Mark

Kristen,

i agree with you on the ‘cultural’ relevance of Eph 5. I guess where i would differ is that the one flesh union or ‘mystery’ of Gen 1-3 was a foreshadow of Christ and the Church.

Now the question is, wihtin the Christ/Church model, does auhtority exist. I believe it does. I’m not denying that we are co-heirs with Chirst etc- they are glorious truths, but rather also affirming that we will all bow down and worship Jesus as Lord (Phil 2). The problem i see with the egal system is it seems to neglect the latter issue adn only focus on us being ‘friends’. If you couple this with precise definitions of ‘head’ and ‘submit’ as well as where we sit as creatures and not creators i find it hard to accept that Egalitarianism is a biblical alternative.

So if the original marriage was a foreshadow of Christ/Church, adn authority exists in the church/Christ relatioship, why ought we deny the human relationship is different.

To me, you must either reject that marriage is a reflection of the ‘true’ marriage, or reject that Christ has authority over his church to accept an egal system on Eph 5. I’m not willing to do either since i believe both options are unbiblical.