Biblical Case For Wife Beating
"But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the husband is the head of his wife, and God is the head of Christ." - First Corinthians 11:3
"Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor." - First Timothy 2:11-14
Christian scripture also affirms that husbands have authority over wives.
"Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands." - Ephesians 5:22-24
"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord." - Colossians 3:18
"Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God." - Titus 2:3-5
"Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives." - 1 Peter 3
"To the woman he said, I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” - Genesis 3:16
Premodern Christians have always understood the husband’s authority as including a qualified right to physically discipline wives. According to Gratian’s twelfth century canon law text Decretum:
"Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor." - First Timothy 2:11-14
Christian scripture also affirms that husbands have authority over wives.
"Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands." - Ephesians 5:22-24
"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord." - Colossians 3:18
"Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God." - Titus 2:3-5
"Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives." - 1 Peter 3
"To the woman he said, I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” - Genesis 3:16
Premodern Christians have always understood the husband’s authority as including a qualified right to physically discipline wives. According to Gratian’s twelfth century canon law text Decretum:
"A man may chastise his wife and beat her for her own correction; for she is of his household, and therefore the lord may chastise his own […] so likewise the husband is bound to chastise his wife in moderation […] unless he be a clerk, in which case he may chastise her more severely.” (as cited in Coulton III.234)
According to Church authority Cherubino of Siena in 1477:
"When you see your wife commit an offense, don’t rush at her with insults and violent blows…Scold her sharply, bully and terrify her. And if this still doesn’t work…take up a stick and beat her soundly, for it is better to punish the body and correct the soul than to damage the soul and spare the body…then readily beat her, not in rage but out of charity and concern for her soul, so that the beating will redound to your merit and her good.” - Rules of Married Life
According to Martin Luther:
"The rule remains with the husband and the wife is compelled to obey him by God’s command.”
"Women’s rule never did any good. The inferior ought not to glory over the superior, but the superior over the inferior. Katie can rule the servants but not me…when Katie gets saucy she gets nothing but a box on the ear.”
According to John Calvin:
"We do not find ourselves permitted by the word of God … to advise a woman to leave her husband … even when he beats her.”
We know the authority of the husband is compared to that of God (Ephesians 5:22-24) and that the husband is to rule over the wife (Genesis 3:16). Therefore, husbands have been given the right to rule by God. In Romans 13, we see that Paul explicitly equates the right to rule with the right to punish.
"All of you must obey the government rulers. Everyone who rules was given the power to rule by God. And all those who rule now were given that power by God. So anyone who is against the government is really against something God has commanded. Those who are against the government bring punishment on themselves. People who do right don’t have to fear the rulers. But those who do wrong must fear them. Do you want to be free from fearing them? Then do only what is right, and they will praise you. Rulers are God’s servants to help you. But if you do wrong, you have reason to be afraid. They have the power to punish, and they will use it. They are God’s servants to punish those who do wrong. So you must obey the government, not just because you might be punished, but because you know it is the right thing to do." - Romans 13:1-5
Here, rulers are given the right to punish and as husbands are rulers over their wives, they have the right to punish their wives as they see fit and that the wives who do wrong are to fear their husbands. Obviously, Paul understands that, with authority comes the right to physically punish. This, of course, naturally extends to the authority and rule of the husband.
Source: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2011%3A3&version=NIV
Source: p.34 in Beverly Mayne Kienzle and Nancy Nienhuis. “Battered Women and the Construction of Sanctity.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 17(1)(2001):33-61.
Source: p. 180 in Preserved Smith. The Life and Letters of Martin Luther (Frank Cass & Co. 2006[1911]).
According to Church authority Cherubino of Siena in 1477:
"When you see your wife commit an offense, don’t rush at her with insults and violent blows…Scold her sharply, bully and terrify her. And if this still doesn’t work…take up a stick and beat her soundly, for it is better to punish the body and correct the soul than to damage the soul and spare the body…then readily beat her, not in rage but out of charity and concern for her soul, so that the beating will redound to your merit and her good.” - Rules of Married Life
According to Martin Luther:
"The rule remains with the husband and the wife is compelled to obey him by God’s command.”
"Women’s rule never did any good. The inferior ought not to glory over the superior, but the superior over the inferior. Katie can rule the servants but not me…when Katie gets saucy she gets nothing but a box on the ear.”
According to John Calvin:
"We do not find ourselves permitted by the word of God … to advise a woman to leave her husband … even when he beats her.”
We know the authority of the husband is compared to that of God (Ephesians 5:22-24) and that the husband is to rule over the wife (Genesis 3:16). Therefore, husbands have been given the right to rule by God. In Romans 13, we see that Paul explicitly equates the right to rule with the right to punish.
"All of you must obey the government rulers. Everyone who rules was given the power to rule by God. And all those who rule now were given that power by God. So anyone who is against the government is really against something God has commanded. Those who are against the government bring punishment on themselves. People who do right don’t have to fear the rulers. But those who do wrong must fear them. Do you want to be free from fearing them? Then do only what is right, and they will praise you. Rulers are God’s servants to help you. But if you do wrong, you have reason to be afraid. They have the power to punish, and they will use it. They are God’s servants to punish those who do wrong. So you must obey the government, not just because you might be punished, but because you know it is the right thing to do." - Romans 13:1-5
Here, rulers are given the right to punish and as husbands are rulers over their wives, they have the right to punish their wives as they see fit and that the wives who do wrong are to fear their husbands. Obviously, Paul understands that, with authority comes the right to physically punish. This, of course, naturally extends to the authority and rule of the husband.
Source: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2011%3A3&version=NIV
Source: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Timothy%202%3A11-14&version=NIV
Source: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%205%3A22-24&version=NIV
Source: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%205%3A22-24&version=NIV
Source: https://cyber.harvard.edu/vaw00/History.html Sara McDougall. “Women and Gender in Canon Law.” In Judith Bennett and Ruth Karras (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Women and Gender in Medieval Europe (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013):161-180.
Source: p.34 in Beverly Mayne Kienzle and Nancy Nienhuis. “Battered Women and the Construction of Sanctity.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 17(1)(2001):33-61.
Source: p. 180 in Preserved Smith. The Life and Letters of Martin Luther (Frank Cass & Co. 2006[1911]).
Source: p.34 in Beverly Mayne Kienzle and Nancy Nienhuis. “Battered Women and the Construction of Sanctity.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 17(1)(2001):33-61.
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