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Michele Bachmann – Minnesota representative, GOP presidential candidate, and evangelical dilemma-maker.
She not only has Democrats questioning her constitutionally based policies, she also has them wondering whether they will be her own personal ideals, or if her husband will be the one pulling the strings.
“Bachmann’s candidacy poses the question of how to accommodate the evangelical worldview or women’s proper relationships with their husbands with what seems to [be] the inherently feminist notion of a female leader of the free world.” ~ Ruth Marcus, Press and Sun Bulletin
If we follow Marcus’ viewpoint to the bitter end, then we cannot exclusively limit this notion to the female presidency – we must broaden the concept to all working wives and moms.
When Ephesians 5 discusses the matter of women submitting to and respecting their husbands, we understand this is a fundamental principle in both the home and church. But when a woman enters the workplace, she ultimately submits, or arranges herself under the authority of her employer, rather than her husband. At first glance, we may see a contradiction here, but let’s follow this idea through a bit longer.
The Proverbs 31 woman was, among many things, an entrepreneur (vs. 16, 24), and from the chapter’s description of this virtuous female, we know she did not shirk her responsibility to her family, nor ignore the needs of her husband. She was able to balance both her roles in work and family, and she did so with excellence.
As head of the home, a husband offers both counsel and an authority figure, from which a wife bases the decision to work outside the home. The roles change, however, when she accepts a position (with support from her husband), and begins to submit to another power, her employer. Between the hours of employment, the jurisdictions have changed, the husband’s authority now becomes limited, and his opinion takes precedence only if the job begins to negatively affect life at home.
As a proclaiming evangelical, Michele Bachmann must have her husband’s support to compete in the presidential race. If she is elected and sworn into the Oval Office, he needs to understand he takes a back seat on important decisions about the economy, international affairs, and congressional meetings. She may choose to discuss these issues with her husband, but ultimately she has to answer to the ones who elected her and serve the country’s best interests.
One last thought,
Submission is not the husband’s to command, but for the wife to willingly and lovingly offer.” – John MacArthur, Study Bible
Marriage is a partnership, not a dictatorship. Both sides of the aisle should learn to compromise and work together (hopefully better than the Reps and Dems!) when it comes to issues of this magnitude. There should be discussion, counsel, and much prayer when considering a life change. A wife must respect her husband’s final decision on the issue, but a husband must also love his wife with a selfless, sacrificial love and have her best interests at heart.
Your Turn:
Do you find it difficult to balance submission to your husband and work outside the home?
Further Resources:
Video: John Piper’s Heart in the 2008 Election
- His opinion on why Vice Presidential bid by candidate, Sarah Palin, should stay at home.
This post is linked to Marriage Mondays at Come Have a Peace.
to The Feminine Intellect, your connection between the Bible and the real world. 
hmmmm, I’ve learned that submitting to my husband is easy because I know his faith in God and his walk with Him. But as a woman, it irks me that if a woman was president, people worry about her husband being in charge, but has anyone ever really claimed that for a first lady with our male presidents?
Debbi
-ourhometoyours
ourhometoyours recently posted..Besteam feature on gmaellen
Very true! A woman can have a significant amount of influence on her husband behind the scenes. In fact, Hillary Clinton seems to be coming to mind…….
Hi Kalyn!
This is only loosely related, but I was having a general kind of conversation with one of my girlfriends about Michelle Bachmann and we segued to Sarah Palin. We both found it very interesting that two of the three women who have recieved the most political attention over the past few years have been Republican, conservative Christians. I am not a supporter of Michelle Bachmann, myself but I am very encouraged by the fact that she has received so much support from the conservative Christian community who have, typically, been hesitant when it comes to women in the upper eschelon of political leadership..or any type of leadership for that matter.
For all of their touting of sexual equality and sympathy toward the betterment of women, liberal democratic types have not only been silent on this achievement but have been incredibly UNsupportive and uncharacteristically sexist. I can understand not supporting their politics, but in a culture that is still celebrating our first African American president, why was their not more excitement about a woman president or a woman in the white house? It seems that, like the right to own land and to vote, men of color beat us to the White House too.
I’m not sure if this means that, when it comes down to it, politics or religious views trumps gender on both sides or if Christians are actually more accepting of women in leadership than they seem…so long as they’re Christian
To pull it all back into the subject of submission, why do you think most mainstream Christians are more comfortable with a female boss (or female president) than a female pastor? I understand your distinction between submission in the home and submission in the work place but what if the “work place” is the church? Honestly, I feel like in the church we have been influence more by culture in this regard than theology. I say that because I’ve never heard anyone in church preach or teach a message celebrating a women’s success in the workplace. To be sure, I haven’t heard any condemning it either, but if we are following a Proverbs 31 kind of pattern, wouldn’t a successful businesswomen be more of a spiritual triumph? It seems like, in my experience, acceptance of women in professional leadership it is just a concession to culture, and not always a happy one.
Then again, these are my biased, of-the-cuff observations and may not be accurate at all
Honestly, I find this whole subject INCREDIBLY confusing.
Sarah,
Thank you for the comment! You bring up a really great point about our culture’s acceptance of women. Many do not consider sexism an issue anymore, but you are right – democrats were definitely more supportive of a black man becoming president than a woman.
As for women’s roles in the church, I do disagree with having women lead over men. I believe, biblically, that pastoral and deacon-type roles should only be filled by males. But rather than getting into all that here, I would be happy to discuss the issue further with you in an email if you’d like.
I really do appreciate your opinion. You caused me to think about some issues I had not thought about before!
Thanks Kaylyn
I love the discussion. Often I play around with ideas throughout the conversation and arrive in a much different place than when I started, which is the best part about conversation, I think. I would love to continue this conversation if you’re up for it!
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