and wives.



Genesis 1:1 proclaims the incredible truth that “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” and the rest of the chapter gives a grand overview of all six days of creation. God created man and woman on the sixth day. Then, in Genesis 2:7-25, God zooms in on the creation of Adam and Eve because mankind is the pinnacle of God’s creation. We are so familiar with the account that it is easy to miss the significance of some of the details. Therefore, let’s approach this passage as though we are reading it for the first time. It is in this account that God established male headship.



Because God created the animals in pairs, male and female, what would we expect Him to do with the creation of humankind? We would expect Him to create the first man and woman at the same time—as a pair, male and female.