Before a Christian couple are husband and wife, they are brother and sister in the Lord. The duties and responsibilities that we have in God’s family under Christ’s lordship do not get cancelled by holy matrimony. Further, a husband’s headship over his wife is not arbitrary or unlimited. His authority, like all other human authority, is delegated and limited. Jesus is the sole possessor of “all authority in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18).

I think I coined the phrase “cage-stage-patriarchy” recently to describe some of the less than stellar commentary being offered on social media about the authority that God has given husbands over their wives. The phrase suggests that those who, having recently discovered the biblical teachings on patriarchy, are so indelicate in handling the truth that they would be well-served (and better serve others) if they were locked in a cage away from people until they gain deeper understanding of the truth they have discovered.

Ours is, as John Stott put it, an “anti-authority” age that has been permeated in every sphere by demonically inspired feminism. While rightly rejecting this ideology some have rediscovered biblical patriarchy—the teaching that God has purposefully made men and women to be different and has assigned to men the primary responsibility and authority to exercise leadership in the home, church, and world.

What Scripture teaches on this in no way denigrates women. Nor does the Bible prohibit or judge women to be inadequate for many roles and tasks that require leadership qualities. Rather than expound on that let me simply refer to a few examples of what I have in mind, such as Proverbs 31:10-31, 1 Samuel 1:21-28, and Titus 2:3-4.

My concern is the excesses that too often accompany the rediscovery of biblical patriarchy. Specifically, I am concerned about those who, in the name of patriarchy, are advocating positions and actions that do not adequately honor all Scripture. They have fallen into what I call, cage-stage-patriarchy (CSP).

This is a close relative of cage-stage-Calvinism (CSC). When one first discovers the doctrines of grace, he often begins to interpret everything, including every Scriptural text through his newly discovered, not yet matured understanding of the sovereignty of God.

Thus, anything that smacks of human freedom is judged to be anathema. For example (and I have witnessed or myself engaged in all of these), some CSCs get nervous singing or refuse to sing altogether songs like Just As I Am. Or when teaching verses like John 3:16 and 1 John 2:2, they feel compelled to spend more time telling you what the text does not mean than what it does mean.

Cage-stagers become obnoxious with their new-found insights and are quick to challenge and correct anyone who seems to disagree with them. Social media has magnified this because everyone has a platform from which to air his opinions (Proverbs 18:2). You can recognize a cage-stager, or just an immature Christian, by how quickly and authoritatively they jump into conversations that do not concern them at all (Proverbs 26:17). They are gadflies who can be easily seen as such by a simple search of their social media timelines. 

Further, when controversy erupts, they feel justified to violate the very convictions for which they contend because of their sense of self-importance in defending the truth. Such cage stagers would be immensely helped by studying Bunyan’s Valiant-for-Truth. You miss the important lesson taught by this character unless you recognize that the enemies that bloodied that stalwart of the faith (but which he does indeed fight!) reside within his own heart.

This is why you see CSCs defend the doctrines of grace with so little evidence of the grace of those doctrines. It also explains why Cage-stage-patriarchists do not hesitate, in the name of defending the patriarchy, to speak derisively of men who deserve respect by virtue of their testimony and station in life. You can also see it in the way they speak down to and about women, violating the very Scriptures that form the foundation of male leadership and headship.

Cage-stagers regularly give hot takes on the issues they are advocating, often to the applause of immature listeners.

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