Marriage Churches

Jesus never established a single "church"

The word “church” does not even exist in the Greek. It is a hierarchical made-up name designed to replace the non-hierarchical name that Jesus really called his followers.

Despite this, ONE Magazine, a Freewill Baptist publication, says that Christian marriages are “small churches, led by the head of the family, the husband.”

Churches are organizations and not living breathing organisms. Jesus is not building a dead organization. He is building a living breathing organism that he never called The Church.

Jesus never said, “Upon this rock I will build an organization called the church.” Instead, He said, “Upon this rock I will build my Ekklesia, my Out-Called.”

The difference between churches and the Ekklesia cannot be compared.

Churches are organizations, most of which are 501c3 legal persons created by states. But whether they are incorporated or unincorporated, churches are aggregates. They are collectives, and always hierarchical.

Organizations have no inherent life of their own. They are human creations held together by contract and upheld through judicature. Jesus never built such a thing and never said he would.

Conversely, the OUT-CALLED, that Jesus is still building, consists of each individual person saved by the shed blood of Christ and is connected to him and every other Believer by the Holy Spirit. God’s building is built of living stones. His OUT-CALLED is a single, and undivided by hierarchy, living organism.

This has everything to do with the fact that, though Jesus established leaders, he did not establish hierarchy among his people—not oxymoronic, so stay with me.

Jesus is not building a dead hierarchical organization but rather a living and relational family of believers, whose non-hierarchical leaders consist of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. We also read of elders and deacons. Biblical examples of all of these include women. And though some of these women and men are married, NOWHERE in scripture do we read that marriage or being a husband qualifies anyone to become a leader among God’s Out-Called.

The concept of husbands being the “head of the house” (actually a non-gendered legal IRS term) is a fabrication and a fulfilment of the awful prophecy, in Genesis 3:16, that husbands would dominate wives. That was not a commandment but rather a cursed consequence.

A glaring example of what I call gender-biased-English-translation-theology is found in Hebrews 13:7&17, where we read that we should “obey them that have the rule over us.” These verses say no such thing. A careful parsing reveals that the writer of Hebrews wrote something very different:

“Remember your leaders who have spoken to you the Word of God whose faith mimic carefully considering their end and manner of life … Have confidence in your leaders and yield [to their examples] Because they watch [in prayer] over your souls As they must render a verbal report [for what they taught and your reception of it] that they may bring it forth with joy and not grief Because that would be unprofitable for you.” (words in brackets are translator supplements)

The words “obey” and “rule over” are found nowhere in the Greek of these two verses. God’s New Covenant hierarchy is as follows: God as Supreme, children obey parents, all people obey legal authorities. Among his Out-Called, there is no hierarchy, only Calling, love, care, and example.

This idea of hierarchy among Believers must be torn down before the building and planting of true biblical understanding about non-existent gender-roles in or out of marriage can take place.

Though our homes should indeed be loving and safe places where the Word of God is lived and taught by both mother and father (John Wesley’s scriptural foundation came from his mother), the idea that Christian marriage comprises small organizations with husbands being the “head of the family,” therefore the leaders of “marriage churches,” cannot be sustained by scripture and is responsible for much harm to women, girls, boys … and even to the men themselves.

Jocelyn Andersen is the author of several non-fiction books and is currently working on her first novel. She writes and speaks about a variety of topics with an emphasis on the subject of God and Women. Her work in that respect has been featured in magazines, newspapers, radio, and television.