But isn’t the husband the priest of the household?  I’ve searched the New Testament through and cannot find a single reference to that.  I find that those of us who follow Jesus are all “a holy and royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 2:9) and that “there is only one mediator—our high priest, Jesus. (1 Timothy 2:5)  Not only is it not there but why would any women or only married women need an extra intermediary?[1]  We can all “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence” (Hebrews 4: 16).   Where I have found husbands as priests of the household is in Mormonism[2], Roman paganism[3] and in Nigerian Juju spiritism.[4]

The earliest Christian reference I’ve found is in one of Charles Spurgeon’s sermons[5] but he didn’t say where he got it.  I know people have meant well, they seem to have said, hmmm “spiritual head” (it’s not spiritual head, but metaphorical or figurative head—“Buddhism considers husbands to be the spiritual head of the Burmese household because of his spiritual status.”[6]) that means leader (it means “life”) sooo, they think, an example of a

[1] See J. Lee Grady, 10 Lies the Church Tells Women, (Creation House) 76

[2] www.lds.mormon.com/second_anointing.shtml concept 7; www.ldsendowment.org/secondanointing.html ;

PBS special The Mormons, aired February 4, 2010

[3] Everett Ferguson Backgrounds of Early Christianity (Eerdmans) 158 from H.H. Scullard Festivals of& Ceremonies of the Roman Republic

[4] Ruthanne Garlock, Fire in His Bones (biography Benson Idahosa) 13

[5] Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon’s Sermons on New Testament Women 149

[6] Pauline King, Countries of the World, (Gareth Stevens Publishing) 22