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What Does the Bible Say?

What are the roles of the husband and the wife in the family?

The marriage relationship is to be a picture of the relationship between Christ and the church. Your marriage should show the world who Jesus Christ is and who the church is based on your relationship as a couple. These are the roles that God mapped out for the family. The husband is the head, the leader, of the home. The wife is to submit to her husband.

The husband has the far greater responsibility. He is to be the example to the rest of the family of how to serve and how to love. As the head of the house, he should be the example for the family to follow. He should be leading in worship and knowledge of God. He should be the primary caretaker and protector. Much (most?) of the success of the family is on his shoulders.

As the husband leads with love and respect, the wife is to submit to the husband. This is not based on character or ability, but role. She has the most influence on the children as they are raised. So, the servanthood, love, and respect she sees in the husband, she is to do the same with the children.

Unfortunately, some husbands don't perform their role as God wants them to, leaving a gap that the wife has to fill. In these cases, because of a void in the household, the woman has to perform the responsibilities of spiritual leadership in the home, raising the children to be godly.



  • Ephesians 6:4 — Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
  • Psalm 103:13 — Just as a father has compassion on {his} children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
  • Ephesians 5:22 — Wives, {be subject} to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
  • Ephesians 5:23 — For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself {being} the Savior of the body.
  • Ephesians 5:24 — But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives {ought to be} to their husbands in everything.
  • Ephesians 5:25-27 — Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,
    so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
    that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.
  • Ephesians 5:28-29 — So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself;
    for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also {does} the church,
  • Titus 2:3-5 — Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good,
    so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,
    {to be} sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.
  • Psalm 128:3 — Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine Within your house, Your children like olive plants Around your table.
  • 1 Corinthians 7:14 — For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.
  • 1 Timothy 5:14 — Therefore, I want younger {widows} to get married, bear children, keep house, {and} give the enemy no occasion for reproach;
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    Bible Answer From: The Holypop Team

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