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What Is The Role Of A Husband? Bible Definition Of A Husband

What Is The Role Of A Husband? Bible Definition Of A Husband

Last updated on: September 1, 2014 at 12:40 pm by Dr. Michael L. Williams

What Is The Role Of A Husband? Bible Definition Of A Husband 2014-09-01T12:40:21-05:00 Dr. Michael L. Williams

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We live in a time where words are constantly being redefined. One word that has experienced extreme redefinition lately is the word husband. This has led to confusion and an inordinate amount of instability in families. Because of this, it is important to know what is the Biblical definition and role of a husband.

What is the common definition of the word husband?

The word husband is commonly defined as (1): “a married man considered in relation to his wife.” The word comes from the Old Norse húsbóndi “master of a house,” from hús “house” + bóndi “occupier and tiller of the soil.” The original sense of the verb was “till, cultivate.” This shows us two concepts about husbands. First, he is the master of the house. Second he occupies and tills or cultivates the soil. This has significant meaning when looking at the Bible definition of a husband.

What is the Bible definition of the word husband?

The first Biblical reference to a husband is found in Genesis 2:21-25 when God made a woman from Adam’s rib. Here the concept of a one flesh relationship in marriage is established. The word husband, however, is not mentioned until Genesis 3:6.

The Hebrew word for husband is “ish.” Interestingly, the Hebrew word for wife is “ish-shaw,” which is the feminine form of ish. Conceptually, as the woman was an extension from the man, the word for wife is also an extension of the word for man. Likewise, the English word woman denotes a man with a womb. In the Greek, the word for husband is “anayr,” which comes from the root “anthropos.” Anthropos also gives us the word anthropology, which is the study of man.

It is clear from these words that a husband is a man. As a man, God gave him certain roles before He even created a woman. We find those roles in Genesis 2:15-20.

What is the role of a husband?

Genesis 2:15-21 gives three roles for a man. These three roles apply perfectly to the marriage relationship. Many may disagree with these roles, but it is clear that this was God’s plan for men and husbands.

The husband is to be a physical provider.

Genesis 2:15 says God put man in the Garden of Eden to dress it and keep it. This establishes him as a provider, which requires that he must work to provide for his wife and children. Since the word husband means occupier and tiller of the soil it tells us that this role has been established since the beginning of language. Being a provider means providing for the physical things found in a home (Genesis 24:67; Deuteronomy 24:5; 1 Samuel 2:20).

A husband must be chaste or sexually faithful to his wife and provide for her sexual needs. 1 Corinthians 7:1-5 says that the husband’s body belongs to his wife and that he should not withhold himself from her sexually (1 Corinthians 7:6-9; Matthew 19:1-19). This is for two reasons: to meet her sexual needs and to protect her from temptation to have a sexual affair. Likewise, he should abstain from things that might lead him to be physically attracted to someone other than his wife. (For more on this see the article entitled, “What Is The Bible Definition and Explanation Of Fornication?”)

The husband is to be a Spiritual leader.

Genesis 2:16 says God told man not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or he would die. This makes the man a Spiritual provider. God said this before He created the woman. Adam knew what God said and it was his responsibility to communicate it to his wife. However, Genesis 3:1-6 says that something went wrong.

Satan, in the form of a serpent, questioned Eve about eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She told him that they could not eat from it or touch it because they would die. Satan told her she would not die and added that God did not want her to eat from the tree because He did not want her to be like gods, knowing good and evil.

Since Eve was looking for food (Adam’s responsibility), she saw how beautiful the fruit was and that it would make her wise like God, she took the forbidden fruit and ate it. She then gave some to Adam who was with her and he ate some too. There are two problems here. First, God never said anything about touching it. Second, Adam knew better and Eve didn’t (1 Timothy 2:12-14), yet he still allowed her to eat it and ate it too. The result was the fall of man and separation from God (Genesis 3:7-24).

The husband is to be the head of his household

Genesis 2:18-20 says God wanted to provide a companion for the man. God created every creature and gave man the responsibility of naming them. This demonstrated to Adam that none of these separately created beings were suitable for him. It was after this that God made the woman from the man, which established the idea of man’s dominion and leadership. Genesis 1:26-27 says God gave mankind dominion over all living things on the earth, which includes the husband’s dominion over his household (1 Corinthians 1:1-16; 1 Timothy 2:12-14; Ephesians 5:22-32).

The husband must model Christ

To model Christ as a husband, he must model Christ as a man. This is because Christ is the cornerstone and the Word of God is the foundation of all of all that we say and do (Acts 4:9-12; 1 Corinthians 3:9-15; 1 Peter 2:1-8). A husband fulfills his role motivated by his love of Christ, Who inspires us to sacrifice of ourselves out of appreciation for saving us (Romans 12:1-2).

Ephesians 5:22-32 says that marriage is a model of the relationship between Christ and the church. This means that the husband must love his wife first (Ephesians 5:25), like Christ loved us (the church) first (1 John 4:19). He does this by inspiring his wife, not intimidating her as a servant leader. Inspiring her takes much more work and sacrifice to change her heart, but it produces lasting results that intimidation can never accomplish. Like a farmer who patiently plants the seeds and nurtures the crops, a husband must patiently plant the seeds of God’s Word and nurture his wife.

A husband must provide for his wife’s Spiritual needs (Ephesians 5:26-27) like Christ provides for our Spiritual needs (Romans 8:26-31). A husband must provide for his wife’s physical needs (Ephesians 5:28-30) like Christ provides for our physical needs (Matthew 6:25-34). Finally, a husband must provide for his wife’s emotional needs (Ephesians 5:31-33) like Christ provides for our emotional needs (John 14:15-27).

Conclusion

A husband is a man who is tasked with the roles of being a provider, Spiritual leader, and head of his household for his wife. He uses the example and inspiration of Jesus Christ to place the needs of his wife above his own in providing for her physical, emotional and Spiritual needs. In doing so, he glorifies God by modeling the relationship between Christ and the church.

Article By Dr. Michael Williams

Dr. Michael L. Williams is a pastor, author, Christian educator and Biblical counselor who has served in ministry since March of 2000. Dr. Mike holds under-graduate through post graduate degrees in Christian Education and formerly worked as a nurse. Dr. Mike is the Senior Pastor of Selah Mountain Ministries, which he founded in March of 2010 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA (selahmountain.org). In addition to counseling, he teaches how to overcome life issues Biblically on topics such as anger management, marriage, addictions, and other subjects typically referred to as mental illnesses. Dr. Mike is also a writer at What Christians Want To Know. Dr. Mike lives with his wife Pamela Rose and adult daughter Hollie Rose. He and Pamela have other adult children and several grandchildren as well. Learn more about Dr. Mike at his personal ministry web site Wisdom4Today

Resources – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, King James Version. (1) Google. (2014). “Husband”. Retrieved from Google, https: //www. google.com/? gws_rd=ssl #q=definition+of+husband

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