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Aristotle compares the husband-wife relationship to aristocratic rule, where the better partner governs and is honored. Ephesians echoes this hierarchy in calling the husband the head of the wife and compares his rule to Christ giving himself for the church.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics 8:30
Classical
These things are ascribed to ancestors as well. Further, by nature a father tends to rule over his sons, ancestors over descendants, a king over his subjects. These friendships imply superiority of one party over the other, which is why ancestors are honoured. The justice therefore that exists between persons so related is not the same on both sides but is in every case proportioned to merit; for that is true of the friendship as well. The friendship of man and wife, again, is the same that is found in an aristocracy; for it is in accordance with virtue the better gets more of what is good, and each gets what befits him; and so, too, with the justice in these relations. The friendship of brothers is like that of comrades; for they are equal and of like age, and such persons are for the most part like in their feelings and their character. Like this, too, is the friendship appropriate to timocratic government; for in such a constitution the ideal is for the citizens to be equal and fair; therefore rule is taken in turn, and on equal terms; and the friendship appropriate here will correspond.
Date: 350-325 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Ephesians 5:23
New Testament
22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, 23 because the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is the head of the church (he himself being the savior of the body). 24 But as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her 26 to sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word,
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Notes and References
... Typical of the content of all these discussions is the notion that the man is intended by nature to rule as husband, father, and master, and that not to adhere to this proper hierarchy is detrimental not only to the household but also to the life of the state. ... In taking up the specifics of the household code, Ephesians is directly dependent on Col 3:18-4:1, which was, in turn, influenced by a tradition of discussions of household management in Greco-Roman writings, stemming from Aristotle. ... Each group within the household will be encouraged to fulfill its role as part of its relationship to Christ, and here the all-embracing claim upon them for mutual submission has as its motivation 'the fear of Christ,' a living in awe at both his sovereignty and his overwhelming love ...
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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