c. 1998 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ Nearly 2,000 years ago, when Paul, or one of his disciples writing in his name, penned the letter to the young Christian congregation in the Turkish port city of Ephesus, he included some family advice _ an admonition, even _ that has been generating fierce controversy ever since.

To begin with, he said, husbands and wives should `be”subject to one another out of reverence for the Lord”(Ephesians 5:21). Then, in the next verse, he added: “Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord.” Everyone seems to be OK with the first part, but the second sentence has ignited controversy throughout the ages, used to justify Christian patriarchy, the exclusion of women from positions of authority in the church and other institutions, and men’s complete control over women and family.

Some of that controversy could re-ignite when the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, begins meeting Tuesday (June 9) in Salt Lake City.

For the more than 15 million Southern Baptists, the issue will come in the form of a proposed addition to the denomination’s statement of belief, the “Baptist Faith and Message.”

Along with the election of a new president to lead the Convention and a report on last weekend’s Baptist evangelizing efforts in Mormon country, the decision over making a statement on family and gender roles a part of the church’s key statement of beliefs will be among the meeting’s most closely watched events.

If the addition passes, the Convention will be defining family _ and roles within the family _ in ways Paul’s statement seems to set out. Whether individual Baptists follow the statement is a matter of choice, but a lively debate about the meaning of Paul’s directive is sure to ensue.

On one side stand social and religious conservatives who admonish wives to submit in all things to their husbands, all the while reminding husbands such submission does not license abuse or domination. Instead, they say, husbands are to act as “servant leaders,” caring for their families with Christ-like sacrificial love.

On the other side are more moderate Baptists who agree husbands must be their families’ spiritual leaders and bear responsibility for the welfare of their wives and children. But, they say, Paul clearly meant husbands and wives are to submit to one another.

Bill Merrell of Nashville, Tenn., vice president for Convention relations, backs the addition to the “Baptist Faith and Message.”

“That doesn’t mean the husband is superior,” Merrell said of the proposed addition. “It has to do with responsibility. Who is ultimately responsible? A person who views the New Testament teaching on loving sacrifice and gracious submission for a husband and wife, and contorts it to mean some form of sadism or masochism, is a universe removed from the teaching of the Scripture.

“A husband who lovingly sacrifices for his wife in the New Testament must be prepared to give his life for her,”he added.”It doesn’t mean he is her doormat. A wife who willingly submits to her husband’s leadership is willing to make her best contribution to the family, and follow her husband’s leadership after decisions are discussed and decided upon. She is not his doormat.” Paul’s statement came to the forefront of Southern Baptist attention at the annual convention in Dallas a year ago. A messenger, or delegate, asked that the Convention address families in the “Faith and Message,” the document outlining Baptist positions on a variety of theological issues.

A committee of two women and five men were given the assignment, eventually describing roles for family members drawn from 41 biblical passages, including the second part of the Ephesians passage. The first part, about submitting to each other, is not included in the proposed addition the”Faith and Message.” Some in the denomination contend the issue is less about theology than about Baptist power politics. In the past 20 years, the Convention has been more and more forceful in declaring the inerrancy of Scripture.

“It is codalizing or creedalizing a view about women that the current SBC leadership obviously hold,” said Gary E. Parker, coordinator for Baptist principles for the Atlanta-based Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which formed in 1991 out of concern about the denomination’s drift toward fundamentalism.

“It’s a view that they have systematically put into place. The implication (of the addition) is that women’s real gifts are found in the home, and only in the home,” Parker said. “Why don’t they talk about mutual subjection? We need to take the whole Bible, not just one selected passage.”

He continued: “This kind of statement from SBC leadership is out of step not just with culture, but with the wind of the spirit that many people are seeing and understanding.”

DEA END CAMPBELL