Dave

Thanks for the reply Charis!

I am still a bit confused (sorry!) which might just be because my American is not very good (Australian is my first language).

I understand that Eve’s condition post fall is not a command but prescriptive etc. This is why I believe some cultures/societies do result in women being more vulnerable. The thing is that in Ephesians Paul is speaking of God’s plan for all things to be brought into harmony with Christ as the head (Eph 1:10) and explains how this should happen in God’s church now. Effectively Paul is describing in Ephesians 5 what redeemed life is like – not fallen life. The same in 1 Cor 11:11-12.

I think it is important to remember that eros is still love. This means that it still functions as love with a desire for what is best for the other. I believe the difference is that it contains a very strong desire to be connected – to be one with the other party (as indeed God does with us through his Holy Spirit). As I mentioned earlier I feel eros is, “a desire to possess and be possessed”. Sadly the world has twisted eros and our understanding of eros is often confused. So, for example, people think porn is erotic…but it is not eros. You can certainly possess porn, but images cannot possess you. True eros and the two way nature of eros are missed. Rape is an extreme example, where the desire of one party to possess the other overrides the others desires/wishes. Eros gone wrong is VERY ugly.

I believe that although eros is not mentioned in Eph 5 the concept is found in marriage, but because Paul is talking about redeemed relationships hierarchy is not relevant. If you look at how you described the fallen relationship from Genesis you will see that what is described (she will desire her husband and he will rule over her) is NOT a properly functioning ‘eros’, but a distortion due to sin.
So, for me (and perhaps we do not agree?) I am not seeing Eph 5 as containing hierarchy, or if we want to search out eros in the passage, I am not seeing it as hierarchical. I think real eros cannot be hierarchical – it is extremely two way in its very nature. I hope I am being clear. It is early in the morning here!

Could you perhaps give me an example of how in redeemed relationships eros is going to contain hierarchy?
I hope I am understanding you correctly!

Dave