Carmen J. Bryant, August, 2002
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dictators or tyrants. They even teach voluntary, mutual submission between husband and
wife. In the end, though, final decisions belong to a husband, and his wife must submit--
even to the point of sin. Typically, Sarah's having lied in obedience to Abraham is used
as proof, bolstered by Peter's reference to Sarah in his instructions to husbands and
wives.
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In spite of all the genuinely worthy goals of modern patriarchy, it nevertheless
entails the same danger as the humanism it is trying to avoid: man can become a god,
deciding what is good and evil and forcing other people to obey. At the end of
patriarchy's road, however, only males can become gods, whereas humanism leaves that
option open for all.
The priesthood of the patriarch is not found just in the homeschooling movement,
nor is it a new doctrine. Puritan Matthew Henry preached it in 1704,
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and the sentiment
has remained strong among those who ascribe to covenant theology, but it is also found
among Baptists, especially those having some affinity with their Reformed brethren.
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"What a heroine of faith Sarah was! She experienced the vulnerabilities that are so characteristic of a
wife's role: you follow your husband and leave family to head off for who knows where; you are told to tell
the half-truth that you are your husband's sister and end up in a king's harem; you are expected to believe
that you will have a baby at 90 years old. In all this Sarah obeyed, calling her husband her lord, and
entrusting herself to her God, knowing the He was her ultimate Lord and protector. She did not give into
the terror that a wife might quite understandably indulge in given her husband's (not always perfect) sense
of his duty to God. If a man is a hero in his activism, his wife is a heroine in her quiet acceptance of her
calling to support her husband." "Quiet Heroes,"
Patriarch, posted Jul. 25, 2001
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"Masters of families, who preside in the other affairs of the house, must go before their households in the
things of God. They must be as prophets, priests, and kings in their own families; and as such they must
keep up family-doctrine, family-worship, and family-discipline: then is there a church in the house, and this
is the family religion I am persuading you to." Matthew Henry, "On Family Religion," The Complete
Works of Matthew Henry (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1978).
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"I am prophet, priest, and king in my home. . . . I am the one responsible to provide for my family, to
train my children, and to govern my household. Every husband must be the head of his family. The
decisions of the family, the welfare of the family, and the government of the family rest on his shoulders
alone. . . . It is the responsibility of a wife to reverence and obey her husband as her head. . . . To rebel
against him is to rebel against God. To dishonor him is to dishonor God." Don Fortner (pastor of Grace
Baptist Church, Danville, KY), "Would you be interested in three things which would guarantee a happy
home?" Radio message.