Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

-1 Peter 2:13-17, ESV

Last time, I outlined the shortcomings of using the term “complementarianism” to summarize what Scripture teaches about manhood and womanhood. I argued for “biblical patriarchy” instead, but it is loaded with cultural baggage and misconceptions. This post will explain what biblical patriarchy is and isn’t, so we can shed our negative misconceptions of patriarchy and embrace it for the blessing that it is.

What Patriarchy Is

First, we need to define patriarchy biblically. While our society most often associates patriarchy with oppression and cruelty, it simply means “father rule”.[1]  Therefore, patriarchy is any hierarchy ruled by a father figure who bears certain responsibilities for specific people and exercises the associated authority over them. The most obvious patriarchy is the family, with the father as the head. He bears responsibility for his wife and children, and in fulfilling that responsibility, he must exercise authority over them.

Any hierarchy with this pattern is patriarchal. A civil leader bears responsibility for and exercises authority over his citizens, likewise a boss over employees and a pastor over his church. In all of these, the patriarch knows the people under his care, takes responsibility for them, and is given authority over them in order to fulfill that responsibility. He uses that authority to represent them, speaking and acting on their behalf.  They, in turn, respect and obey him within the scope of his authority over them.

In this model, everyone is under a patriarch—children under their fathers, church members under their pastors, employees under their bosses, citizens under their leaders—and yes, wives under their husbands. Each person is cared for and represented by a particular patriarch in each sphere of life and owes him honor and obedience within the scope of his authority.

Isn’t Patriarchy Oppressive?

Did you cringe when I said that in a patriarchal model wives are under their husbands? This will undoubtedly trigger a deluge of accusations that I am a misogynist promoting oppression for daring to suggest such a thing. Much oppression has been committed under the patriarchal model, but we must ask if that is the fault of the model itself or poor implementation of the model. In other words, is patriarchy inherently oppressive?

Most Americans Christians believe that patriarchy is inherently oppressive. Our individualistic society cannot fathom a system where a woman must submit to and be represented by  a man. Such a system would silence her, which is oppression, right? This view is certainly evident in the way TheWestminster Dictionary of Theological Terms defines patriarchy as an “authority system that oppresses and subordinates women through social, political, and economic institutions and practices”.[2] This definition assumes that the existence of male authority and the subordination of women under that authority is inherently oppressive to women.

Just because women have been oppressed throughout history under men does not mean patriarchy is inherently oppressive. If the patriarch has his people’s best interests at heart, speaking and acting on their behalf, they are not oppressed or marginalized but cared for and protected. Boaz was a good patriarch, so widows Ruth and Naomi were protected and blessed under that patriarch. Abraham and Moses also stand out as examples of good patriarchs, while Laban (Genesis 31), Pharoah (Exodus 5), and the Persians (Esther 1) were cruel patriarchs. Additionally, men oppress women just as much by abdication as by cruelty. By refusing to take responsibility to protect and provide for the women around them, men force women to take on burdens they were not designed to bear—and that is oppressive. This abdication is seen throughout Judges, and the people suffered so much as a result that they begged for a king. Therefore, whether a patriarchy is good or cruel depends on the patriarch.

This idea of a good patriarchy might seem utopian. As an aerospace engineer, I am a realist, not an idealist—I would not claim good patriarchy is possible if I did not think it could be practically implemented. There is a way to make all patriarchies good—every patriarch being subordinate to a single Good Patriarch. If His rules required every patriarch to protect, provide for, and represent everyone in his care, patriarchy would be a massive blessing to everyone.

What Makes Patriarchy Biblical?

Of course, the aforementioned Good Patriarch is God. He has all authority and appoints all people to the positions they occupy. Along with those positions come specific responsibilities, so He delegates to them the authority they need to fulfill those responsibilities. Good patriarchs understand this, accept that responsibility, and use their authority to bless those God has placed in their care. Oppression occurs when they forget this and act as if they are not under His authority. If every patriarch obeyed God’s rules, there would be no such thing as oppressive patriarchy—and that is God’s design.

As I mentioned last time, God instituted marriage as a patriarchy by creating Adam first, giving him responsibility and authority, creating Eve as his helper, and having him exercise his authority by naming her. In The Fall, Adam failed to protect and represent Eve, instead allowing her to usurp him. In this way, Eve was the first feminist to rebel against patriarchy, and Adam was the first patriarch to reject his God-given responsibility. 

