Our roles in a christian home (family) as a father, mother, or children cannot be underestimated or overemphasized, we all have major roles to play to fulfill the plans of God for our individual life. The role of a father is not meant to be played by the mother and vise versa, likewise the children has a major role to play as they grow into adults.
A family is group a of people, and not individual, that is why God's intention from the beginning has been that a man will leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife, and they two shall become one flesh, thereby starting up a new family. This new group is meant to multiply and function according to the plans of God. This gave rise to why there has to be roles and function for each member of the family.
Like all families, Christian
families come in all shapes and sizes. There are some key guidelines in
the Bible to help Christians in family life. Christians believe that men
and women are equal in God’s eyes (Galatians
3: 26 – 29). The Bible contains lots of ideas about the different
roles men and women should play within marriage, and advice about how to get
along as a family.
Husbands and wives
Some Christians believe that within marriage the husband is
the head of the wife.
This is based on the teaching of St Paul, found in the
New Testament:
‘Wives,
submit to your husbands as you do to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his
wife as Christ is the head of his body, the church.’ (Ephesians 5: 22 – 23)
Although this sounds a bit like a husband is given authority
to boss his wife around, this is only one half of the story. The verse shows
that the marriage relationship is supposed to mirror the relationship between
Christ and the Church. As Christ came to serve, care and even die for others,
so husbands are commanded to love their wives in the same way. St Paul says:
“A
husband should love his wife as much as Christ loved the church and gave his
life for it… A husband should love his wife as much as he loves himself”
(Ephesians 5:25-28).
In other words, a husband’s love is to be selfless, putting
his wife’s needs before his own. This teaching would have been radical 2000
years ago.
Raising children
Children are seen as a blessing from God. Christians believe
that when God made the world, he did not want it to be empty (Isaiah 45: 18).
In the Bible, Adam and Eve, the first humans, are commanded by God to,
“Multiply and fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28), so having children is part of
God’s plan. Christians believe that God creates all living things, including
babies.
In the Ten Commandments, children
are told to honour their parents (Exodus 20:
12). This commandment is repeated in the New Testament of the Bible,
where children are told to obey their parents (Ephesians
6:1 – 4).
Fathers are told:
·
not to exasperate (that is, wind up)
their children
·
to bring them up to know the
Christian faith
·
to discipline their children
Christians feel it is right for them
to teach their children about Christianity. Some Christians (Anglicans, Roman
Catholics, Orthodox and Methodists for example) will baptise babies, as a symbol of the first
step in their Christian life. Others have a ceremony of dedication (Baptists,
Pentecostals, Brethren etc.) to thank God for their baby, and to dedicate the
child to God, and the parents to the task of bringing the child up in the Christian
faith.
There are also ceremonies for when the person decides to
take the faith on as their own, when they are of an age to understand what the
faith is about – confirmation for those who practice infant baptism, and
believer’s baptism for those who have dedication services. Christians do not
believe that you are a Christian simply because your parents believe, but
because you have chosen the faith for yourself.
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