7.4.1 Faith and Intimate Partner Violence “I believe that men and women are not equal. Men have more authority than women because it says so in the Bible. I was created to have more strength and to have more authority than women.” Matai Participant, Inquiry public hearings The matai quoted above is not alone in believing the Bible describes a social hierarchy where women are inferior to men and must ‘submit to your own husbands’, 32 ‘for the husband is the head of the wife’.33 A number of other verses are interpreted as the husband having a superior role to that of the wife, who should ‘learn quietly with all submissiveness’.34 However, to conclude that the Bible is advocating for a gender hierarchy is to engage in very selective reading of the Biblical texts and to misrepresent the word of God. “In the Bible ‘pule’ means head of the family, not that you control what the woman does or hit her whenever you want. You guide and direct the development of the family.” Rev. Fa’auuga Pula, Inquiry public hearings The clearest evidence of selective reading is the most commonly cited justification for a husband’s superiority, Ephesians 5:22 which requires wives to ‘submit to their husbands’. However, this fails to account for earlier in the very same passage which calls for man and woman to ‘Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ’35 and later calling for, ‘Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church’. 36 How can a person argue that it is only women who should submit to men when the very same passage calls for everyone to submit to one another? The Biblical intention is not trying to create a gender hierarchy, it is promoting harmony, understanding and grace. “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God, he created them; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27 The equality of men and women could not be made clearer than in the passage from Genesis. There are many more passages which demonstrate the equality of men and women and undermine the argument that women are inferior to men and should obey and submit.37 Misinterpretation of the Bible now serves those in power well, as it justifies their continuing superiority over women. For women who subscribe to 32 Ephesians 5:22. Ephesians 5:23. 34 Timothy 2:11. 35 Ephesians 5:21. 36 Ephesians 5:25. 37 Romans 2:11 – ‘For God does not show favouritism’; Proverbs 22:2 – ‘Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the maker of them all’; Psalm 67:4 – ‘May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples with equity’; Ephesians 2:14 – ‘For he himself is our peace, who has made two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.’ 33