Afterward, God called out to Adam only (Genesis 3:9), holding him responsible as head of his household. Then, part of God’s curse was that the patriarchy he created as good would still exist but be corrupted by sin. Wives would desire to usurp their husbands, but their husband would continue to rule over them (Genesis 3:16). Ever since, women have been inclined to reject men’s authority over them while still wanting men to take responsibility for them, and men have been inclined to reject their responsibility for women while still wanting to exercise authority over them. Both of these desires are equally sinful. Authority cannot exist without responsibility and vice versa.[3] And since authority exists for the purpose of obeying God, those who disobey God are actually operating outside of their authority. Therefore, biblical patriarchy is where both men and women obey God by fulfilling their God-given responsibilities with their God-given authority. 

Patriarchy and Covenants

Adam and Eve failed to fulfill those responsibilities, which introduced the oppression of cruelty, rebellion, and abdication to the patriarchy God created as good. Nevertheless, God still sets up patriarchies, assigns men as their heads, gives those men responsibility and authority, and expects their people to honor and obey them. We see this pattern throughout Scripture, especially in the covenants. God enters into covenants with families, not individuals. When Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David entered into covenant with God, they brought everyone associated with them into those covenants as well. As patriarchs, they represented their households as covenant heads.

This representative headship was natural since ancient cultures were organized by households. Every subsequent level of their hierarchy was essentially a household of households. Therefore, some variation of “father’s house” appears throughout the Old Testament, particularly in the genealogies of Numbers and 1 Chronicles. As generations passed, those households became tribes and then nations. The Israelites were named for their patriarch, as were Moab, Ammon, Edom, Midian, and many others. An Israelite further identified with his or her tribe—descendants of one of Israel’s twelve sons who became patriarchs themselves—followed by clan and then family. Each of these was a patriarchy with a man as head to care for and represent every member.

This concept of headship is extremely important. The blessings and curses of the covenant belonged to those who belonged to the household of the covenant head. Saul promised blessings to the household of the man who killed Goliath (1 Samuel 17:25), while David understood that his own sin (2 Samuel 24:17) and that of his servant Joab (1 Kings 2:31) had brought guilt upon his household. When Achan sinned individually, God charged all of Israel with sin (Joshua 7). The history of Israel and Judah in 1 and 2 Kings shows the same pattern of both guilt and blessing following families across generations—and the responsibility for that sin or blessing fell on the head. Despite Judah’s ups and downs, God continued to bless them for the sake of their patriarch David. Since Israel rebelled against the Davidic dynasty, they were outside of that covenant, so families like Ahab’s suffered curses for his sin—while piling on sins of their own. Clearly, patriarchy was central not only to the context of the Old Testament but also to the covenants themselves.

Everyone Under a Patriarch

Ideally, everyone should have been under the authority and care of a patriarch. Boys would be taught by their fathers to prepare to become patriarchs of their own families. When they married, they became patriarchs themselves while still being under other patriarchs who, in turn, were to be under the headship of God as the Good Patriarch. Girls would be under the authority and care of their fathers until they married and came under the authority and care of their husbands.[4]

The obvious exceptions to this were widows and orphans. Being outside of the immediate authority and care of a patriarch, they were particularly vulnerable. Normally, it was the responsibility of the patriarch at the next level of the hierarchy to care for them. A widow would return to her father’s house (Genesis 38:11, Leviticus 22:13 cf. Ruth 1:8), or a man related to her husband would marry her (Numbers 25). Similarly, orphans were taken in by men in their extended family. For example, when Haran died, his brother Nahor married his daughter Milcah and his other brother Abraham brought his son Lot into his own household (Genesis 11:27-32). When this was impossible, the Mosaic Law repeatedly commanded the Israelites to take special care of their widows and orphans. Clearly, the Old Testament model was for everyone to be under the immediate authority and care of a patriarch.

Jesus Came to Restore Biblical Patriarchy

By Jesus’s day, this patriarchal ideal had been grossly distorted. The Jewish leaders abused and extorted the people, so they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). Like all oppressive patriarchs, the Jewish leaders had forgotten that they were answerable to the Good Patriarch. Jesus reminded them of this by referring to the Temple as His Father’s house. Rebuking them for turning it into a den of robbers, He showed that they were bad patriarchs just like Eli (Jeremiah 7 cf. Mark 11:17). They were the wicked shepherds feeding themselves and neglecting the sheep (Ezekiel 34), so He came as the Good Shepherd to depose them (John 10).

