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Why Elders Are to be Husbands
Why Elders Are to be Husbands
Why are shepherds within congregations to be husbands?
According to Strauch in Biblical Eldership, the responsibilities of elders are fourfold:
1. Protect
2. Lead
3. Feed
4. Care
I agree and see this expanding into a different area that will loop back towards shepherds.
Husbands have these same 4 responsibilities towards their wives. We can see this both positively and negatively in the first couple, Adam and Eve:
1. Protect – Adam failed to protect Eve when she presented the forbidden fruit to him (Genesis 3:6). While this is spiritual protection, it is also physical since the consequence of eating is death (Genesis 2:17). Husbands are protectors. God created males, in general, bigger and stronger than females. Who carries who across the threshold? Even if the wife is larger, when she hears a noise in the middle of the night, she asks the husband to check it out. She expects his protection. Who would respect a man who sends the wife to fend off the intruder?!
2. Lead – “Beta Males” and “Simps” are modern terms describing weak men who follow instead of lead. Adam was chastised by God for his weaknesses in following instead of leading (Genesis 3:17). Women who clamor for men to endlessly fawn over them, follow them, and always say yes to them, might claim to be happy. However, it is doubtful they highly respect their husband as a leader, as their leader.
3. Feed – Ever notice Adam’s curse involves food (Genesis 3:17-19)? His job was to provide for his family. No one respects dead-beat dads and lazy men. This isn’t saying women can’t also provide financially (Proverbs 31); but scripture shows that putting food on the table is partly how a man has self-respect. I listened to a video which asked, “Who has it harder, men or women?” The woman answered that men do. She further said that if she lost her job, men would step in and help her, whether a father, brother, or some other man. Men get a satisfaction in providing for women. They get self-respect and respect from others.
4. Care – Before their sinning together, Adam twice names his partner. Both times show care and tenderness. The first time is poetic, possibly even lyrical, where he celebrates that “at last” he has found his biological mate (Genesis 2:23). The second time is filled with grace. After he follows his wife in committing an act leading to death, Adam gently names Eve, “mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20). Respect from a wife can be found in him responding to her emotional needs.
The number one need of a man that needs to be fulfilled in marriage is respect (Ephesians 5:33). No wonder then that a character trait of overseers is respectable:
“An overseer, therefore, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,” (CSB’17 1 Timothy 3:2)
The four responsibilities of elders are four responsibilities of husbands. Their training ground is the home:
“He must manage his own household competently and have his children under control with all dignity. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of God’s church?)” (CSB’17 1 Timothy 3:4-5)
Both husbands and elders have the same responsibilities. No wonder elders are to be husbands.
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