Well, the short answer is yes. It “reflects the cultural framing of its time.” A father advising his son. However, if you look at God’s plan for family, you see that it does work both ways.
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
God created man, then woman, then marriage. All back in the beginning. Leaving aside the whole fall of man thing for a second, we see that family is the most important non-God-related thing on Earth. Then again, a family is not actually supposed to be non-God-related. A righteous living family is all about God. It is so important that it is the fifth Commandment and the first with a promise.
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12
Here is God’s plan for the family. We are born, learn and grow, leave our father and mother, come together and marry, becoming one. God’s plan for us is that as parents, you take care of your children, raising them in the ways they should go, and then later in life, if needed, your children should be able and willing to care for you.
Let’s just focus on the Husband and Wife. Ephesians 5:20-24
“Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.”
Now, here is the first bone of contention for some. They say that this means that women should be subservient. That if her husband were to become abusive, tough! If her husband cheats on her. Too bad. That she must be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, hanging on every command from her husband.
That is simply not the case. First, as I heard it recently put, nowhere in the Word does it tell anyone to follow anyone into Sin. Second, they fail to continue reading. Ephesians 5:25-33
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”
First, let’s leave aside the fact that God says we become one flesh. Which means we are equal. God tells us that man ought to love his wife as Jesus loved the church and died for it. Jesus would do anything He was able to do for the church. As we, {speaking to the men}, should be towards our own wives.
What God also says about men is that WE are responsible for the family. We are responsible for going before God and seeking His Will and His way for us. Then, going back and teaching the family what God teaches us. We are the Pastors and leaders of the family. We are responsible for all things. Being a husband and father is not something that should be taken lightly. It is an honor and a great responsibility.
Peter