In the Upper Room, Jesus again refers to His Father’s house: “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:2-3). Most Christians interpret this as Jesus preparing our mansions in heaven. Those of my generation may be reminded of Audio Adrenaline’s 1993 song “Big House”, which described “a big, big house with lots and lots of room, a big, big table with lots and lots of food”, and “a big, big yard where we can play football”. But this was not what the disciples envisioned. They knew that the Temple complex—the seat of power for the Jewish leaders—was the Father’s house and had many rooms. They had heard Jesus condemn the Jewish leaders, and then listened spellbound as He described the coming destruction of the Temple in the Olivet Discourse. Therefore, they likely understood Jesus preparing a place for them in His Father’s house as a sign that He was about to depose the Jewish leaders and appoint the Twelve Apostles to lead His people in their place (Matthew 19:28, Luke 22:30).

More importantly, this was wedding language. The bridegroom (in this case Christ) would prepare a place for the couple at his father’s house (God the Father) and then return for his bride (the Church).[5] Essentially, it was the duty of the new patriarch to transfer her from the care of her father to his own care as her immediate patriarch under his father as the higher patriarch. Jesus was therefore following the Old Testament patriarchal model. This is particularly seen a bit later when He promises to send the Holy Spirit, saying “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18). In other words, in toppling the oppressive patriarchy of the old system, He would not leave them without a patriarch. He as the Bridegroom promised to bring them under not only His direct care as their immediate patriarch but also the care of God the Father as the Good Patriarch. Jesus was not toppling the patriarchy; He was restoring it.

Patriarchy in the New Covenant

Our salvation therefore follows the patriarchal model—Jesus Christ the Bridegroom brings us out of the domain of darkness and under His authority and care (Colossians 1:13). Since we are united with Him, we are brought under the care of His Father, the Good Patriarch. Just as all of the blessings of the old covenants belonged only to those who were under the patriarch as covenant head, all of the blessings of the New Covenant belong only to those united with Christ as covenant head. The New Covenant is essentially the spiritual manifestation of biblical patriarchy.

In His parting words, Jesus declared that all authority belonged to Him before using that authority to commission His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). He thus appointed them as new patriarchs charged by Him as the Chief Shepherd to care for His flock (1 Peter 5:1-5). This established the Church as a patriarchy with the elders as its patriarchs. As the apostles taught families how to live in the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit inspired them to use the patriarchal language of headship and submission in marriage, parenting, the workplace, and with civil authorities (Romans 13:1-7, Ephesians 5:22-6:9, Colossians 3:18-4:1, 1 Peter 2:13-3:7). We will discuss each realm in more detail in future posts and find that each is just as patriarchal now as in the beginning. God created all institutions as very good patriarchies, and Jesus Christ is restoring all institutions to that state as very good patriarchies.

Patriarchy Summarized: Honor Your Father and Mother

We will close this discussion on biblical patriarchy by looking at the fifth commandment: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12). When we break this verse down, we can clearly see how it summarizes biblical patriarchy.

• Honor: We must recognize those God has placed in authority over us and give them the respect and obedience owed them.

• Your: By placing each of us under the authority of specific patriarchs, He has placed us outside the authority of others, so not all patriarchs are owed our respect and obedience.

• Father and Mother: Naming both rather than simply saying “parents” shows that we need to recognize different types of respect and obedience owed to those over us based on differing roles.

• That Your Days May Be Long: This promise (Ephesians 6:3) shows us that as we embrace biblical patriarchy, we should expect God to bless our obedience, especially in future generations.

Clearly, patriarchy is biblical. It is not a distortion of God’s good design, but part of it. It is not inherently oppressive either, but an incredible blessing when patriarchs are obedient to Christ. In future posts, we will see what biblical patriarchy looks like in each human institution, starting next time with the clearest yet most controversial—the home.

NOTES

[1] Zachary M. Garris, Masculine Christianity, Ann Arbor, MI: Reformation Zion Publishing: 2021: 56.

[2] Donald K. McKim, The Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded, Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press: 2014: 231.

[3] Douglas Wilson, Reforming Marriage, Moscow, ID: Canon Press: 2005: 30.

[4] Chris Church, “Father’s House,” ed. Chad Brand et al., Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers: 2003: 561.

[5] Leland Ryken et al., Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press: 2000: 122.